Europe-East articles from October 2008

Europe-East archives from October 2008

EU SAYS IT IS UNABLE TO WELCOME ALL MIGRANTS.
October 27, 2008... The tone is set in the introduction: aware of the benefits of immigration in terms of human exchanges, the economy, and the realisation of personal aspirations, the European Union "nonetheless does not have the means to welcome all migrants who...

INTERVIEW WITH SIMON BUSUTTIL (EPP-ED, MALTA), EP RAPPORTEUR ON A COMMON IMMIGRATION POLICY FOR EUROPE' : FOR THE FIRST TIME, BURDEN-SHARING' IS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.
October 27, 2008... A port of entry in the southern Europe for illegal immigrants crossing the Mediterranean on makeshift boats, the small island of Malta (316 km2 and 400,000 inhabitants) has, for a long time, been calling for help to share the burden of the...

OUTLINE OF DIVERSE OPINIONS ON THE EUROPEAN PACT.
October 27, 2008... MEP Patrick Gaubert (EPP-ED, France) is the president of LICRA, the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (re-elected in 2001 and 2004). "The European Union's policy is not a policy of protection. Rather, it is a policy...

ENERGY RESOURCES : RUSSIA KEY TO UNLOCKING ARCTIC GAS AND OIL.
October 27, 2008... Russia's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly dismissed claims that it is pursuing a path of unilateral delimitation of the country's Arctic boundaries. Concerns were most recently raised in mid-September following a call by Russian President Dmitry...

INTERVIEW WITH MARTINE ROURE (PES, FRANCE), MEMBER OF THE EP COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : 'THE PACT FOCUSES ON SECURITY'.
October 27, 2008... Will this European Pact on Immigration and Asylum lead to greater coordination and harmonisation in the EU? That would be saying a lot. Unfortunately, I think that that is still a long way off. For the immigration aspect, I think we're off...

EUMM GEORGIA : AGREEMENT ON MISSION STATUS READY FOR ADOPTION.(European Union Monitoring Mission)
October 27, 2008... The European Union should soon sign an agreement with Georgia on the status of its monitoring mission (EUMM Georgia). The text was finalised in the Council's groups and must be adopted in the coming days. Quite a classic agreement for this type...

EU/TURKEY : ANKARA HOPES TO OPEN TWO NEW CHAPTERS BY END OF YEAR.
October 27, 2008... Amid growing impatience with the slow pace of accession talks among Turkish officials and society, Ankara expects two new chapters to be opened for negotiations by the end of the year. "We believe that at least two chapters - free movement of...

EU/AZERBAIJAN : BAKU SEEKS STRONGER COOPERATION WITH EU.
October 27, 2008... The European Union should broaden its offer towards Azerbaijan in order to deepen its cooperation with the country following the Georgia-Russia war, which has radically destabilised the whole region, a top Azeri official believes. "New...

SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION : COMMISSION CHALLENGES ITALY'S IMMIGRATION PACKAGE.
October 27, 2008... The European Commission cautioned Berlusconi's Italy, on 23 September, that several elements of its new immigration and security policy pose compatibility problems with Community law. This is particularly true of a decree already being...

EU/KOSOVO : CRISIS GROUP SLAMS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR INACTIVITY.
October 27, 2008... Neither the European Union nor the United Nations have met their commitments to provide adequate support for Kosovo's state-building efforts, says the International Crisis Group in its newest report, issued on 25 September. It slams the EU for...

EU/GEORGIA : DONORS PLEDGE 3.5 BN EURO FOR GEORGIA'S RECONSTRUCTION.(Conference notes)
October 27, 2008... The participants of the international donors' conference on Georgia, meeting in Brussels on 22 October, pledged 3.5 billion (US$4.55 billion) in aid to accelerate the post-war reconstruction of the country in the period of three years. The sum...

EU/BELARUS : EP CALLS FOR CONDITIONAL SUSPENSION OF SANCTIONS ON MINSK.
October 27, 2008... Noting the undemocratic conduct of last month's general elections in Belarus, the European Parliament is calling on the EU member states to continue their dialogue with Minsk, subject, however, to "strict positive conditionality based on a...

