By Petra de Koning and Jeroen van der Kris in Brussels (for nrc.nl)
Anyone who had said six months ago that Herman Van Rompuy would be the first president of the European Union would have been called quite mad. The 62-year-old Belgian only became prime minister of his own country in December last year. He restored calm to Belgium, which was going through the longest political crisis in its history at the time. This is a considerable achievement, but in the rest of Europe all people may know about him is he is fond of the haiku, a short Japanese poetry form.
The new face of Europe has been appointed according to old rules. The presidency went to the candidate who met with the least resistance. Van Rompuy has not been around long enough as a European head of government to quarrel with his colleagues – the very ones who chose him for the job on Thursday.
All the other candidates had marks against them: former British prime minister Tony Blair was considered too high-profile and too headstrong, Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker got into a tiffle with French president Nicolas Sarkozy over European budget rules, and Jan Peter Balkenende comes from a country that voted against the European constitution.
Blair too ambitious
The British stood behind Blair's candidature until the very end, but that problem was solved by offering Britain the other top job, that of high representative for foreign affairs. The position went to baroness Catherine Ashton (53), another fairly obscure figure.
For a while it was assumed that if the colourless Van Rompuy was chosen as president, a much stronger candidate would be picked for high representative. But Ashton had little or no foreign policy experience before she was appointed EU Commissioner for foreign trade last year. In the Brussels corridors little could be learnt about her on Thursday evening other than that "she is good with people".
Ashton's appointment is good news for Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. He is under pressure from the European parliament to appoint more female Commissioners, and since the high representative also serves as the vice-president of the Commission, he can scratch one if his list.
According to insiders Barroso is also quite pleased that Tony Blair didn't become EU president because he would have stolen the limelight from Barroso. That sentiment was likely shared by more than one European leader: the heads of government wanted a president, but they preferred someone less star-struck than Blair. This is a cardinal rule in European politics: the ideal candidate should not be overly ambitious so as not to get in the way of the heads of government.
Wanted: PM for Belgium
Meanwhile Belgium is left without a prime minister. Van Rompuy was offered the job last year after Yves Leterme, an outspoken Flemish politician who had antagonised the French-speaking part of Belgium, was forced to resign over alleged interference with the judicial inquiry into the sale of the Belgian Fortis bank to French PNB Baribas. (He has since been cleared.)
Van Rompuy was quietly finishing his political career as chairman of the Belgian federal parliament when he was unexpectedly catapulted first to Belgian prime minister and now to EU president. In all probability Yves Leterme, who got a monster number of votes in the last legislative elections, will now return as prime minister of Belgium.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The New EU President: van Rompuy
And the British Euro Eurocommissionair Catherine Ashton get the job of the EU Foreign minister.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Cyprus and the EU - What matters is the perception
I found the links of the serie of articles I wrote as guest columnist for Turkish Daily news (now Hurriyet Daily news) between 2007 and 2008. Today no. 6.
Cyprus and the EU - What matters is the perception
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
HANS A.H.C. de WIT
The world really doesn’t know what really happened in Cyprus and why Turks occupied it. A paradigm shift within the EU on how to perceive Cyprus is needed, and the only one who can do this are the Turks, who should tell their story more effectively.
I was 16 years old when first I heard about Cyprus, the divided island. The only thing I understood what that Turks had invaded it. “Ah, the Turks did it again!” That was the perception in my country, the Netherlands. There was no internet, no international television channels like the CNN or BBC World. We were solely dependent on printed media. There was no real-time coverage.
Continue reading herrreeeee
Cyprus and the EU - What matters is the perception
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
HANS A.H.C. de WIT
The world really doesn’t know what really happened in Cyprus and why Turks occupied it. A paradigm shift within the EU on how to perceive Cyprus is needed, and the only one who can do this are the Turks, who should tell their story more effectively.
I was 16 years old when first I heard about Cyprus, the divided island. The only thing I understood what that Turks had invaded it. “Ah, the Turks did it again!” That was the perception in my country, the Netherlands. There was no internet, no international television channels like the CNN or BBC World. We were solely dependent on printed media. There was no real-time coverage.
Continue reading herrreeeee
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Spy-Box for cars - A new Dutch invention
Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurling's plan to equip all Dutch cars with a GPS box by 2018, which will register every kilometre driven, which has unleashed a storm of criticism. Motorists in the Netherlands already pay 70 percent in taxes on petrol. Not only will they now have to pay to be allowed to drive to work, but family visits and even voluntary work will be hit, your private life will be tracked de facto.
What the plan will mean?
