News: Europe
» 2009
July 27, 2010
Iraq inquiry: Former UN inspector Blix says war illegal
The UN's former chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has said it is his "firm view" that the Iraq war was illegal.
Read article on the BBC News website (UK)
July 15, 2010
EU to be given prominent UN role
The EU is to be given similar rights and powers to a fully fledged nation state in the United Nations general assembly. The proposals, following the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty and an increase in foreign policy power, will mean that Europe's desk will be moved from the margins, where it sits with organisations such as Nato's parliamentary body, near to the centre of the UN's assembly chamber. Baroness Ashton, the EU foreign minister or "High Representative", will be given a special seat alongside a new European UN ambassador with "the right to speak in a timely manner, the right of reply, the right to circulate documents, the right to make proposals and submit amendments (and) the right to raise points of order".
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
Comment: If the Oil and Drug Cartel that controls the Brussels EU gets its way, this latest development will become a stepping stone towards the cementing of its economic and political conquest of the world. Significantly, therefore, long before the Lisbon Treaty had even been drafted, the Cartel was already trying to export the political construct of the Brussels EU worldwide as a model to expand its control over other continents. As a result, for example, the architects of the African Union (AU) have not hidden the fact that the AU is being modeled on the European Union – with almost identical institutional structures, including a so-called “AU Commission.” Likewise, in 2009, leaders of East Asian countries announced that they had laid the groundwork for an EU-style bloc that will cover half the world’s population. These plans echoed similar proposals outlined by Australian prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008.
July 7, 2010
So Much for the European Project
Europe was supposed to have arrived. With the final approval of the Lisbon Treaty last year, the European Union sported a new, consolidated government. Europe's political elite believed it had answered Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's derisive question: what is the phone number for Europe? But continental politics remains chaotic and European nations are tottering economically. The European Union's future is now at risk. The question no longer is whether the EU can match the United States, but whether it can survive.
Read article by Doug Bandow in the American Spectator (USA)
June 30, 2010
Iraq inquiry: secret documents showing Tony Blair’s frustration published
Tony Blair’s irritation and frustration at being told that going to war in Iraq would be illegal have been made public with the unprecedented release of top secret Government documents. On one note, written six weeks before the March 2003 invasion, the then-prime minister scrawled “I just do not understand this” alongside a warning from Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, that military force would be illegal without a fresh United Nations resolution.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
June 30, 2010
Diplomat questions Blair's handling of Bush in runup to Iraq war
Lord Jay tells Chilcot inquiry Tony Blair gave commitments to US president about British involvement
Britain's senior diplomat at the time of the Iraq war has questioned how Tony Blair conducted his dealings with the then US president, George W Bush, in the runup to the conflict, during this morning's session at the Chilcot inquiry in central London. Lord Jay of Ewelme, who was head of the Foreign Office as permanent secretary there between 2002 and 2006, told the inquiry that the former prime minister gave commitments about Britain's support for the war in advance that he would not have given himself. His evidence also disclosed that there was internal debate and conflict within the Foreign Office about the legality of the war and that its senior legal advisers were strongly opposed to the conflict without a second UN resolution.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)
June 29, 2010
Most Germans want to ditch the euro
A majority of Germans wants to scrap the euro and bring back the old currency, the deutschemark, according to a new poll published on Tuesday.
Read AFP news report in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
June 29, 2010
Britain's Iraq War Inquiry Resumes
Britain's Iraq war inquiry began again on Tuesday after suspending its hearings for the country's general elections. Former U.N. inspector Hans Blix is among those called to appear before the five-member panel in the coming weeks.
Read article on the Voice of America news website (USA)
June 29, 2010
Sir John Chilcot asks lawyers: Was Iraq war legal?
An official verdict on the legality of the Iraq war crept closer today after the Chilcot inquiry called for international lawyers to submit their views on the conflict. Resuming public hearings after a break for the general election, Iraq Inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot issued an “open invitation” to legal experts to give their judgments on the US-UK invasion in 2003.
Read article in the London Evening Standard (UK)
Comment: Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General at the time of the US-UK invasion of Iraq, openly stated in 2004 that it was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter. We share this opinion and continue to call for former U.S. President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be held responsible for the deaths of more than one million people in Iraq and put on trial for genocide and other crimes against humanity.
June 18, 2010
Medvedev Says He ‘Cannot Rule Out’ Collapse of Euro
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he can’t rule out the collapse of the euro as the European Union struggles to contain the sovereign debt crisis.
Read article at businessweek.com
June 14, 2010
EU instrument for spying on 'radicals' causes outrage
Civil rights watchdogs and MEPs have attacked new EU plans to gather data on people who voice or share "radical messages" in a bid to pre-empt terrorist attacks.
Read article at euobserver.com
Comment: Operating outside the basic principles of freedom and democracy, the Brussels EU – by definition – is a dictatorship. The power of the people to determine their government has been transferred to corporate interests. For anybody who is still in any doubt as to the Brussels EU’s real intentions, click here for an analysis of the truth behind some of its claims.
June 10, 2010
Former Nuremberg prosecutor chides U.S., China, Russia
Kampala, Uganda -- One of the attorneys who prosecuted Nazi war criminals at the end of World War II cautioned the United States, Russia and China on Wednesday over their opposition to the final inclusion of "crimes of aggression" in the mandate for the International Criminal Court. "Crimes of aggression" were initially included in the court's Rome Statute of 1998, but unlike the other three crimes put under the tribunal's jurisdiction -- genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes -- crimes of aggression were not defined and jurisdictional conditions were not set. A review conference, which began May 31 in Kampala and continues through Friday, hopes to accept a proposal that will finally give the court what it needs to try cases of crimes against aggression. But the United States, Russia and China have balked. "A country should not commit crimes for its own benefit thinking no one will question it," said Benjamin Ferencz, a former chief prosecutor during the 1946 Nuremberg Tribunal that brought top Nazi war officials to justice. "This is the time all nations in the world should come in full support of the crime of aggression to be part of crimes tried by ICC so that we put to past impunity and open a new chapter to accountability," he said.
Read article at cnn.com
Comment: CNN reports that a total of 33 African nations now want former U.S. President George W. Bush and his close ally former British Prime Minister Tony Blair prosecuted for their invasion of Iraq in 2002. In particular, attorneys for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir are urging the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, to indict Bush and Blair for lying to the world regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction to support the invasion.
June 10, 2010
The future's bright, the future's orange?
The winning party in the Dutch elections, the VVD, has some interesting things to say about the EU on its website. Its leader, Mark Rutte, is favourite to become the country's new PM and may prove to be an interesting ally for EU reformers, depending on how much the VVD's rhetoric is watered down by coalition arrangements. The party's website reads: The VVD doesn’t want a "European superstate". We want a Europe that functions. Therefore, we don’t need a Constitution, but an EU which limits itself to its core tasks and offers solutions for the 21st century. The solutions of the former century were about agriculture and regional subsidies. In this century it is about climate and energy, asylum and migration flows and fighting terrorism. Therefore we need to go back to what we have: the current Treaties (the Treaty of Nice).
Read article on the Open Europe blog (UK)
June 10, 2010
World Bank sees 'double-dip' recession for parts of Europe
A double-dip recession is possible in several European countries if investors lose faith in efforts to control debt, the World Bank said on Thursday. Government finances in high-income countries in Europe, France, the US and the UK are currently on an “unsustainable path,” said Andrew Burns, the World Bank’s manager of global macroeconomics.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
June 8, 2010
UK monitors suspected radicals as part of European surveillance project
Police keep tabs on activists from across the political spectrum, documents obtained by EU civil liberties NGO reveal
The UK is taking part in a European surveillance programme which is designed to gather personal information about suspected "radicals" from across the political spectrum. Confidential documents reveal how an initiative to gather data on "radicalisation and recruitment" in Islamic terrorist groups has been expanded to incorporate other organisations. Political activists who have no association with terrorism could now find themselves monitored by authorities mandated to discover information about their friends, family, neighbours, political beliefs, use of the internet and even psychological traits.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)
Comment: For further information on the rise of the EU’s surveillance state, click here.
June 8, 2010
MEPs back web search history plan
More than 300 European MEPs are backing a plan that would force search engines such as Google to store details of web searches for up to two years. Two MEPs drew up the plan to help authorities develop an "early warning system" against paedophiles and sex offenders who were using the internet. However, civil liberties groups immediately criticised the proposals, which would represent a major increase in the monitoring of online activity.
Read article in The Independent (UK)
May 26, 2010
Ordinary people were misled over impact of the euro, says Herman Van Rompuy
Europe's "man in the street" was misled for years over the vast political and economic implications of the creation of "Euroland", Herman Van Rompuy has admitted. The EU's president told a selected audience of civil servants and businessmen that the Greek debt crisis and euro zone bailout had come as a nasty shock to ordinary Europeans. He said the public was not made aware of the full social and economic implications of the currency before it was created.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
May 24, 2010
Babies' DNA In Secret Vaults
Blood samples from millions of newborn babies are being stored without their parents’ knowledge, it emerged yesterday. The massive DNA files can be consulted by a range of organisations including the police, coroners and medical researchers, without having to ask the children’s families. In a sinister example of Britain’s slide into a Big Brother society, hospitals have admitted storing the blood samples of four million newborns during routine heel-prick tests.