IMMIGRATION : EU BLUE CARD SCHEME NEARING COMPLETION.
October 27, 2008... EU ministers responsible for immigration were very close to an agreement, on 25 September, on the draft EU blue card' directive which is supposed to attract highly qualified immigrant workers to Europe to compete with the USA's green card. The...

EU/BELARUS : EU CONDITIONALLY EASES VISA BAN ON BELARUS.
October 27, 2008... In a bid to unfreeze its relations with Belarus, the EU eased, on 13 October, sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko's regime. In response to what the EU referred to as "certain improvements" in the 28 September elections, the majority of...

GEORGIA-RUSSIA/GENEVA CONFERENCE : EU CONFIRMS ITS COMMITMENT TO GEORGIA'S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY.
October 27, 2008... On the eve of the Geneva conference on the post-conflict reconciliation between Tbilisi and Moscow, the European Union confirmed, on 14 October, its full commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity. Speaking at a joint press conference with...

EU/RUSSIA - EUROPEAN SUMMIT : EU LEADERS PUT OFF DECISION ON RESUMPTION OF TALKS WITH RUSSIA.
October 27, 2008... EU leaders meeting on 15-16 October in Brussels left unanswered the question as to whether the EU-Russia talks on the new partnership agreement will resume in the nearest future. "This will be decided in the light of future events," Poland's...

EU/US/RUSSIA : EU MUST DIVERSIFY ENERGY SUPPLIES, US AMBASSADOR SAYS.
October 27, 2008... In the aftermath of the crisis in Georgia, Europe must accelerate the liberalisation of its energy sector in order to reduce its dependence on Russian supplies, said US Ambassador to the EU Kristen Silverberg, on 22 September in Brussels....

EU/SERBIA : EU NODS TO BELGRADE'S UNILATERAL IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERIM AGREEMENT.(Conference news)
October 27, 2008... Serbia can count on a reward for its unilateral implementation of the interim agreement, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said, on 24 September. "Yes, we could take it into account" while assessing Serbia's readiness for achieving a...

EU/MOLDOVA : EU REJECTS RUSSIA'S EFFORTS TO CHANGE FORMAT OF TRANSNISTRIA TALKS.
October 27, 2008... The EU will not accept any change to the current 5+2' format of negotiations on the Transnistria conflict settlement, a top EU official has said. "The only legitimate forum for negotiations and decision is the 5+2 format. Any change towards a...

EUROPOL/RUSSIA COOPERATION.(European Police Office)
October 27, 2008... The French EU Presidency and Russia agreed, on 15 October, to "intensify" cooperation between Europol, the European police office, and the Russian law enforcement agency, at the end of the two-day meeting in Paris of the EU-Russia Permanent...

ENLARGEMENT : EU TO ALLOCATE 4.5 BN EURO AID TO TURKEY AND WESTERN BALKANS.
October 27, 2008... The EU aims to provide 4.471 billion in pre-accession assistance to Turkey and the Western Balkans in 2008-2010, the European Commission said, on 29 September. "The road towards the EU is paved with reforms to improve the everyday lives of...

EU/UKRAINE : EU TO OPEN VISA-FREE TALKS WITH KIEV.
October 27, 2008... The EU-Ukraine dialogue on a visa-free regime is likely to be formally launched on 29 October, a top Ukrainian diplomat has said. Speaking to a group of journalist at a working lunch, on 22 October, Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, Ukraine's deputy...

EU/RUSSIA : EXPERT-LEVEL MEETING TO KICK OFF GEORGIA PEACE TALKS.
October 27, 2008... Experts rather than top-level diplomats will take part in the opening round of international talks on the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, scheduled for 15 October in Geneva, the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said on 23...

EU MONITORING MISSION : FIRST EU OBSERVERS DEPLOY IN GEORGIA BUFFER ZONES.
October 27, 2008... The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia was declared operational, on 1 October, in accordance with the agreement concluded with the Russians, on 8 September in Georgia. The observers, who are already at the mission's...

EU/GEORGIA : GEORGIA DONORS' CONFERENCE WITHOUT RUSSIA.(Conference news)
October 27, 2008... The European Commission - the co-host along with the World Bank as well as the French and the Czech EU presidencies of the international donors' conference on Georgia - hopes for over $900 million to be pledged at the event scheduled for 22...