Charges will depend on time and place, with environmentally friendly cars charged at a lower rate. Driving gas-guzzling SUVs during the rush-hour in the major cities will become expensive. The Dutch government reckons the system will bring about a 15 percent reduction in use of the roads, which, in turn, will mean traffic jams will be cut by half. Environmental pollution and noise should also fall.
The costs are complicated, with the minister claiming that, while driving a car will on average become more expensive, 59 percent of the motoring public will actually end up paying less than at present. Meanwhile, the scrapping of purchase tax on new cars will make them considerably cheaper.
But ending with a negative note, the Belgian government announced last Saturday that it too plans to introduce a compatible system. The Dutch enjoy making trips into Belgium to sample their southerly neighbours' good food and general bon vivre. Do the Dutch soon also to be charged for driving in Belgium. Which country is next? And will this a good system for the USA? Dunno, not, that will cause a revolution!!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Who are the most prejudices people in Europe; a survey
When it comes to human dignity, Western European societies agree without questioning. In this line, the European Union stated their goals to combat a broad spectrum of discrimination in article 13 of the 1997 Amsterdam Declaration: “Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Treaty and within the limits of the powers conferred by it upon the Community, the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.”
The Amsterdam declaration was a consequence of observable increasing prejudices and discriminations of minority groups in Western and Eastern Europe.
But a recent survey by Bielefeld Institute held among 8000 EU citizens in 8 of the 27 EU countries reveals that almost 50 percent of them believe there are too many immigrants in their countries. Forty-three percent reject equal rights for gays and lesbians.
Prejudice was strongest in East European countries. People in the Netherlands were the least prejudiced.
Most prejudice was demonstrated against Islam. More than half the people interviewed thought Islam is an intolerant religion. And 22 percent thought most Muslims feel terrorism is justified.
Attitudes to Judaism are more positive with 62 percent of people saying the religion enriched their culture.
There are huge differences between various EU countries. For instance 88 percent of Poles oppose single sex marriages, whereas in the Netherlands 83 percent were positive about gay marriage.
You can simple not talk about ONE European or Europeans are all the same.
Recent surveys in Turkey show more dramatically figures with 70% of the people don't want to live near a Jew and around 50% don't want to live next to a Christian. But state neighbours?.)!
Another interesting fact is that 87 percent of Poles think women should take their role as mothers more seriously. In Germany 50 percent of people share these conservative views and in the Netherlands 36 percent do.
I think Poland, one of the few EU countries I never visited, are on the same level and to a certain degree share the same conservative views as Turkey.
The Amsterdam declaration was a consequence of observable increasing prejudices and discriminations of minority groups in Western and Eastern Europe.
But a recent survey by Bielefeld Institute held among 8000 EU citizens in 8 of the 27 EU countries reveals that almost 50 percent of them believe there are too many immigrants in their countries. Forty-three percent reject equal rights for gays and lesbians.
Prejudice was strongest in East European countries. People in the Netherlands were the least prejudiced.
Most prejudice was demonstrated against Islam. More than half the people interviewed thought Islam is an intolerant religion. And 22 percent thought most Muslims feel terrorism is justified.
Attitudes to Judaism are more positive with 62 percent of people saying the religion enriched their culture.
There are huge differences between various EU countries. For instance 88 percent of Poles oppose single sex marriages, whereas in the Netherlands 83 percent were positive about gay marriage.
You can simple not talk about ONE European or Europeans are all the same.
Recent surveys in Turkey show more dramatically figures with 70% of the people don't want to live near a Jew and around 50% don't want to live next to a Christian. But state neighbours?.)!
Another interesting fact is that 87 percent of Poles think women should take their role as mothers more seriously. In Germany 50 percent of people share these conservative views and in the Netherlands 36 percent do.
I think Poland, one of the few EU countries I never visited, are on the same level and to a certain degree share the same conservative views as Turkey.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Dutch anti-immigration party leader, Geert Wilders, will visit Turkey January 2010
PVV-leader Geert Wilders will visit Turkey in January 2010 as part of an official delegation from the Dutch House of Parliament. It will be Wilders first visit of a Muslim country since the publication of his film Fitna.
Wilders was the last time in Turkey in 1983.
In Turkey he would make it clear that the country may never will be member of the European Union. The PVV'er finds that the EU is no place for Muslim countries...
I think we are heading towards some clashes down here in Istanbul.
Being homosexual in the 'Muslem world'.
Gays and lesbians living in the Arab world are struggling against an alarming wave of government persecution, according to human rights groups. It’s a “steadily growing pattern of persecution,” claims the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), a U.S.-based group that has decried the persecution of gays and people with HIV and AIDS worldwide.