Read article in the Daily Express (UK)
May 21, 2010
Merkel and Cameron disagree on EU treaty change
UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday (21 May) rejected the the idea of a new EU treaty change to accommodate German chancellor Angela Merkel's vision of stronger economic co-ordination in the EU. "There is no question of agreeing to a treaty that transfers powers from Westminster to Brussels. Britain is obviously not in the eurozone and is not going to be joining, so it wouldn't agree to any treaty that drew us further into the euro area," Mr Cameron said on Friday (21 May) during a joint press conference with Ms Merkel in Berlin.
Read article at euobserver.com
May 20, 2010
German action on euro crisis could trigger EU referendum in Britain
Demand for new single currency rules raises possibility of Lisbon Treaty being renegotiated
Germany today stepped up its rhetoric against financial markets, throwing its weight behind a global tax on bank transactions and proposing a radical shift in the rules governing the single currency by insisting struggling eurozone countries be allowed to restructure their debt. Following Greece's debt emergency and with the euro in the throes of its worst crisis of confidence, Berlin also tabled a nine-point plan rewriting the euro regime to include legally enshrined budget deficit ceilings in all 16 member countries. The German demands, in a finance ministry paper obtained by the Guardian, could require the EU's Lisbon Treaty to be renegotiated, presenting David Cameron with a dilemma over whether this would trigger an EU referendum in Britain.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)
May 20, 2010
Cannes hears call for ‘war criminals’ Bush, Blair to face trial
CANNES, France — Director Ken Loach, in Cannes with his Iraq war film, called Thursday for the "war criminals" George W. Bush and Tony Blair to be tried for launching the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. "We have to keep pursuing Blair, Bush and the others until we have them in the dock," he said as he arrived for a red carpet premiere of his film "Route Irish" which is in the running for the festival's Palme d'Or top prize. "It's certainly true that the people who started the war, who are war criminals, have not been called to account," said Loach, whose new work probes the murky world of private security contractors in Iraq.
Read article on the Raw Story website (USA)
May 14, 2010
Ex-commissioners face conflict of interest accusations
Transparency International, an international NGO which fights corruption, expressed "strong concern" after four former commissioners in the Barroso I executive had accepted positions in the private sector. A fierce integrity debate flared up when Benita Ferrero-Waldner of Austria, who held the external relations portfolio in the Barroso I Commission, Germany's Günter Verheugen (enterprise and industry), Ireland's Charlie McCreevy (internal market) and Bulgaria's Meglena Kuneva (consumer protection), assumed corporate jobs.
Read article at euractiv.com
Comment: To read the Transparency International press release, click here.
May 12, 2010
Estonia’s Adoption of Euro Advances, Despite Concerns From Central Bank
FRANKFURT — The European Commission on Wednesday recommended that Estonia be allowed to adopt the euro next year despite a critical report from the European Central Bank. The divergent views evoked a similar split a decade ago over Greece’s readiness to join the euro zone, which is now struggling with a sovereign debt crisis set off by Greece.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)
May 6, 2010
Several EU member states 'on brink of financial meltdown'
Senior Spanish MEP Alejo Vidal-Quadras has said that not only Greece but other member states are "on the brink" of financial meltdown. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Vidal-Quadras said the EU faced "the biggest challenge" in its history. The Spanish centre-right deputy said, "We are on the brink of the abyss.”
Read article at theparliament.com
May 3, 2010
Huge National Debts Could Push Euro Zone into Bankruptcy
Greece is only the beginning. The world's leading economies have long lived beyond their means, and the financial crisis caused government debt to swell dramatically. Now the bill is coming due, but not all countries will be able to pay it.
Read article in Der Spiegel (Germany)
April 29, 2010
The Euro Trap
Not that long ago, European economists used to mock their American counterparts for having questioned the wisdom of Europe’s march to monetary union. “On the whole,” declared an article published just this past January, “the euro has, thus far, gone much better than many U.S. economists had predicted.” Oops. The article summarized the euro-skeptics’ views as having been: “It can’t happen, it’s a bad idea, it won’t last.” Well, it did happen, but right now it does seem to have been a bad idea for exactly the reasons the skeptics cited. And as for whether it will last — suddenly, that’s looking like an open question.
Read article by Paul Krugman in the New York Times (USA)
April 27, 2010
Belgium heading for elections as government collapses
Belgian King Albert II accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yves Leterme's five-month-old government yesterday (26 April), plunging the country into a crisis as it prepares to assume the rotating presidency of the EU.
Read article at euractiv.com
April 22, 2010
European big business admits to lobbying Washington, but not Brussels
Many of Europe's biggest corporations are avoiding registering their lobbying activities in Brussels even as they admit to the scale of their operations in Washington where registration of lobbyists is required by law, according to a new study. As a result of the different registry frameworks between the two legislative capitals - in Brussels, the European Commission's lobby registry is a voluntary affair - European big business on the whole is able to make it appear that it is engaged in much more lobbying in Washington than in Brussels. This is the conclusion of a new study by lobbying watchdogs that analyses what the EU's 50 biggest corporations say they are spending on influencing policy.