INCREASED EU FUNDING FOR KOSOVO AND PALESTINE.(Brief article)
October 27, 2008... On 2 October, in Luxembourg, the Council adopted - without debate - a decision to draw up letter of amendment No 1 to the EU's 2009 preliminary draft budget. It relates to expenditure from the Union's general budget and includes an additional...

EU/KOSOVO : KOSOVO SERBS, BACKED BY BELGRADE, PROTEST AGAINST EULEX.(European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo)
October 27, 2008... Some 1,000 out of the 120,000-odd Serbs living in Kosovo protested, on 2 October, in Mitrovica and two other towns north of the Ibar river against the deployment of the EULEX mission. "Serbs are against the deployment of EULEX, because it...

EU/BELARUS : LUKASHENKO WELCOMES SUSPENSION OF EU TRAVEL BAN.
October 27, 2008... Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko described, on 20 October, as a "small but significant" step the suspension by the European Union of a travel ban affecting him and the country's forty other top officials. Commenting for the first time...

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS COUNCIL : MEMBER STATES ENDORSE IMMIGRATION PACT.
October 27, 2008... Voting unanimously, on 25 September, the member states' ministers for immigration adopted a final version of the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, which will serve as the foundation for a common European policy in this area. After...

DEFENCE COUNCIL : MINISTERS DIFFER ON FUTURE OF EU MILITARY PRESENCE IN BOSNIA.
October 27, 2008... Should the EU's military operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Althea) be closed and if so, how should this be done? This question aroused a heated debate between defence ministers, gathered in Deauville (France) for an informal Council, on 1 and 2...

EU/RUSSIA : MOSCOW RENEWS CALL FOR NEW PAN-EUROPEAN SECURITY PACT.(Conference news)
October 27, 2008... Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, on 27 September, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Moscow's call for a "pan-European summit" to take "a comprehensive look at security problems" and develop a new "treaty on...

EU/TURKEY : OPPOSITION CHP ACCUSES ANKARA OF VIOLATING PRESS FREEDOM.
October 27, 2008... Just a few weeks ahead of the scheduled publication of the European Commission's annual report on Turkey's progress towards EU accession, leading members of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) voiced, on 23 September,...

OPPOSITION WINS SLOVENIA ELECTIONS.
October 27, 2008... The opposition Social Democrat (former Communist) party won the legislative elections of 21 September in Slovenia, ahead of Prime Minister Janez Jansa's centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party. According to the electoral committee, the Social...

OSCE SAYS POLL IN BELARUS FLAWED.(Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe)(Brief article)
October 27, 2008... The Belarusian parliamentary polls fell short of Western standards, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said, on 29 September, after the results showed the opposition failed to win a single seat in the 28 September...

EU/RUSSIA : PARTNERSHIP TALKS STILL IN LIMBO.
October 27, 2008... Amid controversies surrounding Russia's increased military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia following the five-day war with Georgia in August, the EU's foreign ministers failed, on 13 October, to reach a consensus on the resumption on...

PRAGUE BACKS SERBIA'S ACCESSION.(Brief article)
October 27, 2008... The Czech Republic, which will hold the rotating European Union Presidency in the first half of 2009, would like to see Serbia become an applicant for EU membership next year, said the Vice-Premier responsible for European Affairs, Alexandr...

EU/RUSSIA : PRESIDENCY AND COMMISSION CALL FOR TALKS WITH MOSCOW TO RESUME.
October 27, 2008... Speaking with one voice, the French EU Presidency and the European Commission strongly advocated, on 21 October, the negotiations with Moscow on a new partnership agreement, which were put on hold last month, to resume as early as in November....

EU/KOSOVO : PRISTINA'S INDEPENDENCE IRREVERSIBLE, SAYS EU REPRESENTATIVE.
October 27, 2008... The independence of Kosovo is "irreversible," regardless of whether or not a bid by Serbia to get Pristina's secession declared illegal succeeds, the EU's special representative to Kosovo has said. "This is an understandable but not very...

