As I said before, lost on most of the UK media amidst the stateside razzmatazz, Cyprus has chosen a new head of state, and a communist one to boot. The former President Tassos Papadopoulos lost out in the first round vote, and in the second round of voting last weekend the President-elect Demetris Christofias was elected with 53.4% of the vote.
He seems an interesting character for a number of reasons. A communist, he was educated in Soviet Russia and described the collapse inwards of the Soviet Union as a “crime against humanity”. He has described the continuing British military presence on the island as a “colonial bloodstain” and, crucially, has decent relations with the Turkish administration in the north and is willing to talk to them. The North’s leader, Mehmet Ali Talat has already welcomed his election.
So interesting times in the South East Mediterranean. On the one hand welcome glimmers of progress in the impasse between the two communities on that bloodily divided island, on the other a hardline anti-British troops communist in charge of a member of the eurozone.
And here’s an interesting wrinkle. Given President Christofias has more economically in common with VI Lenin than Adam Smith we will see real pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt. Who knows, we might just for the first time see some gumption from it. Under the rules of the eurozone each member state (of the eurozone) in order to avoid destabilising the bloc as a whole has to obey certain rules on economic management. Public debt cannot be higher than x%, fiscal policy must only do y and such like. The rules were glossed over when Germany, then France, then the Netherlands breached them, and the economic credibility of the ECB and the euro took a knock on the international capital markets. They were further undermined when Greece admitted lying to the ECB for a sustained period last year.
Cyprus acceded to the eurozone in January and is now obliged to abide by all the rules of the ECB. And Cyprus is no France or Germany. They can expect a firm (and doubtless mightily unpopular) slap from far away Frankfurt the moment they step out of line.
So to broaden the canvass a little, much as he’s a communist, economically we can expect to see the supranational constraints of being part of the biggest currency bloc in Europe restrain the ambitions and policies of the democratically elected leader of a member state. By signing up to the eurozone the people of Cyprus hardwired and formalised the ‘interconnectedness’ of their economy with that of the rest of the EU and eurozone, so it is only right that the rest of us can now expect subsequent leaders to modify their policies to work within the rules as established by the ECB.
So his election creates a conundrum. He will not be able to do that much to the economy, so he can either turn his attentions to those policy areas he can actually do something with, or have a rammy with Frankfurt. The outcome will depend upon realpolitik. I’m working on another blog entry called “The EU: power pooled is power retained” with apologies to Enoch Powell who said the same of devolution, and this is a good example of what I’m trying to get across in that piece. If the democratically elected leader of a sovereign state really wanted to break the rules of the eurozone, (or the EU) the only way out is, well, out. I do not hold to the view that Cyprus has, forevermore, signed up to the rules, only for so long as the people of Cyprus are willing to be bound by them. The question is: are they willing to take the pain that it would mean to get out? We watch with interest.
Monday, 25 February 2008
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Cranks to the left of me, obsessives to the right, cont…
I've covered this before, but today a funny thing happened today in the Chamber (we’re down in Strasbourg worse luck, but more of that another time). For the first time ever I actually felt embarrassed about how I voted.
We were voting on a report giving the view of the Parliament on the Lisbon Treaty, and the various amendments to the report put all manner of options to us: delete it entirely, best thing since sliced bread, etc etc. The SNP’s position on the Treaty is that it is not the Treaty we want to see. It extends EU competence by cutting the amount of national vetoes; it brings into effect new ways of working we’re wary of; it also puts the Common Fisheries Policy onto the level of primary treaty law, so only “amendable “ by unanimity, which the Spanish amongst others would be unlikely to ever give. See how it looks a bit odd? In a document that does away with 40-odd national vetoes, it creates a new one over a policy area of significance to some of us (Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal) but zero interest to others (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia) and entrenches a policy that has been an unmitigated disaster where we should rip it up and start again.
But that is for another day. Debate on the Lisbon Treaty is not over yet, though today in the European Parliament we started to sketch out the line we will draw under it. The report passed, by a big majority. But look at this lot above, taken on my own camera phone in the Chamber (which I’m hoping is not a breach of our rules).
We were voting on a report giving the view of the Parliament on the Lisbon Treaty, and the various amendments to the report put all manner of options to us: delete it entirely, best thing since sliced bread, etc etc. The SNP’s position on the Treaty is that it is not the Treaty we want to see. It extends EU competence by cutting the amount of national vetoes; it brings into effect new ways of working we’re wary of; it also puts the Common Fisheries Policy onto the level of primary treaty law, so only “amendable “ by unanimity, which the Spanish amongst others would be unlikely to ever give. See how it looks a bit odd? In a document that does away with 40-odd national vetoes, it creates a new one over a policy area of significance to some of us (Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal) but zero interest to others (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia) and entrenches a policy that has been an unmitigated disaster where we should rip it up and start again.
But that is for another day. Debate on the Lisbon Treaty is not over yet, though today in the European Parliament we started to sketch out the line we will draw under it. The report passed, by a big majority. But look at this lot above, taken on my own camera phone in the Chamber (which I’m hoping is not a breach of our rules).
Yes, the United Kingdom Independence Party had come for a party. The yellow jumpers had a chicken on saying “chicken of a referendum?” or somesuch rubbish, they shouted in loud braying voices across the Chamber, were so busy holding their banners they forgot to vote umpteen times, and generally made fools of themselves. After the vote went through, one of the MEPs down the front got out from somewhere an EU flag, and cheerily waved it back at them. This caught the mood of the Chamber, and he got a near standing ovation with the Chamber almost as one laughing at the yellow jumpers.
So there you have it, a complex legal debate over an even more complex legal text reduced to goodies and baddies.
I explained above that the SNP (and me personally) spent weeks ploughing through this text, we have carefully looked at it from all angles and we do not think it is the way to go. The Labour UK government promised a referendum on the Constitution, which the Lisbon Treaty replaces, and given this text does pretty well the same we want to see a referendum on this as well.
So I voted with the baddies, and it irritates me more than I can say just how bad their impact on the debate actually is. Their antics make it pretty well impossible to partly disagree; everything is either all good or all bad. Of course, the anti-europeans do not care, the sillier they, and the whole process look the better. But that leaves those of us trying to do a decent shift and stand up for what we believe in with an almost impossible shift. And in the saddest irony of all, all the folk in England who voted for them will never see just how futile they really are, and just what damage they actually do to any sceptical argument. If anything they, jumpers and all (paid for by your tax euros incidentally), will get tomorrow’s headlines and be able to pretend they achieved something. Funny old game.
Monday, 18 February 2008
Unite against English colonisation! (his words, not mine...)
The Parliament is a pretty cosmopolitan place as you would imagine, and you hear all sorts of languages in the lifts, in the cafes and around the place. But increasingly you hear English, and people are starting to notice. I worked in Brussels as an intern 1996/7 and if you did not speak French you were not at the races. Meetings were in French, conversations over a beer or a coffee were by and large in French, with English being the thickoes language. Then enlargement happened, and the Poles, Czechs, Estonians and all the rest pretty well to man speak English as their second language, and French is less and less necessary. I make a point of speaking it and my bad German just to prove I can, and have caught a few people out understanding them when they assumed the thick Brit would be monophone.
Now for Scotland as an Anglophone country this is a double edged sword, because the rule is basically you can buy from anyone in your language, but you need to sell to them in theirs. Personally I want to see language tuition in Scotland massively increased, and I know this is all a question of money and priorities but I think it would be worth it, and a major step towards making the internationalist Scotland we want to see a reality. The benefits to the brainpower of kids who speak another language is clear, the worldview very different once they speak something else. I do not care which language, so long as they do speak something and lose the pathological fear of getting their le la or les wrong because that is not how language works in the real world. But that is another discussion.
Meantime, the natives are fighting back. On February 21 outside the British Embassy in Rome there will be the first "Demonstration of independence from English", which essentially seeks to slate Gordon Brown (personally) for the funding that the British Council received to promote the "colonisation" of the world by the English language. Clearly this is just daft, but an interesting wee wrinkle to the concept of "soft" power which we as Scots will have access to. The world already speaks our language, but might in some cases kind of resent it. We must be careful that we do not give the impression of being lazy or arrogant by accident, or by association.
Remember the cautionary tale of an English lady in Florence in the early 1900s saying loudly when called a foreigner "No no dear, we're English, YOU'RE all foreign..." As Scots I like to think we're a wee bit more culturally aware, but one for us to watch.
Below the email sent around the Parliament by one of the event organisers. Sadly I had to run his email through Babelfish so it is a bit garbled but you get the gist. More at www.democrazialinguistica.it
Chère/Cher Collègue, today the use of mass and increasingly more exclusive of the English language, whose obligatory knowledge extends to the various contexts from the life from tous.les.jours, does not only continue to cause the disappearance of the minority languages, but represents a strong threat for all the languages and the linguistics-cultural ecosystem of planet: it is estimated that 90-95% of the languages of the world will disappear during this century. This tendency to use only one language, generates imbalances and discriminations increasingly larger, incalculable between the anglophone countries and people, which extend their influence political, social and economic with the rest of the world, and the countries and people not-english-speaking which are subject to this influence (see the considerations of Claude Piron on dotsub.com). In the European panorama, the privileged use of the English language is testified by the fact that only 6% of young English speak a second Community language compared to more than 50% of the young people of the other Member States. However, it is obvious that the European Institutions, which recognize the inescapable principle of linguistic diversity, by supporting this tendence (it was enough to think that even the documents téléchargeble on the site EU relating to the policy of the multilingualism are available only in English and that the opinions of the contests for civils servant or trainees are published in English, French and only in certain cases in German) are the first to especially lead a nonmultilingual but discriminatory policy towards the nonanglophone European citizens. In Italy, on thousand young people from 18 to 35 years, of the question "you Think that the European linguistic system centered on the use of English, can support the young people of English mother tongue compared to the autres?"La crushing majority consisted of 73% answered Oui (source Forum Nazionale Giovani). For a long time, the language which less would need some, is financed non-returnable by the United Kingdom by investments colossals - only in 2005-2006, British Council received financings of 275 milions of euros - and that with the obvious goal to monopolize the European and world linguistic communication definitively. In the light of these considerations, the declaration of British the Prime Minister Gordon Brown of January 17 highlights a stronger will of expansion at the goal to attack the Asian markets. By defining it a "new gift for the world", British the Prime Minister announced later news resources in British Council with the goal to form thousands of English teachers, of which 750.000 only in India (ex colony British which conquered the indépendence in 1947 pennies the guide nonviolent of Gandhi, which denounced in 1908: "To give to million people the knowledge of English it is like reducing them in slavery"). Such declaration of Brown is available, with the soutitres in several languages, with address Internet http://dotsub.com/films/ukdeclares/index.php One is thus in the presence of a true colinisation of the whole world through the linguistic policies. However, we organized, at the time of the International Day of the Mother tongue, that one célébre on February 21, the "First Demonstration of Indépendence of the English Language", which will take place in Rome of 15h with 17h in front of the British Embassy. To know some more and to adhere to this initiative contact: ERA Onlus, association for the Right to the language and the international linguistic Democracy, 76, Via di Torre Argentina - 00186 - Roma; such: 0668979.380/308/797, 3490818387; fax 0623312033; www.democrazialinguistica.it info@democrazialinguistica.it
Now for Scotland as an Anglophone country this is a double edged sword, because the rule is basically you can buy from anyone in your language, but you need to sell to them in theirs. Personally I want to see language tuition in Scotland massively increased, and I know this is all a question of money and priorities but I think it would be worth it, and a major step towards making the internationalist Scotland we want to see a reality. The benefits to the brainpower of kids who speak another language is clear, the worldview very different once they speak something else. I do not care which language, so long as they do speak something and lose the pathological fear of getting their le la or les wrong because that is not how language works in the real world. But that is another discussion.
Meantime, the natives are fighting back. On February 21 outside the British Embassy in Rome there will be the first "Demonstration of independence from English", which essentially seeks to slate Gordon Brown (personally) for the funding that the British Council received to promote the "colonisation" of the world by the English language. Clearly this is just daft, but an interesting wee wrinkle to the concept of "soft" power which we as Scots will have access to. The world already speaks our language, but might in some cases kind of resent it. We must be careful that we do not give the impression of being lazy or arrogant by accident, or by association.
Remember the cautionary tale of an English lady in Florence in the early 1900s saying loudly when called a foreigner "No no dear, we're English, YOU'RE all foreign..." As Scots I like to think we're a wee bit more culturally aware, but one for us to watch.
Below the email sent around the Parliament by one of the event organisers. Sadly I had to run his email through Babelfish so it is a bit garbled but you get the gist. More at www.democrazialinguistica.it