Read article at euobserver.com
Comment: The ‘Brussels EU’ is controlled by corporate interests and it is now a matter of public record that multinational corporations have engaged in successful long-term lobbying strategies to shape European Union policy making in their favour. As a result of these activities, the EU’s risk assessment process has been rigged to benefit multi-trillion dollar business interests – especially those of the chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries – at the expense of public health.
April 21, 2010
Google releases list of government censorship requests
Internet search giant Google has revealed that Brazil's government has made the most requests for information or censorship. However figures for China, which censors great swathes of online information, have not been revealed. Google could not include requests made by Beijing because the information is regarded as a state secret. Instead, Brazil tops the list, with 3,663 data requests between 1 July and 31 December 2009. The US made 3,580 and the UK came third with 1,166.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
Comment: To see Google’s list of government censorship requests, click here.
April 21, 2010
Citigroup says only ‘United States of Europe' will save euro
A Citigroup note to clients has warned that the eurozone is likely to fall apart unless the European Union's member states fuse both on the fiscal and political level. "Europe needs to stand up and decide if it is going to be a ‘United States of Europe' or a ‘patchwork quilt' of independent states," reads a note by Tom Fitzpatrick, chief technical analyst at Citigroup in New York, first seen by Bloomberg. The financial services firm, the largest in the world and one of America's big four banks, says that if such integration is not on the cards, the euro area is "doomed" even if the current Greek crisis is resolved.
Read article at euobserver.com
Comment: Fitzpatrick’s choice of words here are highly significant. Largely hidden from the people of Europe, a so-called “Action Committee for the United States of Europe” was founded by the wheeler-dealer Jean Monnet on 13 October 1955. The meetings of this clandestine committee began in January 1956 and were held in private. The ultimate goal, as stated at the committee’s inception, was “to arrive by concrete achievements at the United States of Europe.” Notably, therefore, the longest serving member of the committee’s Executive Committee was the German Kurt Georg Kiesinger, who sat on it between January 1956 and May 1965. Kiesinger had been a member of the Nazi Party during WWII and had worked in the Nazi Foreign Ministry's radio propaganda division. Playing a key role in the luring of Britain into the Brussels EU, meetings of the “Action Committee for the United States of Europe” were held throughout the 1960s and did not conclude until after 1973 when plans for the dictatorial ‘Brussels EU’ project were already well advanced. To learn more, read chapter 4 of ‘The Nazi Roots of the Brussels EU’.
April 15, 2010
A perfect symbol of the EU: the 18 MEPs who will claim full salaries and perks without taking their seats
Eighteen MEPs will, as predicted by this blog eleven months ago, start claiming full salaries and allowances without taking their seats.
Read Daniel Hannan's blog entry on the Daily Telegraph website (UK)
April 10, 2010
President Kaczynski is killed in a plane crash: Poland's tragedies continue
Poland has suffered more than is any country’s right. Its story is one of repeated occupations, partitions and tyrannies. Seventy years ago, almost to the day, 21,768 Polish army officers, intellectuals and senior civil servants were murdered by the Soviet NKVD in the forest near Katyn: an attempt by Stalin to decapitate Poland by liquidating its elite. For years, the crime went unacknowledged: Western governments, reluctant to face up to the reality of the regime to which they had allied themselves, went along with the pretence that the massacre had been carried out by the Nazis. This morning, a few miles from Katyn, another decapitation occurred. A Russian plane crashed near Smolensk, carrying the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and dozens of senior Polish officials.
Read Daniel Hannan's blog entry on the Daily Telegraph website (UK)
Comment: President Kaczynski was one of only two EU leaders who bravely stood up for democracy and delayed signing the Lisbon Treaty – the Brussels EU ‘Enabling Act’ – for as long as possible. Following Ireland’s voting ‘No’ in a referendum on the treaty in June 2008, Kaczynski spoke out publicly and stated that he could not accept attempts by other EU states to bully Ireland into approving it. A courageous opponent of the Brussels EU dictatorship, both Poland and Europe will be the worse without him.
April 8, 2010
US and Russian leaders hail nuclear arms treaty
US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, have signed a landmark nuclear arms treaty in the Czech capital, Prague. The treaty commits the former Cold War enemies to each reduce the number of deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 - 30% lower than the previous ceiling. Mr Obama said it was a key milestone, but only the "first step on a longer journey" of nuclear disarmament. Mr Medvedev said the deal would create safer conditions throughout the world. If ratified by lawmakers in both countries, the treaty will replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) of 1991, which expired in December.
Read article on the BBC News website (UK)
April 7, 2010
New survey says NGOs continue to be most trusted institutions
A new survey says that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) continue to be the most trusted institutions in Europe. The poll, of almost 5000 people in 22 countries, says that NGOs command trust among 62 per cent of the public – higher than the figures for business, government or the media. Of the four, public trust in the media is the lowest, according to the survey.
Read article at theparliament.com
April 4, 2010
Airline passenger conversations to be monitored under EU project
Airline passengers could have their conversations and movements monitored under a European Union project aimed at tackling terrorism.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
March 23, 2010
Journalist accuses Tony Blair of 'war crimes'
Irish journalist David Cronin has told of his decision to try to make a "citizen's arrest" on former UK prime minster Tony Blair. The 39-year-old Dubliner attempted a citizen's arrest on Blair as he arrived at parliament on Monday for a hearing on Palestine.
Read article at theparliament.com
March 23, 2010
Buzek suggests electing EU commissioners
Jerzy Buzek, the Polish president of the European Parliament, has suggested that future EU commissioners should compete in Europe-wide elections to get a "democratic mandate".
Read article at euractiv.com
Comment: All modern democracies around the world have one principle in common: their power derives from the people. However, this is not so with the “Brussels EU”. The “government” of this construct – the 27-member EU Commission – is appointed on behalf of corporate interests. No man or woman in Europe today has the right to vote for it or to terminate its rule. As such, the “Brussels EU” is undeniably a dictatorship. To learn the facts about the “Brussels EU”, click here.
March 20, 2010
Germany admits it had Nazi spies after WW2
The German spy service has admitted that it employed about 200 former Nazi criminals for at least 15 years after the end of World War Two. Some had been involved in massacres in Poland and Russia, others were Gestapo torturers; all found a berth in the West German intelligence service.
Read article in the Irish Independent (Ireland)
March 18, 2010
EU firms 'exporting torture equipment', Amnesty says
Euro MPs have heard claims that EU companies are exporting equipment used for torture despite legislation aimed at preventing such trade. Amnesty International has published a report detailing the claims, and was briefing the European Parliament's Sub-Committee on Human Rights. The equipment includes thumb-cuffs and devices that give electric shocks. Amnesty said firms from Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain and Italy were among those trading the items.
Read article on the BBC News website (UK)
March 11, 2010
France accused of 'dragging its heels' on nuclear disarmament
France has been lambasted for "dragging its heels" in committing to nuclear disarmament issues. Gareth Evans, co-chairman of the International Commission on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, said Paris "appears determined not to commit to a nuclear-free world." Calling on the French to give a "clear commitment" to disarmament, the former Australian foreign minister said that failure to reach international agreement on such issues could have "serious" political ramifications.
Read article at theparliament.com
Comment: In order to protect its multi-billion euro global markets, the Oil and Drug cartel must not only eliminate any internal resistance within Europe. It must also take decisive action to defend its global investment markets around the world. Significantly, therefore, the leading export nations of the Cartel are also the leading military and nuclear powers in Europe, whose governments – including France – are committed to defending its interests at any price.
February 27, 2010
Wads of cash and free ski trips on the EU gravy train
Campaigners last night stepped up demands for a crackdown on the European Union gravy train after new revelations emerged about how taxpayers’ money is routinely squandered. Astonishing new details about Euro MPs’ expenses included hundreds of pounds handed out in brown envelopes to their visitors to cover food and travel with no receipts needed.
Read article in the Daily Express (UK)
February 27, 2010
Silvio Berlusconi 'avoiding justice', demonstrators say
Ten of thousands of Italians have demonstrated in Rome against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, over what they say are attempts to evade justice. Mr Berlusconi is on trial in two corruption cases. But legislation being discussed in parliament would in effect stop him going to court. The protesters accuse the PM of seeking to undermine the legal system.
Read article on the BBC News website (UK)
February 25, 2010
Greece wants Nazi gold returned as 50,000 strikers take to streets
Greece has touched Germany's rawest nerve by accusing the EU powerhouse of not fully compensating it for gold stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. The incendiary comments came as some 50,000 Greeks took to the streets of Athens to protest over austerity plans aimed at wrenching the country out of a debt crisis that has shaken the eurozone.
Read article in The Scotsman (Scotland/UK)
February 22, 2010
Dutch to pull troops out of Aghanistan following government collapse
Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende said on Sunday (22 February) that his country's troops are likely to be pulled out of Afghanistan by the end of this year, a move he said may prompt other wavering states - including EU members - to think about doing the same. "If nothing else will take its place, then it ends," Mr Balkenende told Buitenhof, a domestic current affairs television programme, reports Reuters. The centre-right leader was speaking a day after his government collapsed over the issue. The Labour Party quit the the coalition on Saturday, saying it could not agree to a Nato request to extend the Dutch mission beyond 2010. The Netherlands is among the top ten contributors to Afghanistan. Twenty-one of its soldiers have been killed there. Currently, there are around 2000 Dutch troops the dangerous Afghan province of Uruzgan. They are due to start leaving the country in August.