EU/FYROM : REHN: SETTLEMENT OF NAME DISPUTE IMPORTANT BUT NOT ESSENTIAL.(Olli Rehn)(Conference news)
October 27, 2008... The European Commission is urging the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece to settle their prolonged name dispute' without further delay, stressing at the same time that the row itself is not part of the formal criteria...

ESDP MISSIONS : RUSSIAN HELICOPTERS IN CHAD, US POLICEMEN IN KOSOVO.
October 27, 2008... The Council of EU foreign ministers approved, on 13 October, the participation by two non-EU states in certain European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operations. Russian troops and helicopters will participate in the EUFOR operation in...

EU/RUSSIA : SARKOZY: OSCE SUMMIT SHOULD DISCUSS RUSSIA'S SECURITY PROPOSAL.
October 27, 2008... In response to Russia's calls for a new pan-European security treaty, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking on behalf of the EU member states, proposed a summit meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to...

EU/MACEDONIA : SKOPJE NOT READY FOR ACCESSION TALKS, SAYS REHN.
October 27, 2008... Just a few months after NATO's decision to put the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's membership on hold due to the Greek veto over the name dispute', Skopje has received another blow, this time from the European Commission. Pre-empting...

EU MONITORING MISSION IN GEORGIA : SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE'S MANDATE DEFINED AND BUDGET INCREASED.
October 27, 2008... In a joint action, the EU officially approved the mandate of its special representative for the crisis in Georgia, the Frenchman Pierre Morel. His mandate is two-fold: - contribute to the preparation of international discussions set out in...

EU-RUSSIA PERMANENT PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL : TALKS SIGN OFF NINTH PROGRESS REPORT.
October 27, 2008... The EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council (PPC) reached little concrete progress at a brief morning session organised by the French EU Presidency, on 8 October in Paris. According to the European Commission, the main deliverable of the...

EU/ICELAND : TRADE UNIONS URGE REYKJAVIK TO APPLY FOR EU MEMBERSHIP.
October 27, 2008... The financial turmoil has prompted renewed calls from Icelandic trade unions for the country to join the EU and adopt the euro. Faced with a deteriorating situation in the banking sector, the collapsing value of the Icelandic currency and...

ENERGY : TURKEY ASKING FOR TOO MUCH OF NABUCCO'S GAS, SAYS HUNGARY.
October 27, 2008... Turkey's demand that it get 15% of the gas flowing through the planned Nabucco pipeline is unreasonable, a senior diplomat from Hungary, one of the five countries Nabucco will pass through, has warned. "We want Turkey to lift its demand [...]...

TURKEY ENDORSES CYPRUS REUNIFICATION TALKS.(Conference news)(Brief article)
October 27, 2008... Turkish President Abdullah Gul has given his full backing to the UN-led diplomatic negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus. In an address on the opening day of the UN General Assembly's annual high-level debate, on 23 September, Gul said...

EUMM IN GEORGIA : UNION BEEFS UP STAFF AND BUDGET.(EU Monitoring Mission)
October 27, 2008... The EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia is expected to have higher staff numbers and a higher budget than what was agreed on 15 September at the Council of foreign ministers. It could comprise between 250 and 300 members, according to the...

EU/MOLDOVA : UNION TO STRENGTHEN TIES WITH CHISINAU.
October 27, 2008... Amid increasing fears of Russia's activity in its neighbourhood, the European Union has decided to reinforce its relations with Moldova - a former Soviet republic located between Ukraine and Romania. Meeting on 13 October in Luxembourg, the...

EU/GEORGIA : VISA FACILITATION TALKS SET TO GET UNDERWAY.
October 27, 2008... The European Commission recommended, on 25 September, the opening of negotiations on visa facilitation and readmission agreements with Georgia. The talks are set to aim at providing Georgian citizens with visa access terms equivalent to those...

EU/CROATIA : ZAGREB TO REQUEST NINE TRANSITIONAL PERIODS IN FISHERIES TALKS.
October 27, 2008... Croatia has decided to ask the EU for nine transitional periods and exemptions from the acquis communautaire in the area of fisheries policy (Chapter 13). A decision to this end has been adopted by the Croatian government in the form of a...