21st Year of Publication number 1061 8-14 December, 2013 € 3.50

www.neweurope.eu

“The EU governments have forgotten their obligation to protect their popula-

tions against the financial institutions”, said on Tuesday, Niels Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights. While presenting in Brussels a report, « Safeguarding human rights in times of economic crises », he stressed that harsh austerity as response to the on-going crisis has provoked “collateral damages” to the most vulnerable social groups in Europe and elsewhere. Ac-cording to the paper, “contractions in public spending as an ongoing conse-quence of the global economic down-turn are affecting 5.8 billion people or 80% of the global population in 2013, increasing to 6.3 billion or 90% of per-sons worldwide by 2015”.

The Council of Europe, with this issue paper, means to “put hu-man rights back in the agenda of the governments.”

“Lobbying” EU’s “bad guys”According to Commissioner

Muiznieks, the report, including a set of recommendations on how to pre-serve human rights under tough eco-nomic conditions, will be promoted to governments, national organisations, EU institutions, the IMF, the World Bank etc, in order to provide the deci-sion makers with guidelines on how to limit the damage caused by the crisis in a systematic way.

More specifically, the Commis-sioner, in his future visits to crisis-hit countries and EU Institutions will try to

convince EU leaders and international lenders for the usefulness of his report in order to incorporate -the neglected, so far- human rights considerations into the economic governance of the EU and their assistance programmes. Among the recommendations are: the need for regulation of the financial sec-tor in the interest of human rights, the institutionalization of transparency, participation and public accountability throughout the economic and social policy cycle, and the conduct of sys-tematic human rights and equality im-pact assessments of economic policies and budgets.

The repercussions of austerityThe report underlines that many

European governments had made the reduction of deficit levels their overrid-

ing policy priority, with catastrophic re-sults in education, healthcare and other public sectors. The rationalization of social protection schemes, the elimina-tion or reduction of subsidies on fuel, agriculture and food products, stricter accessibility conditions for a number of social benefits are part of the gradual deterioration of the European social model. Spain cut its education budget by 21.4% between 2011 and 2012, for example, and Estonia by 10% between 2008 and 2009. Moreover, cuts in health-related spending have affected the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health. In Greece, the EC, ECB and IMF have demanded that public spending on health should not exceed 6% of GDP, with a potentially long-term impact on public health.

Increasing numbers of Europeans are dependent on soup kitchens and food banks to feed their families. EPA/ALEXANDROS VLACHOS

TUrkEy Page 25

romE-TEL Aviv Page 24 KassAndra Page 32

Schengen is reaching its border

Since 1985 Schengen has been the shining symbol of the vision of a free and open con-tinent. Today, fears over migration, often with xenophobic populism, either subtly or shame-lessly has brought Schengen to a key moment, when Bulgarian and Romanian citizens get the full right to movement.

miGraTion Page 04

Putin’s russia: Gdr reloaded

by Werner Schulz MeP Page 07

CAP reform: Bad things come to those who wait

by britta reiMerS MeP Page 04

Soup Kitchen Europe

(Continued on Page 03)

High stakes Greek gamblingDG MRKT launched infringement pro-cedure against seven member states for restrictions on the free provision of ser-vices, in the field of gaming/gambling. Commissioner Michel Barnier, even with a certain delay, in absence of a har-monized legal framework, revitalized the issue, which was initiated by the Com-mission in 2007.

Surprisingly Greece has not been included, although the former state monopoly OPAP enjoys preferential benefits better than in any of the seven Member States under infringement procedure.

China and Britain - in business

security for Christmas?

by Marilena KoPPa MeP Page 09

China-UK Page 22

Rights and hope: The price of austerity

cre

dit

tee

ns4

un

ity

02 ANALYSIS NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Australia $3.4, Austria EURO 1.81, Balkans EURO 4, Belgium

EURO 3.50, Holland EURO 2.69, Central Asia USD7.5, Central

Europe USD5, Canada $5, Denmark: DKK 19,95, Eastern Europe

USD7.5, France EURO 3.04, Germany EURO 3.57, Greece EURO

4, Hungary HUF400, Japan Y900, Italy EURO 3.62, Nordic coun-

tries USD7, Pacific Rim USD8.5, Russia USD 4, Switzerland

SFr4, UK GBP 4.5, USA $2.95, all other countries EURO 6

EU ready to faceconstitution crisis

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroederand Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlus-coni last week sent a clear message toPoland and Spain on the shape that thenew EU Constitution will take or therewill be no constitution.

Editorial p. 2

Think tank seeslow GDP growth

Despite indications of a global economicrecovery, the Dutch performanceremains dramatically poor as the CentralPlanning Bureau (CPB) recently forecastnegative 0.75 percent gross domesticproduct (GDP) growth for 2003.

p. 22

No Lofoten exploratory plans

Norway is likely to reject any plans forexploratory drilling in the waters aroundthe Lofoten archipelago, governmentsources told NRK recently. As a compro-mise, drilling will be allowed in the Bar-ents Sea.

p. 24

Regional terrorism “explosive issue”

Political upheaval in Central Asia and thedestabilising influence of some groups“have made terrorism a real and a poten-tially explosive issue” in the region, Kaza-khstan Prime Minister Daniyal Akhme-tov said.

p. 45

Europe needs a

cooling off period

NOTEBOOK

Safer European shipping industry

The International Maritime Organisation(IMO) decided last week to follow theEuropean Commission in its haste to bansingle hull ships from EU ports five yearsearlier than planned. So IMO amendedMARPOL Convention to introduce forthe world fleet of oil tankers a similarregime to the new stricter measuresadopted by the European Commissionbanning single hull oil tanker ships fromEuropean ports by 2010 instead of 2015.

IMO also decided in favour of a world-wide ban, and its implementation as soonas possible, but not later than April 5,2005, on the carriage of heavy grades ofoil in single-hull tankers, as well as theaccelerated phasing out of single-hulltankers in general, closing the gapbetween the international regime and themeasures already adopted by the EU.

There is no doubt that the fury concerningdouble and single hull oil tankers sur-

faced after the “Prestige” incident. Butthe question remains if the EuropeanUnion will continue to react abruptly anytime there is a naval incident. Invest-ments in the shipping industry are soimmense and maritime firms need steadyinstitutional conditions in order to beable to write off such big placements forthis reason.

If the European Union continues tochange the institutional environment intowhich the shipping industry operates,there will be no European firm left aboutafter some time.

All in all IMO has risen this time to thedemands of the European Commis-sion.The problem remains though thatthere is no room for other stricter mea-sures in the EU pots and the Commissionhas to understand this. Everybody wantsa safer European shipping industry butthere must be one left to be safer.

EEurope in recent times hasachieved a lot from thelaunching of the Euro cur-rency to the upcoming

enlargement and it has taken its toll onthe further integration process. Europeneeds to absorb the benefits and filethem down to the citizens’ level.

Leaders of the 15 European Unionmember states plus the 10 states due tojoin the Union next year opened a sum-mit in Brussels over the weekend amiddivisions over dividing up future votingpower. The discord broadly pits Ger-many, France and Italy against Spainand Poland.

Paris, Berlin and Rome are seekingapproval for a “double majority” systemoutlined in a draft constitution, whichwould allow the EU to take decisions ifbacked by half the member statesincluding 60 percent of the Union pop-ulation.

Warsaw and Madrid want to stickwith a system agreed at the 2000 Nicesummit under which they both get 27votes in the EU despite each having lessthan half the population of Germanywhich gets 29 votes.

Ahead of the crucial talks, Euro-pean Commission President Romano

Prodi told reporters, “The (two) alter-natives to this summit are a good con-clusion or no conclusion.” Prodi calledon EU leaders to clinch a power-shar-ing pact reflecting the population size of

each country. “We cannot freeze onpaper criteria which people do notunderstand,” Prodi said, adding that the“double majority system” was fairer andmore democratic.

www.new-europe.info11th Year, Number 551

THE EUROPEAN WEEKLY

December 14 - 20, 2003

New EuropePutin proves

he’s still

a winner

Russian President VladimirPutin was the clear winner inthe parliamentary elections lastSunday. Not only did the loyalUnited Russia Party emerge asthe strongest faction in the newState Duma, but a strongshowing by its allies offers theKremlin chief the two-thirdsmajority needed should hewish to change the constitutionand extend his tenure. Withthis latest success, Putin hasgrown stronger, despite hismodest appraisal that it was alljust one more step “tostrengthen democracy in Rus-sia.” International observersbegged to differ, saying thepolls appeared to be a “regres-sion of the democratisationprocess in Russia.”The new Duma block compris-es centrist United Russia, theultra-nationalistic Liberal De-mocratic Party of Russia(LDPR) of populist VladimirZhirinovsky, and the Mother-land Party formed by commu-nist defector Sergei Glazyev.The removal of oil tycoon andopposition party patron Mik-hail Khodorkovsky from theequation with his arrest onfraud and tax evasion chargesboosted the pro-Kremlinparty’s chances still further.

p. 35

cyanmageyelloblack

Flags fly high but this time Europe must stop for a moment and think it over

Prodi: Population must guide future EU vote apportionment

Regional cooperation

in Balkans is crucial

Regional cooperation will be a priority for all Balkanstates when they join the European Union, the leaders

of Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, the Former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Bosnia-Herzegov-ina said in a joint statement recently. All agreed they mustbuild open and democratic societies in their states - formerYugoslav republics. Croatian President Stipe Mesic saidthat a free trade zone was the best model of cooperation forsoutheastern Europe. He reiterated the proposal for “thescandinaviansation” of the Balkans as a proven model toovercome international conflicts and the successful coexis-tence of neighbouring countries.Serbian-Montenegrin leader Svetozar Marovic said thatcountries in the region had to leave the past behind andbuild a better future for their citizens. “It is our duty to bepartners in free trade, in an open society without visaregimes, in cooperation with international organisations,as well as in the promotion of democratic values,” Marovicsaid. FYROM’s Boris Trajkovski agreed with Marovic,stressing that “the period of conflicts (in ex-Yugoslavia)has been replaced with a period of cooperation.” p. 42

New Europe bylines

Marieke Sanders-ten Hotte,MEP

onBreakthrough reached in European sky legislation

p. 9

New Europe Interview

Tymofy Motrenko,Civil Service in Ukraine

strives to move closer to EUp. 41

p01.qxd 5/17/2005 10:24 AM Page 1

The Shooting Gallery

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others - Nelson Mandela

Happy days. Putin is returned to power, with a majority large enough to change the constitu-tion, should that idea “strengthen democracy”. Europe was resting on its laurels and turning to apportioning votes with talk of the double majority system. The IMO leaped into action over single hulled shipping, and followed the EU lead in banning the ships. This was done after The Prestige, a Liberian registered tanker sank off the Span-ish coast, leaking out 70,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.The Balkans nations all agreed to form”open and transparent societies” and began by dis-cussing a free trade area as a beginning. But they confidently announced that conflict was in the past and co-operation was their future.

ne 10 YeARS

AGO

MMFor decades after the Second World War, Paris’ clochards (the French word for beggers) were a tourist attraction. Homeless had obviously existed in other European capitals and industrial democracies, but in Paris they were a chronic problem - a side-show attraction for the socially curious people and watched closely by the social services.In 1991, when Hungary embarked on the path toward democratisation by implementing a series of necessary reforms, the homeless made their appear-ance on the streets of Budapest. It was an issue widely covered by the media. Who were these people scavenging through garbage for food?Extensive reporting by the media discovered that they were elderly retired people. It is through the press that we have learned that about 10% of the Hungarian population lived below the poverty line. At the time, this new phe-nomenon was interpreted as a side effect of the country’s move towards a free market economy.Since the start of the economic crisis in 2008, homeless can be seen in the streets of Athens, the capital city of Greece. Today, there are hundreds home-less and thousands of persons receiving assistance and food from charitable organisations, mainly the Church of Greece. The press in Greece has widely reported instances of children in Athens fainting in school because they have had nothing to eat - not even milk to drink. In Spain, another debt-stricken EU country, mass evictions have left thou-sands of people, including entire families, homeless. In fact, the countries of Southern Europe have been hit hard by the economic crisis, which has left behind widespread misery and pain. But is homelessness a problem only in the Southern European countries, which have been criti-cised with contempt by politicians in the rich northern countries?No. Even the rich northern European countries are struggling to cope with a growing army of poor and homeless. The media in Luxembourg, for instance, recently reported on the increasing number of people in Luxembourg who are struggling to make ends meet and turning to social grocery stores, which sell items at reduced prices, in order to stock their kitchen cupboards. According to these reports, the number of people shopping at a social grocery (known as a “buttek” in Luxembourg) has increased 10% this year. There are eight social grocery stores all run by the Luxembourg Red Cross and Caritas.It’s a nightmare isn’t it?The rate of poverty increased sharply in the Netherlands in 2012 compared with a year earlier, according to a report by the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Netherlands Institute for Social Research.Three weeks ago, the French newspaper Liberation published a revealing re-port titled: “Penniless in Berlin”. The story was about the growing number of people in the German capital who are struggling under the poverty level. In order to obtain a warm jacket or a little cabbage, several million Germans, all victims of the new poverty in the country, are able to survive thanks to vari-ous charity organisations, the newspaper reported. According to the latest figures published by Germany’s state Employment Agency, 1.6 million working poor receive assistance from the Federal State so that they do not fall below the poverty level. More than 40% of Germans this year are scraping by with the minimum social welfare benefit, which is just €382 per person, €349 for a spouse and between €224 and €289 for each child depending on their age.“In recent years, Germany became a very unequal society,” a researcher of the Institute of Macroeconomics IMK of the Hans-Böckler Foundation was quoted as saying by the Liberation.What does all this mean?It means that the clochards of Paris are also a reality in most other major cities across the EU. It’s a situation that threatens the future of European society. What is more, it is evidence that austerity policies and the narrow under-standing of fiscal discipline have failed. No, the dream that the forefathers of the EU had for this union did not in-clude this painful and shameful reality. Does this mean that their children have failed?

Extreme poverty: a contemporary plague for the EU

Brussels headquarters

Av. de Tervuren/Tervurenlaan 96, 1040 Brussels, BelgiumTel. +32 2 5390039 Fax +32 2 5390339info@neweurope.eu

PuBlishers Brussels News ageNcy sPrl

Avenue de Tervueren 96 1040 Etterbeek BelgiumTel. +32 2 5390039info@neweurope.eu

exterNal coNtriButioNs

Signed Contributions express solely the views of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the newspaper. NE is printed on recycled paper.

© 2013 New Europe all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or otherwise, without ex-press permission. The Publishers accept no liability for third party views published, nor damage caused by reading, viewing or using our content. All information is correct at the time of going to print, we accept no liabilities for consequent changes.N

EW E

URO

PE

ISSN

Nu

mb

er: 1

106-

8299

director A lexandros Koronakisa@neweurope.eu

executive layout ProducerS uman Haque

sh@neweurope.eu

suBscriPtioNs & distriButioN subscriptions@neweurope.euSubscriptions are available worldwide

iNdePeNdeNceNew Europe is a privately owned independent publication, and is not subsidised or financed in any way by any EU institution or other entity.

editor Basil A. Coronakis b@neweurope.eu

MaNagiNg editors Ko nstantin Tsapogas von Taube kt@neweurope.euTh eodoros Benakis (Print ed.)

tb@neweurope.eu

seNior editorial teaM K ostis Geropoulos

(Energy & Russian Affairs) kg@neweurope.eu

A ndy Carling (EU Affairs) ac@neweurope.eu

A riti Alamanou (Legal Affairs) aa@neweurope.eu

L ouise Kissa (Fashion) lk@neweurope.eu

coNtriButiNg editorsDan Alexe Christina Vasilaki

03inside eUNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 december, 2013

By Christina Vasilaki

In an interview to New Europe, Niels Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights urges EU leaders to restore the Eu-

ropean social model and put back on the agen-da human, social and economic rights. Given the non binding character of the Council of Europe’s recommendations, the willingness of the European governments to protect EU citizens’ rights in times of crisis will be soon tested.

Apart from the “urgent consolidation programmes”, the new economic gover-nance sets some binding new rules, which are actually rending austerity permanent. How can your recommendations take an equally binding character?

My recommendations are not binding. I have to persuade governments that there is in their interest to take the steps that we recom-mend. For example, in Greece, we were suc-cessful in raising the dangers to democracy posed by Golden Dawn. I never had such media interest for any report that I put out from Greece. In Spain, it’s clear that the media picked up on the alarm bells we rang about child poverty and the situation of children. In other contexts, our messages did not really have any impact.

In your report you talk about alternative solutions to deal with the crisis: “Deficit fi-nancing, debt restructuring, development assistance, international cooperation”. Un-like what you propose, the EU has even add-ed recently a conditionality clause on its co-hesion policy. Is the Council of Europe in a position to condemn these policies?

I am not in the business of condemning. I am in the business of trying to persuade part-ners. Including the EU. But, these kinds of

measures are definitely problematic. I believe that EU money, cohesion and structural funds, EU bailout packages should safeguard human rights. And if conditions are put on them that are unrealistic or create more damage than good, I think it is up to the National Human Rights Structures to criticise them. It is also part of my job and I am trying to do this.

In countries under fiscal adjustment programme labour rights are more and more violated with the excuse that these policies will revitalise the labour market. The deterioration of the labour rights pro-tection can be excused?

No, labour rights, collective bargaining and so on should not be suspended in times of economic crisis. Trade unions have worked to establish these rights for many years. They should be protected under the Social Charter.

I try to raise these concerns when I meet with the national authorities and to point at their obligation in the Social Charter.

The problem is that the Social Charter does not have that kind of enforcement mech-anism that the European Court of Human

Rights has. That is because member states did not want a strong mechanism protecting social and economic rights. But I think it is very use-ful in raising awareness and reminding mem-ber states and governments of their obligations even if they are not always fulfilled.

Muiznieks: “Member states did not want a strong mechanism protecting social and economic rights”

(Continued from Page 01)

According to the report, most national deficits had not resulted from unsustainable public expenditure before the crisis period but from public rescues of financial markets (estimated at €4.5 trillion in the EU between 2008 and 2011, or 37% of the region’s GDP) and reductions in tax revenue stemming from the economic downturn and record unem-ployment. Nonetheless, the policy response of the second wave of the crisis (2010-2013) was characterised by contractionary fiscal policies, cuts in public expenditure, selective tax hikes, pension reforms and reductions in labour protection aimed at curbing public deficits, revitalizing the economy and gain-ing financial market confidence. “After three years of austerity, these chosen measures have not yet achieved their stated aims,” concludes

the report whilst underlying that tax reforms often force low income people to shoulder high responsibilities for economic recovery as they spend a higher proportion of their in-come on food and basic services. “Taxes on income, property and financial transactions, by contrast,” suggests the report, “generally have more equal distributive effects.”

The paper points out that the current cri-sis and the way the EU leadership chose to deal with it, has resulted primarily in the vio-lation of the right to employment. “In 2012 alone, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) found 13 countries in breach of their duty under Article 1of the revised Eu-ropean Social Charter to pursue full employ-ment policies,” writes the editor of the paper. Among the “culprits” are Greece, Italy, but also Turkey, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Lat-via, Moldova and Slovakia. The report high-lights in particular the case of Greece, where there is “a significant lack of social dialogue.” High unemployment tends to weaken work-ers’ bargaining power, leading to high worker vulnerability and lower economic growth rates. Labour exploitation, including child labour, human trafficking and mistreatment of migrant workers, has been a constant con-cern of experts as demand for cheap labour increases, economic conditions deteriorate and fewer public authorities are available to conduct labour inspections or offer child pro-tection services.

According to the paper, the right to hous-ing has been also compromised as a result of the economic crisis. “The housing market cri-sis at the root of the financial and economic

crises, coupled with growing unemployment, induced a sharp increase in evictions as a re-sult of non payment of mortgages, foreclosures and home repossessions in many countries.23 Since 2007, homelessness has increased in 15 of the 21 countries monitored by national ex-perts. The crisis has been identified as a key driver of expanding homelessness in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK. New groups of homeless have emerged, with home-lessness spreading among migrants, young people, women and families”.

Finally the Commissioner for Human Rights calls on governments to strengthen the effectiveness and independence of the ombudsmen, human rights institutions and equality bodies so that they are empowered to assume a critical role in safeguarding human rights during economic crisis. CV

Muiznieks: Lenders and EU have undermined European citizens’ human rights “You have forgotten your obligations towards the most vulnerable,” the message of Human rights Commissioner to the EU.

By Elena Ralli

In 2012, 124.5 million people, or 24.8% of the population, in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 24.3% in 2011 and 23.7% in 2008, according to data published today by Eurostat. These people were in at least one of the following three conditions: at-risk-of-poverty, severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity.The highest shares of persons being at risk of poverty or social exclusion were recorded in Bulgaria (49%), Romania (42%), Latvia (37%) and Greece (35%), and the lowest in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic (both 15%), Finland (17%), Sweden and Luxembourg (both 18%).

17% at risk of povertyIn the EU28, 17% of the population were at-risk-of-poverty in 2012 due to the economic crisis. The highest at-risk-of-poverty rates were observed in Greece and Romania (both 23%), Spain (22%), Bulgaria and Croatia (both 21%), and the lowest in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (both 10%), Denmark, Slovakia and Finland (all 13%).A significant variation in the poverty thresh-old among Member States has been ob-

served. The threshold also varies from time to time depending on the economic situa-tion at a given period.

10% severely materially deprived10% of the EU population were severely ma-terially deprived in 2012, meaning that they experienced bad living conditions due to a lack of resources such as not being able to afford to pay their bills, or keep their home adequately warm. The share of those severely materially de-prived varied significantly among Member States, ranging from less than 5% in Luxem-bourg and Sweden (both 1%), the Nether-lands (2%), Denmark and Finland (both 3%) and Austria (4%) to 44% in Bulgaria, 30% in Romania and 26% in Latvia and Hungary.

10% in households with very low work intensityFor the same period, 10% of the EU popu-lation aged 0-59 lived in households where the adults worked less than 20% of their total work potential. Croatia (16%), Spain, Greece and Belgium (all 14%) had the high-est proportion of those living in very low work intensity households, and Luxembourg and Cyprus (both 6%) the lowest.

25% of EU population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2012

Niels Muiznieks EPA

04 inside eU NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 december, 2013

The Ukrainian government dispatched on Thursday and Friday a “technical mission”to Brussels, after the Commission had rejected Kiev’s demand for a tripartite series of consultations between Ukraine, Russia and the EU.The consultations focus for the time being on the level of participa-tion in the future high-level meeting that Ukraine wants to obtain before the end of the year. Commission officials insist that a negotiation of the details of the Agreement that Ukraine already rejected is totally out of the question.

In his turn, the European Parliament’s president Martin Schulz asked the Parlia-ment’s two envoys, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former Euro-pean Parliament President Pat Cox, to trav-

el back to Kiev, in order to try to establish a dialogue between the government and the opposition. Ukrainian President Viktor Ya-nukovych shocked the EU last week by re-fusing to sign an association pact, leading to big demonstrations in Kiev and other cities. Before that, Ukrainian officials had tried to raise the stakes by putting a very high figure on the compensations that Kiev thinks it is entitled to receive for choosing Brussels rather than Moscow.

The EU’s offer to Ukraine is still on the table, while Kiev has not yet joined the “Customs Union” that Russia is trying to put into place with its protégés Belarus and Kazakhstan. Officially, everything is still workable and Ukraine has only temporarily “suspended” the signing of its Association

Agreement with the EU. The Commission insists that the benefits for Ukraine will come only in the long run and offers to help Ukraine in its negotiations with the IMF.

Meanwhile, a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-opera-tion in Europe (OSCE) opened on Thurs-day in Kiev, Ukraine holding presently the presidency of the organisation. Some of the most important Western figures skipped the event. The chief of EU’s diplomacy Cath-erine Ashton presented a plausible excuse, having to chair a Serbia-Kosovo consulta-tions in Brussels, but the American state secretary John Kerry ostensibly annulled his Kiev trip and traveled instead to Chisinau, the capital of the “good pupil” of the Eastern neighbourhood Moldova. DA

CAP reform: Bad things come to those who wait

By Britta Reimers

The European Parliament has recently adopted the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Sadly, mistakes of the past are still being repeated and the know-how of farmers has largely been ignored. The good news is that the actual reform will bring more liberty to European farmers. The Liberals have been fight-ing to finally abolish the milk-quota in 2015 and the sugar quota in 2017. That way, in the near future Europe’s farmers can act as en-trepreneurs who determine their market position widely by them-selves. The bad news is that ‘milk lakes’ and ‘butter mountains’, which we thought we had overcome long time ago, may sneak in through the backdoor since public intervention has been extended once more. Thus, there might be the danger of going back to the principle of “quantity before quality” in the future. New “bureau-cratic monsters” were created, one of them being “greening”, which obliges farmers to cultivate a specific part of their land in a highly restricted way based on a questionable ecological understanding. This reform cannot be called sustainable as its economic, social and ecological requirements for agriculture are not in balance. Overly focussing on a unsubstantial ecological understanding combined with returning to a planned economy and protection-ism, it poses a threat to all progress made by European agriculture towards achieving an ideal position in a globalised market. What currently matters the most to Europe’s farmers, and especially do-mestic small and medium-sized companies, who largely contribute to conserving the landscape, is implementing all positive aspects of this reform into their daily work.Nonetheless, November 20th, 2013 was an historic day for Euro-pean agriculture. For the first time since the coming into effect of the Lisbon treaty, the European Parliament has shared the same powers as the Commission and the Council in the process of adopting a whole new CAP reform. By taking a negotiating posi-tion and giving a mandate to a multi-group negotiating team, the European Parliament has proven its enhanced flexibility as well as its higher capability of reaching decisions compared to Council representatives who had to have each adjustment of their position authorized by the Council. At the end of the day, however, too many backdoor decisions were taken during so-called “technical meetings” mostly determined by the special interests of single member states. Upholding these exemptions would put the CAP at risk of renationalisation. Years ago, the CAP was established to secure the food-supply as well as an adequate development in incomes for farmers in Europe. This goal still remains. In times of globalisation, some circumstances, though, have changed quite extensively. From here on, Europe has to react. With current global and social problems such as climate change and the financial crisis unsolved farmers also face addi-tional challenges: Produce more with lesser resources while at the same time guarantee consumers access to sufficient, affordable, high-quality and - in the light of food scandals - secure food. As of today, Europe’s farmers do find themselves in a position to give the right answers to these challenges – yet, no one wants to hear them out. During the last couple of years, European farmers have shown competitiveness in many areas as well as their capacity to meet the requirements of a globalised market. To cope with occasional shortcomings, CAP actions must pro-vide targeted support to facilitate competing on a global mar-ket. In spite of having discussed these issues for years, the actual CAP reform takes the wrong approach; instead of promoting entrepreneurial agriculture that adheres to the existing market requirements, a “shotgun approach” is applied. Existing struc-tures are preserved without ever having a closer look at business competitiveness. The European Parliament, being the voice of all European citizens including farmers, needs to stay on top of these issues. It is of utmost importance that farmers and their know-how shape the future of agriculture – not ideology-driven bureaucrats in far-away Brussels.

The EU - Russia arm wrestling around Ukraine continuesRussia’s temporary success might well prove to be a Pyrrhic victory.

Romanian and Bulgarian governments have made a national issue out of the joining EU’s border-free areaBy Dan Alexe

“Schengen”, a name that for the common citizens means noth-ing more than the lifting of

border controls at EU’s internal borders was again, on Thursday, 5 December, the subject of a spat between Romania and Bulgaria, on the one side, and, on the other hand, the remaining EU members of the Schengen area. At a meeting of the In-terior ministers in Brussels, the Romanian minister Radu Stroe told his colleagues in essence : “We are ready for Schengen when you are too”. It has been more than three years since now the European Com-mission announced that Bulgaria and Ro-mania, which joined the EU in 2007, were technically ready to join Schengen. Still, the accession of the two countries is met with serious opposition.

The Schengen area consists of 25 member states: 22 EU countries (all ex-cept Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, the UK and Cyprus) as well as three associated countries: Norway, Iceland and Switzer-land. Denmark has signed the Schengen agreement, but negotiated certain excep-tions and opt-out clauses.

For Romania and Bulgaria, entry into Schengen is a question of national pride. In Romania, Schengen became a per-manent argument in the eternal dispute between the shaky coalition government and the president Traian Basescu, whom the government is permanently trying to overthrow. At the same time, both sides put the blame on the EU. At a session of the Romanian government on Tuesday, Ponta said: “Whatever depends on us for Schengen accession we did it, whatever depends from member states they can do it when they want. We no longer wait to be

given a date. When they will finish all their national election, when they will sort out all their problems, they will find us ready.”

The Romanian, and to a lesser degree, the Bulgarian governments are trying to convince their population that the reason for their inability to join EU’s border-free area is now strictly due to the opposition of a number of older EU members, in particular the Netherlands and Germany, who until now have systematically used their veto.

On the other hand, the older mem-bers of the EU who oppose the two coun-tries’ accession to Schengen are wrong on a certain number of counts. Bulgarians and Romanians are already free to travel to the Schengen space since 2001. Keeping them out off Schengen would not change this. Also, Schengen is unrelated to the so-called “Cooperation and Verification Mechanism” (CVM) set by the Commis-sion to monitorize the functioning of jus-

tice in Bulgaria and Romania.Romanian and Bulgarian govern-

ments have made a national issue out of Schengen, although at least in the case of Romania the issue has been muddled by the government’s erratic change of attitude and discourse. Nowhere does the name of Schengen stir more passions than in Ro-mania. After officials in the present coali-tion government dismissed, beginning of this year, Romania’s entry intro Schengen as irrelevant, as they systematically do, a massive movement of virtual protest took hold of social networks, with countless internet users adding “Schengen” to their names (like, for instance, Dan Schengen Alexe).

For simple citizens, the issue remains mainly passional. They confuse it with Cameron’s demands for a ban on Romani-an and Bulgarian migrants, although UK, like Romania and Bulgaria, is not even a member in Schengen.

Border policemen stand guard next to a border fences which are planned to be buildt on the Bulgarian border with Turkey, near the village of Golyam Dervent on November 28, 2013. AFP PHOTO / NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV

Schengen - a passional issueBritta Reimers is ALDE-MEP and Member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

05ANALYSISNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

By Erik Wesselius

Next week, a group of MEPs and Commission-er Maroš Šefčovič will

complete their review of the EU lobby register and make recom-mendations for changes to the cur-rent register. By all accounts, nego-tiations are finely poised and the group is split on whether or not to opt for a timetable to introduce a mandatory lobby register.

For anyone who supports more transparency and account-ability in lobbying and policy-making in Brussels, a mandatory lobby register is a no-brainer. Civil society has a right to know who is trying to gain influence in EU politics, with what budget, on which issues and on whose be-half. This situation will only come about through the transition to a register with which all lobbyists targeting the EU institutions have to comply.

A mandatory lobby register would greatly improve the trans-parency around EU lobbying. The current register is inadequate and major corporations such as ABN-Amro Bank, Adidas, Amazon, Delhaize, Goldman Sachs, Time Warner and others are absent.

Virtually all law firms carrying out lobbying activities also boy-cott the EU lobby register.

Meanwhile, disclosure require-ments are very limited and too much of the data within the reg-ister is unreliable, incomplete or outdated, meaning that the overall

picture of lobbying in Brussels re-mains unclear. There are few sanc-tions or penalties for breaking the rules and non-registration is no barrier to meeting with Commis-sioners or senior EU officials. The Commission continues to give the wrong signals, as it is meeting with, and attending events of, un-registered lobby groups.

ALTER-EU proposes that the group decides to develop a man-datory register while in the short term, a number of transitional measures to boost registration are introduced. These should include bans on: Commission meetings with unregistered lobbyists, at-tendance at events organised by unregistered lobby groups and on such groups from sitting on the Commission’s EU advisory groups. If these measures were combined with an improved lob-byists’ code of conduct, more concrete and up to date disclosure requirements and tougher action against non-compliance, the EU register could really be said to be world class.

Yet arguments are constantly put forward as to why a mandatory register would not work in the EU. It would not be compatible with EU law, some argue. However, the distinguished professor in public and international law, Markus Kra-jewski persuasively argues that EU treaties do provide a legal basis for a mandatory register.

Another often-used argument against a mandatory lobby register claims that mandatory lobbying

disclosure in the US has led to a de-cline in the numbers of registered lobbyists as they seek to avoid the rules. This is not true (registered lobbyists numbers have grown massively since the register was introduced in the mid-1990s) and neither is the assertion that the current EU register reveals more about lobbyists than the US sys-tem. The US lobby register is not 100 per cent perfect, but a manda-tory EU register could learn from, and build on the lessons from US system.

At the end of the day, a deci-sion to opt for a mandatory lobby register will come down to politi-cal will and ambition. The Euro-pean Parliament, the only direct-ly-elected EU institution, voted for such a step in 2011, although this view has been all but ignored since then. Meanwhile polls show that EU citizens, when asked, are strongly in favour of a mandatory EU lobby register . Over 10,000 citizens recently signed a petition on this in just two weeks.

2013 is the EU Year of the Citi-zen, but so far there has been little to celebrate. On 12 December, the working group on the lobby reg-ister will make its final decisions. Will it opt for business as usual, or choose to secure the right to know about the role of lobbying in EU decision-making with a timetable for a mandatory lobby register?

Erik Wesselius, steering committee member of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU)

Now or never for a mandatory EU lobby register

After Dalligate, there are serious concerns over the influence of tens of thousands of lobbyists in Brussels. Dierk SchAefer

By Dan Alexe

The NATO-Russia meeting at for-eign ministers’ level ended acrimo-niously on Wednesday, 4 December in Brussels, after the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov directly con-demned NATO’s declaration on Ukraine and especially the personal intervention of the secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen :“I don’t know why NATO should issue such statements,” said Lavrov, “and I don’t know why NATO Sec-retary General Mr. Fogh Rasmus-sen should answer a question as to whether Russia could send troops to Ukraine... I don’t know why such questions should be asked at all. And, in my opinion, this produces a distorted picture, and such signals may cause an absolutely incorrect understanding of what is going on in some distorted and inflamed minds,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Brussels following the meeting. “We presume that this is Ukraine’s inter-nal affair,” he added.Lavrov insisted on Wednesday that he also did not understand NATO’s con-demnation of Ukraine authorities for using excessive force against protesters and urged outsiders not to interfere in the situation there. “I expect that Ukrainian politicians will find a way to turn the situation back onto the con-stitutional track. We support this and call on everyone not to interfere in this situation”, Lavrov said.In the same vein, the Russian foreign minister insisted that a solution to the situation with Iran’s nuclear program, especially after the restart of negotia-tions with Tehran, should make the creation of a missile defense system in Europe unnecessary.The former Soviet republic of Geor-gia remained another sticking point. NATO is as much preoccupied as the EU by the stability of its Eastern neighbours, but concerning one of them, Georgia, NATO finds itself in a special kind of double bind.On the one hand, NATO has offi-cially promised Georgia that it would join the Alliance, at an unspecified date. That was in 2008, at the Bucha-rest summit, a decision that angered Russia. Then, to NATO’s and EU’s dismay, the then Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili started a failed military offensive against the breaka-way autonomous republic of South Ossetia, in an attempt to reclaim the territory.Russia reacted by sending troops

into South Ossetia, and launched airstrikes against Georgian forces in South Ossetia and military and logis-tical targets in Georgia proper. Geor-gia was utterly defeated, and Russian troops have remained stationed in the territory of South Ossetia, as well as in Abkhazia, another Georgian autonomous republic that declared itself independent in 1991.Since then, relations between Rus-sia and Georgia remained tense, in spite of a change in the Georgian government and of new presidential elections this year. In Brussels on Wednesday NATO’s secretary gen-eral Rasmussen reaffirmed the Alli-ance’s firm stance that Russia should respect the “sovereignty and territo-rial integrity of Georgia within its in-ternational recognized borders”, and also that NATO stands firm “by its decision taken at the Bucharest sum-mit and will continue to support the Georgian people in fulfilling their as-piration to NATO membership”.In his turn, Lavrov reiterated Russia’s opposition to NATO’s further en-largement eastward.“As to NATO’s enlargement, regard-less of Georgia, we are convinced that it constitutes an extension of the old and inertial logic of the Cold War era,” Lavrov said. “Not only does it preserve the division lines that all of us have committed to dismantle, but it amounts to transposition of those lines further into the East.”As to the de-facto independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Lavrov said that what he called “a new reality in the Caucasus” should be accepted by the West.“This is a new reality in the Caucasus and this reality has to be recognized,” Lavrov said. “The very fact that the Geneva discussions are being attend-ed on equal footing by South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Georgia, along with Russia, the United States, the Euro-pean Union, the UN, the OSCE, to discuss security and humanitarian is-sues proves that there is no other way forward but dialogue.”There has been progress on a techni-cal point, though, with NATO and Russia deciding to open a trust fund next year with the purpose of dispos-ing of old ammunition. NATO Sec-retary General Anders Fogh Rasmus-sen said there was a lot to be done in this new project, the joint trust fund dealing with old munitions. The first stage of the project will begin in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, stuck between Poland and Lithuania.

NATO-Russia disagree again on Ukraine, Georgia, Iran

NATO-Russia meeting in Brussels ends acrimoniously, with Sergey Lavrov accusing the West of continuing “the inertial logic of the Cold War era”.

06 ANALYSIS NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

By Kostis Geropoulos

ATHENS – The European Union, unlike Russia, cannot “black-mail” or offer cash incentives to Kiev to bring it closer to the 28-member states but will stand tall in support of the people in Ukraine in their quest for a fair and free election, Hannes Swoboda, President of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, told New Europe in Athens on 2 December.“We cannot offer to Ukraine what Russia offered – a lot of money, blackmailing and so on. What we can offer is to be open with the citizens, to care for free and fair election and then we will see after the election what the new government wants to do or the new pres-ident wants to do. We have to wait. But I think that the election can show very clearly the true will of the citizens,” Swoboda said at the European Parliament office in Athens on the sidelines of an event discussing the priorities of the upcoming rotating EU Greek Presi-dency, starting on 1 January 2014. His comments came as thou-sands of Ukrainians gathered in Kiev’s Independence Square for a 12th day of protests against President Viktor Yanukovych’s deci-sion not to sign a landmark trade agreement with the EU. The As-sociation Agreement was to be the centrepiece of an EU meeting in Vilnius last week. Yanukovych put preparations for the agreement on hold a week before the summit, citing concerns that his country could pay a high economic price because of Russian opposition to the EU agreement. Protesters reportedly clashed with the police outside the office of Yanukovych in Kiev on 1 December.On 2 December, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin slammed street protests in Ukraine, saying “the events in Ukraine seem more like a pogrom than a revolution”.Swoboda told New Europe in Athens that Russia may have tem-porarily persuaded the Ukrainian government not to sign the As-sociation Agreement but its victory is not final. “It won for the mo-ment. But there are many, many requests from Ukraine itself that it’s not the end of the game,” he said.The people of Ukraine must be able to rely on EU also in future, he said. “We have to continue to offer Ukraine a possibility to come closer to Europe and therefore Russia has not yet won,” the S&D group president said. Ukraine is an important route for natural gas supplies to the EU. Russia, which supplies 60% of Ukraine’s natu-ral gas, threatened trade measures against Kiev if the EU deal went ahead and offered membership in its Customs Union as an alterna-tive, suggesting the latter would lead to low gas prices.Ukraine claims Russian gas monopoly Gazprom exploits its domi-nant position as a supplier to impose exorbitant prices. Pricing dis-putes between Kiev and Moscow in 2006 and 2009 led to Russia temporarily shutting off gas deliveries not just to Ukraine, but also to some European countries. Swoboda, who is from Austria where gas hub Baumgarten is major transit point for the Russian natural gas imported by Western Europe, said he doesn’t believe that the upcoming Greek Presidency may have to face a new gas crisis in the middle of the cold winter. “I don’t think so and I hope not. All sides have to be reasonable and I hope that Russia has no interest in addition to what concerns now the situation in Ukraine to enhance another crisis,” he said. Nevertheless, he said Europe is prepared for the worse if the situation between Russia and Ukraine deteriorates. “We are much better prepared than in the past because of our re-serves and our two-way flows,” Swoboda said, referring to EU plans to operate gas pipelines in reverse.

EU: Russia’s Ukraine blackmail won’t work

MUNICH – More than ten weeks after its general election, Germany continues to be without a new government. But, though the post-election coalition nego-tiations have been unusually prolonged, there is little disagreement between the parties over foreign and security policy.

Indeed, when Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) finally presented their coalition agree-ment on November 27, the working group on foreign and security policy had been finished with its job for two weeks. Except for a few tweaks that generally resonate more at home than with Germa-ny’s European and international partners (such as requiring the government to be more transparent concerning arms ex-ports to autocratic regimes), continuity and caution will remain the watchwords of German foreign and security policy.

Observers may disagree about whether German leaders’ stance provides a welcome sign of reliability or reflects a lamentable lack of diplomatic ambition. Those who hope for more active Ger-man leadership may well be disappointed by the new government.

Big ideas, or even big questions, are notably absent from the coalition agree-ment. This is very much a reflection of many Germans’ views about themselves and their future: they are comfortable with the status quo, see no need for fur-ther reform proposals, are not interested in grand strategy, and would largely pre-fer to be left alone.

Consider NATO policy. Successive German governments have maintained that the alliance should be, or even is, the place to discuss and decide on key security challenges. But Germany has at times been rather reluctant to take crisis issues to NATO headquarters. And when it comes to provision of military and ci-vilian security beyond what the coalition agreement calls “our geographic neigh-borhood,” the incoming government will favor enabling other regional organiza-tions to do the job.

Or consider the question of Turkey’s accession to the European Union. Con-tinuing disagreement between the coali-tion partners will not permit a proactive German role. Instead, the compromise solution will be no solution: neither yes nor no.

At the same time, some interesting new perspectives appear in the coali-tion agreement. For starters, the United States’ strategic “pivot” to the Asia-Pacif-ic region is described as an opportunity for Europe to assert a coordinated foreign policy that finally plays a role in the de-velopment of cooperative policies in the region.

Moreover, to encourage this out-come, the coalition agreement prom-ises that the government will “adopt new initiatives to strengthen and deepen the Common Foreign and Security Policy” after the EU summit in December 2013. It includes a call for an annual European Council session on security and defense, as well as for a strategic debate about the purpose of EU foreign relations. In addi-tion, the German government will sup-port European defense integration and maintain the establishment of a Euro-pean army as a long-term goal. This may not amount to much in practice, but the language in this section is much less tepid than elsewhere.

Finally, the coalition agreement re-sponds to concerns about Germany’s ability to be a reliable partner in NATO and EU military missions in a potentially more integrated EU defense organiza-tion. According to a 1994 ruling by Ger-many’s Constitutional Court, the Ger-man parliament has the final say when it comes to deploying soldiers. However, Germany’s partners will hardly agree to integrate forces further if the German

parliament were to retain a veto over their deployment.

The coalition partners disagree about how urgent it is to sort out this is-sue. Nonetheless, they have agreed that, within a year, a commission will provide different options and models to protect the German parliament’s rights while providing assurances to Germany’s Eu-ropean partners that the country will be a reliable contributor to troop deploy-ments.

Should the SPD, which will vote on the coalition agreement in early Decem-ber, block the formation of the new gov-ernment (an unlikely development but not entirely out of the question), disputes over security and defense affairs would not be the culprit. Aside from a few mi-nor particulars, consensus prevails.

For some, that is a cause for ambiva-lence. “I do not like the idea that Ger-many plays itself up to impose its will on others,” German President Joachim Gauck said recently. “Yet neither do I like the idea that Germany plays itself down to eschew risks or solidarity.”

Whether German foreign policy can and should do more is a reasonable question. To some degree, the new coa-lition will feel the pressure and consider the necessity to assume more responsi-bility for international leadership. But it will respond ever so slowly and ever so carefully.

The bottom line is this: Expect no surprises from Germany. Considering how difficult it has been for some, if not most, other EU countries to deal with the challenges of the last five years, that is ac-tually rather good news.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013.www.project-syndicate.org

Germany’s same old foreign policyBy Wolfgang Ischinger

Wolfgang Ischinger, former State Secretary of the German Federal Foreign Office and a former German

ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom, is Chairman of the Munich Security Conference and Global Head of Governmental Relations at Allianz SE.

Steady hands: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and German Foreign Minis-ter Guido Westerwelle (L) EPA/RAINER JENSEN

Thousands Ukrainian protesters gather for a pro-EU opposition rally at the Independence Square in Kiev, 1 December 2013. AFP PHOTO/GENYA SAVILOV

07ANALYSISNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

BRUSSELS - Three years after the mass demonstration in Moscow and other cit-ies in Russia the persistent hopes for pro-gress towards democracy have proven false. Instead of loosening the reins of “managed democracy”, Putin III appears resolved to tighten the shackles on the opposition. Latest examples are the trial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny con-victed to 5 years in prison, released on bail and on-going investigations in the so-called Bolotnaya case. Civil society, al-ready fragile, is being bullied, intimidated and crushed. Reactionary, nationalistic and arch-conservative aspirations are gaining ground, helped forward by the Putin-run “Popular Front” and the Or-thodox Church’s stronger status as a pil-lar of the state. The results can be seen in the oppression of homosexuals and the ruthless punishment of the punk band Pussy Riot, which had the temerity to de-nounce the unholy alliance between the Orthodox Church and the Kremlin.

Russia’s political system is coming to resemble more and more the GDR’s – a system in which Putin was well versed and quite at home. At the top, a ruler with unlimited supremacy, supported by an all-powerful secret service, a National Front with puppet political parties and a national economy directed and monopo-lized by the state. With certain Soviet ele-ments and systematic corruption added to the mix.

The extreme measures against the opposition, seen by some as an indica-tion of paranoia, are partly motivated by Putin’s personal attitudes. Russia’s

president experienced glasnost and pe-restroika only to a limited extent and at a great remove. He sees the collapse of the Soviet system as the “greatest geopo-litical catastrophe of the 20th century”. It was at first hand, though, that he, then a KGB agent in Dresden, witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, following mass dem-onstrations protesting election fraud, the shortage economy and repression. The storming of the Stasi headquarters was also important. Putin recalls having personally prevented a similar siege of the KGB office by facing down demon-strators, pistol in hand. Presumably, this “achievement” encouraged in him the resolve to respond decisively and harshly to anything which might appear to pose a threat. The “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine was a dramatic reminder of what was at stake, reinforcing Putin’s allergy to mass protest. In Belarus, Lukashenko demonstrated again that brutal action can nip protest in the bud.

So the current Duma, the outcome of falsified elections, rushed through a se-ries of laws targeting civil society. These include one requiring NGOs which re-ceive funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents”. Addressing his domestic intelligence agency, Putin declared that the law should be rigorously enforced. This triggered a series of raids and the imposition of numerous fines. The list of suspect organizations gets ever longer, including even the well-known Levada Center, whose surveys have displeased the autocratic president. Putin may have succeeded in bamboozling some people in the west into the belief that nothing untoward was occurring by suggesting that the USA had a similar law on the books. But the 1938 US law at issue was geared toward fascist propaganda, while Russia’s NGO law is grimly reminiscent of the era in which death sentences issued by Stalinist tribunals to people accused of being foreign agents were based on self-incrimination, usually in statements elic-

ited through torture. It goes without say-ing that an organization like “Memorial”, with the mission of awakening and pre-serving the memory of that Terror, will not agree to stigmatization of this kind.

Once again, the Russian media is pol-ishing up the stereotyped image of the West as villain. The omnipotent dream of a great power, able to hold its own against the USA, is re-emerging, rendered more glamorous through the haze of nostalgia. European-Russian relations, too, are in serious crisis. At best, only the “trade” part of “change through trade” still holds. A term like “partnership for moderniza-tion” disguises the reality: the EU has no need to modernize with regard to Russia while the Kremlin is simply not deliver-ing in that respect.

Without common aims and com-mon values, there can be no “strategic partnership”, especially as Europe is drawn increasingly into Putin’s firing line. “Foreign agents” – the EU, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, cannot permit such defamation of the partners to which it grants its support and thus tolerate the implication that the EU itself is support-ing a network of espionage and subver-sion. Liberal parties and initiatives try-ing to prevent a return to dictatorship are in need of support now more than ever. In many respects, these organiza-tions look to Europe as a model; access to Europe should be open to Russian citizens at all times through visa-free travel. However, we must not grant priv-ileges to officials involved in the repres-sions. And definitely not to those who are responsible for the death of the law-yer Sergei Magnitsky and have yet to be brought to justice. To them, entry must be denied.

The persisting protest in his coun-try will not cause a Putin to change his strike-hard stance. Unless, that is, the EU makes it clear to him that his policy is re-sulting, not in stability or modernization, but in Russia’s self-isolation.

Putin’s Russia: GDR reloaded

By Werner Schulz MEP Werner Schulz MEP (Greens, Germany) is Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee EU-

Russia and GDR civil rights activist.

Will they or won’t they? |EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV / POOL

Transparency Int.: Greeks feel they live in Europe’s

most corrupt countryCorruption in Slovenia and Spain is perceived to have increased in 2013

By Dan Alexe

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts… Running since the Antiquity, this saying would have nowadays in Greece a reversed mean-ing, Greeks being convinced today that they live in the most corrupt country of Europe. Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Greece as the country with the lowest degree of trust in the public servants’ honesty.Released on Tuesday, 3 December, the latest Transparency In-ternational report ranks 177 countries/territories – including all EU member states – according to the degree of trust in the public service, offering thus a warning that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world.“The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 demonstrates that all countries still face the threat of corruption at all levels of gov-ernment, from the issuing of local permits to the enforcement of laws and regulations,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Trans-parency International.Seven out of the 28 EU countries (25 per cent) in the 2013 in-dex score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean): Greece (40), Bul-garia (41), Romania (43), Italy (43), Slovakia (47), Czech Re-public (48), and Croatia (48). Three EU countries – Denmark (91), Finland (89), Sweden (89) – are perceived to have the least public sector corruption in the EU, and they also top the global ranking.Overall, no significant positive trend can be seen across the EU. Most notably, corruption in Slovenia (score down by 4 points compared to 2012) and Spain (-6) is perceived to have in-creased. However, there are also some positive developments in corruption perception in Estonia and Latvia (both +4), as well as in Greece (+4), which however remains the lowest-ranking EU country.“The persistence of corruption across the EU undermines con-fidence in government and is a drag on economic recovery,” said Carl Dolan, Director of the Transparency International EU Office. “Recurring corruption scandals around political party financing, the lack of adequate protection for whistleblowers, and the ease with which dirty money can evade detection are problems that require a collective response from EU and na-tional leaders. We hope that the European Commission’s anti-corruption report – due early next year – will highlight these issues and help put corruption at the top of the political agenda for the next mandate of the European Parliament.”In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, Denmark and New Zealand tie for first place with scores of 91. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia this year make up the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.“The top performers clearly reveal how transparency supports accountability and can stop corruption,” said Huguette Labelle. “Still, the better performers face issues like state capture, cam-paign finance and the oversight of big public contracts which remain major corruption risks.”The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on experts’ opin-ions of public sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by strong access to information systems and rules gov-erning the behaviour of those in public positions, while a lack of accountability across the public sector coupled with ineffective public institutions hurts these perceptions.

Whitewashing in EU-Russia relations must stop

08 ANALYSIS NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

In the late 70s and 80s, home comput-ers started arriving on the scene. By to-day’s standards, they were ridiculously

simple devices, something that was a bless-ing in disguise: the kids and teenagers of the time were able to understand them at depth by examining how they worked, modifying them, and see what happened.

Some of these people starting early businesses teaching other people to modi-fy their computers using modification kits, modkits.

The Commodore 64 sold in this era was heavily modified inside and out by the nerds and geeks of its time - today’s serial tech entrepreneurs - and that computer model, introduced in XXX, remained the most sold computer model for almost 30 years, thanks to its modifiability. It was ver-satile enough that it could be repurposed for a number of geek projects.

Today’s politicians have banned such

repurposing. Made it illegal. Criminal. At the request

of today’s dominant industries, particular-ly the copyright and broadcast industries. Effectively, this prevents a new generation of serial tech entrepreneurs like those who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

Under the diffuse title of “anti-circum-vention laws”, today’s industries are lobby-ing for a regime where it may be physically possible to take apart and tinker with the technology you buy, learning how it works like people did in the 80s, but where it is illegal and criminal to do so. Allegedly, this is to safeguard and enforce various Indus-trial Protectionism (IP) mechanisms - and that name couldn’t be a better fit, seeing how these mechanisms act to safeguard against future competition.

In the “Holy Quest For More Copy-right Protectionism”, the copyright indus-try has positioned itself as an enemy not just of any new or future technology, but also as an enemy of the future competitive-ness of Europe.

Ultimately, this boils down to the ques-tion of ownership. Nobody has been able to explain to me, if I buy a DVD, why it should be criminally illegal for me to play that DVD on any device I want to play it on. It’s mine, after all. I have the receipt

right here. Nor has anybody been able to explain to me why I shouldn’t be able to take apart my DVD player (the key word being “my”) to turn it into something else, and sell the result if I like (or sell a kit al-lowing somebody to do the same to their player).

We have allowed a regime to emerge where big corporations can pretend to sell products, taking consumers’ money but never really allowing ownership to be transferred to the buyer, instead retaining control themselves. That’s unacceptable, particularly so as it prevents a future com-petitive and viable business climate.

Incumbent industries, those we like to call “stakeholders”, have a very strong interest in preventing getting replaced by somebody else. That includes preventing a future generation of entrepreneurs that re-place today’s incumbents with something faster, cheaper, and better - something more competitive.

It’s in Europe’s interest to have a new generation of entrepreneurs, to safeguard Europe’s future competitiveness. In con-trast, today’s incumbent industries only have value to Europe today - they will be obsolete tomorrow, replaced by something else, whether that something comes from Europe or not.

State or Market?

By Francisco Jaime Quesado

There is a strong academic and political debate about which is the best way to implement the most adequate policies to overcome crisis. On the one hand, there are those that defend that the solution is in the state, that must develop a global strategy focused on the role of investment as a growth ena-bler; on the other hand, there are those that pre-fer the solution of the market, centered in the free and entrepreneur participation of the social and economic actors. The crisis is becoming more and more complex and the results don ´t appear. The question is in this way more and more imperative – where is the best answer for such a difficult ques-tion?The best solution to this global complex crisis seems to be a new kind of public policies centered in new effective partnership contracts between all the actors (States, Universities, Companies, Civil Society), in order to build a real strategy of confi-dence in the implementation of the different poli-cies. Innovation, Creativity and Knowledge as the drivers of creating added value with international dissemination and with this strategy the commit-ment is done between those who have the respon-sibility of thinking and those that have the respon-sibility of producing goods and services.The Market is present when we defend an active entrepreneurial culture and attitude - we need people to have a new challenge. People must be able to be the real platform of a more entrepre-neurial society, centered in new areas of knowledge and new sectors of value. In a schumpeterean soci-ety, the key word is Co-creation. To promote a dy-namic and active creation process involving each citizen is the big challenge for the next years and people must understand the real value of its own individual contribution to the global community. But the contribution of a new and effective state is essential at the same time. It will no be possible to construct the basis for a more competitive and integrative society with the capacity of giving the social and economic ecossystem the right tools for cooperation and participation. This is the rein-vention of the message of John Maynard Keynes, centered in a new concept of state bulding, more focused on the role of the strategic conditions that allow society to have the necessary conditions to implement its process of value construction.We need the State and the Market to be at the same time the necessary and right promoters of a new culture of society integration and competitive ad-vantage construction. This is not done by law, but by a strong and progressive process of social and economic construction, where the individual has the possibility and the right to participate and give its contribution. We believe in the State and in the Market. We believe in the future.

Francisco Jaime Quesado is the General Manager of the Innovation and Knowledge Society in Portugal, a public agency with the mission of coordinating the policies for Information Society and mobilizing it through dissemination, qualification and research activities. It operates within the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education

When today’s IT entrepreneurs grew up, politicians did not heed incumbent industries’ calls for prohibiting ordinary tinkering and small-scale tech shops. That’s why we have today’s IT entrepreneurs.

By Christian EngströmChristian Engström Member of the European Parliament Piratpartiet - The Pirate Party

Freedom to tinker essential for Europe’s future competitiveness

Do we still have a choice? EPA/ OLIVIER HOSLET

A member of New Europe’s Knowledge Network

09ANALYSISNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Security for Christmas?

The challenge is not new. All major battles begin with the promise to bring the boys home for Christ-

mas. Can we deliver on security on time?Recently, a political scientist in the

Irish Times (29/11/2013), John Coakley, reminded us that a security apparatus – complete with foreign policy – is a sine qua non of a federation. Whether we harbor of course a federal ambition is a question with less than a clear answer, likely to be dimmer come next European Elections.

Bottom line: we have as many “defense identities” as we have saints delivering presents to our youth: from St. Nicholas and St. Claus and all the way to St. Vasili. Nonetheless, security is the question of the month, perhaps the busiest in this respect for over a decade. NATO’s 28 Foreign Min-isters recently conferred in Brussels against the backdrop of the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, hailed as the “delivery summit” which, alas, did not deliver. On the 19th of December we have EU’s Eu-ropean Council, with the first item on the agenda being European Defense and Se-curity. All this energy devoted to defense underlies broader concerns. Europe is a net “security consumer,” called upon to con-template production, some degree of self-reliance and even provision. “How” and “to what end” is the question.

In Brussels, from NATO HQ to EU’s three main bodies, there are two broad views on what European Defense should

be about. One view is traditional, focusing on protecting territory. Another is that Eu-ropean nations should develop “synergies:” pool together Research and Development (R&D), develop capability in space, cyber-space and crisis management, and optimize procurement procedures. To this end, we are told, there are “frame capabilities” that need to lock in with “niche capabilities,” but to what end is unclear.

Do we have “prime others” or can we go ahead with the premise of a relatively secure neighborhood? We do not share a common mental map that would allow for a straightforward answer. Our disagreements are framed by diverging national security and defense cultures, tested against the backdrop of a severe socioeconomic crisis and an expected dramatic reshuffle in key institutional players: in 2014 we will have a New NATO Secretary General, a new Pres-ident of the Commission, a New High Rep-resentative for EU’s Foreign Affairs and a new President of the European Parliament. Each of these variables is as valid an excuse to lower the bar of expectations come De-cember. It has happened before.

We have not held a serious high level discussion on European Security since 2003, with a brief and less than fulfilling interval in 2008. Nonetheless, expectations must be raised, precisely because “constant variables” are not in place, readying for sub-stantive talk when substantive constants are in place. We are not ready.

I recently drafted the Common Security and Defense Policy Report on behalf of the European Parliament, which is to inform forthcoming EU Summit. The Report be-gins with the commonsensical observation that together we can do more than each one by ourselves. Easy to say, but let us be blunt. Some degree of security “self-reliance” in the vicinity of the Middle East, North Africa, the

Horn of Africa, the Caucasus and New East-ern Europe might entail security “provision.” As we speak, we are little more than the sum of our parts. Moving fast is something resolutely un-European, especially prior to Christmas, but move we must. The Report suggests a rethink for CDSP on the basis of a White Paper, which should at the very least animate the mutual security guarantee foreseen by our Treaties. If not, the Baltics, Poland and Greece will not feel they share “a common European destiny.” To this end, we must begin to walk the talk with a common maritime policy, as well as a framework for the defense of strategic infrastructure, such as oil and gas. Or else each will fend for him-self, a slope likely to become more slippery come next European elections.

These are things we need, but will not necessarily get. What can we realistically expect to get this December?

First, we must mandate the Commis-sion to draw proposals for the develop-ment of joint capabilities and operational infrastructure. We would wish for strong SME engagement in this scheme, for the benefit of innovation and employment, in consonance with the 2020 agenda. Needed consolidation in the sector can’t happen and won’t happen if we do not manage the transition, using policy instruments such as the European Social Fund or the European Adjustment to Globalization Fund.

Second, the European Defense Agen-cy (EDA) should be getting a clearer and stronger mandate. We must begin to scratch the surface of the fiscal dimension of this endeavor. Above all else, we need to think about a roadmap and a process of monitor-ing implementation; we cannot have a seri-ous conversation on defense once a decade.

Too much to expect perhaps but… The world moves faster than our expectations, even before Christmas.

The mountain fell

By Andy Carling

Constructive Ambiguity

The news was a little like hearing that Scafell no longer had its pike or that the Napes no longer had the Needle. Stewart Hulse, founder of the Langdale/Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team had passed away at 78.Anyone who has ever set foot on a mountain in Britain, and further fields owes him a few moments of their time as Hulse pushed through major changes to what was a pretty roughshod and improvised set of small teams, who often recruited in passing pubs on their way to an accident.After Hulse, rescue teams were professional in treat-ment, equipment and experience, but retained the old spirit of climber helping climber.He did this with a mixture of personality, persuasion, lis-tening, compassion, and if all that failed, then by sheer tenacity. He also had charm, modesty and a considerable ability to laugh at himself.His victories include re-organising teams to respond to events, bullying BT and Vodaphone into setting up a pager, and then mobile coverage in Cumbria. Other reforms seem minor, such as making rescuers ‘Coroners Officers,’ But this little thing meant that, if a body had been found, the rescue teams could deal with the situation, rather than having a poor uniformed cop-per standing on a rainy hillside for hours.Others, such as pioneering technology, such as a mobile fax in the 90s, that could take print outs from monitors and send to the hospitals where the casualty was likely to be treated. He pushed for paramedic training and by the time he was done, his rescue team, the busiest in Britain was financially sound and had better equipment than an ambulance. With 42 years of service, Hulse was a practi-tioner also. He had what was called a great ‘cragside man-ner’ – the ability to put the often disorientated and in-jured casualty at ease, although not always as he planned.With his warm Bury accent, he was attending a young lady of Asian descent who had injured her leg and was in some pain. “Now don’t you worry petal, we’ll soon sort you out petal” he reassured her time after time. “Now petal, take a breath of this, it’ll help you petal,” he said offering some entenox gas for pain relief.The girl looked amazed and asked, “How do you know my name?” He was awarded an MBE in 2001, which proves that if nothing else, the Duke of Edinburgh is a tolerant man. In trying to persuade the Duke’s outdoor scheme for youths to have proper equipment, including maps, Hulse had some pretty choice words to describe the Queen’s consort.His biggest battle was over VAT. He wanted teams to be exempted from it, on the grounds that their service was saving the hospitals and police a fortune. He also argued that people didn’t donate to mountain rescue teams – all voluntarily funded in the UK – in order for their money to go to the Treasury.He was meat by mealy mouthed politicians, far removed from reality as they were from the fells. Told it was im-possible because… they might have to consider giving the same exemptions to hospices, drug treatment cen-tres and so on Hulse’s frustration came out in a report, “This reminded us of when we had a meeting with An-gela Eagle MP. She compared and aligned mountain res-cue to the Cats Defence League, again a worthy cause, but not exactly a like-for-like life saving service in which human life can be at stake.”That’s what it was about for Hulse, allowing people to enjoy the great outdoors.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (L) speaks with Croatain Foreign minister and European Integration Vesna Pusic (C) and Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze (R) prior to a meeting gathering NATO foreign ministers at the organisation’s headquarters in Brussels, on December 4, 2013. AFP PHOTO/JOHN THYS

By Marilena Koppa MEP Marilena Koppa Member of the European Parliament, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)

10 ANALYSIS NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s barnstorming style might go down well with his

Turkish supporters but in international af-fairs he behaves more like a bull in a china shop. While Turkey is exerting every effort to revive accession talks with the EU,

Erdoğan recently called on Vladimir Putin to allow Turkey into the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and save it from the trouble of EU talks.

Despite the fact that Turkey in July 2005 signed the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement, extending the customs union to 10 new member states (including Cyprus), Prime Minister Erdoğan has de-clared “There is no country called Cyprus. There is the local administration of south Cyprus.” Obviously, there is something Mr Erdoğan has misunderstood.

Since the Turkish invasion in 1974, the northern part of the island has been occupied by Turkish forces and according to the 1960 Treaty of Establishment the United Kingdom occupies two Sovereign Base Areas, Akrotiri and Dhekelia. In other words, 40 percent of the Republic of Cy-prus is under foreign occupation. Never-theless, when Cyprus became a member of the EU in 2004, it was the whole island that became a member, as northern Cyprus was considered to be “those areas of the Republic of Cyprus in which the Govern-ment of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control”.

Notwithstanding the Turkish Prime Minister’s objections, according to inter-national law the government of the ROC is still considered the sole legal representa-tive of the island, although the Turkish-controlled north declared the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” in 1983. Turkey is still the only state that recognizes the TRNC, which has observer status in the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Coop-eration).

Furthermore, in 1984 the UN Secu-rity Council in Resolution 550 called on all states “not to recognise the purported state of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ set up by secessionist acts and calls upon them not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity”.

In 2009 the British High Court con-firmed that according to the Chicago Con-vention the Republic of Cyprus enjoys ex-clusive sovereignty over its entire territory as well as its airspace and adjacent territo-rial waters, which explains why it is impera-tive for Turkey to secure recognition for the TRNC and open the north to interna-

tional flights. To add to the confusion, the TRNC operates its own air traffic control, which poses a clear threat to air safety.

Getting it wrongThe main obstacle to Cyprus’ reuni-

fication is Turkey’s refusal to relinquish control of the island, which has been a con-stant aim of Turkish foreign policy since the Nihat Erim report in 1956. This has lat-er been confirmed by other Turkish lead-ers since Adnan Menderes, not least by the present architect of Turkish foreign policy, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who stated in his key work “Strategic Depth” in 2001: “Even if there was not one single Muslim Turk over there, Turkey would have to maintain a Cyprus question. No country could possibly be indifferent to an island like this, placed in the heart of its vital space.”

Cyprus’ power-sharing constitution collapsed in 1963 only three years after in-dependence and the subsequent intercom-munal fighting led to the withdrawal of the Turkish Cypriots to enclaves, where they suffered considerable hardship in the fol-lowing years. A heroic effort by British na-val officer Martin Packard, who in a tripar-tite team tried to reconcile the two sides, was met with the following remark by US Under Secretary George Ball: “Very im-pressive, but you’ve got it all wrong, son. Hasn’t anyone told you our objective here is partition, not reintegration?”

Intercommunal talks began in 1968 with the focus on local autonomy for the Turkish Cypriots but after the Turkish in-vasion in 1974 - in response to the coup instigated by the Greek junta – the search for a federal solution began. At the ensuing conference in Geneva the Turkish propos-al to establish a federal state, where the two communities could live in an independent, sovereign and territorially integral island, was rejected by the Greek Cypriots. It was not until the high-level agreements of 1977 and 1979 that agreement was reached be-tween the two parties on the establishment

of a bi-communal and bi-zonal federation to end the division of the island.

For the last 34 years often fruitless negotiations have billowed to and fro under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of these agreements.

In 1990 the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş torpedoed the conceptual basis for negotiations when he replaced the term “communities” with “peoples” and talked of “constituent republics”.

When the present Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu took over in 2010, he wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, underlining “the principle of equal sovereignty of the two peoples”, which caused Ban Ki-moon to question whether Eroğlu retracted from the agreed issues of single sovereignty and citizenship. How-ever, Eroğlu’s position

is entirely synonymous with Turkey’s. Former Turkish Minister for Cyprus Ce-mil Çiçek has stated that two separate states, two separate republics and two equal peoples are the parameters for Tur-key’s solution of the Cyprus problem.

Despite the battered state of the Cyp-riot economy, the new government under the hands-on leadership of Nicos Anasta-siades is now making a determined effort to put the antagonisms of the past behind them and create a sound basis for the re-unification of both communities under a federal umbrella. Unfortunately, the first step, a joint statement of the aims and prin-ciples underlying what should be the final round of talks, has been stymied by the continued Turkish Cypriot insistence on founding states, separate sovereignty and “residual powers” to decide on matters like citizenship.

In his eulogy at the funeral of former president Glafcos Clerides, Greek Cypriot President Anastasiades said it is time for Cypriots to move beyond the passions and hatreds of the past “because we deserve a better future”. This can only be achieved if Turkey allows them to.

Despite problems not all is going badly. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK BAZ

By Robert Ellis

Robert Ellis is a regular commentator on Turkish affairs in the Danish and international press.

Cyprus: Getting it rightBy Federico Grandesso

Not so long ago, a border separated Slovenia and the Italian city of Trieste. When the Schengen Agreement (resulting in the creation of Europe’s borderless Schengen Area) came into force in Slovenia, a cool breeze of freedom swept across Trieste – a city that had once been surrounded by a threaten-ing Yugoslavia and then by a more peaceful Slovenia. In any case, this border had always been a serious issue for Trieste even if this coastal city has enjoyed a vibrant multi-cultural atmosphere among the Slavic, Austro-Hungarian and Latin cultural identities. A few years ago, after the onset of the economic crisis, a se-cessionist movement started gaining momentum and bring-ing together the various Autonomist groups that had histori-cally been present in the city. The separation of Trieste from Italy tops the agenda of Trieste Libera (Free Trieste), which says: “The actual administrators operate against the local and international law, the Treaty of Peace with Italy, signed in Paris in 1947 and still valid according to the actual laws. This is now completely ignored”. The members of this group also argue that secession is the key to Trieste’s economic re-naissance. “The Free Port of Trieste, the driving force of our economy, couldn’t possibly thrive, or sustain any solid invest-ments, without first restoring its legal status,’’ they say. Like any other Autonomist movement, taxes are a major is-sue. “We’re also aware the country is under bankruptcy [but] the public debt by law does not belong to Trieste!” and “Italy cannot address the real priorities, such as finding a solution to an unsustainable tax regime”. The movement, which is very active in organising rallies and other public manifestations, does not have any political rep-resentation in the local institutions and it is not supported (at least not openly) by any political party.New Europe contacted Giancarlo Lancellotti, the spokesper-son for Debora Serracchiani, a member of the Democratic Party and the president of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region. Serracchiani reportedly believes there is no legal basis for Trieste’s secession. The regional administrative court, known as the TAR (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale), recently ruled that there are no judicial grounds for secession.However, the leader of the separatist movement, Roberto Giurastante, says Italy is only the temporary administrator of Trieste under the terms of the London Memorandum of the 1954. But this movement is probably pushing on the glorious memories of the past when Trieste was occupied by an al-lied army and was an international, rich city that did not need Italy. In any case, from 1945 to 1954 there was a strong movement in favour of unification. Today, according to various analy-ses, the movement calling for Trieste’s secession has caught the malaise of certain parts of the population struggling to cope with the economic crisis. The benefits that Trieste was enjoying and is still enjoying as a part of Italy, however, are so tangible that the majority of the population would never vote to separate. As national governments and the whole of Europe are in a state of crisis, this is just a small example of how secession anxiety can spread among a populace that is unsympathetic to mainstream politics. In the case of Trieste, however, it is clear that any border between this city and the world would be a return to a dark past that no citizen wants to relive.

Trieste: an Italian test for the right to secede

11ANALYSISNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

NEW YORK – It has been three years since the outbreak of the euro crisis, and only an inveterate optimist would say that the worst is definitely over. Some, noting that the eurozone’s double-dip recession has ended, conclude that the austerity medicine has worked. But try telling that to those in countries that are still in depres-sion, with per capita GDP still below pre-2008 levels, unemployment rates above 20%, and youth unemployment at more than 50%. At the current pace of “recov-ery,” no return to normality can be expect-ed until well into the next decade.

A recent study by Federal Reserve economists concluded that America’s protracted high unemployment will have serious adverse effects on GDP growth for years to come. If that is true in the United States, where unemployment is 40% lower than in Europe, the prospects for Europe-an growth appear bleak indeed.

What is needed, above all, is funda-mental reform in the structure of the euro-zone. By now, there is a fairly clear under-standing of what is required:

• A real banking union, with common supervision, common deposit insurance, and common resolution; without this, money will continue to flow from the weakest countries to the strongest;

• Some form of debt mutualization, such as Eurobonds: with Europe’s debt/GDP ratio lower than that of the US, the eurozone could borrow at negative real interest rates, as the US does. The lower interest rates would free money to stimu-late the economy, breaking the crisis-hit countries’ vicious circle whereby austerity increases the debt burden, making debt less sustainable, by shrinking GDP;

• Industrial policies to enable the lag-gard countries to catch up; this implies revising current strictures, which bar such policies as unacceptable interventions in free markets;

• A central bank that focuses not only on inflation, but also on growth, employ-ment, and financial stability;

• Replacing anti-growth austerity poli-cies with pro-growth policies focusing on investments in people, technology, and infrastructure.

Much of the euro’s design reflects the neoliberal economic doctrines that prevailed when the single currency was conceived. It was thought that keeping in-flation low was necessary and almost suffi-cient for growth and stability; that making central banks independent was the only

way to ensure confidence in the monetary system; that low debt and deficits would ensure economic convergence among member countries; and that a single mar-ket, with money and people flowing freely, would ensure efficiency and stability.

Each of these doctrines has proved to be wrong. The independent US and European central banks performed much more poorly in the run-up to the crisis than less independent banks in some lead-ing emerging markets, because their focus on inflation distracted attention from the far more important problem of financial fragility.

Likewise, Spain and Ireland had fiscal surpluses and low debt/GDP ratios before the crisis. The crisis caused the deficits and high debt, not the other way around, and the fiscal constraints that Europe has agreed will neither facilitate rapid recovery from this crisis nor prevent the next one.

Finally, the free flow of people, like the free flow of money, seemed to make sense; factors of production would go to where their returns were highest. But migration from crisis-hit countries, partly to avoid re-paying legacy debts (some of which were forced on these countries by the European Central Bank, which insisted that private losses be socialized), has been hollowing out the weaker economies. It can also re-sult in a misallocation of labor.

Internal devaluation – lowering do-mestic wages and prices – is no substitute for exchange-rate flexibility. Indeed, there is increasing worry about deflation, which increases leverage and the burden of debt levels that are already too high. If inter-nal devaluation were a good substitute, the gold standard would not have been a problem in the Great Depression, and Ar-gentina could have managed to keep the peso’s peg to the dollar when its debt crisis erupted a decade ago.

No country has ever restored prosper-ity through austerity. Historically, a few small countries were lucky to have exports

fill the gap in aggregate demand as public expenditure contracted, enabling them to avoid austerity’s depressing effects. But European exports have barely increased since 2008 (despite the decline in wages in some countries, most notably Greece and Italy). With global growth so tepid, ex-ports will not restore Europe and America to prosperity any time soon.

Germany and some of the other northern European countries, demon-strating an unseemly lack of European soli-darity, have declared that they should not be asked to pick up the bill for their profli-gate southern neighbors. This is wrong on several counts. For starters, lower interest rates that follow from Eurobonds or some similar mechanism would make the debt burden manageable. The US, it should be recalled, emerged from World War II with a very high debt burden, but the ensuing years marked the country’s most rapid growth ever.

If the eurozone adopts the program outlined above, there should be no need for Germany to pick up any tab. But un-der the perverse policies that Europe has adopted, one debt restructuring has been followed by another. If Germany and the other northern European countries con-tinue to insist on pursuing current policies, they, together with their southern neigh-bors, will wind up paying a high price.

The euro was supposed to bring growth, prosperity, and a sense of unity to Europe. Instead, it has brought stagnation, instability, and divisiveness.

It does not have to be this way. The euro can be saved, but it will take more than fine speeches asserting a commit-ment to Europe. If Germany and others are not willing to do what it takes – if there is not enough solidarity to make the poli-tics work – then the euro may have to be abandoned for the sake of salvaging the European project.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013. www.project-syndicate.org

By Joseph E. Stiglitz

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, is University Professor at Columbia University.

Elections mark watershed moment for peaceful development in South East Europe

By Lamberto Zannier

Sunday’s elections in Kosovo mark a milestone for South East Europe. Not only do they represent a step closer to reconcilia-tion for a region which has seen more than its fair share of vio-lence and hatred, they show how the international community can contribute to positive change in a particularly complex situ-ation. The path has not been easy. Before the election came attacks on candidates, damage to pre-elections posters and calls for a boycott. The first round saw destructive acts of violence, which forced the OSCE to pull out staff from polling stations where they were facilitating voting: an attack not only on people and property but on the right of citizens to exercise their free demo-cratic choice. But despite the obstacles, the turn-out was good. Many people responded to the calls from Belgrade, Pristina and the interna-tional community to exercise their right to vote. Worth remem-bering too is that these were elections for municipalities, the structures closest to people’s lives. These voters were making a choice about who to trust with very fundamental decisions – how public health is provided, how their children’s schooling is organized or what planning decisions are made in their locality. These elections prove that the dialogue initiated by the EU and an agreement successfully brokered by High Representative Catherine Ashton is starting to produce significant results. They also show how international bodies can use their different exper-tise and mandates to both create the conditions for the immedi-ate smooth running of a one-off democratic process and for long-term transformations to make societies stable and prosperous. The OSCE – the organization with the largest civilian presence in the region - offered the fruits of its long experience by facilitat-ing the elections in north Kosovo as part of the EU-negotiated agreement reached between Belgrade and Pristina in April. The fact that the OSCE Mission in Kosovo was able to rise to the challenge is a testament to many years of steady engagement be-hind the scenes with local communities that has created a climate of acceptance and trust. The OSCE deployed over two hundred staff before, during and after the election; setting up and operat-ing dozens of polling stations, facilitating balloting of thousands of out-of-Kosovo by-mail voters, and organizing public cam-paigns to provide essential information for the population. It has provided detailed technical know-how in circumstances where even the most practical request is laced with highly political sig-nificance. As so often, the small details make up the bigger picture. This is just one step in a complex process of building towards con-fidence, stability and a prosperous future for the people of this region. Many who came out to vote did so from a realization that economic and social stagnation had to end. A new generation is emerging, looking for greater opportunities. The difficult and sensitive issue of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina is yet to be fully resolved, but events show that an appetite for pragmatic solutions is emerging. What is most im-portant now is to use this impetus to move forward and achieve full reconciliation amongst the Kosovo communities, which in turn will benefit the wider work of in the region. With sense and goodwill, we are looking at a brighter future.

Lamberto Zannier OSCE Secretary General

An agenda to save the Euro

In Mario We Trust. AFP PHOTO / DANIEL ROLAND

12 EnErgy & climatE NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Putin says Russia needs to increase presence in energy-rich ArcticOn 3 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country should boost its presence in the Arctic for economic and military reasons. The Arctic holds rich oil and gas and mineral re-sources, the Kremlin leader said, adding that the Arctic region is important for national security reasons. Both Russia and the United States have a strong navy presence in the region.

Putin made the comments at a meeting with students after being asked to comment on sugges-tions that Russia and other countries relinquish Arctic territory to help protect the environment.

Russia detained 30 Greenpeace activists protesting against Arctic drilling at Russian Prira-zlomnaya offshore platform in September and they now face charges carrying seven-year jail sentences.

Putin has ordered a Soviet-era military base reopened in the Arctic as part of a drive to make the northern coast a global shipping route and se-cure the region’s vast energy resources.

“Not only are there major economic interests for our country there...it is also an important part of our defence capability,” Putin said. “There are (US) submarines there and they carry missiles,” he said. “It only takes 15-16 minutes for US mis-siles to reach Moscow from the Barents Sea. So should we give away the Arctic? We should on the contrary explore it.”

At the same time Putin noted that he does not want to “escalate” the tensions over the Arc-tic. “I generally proceed from the fact that we will never have any conflicts on such global scale, es-pecially with such countries as the United States. On the contrary, we need to develop co-opera-tion, partnership.”

Russian geologists estimate the Arctic seabed

has at least 9 billion to 10 billion metric tonnes of fuel equivalent. Russia has started building the world’s largest universal nuclear-powered ice-breaker capable of navigating in the Arctic and in the shallow waters of Siberian rivers.

Russia has also recently brought the 2014 Olympic torch relay to the North Pole.

Speaking about the situation in the Arctic, Putin agreed that there were many long-standing problems that did not emerge “just yesterday”.

“You’ve probably seen it in the media – a huge number of barrels, metal waste, tractors” left

from the Soviet era, RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying. He added that the cleanup of the region is under way for the first time in 30-50 years. “So here we need to talk about how we should better manage the Arctic.”

“But talking about divesting a territory?” the president wondered. “When I see statements of this kind, it is either people who are conducting self-PR campaigns, insensible of what they do; unscrupulous observers, or people who serve the interests of other states.”

The Russian Constitution explicitly says

that the State shall ensure the territorial integ-rity of the country, Putin said. “Therefore, any statements about any rejection of territories of the Russian Federation are unconstitutional. Re-garding the responsibility, you shouldn’t go too far or underestimate the harm that statements of this kind cause.” To deal with separatist calls and preserve national identity, Putin said more patri-otism was needed. Without cultivation of the pa-triotic sentiment, the country will “fall apart from inside like a lump of sugar that has been dipped in water,” Putin warned.

By Kostis Geropoulos

On 6 December, the European Commission confirmed that it has advised to re-negotiate the International Governmental Agreements (IGA) with Russia on the South Stream gas pipeline – “as they are all not in line with EU energy legislation,” a Commission spokesper-son told New Europe.

“We also confirm that we have sent a letter to Russian Energy Minister [Alexander] Novak to inform him that Member States will formally offer to re-negotiate the agreements. We invited Russia to engage into discussions with us and the Member States to ensure a solid legal frame-work. This is important to create legal certainty for investments,” the spokesperson said.

“South Stream as any other pipeline pro-ject will have to fully respect EU legislation, in particular as regards unbundling, non-discrim-inatory third-party access, tariff regulation,” the spokesperson said. “Possible exemptions requests will be treated like all other requests within the existing legislation but so far no ex-emption requests have been received.”

Bulgaria hosted a South Stream first weld-ing ceremony on 4 November, in the village of Rasovo in the Montana municipality of Bulgaria, near the border with Serbia.

On 3 December, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, director of the Internal Energy Market at DG En-

ergy at the European Commission, said EU au-thorities were working to find a legal solution to South Stream but it would take time. “In all open-ness and frankness, the South Stream link will not operate in the territory of the European Union if it’s not in compliance with EU law,” he said.

Borchardt participated at a discussion at the European Parliament at a conference entitled “South Stream: The Evolution of a Pipeline”.

Stressing the importance of the pipeline, Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Med-vedev said, “South Stream is a flagship project, which will provide our European partners with new gas reserves from Russia and the possibility to export 63 billion cubic metres of gas, along-side direct investments, tax revenues and the creation of new jobs”.

Medvedev reportedly said that all of South Stream gas had found buyers.

Russia’s Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Yanovsky also participated at the conference.

Meanwhile in Moscow, Gazprom said it dis-cussed natural gas exports to Italy during meet-ings with the Italian envoy to Russia. Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller met on 3 December in Moscow with Italian Ambassador Cesare Ma-ria Ragaglini. “Special attention was paid to the issues of Russian natural gas exports to Italy,” Gazprom said in a statement. “The parties also discussed the current state of the South Stream construction.”

EU tells Russia: Re-negotiate South Stream

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks past the crew of the heavy missile-carrying submarine cruiser Arkhangelsk upon their return to Severomorsk, 17 February 2004. On 3 December 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country should boost its presence in the Arctic for economic and military reasons. EPA/STF POOL/FILE PICTURE

Construction workers weld together two giant pipes near the village of Sajkas, 80 kilometres north of Serbian capital Belgrade, 24 November 2013. AFP PHOTO/ANDREJ ISAKOVIC

13EnErgy & climatENEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

On 3 December, Malaysia’s offshore oil field services firm Bumi Armada Bhd said it will lease six marine vessels to Russian oil major LUKoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft in charter contracts worth up to $280 million, news agencies reported.

The vessels will support Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft’s oil and gas opera-tions within the Filanovsky field at the Caspian Sea, situated in the Russian wa-

ters of the Caspian Sea. The contracts are for a 10-year pe-

riod with the possibility for a 20-year extension. The Malaysian company said work would begin in November 2015 “to provide all year round services such as delivery of cargo and personnel, sal-vage, search and rescue functions, fire-fighting operations, towing and tanker mooring operations”.

LUKoil discovered the Filanovsky field in 2005. The Russian company said production from the Caspian field should begin in 2015. The field is locat-ed about 50 kilometres offshore, in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. The field contains oil with very low sulphur content of just 0.1%. The reserves of the field include 153.1 million tonnes of oil and 32.2 billion cubic metres of gas.

The European Commission said it has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of joint control over WINZ and Wintershall Services of the Netherlands and sole control over Wingas and WIEH of Germany by the Russian energy company Gazprom. The

Commission said it concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise any competition concerns.

WINZ and Wintershall Services are active in oil and gas exploration and pro-duction in the North Sea, while Wingas and WIEH supply gas, mainly in Germany.

The Commission said it assessed the potential impact of the transaction on com-petition in the markets for the sale of gas in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, where Gazprom sells gas to downstream wholesalers and retailers, including Wingas which is both wholesaler and retailer.

Oil glut on the horizonContent with current oil price

levels, the Organization of Pe-troleum Exporting Countries

(OPEC) agreed on 4 December to keep the cartel’s crude production ceiling un-changed at least until June even as Iran and Iraq plan to increase exports in com-ing months and US fracking has led to the US producing more oil that it imports.

Excess supply, including US shale oil and a potential resurgence in exports from Iran, Iraq and possibly Libya, may push prices lower in 2014. “Next year, Iraqi oil will increase by 300,000 barrels a day, we think at least, there will be 250,000 more from Venezuela, there will be possibly 1 million barrels from Iran, when Iran comes back, and Libyan oil should return so we have a glut on the horizon which should lead to lower prices,” Leo Drol-las, Director and Chief Economist for the

Centre of Global Energy Studies (CGES) in London, told New Europe on the side-lines of an oil, gas and electricity confer-ence by IENE in Athens on 3 December.

“Then the question is whether the Saudis will reduce their production along with the Kuwaitis to keep the price from possibly crushing,” Dollas said, adding that the CGES thinks Riyadh will cut oil output in that case to prevent the price from reaching low levels.

In Vienna on 4 December, Saudi Ara-bia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi shrugged off the prospect of a glut of additional oil supply next year. “Everyone is welcome to put in the market what they can. The mar-ket is big and has many variables. When one comes in another comes out,” he told reporters.

Maintaining the current 30 million barrel-a-day target for OPEC, which sup-

plies about 40% of the world’s oil, will ensure stability of oil prices, Venezuela’s Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said. There will be no need to reduce the cap at the next meeting, Libya’s Oil Minister Abdulbari al-Arusi said.

On 4 December, the price of oil surged above $97 a barrel. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, rose to $112.86 a barrel on the ICE exchange in London.Tehran wants to increase its production once international sanctions over its nuclear programme are lifted. The six-month deal on sanctions that Tehran recently concluded with the US and other world powers raises the prospect that Ira-nian output may eventually increase sub-stantially. Iraq also said it wouldn’t cut its output in 2014, while Libya said it hoped to resume full production after protestors had stopped blocking its facilities.

The 164th OPEC meeting in Vienna, 4 December 2013. OPEC maintained its oil output limit, even as Iraq and Iran eye higher crude exports amid slashed Libyan production. AFP PHOTO/ALEXANDER KLEIN

Iraq Wants Control of Oil Riches

By Kostis Geropoulos

Energy Insider

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Iraqi deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussain al-Shahristani have said they agreed that oil exports from Iraq will require the approv-al of the central government in Baghdad.The central Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are at odds on who controls what as-pects of the energy sector. The Turkish and Kurdish govern-ments reportedly agreed to honour a provision to allocate 83% of the export profits to Baghdad and 17% to the KRG. On 3 December, the Kurdistan Regional Government said in a statement it was taking full responsibility for the oil pipeline transportation process to replace the current trucking of oil to Turkey, but is inviting the federal government and others to act as observers to the process. Turkey shares a border with Kurdistan and it’s easy for Turkish companies to get oil from the resource-rich region.Turkey has been reportedly also in talks with the government of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to conduct ex-ploration activities.Leo Drollas, Director and Chief Economist for the Centre of Global Energy Studies (CGES) in London, told New Europe on the sidelines of the Energy and Development conference organised by the Institute of Energy for South-East Europe (IENE) in Athens on 3 December that the central Iraqi gov-ernment does not want to give up its right to control the oil flows and its share of the revenues.“They won’t give that up easily. It’s a very tricky balance. And so far the revenues come through the central government be-cause they control the pipeline going to Ceyhan,” he said.“The problem is the Kurds and the historical complication that this brings. Turkey’s Kurds and the Iraqi Kurds are part of the same family and they need to have good relations with their own Kurds in order to encourage the other Kurds to sell them oil,” Drollas said. “But there is logic to this because of the geographical proximity so it makes a lot of sense for Turkey to buy oil from Kurdistan and there are lots of great resources there,” he added.Last month, ExxonMobil was about to start drilling for oil in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Not only small com-panies but also energy majors prefer Kurdistan “because the terms are better,” Drollas said. “The Kurds are trying to entice them to develop the Kurdish oil fields,” he said, adding that the terms in the southern Iraqi vast oil fields are not very good and the security situation is deteriorating.“ExxonMobil and some of the others are concerned about other aspects – the profitability of it, the security and they say: ‘Why don’t we go to Kurdistan, which has big reserves? It might be easier.’ But it means that the relationship between them and the central government in Bagdad has to be consid-ered,” Drollas said. “They have to weigh which is better: To be on good terms with the federal government, which after all has the power, or the Kurds who have the willingness. It’s a tough balancing act. But ExxonMobil seems to think it’s a bet-ter deal and to forget about southern Iraq,” he said.

KGeropoulos@NEurope.eu follow on twitter @energyinsider

LUKoil reaches deal with Malaysia’s Bumi Armada

EU allows Gazprom to acquire Dutch, German companies

14 EU-WORLD NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

By Alessandra Cardone, Liu Yu, Xinhua

ROME -- China is among the 62 countries that have achieved the first Millennium De-velopment Goal, namely halving extreme pov-erty rates by 2015, chief of the Rome-based UN food agency has told Xinhua in an exclu-sive interview recently. “This is an outstanding achievement,” Direc-tor General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Jose Graziano da Silva said, adding that “The numbers of China, on the whole, are very impressive: the country feeds around 20% of the world’s population with only 9% of arable land and 6% of fresh-water. This is a very good example.” “I can really say that it was basically due to China’s achievements if we were able to push down the total number of undernourished people in the world from 1 billion to 840 mil-lion over the last years,” he said. This year marks the 40th anniversary of coop-eration between the FAO and China, which has been solid and successful, said Graziano da Silva. Throughout the four decades, FAO has been supporting more than 400 projects in China in many sectors such as agriculture, fishery and forestry. China’s expertise in combining rice farming and fish production is a successful model

that would be of great help to the global fight against malnutrition, Graziano da Silva said. “This peculiar combination of aquaculture and rice production is very rare, such exper-tise belongs only to a few countries like China, Vietnam and Laos,” he said. “It is really a perfect approach to the food se-curity because it combines rice that is one of the staple food in the world and protein that is needed to avoid malnutrition especially in children,” Graziano da Silva said. “We would like to improve this combination in African countries and also in other Asian countries, and China could help much in this,” he added. Meanwhile, Graziano da Silva highlighted the importance of China as one of the major sup-porters of FAO programs for food security. “It has been one of the most important countries supporting the changes FAO has been trying to implement in the world,” he told Xinhua. The ongoing partnership between FAO and China could act as a stepping-stone toward achieving greater success in the future, and an important stage will be the Milan Expo 2015, Graziano da Silva said. “Milan Expo 2015 is really going to be an international appointment. Our approach during the Expo will be focused on one issue - how we can feed the world in a sustainable manner - and this is quite related to China because, as I said, China is a good example of achieving such a goal.

China achieves first of UN Millennium Development Goals

By Muhammad Tahir, Xinhua

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan’s new Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, has assumed his post at a critical time when the country’s military is still facing serious security challenges, foremost of which is the possible impact of the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan after next year’s pullout of NATO forces. Concerns are fast growing in Pakistan that Af-ghanistan could slip into another civil war if the Taliban, the United States and Afghanistan fail to reach a peace deal before the 2014 pullout. The Taliban have so far refused to talk to the Karzai administration and the Qatar peace pro-cess faces a deadlock. Analysts pointed out that one major test for the new Pakistani Army chief is how to secure the already volatile tribal regions in case hostilities erupt in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of NATO combat forces. Pakistan has a key role to stop Afghanistan from falling into another civil war like what happened after the Soviets’ withdrawal from the country. The Army and the Pakistani leadership should craft a strategy that would insulate Pakistan from the outbreak of another civil war in Af-ghanistan if this happens, some analysts said. If peace in Afghanistan is restored then the Pa-kistan Army will have to defend its own fron-tiers to prevent the intrusion into the country of Pakistani Taliban fighters who now operate from Nuristan and Kunar provinces, bordering Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban fighters, led by their Afghanistan-based new chief, Maulvi Fazalullah, have routinely carried out attacks inside Pakistan and will remain a major head-ache for Pakistani forces. As the deadline for

NATO withdrawal is fast approaching, the mil-itary leadership will have to sit with the civilian leaders to look into the potential repercussions for Pakistan in the post- NATO Afghanistan, the analysts said. It is widely believed that Pakistan is faced with the problems of terrorism and violent extrem-ism because of over three decades of conflict in Afghanistan. Internal security will also be the one of the big-gest challenges for General Sharif as the Army had been deeply involved in military operations in several tribal regions and the north-western Swat Valley for nearly 10 years. The armed forc-es have cleared most of the tribal regions and Swat of the militants. The North Waziristan tribal region still remains a test for the Pakistani Army because of the presence there of the Tali-ban and other armed groups there. North Waziristan, which is also in the focus of the U.S. drone attacks, is still under Taliban in-fluence and will remain a problem to deal with as the United States believes the remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taliban use the region for plan-ning attacks across the border into Afghanistan. Splinter Pakistani Taliban groups routinely launch attacks on convoys of the security forces despite a 2007 peace deal with a powerful Tali-ban group led by Haifz Gul Bahadar. The official profile of the new Army chief says he has served as the inspector-general of train-ing and evaluation of the army. He had been widely praised for his “training manuals” and his booklets about dealing with the “low-inten-sity conflicts” in the country. The new Army chief is also known to have spent a great deal of time preparing the armed forces to effectively deal with internal conflicts and terrorism.

By John Heilprin, Associated Press

GENEVA — A growing body of evidence collected by U.N. investigators points to the involvement of senior Syrian officials, including President Bashar Assad, in crimes against humanity and war crimes, the U.N.’s top human rights official said a few days ago.Navi Pillay, who heads the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the scale and viciousness of the abuses be-ing perpetrated by both sides almost defies belief, and is being well documented by an expert U.N. panel of investigators.“They’ve produced massive evidence,” she told a news conference. “They point to the fact that the evidence indicates responsibili-ty at the highest level of government, includ-ing the head of state.”But Pillay said the lists of suspected crimi-nals are handed to her on a confidential basis and will remain sealed until requested by international or national authorities for

a “credible investigation,” and then possibly used for prosecution.Pillay said she worries about striking the right balance in determining how long to keep the information secret. The lists “right-ly belongs to the people who suffered viola-tions,” she said, but they also must be kept sealed “to preserve the presumption of in-nocence” until proper judicial probes can be done that could lead to trial.Pillay said Syria and North Korea — the two countries being probed by a U.N. investiga-tive panel — represent two of the world’s worst human rights violations, but she also cited concerns with Central African Repub-lic, Bangladesh and other regions.Other places that require the world’s atten-tion, she said, are the large-scale expulsions of migrants from Saudi Arabia, the high number of migrant labourer deaths build-ing World Cup stadiums in Qatar, and con-tinuing political exploitation of xenophobia and racism in Europe and other developed regions.

Pakistan’s new army chief faces internal and external challenges

UN: Syria crimes evidence ‘indicates’ Assad role

Extreme poverty cut in half. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL

15ARTS & CULTURENEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

December in Prague is the busiest time of the year, as thousands of tourists descend upon the city from all over

the world to experience its famous holiday cheer.

Decked out for Christmas, Prague has been transformed into a winter wonderland with numerous Christmas markets offering visitors traditional holiday food and drink and holiday gift ideas.

The markets, which opened on November 30, will run until the New Year.

The most popular market is the one at the Old Town Square, which features Prague’s tall-est Christmas tree. This market is also famous for its realistic nativity scene where visitors can pet sheep, goats and donkeys.

A nearby ice rink is also a popular attrac-

tion during the holidays. The second biggest Christmas market is at

Wenceslas Square. It’s famous for its numer-ous wooden cabins selling hot sausages, sweet gingerbread, mulled wine and plenty of festive food and drink.

Another Christmas market at Náměstí Republiky is a holiday shopper’s dream come true with stalls selling Christmas gifts - from winter hats to homemade soap.

Even Prague’s Peace Square is home to the Náměstí Míru market. Though smaller in size compared to the other markets, the locals prefer this one for its hand-crafted goods and Czech pastries.

As for bargain hunters, many flock to the Christmas market at Náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad.

THE HAGUE - Since its reopening on April 13, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has attracted two million visitors, the Dutch museum an-nounced Tuesday.

Netta Maman and Verdit Aftabi, two young tourists from Israel, visited the museum on the last day of their holidays. Maman was welcomed as two millionth visitor to the museum by di-rector Wim Pijbes. She received flowers and a goody bag with articles from the museum shop.

“We heard that after the renovation the Ri-jksmuseum is a must see, so we decided to come immediately,” she said.

The Rijksmuseum, one of Amsterdam’s grandest museums, reopened after 10 years of extensive restoration and renovation. The muse-um was originally designed by renowned Dutch architect P.J.H. Cuypers in 1885.

The art collection features some of the na-tion’s most famous works, including paintings by Vermeer, Frans Hals and perhaps most notably Rembrandt’s The Night Watch.

For the first time in years, the number of Dutch visitors to the museum has been higher than the number of foreigners.

(Xinhua)

A new film about the life of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected lead-er, is packing theatres across the country.

The film, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, is based on Mandela’s 1994 autobiography and is directed by the award-winning Justin Chad-wick. British actor Idris Elba plays the role of Mandela and British actress Naomie Harris plays the role of Winnie Mandikizela-Mandela.

Speaking at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada last month, Elba told reporters that playing Mandela was a massive challenge. “I didn’t want to deface Mr Mandela in any way, but I didn’t want to portray him in a way that wasn’t honest... The challenges were massive, but we embraced them. He had a very difficult life, so we weren’t expected to make an easy film.”

The film, which opened in South Africa last weekend has already broken box-office records. It is the country’s highest grossing film, earning more than $400,000 in the first week.

Producer Anant Singh, who visited four cinemas in Johannesburg, said he is “extremely pleased with the audience reaction”.

According to Milton Nkosi, the BBC’s cor-respondent in South Africa, the film is not only about Mandela, a recipient of the Nobel Peace

Prize, but a story of the people through the life of one man.

“That’s what I take away from it. And with the current levels of poverty, inequality and un-employment which are in essence the legacy of apartheid, the story of the people continues where the film ends,” said Nkosi.

Nkosi also reported that in some cinemas near Soweto, people had taken a day off work to watch the film. One cinema manager was quoted as saying that attendance was “unusu-ally high”.

The film is 146 minutes long and traces the life of Mandela from his childhood in Eastern cape and his many years in prison to his inaugu-ration as president.

Marketing Prague for the holidays

New Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam attracts two million visitors

New Mandela film a hit at the box office

A swimmer plays on a violin as he participates in the traditional Christmas winter swimming competition in Prague, Czech Republic, 26 December 2011. Enthusiast swimmers every year brave the cold waters of the Vltava river for a swim on 26 December. EPA/FILIP SINGER

16 ARTS & CULTURE NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu

8-14 December, 2013

Swiss to spend more this Christmas, survey says

Swiss shop owners are getting ready to ring in the Christmas holiday with an increase in sales. The findings of a new survey conducted by the accounting firm Deloitte suggest that consum-ers in Switzerland will spend a little bit more this holiday season.What is more, a growing number of Swiss consumers (about 39%) will be doing their Christmas shopping online. And most of them have already started. The survey found that Swiss consumers are among the earliest Christmas shoppers in Europe. Almost half (47%) of those surveyed have already done almost all their shopping. The most popular gifts this year are books, travel vouchers and gift certificates.Overall, the survey shows that Swiss house-holds will spend an average of 807 Francs (€656) over the Christmas holiday - a 3% in-crease compared to last year. This is the fourth largest increase in Europe, according to De-loitte, which surveyed spending expectations in 18 European countries.Only the cash-strapped Irish will likely spend less this year (about €894, down 1.7% com-pared to last year).

China‘s first Esperanto museum opensJINAN - China‘s first Esperanto museum has officially opened after more than two years of construction to promote the „uni-versal language.“ The Esperanto Museum, in Zaozhuang Uni-versity in east China‘s Shandong Province, opened Saturday after hosting more than 7,000 visitors during a trial operation since May. With a display area covering 680 square meters, the museum is the largest of its kind in Asia, said Sun Mingxiao, who is in charge of the facility. It boasts more than 26,000 items, including books, newspapers, photographs and manu-scripts. The majority of them were donated by Esperantonists from more than 40 countries or regions. Chen Haosu, head of the All-China Esperanto League, said the mission of the museum is to record the history of Esperanto, promote the culture of the artificial language and its devel-opment. The museum was jointly built by Zaozhuang University and the All-China Esperanto League at a cost of 3 million yuan (490,000 U.S. dollars).

Esperanto-related activities began in the uni-versity in the 1980s. Esperanto became an op-tional course in the college in 2011, attracting more than 500 students so far. Up till now, about 400,000 Chinese have learned Esperanto, according to Sun. Esperanto was created by Polish doctor L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 and introduced to China in the early 1990s. (Xinhua)

Plans for a new Viking museum in Oslo Good news for Viking buffs. A new museum in Bygdøy, a peninsula on the western side of Oslo, will feature the biggest collection of Vi-king treasures in Norway. The new museum will build on the success of Bygdøy’s current Viking museum and the growing attraction of Viking treasures and Vi-king ships that are spread out across the coun-try. While the ships are too big and fragile to move, many of them will be restored on site.The new Viking museum will also include other treasures from the Viking Age that have been displayed at the Museum of Cultural His-tory in downtown Oslo.According to Norway’s education minister, Kristin Halvorsen, it is a “race against time” to save these cultural treasures. “We think we‘ll be able to make it,“ she said.

Yellow River water con-servancy museum opens

HOHHOT - A museum of water conserva-tion on the Yellow River opened on Monday in north China‘s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Covering an area of 3,000 square meters, the museum features multiple exhibitions detail-ing the geography and climate of the Yellow River basin, and conservation projects on the river throughout history. The museum owns more than 1,700 cultural relics, including more than 100 historical doc-uments of great value for research. The museum, which is free of charge for visi-tors, is in Bayannur City on the Hetao Plain, on the upper course of the river. At 5,464 kilometers, the Yellow River is the second longest river in China, originating on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and flowing into the Bohai Sea. (Xinhua)

A Norwegian butcher, with the help of a certi-fied halal butcher, has prepared reindeer meat, a Scandinavian delicacy, just in time for the country’s Muslims to join the Christmas food traditions.

Harry Dyrstad, the owner of specialist wildlife abattoir north of Trondheim, says the meat of 100 reindeer is ready to be shipped to shops across the country. He is eager to market the meat to the Muslim market.

Dyrstad has even obtained a seal of ap-proval from the Islamic Council of Norway whose members he invited to visit his shop to taste the meat.

“We had the idea one-and-a-half years ago,” Dyrstad told Norway’s English language newspaper The Local. “We spoke to someone who had some contacts in Dubai, and he said

that if you want to sell reindeer meat, it has to be halal, so we had to try.”

Dyrstad is now looking to introduce a ham that Muslims can eat.

“We got some information that we could produce some ham from the reindeer, so Mus-lim children can have ham on their sandwich-es,” he said.

“It is going to be exciting to see how Mus-lims receive the novelty of reindeer. This is a completely new halal product that Muslims have not had access till before,” Mehtab Afsar, the general secretary of the Islamic Council of Norway, told Adresseavisen, a local newspaper published in Trondheim. “I have been told that this is a very good meat, but I have never tasted it myself.” Halal foods are foods that Muslims are allowed to eat or drink under Islamic law.

ADVERTISEMENT

Fast food? Crowds cheer participants in the Norwegian Champingchip reindeer race in Tromso. EPA/HINRICH BAESEMANN

EPA/STEFFEN SCHMIDT

Reindeer meat prepared for Norway’s Muslim

Pollution in the Yellow River EPA/BING HAN

17ARTS & CULTURENEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Legendary Czech film director, Jiri Menzel had some advice for this reporter, “spend more time in pubs.” He has a very good reason behind this request as he talked about European cinema and its future.

Menzel is a national treasure in his home-land, where his films, often with a gentle, some-times sarcastic humour tweaked the noses of the former communist rulers.

‘Closely Watched Trains’ gained him an Os-car in 1968, ‘Larks on a String’ depicting the re-education of ‘borgouise elements’ was made in 1969, but was not released until 1990.

‘My Sweet Little Village’ was praised by critic, Roger Ebert as Menzel uses “everyday life as an instrument for a subtle attack on bureau-cracy and a cheerful assertion of human nature. This movie is joyful from beginning to end - a small treasure, but a real one.”

His latest feature, ‘The Don Juans’ is a com-edy on a small town theatre’s production of Don Giovanni, whose director is “a likably sardonic, mockingly modest version of Menzel” accord-ing to Variety.

Speaking with New Europe the Oscar win-ning Czech was concerned about the state of the European film industry, “It is in very bad

health because they are scared to make films for the people and they are leaving a gap that is filled with the Hollywood blockbusters. This is making culture more American and less Eu-ropean.”

As a movie director who is interested in people and their stories, he is dismayed by the stream of shoot-em-up films that are domi-nating the media market and cinema screens. Although criticising such films is simple for a cinema craftsman like Menzel, he makes a keen observation, “People watch these films like they’re watching an aquarium.”

Noting the passivity and lack of emotional engagement, the Czech director continues, “These films it seems are made for 12 year old boys. Unfortunately, that’s the way it is: The thrill of all the skirmishes, the chases and the battles and murders. It’s the made for 12 year old boys.”

His verdict is damning, “It seems that the Hollywood film make us stop thinking, or want to think.” He warns that the situation is getting even worse.

He’s not too impressed with the internet ei-ther, “It’s very easy to watch films now. It’s very easy to watch a lot of crap!”

He continues, “It’s easy to make films com-pared to the past, but the cinemas are empty.”

Comparing watching an old classic, such as The Third Man, it seems that in 50 years time, people might not find, say, Mission Impossi-ble 3 to be as enriching an experience, Menzel agrees and says he prefers old films.

So, what can be done to improve the cul-tural health of Europe’s cinema? “If I only knew, I would be so happy!” When it is suggested that asking people to watch a film by a director or from a country they don’t know, might help, he is realistic, “Well, we can ask, but the question is, will they listen to us!”

But as dejected as this may sound, there is a strong spirit in the director.

“I have my programme, so to speak. I have to make things and have a sense of what is in the minds of the audience and I have to be respon-sible for what they feel,” he says.

“You need to know your profession, which is not just being an artist, but to know people and to speak to people.” He makes a simple sug-gestion, “Do you know people? Why don’t you just go to a pub and mingle with people and just watch them, listen to them. You will get to know how people are.”

And, once you know people you can tell them stories, you can engage with their spirit.

Menzel can seem like a disillusioned man, when his comments are taken only at face value, but he says that he is not a gloomy person, “I am

a sceptic,” he says, “I don’t want to walk around with rose tinted glasses on.”

Of course not, he prefers reality and hon-esty… with a fair share of humour thrown in the mix.

That’s how you tell stories; that’s how you make films.

AC

By Andy Carling

Europe’s public service broadcasters have teamed up to showcase Europe’s cultural range by holding Eurovision

Film Week by having 26 members of the Eu-ropean Broadcasters Union pool together 26 films they can all broadcast.

It may seem unusual, but public service broadcasters are major players in European cinema, financing many films that would oth-erwise not have been made.

Where cinema and television were once seen as competitors, each one eyeing the other with distrust, there is a real connection between the two visual mediums in Europe, and a growing understanding that they need each other.

The hope is that initiatives like the film week can show the strength and diversity of European culture and provide an alternative to genre blockbusters from Hollywood.

Public service broadcasters are cer-tainly trying. Over half of film time on pub-lic channels is devoted to European films against just 33% of the commercial chan-nels, for example.

“Our broadcasters are passionate about public service broadcasting,” says Michelle Roverelli the EBU head of communications, “We are here to promote culture, national culture, but we think it’s a good thing for cul-

ture to cross national borders. The challenge for film is that it’s often great, but only seen in one nation, so we’re trying to spread the film and the word!”

Television was founded on providing a service, to educate, inform and entertain, “I don’t think that ethos has gone,” says Rov-erelli, “I think we still need it today, more than ever!”

“The very big problem for European cin-ema is that films are not exchanged between one country and another,” says Berlin film maker Volker Schlondorff. “Every year there are fewer and fewer. More than ever, the Eu-ropean film industry relies on making itself known among its neighbours,” he adds.

Agnieszka Holland, the celebrated Polish director points a finger towards California. “When you look at movie distribution in cer-tain countries then we see that 70% - 80% are US blockbusters, 20% - 30% are local produc-tions and about 2% - 3% comes from the rest of the world.”

“In this 2% - 3% we only have a couple of European movies per year that breakthrough to the worldwide market,” she continues, “They are mostly good movies but they are just raisins in the big pudding of American and native commercial films.”

The film week is intended to break down the national barriers and spread Europe’s cul-ture, inside and outside the EU.

Oscar winning Jiri MenzelThe key to a good film is the human heart

European film week hopes to boost culture, viewers

Europe’s broadcasters celebrate film culture

Czech film director Jiri Menzel. EPA/BIEL ALINO

Exhibition of Vaclav Havel’s busts opens in PraguePRAGUE (AP) — An exhibition is open-ing in Prague devoted to Vaclav Havel, the late president who led the 1989 Velvet Revo-lution, which ended Communist regime.Michal Blazek, an organizer of the Acad-emy of Sciences exhibition, said a group of sculptors were upset by the artistic quality of busts displayed elsewhere and called for a competition.Blazek said Monday 27 artists created 34 busts for the competition. A jury of sculp-tors, art historians and Havel’s allies selected four winners.The exhibit opens to the public Tuesday. After Prague, the pieces will be displayed at a renowned sculpture gallery in Horice, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Prague.

18 BRUSSELS AGENDA NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

By Alex Beaulieu

Brussels is a unique city, a place many differ-ent types of people call home. In an attempt to showcase this, a group of volunteers organized a project through Muntpunt known as Brus-sel Is. For a year, starting in September 2012, Brussel Is shared moments of everyday life in Brussels with the rest of the world. The com-munity’s tagline, “1,000 Lives, One City,” en-capsulates the purpose perfectly.

For one year, Brussel Is worked to show Brussels as an interesting place to live, work, study, and visit. The people of Brussels con-tributed to this campaign to show the elo-quent and inspirational aspects of the city. As the Brussel Is website explains, community members were encouraged to “feel the mo-ment, and share it with others!”

As a video project, Brussel Is began by filming and producing their own video clips. These videos starred passersby, students, and ordinary people in their daily lives. The Brussel Is volunteers organized many events around the city, such as a “splash mob” where spectators were doused with water on a hot summer day. Of course, these events were filmed and uploaded to the Brussel Is You-Tube channel.

During the spring and summer, Brussel

Is invited the Brussels community to submit their own video productions. The videos var-ied in subject and content but they all shared one thing in common – Brussels. While the videos were not all directly related, they shared in creating a realistic perception of the city. Anyone was able to upload videos to the Brussel Is website, the only requirement being that the video share a special moment with the community.

The videos were divided into several dif-ferent categories. Some videos were sorted into the category entitled “Make Someone Smile” while others were placed in “Culture” or “Crazy.” The video clips show a range of ex-periences tied together by the common theme of Brussels.

Following the end of summer 2013, Brus-sel Is put together a compilation of all the vid-eo clips. In an effort to show what the project had accomplished, one final film was created and shown during the opening weekend ear-lier this autumn.

While the project official ended in Sep-tember 2013, there has been a movement to restart the program for a second term. Until Muntpunt is able to organize a second round of Brussel Is, however, all of the original video clips and short films are available on the Brus-sel Is website and YouTube channel.

By Alex Beaulieu

Every year, the Be Film Festival invites the Brus-sels community to spend five days celebrating the Belgian cinema. This year is no different. Start-ing on 26 December, the Be Film Festival will be showing a wide variety of Belgian films, with mo-tion pictures from practically every genre.

The first day of the festival will open with the premiere of “Les âmes de papier” by Vincent Lan-noo. The film follows the story of Paul, an editor of funeral orations, and a young widow named Emma. With a son attempting to cope with his father’s death, Emma turns to Paul for advice. Of course, the film would not be complete without the return of Emma’s deceased husband.

Similar to the showing of “Les âmes de pa-pier,” there will be a number of other film pre-mieres featured during the five-day festival. In these cases, the film crew will be attending the premiere as well. During a special event on Fri-day, 27 December, a showing of the film “Le Monde Nous Appartient” will be preceded by a mini concert. Ozark Henry, who also did the music for the film, will perform the mini concert before the film begins at 21:30. The film itself fol-lows the story of two young men who share simi-lar traits but have never met. The Be Film Festival is meant to celebrate the Belgian films that have been released throughout the past year. Many of

the films being shown have been previously pre-sented at prestigious international film festivals around the world. The Be Film Festival is an op-portunity to honor the success of the Belgian film industry with the actors and directors that made it possible.

With twenty-four films in total, the Be Film Festival will be featuring films of every style. The festival will have film showings at two different venues in Brussels, some films will be shown at the Bozar while others will be presented at Cin-ematek.

Tickets for individual films can be bought separately or audience members can purchase a discounted pass in advance.

Be Film FestivalBrussels is.... a video art project

Tram Experiencewww.visitbrussels.bewww.tramexperience.beBrussels seems to be pioneering the art of unusual venues for eat-ing out and the Tram Experience is one of the best.For the uninitiated, this gives diners the chance to watch the city roll by while enjoying great food, all created by Michelin star chefs.It was launched in 2012 by VisitBrussels, it is a truly unique gastronomic experience.For a couple of hours, you travel on a com-pletely and pleasantly refurbished tram, passing some of the city´s best-known sights while sampling some very tasty culinary delights.It´s a particularly wonderful opportunity to discover Brussels by night.Carrying up to 34 passengers, the Tram Experience (also available for private functions) allows you to enjoy a three-course meal put together by two starred-chefs. The desserts and pastries are designed by a chocolate master and a pastry chef. There´s a great selection of wines and the meal,featuring in-ventive and mouth-watering dishes, is all finished off onboard.Be warned: a sign of its success is that you have to book some weeks before you go. But both the service and food are excellent and it is well worth the price. Journey of a lifetime? You bet.

Resto Bites

Upcoming EvEnts

19TASTENEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

A decade in the making, a new machine that has been described as a cross between a futuristic moon rover (the kind used by NASA) and a pre-historic car (like the one on the Flintstone’s car-toon) could secure the future of Germany’s viti-culture. This unmanned machine-vehicle, which was built by a group of ambitious engineering stu-dents at Germany’s Geisenheim University, can climb Germany’s steepest vineyards. It has six alu-minium rollers for wheels and is fitted with a GPS tracker and a remote-controlled steering device.

This new contraption has already been tested on the banks of the Rhine Valley. Soon, it will be tested in Germany’s steep vineyards along the Rhine, Main, Mosel, Saale, Saar and Neckar Riv-ers where cultivation is difficult and expensive because tractors can only cut, spray and harvest vines on flat land.

If it works, it will encourage winemakers to keep their vines on the steep slopes. Since 1970, nearly half of the 12,000 hectares of steep-sloped vineyards in Germany have been moved to flat ground despite financial incentives offered by the

government to keep the vineyards growing along the Rhine. In the region of Hesse, for instance, vintners are eligible for annual subsidies of up to €2,300 per hectare of steeply-planted vineyards, but only if they adopt eco-friendly cultivation methods.

The new machine, which was developed by Geisenheim’s budding engineers, is now bringing back some hope to vintners. But the engineers haven’t finished with the designs. The prototype is too wide to fit in the closely planted rows of vines. Their goal is to have a new model ready for the upcoming industry exhibition in Stuttgart in the spring. The engineers are also testing out a cultivation method borrowed from Australia. They believe it will drastically minimise the need for human labour. Only time will tell if this new machine will be able to ease cultivation on the steep slopes like the ones in the Mosel River Val-ley, which is one of Germany’s 13 wine regions. There is no slope steeper in Europe than along the Mosel where centuries’ old vineyards still cling to the steep hillside.

W hen the Bulgarians discovered California’s oenologists back in the 1970s they called on their

expertise to develop the country’s viticulture. The aim was to create a Bulgarian wine that could compete in international markets. They partially succeeded.

During the period of “real socialism”, Bul-garia was one of the rare cases of the Warsaw Pact countries. It was a country that could take pride in its wine.

Apart from the Soviet-controlled market, which absorbed huge quantities, Bulgarian wine had taken a decent position in many Eu-ropean markets.

This success, however, was largely ground-ed on Bulgaria’s use of international grape va-rieties. And this posed a major threat to the country’s native varieties especially Mavrud, which is by far the most charismatic grape va-riety native to Bulgaria.

Following the democratisation of Bulgaria, rural production experienced a period of cri-sis. The cooperatives no longer flourished as they had during the Communist regime. As a consequence, Bulgarian wine quickly lost its reputation for quality.

On the other hand, the situation favoured the emergence of a new generation of wine producers - both large and small - who were able to continue to grow international varie-ties. But they also brought back the cultivation of indigenous varieties. Bulgaria does not have a large number of local varieties. There are at least five and each one has its own unique quality.

The Mavrud variety is one of them. This variety can be found in most central Balkan countries like Albania, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), but especially Bulgaria. It is considered the premiere Bulgarian red wine.

The Mavrud name comes from the Greek

word for black. Its cultivation is difficult and requires great dedication. It’s a late harvest wine. Some have compared the difficulty of cultivating the Mavrud variety with that of the Pinot Noir, the typical red variety of French Burgundy and another international variety that is also cultivated in Bulgaria. Others in-sist the wine produced from Mavrud grapes is similar to the Mourvedre variety of France’s Rhone Valley.

The Mavrud grape variety has been grow-ing in the region for centuries. It was of such importance that it is surrounded by a legend that dates back to the year 800 when King Krum banned the cultivation of vines. A few years later, according to the legend, a lion ter-rorised the kingdom. When a young man man-aged to kill the beast, the king asked about his

strength. When he learned the young man had been secretly producing and drinking wine made from Mavrud grapes, the king lifted the ban and ordered the cultivation of this variety.

The region of Mavrud is located in the southern part of Plovdiv, the ancient Filippop-olis. The city of Asenovgrad to the east and the town of Peroustitsa to the south are the main centres of production of this spectacular wine. The area offers a combination of classic tour-ism and wine tourism. Apart from Plovdiv, known for its picturesque old quarter, Aseno-vgrad is located at the site of the ancient Thra-cian city Stenimachos. It acquired its name in 1934 in honour of Tsar Assen. While the city’s medieval castle is a landmark, Asenovgrad is known as an important stop along the “wine road” of South Bulgaria.

At the foot of the mountain Hemus, some 22km south of Plovdiv, there is another Ma-vrud site, Peroustitsa. This town has a remark-able place in Bulgarian history because of the battle that took place there against the Otto-mans in 1876. But the town also ranks high among wine lovers for its quality of Mavrud.

After 1990, many former landowners launched the procedures to reacquire their property that had been nationalised by the Communist regime. Some cooperatives were transformed into private companies. The re-sult was the creation of new wineries specialis-ing in Mavrud.

Mavrud is part of the Bulgarian culture. A visit to Bulgaria without tasting this wine would be a great shame.

Epicure

Wine, women and Bulgaria! EPA/VASSIL DONEV

EU bureaucrats aim at Danish bunsThis holiday season, Danes will probably be sinking their teeth in a not so cinnamony cinnamon roll – commonly known as kanels-negler. Denmark’s food authorities last week announced they will finally start implement-ing a three-year-old European Union direc-tive, which will require bakers to use less cin-namon when making their famous rolls. According to the EU, the coumarin that is found in cinnamon is unhealthy for the liver and kidneys. The EU directive outlines cinnamon lim-its: 15mg/kg of baked items and 50mg/kg for seasonal and traditional cakes. The cin-namon roll is not a seasonal or a festive des-sert and is therefore subject to the 15mg/kg limit. The restriction has angered Danish bakers who say they cannot make tasty cinnamon rolls with just 15mg/kg of cinnamon.

German brewers: make purity law world heritageBERLIN — German beer brewers are seek-ing a 500th birthday present for their famed purity law: an official seal of approval as world heritage.The German Brewers’ Federation said Mon-day it has applied to German officials and UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agen-cy, to have the purity law — the “Reinheitsge-bot” — recognized by the U.N. as a piece of the world’s “intangible heritage.”The purity law dates back to 1516 and allows nothing but water, barley malt, hops and yeast for brewing. Germany boasts some 1,300 breweries and 5,000 brands of beer.If it wins a place on the UNESCO list, the purity law will find itself in diverse company that includes the Argentine tango, the Spanish flamenco, the French gastronomic meal and Turkey’s Kirkpinar oil-wrestling festival.

Mavrud! A true Bulgarian

New machine to save vineyards on the slope

20 SCIENCE NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

JERUSALEM - An excavation by Israeli ar-chaeologists unearthed remains of a lavish meal held near a tomb by prehistoric men to mourn their dead, making the find the old-est funerary meal discovered.

The ongoing excavation at the Carmel Mountains near Haifa in the north of Israel is examining the caves dotting the moun-tains that were used by a prehistoric tribe 13,000 years ago.

“We know that prehistoric men bur-ied their dead and mourned them, but we didn’t know they also held ritualistic meals near their graves,” Guy Bar-Oz from Haifa University’s Zinman Institute of Archaeol-ogy told Xinhua.

“We know they are leftovers of a big meal because the remains are not complete bones, many of them were broken and bone marrow had been extracted from some of them, which lead us to believe they were not remains of complete animals,” Bar-Oz said.

Archaeologists have been digging in the caves since 2003 and have so far excavated 29 skeletons that belong to the Natufian people that dwelled in the Levant region between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago. The leading archaeologists, Reuven Yeshurun, Bar-Oz and Dani Nadel are from Haifa University and have worked for a decade on the project alongside researchers from the Weizmann Institute in Israel and col-leagues from France, Hungary and the United States. Their study was published in December’s edition of the Journal of An-thropological Archaeology.

“Our thesis regarding this find that we unearthed in only one grave so far is that all the tribe would sit together near the tomb because it can accommodate a lot of peo-ple and has a great view of the mountains,” Bar-Oz said. The Haifa Natufians roamed Israel at the end of the ice age and ended the nomadic life to settle down. According to

researchers, they were also animists, which means that they attributed mystical powers to nature. To better support their theory regarding the funerary ritual banquet, the team of researchers point out to the marks left on the animal bones found near the grave. Looking over broken bones with marks on them, Bar-Oz says the Natufians “used flint tools to cut the bones and the meat and when they were doing funerary offers to accompany the dead person on their last trip. They would bury the animals intact.” Their preferred meals were mainly gazelle meat, but they would also eat other animals in their surroundings, such as tur-tles and hares. The excavation at the Car-mel Mountains will continue as part of a bigger project on the Natufians. One of the biggest discoveries made in the caves was a large graveyard that contained the remains of different generations spanning more than 1,000 years. (Xinhua)

Israeli archaeologists discover remains of first prehistoric funerary banquets

By Andy Carling

The International Telecommu-nications Union (ITU) held a meeting on improving commu-

nications during emergency situations; drawing from the experience of the cha-otic first few days after typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines.

James Deane from BBC Media Ac-tion says radio is the preferred medium as it is the most robust and reaches the most.

While there is excited talk about the internet and apps for disasters, as a meth-od of communication it, like telecoms is often too fragile, easily made worthless by damage to the infrastructure. Radio has also changed, with a move away from short wave to the FM band, which is less resilient but the scale of the BBC has an-other advantage, language.

As an example, Deane says 6.9 million Nigerians listen to the English service and 19.5 million to the Hausa language sta-tion.

Christoph Dosch, Chairman, ITU-R Study Group 6, which looks at the issue, says, “We have the impression that there are more natural disasters than ever be-fore,” and that communications need to improve.

“Everyone has a broadcast receiver, be it a radio or television and the broadcast networks usually survive and broadcast stations have emergency generators and second transmissions.”

There is another strength; national broadcasters can offer provide local broadcasters, who have a knowledge and

appreciation of the communities reeling from an emergency, not least in knowing the local languages.

Some humanitarian agencies have developed the ‘Radio station in a suitcase’ allowing them to broadcast within hours of arriving, and the ICU say providing information to affected communities is a form of aid in itself.

In a draft report, the ITU note that in the initial stage of a disaster, people tend to turn to trusted radio and televi-sion, looking for information about what is happening, knowing that broadcasters will quickly interrupt – or completely

change programming. Such networks will have a network of reporters throughout the area and will publicise all official an-nouncements.

Typically, after getting information, people will then try to contact family, friends and so on. This often overloads phone and mobile systems, which are also likely to be damaged by the disaster.

The humanitarian broadcasters hope that co-operation can continue to in-crease and that, while many are looking to the cutting edge of technology, the tried and tested methods are best when crisis comes.

Conservations warn the Maui is in dangerNew Zealand’s Maui, the world’s smallest and rarest dol-phin, is on the brink of extinction. Experts warn the popula-tion is dwindling because of fishing and disease. Only 55 black and white adult Maui are currently swimming off the coast of New Zealand, according to a survey commissioned by the government’s Department of Conservation last year. There are only 20 females who can birth one calf every two to four years. Conservationists have repeatedly warned the government that the use of nylon filament nets by fishermen is a major threat. In response, the government has banned the use of these nets 350m from the shore. Nick Smith, the conservation minister, said the ban will help save the Maui. “We are taking a cautious approach by banning set netting where there is clear evidence the Maui’s dolphins go while not unnecessarily banning fishing where they are not,” he said. Conservationists, however, are not convinced the gov-ernment is doing enough to save the Maui. “These new measures will do nothing to stop the dolphins’ decline,” said Dr Elizabeth Slooten from the University of Otago.The International Union for the Conservation of Na-ture (IUCN) has declared the Maui as critically endangered. The International Whaling Commission and the Society for Marine Mammology in New Zealand have also called for a ban on all fishing nets near the Maui’s habitat. Even the German conservation group, NABU International, is calling on New Zealand to ban the nets. The group has also called for a boycott of seafood from the country.

Subglacial lakes found in GreenlandWASHINGTON - British researchers said Wednesday they have discovered two sub glacial lakes 800 meters below the Greenland ice sheet. While nearly 400 lakes have been detected beneath the Antarctic ice sheets, these are the first to be identified in Greenland, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge, who used airborne radar measurements to re-veal the lakes. They reported in the U.S. journal Geophysi-cal Research Letters that the two lakes are each roughly 8 to 10 square kilometres, and at one point may have been up to three times larger than their current size. Previously, the absence of lakes in Greenland had been ex-plained by the fact that steeper ice surface in Greenland leads to any water below the ice being “squeezed out” to the mar-gin, the researchers said. “Our results show that sub glacial lakes exist in Greenland, and that they form an important part of the ice sheet’s plumb-ing system,” Lead author Steven Palmer, formerly of the Uni-versity of Cambridge and now at the University of Exeter, said in a statement. The researchers proposed that, unlike in Antarctica where surface temperatures remain below freezing all year round, the newly discovered lakes are most likely fed by melting sur-face water draining through cracks in the ice. A surface lake situated nearby may also replenish the sub gla-cial lakes during warm summers, they said. This means that the lakes are part of an open system and are connected to the surface, which is different from Antarctic lakes that are most often isolated ecosystems. As many surface melt-water lakes form each summer around the Greenland ice sheet, the possibility exists that similar sub glacial lakes may be found elsewhere in Greenland, the re-searchers added. (Xinhua)

Old ways are best in crisisRadio, TV work best in disaster

Tumblr founder David Karp and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer | MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES/AFP

ITU team sets up their emergency broadcast in the Philippines. ITU

21EUROPEAN UNIONNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Germany|Society

Berlin borough votes to open cannabis caféFriedrichshain-Kreuzberg, the second borough of Berlin, will become the first in Germany to have a cannabis cafe. This is one of the local council’s “offbeat solutions” to the problem of drug trafficking. According to a report in Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the largest German national sub-scription daily newspaper, a majority of the local coun-cillors backs the decision. The local mayor, Monika Her-mann, was quoted as saying that the “prohibition policy” has failed and that “we now have to think about offbeat solutions”. While German law bans the sale of narcotics, there are two exceptions to the rule. Narcotics may be sold to the public for “scientific” or “other purposes in the public interest”. The councillors want to make use of this clause in the law when applying to obtain permis-sion from the federal government to open the cannabis cafe. The other legal questions that remain unanswered are who will be responsible for the cafe and where the cannabis will come from. Councillors are looking for answers in the Netherlands where there are hundreds of legal coffee shops selling small amounts of cannabis to patrons over the age of 18.