Two years ago in Cairo, for example, 23 of 52 men convicted of “obscene behavior” were sentenced to five years of hard labor. Homosexuality is not explicitly prohibited under Egyptian law, but statutes are based on Sharia, or Islamic law—which condemn it as an immoral act. But in almost all Islamic countries, gay men and women are ostracized, persecuted and in some cases even murdered. Repressive regimes are often fanning the flames of hatred in a bid to outdo Islamists when it comes to spreading "moral panic."
For example ın Baghdad a new series of murders began early this year, perpetrated against men suspected of being gay. Often they are raped, their genitals cut off, and their anuses sealed with glue. Their bodies are left at landfills or dumped in the streets. Uch!!!
More than 30 Islamic countries have laws on the books that prohibit homosexuality and make it a criminal offense. In most cases punishment ranges from floggings to life imprisonment. In Mauritania, Bangladesh, Yemen, parts of Nigeria and Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iran convicted homosexuals can also be sentenced to death.
In those Muslim countries where homosexuality is not against the law gay men and women are nonetheless persecuted, arrested, and in some cases murdered. But even in liberal Lebanon homosexuals run the risk of being sentenced to a year in prison.
The big exception is Turkey, or let me say ‘Istanbul’ where there is a free gay scene, a Christopher Street Day, and even religious Muslims are among the fans of transsexual pop diva Bülent Ersoy and the late gay singer Zeki Müren. But outside the world of show business it is considered both a disgrace and an illness to be a "queen." In the Turkish army homosexuality is cause for failing a medical test. To identify anyone trying to use homosexuality as an excuse to get out of military service, army doctors ask to see photos or videos showing the recruits engaging in sex with a man. And they have to be in the "passive" role. In Turkey being in the active role is considered manly enough not to be proof of homosexuality…good to know!
All because the Islamists are now a dominant cultural force in most of these countries. Including Turkey. More than anything, it is the politicization of Islam that has led to the persecution of gays today. Sexual morals are no longer a private matter. They are regulated and instrumentalized by governments. And that, let me say it clearly, is scary!
Two years ago in Cairo, for example, 23 of 52 men convicted of “obscene behavior” were sentenced to five years of hard labor. Homosexuality is not explicitly prohibited under Egyptian law, but statutes are based on Sharia, or Islamic law—which condemn it as an immoral act. But in almost all Islamic countries, gay men and women are ostracized, persecuted and in some cases even murdered. Repressive regimes are often fanning the flames of hatred in a bid to outdo Islamists when it comes to spreading "moral panic."
For example ın Baghdad a new series of murders began early this year, perpetrated against men suspected of being gay. Often they are raped, their genitals cut off, and their anuses sealed with glue. Their bodies are left at landfills or dumped in the streets. Uch!!!
More than 30 Islamic countries have laws on the books that prohibit homosexuality and make it a criminal offense. In most cases punishment ranges from floggings to life imprisonment. In Mauritania, Bangladesh, Yemen, parts of Nigeria and Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iran convicted homosexuals can also be sentenced to death.
In those Muslim countries where homosexuality is not against the law gay men and women are nonetheless persecuted, arrested, and in some cases murdered. But even in liberal Lebanon homosexuals run the risk of being sentenced to a year in prison.
The big exception is Turkey, or let me say ‘Istanbul’ where there is a free gay scene, a Christopher Street Day, and even religious Muslims are among the fans of transsexual pop diva Bülent Ersoy and the late gay singer Zeki Müren. But outside the world of show business it is considered both a disgrace and an illness to be a "queen." In the Turkish army homosexuality is cause for failing a medical test. To identify anyone trying to use homosexuality as an excuse to get out of military service, army doctors ask to see photos or videos showing the recruits engaging in sex with a man. And they have to be in the "passive" role. In Turkey being in the active role is considered manly enough not to be proof of homosexuality…good to know!
All because the Islamists are now a dominant cultural force in most of these countries. Including Turkey. More than anything, it is the politicization of Islam that has led to the persecution of gays today. Sexual morals are no longer a private matter. They are regulated and instrumentalized by governments. And that, let me say it clearly, is scary!
Day Opening - November 14
Beaumaris Castle was built in Beaumaris, on the island of Anglesey, begining in 1295 for King Edward I by Master James of St George however it was never finished. The castle was the last of several castles built in the area designed to defend the royal home. Its design is of the double wall concept where the outer walls house an inside building which is effectively a very defendable castle unto it’s own. With 14 layers of defense Beaumaris Castle is considered near perfect.
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