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Merkel and Macron to propose revival of EU-Russia relations
& meeting with Putin – reports
23 Jun, 2021 19:18
© REUTERS/Axel Schmidt/Pool
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, backed by French President Emmanuel Macron, reportedly wants the EU to consider “selective engagement” with Russia on issues of common interest and inviting President Vladimir Putin to a summit.
French and German diplomats “wrongfooted” other EU member states at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday by proposing to invite Putin to a summit with the bloc’s leaders, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing “people with knowledge of the discussions.”
According to FT, Merkel wants to revive EU relations with Russia along the template provided by last week’s Geneva summit between Putin and US President Joe Biden. Though she meets and speaks with Putin on a regular basis herself, the German chancellor reportedly wants a format that allows the EU to address Russia “with one voice.”
The proposal put forth by the ambassadors would say the EU is interested to engage with Russia on areas of common interest, such as the Arctic, climate and the environment, health, space exploration, fighting terrorism, and foreign policy issues such as Syria and Iran, among other things.
The EU suspended summit meetings with Russia in 2014, when Brussels accused Moscow of “annexing” Crimea. The peninsula voted to rejoin Russia after the US-backed nationalists in Kiev overthrew the Ukrainian government and brushed aside a compromise brokered by France and Germany.
Merkel and Putin spoke on the phone on Tuesday, the 80th anniversary of the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and its allies. On the same day, the German weekly Die Zeit also published an op-ed in which Putin said Russia was “in favor of restoring a comprehensive partnership with the rest of Europe.”
According to FT, the Franco-German proposal is “likely” to alarm Poland and the Baltic States, which are hostile to Moscow.
It's also likely to alarm NATO which is making kazillions of dollars selling weapons to those states as they accuse Russia of having aggressive desires towards them.
It was also put forward shortly after the incident in the Black Sea, in which a Russian patrol ship and fighter jet fired warning shots at a British warship that violated their territorial waters near Crimea.
UPDATE - June 24th:
EU leaders early Friday adopted a hardline stance toward Russia — but only after Poland and the Baltic countries took their own hardline stance toward Germany and France and torpedoed a proposal by the bloc’s biggest powers to seek a summit with President Vladimir Putin.
The 27 heads of state and government adopted their tough conclusions on Russia at around 2 a.m. following a protracted and, at times, heated debate. The final result was remarkably humbling, if not utterly humiliating, for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, who normally exert the greatest sway in discussions around the European Council table.
Rather than endorsing the language proposed by Germany and France that would have floated the idea of “meetings at leaders level,” akin to the one held by U.S. President Joe Biden with Putin in Geneva last week, the Council approved a statement focused on setting expectations and demands for the Kremlin, which would be a prerequisite for new diplomatic engagement. The Council also threatened new economic sanctions should Moscow persist in “malign, illegal and disruptive activity.”
I wonder how much influence NATO has over Poland and the Baltic states? Certainly, their attitude is one of immaturity and is most unhelpful.
Leaders of 17 EU states sign letter against LGBT+ discrimination
as row with Hungary over controversial law escalates
24 Jun, 2021 12:07
The leaders of 17 EU states vowed to continue fighting against LGBT+ discrimination in a joint letter, a day after the EU Commission promised legal proceedings against Hungary.
The letter, published by Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on Twitter, says that “respect and tolerance are at the core of the European project,” and pledges to “continue fighting against discrimination towards the LGBTI community.” Among the signatories are French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the prime ministers of Italy and Spain, as well as leaders of the Scandinavian and Baltic states, among others.
There are 27 member states in the EU, which leaves 9 members who did not sign the letter, not including Hungary, of course.
The letter features 16 names, but Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz also added his signature after the letter was released, bringing the number of signatories to 17.
The letter is addressed to the top brass of the EU and comes ahead of International LGBT+ Pride Day on June 28. It doesn’t name Hungary explicitly, but it comes a day after the European Commission promised legal procedures against Hungary, with the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, calling Hungary’s new anti-LGBT+ legislation “a shame.”
The document was released as EU leaders gather in Brussels for a summit to discuss “global challenges and geopolitical issues.” Upon his arrival at the event, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban defended the controversial law, passed by the country’s parliament last week, which bans school materials from including LGBT+ content for children.
“The law has been approved. It is not about homosexuality, it is about education being a matter for parents,” Orban told the media.
