Andrew's EU Blog from Brussels

While the appointment of Van Rompuy was somewhat expected as he was the frontrunner and overall favourite for the position, the naming of Baroness Ashton has certainly raised a few eyebrows.

She is Britain's current Commissioner, having taken over the role from Lord Mandelson in October 2008, and will relinquish her role as Trade Commissioner.

Her appointment comes as a surprise, namely because her name had never been mentioned for this job largely because she has next to no experience at all in the domain of Foreign Policy. But she is a women which as I explained with my (now wrong) prediction of the EU appointing a women as President in the name of gender equality...

I guess her appointment is basically to bring the UK-American "special relationship" to the table... which is one reason why I (again wrongly) predicted that the position would go to David Miliband.

Nonetheless, here are your two new European figureheads for at least the next two-and-a-half years...

Labels: Current Affairs, EU

Posted by Andrew at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

The President of the European Council will undoubtedly become the face of the European Union, but the argument here in Brussels has been whether the EU wants someone to act as the voice and face of Europe, or someone that will simply maintain the functioning of the Union in a chair person sort of role.

The ideal would be a bit of both, but the frontrunner (and widely expected choice) is current Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy (left), who certainly does not have the recognisable face, traits and reputation that the likes of other candidates have, such as Tony Blair...

However, I think that this appointment will be even more historic, with the naming of a female to the post. This is just my opinion, but I think that in the face of actions taken by female MEPs recently to highlight the lack of gender equality in the posts of Commissioners, the heads of state may well nominated one to the post of President, or should I say Presidente?

Yesterday, a group of female MEPs from all countries and political groupings, assembled outside the "Justus Lipsius" building in Brussels sporting shirts, ties and CVs.

British MEP, and EuroParl Vice-President, Diana Wallis (seen above centre in the rather nice orange tie) remarked "you have to be a man to get the high posts here", a point she repeated from a press conference held the day before alongside five other female MEPs demanding fairer representation.

With this in mind, I believe the name to emerge will be that of the 71-year-old former Latvian Prime Minister, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (below right), whose candidacy I spoke about in a previous blog entry.

While I do not know a great deal about her, but a campaign website (awomantoheadeurope.eu) for her says that she "is a woman of peace, a committed, determined European. She speaks five languages fluently; her culture is that of Europe, her experience is one of commitment in support of Human Rights, the Rule of Law, pluralism and Freedom. She narrowly missed being appointed UN Secretary General in 2006."

Furthermore, it then proceeds to say she "embodies perfectly the female image of Europe whose roots are firmly set in our lands and which have grown with our history".

Her appointment would also carry rather great symbolic importance. Firstly, Latvia is a country formerly considered by the Russians as (perhaps they still consider it to be) within their sphere of influence.

Latvia has opted to join the European Union rather than embrace Russian cooperation, and joined in May 2004. It is also, significantly, a member of NATO, and while it does not currently use the Euro as its currency, it has the declared intention to in the near future.

In the same year we commemorate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism in Europe, how fitting it would be to see a citizen of a former Communist-state at the helm of Europe? (Not forgetting of course that the current European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek is from Poland...)

While some commentators are refusing to rule out the (undeclared) candidacy of Tony Blair, I am. I think this would be highly unlikely - made even more so by my opinion on who will be appointed to the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

As no country can hold both positions, it would certainly rule out Tony Blair if my choice gets the position, and that choice (which may come as a surprise) would be British Labour MP, and current Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.

Now I know what you're thinking: "didn't he declare he didn't want the job"? Yes, he did, but I think that was just to quash the press speculation. Once again I can evoke the TV series Yes, Minister, in particular the transition episode to Yes, Prime Minister when Jim Hacker repeats that he "has no ambitions" for the post, when actually he did (episode details). I think (and I hope) that it's the same trick again here.

The job would mean a lot of responsibility and stature; he (or she)would also be a Vice-President in the Commission and chair the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers.

That said, although he/she has powers to make proposals he or she can only represent the Union in matters where there is an agreed policy between all member states. The post is backed by an External Action Service (EEAS), which assists the new combined High Representative to generate consensus in the European Union and implement that consensus when achieved.

David Miliband has proved himself to be one of the most reliable and popular politicians in the British Cabinet, and has been lauded for his foreign policy credentials by the majority of EU and World leaders. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, even described him as "so vibrant, vital, attractive and smart," continuing to add, "He's a really good guy. And he's so young!"

He clearly is capable of such a role, perhaps too much so because he fancies his chances in the UK as a future replacement of Gordon Brown in Number 10. Perhaps that is the reasoning behind his "declaration of non-intent"...