Read article at euobserver.com
February 14, 2010
MEP’s spending spree forces paybacks, but the names are being kept secret
Concerns are mounting that the EU could soon face an expenses scandal that could dwarf the ongoing saga of British MPs, that caused widespread public outrage, leading some British lawmakers to go into hiding. It was recently discovered that undisclosed MEPs had repaid more than €3.4 million in “wrongly claimed” expenses. European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek is refusing to disclose the identities of the errant members, according to the Daily Telegraph, who have seen a letter where he says that: “Such delicate and sensitive matters must be treated with the utmost caution – avoiding undue haste that can unnecessarily and unjustly cause irreparable harm to members’ reputations.” It is being asked why the European Parliament, with its commitment to transparency, seeks to shield these members. Mats Persson, the director of the Open Europe think tank, said: “If the European Parliament was serious about cleaning up its act it would name and shame the MEPs who have misused their allowances and conned the taxpayer, just as the UK Parliament is currently doing.”
Read article on the New Europe website
February 10, 2010
EU President's secret bid for economic power
The new President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, is using the financial crisis sweeping the eurozone to launch an audacious grab for power over national budgets, leaked documents reveal.
Read article in The Independent (UK)
February 10, 2010
Secret papers could contradict Iraq evidence: Chilcot
Tens of thousands of secret documents could contradict evidence given by members of the Blair government to the inquiry into the Iraq war, its chairman, Sir John Chilcot, has suggested as the former prime minister lashed out at the hunt for a ''scandal'' and a ''conspiracy'' over his controversial decision to back the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Sir John disclosed that the panel was examining far more documents than previously thought. He said the papers would form the core of the inquiry and show ''what really went on'' in the build-up to the start of the conflict. He said that the inquiry team would examine the documents ''over the next few months'', adding: ''That will enable us to see where the evidence joins together and where there are gaps.''
Read article in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
February 8, 2010
German minister calls for Lisbon treaty EU army
German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has called for the EU to proceed with plans for a European army under the Lisbon Treaty, which he dubbed “the beginning and not the end” of a common security and defence policy.
Read article in the Irish Times
Comment: The assurance given to Ireland prior to its second vote on the Lisbon Treaty, in October 2009 – that its traditional military neutrality would not be compromised by voting “Yes” – was entirely worthless. For, despite all the claims to the contrary, not one single word of the treaty had been changed since Ireland voted “No” in its first referendum in June 2008. Moreover, any hope for a potential democratic process within the EU about a decision to go to war – or even veto it – are an illusion. The leading export nations of the Oil and Drug Cartel are also the leading military and nuclear powers in Europe. Their governments are committed to defending the interests of the Cartel at any price.
February 7, 2010
Russia should consider joining the EU and NATO, says Medvedev’s institute
According to a paper released on 3 February by the Institute of Contemporary Development (INSOR), a think tank headed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia will join NATO and the EU, reduce its military, reintroduce gubernatorial elections and four-year presidential terms and disband its Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service, news agencies reported.
Read article on the New Europe website
February 6, 2010
Memo 'shows Blair Iraq war deal with Bush'
The leader of Plaid Cymru's MPs has said he has a memo showing Tony Blair and George Bush struck a secret deal to invade Iraq a year before the 2003 war. Elfyn Llwyd told the BBC's Straight Talk he had written to Iraq Inquiry chair Sir John Chilcot to say he would be prepared to hand the document over. He said the memo, which is marked "Top Secret and Confidential" contradicted statements made by Mr Blair. Mr Blair previously told the inquiry he made no "covert" deal with Mr Bush.
Read article on the BBC News website (UK)
February 6, 2010
Blix: Straw 'gave incorrect answers' to Iraq inquiry
Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw gave some incorrect answers to the UK's Iraq war inquiry, former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has said. Mr Blix told the BBC he was "puzzled" by some of the evidence that Mr Straw gave to the panel. He said that Mr Straw had been incorrect to suggest, in 2002, that UN weapons inspectors were not being allowed access to certain sites.
Read article on the BBC News website (UK)
February 5, 2010
Damning report hits out at EP expenditure
A damning report by a member of the European Parliament's own budgetary control committee is set to question the very fundamentals of the institution's budgetary discharge procedure, with its author coming under considerable pressure from the institutions's bureau as a result. Still in the process of being finalised, the report's rapporteur - Belgian Green MEP Bart Staes - told EUobserver the document ultimately asks one simple question: Is it correct that parliament should sign off on its own accounts? While the council of ministers, representing member states, also has to approve parliament's expenditure, a gentleman's agreement means scrutiny is kept to a bare minimum.
Read article at euobserver.com
February 3, 2010
US blames Lisbon Treaty for EU summit fiasco
The US State Department has said that President Barack Obama's decision not to come to an EU summit in Madrid in May is partly due to confusion arising from the Lisbon Treaty. State department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told press in Washington on Tuesday (2 February) that the treaty has made it unclear who the US leader should meet and when. "Up until recently, they [summits] would occur on six-month intervals, as I recall, with one meeting in Europe and one meeting here. And that was part of – the foundation of that was the rotating presidency within the EU. Now you have a new structure regarding not only the rotating EU presidency, you've got an EU Council president, you've got a European Commission president," he said.
Read article at euobserver.com
Comment: As a result of the Lisbon Treaty, the ‘Brussels EU’ now has a total of four presidents: the rotating EU presidency (currently held by Spain); the EU Council president (Herman Van Rompuy); the European Commission president (José Manuel Barroso); and the European Parliament president (Jerzy Buzek). So who’s really in charge? To learn the facts about the ‘Brussels EU’, click here.
February 2, 2010
Iraq to sue U.S., Britain over depleted uranium bombs
Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain and the U.S. over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi minister says. Iraq's Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, told Assabah newspaper that the lawsuit will be launched based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment. According to the reports, during the first year of the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing depleted uranium. According to Iraqi military experts, the U.S. and Britain bombed the country with nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs during the early years of the Iraq war. Atomic radiation has increased the number of babies born with defects in the southern provinces of Iraq. Iraqi doctors say they' have been struggling to cope with the rise in the number of cancer cases -- especially in cities subjected to heavy U.S. and British bombardment.
Read article in the Tehran Times (Iran)
February 2, 2010
Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair ‘lied’ and misled Parliament, claims Clare Short
Tony Blair 'lied' to his Cabinet and misled Parliament over the war in Iraq, Clare Short, the former international development secretary has said. Giving evidence before the Chilcot Committee into the war, she repeatedly accused the former prime minister of personally “misleading” and “conning” her, and of being “deceitful” with Cabinet, Parliament, and the public. Miss Short claimed that Mr Blair broke the ministerial code by misleading Parliament, and accused Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general who gave the “green light” to war, of failing to tell the Cabinet the truth of his reservations about the legality of an invasion.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
January 30, 2010
Chilcot War Inquiry: Professor to launch 'Nuremberg' war crimes prosecution against Blair
Plans to bring a war crimes prosecution against Tony Blair based on last week’s bombshell evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry have been launched by a leading law professor. The move could see Mr Blair follow former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic into a dock in The Hague. Professor Bill Bowring says the revelation that the Government rejected Foreign Office warnings not to invade Iraq means there is a good chance Mr Blair can be ‘investigated, at the very least’ for war crimes.
Read article in the Daily Mail (UK)
January 30, 2010
Tony Blair accused of putting war with Iran on the electoral agenda
Former prime minister slammed for trying to shift focus onto threat from Tehran during appearance at Chilcot inquiry
Tony Blair has been accused of warmongering spin for claiming that western powers might be forced to invade Iran because it poses as serious a threat as Saddam Hussein. Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Iran, accused Blair of trying to make confrontation with Iran an electoral issue after the former prime minister repeatedly singled out its Islamic regime as a global threat in his evidence to the Iraq war inquiry yesterday. Blair said many of the arguments that led him to confront the "profoundly wicked, almost psychopathic" Saddam Hussein seven years ago now applied to the regime in Tehran.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)
January 29, 2010
Ridiculously Generous
MEPs on the European Parliament's Budget Committee voted on Wednesday to award themselves an extra €1,500 and to hire an additional 150 staff. MEPs say they're in desperate need of more money because the Lisbon Treaty is now in force which means more work for them. In total, MEPs can already cash in on some £360,000 year in pay and allowances. For most people this seems like an incredibly generous amount - but not for the MEPs themselves apparently. The increase will cost taxpayers an extra €13.3 million a year and send the EP's total annual budget past the €1.6 billion mark.
Read blog entry on the Open Europe blog at blogspot.com
January 29, 2010
Bush decided UN backing not necessary, says Blair
United Nations backing for the Iraq war would have made "life a lot easier", Tony Blair said today. But the former prime minister said US President George Bush decided the UN Security Council's support "wasn't necessary".