The legislation is part of a larger bill cracking down on sexual crimes against minors, and has triggered strong criticism from Brussels as a threat to fundamental European values. Critics say the bill discriminates against and stigmatizes the LGBT+ community. Hungary has defended the provisions, which were supported by both the ruling party and the opposition. It insists that the law “protects the rights of children” and denies it is discriminatory.
Such 'fundamental European values' as did not exist 20 or 30 years ago. It is not Hungary that has departed from Europe's fundamental values, it is much of the rest of the EU.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government accused von der Leyen of making “false allegations” and said the bill “does not contain any discriminatory elements” because it “does not apply to the sexual orientation rights of those over 18 years of age.”
The EU summit convenes in Brussels this Thursday and Friday, to discuss Covid-19, economic recovery, migration, and external relations, according to the official agenda.
European court rules Polish justice minister violated rights of judges
by firing them without appeal
29 Jun, 2021 15:56
FILE PHOTO. The building of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. © Reuters
/ Vincent Kessler; (inset) Polish Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro. © Reuters / AGENCJA GAZETA
The decision by Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro to dismiss court officials without appeal violated their right to challenge their early removal from the posts, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled.
Following a series of judicial reforms introduced by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party since 2015, judges Mariusz Broda and Alina Bojara were removed from their positions as vice presidents of the Kielce Regional Court without justification or the right to appeal their firing.
“As the premature termination of the applicants’ term of office as court vice-presidents had not been examined either by an ordinary court or by another body exercising judicial duties, the respondent state had infringed the very essence of the applicants’ right of access to a court,” the ECHR stated in its judgement on Tuesday.
For violating their rights, the ECHR ruled that Poland should pay the two judges €20,000 ($24,810) each in damages, though the Polish government has three months to appeal the ruling.
While the Polish Justice Ministry said it would comment after reviewing the verdict, the country’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, told a press conference that his government will “respect the court.” The PM also made it clear that his officials will continue “implementing our programs, including the reform of the justice system, in line with our schedule.”
In other words, they may get their €20,000, but they won't get their jobs back. Poland's right-wing government seems to be replacing left-leaning judges with conservative-friendly judges.
The judicial reforms, which were criticized by the EU when they were introduced for infringing on the independence of the courts, gives the justice minister the power to both hire and fire judges.
After the new rules were brought in, the minister removed more than 150 court presidents and vice presidents within a six-month period spanning part of 2017 and 2018.
As Belarus ends partnership with EU, Minsk plans to merge tax system
with Russia & establish common markets for energy, transport
29 Jun, 2021 09:42
FILE PHOTO. State colors of Russia and Belarus on the building of the Minsk Philharmonic. © Sputnik
Neighbors Russia and Belarus plan to further deepen their close economic ties by creating multiple integrated markets and working together to unify vital tax and customs legislation, Minsk’s representative in Moscow has revealed.
Vladimir Semashko, the Belarusian ambassador to Russia, explained on Monday that the pair were working towards uniting their energy and transport sectors, and would also be making plans to transition to a joint industrial and agricultural policy. The two nations expect to have concluded this by January 1, 2022, he said.
The move came on the same day that Belarus announced it would be withdrawing from the European Union’s ‘Eastern Partnership’, a scheme designed to pull former Soviet states into Brussels’ orbit and away from Russia.
Another act of aggression from NATO against Russia.
Minsk and Moscow have been part of a so-called Union State since 1999, when current Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and the former Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a treaty and agreed to begin integration. According to the document’s text, the two nations planned to create a joint parliament, court, and cabinet. Since then, unification has regularly been discussed, including the creation of a shared currency, military, and customs space. However, 22 years later, many of these ideas are yet to come to fruition.
“Much has already been done [to integrate] in social policy, economic policy, defense, and so on,” Semashko told Belarusian state media agency BelTA. “Today, we have really reached the time when we have to bolster the economic foundation of the union of Belarus and Russia.”
The ambassador noted that the two countries would work on integrating 28 sectors of the economy, including oil, gas, and electricity. They would also be focusing on unifying tax and customs legislation, he said.
“We are now at a fundamentally new stage,” he noted, explaining that Belarusian-Russian trade turnover had increased by 30% in the past year. Minsk is Moscow’s fourth-largest trading partner.
Further integration of Russia and Belarus has long been discussed, with both President Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, regularly returning to the topic. Discussions between the two leaders have intensified in recent months, especially following the unrest in Belarus after last year’s disputed presidential election and the subsequent Western interest in working with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Her supporters claim she was the real winner of the contest.
Earlier this month, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko revealed that negotiations between Moscow and Minsk were “entering the home stretch.”
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