Whoever is chosen, it will be a historic event in Europe's long history. Naturally I hope that I am correct in my predictions, but should I be wrong, I hope that the two people chosen will move Europe forward now that the Lisbon Treaty has finally be ratified...

What do you think of my predictions? Who do you think will be appointed? Leave a comment below...

Labels: Comment, EU

Posted by Andrew at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

Starting with a joke, Lord Ashdown then read passages from his book about his life in the armed forces and the horrors that he saw while in Bosnia, which while terribly depressing were beautifully written.

He then fielded questions from the audience and in his lengthy responses (typical practice of politicians of course) outlined his vision for Afghanistan, the progress required by his beloved Bosnia to rise to possible EU accession status and what the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy created by the Lisbon Treaty, whose identity could be known this Thursday, needs to take into consideration.

While giving a rather pessimistic outlook on prospects, it was somewhat comforting that someone knows so well what he was talking about - especially in the field of foreign policy. Is it too late to put Lord Ashdown's name forward for the role?!

Unfortunately today was the day I forgot to pick up my camera in the morning, despite carrying it everywhere since first setting foot in Brussels, so the photo above is courtesy of my camera phone…

Oh, and I did treat myself to his book, been after it for a while and well given the occasion I thought it was time...

Labels: Politics

Posted by Andrew at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came second and third in the list respectively, ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (4th) and the founders of Google Sergey Brin & Larry Page (5th).

Rupert Murdoch, the head of NewsCorp, only makes it into seventh place, but still is deemed more powerful than Pope Benedict XVI (11th).

The first European leader to appear on the list is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (12th) closely followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (15th).

No doubt, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (17th) will be secretly pleased to see her husband Bill below her in the list (31st), but you can bet your life-savings on the fact French President Nicolas Sarkozy will not be pleased to find himself a lowly-placed 56th... far behind fellow countryman Jean-Claude Trichet (25th) who is head of the European Central Bank.

As for the UK: well our Prime Minister Gordon Brown is ranked 29th (although if it's any consolation he is above al-Qaeda founder, the infamous Osama Bin Laden...).

Forbes used a four-part formula to rank the world's most powerful, considering the number of people a person influences, their ability to project power, control or access to wealth and how actively a person wields their power.

To consult the full list: click here.

Labels: Current Affairs, Politics

Posted by Andrew at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

The film follows the elder brother, Itso (played by Christo Christov) who is a furniture-maker and a skilled wood carver who dreams of moving up in life and out of Sofia. While walking home from a disastrous meal with his girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend - it's hard to tell which with all the apologies and fall-outs and snubs...) he witnesses a Turkish family being set upon in a disturbing and violent beating.

Itso rushes to break it up and stop the beating but gets punched himself for interfering. His brother Georgi (played by Ovanes Torosian) was part of this group, threw the first punch at the Turkish father and was on "look-out" when (unknowingly) his brother intervened. As the racist neonazi group fled, there was a long sustained period of silent eye-contact between the brothers that spoke volumes.

As Georgi becomes invited more and more to participate in larger violent racist activities, he starts to question his place in the movement - a movement he joined to rebel against his father and attempt to find his place in society.

After accompanying the family to the local hospital, Itso wonders if the beautiful Turkish girl, Isil (Saadet Aksoy), he saved could be his ticket out from his sad life in Sofia. They proceed to meet secretly with each other, until one day when the father had recovered sufficiently from his injuries to get out of the country as soon as possible.

Only by reuniting were the two brothers able to assess what they really want from life. And the film ends, rather abruptly and strangely I must add, with Itso suddenly arriving in Istanbul - I presume to look for Isil, but it is extremely unclear (perhaps it is supposed to be?).

The conclusion felt to me as if the producers had run out of cash, time and/or energy, such was its abruptness. It even surprised all of us in attendance, although not so much as the violent beating scene. I've seen violence on the screens, but that took it to another level. But then I guess even that is not as horrifying as such an attack in real life, an issue which the director is keen to address with his film.

Eastern Plays: Film trailer (Bulgarian with English subtitles)

"Neonazi movements are not more present in Bulgaria than in other European countries", he told reporters at the European Parliament, "intolerance is not exclusive to a single country, nor does it belong only to right-wing political forces. All politicians have the same responsibility - to help people outgrow their prejudices and learn to live together."

And so, the verdict: Well, if the MEPs vote for the political messages contained within each film then there is no doubt in my mind that this one will be the winning film. That said, and putting the violence to one side, I did not enjoy the film as much as Welcome. But again, it is a very worthy contender for the prize.

Labels: EU

Posted by Andrew at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments