Archive for the ‘EU Watch’ Category

September20

EU and Canada Discuss “Deep Economic Integration”

By: Tim Neale

The European Union and Canada have been discussing a trade deal that could be worth up to 26.5 billion Euros (US$38.2 billion) a year. Canadian and EU leaders will officially launch negotiations at their Montreal summit on Oct. 17, three days after Canadian federal election.

The Canadian Globe and Mail reports:

Trade Minister Michael Fortier and his staff have been engaged for the past two months with EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and the representatives of European governments in an effort to begin what a senior EU official involved in the talks described in an interview yesterday as “deep economic integration negotiations.”

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September19

Dutch Veto EU – Serbia Trade Accord

By: Tim Neale

EU member states again fail to reach consensus on external relations.

A meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Sep. 15, failed to agree to unblock a trade accord with Serbia. Twenty-five EU member states and the EU Commission were in favor of immediately implementing the deal. However, The Netherlands vetoed the accord. Insisting Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief, be first delivered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

Mladic and Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic are charged with, among other things, genocide relating to events in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995. This is a sensitive issue for The Dutch. Dutch UN peacekeepers that were present in the town at the time. Karadzic was arrested in the Serbian capital Belgrade in July but Mladic is still at large.

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September2

The EU Unites Over Georgia

By: Tim Neale

“Relations between the EU and Russia have reached a crossroads.”

At an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on Monday, Sep. 1, the European Council considered the European Union’s (EU) response to the Russian-Georgian conflict and Russia’s subsequent recognition of parts of Georgia as independent states.

The European Council consists of the 27 heads of the EU member states. France currently holds the rotating presidency. French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, called the first emergency summit since 2003 to find a united response to the conflicts in the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In a strongly worded communiqué, The European Council said it was “greatly concerned by the open conflict which has broken out in Georgia, by the resulting violence and by the disproportionate reaction of Russia.” It stated that, “military action of this kind is not a solution and is not acceptable.”

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August28

The European Union Wins Beijing Olympics

By: Tim Neale

A small European Union youth organization, the Young European Federalists has rattled cages. The minor think tank normally attracts little attention, but one of their sillier ideas has outraged the, even sillier, UK Euro-phobes.

In an open letter, the group, normally known by its French acronym JEF, called for a “EU Olympic Team,” as “a way to combat nationalism that is always very fast in spreading on these sportive occasions.”

“EUROPE BIDS TO HIJACK OUR MEDALS” screamed the front page of the Sunday Express and quoted Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, as saying, “At the heart of all this is the simple fact that these people want to create a single country called Europe. Our Westminster politicians try to pretend otherwise, but ideas like this let the cat out of the bag.”

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August2

Karadzic Trial Begins

By: Tim Neale

After nearly 13 years on the run, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic made his first appearance at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

On Thursday, Karadzic was read the 11 counts of war crimes, including genocide, with which he is charged. He notified the court that he intends to represent himself, and declined to enter a plea. He has 30 day to do so. Judge Alphons Orie adjourned the case until Aug. 29.

Karadzic was arrested last week in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, shortly after a pro-European Union Serbian government was sworn in. The Serbian Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, said this week that extraditing war crime suspects is Serbia’s legal and moral obligation.

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July25

Sarkozy Visits Dublin

By: Tim Neale

Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Dublin on Jul. 21 was a non-event. The French President, in an uncharacteristic display of tact and diplomacy, spent his time in Dublin soothing feathers, unnecessarily ruffled the previous week. Nothing was decided, other than decisions will be made later.

Irish voters have presented the European Union (EU) with a considerable problem by rejecting the Lisbon treaty in a referendum in June. All member states have to ratify the treaty for it to come into effect.

It is France’s turn at the revolving EU presidency. It is as head of the EU that Sarkozy visited Dublin. Prior to his visit, there was consternation in Dublin, when Sarkozy was reported to have said, “The Irish will have to vote again.” On Monday after a meeting with Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Brian Cowen, he flatly denied that he had ever said such a thing. “We don’t want to push you into anything,” he said at a joint press conference with Cowen.

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July23

‘Europe’s Bin Laden’ Arrested

By: Tim Neale

Radovan Karadzic has been arrested in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade. The former Bosnian Serb leader has been indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Karadzic has been on the run for nearly 13 years, along with the Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic. They face charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws of war, relating to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina between April 1992 and July 1995.

Serge Brammertz, head prosecutor for the ICTY, said, “This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade.”

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