Read article in the Independent (UK)
January 29, 2010
Protesters call for Blair to face war crimes charges
In the shadow of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and surrounded in all directions by monuments to the British establishment, protesters called Friday for Tony Blair to face war crimes charges as the former prime minister gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry. "Blair lied, thousands died!" and "Tony Blair! War criminal!" chanted the few hundred who had gathered under gray and damp early morning skies, separated from the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre by chain-link fencing and dozens of police officers. Some protesters donned rubber Blair masks and posed behind bars, their hands covered in theatrical blood representing those killed during the war in Iraq. Many said they wanted to see Blair put on trial at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Read article at cnn.com
January 23, 2010
David Kelly post mortem to be kept secret for 70 years as doctors accuse Lord Hutton of concealing vital information
Vital evidence which could solve the mystery of the death of Government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly will be kept under wraps for up to 70 years. In a draconian – and highly unusual – order, Lord Hutton, the peer who chaired the controversial inquiry into the Dr Kelly scandal, has secretly barred the release of all medical records, including the results of the post mortem, and unpublished evidence. The move, which will stoke fresh speculation about the true circumstances of Dr Kelly’s death, comes just days before Tony Blair appears before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War. It is also bound to revive claims of an establishment cover-up and fresh questions about the verdict that Dr Kelly killed himself.
Read article in the Daily Mail (UK)
Comment: Dr David Kelly died days after being exposed as the source of a controversial BBC story on the Iraq war, which alleged that evidence against Iraq had been "sexed up" by the British Government in order to justify the 2003 invasion. Some reports suggest that Dr Kelly, 59, had been writing a book exposing highly damaging government secrets before his mysterious death. Significantly, therefore, convinced that the original verdict of suicide is unsafe and should be overturned, six senior doctors have recently begun legal action in an attempt to force a new inquest into Kelly’s death.
January 21, 2010
EU commission 'embassies' granted new powers
The EU has converted 54 out of the European Commission's 136 foreign delegations into embassy-type missions authorised to speak for the entire union. The move follows the coming into force last year of the Lisbon Treaty, which has the creation of a new EU diplomatic corps as one of its main provisions. All 136 commission delegations were renamed "EU delegations" on 1 January. But only the 54 placements were at the same time quietly given fresh powers in line with their new names.
Read article at euobserver.com
January 21, 2010
Klaus, Kaczynski say Lisbon should not enhance EU centralisation
Prague - The Lisbon Treaty should not open path to radical unification and centralisation of the EU, the Czech and Polish presidents, Vaclav Klaus and Lech Kaczynski, agreed at their meeting in Prague today, they told reporters. They said the EU should remain an association of states, it should not transform into a superstate.
Read article at ceskenoviny.cz (Czech Republic)
January 20, 2010
Kaczynski: Poland, CR should make EU more democratic
Poland and the Czech Republic should strive for the European Union to be more democratic, Polish President Lech Kaczynski told CTK yesterday ahead of his state visit to Prague starting on Thursday. "The aristocratic republic which the European Union is should be a little bit democratised," Kaczynski said. He said mainly Germany and France, which Britain joins from time to time, make decisions on what is going on in the EU 27. "Real decision-making should be further developed," he said.
Read article at praguemonitor.com (Czech Republic)
January 13, 2009
Iraq Inquiry: Lord Goldsmith 'materially' changed legal advice in days before war
Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general, "materially" changed his advice on the legality of military action against Saddam Hussein in the final days before the 2003 invasion, the Iraq war Inquiry has been told. Lord Turnbull, who was the Cabinet Secretary at the time, said there were important differences between the final legal opinion Lord Goldsmith presented to the Cabinet and an earlier version he gave privately to Tony Blair.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
January 13, 2010
Big tobacco distorted EU treaty, scientists say
One of the biggest tobacco manufacturers in the world led a group of chemical, food, oil, pharmaceutical and other firms in a successful long-term lobbying strategy to shape European Union policy making in their favour, a new study says. After trawling through some 700 internal documents from British American Tobacco (BAT), academics at the University of Bath and University of Edinburgh say they have found evidence that the cigarette giant in the mid-1990s teamed up with the European Policy Centre, the prominent Brussels think-tank, to create a front group to ensure that the EU framework for evaluating policy options emphasised business interests at the expense of public health. According to the study, published in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal and funded by the Smoke-Free Partnership and Cancer Research UK, BAT constructed a policy network of a series of major corporations, including Shell, Zeneca, Tesco, SmithKline Beecham, Bayer and Unilever, to mount a multi-year lobby campaign aiming at shaping the EU's impact assessment system.
Read article at euobserver.com
January 12, 2009
Dutch inquiry says Iraq war had no mandate
An inquiry into the Netherlands' support for the invasion of Iraq says it was not justified by UN resolutions. The Dutch Committee of Inquiry on Iraq said UN Security Council resolutions did not "constitute a mandate for... intervention in 2003". The inquiry was launched after foreign ministry memos were leaked that cast doubt on the legal basis for the war. The Netherlands gave political support to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but has denied having any military role. The report demolishes the Dutch case for supporting the invasion, says the BBC's Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond. It could also be taken to reinforce the international case against the Iraq war, he says.
Read article on the BBC News website (UK)