Sweden|Society

Jobs hard to find for foreigners in SwedenForeigners in Sweden are the hardest hit by unemploy-ment, according to a report published by the country’s statistical agency. Based on the findings of a 12-year-long survey, half of all foreigners unemployed need more than a year in order to find employment. Only a third of the na-tive-born jobless population has to wait this long to find a job. However, it is not clear whether this is a due to racism and discrimination by employers or a lack of skills on the part of the foreigners. Meanwhile, Sweden’s unemploy-ment rate has dropped from 7.5% in September to 7.3% in October.

Germany|induStry

Strong chinese market to inspire German auto industryBERLIN - China was expected to be the world’s largest car market in 2013 and 2014, said German auto industry as-sociation VDA on Tuesday, adding that the growing mar-ket could inspire the German auto industry. For the full year of 2013, world growth of passenger car sales would be driven by two major markets, China and the U.S., said VDA president Matthias Wissmann. Sales in China in 2013 were estimated to rose by 21% to 16 million units, making China the world’s largest car market. Sales in the U.S. Market would increase by 7% to 15.5 million units. For the year of 2014, VDA forecast auto sales worldwide to increase by 3% to 74.7 million units. In China, 17.1 mil-lion passenger cars were expected to be sold, more than twice as it was in 2009. In the U.S. market, a volume of 15.9 million units would be consumed. According to VDA, China’s share of the world passenger car market would rise to 23% in 2014, while the share of the U.S. was set to be over 21%. “The German manufacturers could go along with the high rate of growth in China,” said Wiss-mann. Volkswagen has decided to set up in China seven of its ten planned new factories worldwide. Data from VDA showed that German carmakers were expected to produce mainly abroad in 2014. (Xinhua)

STOCKHOLM — Two and a half years after Saab shut down production due to financial trouble, the Swedish car rolled a new sedan off its assembly lines in Trollhattan, in south-west Sweden, on Monday.

National Electric Vehicle Sweden, the Hong Kong-based company that bought the brand out of bankruptcy in September last year, presented its new 9-3 Aero Sedan as the first in a series of new cars it will produce.

The company, also called NEVS, said the first 200 cars will be delivered in the spring and will cost 279,000 kro-nor ($42,500) each.

Next year, it will also launch a 9-3 wagon, followed by convertible and electric models.

Saab shut down production in April 2011 after six decades of building cars as its earlier Dutch owner, Spyker Cars, struggled with financing. It filed for bankruptcy in December the same year, dealing a huge blow to the town of Trollhattan and the company’s 3,000 employees.

NEVS now employs around 600 people, including many former Saab employees, and acting President Mattias Bergman said he felt “incredibly happy, proud and humble” that the company has been able to restart production.

Bergman wouldn’t give any forecast of how many cars NEVS expects to sell but said they will start on a small scale and adjust production based on order intake.

The company aims to make electric cars under the Saab brand, but said it will also provide gasoline-fuelled cars until “electric cars fully meet customer demands.” It said it decided to start off with a gasoline-fuelled car to get pro-duction going as fast as possible and retain previous supply chains and spe-cialist staff.

It said it will start selling its cars di-rectly to Swedish customers through its website as of Dec. 10.

The aircraft and defense company with the same name is an independent entity, building fighter jets and weapons systems. (ΑΡ)

___Follow Malin Rising on Twitter at:

https://twitter.com/malinrising

Saab is back: First cars produced under new ownersSweden |induStry

Germany |Far riGht

Is Germany’s National Democratic Party (NPD) unconstitutional? Should it be out-lawed? These are the questions Germany’s highest court has once again been called upon to answer.

The Bundesrat - the Upper House of Germany’s parliament, which represents the country’s 16 state governments, is try-ing to ban the far-right party. Arguing that the NPD promotes racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and is unconstitutional, Ger-many’s states submitted a formal appeal to the country’s highest court on December 2.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, has described the NPD as anti-democratic, xen-ophobic and anti-Semitic, the government is not formally backing the court applica-

tion. This is probably because the NPD still does not represent a big threat at the polls. It gained only 1.3% of the vote in the general elections in September.

Founded in 1964, the NPD counts 6,000 members and two seats in regional parliaments. According to unconfirmed media reports, the NPD also qualifies for €1m in state funding each year.

Under German law, political parties may only be banned if they are seeking to undermine or abolish the democracy of to endanger the existence of the Federal Re-public of Germany. In 2003, the Federal Constitutional Court had rejected a case to ban the party. It remains to be seen how the court will rule this time. One thing is for sure: charging NPD members with in-

citement of popular hatred is very different from actually outlawing an entire party.

Bundesrat officials, however, are confi-dent that they will win the case before their court. According to reports in the local me-dia, they have built their case around the NPD’s xenophobic and anti-Semitic rheto-ric and anti-constitutional tendencies.

Why now? The decision to challenge the NPD’s

constitutionality before court is largely in response to the National Socialist Un-derground. This is the terrorist group that is implicated in the murder of nine migrants and a police officer. An investi-gation discovered links to the NPD and the NSU.

Another bid to ban Germany’s anti-immigrant NPD

Fuhrer fury as the far right flags. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE

22 EUROPEAN UNION NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

BEIJING - China and Britain have agreed to enhance cooperation in areas including high-speed railway, nuclear power and fi-nance, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday December 2.

Li told a joint press briefing with visit-ing British Prime Minister David Cameron that both sides agreed to promote each other’s companies to seek breakthroughs in high-speed railway and nuclear power cooperation.

China is willing to have joint shares and even hold controlling interests in British nuclear power projects, Li said.

Bilateral cooperation in this area will also promote the opening of the third-par-ty market and improve current and long-term employment prospects, according to the premier. Concerning the financial sec-tor, the two sides discussed conducting off-

shore RMB business in London and Chi-nese banks’ opening of branches in Britain.

They agreed to expand bilateral high-tech trade and support cooperation in aerospace, offshore wind power and other new energy development, Li said.

He added that Britain has agreed to take measures as soon as possible to in-crease high-tech exports to China, while both sides will jointly establish an innova-tion and research fund of £200m.

On people-to-people exchanges, Brit-ain will simplify visa procedures for Chi-nese tourists and business travellers and in-crease the frequency of flights, the premier was told.

Britain is willing to streamline process-es for Chinese citizens to carry out business activities and tourism in Britain, hoping that this will bring more job opportunities

to the country, Cameron said. The meet-ing between Li and Cameron is the first since the new Chinese administration took office early this year and is held against the backdrop of the upcoming 10th anniver-sary of the China-UK comprehensive stra-tegic partnership. China and Britain have become indispensable partners in each other’s economic and social development, Li said at the press briefing, noting that Britain is the largest recipient of Chinese investment and students in the EU while China is Britain’s second trading partner outside the EU.

On political relations, Li said both sides agreed that China and Britain should adhere to mutual respect and equality, take care of each other’s major interests and con-cerns and enhance political mutual trust.

(Xinhua)

China, Britain to enhance high-tech, economic ties

Finland|Education

Finland’s drop in PiSa ranking causes heated discussion By Elina Xu HElSinKi - The results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 was published on Tuesday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel-opment (OECD). The scores of Finland, the former leader in the assessments, have dropped dramatically, setting off a heated discussion in the country. Since 2000, the OECD has been evaluating the knowledge and skills of the world’s 15-year-olds every three years through PISA test. More than 510,000 students in 65 countries and economies took part in the latest test in 2012, which covered mathematics, reading and science, with the main focus on mathematics. A total of 10,157 15-year-old Finnish students from 311 schools participated in PISA 2012. Finland ranked the 12th in mathematics, and was placed the 6th in reading and 5th in science. Shanghai-China took the first place, fol-lowed by Singapore, Hong Kong-China and Chinese Taibei. In Europe, Finland was outperformed by Liechtenstein, Swit-zerland, the Netherlands and Estonia. Finland had achieved top ranking continuously in mean scores of PISA tests in 2000, 2003 and 2006. Because of the country’s steady performance in the PISA assessments, Finland has been lauded as an educa-tional leader in the world for more than a decade. The latest results gained by the Finnish students disappointed Finnish educators, policy makers and the media, causing wide con-cerns on the Nordic country’s education. Director of Finland’s Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) and policy advisor Pasi Sahlberg suggested that the problem may lie at the bot-tom end of the educational spectrum, according to the Finn-ish Broadcasting Company Yle. Sahlberg pointed out that increasing income gap and lack of financial resources in some municipalities are two possible causes. However, the immedi-ate effect is a widened gap between the best and worst schools and students. Kai Nyyssonen, a teacher from Kotka, attribut-ed the downturn to the rapid development of digital entertain-ment. He said, “All kinds of entertainment draw young peo-ple’s attention, and they do not want to focus on school works.” Lauri Halla, the principal of Kulosaari Secondary School in Helsinki told Xinhua, “it seems like Finland falls behind top Asian areas and countries because of many reasons. We are too satisfied with past results, we fail to develop our curriculum and we forget that in order to achieve results we need goals and motivation for hard work.” (Xinhua)

uK|HouSing

British housing construction poses strongest growthlOnDOn - The British construction sector recovered at a fast pace in November with output and employment both rising at the sharpest rate in more than six years, a survey report said Tuesday. The market sensitive report jointly issued by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) said the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for construction in-creased sharply to 62.6 in November, from 59.4 in the previous month. A PMI reading of 50 points or greater indicates expan-sion, while below 50 indicates contraction. The construction PMI has stayed above 50 for the seventh successive month. Construction companies pointed to a steep and accelerated ex-pansion of house building activity in November, with the rate of growth the fastest for 10 years, the report said. The survey respondents “widely pointed to more favourable business con-dition last month, showing rising confidence in the economic outlook and improving credit conditions helping to boost spending across the construction sector,” it said. Meanwhile, the survey found that construction companies were more op-timistic about the year-ahead business outlook. (Xinhua)

By Shang Jun ,Xinhua writer

BEiJinG - British Prime Minister David Cameron, accompanied by a 100-strong business delegation, kicked off a high-profile visit to China last week.

The delayed visit is a chance that can’t be missed to bring China-Britain relations back on the right track.

Ties between Beijing and London cooled after Cameron persisted in meet-ing the Dalai Lama in May 2012, a move that interfered with China’s internal af-fairs.

For the smooth development of bi-lateral ties, a key lesson worth learning from that unhappy chapter is that the two countries should respect each oth-er’s core interests and handle their dif-ferences in a proper and acceptable way.

It has to be noted there is no fun-damental conflicting interests between China and Britain, while it is not unusual for the two countries to hold different views on certain issues due to their di-vergence in culture and social systems.

When differences emerge, commu-nication is better than confrontation, and engaging is more effective than en-raging. A sound political relationship is the basis for the ever-expanding eco-nomic ties between China and Britain. By looking beyond their differences, the two countries can see a bigger picture.

With Beijing undertaking an am-bitious reform plan to transform the world’s second largest economy and London exploring ways to escape its economic downturn, it is a good time for them to enhance practical cooperation for mutual benefit.

There is huge potential for economic cooperation between China and Britain, especially in the fields of financial ser-vices, nuclear energy and aviation.

As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Britain both played an important role in interna-tional affairs and can contribute more to world peace and stability by enhancing coordination.

Cameron’s China trip follows a re-cent visit paid by his Chinese counter-part Li Keqiang to Romania, where the Chinese premier also attended a summit with a group of leaders from Central and Eastern European countries.

It was Li’s second tour to the Euro-

pean continent after he took office in March. In May, Li visited Germany and Switzerland on his maiden overseas trip as Chinese premier, which demonstrates the importance Beijing attaches to its ties with Europe.

As an important member of the Eu-ropean Union (EU), Britain can play a crucial role in promoting ties between China and the 28-nation bloc.

The visit will have Cameron and the new Chinese leadership meet for the first time. Compared with the frequent visits between Beijing and the European continent, Britain is lagging behind.

Cameron may be late but he is still in time.

Looking beyond differences for practical China-Britain cooperation

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron stands before a painting during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 2, 2013.

AFP PHOTO / POOL / Ed Jones

unitEd KingdoM |cHina

unitEd KingdoM |cHina

23EUROPEAN UNIONNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

CzeCh RepubliC|infRastRuCtuRe

builder to take prague to court over tunnelAn arbitration court will settle a dispute between Metrostav, a leading construction company in the Czech market, and the municipality of Prague. The two have failed to agree on a solution over problems concerning the construction of the city’s Blanka tunnel. According to Frantisek Polak, a spokesman for Metrostav, the company is demanding the municipality pays overdue invoices worth about 2.1bn Czech Koruna (€1.5bn) for additional construction con-ducted on the tunnel several months ago. Polak also an-nounced that Metrostav will suspend construction work on the project until December 7. In response, the municipality has declared that the contract signed by Metrostav is invalid because it was not approved by the city council. This is why the municipality is eager for the court to review the validity of the document it signed with the company. According to the municipality, the only solution is for Metrostav to fin-ish the project which it has been paid to do. "We still hope that Metrostav will be willing to comply with the requests of capital city Prague and will not suspend construction work," the municipality said in a statement. The construction of the tunnel, which began in 2007, was supposed to cost just 26bn Czech Koruna, but the budget increase by as much as 10bn Czech Koruna.

netheRlands|soCiety

netherlands sees sharp rise in povertyTHE HAGUE - Poverty rose sharply in the Netherlands in 2012 compared with a year earlier, according to a report by the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Netherlands Insti-tute for Social Research. A total of 1.2 to 1.3 million Dutch people, or 7.6 to 8.4% of the population, are currently living in poverty, the report showed. The Poverty Survey 2013 used two income thresholds to measure poverty. One based on a low-income threshold, that is €990 net per month for a single person, €1,350 for a household without children, €1,850 for families with two children. The second "modest but adequate criterion" was €1,042 net per month for a single person, €1,430 for a household without kids and €1,960 for household with two kids. Out of more than 7 million Dutch households in 2012, 664,000 (9.4%) lived on incomes be-low the low-income threshold. Based on the modest but ade-quate criterion, 551,000 households (7.8%) lived in poverty in 2012. Estimates indicate a further increase in poverty in 2013 of between 0.1 and 0.5% points. (Xinhua)

CzeCh RepubliC|eu

Czechs dissatisfied with eu membershipPRAGUE - Czechs appear to be quite pessimistic about their EU membership, according to the Policy Associa-tion for an Open Society (PASOS), a network of European think-tanks. Czechs are more pessimistic about the EU en-try than people in three other new EU members including Bulgaria, Latvia and Poland, with 35% of them think that joining the EU has brought their country more losses than benefits, a new PASOS survey found. The poll, released on Tuesday, was conducted in the four nations to gauge the lev-el of citizen engagement in the EU policymaking process. Moreover, the Czechs are dissatisfied with their own politi-cians' efforts to defend their interests at the EU level, and they are critical of the work of EU institutions, said PASOS Director Jeff Lovitt. (Xinhua)

An increasing number of people in Luxembourg are struggling to make ends meet and turning to social gro-cery stores, which sell items at reduced prices, in order to stock their kitchen cupboards.

The number of people shopping at a social grocery (known as a “buttek” in Luxembourg) has increased 10% this year. There are eight social grocery stores all run by the Luxembourg Red Cross and Caritas. The groups regis-tered a total 24,000 transactions since the start of the year. Jobless and single parents make up the majority of shop-pers.

Though hesitant to make any sweeping statements about poverty in Luxembourg, Patrick Salvi of the Red Cross said the numbers suggest that an increasing number of people are strug-gling in poverty.

“There are more people using our social grocery stores who are sent to us by social services,” he said.

The shops, which are funded by donations, sell basic hygiene products and food staples at a third of the nor-mal price. Last year, the operation of

these shops cost the Red Cross some €300,000.

According to the Red Cross’ website, the grocery stores are aimed at fighting poverty, strengthening solidarity and so-cial ties within the community, provid-

ing people a balanced diet on a budget and fighting food waste.

The economic crisis has seen similar social grocery shops opening in many European Union member states, includ-ing Italy, Greece and Spain.

Groceries for the poor in Luxembourg

Behind its reputation for opulence, Luxembourg is seeing increasing poverty. LENDOG64

Voters in Croatia went to the polls on De-cember 1 to weigh in on a controversial gay marriage referendum. Preliminary results show that two-thirds of voters agree that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and are not in favour of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The early results are based on a quarter of the ballots and do not include votes cast in Zagreb or Split, the country’s two largest cities.

Ahead of the referendum, hundreds of gay rights advocates took to the streets of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, to protest the referendum which was initiated by an anti-gay Catholic group. The group has been

lobbying the government to pass a law ban-ning gay marriage.

Many mainstream politicians, includ-ing Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, had voiced their opposition to the referendum and had called on Croatian’s to vote “no”. Milanovic had argued that a “yes” vote to ban same-sex marriage would threaten people’s right to happiness and choice.

Cardinal Josip Bozanic, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Croatia, disagrees. In a letter he wrote and which was read in churches across the country, the cardinal said: "Marriage is the only union enabling procreation. This is the key difference be-tween a marriage... and other unions".

Croatia joined the European Union in July.

To date, same-sex marriage has been legalised in seven EU countries: Belgium (2003), Denmark (2012), France (2013), the Netherlands (2001), Portugal (2010), Spain (2005), and Sweden (2009). Civil unions have been legalised in nine EU members: Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. However, five EU countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) have constitutionally defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Will Croatians ban same-sex marriage?

BUDAPEST - Information and com-munications technology giant Huawei announced the completion of a logistics center upgrade in Biatorbagy, a few kilo-metres west of Budapest on Tuesday, with an inauguration ceremony officiated by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Xiao Qian.

The facility now has a loading ca-pacity of 3,000 tractor-trailers monthly and following additional expansion is in-tended to handle all transport and storage of products destined for the European, North African, Russian, and Middle East

markets. Speaking at the ceremony, Or-ban pointed out that business ties with China were imperative for any country hoping to survive the economic down-turn. "The only countries that will remain standing and that have the chance to be-come winners in the post-recession world are those which are open to China and where Chinese businesses are present," he said. China's economic policy, focused on production and labour, should serve as an example to all countries trying to shape their own futures following the re-cession, Orban said, reiterating Hungary's intention to boost its exports outside the

European Union from the current 11% to 33% by 2018.

Xiao Qian said that Huawei made a positive contribution to the promotion of local employment and economic and social development in the past 9 years. Huawei is an example of mutually ben-eficial and win-win cooperation, common development, he said.

The logistics center has a positive and important significance, showing that Chi-nese-funded enterprises were confident about Hungary and its investment envi-ronment, the Chinese ambassador added. (Xinhua)

Hungarian PM welcomes upgrade to Huawei logistics center

CRoatia|soCiet y

luXeMbouRG | soCiet y

hunGaRy |investMents

24 EUROPEAN UNION NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Spain’s consumer confidence increased by seven points to 72.3 points in November when compared with October, indicating an improvement in Spaniards perception of their country’s economy, the Sociologi-cal Research Centre (CIS) published on 3 December, Xinhua reported. The Con-sumer Confidence Indicator (CCI) ranges between 0 and 200 points with ratings over 100 points considered as positive percep-tions of the economic situation, while rat-ings below 100 indicating a negative per-ception.

The CIS attributed this improve-ment to better opinions about the current situation, whose indicator increased by 3.2 points to 54.4 points from October, and people’s expectations about the future, whose indicator increased by 10.6 points to 90.1 points. The indicator of percep-tions about the current situation improved in all aspects: opinions about the economy

increased by 2.3 points and those about op-portunities in the labour market and house-holds’ situation increased by 1.4 points and 6 points respectively. All components of the indicator of people’s expectations about the future also increased: expectations about the labour market increased by 8.2 points and those about the economic situation and households’ expectations rose by 12.4 points and 11.3 points respectively. In an-nual terms the CIS reported that the CCI increased by 27.2 points, with the indicator on the current situation increasing by 25.6 points and that of people’s expectations by 28.8 points. Spain’s consumer confidence had been increasing for four consecutive months before falling by 4.5 points in Octo-ber to rise again in November. The CIS did a total of 1,400 interviews for the indicator which helps forecast consumer behaviour in the following months.

In related news, the number of peo-

ple registered as unemployed in Spain fell by 2,475 people in November to a total of 4,808,908 people, the Ministry of Em-ployment and Social Security reported on 3 December. This is the first fall of unem-ployment registered in November since 1996, which leaves Spain with a total of 4,808,908 people unemployed, a 2.02% de-crease (98,909 people) in comparison with the same month in 2012. Meanwhile, the Ministry reported that the number of un-employed people decreased by 38,723 peo-ple in the first 11 months of the year. The number of young people unemployed (be-low 25 years old) increased by 1,230 people in November, while in annual terms it de-creased by 34,047 people. Regarding sec-tors, unemployment fell in the construction and industry sectors by 11,932 people and 4,306 people respectively, while increasing by 8,484 people and 4,390 people in the services and agriculture sectors respectively.

Consumer confidence increases in November

On 2 December, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta met his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Rome holding discussions that resulted in the signing of 12 agreements aimed at enhancing bilat-eral co-operation on security, energy, edu-cation, health care and high technology.

“These agreements are aimed at boosting growth and employment, which are the primary goals of every country at the moment,” Letta said.

The Italian premier, who met Netan-yahu three times in the past seven months, said the two countries enjoyed an “excel-lent” relationship, especially their com-mercial ties.

Israeli data showed the country’s ex-ports to Italy reached $6.3 billion in the first half of 2013, up 2% from a year ago.

Netanyahu, who started his two-day visit to Rome on 1 December, praised Ita-ly’s efforts in fighting economic recession and unemployment. He expressed hope the bilateral deals would help give new impetus to the Italian economy.

The two leaders also exchanged views on international affairs, including the Iran and Syria issues. “The Mediter-ranean needs stability and governments that are capable of taking responsibility, which is not the case of Libya today,” Letta said. The two leaders also agreed on the Syrian civil war and on the “ab-solute urgency” of finding a solution ahead of the Geneva 2 peace conference on 22 January. “We agreed on the need to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons as soon as possible: it is intolerable that they have

been used and are still in place,” Letta said. As far as peace in the Middle East, the Ital-ian premier hoped for the process to keep moving forward.

“Italy has always been a friend of the peace process. After the steps forward made in 2013, we hope that 2014 will be the year of the turning point,” Letta said. Netanyahu said Tel Aviv wants “a lasting and viable peace with the Palestinians: we pray and work for peace, and we hope there is a partner on the other end who wants the same thing. We will soon find out.” Netanyahu expressed opposition to nuclear agreement between P5+1 Group and Iran, warning that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions constitute the “major threat to the human civilisation”. He added that

many Arab countries share Israel’s view of the recent agreement with Iran. “When Israel and Arab countries speak with the same voice, the whole world should lis-ten,” he said. He cautioned that if Iran forged ahead with its nuclear plan that would be an historic juncture that would risk erase human progress, knowledge and information revolution.

Letta also announced that his gov-ernment has allocated funds for a new Holocaust museum in the northern city of Ferrara. “We must work together to always uphold our memory,” Letta said. “Whoever foments racism, xenophobia, extremism, hatred and intolerance, even by words alone, can wreak negative, un-predictable results.”

SPAIN|ECONOMY

Troika to access Spain’s banking system On 2 December, inspectors from the so-called Troika arrived in Madrid on their last visit to assess the situation of Span-ish banks before the bailout comes to an end, local media re-ported. This is the fifth and last visit of the Troika, composed of inspectors from the European Commission (EC), the Eu-ropean Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They will examine the situation of Spanish banks, which received financial support from the EU. They will also verify that the country has met the commitments re-quested by Brussels after the bailout. Members of the Troika will meet with representatives of the Spanish government, the Bank of Spain and financial institutions in order to evaluate the situation.

GREECE|ECONOMY

Samaras upbeat on prospects of economy On 3 December, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras ap-peared upbeat on the prospects of the ailing national economy. “The country is nearing recovery, after five years of deep reces-sion,” he stressed after a meeting on 3 December evening with his Norwegian counterpart Erna Solberg, who praised efforts to exit the severe three-year debt crisis. During the talks and a forum organised by the Hellenic-American Chamber of Com-merce shortly afterwards, Samaras highlighted significant pro-gress made in fiscal adjustment and structural reforms on the path to recovery. “The worst is over. The economy is being stabilized, the spreads are falling... Next year will be the year of economic recovery for Greek economy,” he said.

BULGARIA|ENERGY

Renewable power producers slam plans for 20% revenue feeOn 2 December, renewable power producers staged a protest rally in Bulgaria’s capital against plans to impose a 20% charge on revenues from wind and solar power generation as of 1 January, SeeNews reported. The protest saw several hundred gather in front of the building of the energy ministry, according to a video broadcast posted on the website of the state-run Bul-garian National Television. The new fee, which was proposed two weeks ago by the leader of the ultra-nationalist Ataka par-ty, Volen Siderov, will be debated as part of the 2014 budget bill that is currently being reviewed by the MPs. “In essence, the adoption of this decision for a 20% fee on our investments is tantamount to nationalisation of our capital, our labour, and our efforts to turn Bulgaria into a modern state,” the Bulgar-ian Photovoltaic Association said in a press release. It will drive away foreign and local investors from the most successful sec-tor of the Bulgarian economy, in which over €4.0 billion have been invested and thousands of jobs created, it added.

ROMANIA|ENERGY

Enel Green Power borrows from EIB for projects in RomaniaOn 2 December, Italy’s Enel Green Power said it has entered a loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for €200 million to partially cover investments in some wind farms in Romania. The wind farms are located in the south-eastern region of Dobrogea and western region of Banat, Enel Green Power said in a statement, cited by SeeNews.

