Francia, primera vuelta
José M. de Areilza
24 de Abril, 2007
La sorpresa de de la primera vuelta de las elecciones francesas es que no ha habido sorpresas. El duelo ‘Sarko’ contra ‘Ségo’ está servido, Le Pen afortunadamente se ha desfondado y Bayrou no ha conseguido ganar suficientes votos para seguir condicionando las elecciones desde el centro. Pero lo más chocante ha sido la participación tan masiva, del 84,77%, una cifra espectacular aunque no histórica que pone fin a un ciclo de apatía e indiferencia de los últimos años frente a la política de siempre.
Los ciudadanos se han volcado en las elecciones que consideran más importantes, las presidenciales, y han respaldado a candidatos muy críticos con el ’status quo’ y con el legado de Jacques Chirac. La quinta economía del mundo es también el hombre enfermo de Europa y parece que por fin los franceses podrían aceptar futuras reformas, en vez de impedirlas de modo consciente una y otra vez.
En las elecciones del domingo, Ségolène Royal se ha consolidado como líder socialista, a pesar de las luchas internas que debilitan la izquierda francesa. Su punto fuerte es la política social y su capacidad de proyectar una imagen moderada e integradora. Tiene, no obstante, muchos flancos débiles -economía, política internacional- y ha quedado por debajo de su rival en seis puntos, una distancia considerable. (more…)
Sorry, guys!
J. Ignacio Torreblanca
April 24, 2007
I perfectly understand current concerns concerning the future of Kosovo and, by extension, preoccupation with stability in the region. I also agree that this is a potentially explosive problem that has to be treated with great care. But the more we call on the EU and the US to stop Kosovo’s independence, the more our arguments distract our attention from the key issue, bringing Serbia into the community of democratic and prosperous Europeans. I think that we are under-emphasizing the key message we should be sending to Belgrade, namely, that it is their responsibility to help manage the solution to this problem in accordance with UN resolutions and EU principles, which allow for different solutions, all of them legitimate. But as the say goes: you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. The Serbian state has already shown that it can be a factor of violence and hate, now it has to prove that it can also be a factor of peace and reconciliation. If Kosovars do not trust Serbs, it is not their fault; if they don’t feel safe under Serbian rule, no matter how much autonomy they promise to them, it is not their fault either. Serbs tried the hard way (ethnic cleansing), and they failed. And they haven’t really apologized yet! So what to expect? (more…)
Seminarios BlogEuropa.eu 2007
Continuando con nuestro objetivo de fomentar el debate sobre la construcción europea, especialmente con ocasión del 50 aniversario del Tratado de Roma, BlogEuropa.eu se propone organizar siete seminarios con el patrocinio del programa “Hablamos de Europa” del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores. Estos seminarios versarán sobre temas de actualidad europeos y tendrán lugar durante los meses de abril a octubre de 2007. Cada seminario contará con dos ponentes: el principal realizará la presentación y será respondido brevemente por un segundo, tras lo cual se abrirá un debate general con un enfoque interdisciplinar.
Programa:
I.- 24 de abril de 2007 : “La economía europea y las reformas pendientes” 
Ponente principal: Román Escolano.
2º ponente: Pablo Díaz de Rábago.
II.- 22 de mayo de 2007: “Las Relaciones Transatlánticas”
Ponente principal: Jaime Ojeda.
2º ponente: Fidel Sendagorta.
III.- 6 de junio de 2007: “El futuro de la Unión Europea”
(En colaboración con el Real Instituto Elcano).
Ponente principal: Kalypso Nicolaidis.
2º ponente: Charles Powell.
IV.- 28 de junio de 2007: “El estado del Mercado Interior”
V.- 6 de septiembre de 2007: “¿Un mercado europeo de la energía?”
VI.- 27 de septiembre de 2007: “Libre circulación de documentos”
VII.- 25 de octubre de 2007: “España y el debate constitucional Europeo”
Los seminarios tendrán lugar en principio en el Instituto de Empresa Business School, María de Molina 11, Madrid, a las 14.30 horas. Para asistir es necesario solicitar la inscripción previa enviando un correo electrónico a isabel.garces@ie.edu
Periódicamente se informará de estas convocatorias y de sus contenidos en BlogEuropa.eu.