Chère/Cher Collègue, today the use of mass and increasingly more exclusive of the English language, whose obligatory knowledge extends to the various contexts from the life from tous.les.jours, does not only continue to cause the disappearance of the minority languages, but represents a strong threat for all the languages and the linguistics-cultural ecosystem of planet: it is estimated that 90-95% of the languages of the world will disappear during this century. This tendency to use only one language, generates imbalances and discriminations increasingly larger, incalculable between the anglophone countries and people, which extend their influence political, social and economic with the rest of the world, and the countries and people not-english-speaking which are subject to this influence (see the considerations of Claude Piron on dotsub.com). In the European panorama, the privileged use of the English language is testified by the fact that only 6% of young English speak a second Community language compared to more than 50% of the young people of the other Member States. However, it is obvious that the European Institutions, which recognize the inescapable principle of linguistic diversity, by supporting this tendence (it was enough to think that even the documents téléchargeble on the site EU relating to the policy of the multilingualism are available only in English and that the opinions of the contests for civils servant or trainees are published in English, French and only in certain cases in German) are the first to especially lead a nonmultilingual but discriminatory policy towards the nonanglophone European citizens. In Italy, on thousand young people from 18 to 35 years, of the question "you Think that the European linguistic system centered on the use of English, can support the young people of English mother tongue compared to the autres?"La crushing majority consisted of 73% answered Oui (source Forum Nazionale Giovani). For a long time, the language which less would need some, is financed non-returnable by the United Kingdom by investments colossals - only in 2005-2006, British Council received financings of 275 milions of euros - and that with the obvious goal to monopolize the European and world linguistic communication definitively. In the light of these considerations, the declaration of British the Prime Minister Gordon Brown of January 17 highlights a stronger will of expansion at the goal to attack the Asian markets. By defining it a "new gift for the world", British the Prime Minister announced later news resources in British Council with the goal to form thousands of English teachers, of which 750.000 only in India (ex colony British which conquered the indépendence in 1947 pennies the guide nonviolent of Gandhi, which denounced in 1908: "To give to million people the knowledge of English it is like reducing them in slavery"). Such declaration of Brown is available, with the soutitres in several languages, with address Internet http://dotsub.com/films/ukdeclares/index.php One is thus in the presence of a true colinisation of the whole world through the linguistic policies. However, we organized, at the time of the International Day of the Mother tongue, that one célébre on February 21, the "First Demonstration of Indépendence of the English Language", which will take place in Rome of 15h with 17h in front of the British Embassy. To know some more and to adhere to this initiative contact: ERA Onlus, association for the Right to the language and the international linguistic Democracy, 76, Via di Torre Argentina - 00186 - Roma; such: 0668979.380/308/797, 3490818387; fax 0623312033; www.democrazialinguistica.it info@democrazialinguistica.it
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Pristina we have lift off!
As expected, the Kosovan parliament met today at 1400 GMT and declared independence for Kosova. A number of SNP members I know have a bottle put aside to open on our independence day, at least as you can see above I was able to open my Kosovan Raki sooner than ours but our indepednece day is coming yet.
The vote was, happily, unanimous amongst the Kosovan MPs, who now go on to form a state. Kosova will have many problems short, mediaum and long term, but my fingers are crossed for them. We will doubtless have a session in Strasbourg this week on this and the world's response to it.
The big issue is that the Kosovans themselves have the chance to prove themselves able. The whole point to independence, for anyone, is that there are no more excuses.
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Kosova expects, Cyprus chooses…
An eventful weekend in prospect. Cyprus votes on Sunday in a presidential election and it seems likely that Kosova will declare independence Sunday or Monday. I’ve covered Kosova before, and am due to give a press conference on Tuesday in Strasbourg giving my reaction to things when they happen. The latest news is that yesterday a small bomb went off in Mitrovice near the EU office there, happily nobody was hurt. Increasing tension was partly dealt with by a press conference from the Prime Minister yesterday where he assured the minority populations about the commitment of his government and all parties to human rights, but there remain a lot of anxious people out there, with good reason.
Meanwhile, the most geographically opposite country in the EU to Scotland, Cyprus, is having an election which will have a decisive, direct, immediate impact upon our relations with Turkey, future NATO co-operation and the rule of law in the EU. You have of course not heard of it in the domestic media, because all the EU’s political reporters are watching the glitzy razzmatazz stateside. Grr.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, a year after I was born (though in fairness that is of little significance), when the Turkish army invaded the north of the island, ostensibly to protect the Turkish community who were under threat from the Greek Cypriot coup. The international community has refused to recognise the legality of either the occupation or the administration in the North and an uneasy partition was allowed to take place.
Greek Cyprus acceded to the EU in 2004 along with the host of other EU member states, acceded to the eurozone at Hogmanay this year, and is a fully fledged member of the EU, albeit with half their island under foreign occupation. So the Greeks in Cyprus now find themselves in a position to stymie, effectively forever, Turkish attempts to join the EU, because not unreasonably they want to see a resolution of the Cyprus question before they will even entertain the idea of talks. The latest reunification proposals were put forward by the UN in 2004, and pretty decisively rejected by the Greek Cypriots, under the leadership of the current President Tassos Papadopoulos. The grounds for this rejection essentially being that the plans legitimised an illegal occupation by making concessions to the Turkish side.
So this election is important for the peace process. The latest polls give Papadopoulos, communist challenger Demetris Christofias and right-winger Ioannis Kassoulides virtually equal chances, possibly leading to a run-off on February 24, so we watch with interest. Diplomats are going to try again to restart talks, but in the absence of a change of political leadership in Greek Cyprus it seems unlikely that any positions will have changed much.