Italy’s Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference at the Villa Madama, Rome, 2 December 2013. AFP PHOTO/ANDREAS SOLARO

SPAIN|ECONOMY

ITALY|DIPLOMACY

Rome, Tel Aviv ink co-operation deals

25ENLARGEMENTNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Turkey|Syrian CriSiS

Turkish experts doubt effectiveness of Geneva ii conference on Syria ISTANBUL - Turkish security analysts and experts doubted the success of the Geneva II conference slated for Jan. 22 on the Syrian crisis due to conflict of inter-ests, saying a permanent solution could take longer than expected. “It is not a realistic approach to expect a permanent re-sult out of the Geneva II conference. The conditions in the field have changed the equilibrium in the war,” Oy-tun Orhan, a security analyst at Center for Middle East-ern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) told Xinhua on Tuesday. “The Syrian government forces are gaining the war on the ground. Under these circumstances it is not rational to tell Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to leave his post and leave the country, “ he said. Meanwhile, Burak Kuntay, the director of the Institute of Social Sciences at Bahcesehir University, told Xinhua that the civil war in Syria has too many players locally and globally, blocking the way of a possible political so-lution. “We can see at one corner Russia, Hezbollah and Iran and at the other corner there are Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” he said, adding that all of the players with their conflicting interests have been pushing the political solu-tion into a dead end. Furthermore, the increased fragmentation of the opposi-tion emerged as an important factor derailing the politi-cal solution even more. “There are Islamists, there are groups backed by al-Qai-da, there is the Free Syrian Army. They have their own stances. In addition these groups claim that the Syrian National Coalition ( SNC), the largest opposition um-brella in exile, does not represent them and say that they do not recognize it,” Orhan stressed. The SNC on the other hand repeated its commitment to finding a political solution to the crises in Syria. In a recent press statement, the coalition said that Ge-neva II conference would be a positive step, as it would result in the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, including security and mili-tary apparatuses. However, head of media office of the SNC, Khalid Saleh, told Xinhua in Istanbul on Tuesday that “The challenge is that the Assad administration has no interest nor did it take any real steps to demonstrate its willingness to hand over powers to the Syrian people.” “As a matter of fact, the government does not accept the basic principals of Geneva conference, which means it does not accept the basic framework to ensure the con-ference will be successful,” he added. Kuntay said that the real political result can be obtained out of more closed meetings initiated by Russia and the U.S. The important thing is not international conferenc-es but the certainty of U.S. policies, he added. “The U.S. could not foresee what Syria would be like after Assad. That’s why the U.S. could not give clear support to the opposition fearing that pro-al-Qaida or pro-Hezbollah groups could come to the power,” Kun-tay told. According to him the uncertainty of U.S. policies would continue until the next election in 2016. “Only after then the U.S. can take concrete steps in Syria,” he added. On the other hand, Turkey is another country that should revise its policies in Syria, Orhan said. “Turkey has to face the reality that there is no more chance for the opposition to take the power, “ he said, adding that Turkey was not as powerful as it was at the beginning. “As you can see no one is ready for the Geneva talks yet,” Kuntay concluded. (Xinhua)

ARBIL, Iraq - Turkey is trying to organ-ize a meeting between Baghdad and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan to defuse a row over Ankara’s energy deal to import oil and gas from the region, a Turkish official said. “We are trying to organize a meet-ing between Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki and head of Kurdistan regional government Nechirvan Barzani,” Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz said at the opening session of the four-day Interna-tional Oil and Gas Conference in Arbil, the capital of Kurdistan.

He said the meeting would be held in

Arbil, Baghdad or Ankara. “We stand by the agreement with

northern Iraq (Kurdistan) but we hope this can be carried out through a three-way mechanism. We are trying to move this forward in a careful and courteous way,” Taner Yildiz said.

The Turkish energy minister arrived in Arbil on Monday December 2, for an energy conference after his visit to Bagh-dad, where he reportedly met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussein al- Shahristani on the energy deal.

A statement by Shahristani’s office

said: “the two sides discussed means to promote economic relations, especially in the field of oil, and ways to settle pending issues in a way to preserve the sovereignty of Iraq and its control on natural wealth. “

It said that Shahristani confirmed that “the oil wealth is protected and it is owned as the property of all Iraqis as stated by the constitution.”

He also stressed that “oil exports and imports can only be conducted after be-ing approved by the central government represented by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.” (Xinhua)

Turkey to organize meeting between Baghdad, Kurdistan over oil deal

ISTANBUL - Turkey deported 1,100 European citizens who came to Turkey to join al-Qaida-linked groups fighting in Syria to their home countries, local Haberturk daily reported on Sunday.

The report said Ankara has sent a report to Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, which the fight-ers mainly came from. Turkey arrested

these European citizens with the help of the National Intelligence Organization, Gendarmerie forces and police units in 41 operations in 2013, the report said, adding there are still around 1,500 Eu-ropean citizens who want to go to Syria and fight on the front lines along with al-Qaida.

Turkey is on alert about suspected ji-

hadists and has been sharing intelligence with European countries in this regard through Interpol, the report said.

The country carried out 141 op-erations against al-Qaida and al- Qaida-linked groups in last three years, detain-ing 518 suspects and imprisoning 217 of them.

(Xinhua)

Turkey deports 1,100 European fighters

There seems to be no end in sight for Tur-key’s European Union accession nego-tiations nearly a decade after talks started. Even news the EU decided to re-open membership talks - stalled for the past three years - has failed to convince ob-servers that Turkey will soon become the bloc’s 29th member.

And now, there is also talk of Turkey flirting with a rival regional bloc led by Russia. Though few believe this is likely, the mere thought that Turkey might con-sider joining the Moscow-led Eurasian Union will at the very least add a curious footnote to Turkey’s EU membership ne-gotiations.

Last month, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev made newspaper headlines when he announced that Turk-ish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had asked about joining the Eurasian Union, which links Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia. Turkey’s foreign ministry was quick to deny it, but not before the news made its way to Brussels.

According to some political analysts, Turkey might use the Eurasian Union to create leverage with Brussels. Membership in both groups is not possible.

Meanwhile, in its latest annual Pro-gress Report on Turkey, the European Commission describes Turkey as a stra-

tegic partner for the EU and that the full potential of the EU–Turkey relationship is best fulfilled within the framework of an active and credible accession process. The Commission also stressed that accession negotiations need to regain momentum.

But there is still much work that needs to be done. Candidate countries in their accession negotiations are required to

close 35 thematic chapters. Since negotia-tions started in 2005, Turkey has opened 14 chapters and preliminary closed just one chapter.

Eight of the 14 chapters are frozen due to Turkey’s refusal to implement the Ad-ditional Protocol for Greek Cyprus and agree to open the country’s air and sea ports to Greek Cypriot use.

Is Turkey thinking of joining the other EU?

Turkey | euraSian union

Turkey |kurdiSTan

Turkey |Syrian CriSiS

East or West, but shall the twain ever meet? EPA/OSMAN ORSAL/ POOL

26 ENLARGEMENT NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

MONTENEGRO|METALS

Deripaska sues Montenegro over Kombinat Aluminijuma

Russian aluminium baron Oleg Deripaska’s company has launched a €100 million lawsuit against Montenegro over the handling of its aluminium smelter in the Balkan country, AP reported. Deripaska’s Central European Aluminium Compa-ny says the case will be heard in Vienna. It accuses the Monte-negrin government of “numerous violations” of a settlement agreement. CEAC bought a nearly 60% stake in Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP) in 2005, but the smelter — once the pride of Montenegrin industry — has constantly lost money. The government bought back nearly half of the stake in 2010 before officially declaring the debt-laden smelter bank-rupt this year. CEAC accuses the government of mismanage-ment, including preventing the smelter from building its own power plant, which would have helped it survive financially.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA|ENERGY

Muslim-Croat Federation to complete TPP Banovici in 2018Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat Federation said it plans to complete in 2018 the construction of the 300 megawatt Banovici thermal power plant (TPP), which is estimated to cost €584.2 million, SeeNews reported. Talks have already been held with several potential foreign investors who filed bids in the pre-qualifi-cation tender for TPP Banovici, the Federation’s government said in a statement on Thursday. The technical documents, including a pre-feasibility study, for the project, have been prepared. The TPP will be built close to the brown coal mine of Banovici, Rudnik Mrkog Uglja Banovici, which is one of the biggest coal mines in the Muslim-Croat Federation.

MONTENEGRO|TRANSPORT

Podgorica eyes co-operation with regional, EU networksMontenegro’s Transport Minister Ivan Brajovic said his coun-try is committed to integrated transport policy and connectiv-ity in the region. In this context, he underlined Montenegro will strive to maintain a balance between continuity and re-construction and maintenance of existing infrastructure and building new ones, with obvious need for evolving transporta-tion policy if the country is to keep pace with changes and op-timise the use of the existing transport network. Brajovic head-ed a delegation at the 9th Annual Meeting of Western Balkan Transport Ministers in Brussels. The meeting discussed the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Development of South East Europe Core Regional Trans-port Network. European Transport Commissioner Sim Kallas said regional transport co-operation is significant for building relationships and future integration of the region into the EU.

Shell Exploration Company, a unit of super energy major, Royal Dutch Shell could sign an exploration deal with Bos-nia-Herzegovina’s autonomous Muslim-Croat Federation before the end of next year, Reuters quoted Energy Minister Erdal Trhulj as saying.

Shell is to begin talks on a potential concession with government officials in late February.

“Bearing in mind the extent of the possible deal, we would be able to sign a contract awarding the concession to Shell at the end of 2014,” Trhulj said. “This is an enormous endeavour that has never before been conducted in Bosnia.”

The investment is set to range be-tween $300 million and $700 million depending on the number of drilling sites, he said.

The federation government ap-proached Shell in 2011 after deciding to revive oil and gas exploration plans based on the pre-war research.

A two-year preliminary deal signed in November 2011 tasked Shell with de-

veloping a data room.In September, Shell expressed in-

terest to get a concession in three ar-eas containing possible deposits, but the government agreed only to a concession in the Dinaridi area, stretching from the town of Bihac in the west to the Adriatic

town of Neum in the south.Experts say that southern depos-

its, located at a depth of between 4000 metres and 8,000 metres, could contain up to around 3.5 billion barrels of oil re-serves, while northern beds are estimat-ed at around 490 million barrels.

Shell eyes exploration deal with Bosnia in 2014

A Shell oil ship at sea. Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell could sign an exploration deal with Bosnia-Herzegovina’s autonomous Muslim-Croat Federation before the end of next year. EPA/ROYAL DUTCH SHELL/HANDOUT HANDOUT

Russian aluminium baron Oleg Deripaska EPA/DMITRY ASTAKHOV/POOL

The European Union and Serbia are pre-paring the ground to start the accession talks which are expected to begin in Janu-ary 2014.

On 3 December, European Commis-sioner for Enlargement and Neighbour-hood policy Stefan Fule told a conference on EU enlargement in Brussels that the European Commission is already prepared for the accession talks with Serbia, Tanjug reported. Fule added that they would start in January at the latest.

The Commissioner also met with Dragan Djilas, leader of the Democratic Party from Serbia, and said to the Serbian politician that inclusivity is very important in the accession process. “I emphasised (to Djilas) that the positive findings of the 2013 Progress Report would provide a solid backdrop for the discussions in the Council, while the further progress that will be achieved in the implementation of the April Agreement ... We also elabo-rated on the key areas for which Serbia will need to confirm or deliver new efforts to move decisively in this more demanding phase of accession negotiations. I consider this meeting the start of a more regular exchange of views with the opposition to ensure the inclusivity of the accession ne-gotiation process,” Fule said.

Moreover, the head of Serbia’s team for the accession talks with the EU Tanja Mis-cevic said in the same conference in Brus-

sels that Serbia was ready to enter the ac-cession talks, as the co-operation between EU and Serbia is becoming more solid and stable.

“Serbia is not starting from zero, as it began harmonising its legislation with EU standards a decade ago, long before the Stabilization and Association Agreement was signed,” she noted.

Miscevic stressed that Serbia had addi-tional issues regarding its EU integration, pointing to Chapter 35 of the talks, which is related to the normalization of the rela-tions between Belgrade and Pristina.

The accession talks and the dialogue on the normalization of the relations be-tween Belgrade and Pristina should sup-port each other, and not be a hindrance to

one another, she stated.Slovakia’s Foreign Minister and Dep-

uty Prime Minister Miroslav Lajcak com-mended Serbia on its efforts in EU integra-tion and the normalisation of the relations with Pristina.

Meanwhile, Sofia backs Belgrade along the path toward the EU, Bulgarian Ambassador to Serbia Angel Dimitrov told Serbian Defence Minister Nebojsa Rodic on 3 December.

In recent years, bilateral co-operation in the field of defence is at the highest level which has been confirmed by the joint military exercise at the Shabla train-ing grounds in Bulgaria, and the training of Bulgarian pilots at the airport in Batajnica, the Ministry of Defence said in a release.

EU and Serbia prepare for accession talksSERBIA| EU AFFAIRS

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA|ENERGY

European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood policy Stefan Fule said Commission is already prepared for the accession talks with Serbia.AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN

27PARTNERSNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

Determined to keep his pre-election prom-ise, Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson announced plans to write-off hundreds of billions of krona in mortgage debt for households that have fallen behind on their monthly payment.

According to Bloomberg, the gov-ernment will provide homeowners with as much as 80bn kronur in a direct writ-edown of home-loan debt and give 70bn kronur of tax exemptions over three years.

According to the government website, the new deal will reduce household debt by 13%.

Equivalent to 9% of Iceland’s econ-omy (about €15bn), the debt relief plan has angered the International Monetary Fund, which in the past has said there is “little fiscal space for additional house-hold debt relief ”. Even Standard & Poor reacted almost immediately to the news by cutting its credit rating for Iceland to negative from stable and warning that it could still cut it further if the writedown is implemented.

The writedown, which is a relief for countless households, is seen as being too harsh on the country’s banks. According

to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the move will “raise questions” about the country’s economic crisis.

This is not the first time the govern-ment of Iceland has decided to writedown home-loan debt. The country’s banks were ordered to forgive more than €2bn

worth of debt since 2008. “Currently, household debt is equiva-

lent to 108 percent of GDP, which is high by international comparison,” the govern-ment said in a statement. “The action will boost household disposable income and encourage savings, with relief beginning in mid-2014.”

IMF warns Iceland about debt another writedown

The two largest intelligence organisations in the United States, the CIA and the NSA, have been gathering classified information from an American military base in Green-land for several decades.

According to a report published in the Jyllands-Posten, one of Denmark’s most widely-read newspapers, the information gathered at the Thule Tracking Station in Greenland is part of America’s top-secret monitoring of telecommunications and potential terrorist activity. Based on declas-sified US documents obtained by the news-paper, the information gathered includes photographs, weather information from Iraq or intelligence about suspected terror-ist camps in Afghanistan.

“These are the snapshots you use to plot

a drone attack,” Torben Rune, the head of telecommunications at Netplan, a net com-munications company that has consulted with NASA, told the Jyllands-Posten. News that the CIA and the NSA were working out of the Greenland tracking station came as a surprise to some members of the coun-try’s parliament. They said they did not know that information was being gathered at Thule. Far-left party Enhedslisten and Amnesty International Denmark are now calling for an investigation. “It suggests that Denmark is supporting America’s secret drone programme,” Amnesty International Denmark’s secretary general, Trine Chris-tiansen, told Jyllands-Posten. “And that is something that the Danish government should investigate and distance itself from.”

Radikale spokesperson Zenia Stampe told Jyllands-Posten that she “did not mind that Thule was used for intelligence gathering to combat terrorism”.

According to Michael Linden Vørnle of the DTU Space in Copenhagen, who is an expert in US defence and military satel-lite programmes, it should not come as a surprise that Thule is part of a system that transmits secret intelligence to the NSA and CIA. “I would say that it would be strange if they did not,” Vørnle told Jyllands-Posten. “The station is centrally-located for the US military to pull information down from their spy satellites.” Denmark had given the United States permission to construct and use the base in northwest Greenland back in the 1950s.

The US has been spying from Greenland for years

Norway and China are getting ready to jointly explore oil drilling waters near Iceland.

It will be the first the two countries will be teaming up following a diplo-matic row over the award of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. It may be a sign that relations are warming.

On November 22 the Icelandic National Energy Authority (NEA) an-nounced it had finished processing the third application received in the second licensing round in the Dreki Area on the Icelandic Continental Shelf.

It said the license will be awarded to Icelandic firm Eykon Energy, Chinese oil company CNOOC, and Norwegian

state company Petoro.Norway is allowed to seek licences

awarded by the Icelandic government as part of a 1981 treaty between the two, and seek outside partners.

China is reportedly eager to explore for natural resources in the Arctic, which is believed to hold as many as 90m bar-rels of oil.

Norway and China to explore offshore Iceland

Norway|Societ y

Foreign minister says Norway will not ban circumcisionNorway’s recently appointed foreign minister, Borge Brende, assured senior officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, one of the world’s largest Jewish human rights or-ganisations, that “the Norwegian government recognises the importance of ritual male circumcision for the Jewish community in Norway…[and] it will not propose a ban on ritual circumcision”. So said Brende in a letter to Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Wiesenthal Center’s associate dean and Mark Weitzman, its director of government affairs. The letter was in response to concerns expressed by the Wiesenthal Center and others that Norway officials were considering criminalising brit milah (a Jewish religious male circumcision ceremony performed on eight-day-old male infants).Anne Lindboe, the Norwegian Children’s Ombudswom-an, had proposed to ban brit milah after the Norwegian parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution calling male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children”. In a statement published by the Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Centre last week, the organisation applauded Brende’s position on the matter. “We hope this sends a clear message to Anne Lindboe, Norway’s Children’s Om-budswoman and other Norwegian figures who continue to publicly express their opposition to Brit Milah,” said the organisation in a statement.The Wiesenthal Centre also called on other European countries currently criminalising or seeking to criminalise core Judaic practices to recognise that such laws and initia-tives stand in direct defiance of international laws protect-ing religious freedom.

Norway|eNergy

Norway to install inert gas gen-erator systems on chinese vesselsNorway’s Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions (WTS) has announced it will install Maritime Protection Inert Gas Generator (IGG) systems on vessels under construction in China. The systems will be installed on three floating vessels used by China’s offshore oil industry. The vessels are owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Systems comprising of a deck house module with electric power, fuel and sea water supply/discharge will be installed on two floating vessels that will operate in the Bohai oil field in northern China. Both systems are designed for dual fuel operation and include a gas cabinet for natural gas delivery as part of the scope of supply.WTS has also been awarded a contract to supply two IGG systems for third floating vessel that will operate in the En-ping oil field in the South China Sea. The IGG systems comprise two totally enclosed deck house modules, one containing a complete marine diesel-fired IGG unit with associated equipment and control system. A second total-ly-enclosed deck house module contains a flue gas system with scrubber, blowers, control system and other associ-ated equipment.“We are delighted to be working with CNOOC on these orders, which confirm Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions amongst the leaders in the supply of inert gas generator systems to the offshore sector,” Steinar Andersen, the WTS’s director for maritime protection managing, said. “For CNOOC, our experience in the supply of tailor-made deck house modules was an important factor, be-cause it made installation easier for the yard and meant the equipment could be positioned in above-deck locations.”

Reykjavik is in conflict with the IMF over debt strategy. AFP PHOTO/ Halldor KOLBEINS

greeNlaNd | Sp yiNg

Norway |eNergy

icelaNd |writedowN

28 EASTERN PARTNERSHIP NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

GEORGIA|DIPLOMACY

Tbilisi hosts GUAM parliamentary assemblyOn 2-3 December, Tbilisi hosted the GUAM parliamentary assembly, the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development. During two days, the participants of the event discussed various issues of cooperation and reviewed the prospects of European integration for GUAM member states. Parliamentary delegations from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbai-jan, Moldova, Poland, Latvia and Estonia were engaged in the session, the Messenger reported. The sixth assembly of GUAM, which works on economic and democratic develop-ment issues, was concluded by an adoption of a summarizing document. The meeting was opened by Georgian Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili who called this event “very impor-tant for Georgia.” He said the establishment of GUAM and its activity over the years has been a priority for Georgia. “I am glad that this organization has laid the foundation for close cooperation, not only among member-states, but also among international organisations and friendly countries,” he added. Usupashvili also spoke about the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius. “When we agreed on cooperation in a GUAM for-mat, we agreed that we will move together to a common goal, to democratic stability in the region, but we also agreed that each country can have its unique way to achieve this goal,” he said. Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said Geor-gia did everything to strengthen the cooperation in the re-gional format during its presidency in GUAM. “Our priority in GUAM was to strengthen the political cooperation, basic principles such as solidarity and consensus. We could not cope with common challenges and protect our common in-terests without a strong political will. GUAM’s political state-ments have never been as strong as this year,” Panjikidze said.

ARMENIA|LOANS

World Bank, Eurasian Develop-ment Bank to start co-operationThe Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) serving as the Trus-tee for the Anti-Crisis Fund of the Eurasian Economic Com-munity (ACF) and the World Bank signed a co-operation agreement to support the preparation and implementation of the Irrigation Modernization and Institutional Capacity Building Project in Armenia for the amount of $40 million to be provided by the ACF, the World Bank reported. Pursu-ant to the agreement, the EDB has committed to apply the operational policies of the World Bank in the preparation and implementation of the project. These policies include environmental and social safeguards, and procurement and financial management guidelines for World Bank-financed projects. In addition, the agreement stipulates that World Bank experts will monitor compliance with the above World Bank provisions and guidelines in the course of the project implementation. The agreement also outlines in detail the possibilities for the EDB to tap into the ECA Capacity Devel-opment Trust Fund approved in April 2013. The Trust Fund is administered by the World Bank and was established by the Government of the Russian Federation to support prepara-tion of projects in low-income and lower-middle income countries in the Europe and Central Asia region. “The part-nership between the World Bank and the EDB aims to bring knowledge and financing to support the adaptation of inter-national best practices to the needs of countries in the Eurasia region,” World Bank ECA Vice-President Laura Tuck said. “Both partners – the World Bank and the Eurasian Develop-ment Bank – have much potential to contribute to this objec-tive,” EDB Board Chairman Igor Finogenov said. “We expect that the cooperation will help to use resources intended for the support of economic development and modernisation of countries-members of the two institutions more effectively.”

On 2 December, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said it would take over full own-ership of its subsidiary ArmRosgazprom, by acquiring the remaining 20% of shares from Armenia.

In 2014-2018, Russia will supply gas to Armenia for about $189 per 1,000 cubic metres, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a joint press conference with Arme-nian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan, local press reported.

Russia will one-sidedly set up some privileges for Armenia before Armenia joins the Customs Union, the Kremlin leader said. In particular, Armenia can pur-chase armament from Russia at domestic prices, Putin said. As for oil products, Rus-sia will exempt 30% export customs duty envisaged by the law, he added.

Russia is the biggest foreign investor in Armenia and its largest trading partner. Bilateral trade grew 22% to $1.2 billion last year. Most trade has been imports to Armenia.

Putin flew to the South Caucasus country for talks on its decision in Septem-ber to join Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in a Customs Union.

However, demonstrators in Yerevan marched to Sarksyan’s administration to hand over a letter urging the government to renounce its decision to join the Cus-toms Union. “We are going to strengthen our position in the South Caucasus, draw-ing on the best of what we have inherited from ancestors and good relations with all countries in the region,” Putin told a Russian-Armenian regional forum. “Par-

ticipation in the Customs Union ... already is bringing Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus tangible dividends.”

Overall, 12 bilateral agreements were signed during the presidential visit. Also, the parties agreed to continue efforts to boost trade and Russian investments in Armenia, create joint enterprises, promote scientific and hi-tech co-operation. Putin said the extension of the operation life of Armenian nuclear power plant is planned, with Hrazdan thermal power plant opera-tions already launched.

Putin said he was confident that Arme-nia’s accession to the Eurasian integration project “would seriously strengthen its economic potential, improve the invest-ment climate and promote direct business contacts, including those between regions”.

Russia to supply Armenia gas at low prices

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (second left) and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarksian (second right) look on as Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, left, goes to shake hands with Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan during a signing ceremony in Yerevan, 2 December 2013. AFP PHOTO/KAREN MINASYAN

On 4 December, Georgian Prime Minis-ter Irakli Gharibashvili announced a new Action Plan to promote human rights in Georgia, the government said in a press release. Gharibashvili’s participation in the Conference on Human Rights as his first public meeting following his parliamentary confirmation on 20 November, signals the continued high priority the Georgian gov-ernment accords to this issue.

The conference brought together Georgian government and Parliament of-ficials, representatives of the Georgian diplomatic corps, NGOs and international partners. Discussion focused on the key findings from the recent human rights re-port by EU Special Adviser Thomas Ham-marberg, and implementing the recom-mendations thereof. The new Action Plan on Human Rights will serve as a platform for further reform.

The Hammarberg report, published in September, recognised significant progress in Georgia, including as regards increased independence of the judiciary, improved human rights across the population, pro-gressive labour reforms, increased trans-parency and stakeholder consultation, and moves to correct the “elite corruption” and impunity of the past.

Gharibashvili thanked Hammarberg, the European Union, and other inter-national organisations for supporting Georgia’s democratic processes, devel-opment of civil society, and path towards European integration. Reflecting on the results of the report, he noted that the Ivanishvili-led government “inherited a very difficult legacy” with regards to hu-man rights when it came into office over a year ago, and since then had managed to “achieve much greater progress than

anyone would imagine.”“Today we can state with all assured-

ness that people no longer fear living in Georgia. Our government is doing every-thing in its power to instil a feeling that the government is accountable and respon-sible before its people. Today our public policy focuses on the human being.”

To that end, Gharibashvili announced a new action plan that will further bolster government accountability and ensure hu-man rights protection in accordance with the highest European standards. The plan will be developed in a transparent and democratic manner, involving the partici-pation of both Georgian civil society and international partners.

He said the new strategy underscores Georgia’s strong commitment to building “truly democratic and robust institutions” and drawing closer ties to Europe.

Tbilisi to develop new human rights action plan GEORGIA|HUMAN RIGHTS

ARMENIA|DIPLOMACY

29EASTERN PARTNERSHIPNEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

On 4 December, US Secretary of State John Kerry briefly visited Chisinau to con-gratulate Moldavians, who initialled an As-sociation Agreement with the European Union at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, two weeks ago.

Kerry called the Association Agree-ment with the EU a guarantee of Moldova’s future prosperity, Interfax reported. He promised to help Moldova implement the Association and Free Trade Area Agree-ment with EU countries.

“I am here to affirm to you that the United States will stand with you,” Kerry told Moldova’s President Nicolae Timofti.

Kerry repeated the message at a re-ception at a winery as he toasted Prime Minister Iurie Leanca. “The United States believes deeply that European integration is the best road for both security and pros-perity in Moldova,” Reuters quoted Kerry as saying at the Cricova winery on the out-skirts of Chisinau. “This is about building the bridges of opportunity and defining the future of your own hopes and aspirations,” he said. “To the people of the Ukraine we say the same thing? - you too deserve the opportunity to choose your own future.”

Kerry’s unexpected stop followed a decision to skip a planned visit to Ukraine,

which is in turmoil after postponing plans for association and trade agreements with Brussels. State-backed Russian media criti-cised Kerry’s trip to the tiny former Soviet republic. “Kerry’s current trip, from a geo-political perspective, is just another in a long series of steps in what is the diplomat-ic equivalent of what US/NATO have been engaged in militarily since the end of the Cold War, namely attempting to establish US influence in Eastern Europe, the Mid-dle East and, in the long term, the world, and at all costs diminish the influence of the Russian Federation,” Voice of Russia ra-dio wrote in a commentary on Kerry’s trip.

US vows to help Moldova’s EU integration

BELARUS|DIPLOMACY

Myasnikovich hails progress in Minsk-Beijing relationsBelarus’ Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said relations between Belarus and China have been developing rapidly and are very successful. Belarus’ premier met with Ambassador of China to Belarus Gong Jianwei over the completion of the dip-lomat’s term in office in Belarus, BelTA reported. “Our bilat-eral relations have gained scope,” Myasnikovich said. He added that the parties cooperate successfully not only on a bilateral basis. “We feel the support of Great China on the international arena,” he said. Myasnikovich also noted the level of trust in the relations between the two heads of state. The parties have signed a number of documents, exchange visits. “All this, of course, is for the benefit of our peoples,” the premier said. As for the joint projects, they are worth approximately $15 bil-lion, according to the Belarusian head of government. These are both the projects that have already been implemented and those in the pipeline. “For many of them we get credit support and investment,” Myasnikovich said. These are the projects in such areas as energy, infrastructure, roads, and railways. “These are landmark projects that have the investment horizon for many decades ahead,” he said. He also expressed satisfaction with the fact that the parties are not confined to trade and in-vestment co-operation. Today Belarus and China successfully implement many humanitarian projects.

BELARUS|DIPLOMACY

Minsk, Athens to liberalise transport servicesBelarusian Transport and Communications Minister Ana-toly Sivak and Greece’s Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Michalis Papadopoulos signed an intergovernmental agreement on international automobile transportation of passengers and cargoes in Athens, Greece, the press service of the Belarusian Transport and Commu-nications Ministry said. The joint decision is primarily lever-aged towards the step-by-step liberalisation of Belarus-Greece relations on the market of transport services. It will become a reliable foundation for further increasing the volume of trade in merchandise and services between the two countries, Sivak said. During the signing ceremony Sivak said the development of trade and economic relations between Belarus and Greece necessitates the improvement of the legal base for organising international automobile transportation. The intergovern-mental agreement regulates a large number of matters regard-ing the international transportation of passengers and cargoes between Belarus and Greece.

BELARUS|DIPLOMACY

Expert: Belarus, Russia face threats of colour revolutionsBelarus and Russia need a single information security strat-egy, Sergei Kizima, head of the semi-official Department for International Policy of the Academy of Public Administra-tion, told a seminar on 4 December, BelTA reported. “As far as information security is concerned, we need a single infor-mation strategy, not a formal one that will be adopted and swept under the carpet, but a real one that will be harmo-nised by specially appointed people at the governments, par-liaments and presidential administrations,” the expert said. He added that the information policy should be coordinated with major mass media outlets. He opined that the Union State is facing a number of challenges, including the threat “of colour revolutions”. Moreover, economic issues remain a matter of serious concern.

On 5 December, Western diplomats urged Ukrainian authorities to respect the demands of thousands of pro-EU opposition demonstrators, protesting the government’s decision to freeze ties with the EU and turn to Moscow in-stead, news agencies reported.

Several thousand activists kept up the demonstrations at a central square in the capital Kiev and besieged govern-ment meetings as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s ministerial council began its meeting on the other side of the river. The meet-ing had been scheduled long before the protests that have been dominating the country, AP reported.

In Kiev, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird met with both his Ukrainian counterpart and opposition leaders.

“I think they're deeply concerned about the shadow that Russia is cast-ing over this country, the economic and political power that they’re seeking to exercise,” Baird said of the opposition leaders.

US Assistant Secretary of State Vic-toria Nuland challenged Ukrainian au-thorities to meet the protests construc-tively. “This is Ukraine’s moment to meet the aspirations of its people or dis-appoint them,” she told the OSCE meet-ing. “Democratic norms and the rule of law must be upheld.”

Britain's Minister for Europe David Liddington called on authorities to re-spect the right of citizens to “peacefully assemble”. “The eyes of the world are on Ukraine today,” he said.

For its part, Russia called for stabil-ity and order in Ukraine on 4 Decem-ber. Speaking to a visiting Ukrainian delegation in Moscow, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told Ukrain-ian Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boyko

that Moscow was monitoring the events. “We're watching what's happening in your country. It’s an internal affair of Ukraine, though it’s really important to have stability and order there,” RIA Nov-osti quoted him as saying.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the protests “are a com-pletely normal development in a country where democracy is developing”. “We will do everything we can to ensure this is a peaceful protest,” Azarov said.

Azarov has also warned several pro-EU western cities in Ukraine which have gone on a strike that the central govern-ment in Kyiv might cut off funding to them.

Massive demonstrations rocked Ukraine, with tens of thousands of peo-ple taking to the streets on 1 December to protest against President Viktor Yanu-kovych’s decision last month to suspend a trade pact with the EU. Many Ukrain-ians say the agreement would have opened borders to trade and set the stage

for modernisation and inclusion.On 3 December, NATO foreign min-

isters condemned the use of excessive force against demonstrators in Ukraine and urged the government and opposi-tion to open a dialogue. “We condemn the use of excessive force against peace-ful demonstrators in Ukraine. We call on all parties to refrain from provocations and violence,” NATO foreign ministers said in a statement during a meeting in Brussels. “We urge Ukraine...to fully abide by its international commitments and to uphold the freedom of expression and assembly. We urge the government and the opposition to engage in dialogue and launch a reform process,” they add-ed.

NATO foreign ministers agreed that “a sovereign, independent and stable Ukraine, firmly committed to democ-racy and the rule of law, is key to Euro-Atlantic security”. “NATO remains com-mitted to supporting the reform process in Ukraine,” the statement concluded.

Calls for Yanukovych to respect pro-EU protests

Students wave Ukrainian and European Union flags as they shout slogans during a rally of the opposition in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, 5 December 2013. AFP PHOTO/YURIY DYACHYSHYN

MOLDOVA|DIPLOMACY

UKRAINE|POLITICS

30 EURASIA NEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

In the world of social media, Tweeting is everyone’s job now. Even the mullahs and imams in Kazakhstan are on social media in an effort to reach out to Muslim youth.

More than 50 Islamic leaders in the country have so far participated in Internet and social media workshops. Darkhan Syzdykov, the deputy imam of Qostanay's Maral Eshan mosque, is one of them. He is now planning to start a blog and posting video tutorials online.

The most popular imam is probably Sabyrzhan Esmurzin from Qostanay's Zhitikarinky district. The 32-year-old has thousands of followers.

Syzdykov and Exmurzin are just two of a growing number of Muslim religious leaders who are using the internet to fight the spread of extremism.

Kazakhstan is home to more than 2,500 registered mosques and almost all of them now have websites. They see it as a way to engage Muslim youth so they do not fall prey to extremist groups which are also using the internet to recruit new members.

In fact, the authorities have started encouraging Islamic leaders to go online

after a YouTube video showing dozens of Kazakh “jihads” in Syria went viral.

Official figures suggest that more

than 20% of the population of Kazakh-stan (some 17 million) uses social media regularly.

Kazakh imams go onlineKyrgyzstan|Infrastructures

Kyrgyzstan to receive $70m for Manas transit centreKyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Joomart Otorbayev on No-vember 29 announced that the country will receive some $70m next year for the construction of a transit centre in the Manas International Airport. "We currently received one bil-lion soms ($about 20m) only in taxes. The direct payment for the Manas transit centre amounts to $60 million," he said. The transit centre is a former United States military base that opened the Manas airport more than a decade ago. It has since become a major hub for the transport of goods and coa-lition forces to Afghanistan. According to United States Pen-tagon data, the base transports up to 15,000 coalition service-men on their way to Afghanistan and 500 tons of cargo every month. In October, the US announced that it would return the Manas Transit Centre air base to Kyrgyzstan by July 2014. The base is no longer needed as American troops will be pull-ing out of Afghanistan. The US Department of Defence has started the relocation process of the transit centre. Now, Kyr-gyzstan is planning to convert the base, which has access to air, sea and rail service, into a civilian facility and is negotiating with China, Turkey, Russia, and other countries.

KazaKhstan|energy

chinese company seeks to invest in Kazakhstan's coal China’s Tsinghua Company will invest $8bn in the construc-tion of a coal processing plant in the Karaganda province of Kazakhstan, according to the deputy chairman of the gov-erning board of National Export and Investment Agency KAZNEX INVEST, Kairat Karmanov. "The Chinese com-pany has held several meetings with the leadership of Kara-ganda province where it will develop one of the coal fields,” Karmanov told reporters on November 29. “The develop-ment capacity is around six million tonnes of coal per year." Tsinghua is expected to invest the first $2bn in the first years and $6bn later. Construction of the coal processing plant is slated to begin early next year, just as soon as all the contracts have been signed. Kazakhstan has the biggest coal reserve in Central Asia with 37.5bn short tonnes of mostly anthracitic and bituminous coal. The country’s mines produce more than 120m tonnes of coal per year, of which 22m tonnes is exported. The rest is distributed across the country for do-mestic use of which 97 million tonnes are consumed domes-tically and 22 million tonnes are exported.

turKMenIstan|transports

china's csr to produce turk-menistan passenger locomotivesBEIJING - China's leading train manufacturer, China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation Ltd. (CSR), an-nounced on Sunday that it will produce two passenger loco-motives for Turkmenistan, another step to occupy the niche in the central Asian market. CSR Ziyang, China's largest internal-combustion locomotive manufacturer, is the only company to have signed a contract with China's Ministry of Commerce to produce two internal-combustion passen-ger locomotives and spare parts for Turkmenistan in 2013, according to CSR. Since 2004, CSR Ziyang has exported over 200 locomotives to Turkmenistan in four orders, with the third order totalling 75 locomotives, marking China's largest economic and trade project in Turkmenistan. CSR manufactures railway locomotives, passenger trains, freight wagons, bullet trains and subway cars. Its products have been exported to more than 80 countries or regions. (Xinhua)

Tweeting for tolerance. EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

Authorities in Tajikistan are concerned about the country’s high maternal mor-tality rate linked to home births and have launched an initiative to increase access to organised obstetric care.

According to the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Stratega Centre between September 2012 and Septem-ber 2013, about 44% of women who gave birth in the Khatlon Province's Yovon dis-trict delivered their babies at home. And half of them gave birth without a qualified midwife present.

The province of Khatlon has one of the highest rates of home births in the en-tire country.

Nationwide maternal mortality data show that 47 pregnant women die due to labour complications for every 100,000 births. This is the highest rate in Asia.

What is more, the majority of these fatal cases involve women delivering at home.

According to Firuz Saidov, a member of the Stratega Centre, the main reason women deliver at home is that they live in remote villages and do not have the means to go to a hospital. Another reason is that the women are not aware of the complica-tions or that they cannot afford to deliver in a hospital.

Even though healthcare is, by law, free

in Tajikistan, doctors and nurses demand a “gift” in cash.

Tajikistan is now trying to reverse this trend by calling on the World Health Organisation, the German Development Agency, and the United Nations Popu-lation Fund for assistance. The govern-ment is also working to create emergency obstetric-care centres and raising public awareness about the risks involved with home birth.

Still, the quality of medical services in rural areas needs to be improved. And even hospitals lack sanitation facilities and some do not have electricity during the winter months.

Tajikistan plans to discourage home births

European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger is reportedly planning to visit Ashgabat in Turkmenistan early next year to discuss the long-stalled con-struction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipe-line that will stretch from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan.

While Turkmenistan recently an-nounced that it is ready to conduct an en-vironmental impact assessment, Iran and Russia have both come out to oppose the project citing unresolved status of the sea and the project’s ecological impact. The

Caspian Sea is shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.

But if all goes to plan, the 300km sub-marine pipeline will be laid from the Turk-men coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan where it will connect to the Southern Gas Corridor, which is aimed at supplying Eu-rope with gas coming directly from the Caspian basin and the Middle East. The Corridor is aimed at increasing security of supply for European households and in-dustry by diversifying gas sources and routes.

The gas will be carried to Western Eu-rope while bypassing Russia. Brussels is reportedly seeking to reduce its reliance on Russia for energy supplies.

The pipeline will have a maximum ca-pacity of 40bn cubic meters of gas per year.

Negotiations for the construction of the pipeline started more than a decade ago.

Azerbaijan stands to benefit from the transportation of gas through the new pipeline, which will make the country into both a transporter and supplier.

EU ready to restart negotiations for the Trans-Caspian pipeline

taJIKIstan | socIet y

KazaKhstan | relIgIon

turKMenIstan |energy

31RUSSIANEWEUROPEwww.neweurope.eu8-14 December, 2013

On 3 December, a Moscow court sen-tenced Pavel V. Dmitrichenko, the former Bolshoi Ballet Theater soloist, to six years in a penal colony for ordering an acid attack in January that nearly blinded the theatre’s artistic director, Sergei Filin, news agencies reported. The case had exposed one of the worst scandals in the Bolshoi’s history.

Prosecutors had requested a sentence of nine years for Dmitrichenko, who they said was motivated to take revenge for Fi-

lin’s denial of key roles to Dmitrichenko and his common-law wife, Anzhelina Vo-rontsova.

Yuri Zarutsky, the man whom Dmi-trichenko admitted to asking to hit Filin “on the nose,” and who prosecutors said was paid to concoct and use homemade acid against Filin, was given a 10-year sen-tence for conspiracy to cause bodily harm. Andrei Lipatov, the accused getaway driver in the case, was also found guilty on 3 De-

cember and sentenced to four years, two years fewer than prosecutors had demand-ed. Over the course of the month-long tri-al, dancers lined up either to defend Filin or condemn him as the source of vicious backstage bickering. The dancer’s father said he had hoped for a lighter sentence. Filin told the court that he was making his way home from the theatre late at night on 17 January this year when someone said his name.

Bolshoi dancer gets 6 years in acid attack

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has hinted that members of punk band Pussy Riot, former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and others widely re-ferred to as political prisoners will not be freed in the upcoming amnesty, AP reported.

The bill granting long-awaited am-

nesty for thousands of Russian prison-ers is expected to be sent to Russian parliament in the coming days.

Rights organizations describe doz-ens of Russians including Pussy Riot, Khodorkovsky and 28 people charged with violent rioting at last year’s oppo-sition protest on Bolotnaya Square as

political prisoners.On 6 December, Medvedev said in

a television interview Russians are not inclined to grant amnesty to those who committed violent crimes and “crimes against society including hooliganism,” an obvious reference to Bolotnaya pro-testers and Pussy Riot.

RUSSIA|DEFENCE

Russia says Iran deal ends need for missile defenceOn 4 December, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said an international deal aimed at preventing Iran from develop-ing nuclear weapons will in the long run eliminate any need for a missile defence system in Europe. After a meeting with NATO counterparts, Lavrov said there’s “no reason” for the missile defence plan if that deal is implemented fully.

RUSSIA|DIPLOMACY

Russia objects as diplomats charged for fraud in USThe United States claims that dozens of Russian diplomats and their spouses cheated to get health care aid meant for the poor drew a sharp rebuke on 5 December from a top Rus-sian official who blamed the criminal case on “Russophobic forces” interested in scuttling progress toward Russia-US co-operation in confronting world conflicts, AP reported. Charges were announced in New York City against 49 cur-rent and former Russian diplomats and their wives. ITAR-Taass quoted Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rya-bkov as saying the charges were “no more than a cheap spin effort, no more than a desire to fulfil the order of Russopho-bic forces in the United States”. “We regret that attempt to stir up another conflict or dispute, particularly in view of the fact that Moscow and Washington recently have developed a good format of ties regarding big international issues. We wouldn’t like to make such links, but in view of reaching some results in the sphere of settling major conflicts, some people in Washington needed to spoil the atmosphere. We can only assess it this way,” he added. Ryabkov’s comments came as a State Department spokeswoman in Washington seemed to downplay the announcement by US Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, saying the department was reviewing the just-unsealed charges and didn’t believe charges against a “hand-ful” of people would damage US-Russia relations. Bharara said 25 current and former diplomats and 24 spouses were criminally charged in federal court in Manhattan after they underreported incomes to qualify for Medicaid funds even as they spent tens of thousands of dollars on luxury vacations, concert tickets, fine clothing and helicopter rides. “Diploma-cy should be about extending hands, not picking pockets in the host country,” Bharara told a news conference. He called it “shameful and systemic corruption.”

RUSSIA|AVIATION

Russia fears that some pilots have fake licensesRussian investigators are searching the state aviation agency to see if some pilots may have fake licenses — part of an inves-tigation into a plane crash last month that killed all 50 people on board, AP and Reuters reported. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said in a statement on 6 Decem-ber that investigators believe some pilots working for Russian airlines have received fake licenses in centres certified by the aviation agency. Markin said there were reasons to believe that the pilot who sent the Boeing 737 into a near-vertical dive after an aborted first landing attempt had received his license illegally in a small training centre that was no longer functioning. No criminal charges have been filed yet in the crash, which took place in the city of Kazan, 720 kilometres east of Moscow. Interfax quoted Markin as saying there was reason to believe that many pilots working for smaller Rus-sian airlines had effectively “received fake commercial licenc-es” as they had not undergone proper training.

The European Union and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom say they have agreed to try to settle antitrust claims pending against the Russian energy supplier.

On 4 December, European Commis-sioner for Competition Joaquin Almunia said after talks with Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev in Brus-sels the two sides were ready to discuss an agreement on ending the antitrust probe, ITAR-Tass reported.

“Gazprom has expressed a willing-ness to explore the possibility of reach-ing a mutually acceptable solution,” he said, adding he expected the Russian company to present its proposals for the dropping of the claims to the European Commission in the coming days.

Last year, the European Commission formally opened its probe on concerns Gazprom might be hindering competi-tion in Central and Eastern European gas markets. At the time, the Commis-sion cited in particular Gazprom’s role as a major supplier in those markets that gave it a dominant position. The Russian company might have manipulated gas flows to its advantage, prevented diver-sification of supply, and, by linking gas prices to oil prices, may have “imposed unfair prices on its customers”.

Gazprom’s dominant position and close ties to the Kremlin meant the probe sparked an angry response, with

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin railing against Brussels.

On 4 December, Almunia reportedly met with Medvedev and Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky.

The attempted rapprochement aims to defuse a major source of tension be-

tween Moscow and Brussels. Gazprom’s repeated gas price disputes with Ukraine, whose government has just postponed a planned association accord with the EU, led to the company suspending gas sup-plies twice, causing disruptions in many European countries.

Gazprom seeks agreement in EU antitrust probe

Gazprom’s logo is attached on the roof of the recently built Adler thermal power plant in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, 30 November 2013. AFP PHOTO/YURI KADOBNOV

Medvedev says no amnesty for ‘hooligans’RUSSIA|POLITICS

RUSSIA|JUSTICE

RUSSIA|ENERGY

KASSANDRA32

Kassandra@NEurope.eu

NEWEUROPE

Follow me on twitter @Kassandra_NE

Gambling is a lucrative and important business as it generates several billion Euro securing serious tax revenues for

many European countries. For obvious reasons, in many cases, legislation in Member States is “uncharted territory.” Indeed, Member States are quite reluctant to ensure the full enforcement of fundamental EU provisions, when the critical issue is about tax revenues and “reserved” rights are involved.

Commissioner Michel Barnier, even with a certain delay, in absence of a harmonised legal framework, revitalised the issue, which was ini-tiated by the Commission in 2007. Last month, DGMRKT launched infringement procedures against seven member states (Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Cyprus) for restrictions on the free provi-sion of services, in the field of gaming/gambling, including online betting.

Quite surprisingly, however, Greece was not included in the above list, although the former state monopoly OPAP enjoys preferential bene-fits better than in any of the seven Member States under infringement procedures. The economic crisis in Greece is not a credible excuse for the privileged monopoly, in a rather unusual for EU

standards manner, passed to privates remaining, however, a monopoly bigger than before.

Greece is already under infringement pro-cedures for its gambling monopoly, launched in June 2007 (4094) and till today, has not reacted to the Reasoned Opinion note issued by the European Commission on 28 February 2008. This is not unusual. What is strange is that the

Commission, until today, has not appealed to the Court as yet.

Furthermore, in recent years and despite the Commission patiently awaiting a reply to its Reasoned Opinion note since 2007, Greece at-tempted to liberalise its online gaming market, confirming OPAP’s offline rights while issuing 24 provisional licenses to EU providers accord-

ing to the French model.However, during the process of the sale of

the last package of OPAP shares (33%), the gov-ernment intervened, granting substantial sup-port to the only bidder by facilitating fundrais-ing, by using a… draft law.

In this context, although the draft law was only notified to EU TRIS database and is still un-der review by the Commission services, OPAP and the online betting monopoly until 2020 were sold without a tender.

In this way, the fundraising through corpo-rate bonds listed in Luxembourg became pos-sible and 450m Euro were collected, enough to pay for OPAP, while its shares increased by 90% in recent months.

This all looks good, very good, and promis-ing for OPAP’s investors Emma Delta Ltd and it seems that the Commission “system” is turning a blind eye to the matter.

Yet, it is highly questionable whether Michel Barnier, one of the few leading European politi-cians who can probably become the next Presi-dent of the European Commission, will remain blind to all these Greek patents violating EU rules for public tenders and state aid, when the dossier will reach his desk.

8-14 December, 2013Once upon a time in Brussels...Edward Snowden is asked to testify, by video link as it's not safe for him to leave Moscow to visit the European Parliament in person.

Who bets Barnier will stay blind?

One of the last leaders of our days passed away earlier today (December 5). Nelson Mandela was the greatest leader I met. I in-terviewed him shortly after he was released from prison in 1990 after serving 27 years.

I was impressed by his deep belief for free-dom and justice. Spontaneous and human, he spoke for long of the Greek philosophers and ended the interview that “Macedonia was Greek since the years of Antigone.” When the interview ended, as the issue of Macedonia was fresh and hot at the time, I signaled to my cameraman, Mr. Kokinos, to hide the tape and replace it in the camera with a new one. In-deed, when we left with my camera crew, just outside the elevator, two members of Mande-la’s entourage stopped us and gently removed

from the camera the …empty tape. The inter-view was broadcasted a couple of days later by the Greek TV network Antenna.

One of the last leaders of our days passed away earlier today.

Nelson Mandela 95, was born in 1918 and struggled since his youth for the aboli-tion of the apartheid. As an anti-apartheid revolutionary first and as President of of the African National Congress (1991-1997), Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Move-ment (1998-1999) and President of South Africa (1994-1999).

The death of Nelson Mandela, marks the end of the era that the world was led by leaders to the era that the world is led by administrators.

The Nelson Mandela who feared nothing, and spoke his mind

Tuesday, July 23, 2013, 06:00 am. A fully armed squad of 18 special agents of the Organized Crime Division of the Greek police under cov-er (civilian clothes, covered faces balaclavas) broke the gates of the residence of ship-owner Victor Restis, neutralized the guards at the risk of a serious bloodshed, broke the door of his bedroom and arrested him in pajamas while he was sleeping with his wife and two small chil-dren. In front of the eyes of his children, Restis was spreadeagled on the floor was handcuffed and taken to the prosecutor who charged him with money laundering and embezzlement for the amount of 5,5 million Euro and put him un-der custody. Three armored cars, jewelry of his wife Corina Restis, approximately 10,000 Euro found in the residence in cash and all PCs, smart phones, i-Pads and other electronic equipment were confiscated after 48 hours of continuous search of his residence by the judiciary.

Simultaneously, by order of the Greek judi-ciary, the German authorities froze deposits in a German bank, which happened to belong to him.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013, Victor Restis was released from temporary custody while the German judiciary, after investigating on the claims of the Greek judiciary un-froze all his assets.

Victor Restis, so far, has invested in his coun-try, in various industries not related to shipping, more than one billion US dollars proving to be the biggest investor in Greece in recent years.

His fortune is estimated to be much bigger. Thus, the claim of the 5,5 million Euro “laun-dering”, a loan regularly serviced, we cannot think it was a serious reason for putting him under custody.

Greece is in marginal conditions and a ran-dom event may generate the chaotic explo-sion that will turn linear developments into turbulent. The “Restis Affair” might well prove in these sensitive times for Greece, the “butterfly effect.”

Why Restis was arrested and kept under cus-tody in the high security prison of Greece, Ko-rydallos, for four and a half months and what has happened in this period, is something we will try to analyze and report in our next issues.

Restis and the “Butterfly Effect”

European Union Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

New Europe Editor, Basil Coronakis, (Left) interviewing Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg. This was one of the first interviews Mandela gave in 1990, 27 years after his imprisonment

Victor Restis was arrested at gunpoint, released last week

An anecdote of interviewing Mandela after his release from jail

| 1061