Towards a critical situation in the Balkans
José M. de Areilza
April 16, 2007
Some experts in the region are starting to push the alarm buttons. Their assesment of the future of Kosovo is very bleak and deserves the Union’s attention. Ahtissari’ s Plan for an independent but internationally controlled Kosovo, endorsed by the EU and the US, is in these narratives part of the problem and definitely not the solution. Serbia and Russia do not support the Plan but they do not have enough political capital to stop its implementation.
If Kosovo becomes independent in the next months, the Serbians living in the North of Kosovo are very likely to push for partition of the new State, in order to keep their region as part of Serbia, as it is today. Other Serbians living in different enclaves in Kosovo would probable flee to the North or to Bosnia’s Serbian populated areas. The probability of violence and ethnic wars would become very high, with a terrible Islam vs. Christian dimension to it. The Kosovar minority living in Macedonia can become also part of this scenario of instability.
The Balkans dossier has not been a political priority in Europe in the last years and lately has been managed by civil servants with little political clout. France and the UK, key players in the region in the nineties, are now undergoing moments of weak leadership, because of presidential elections and the end of the Blair era. The US is too busy in Irak and in this issue is unwisely guided by the Wilsonian principle of nationalities. Has the time come for the German Presidency of the EU to step in and suggest alternatives to Ahtissari’ s Plan?
Yihad in Our Neighbourhood
Fidel Sendagorta
16 de abril de 2007
A series of suicide bombings in Algeria and Morocco in the last few days have sounded the alarms all around Europe and especially in its southern flank. Since the Algerian GSPC (Group salafiste pour la prédication et le combat) had announced its affiliation with Al-Qaeda last December -changing its name to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb- analysts have been wandering about the real scope of this transformation. Now we know that this rebranding meant much more than a pure propaganda stint and that we face a serious security challenge in the form of a multinational organization which provides training, explosives and a new doctrine which emphasizes global rather than purely national aims.
Although terrorist groups had been active in Algeria for more than a decade now, the last attacks in Algiers show certain innovations which carry the Al-Qaeda signature: synchronized explosions and the use of suicide bombers. Similarly, the use by the Moroccan terrorists of emergency explosive belts meant to prevent their arrest alive show a degree of sophistication that can be only explained by the import of foreign know how. (more…)
What a celebration
Christian Bulzomi
April 5, 2007
The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Rome Treaties and the announcement of the therewith connected Berlin Declaration reminded me of the immense distance between our beloved European Union and the European citizens. There are many ways to try to involve the European citizens into a celebration of this unique organization whose activity pervades their daily life; the celebration of March 25 is not one of them.
Enthusiastic meetings ending with inspired declarations are definitely not an appropriate way to close the gap between Europe and its citizens. Indeed, although, we are profiting day by day from the farsightedness of a few European leaders and their persistence in pursuing a dream for more than fifty years, most of us ignore that these rights, freedoms, the peace and prosperity we enjoy are, at least partially, an achievement of the so distant European institutions.
I would have suggested Ms. Wallström to propose the celebration of a non EU-day thereby allowing Member States just for one day to:
- reintroduce the original checks at their borders;
- prohibit foreign engineers, architects, medical doctors, nurses, translators,… to work on that day as they are not in possession of a diploma expedited by a national university;
- take foreign products from the shelves;
- allow the discrimination of Europeans working in another Member State and discriminate women independently from their nationality with regard to working conditions;
- close the infrastructures constructed with cohesion funds;
- revoke every aid or subsidy which origins from the budget of the European Community;
- increase prizes in the air transport market and in the telecom sector as if national monopolies still existed
- permit banks to charge extremely high fees for an intra-community bank transfer
- disrespect the legal personality of companies not incorporated under its national laws;
- oblige non Italian-EU-citizens to pay during their visit to the Sistine Chapel while Italians have not to, and apply the same mutatis mutandis to the Louvre, the British Museum, Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Warszawy, … (more…)