Meanwhile, the most geographically opposite country in the EU to Scotland, Cyprus, is having an election which will have a decisive, direct, immediate impact upon our relations with Turkey, future NATO co-operation and the rule of law in the EU. You have of course not heard of it in the domestic media, because all the EU’s political reporters are watching the glitzy razzmatazz stateside. Grr.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, a year after I was born (though in fairness that is of little significance), when the Turkish army invaded the north of the island, ostensibly to protect the Turkish community who were under threat from the Greek Cypriot coup. The international community has refused to recognise the legality of either the occupation or the administration in the North and an uneasy partition was allowed to take place.
Greek Cyprus acceded to the EU in 2004 along with the host of other EU member states, acceded to the eurozone at Hogmanay this year, and is a fully fledged member of the EU, albeit with half their island under foreign occupation. So the Greeks in Cyprus now find themselves in a position to stymie, effectively forever, Turkish attempts to join the EU, because not unreasonably they want to see a resolution of the Cyprus question before they will even entertain the idea of talks. The latest reunification proposals were put forward by the UN in 2004, and pretty decisively rejected by the Greek Cypriots, under the leadership of the current President Tassos Papadopoulos. The grounds for this rejection essentially being that the plans legitimised an illegal occupation by making concessions to the Turkish side.
So this election is important for the peace process. The latest polls give Papadopoulos, communist challenger Demetris Christofias and right-winger Ioannis Kassoulides virtually equal chances, possibly leading to a run-off on February 24, so we watch with interest. Diplomats are going to try again to restart talks, but in the absence of a change of political leadership in Greek Cyprus it seems unlikely that any positions will have changed much.
Monday, 11 February 2008
Public Opinion and the interest of the public in the Public Interest
With apologies for a slightly tortured title, I'm intrigued, as are a few others, on how the Electoral Commission can rule on what is or is not in the public interest and what the implications of this are. Read the press release carefully, I've copied a couple of points that jar with me:
"In respect of a possible offence under section 56, the Commission has concluded that, while Wendy Alexander did not take all reasonable steps in seeking to comply with the relevant legislation, she did take significant steps. Having considered all the circumstances, the Commission has decided that it is not appropriate or in the public interest to report this matter to the Procurator Fiscal.
"In respect of possible offences under section 61, the Commission has concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to establish that an offence has been committed. The Commission has therefore decided that it is not appropriate to report this matter to the Procurator Fiscal.
The conclusions reached by the Commission are the result of its independent judgment, following a thorough investigation. Extraneous considerations such as political or public opinion have played no part in this process, nor have they played any part in the Commission's decision making.
The Electoral Commission is an independent body established by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Its aim is integrity and public confidence in the UKs (sic) democratic process."
I was involved in a similar issue when the UK Attorney General ruled that it was not in the Public Interest for the UK Serious Fraud Office to investigate corruption by UK companies in bribing various members of the Saudi Arabian government in relation to arms deals and other supply contracts. This was pure realpolitik, but gave a legal gloss to the grubby reality of dealing with the Middle East, and the rank hypocrisy of the UK's dealings there. In blank frustration I referred the issue to the European Commission because there are various EU codes on public transparency and anti-corruption, but to no avail.
But the Attorney General has that role, legally, to make such judgments, I'm not convinced the Electoral Commission should, or indeed does, have that scope for discretion. I have no beef with the decision on the Section 61 offence, if there is insufficient evidence then there can hardly be a referral unless the PF or police would have access to documents the Electoral Commision cannot access. But on the section 56 offience, the grounds for non-referral to the prosecuting authorities seem to be that the offence has been admitted, the money returned, and a PF investigation already in train. There is to be sure still the ongoing investigations by the procurator fiscal into this, but I'm more concerned at the Electoral Commission saying that so long as you did not mean to break the rules and confess and repay when (or, more realistically, if) you're caught then they will use a discretion to decide whether or not to refer your case.
Surely this has to be the decision of the procurator fiscal, in public, and in line with the legal standards? Surely if an offence has been committed (and it is admitted one has) then the referral is automatic, rather than a not proven verdict which was used by Ms Alexander's team to claim vindication when it clearly is not?
The fact that the PF is already investigating makes a referral all the easier, the Electoral Commission investigation is not contingent upon the PF's, it is meant to be independent. If there was not an ongoing PF investigation would this Electoral Commission ruling have shut this whole matter down?
I'm not close to this and am sure cleverer people than me have thought about this a lot, but for an organisation which exists to promote "integrity and public confidence" in our politics to state that it views public opinion as "extraneous" just looks a bit odd.
And they have not done Ms Alexander any favours either. This not proven verdict leaves plenty questions unanswered and it is in Ms Alexander's interest, and the public's that all questions are answered and a punishment, however mild, for breaking the law, however inadvertently, imposed.
This post is actually not about Ms Alexander's travails, and does not seek to add to them, I think this affair risks poisoning all politics. I'm genuinely curious, and not a little concerned, that an unelected body which I had always understood to be administrative has a competence to rule on matters which to my mind must be dealt with by the law enforcement authorities answerable to the Holyrood Parliament and them alone.
