EU conflict

December 1st, 2009 Jonathan Power LONDON – Enlargement of the European Union to bring in Turkey was never meant to be so tense an affair. When the Berlin Wall came down opinion makers in Western Europe were breathless before the quite unexpected overthrow of tyranny and were falling over themselves in their attempt to wave broadly stretched arms of welcome to those who could join the historic mission of making Europe one. In the event the incorporation of these nations into NATO (where Turkey has long been an unquestioned member) was easier to pull off than economic integration into the EU. It needn’t have been. It wasn’t the economics of the argument. It was the politics: in the military arena politicians simply have more independent room for manoeuvre. And anyway Bill Clinton, when president, was pushing for it for his own internal political reasons- he needed the east European ethnic...

and the international law.’ Strangely, EU’s President has to defend his Union against critics who maintain that its mission called LEX – meaning law! – is not established according to international law. Unfortunately for Barosso, they are right and have read and understood Resolution 1244 of 1999 (after NATO’s bombing) in which the members were: – “Reaffirming the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the other States of the region, as set out in the Helsinki Final Act and annex 2,” and – “Reaffirming the call in previous resolutions for substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration for Kosovo.”  Indeed, what is there to discuss? If 1244 were respected by Western law-breaking governments, EULEX could only have been established in agreement with Serbia/Belgrade as were all other international missions in Kosovo since 1999 – and by the local authorities and...

June 26, 2006 Biljana Vankovska * This article has been shortened and edited by the editor of this hompage  June 26, 2006 SKOPJE, MACEDONIA – You may well have heard the old children’s shaggy dog story about Tomboy, a nickname given to a girl because she behaves like a boy. It came to my mind when I returned from what was supposed to be an important conference organized by the Finish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the prestigious London School of Economics, LSE. Mars, Venus and chameleons I also came to think of that inspirational analysis of Robert Kagan about Mars (USA) and Venus (EU) published in 2002. It seems, however, that the equation between Venus and EU becomes more and more problematic due to the rapidly ageing EU Lady. One might expect her to be armed with the charm and wisdom of her age, but if you...

.True, as one actor it has done nothing like the US in Iraq. True, it is great that it young people can learn and work in different parts of Europe. True, it gives much more development aid than others. And true, that integration of countries seems to have reduced the risk of future inter-national warfare on European soil. But then there is the famous other side of the coin: it’s Treaty text is devoid of peace philosophy, policies and institutions. Read it and you are in for a surprise! It lacks every strategy to reduce direct, structural, cultural and environmental violence inside and outside Europe. Its basic security “philosophy” is outlined in “A Secure Europe in a Better World. European Security Strategy (2003), a 16-pages document signed by Javier Solana. It is little but a random collection from different sources, presumably some of his speeches. It’s pretty self-congratulatory; EU has succeeded so well...

Stocken, Orust, Sweden – December 3, 2005 Erni & Ola Friholt Denna artikel finns också på svenska  Stocken, Orust, Sweden – December 3, 2005 The now suspended constitution for the European Union is bound to reappear more or less in the same form as before. There are some good ideas in it, such as those about gender equality and equal salary levels for men and women. Also, the Christian fundamentalists had to accept that the religious values are mentioned only along with the humanistic and other components in our culture, all on an equal level. However, the important introductory text or preamble is rather deficient when it comes to the historical perspective on Europe’s relations with its former colonies and its ongoing dominance and power over them, albeit in new ways. It is evident from the military aspects of this constitution that Europe has no intention to create equal rights...

Lille bog fra Ny Agenda Lund, Sverige, 5. august 2005 Originalversionen, der er mere detaljeret end den version NyAgenda har udgivet, downloades her. NyAgendas trykte, kortere, version. ANMELDELSER & OMTALE Poul Smidt i Information 5. september 2005 Staffan Dahllöf i Notat 19. august 2005 Resumé af udredningens hovedkonklusioner Denne enmands-udredning indeholder en makroanalyse af områderne forsvar, sikkerhed, udenrigspolitik, konflikthåndtering og fred i EU’s politik og i forslaget til forfatning. Den går bevidst ikke i detaljer med enkelte lande eller enkeltstående problemområder, men ser på begreber, værdier og målsætninger på det overordnede plan. Den opstiller først et teori og analyseapparat. Derefter analyserer den hvad der faktisk siges og gøres i EU-regi og kritiserer det ud fra et antal eksplicitte kriterier. Den gennemgår tillige hvad der ikke står men kunne have stået i forfatningsforslaget. Udredningen arbejder på EU’s egne præmisser i den forstand at den tage tre vigtige fakta om EU alvorligt: at Unionens...

Öppet brev till Statsrådsberedningen ifrån TFF-rådgivare om EU:s säkerhets- og fredspolitik 10 februari, 2005 Erni & Ola Friholt Denna artikel finns också på engelska Stocken på Orust, 3 februari 2005 TillStadsrådsberedningenoch särskilt till Göran Persson,Bosse Ringholm och Leni Björklund Hej! Er arbetsbörda är stor, och ni missar säkert det mesta av allt som rör sig i folkdjupet. Hatet mot manipulationerna i EU-frågor är enormt. Men få människor finner det meningsfullt att fördjupa sig i konstitutionen när de inte får en chans att yttra sin mening i en folkomröstning. Men det gäller trots allt en konstitution vi ska leva med resten av våra liv. Vi har gjort ett försök att granska ett enda avsnitt: det säkerhets- och försvarspolitiska. Resultatet av detta och av det vi uppsnappat på vägen överlämnar vi nu till er. Vi hoppas personligen slippa leva med en konstitution för nittonhundratalet, med allt dess eländiga makt- och våldstänkande. Något...