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Kosova - inspiring and humbling in equal measure
A few days after returning back to Scotland I’m still to decant all my notes and scribbles into a format that is vaguely usable (the team always hate this because it means that they get nothing from me until I have time to sit quietly and unleash a tsunami of things to do in their direction). However, I have a few things clear in my own head about Kosova.At the other end of Europe, in a couple of weeks time, a small European region with a tragic recent history is going to declare independence. This is the aim of every SNP member, and plenty others as well. Of course, Scotland’s history is different, our claim of right more secure, our neighbours more co-operative, the Kosovans were agape at the advantages we have. But I met politicians and civil society from all sides of the political and ethnic spectrum, and everyone is agreed. Time’s up, no more excuses, the status quo is untenable, we need to build a nation. I hope they manage it.
The independence will be “supervised” by the international community, with thousands of police, judges, civilians and even more troops on standby, because there is a real risk that elements of the population will attack others, and that Serbia will interfere in the fledgling state in who knows what way.
I was there to see how it is going, understand the dynamics and I only scratched the surface. It is clear to me however, that the politicians I spoke to at least understand that with the right to independence comes the obligation to build a state of law, with the rights of minorities being the biggest priority given recent history.
Of course, it is not going to be easy. Russia will block recognition in the UN Security Council by veto, so it cannot go to the General Assembly and only individual states can recognise the declaration. The US and UK are likely to be the first to do so, good on them. But then the hand over starts. In the absence of a Security Council Resolution UNMIK has to be ordered to stand down, which will take a courageous decision by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon but a necessary one. The EU has three missions in place already to take over 120 days after the declaration and act as stabilisers on the new Kosovan state.
The credibility of the EU is at stake. The Common Foreign and Security Policy was born in the aftermath of the EU’s abject failure over the Balkans in 1999, and I’ll confess to a fair bit of scepticism over it myself. But it has to work. Look at a map, EU states ring Kosovo, this is part of the European territory and if the EU means anything we have to help firstly, avoid bloodshed, secondly, ensure minorities feel safe and thirdly build prosperity (and hence a market for our own goods). I met an awful lot of committed hard working people in Pristina and as well as their efforts do think that the EU is committed, and in for the long term.
The smart money appears to be on February 16 as the likely date for declaration, but nobody knows. I picked up a bottle of Raki at the airport, and look forward to opening it for a thoughtful toast to the South East come the day.
"No negotiations - Self Government!" (Actually an anti-UN slogan)
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Americans Americans everywhere and no sense out of any of them...
I currently cannot sleep in Pristina after an amazing, if gruelling day of meetings but I will report on them later. I'll share another wee thought with you though, perhaps unfashionable in an anglophone politician: I truly could not care less about the American presidential primaries and resent the amount of time and energy the UK media in particular is devoting to covering an issue of at best peripheral relevance.
I'll start paying attention when we have two candidates and an actual election, I like the Americans, they are fine people, I spent a very happy summer working in New York back when I was a student, and I do believe the US influence on the world has been, largely, positive.
My gripe is not with the Americans, their convoluted selection process is a matter for them. My gripe is with a gushingly sycophantic UK media which seems hell bent on giving the intricate twists and turns of two ongoing internal party processes in a foreign land greater prominence than the (ongoing) war in Iraq, the (ongoing and escalating) disaster in Dharfur, the worsening crisis in Chad or any one of a hundred other issues. I do not deny, the eventual winners of hese processes and the eventual winner of the actual election will have an influence on all of these, but not yet so why are we being subjected to this tangential bilge?
I'll be the first to admit, the US process passes the "great telly" test, a phrase used in my last media training session. The larger than life characters, the glitz, the glamour, the easy answers, the made for TV sets, polls, twists and turns. Honestly it owes more to Endemol's Big Brother than anything else, or has Simon Cowell come up with a new moneymaking scheme "Presidential Idol"?
I do not go with the slightly sniffy European school that writes off US politics as facile and vulgar, the Americans are our friends and our allies and how they run their country is up to them. But our Prime Minister sits down across the negotiating table at least twice a year with the heads of governments of every EU state, to make decisions of direct and often immediate effect upon domestic policy. The inhabitant of the White House in Washington has, under the federal system, little power over the states themselves, limited power given Congress and the Senate over federal matters, and only indirect influence over foreign policy, and only then when he (perchance in the future she) shows any interest.
Yet our media is devoting saturation coverage to an ongoing contest which they themselves admit is several stages away from completion, and even more annoyingly I hear more and more of my political chums singing along with the band that pretends this soap opera is actually significant.
Personally I think it owes more to a deeply held frustration on the part of the political hacks (and not just the journalists) that they are in fact not working in the West Wing, but at least for another few months the breathless game of let's pretend can continue.
Shame it really doesn't matter.
I'll start paying attention when we have two candidates and an actual election, I like the Americans, they are fine people, I spent a very happy summer working in New York back when I was a student, and I do believe the US influence on the world has been, largely, positive.
My gripe is not with the Americans, their convoluted selection process is a matter for them. My gripe is with a gushingly sycophantic UK media which seems hell bent on giving the intricate twists and turns of two ongoing internal party processes in a foreign land greater prominence than the (ongoing) war in Iraq, the (ongoing and escalating) disaster in Dharfur, the worsening crisis in Chad or any one of a hundred other issues. I do not deny, the eventual winners of hese processes and the eventual winner of the actual election will have an influence on all of these, but not yet so why are we being subjected to this tangential bilge?
I'll be the first to admit, the US process passes the "great telly" test, a phrase used in my last media training session. The larger than life characters, the glitz, the glamour, the easy answers, the made for TV sets, polls, twists and turns. Honestly it owes more to Endemol's Big Brother than anything else, or has Simon Cowell come up with a new moneymaking scheme "Presidential Idol"?
I do not go with the slightly sniffy European school that writes off US politics as facile and vulgar, the Americans are our friends and our allies and how they run their country is up to them. But our Prime Minister sits down across the negotiating table at least twice a year with the heads of governments of every EU state, to make decisions of direct and often immediate effect upon domestic policy. The inhabitant of the White House in Washington has, under the federal system, little power over the states themselves, limited power given Congress and the Senate over federal matters, and only indirect influence over foreign policy, and only then when he (perchance in the future she) shows any interest.
Yet our media is devoting saturation coverage to an ongoing contest which they themselves admit is several stages away from completion, and even more annoyingly I hear more and more of my political chums singing along with the band that pretends this soap opera is actually significant.
Personally I think it owes more to a deeply held frustration on the part of the political hacks (and not just the journalists) that they are in fact not working in the West Wing, but at least for another few months the breathless game of let's pretend can continue.
Shame it really doesn't matter.
Monday, 4 February 2008
Kosova, soon to be Europe's newest state
I write this in Pristina, where I am for three days on a mission to talk about civic nationalism and to find out the mechanics of how to declare independence. I would not usually cut and paste a press release onto the blog but the connection here is a bit ropey so this at least says what I'm up to. The buzz here is fantastic, real upbeat excitement and it looks increasingly likely that Kosova will be independent by the end of the month.
Clearly, with the right to self determination comes the responsibility to treat minorities with respect, but the politicians I have met so far on all sides seem to accept the logic of civic nationalism.
Kosova is Kosova and Scotland is Scotland, and it is always risky to draw conclusions from one pace and apply them to another. But the more I see, the more I am convinced that the EU influence within our borders on Scotland, the Basque Country and Catalunya (and without on countries like Montenegro and Kosova) make independence a necessity. I'll dust off an article I have half written and post it on here when I get back, but meantime I'll get this posted and get to bed I have been up since 4 and have 11 meetings tomorrow!
For immediate use Friday 1 February
Attention: Newsdesks, International, Feature Correspondents
SCOTS MEP IN HIGH LEVEL KOSOVA MISSION
“EU emphasis on peaceful democratic self determination crucial to stability”
SNP MEP Alyn Smith is to travel to Kosova on Monday for a three day fact finding and observation mission. Mr Smith will meet with the European Commission and United Nations missions in Pristina, as well as a range of Kosovan politicians from across the political spectrum, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and Kosovan civil society.
Mr Smith’s European Commission organised visit comes the day after the run-off Serbian Presidential election and the victor in that contest will be announced as Mr Smith leaves Scotland for Pristina. Experts in Brussels predict that Kosova may declare independence while Mr Smith is in town. Mr Smith will take an explicit message to the Kosovan politicians that EU support is entirely contingent upon respect for minorities and a peaceful transition to independence.
This declaration of independence will be supported by many EU member states and supported by the European Commission with financial support to ensure stability and other technical assistance. The EU member states have also decided to send a major force of civilian policemen and judicial officials to ensure governmental transparency.
Speaking from Edinburgh before his trip Mr Smith said:
“I’m not one for junketing but after trips to the Zambian Bush to see international development in action, to Gaza and the West Bank to see humanitarian projects I’m excited about this trip to see, perhaps, the Independence Day of a new European state.
“Clearly, the SNP wants to see an independent Scotland, and I have taken great heart from the Montenegrin experience. But we in Scotland are blessed with an utterly peaceful, democratic and progressive civic nationalism which has achieved massive constitutional change without so much as a bloody nose, others are not so lucky.
“In Kosova there is an unhappier history, but they may be about to turn the corner. The EU and the UN have at every turn supported the Kosovan moves to independence, but it is vital that this process is peaceful and that the rights of minorities, the Serbian minority in particular, are respected.
”It underlines that constitutional change is in the air, and as the EU’s common framework of peace, stability and the rule of law becomes more prominent it becomes increasingly clear that independence is a prerequisite to take part in that framework."
ENDS
NOTE TO EDITORS
Highlights of Mr Smith’s provisional programme, which will be subject to change, is below.
Meeting with the Head of European Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo
Meeting with the Assembly of Kosovo
Meeting with the Head of Office of Political Affairs at UNMIK
Meeting with the Head of British Office
Meeting with the representative of a serb political party
Lunch with AAK party member
Meeting with Prime Minister's Office
Meeting with Deputy Prme Minister for European Affairs (PDK)
Meeting with Prime Minister's Office, EU integration
Meeting with Kosovo Civil Society Foundation
Meeting with Community Development Fund
Dinner AKR Party member
Meeting with the Head of the EU Planning Team for Kosovo
Meeting with the Head of the ICO/EUSR Preparation Team
Meeting with the Institute for Democracy and Interethnic Relations
Lunch with LDK Party member
Meeting Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development
Clearly, with the right to self determination comes the responsibility to treat minorities with respect, but the politicians I have met so far on all sides seem to accept the logic of civic nationalism.
Kosova is Kosova and Scotland is Scotland, and it is always risky to draw conclusions from one pace and apply them to another. But the more I see, the more I am convinced that the EU influence within our borders on Scotland, the Basque Country and Catalunya (and without on countries like Montenegro and Kosova) make independence a necessity. I'll dust off an article I have half written and post it on here when I get back, but meantime I'll get this posted and get to bed I have been up since 4 and have 11 meetings tomorrow!
For immediate use Friday 1 February
Attention: Newsdesks, International, Feature Correspondents
SCOTS MEP IN HIGH LEVEL KOSOVA MISSION
“EU emphasis on peaceful democratic self determination crucial to stability”
SNP MEP Alyn Smith is to travel to Kosova on Monday for a three day fact finding and observation mission. Mr Smith will meet with the European Commission and United Nations missions in Pristina, as well as a range of Kosovan politicians from across the political spectrum, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and Kosovan civil society.
Mr Smith’s European Commission organised visit comes the day after the run-off Serbian Presidential election and the victor in that contest will be announced as Mr Smith leaves Scotland for Pristina. Experts in Brussels predict that Kosova may declare independence while Mr Smith is in town. Mr Smith will take an explicit message to the Kosovan politicians that EU support is entirely contingent upon respect for minorities and a peaceful transition to independence.
This declaration of independence will be supported by many EU member states and supported by the European Commission with financial support to ensure stability and other technical assistance. The EU member states have also decided to send a major force of civilian policemen and judicial officials to ensure governmental transparency.
Speaking from Edinburgh before his trip Mr Smith said:
“I’m not one for junketing but after trips to the Zambian Bush to see international development in action, to Gaza and the West Bank to see humanitarian projects I’m excited about this trip to see, perhaps, the Independence Day of a new European state.
“Clearly, the SNP wants to see an independent Scotland, and I have taken great heart from the Montenegrin experience. But we in Scotland are blessed with an utterly peaceful, democratic and progressive civic nationalism which has achieved massive constitutional change without so much as a bloody nose, others are not so lucky.
“In Kosova there is an unhappier history, but they may be about to turn the corner. The EU and the UN have at every turn supported the Kosovan moves to independence, but it is vital that this process is peaceful and that the rights of minorities, the Serbian minority in particular, are respected.
”It underlines that constitutional change is in the air, and as the EU’s common framework of peace, stability and the rule of law becomes more prominent it becomes increasingly clear that independence is a prerequisite to take part in that framework."
ENDS
NOTE TO EDITORS
Highlights of Mr Smith’s provisional programme, which will be subject to change, is below.
Meeting with the Head of European Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo
Meeting with the Assembly of Kosovo
Meeting with the Head of Office of Political Affairs at UNMIK
Meeting with the Head of British Office
Meeting with the representative of a serb political party
Lunch with AAK party member
Meeting with Prime Minister's Office
Meeting with Deputy Prme Minister for European Affairs (PDK)
Meeting with Prime Minister's Office, EU integration
Meeting with Kosovo Civil Society Foundation
Meeting with Community Development Fund
Dinner AKR Party member
Meeting with the Head of the EU Planning Team for Kosovo
Meeting with the Head of the ICO/EUSR Preparation Team
Meeting with the Institute for Democracy and Interethnic Relations
Lunch with LDK Party member
Meeting Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development
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