new europe print edition issue 1020

20th Year of Publication number 1020 3 - 9 march, 2013 € 3.50

NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

there continues to be per-plexity and concern across europe from the unex-

pected election results in italy.the elections, held on 24 and

25 of february, saw a new politi-cal landscape in the county as the centre-left candidate, Pier luigi bersani who was expected to win a landslide victory got less than one percent over Silvio berlusconi who the italian leftist intelligent-sia were expecting to disappear. the great winner of the election, however emerged to be the …co-median beppe Grillo who secured one fourth of the italian electorate becoming the “regulator” of italian political life.

following the results, markets plunged across europe as uncer-tainty reigned over the political stability of europe’s third largest economy.

berlusconi proved to be one of the unexpected winners of the elec-tion, and his narrow defeat still pro-ved to be a significant victory after he had been previously written off by commentators as well by the political establishment. the euro-pean People’s Party (ePP), his eu colleagues, had abandoned him, putting their weight instead be-hind a technocrat, austerity-driven prime minister mario monti, who proved to be the elections’ biggest lose scoring only 10% of the vote,

despite his backing from brussels.“europe is asking for a concrete

and stable path and i think that our coalition could offer the elements to govern as europe is as king at the moment,” bersani’s spokesman told new europe.

european Parliament Vice Pre-sident, Gianni Pittella, told new europe that the election repre-sented a victory against austerity politics and the political establish-ment. outside interference by the central eu powers or the markets

both combine to create a toxic at-mosphere in the country. “outside influence is not seen by italians as a positive thing. this will be a great danger, not just for italy, but also for the wider europe,” he said.

finally, the european People’s Party which strongly supported ma-rio monti, preferred wise silence as its candidate was overwhelmingly voted our by the italians while the end of story seems to be new elec-tions in italy and the end of austerity which turned italy upside down.

EU beaten in Italian electionthe italian election did not result in a clear government but gave a clear loser and a clear winner. the clear loser was German inspired au-sterity in general, while the european People’s Party displayed very little political intuition and ethics, excluding from their ranks Silvio berlusconi and embracing mario monti.Silvio berlusconi, a political party on his own, together with the Soci-alist Pier luigi bersani, won the two top positions with less than half a percentage point difference between each other. the first got control of the Senate and the se-cond of the lower chamber.

Global voicesthe crans montana forum will be in brus-sels between the dates of 6-9 march, bring-ing with it the tour de force that is its power of discussion. Speaking are officials from the governments of indonesia, nigeria, the ivory coast, abu Dhabi, officials of the united nations, iraq, tunisia and others.

fooD 0

economicS Page 08

Pages 3, 32

a comedian defeats brussels inspired austerity

Page 06Page 32

raising the Swedish pension age

chinese Dominance in South asia

eu-Georgia meeting ends in stalemate

bryza: nabucco, taP superior to South Stream

PenSionS Page 04

neiGhbourhooD Page 11

china Page 11

enerGY Page 12

The real winner

02 ANALYSIS NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

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www.new-europe.info11th Year, Number 510

THE EUROPEAN WEEKLY

March 2 - 8, 2003

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The Shooting Gallery

‘Well, that concludes the formalities. Monsieur Depardieu is now officially yours...’ | AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND LANGLOIS

MANAGING EdItor

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SENIor EdItorIAl tEAM

K ostis Geropoulos (Energy & Russian Affairs) [email protected]

C illian Donnelly (EU Affairs) [email protected]

A ndy Carling (EU Affairs) [email protected]

A riti Alamanou (Legal Affairs) [email protected]

L ouise Kissa (Fashion) [email protected]

A lexandra Coronakis (Columnist) [email protected]

dIrEctor

A lexandros Koronakis [email protected]

ExEcutIvE lAyout producEr

S uman Haque [email protected]

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We found a little chicanery a decade ago, with leaked documents appearing to contradict official statements after an auditing of the Greek Railway Construction Company over a possible penalty. We also reported that Croatia was inching its way towards EU member-ship, and indeed it was. Eventually, in 2013. Commission President, Romano Prodi was reassu-ring the Balkans, just as the EU was taking over from NATO, saying that the balkan states had chosen the path of reconciliation that would lead to the accessi-on into the EU and made the point that Europe had overcome historical discords. In light of this, Austria was accused of being‘half-hearted’ in its restitution to victims of theft by the Nazis. As the Iraq war loomed, OPEC was considering increasing production to co-ver for Iraqi oil that was subject to sanctions, it was also intended to halt alarming rises in oil prices.

ne 10 YeARS

AGO

MMThe ‘anti-politics’ movement is apparently gaining ground in Europe. The recent Italian election saw a startling 25% share of the vote for comedian Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement (M5S); it was, he clai-med, a blow against the political establishment, against the austere, subservient and technocratic Mario Monti, perceived as a Brussels stooge, and the staid and comfortable centre-left and centre-right parties that supposedly represent the extension of the status quo.The Five Star Movement’s electoral share is remarkable (Grillo didn’t run himself: under the movement’s own rules no one with a prior conviction can run for public office), and a welcome boost to those who feel that politics is out of the hands of ordinary people. Having said that, the M5S, while scoring a massive and somewhat unexpected election result, were not necessarily the biggest winners of the elections. That honour goes to Silvio Berlusconi, the disgra-ced former prime minister, whose political comeback managed to see him come a narrow second to Pier Luigi Bersani’s centre-left Partito Democratico, which campaigned on a programme of anti-austerity and growth policies. Berlusconi has re-imagined himself as a popu-list, and promised all sorts of tax rebates and the like. Despite - or maybe because of - his EU colleagues’ distancing tactics (the Europe-an People’s Party backed instead the campaign of Mario Monti – the biggest loser of the election), Berlusconi scored big. It allowed him to play the outsider card, despite being the ultimate insider; a former prime minister, a man who until recently shared company with other European leaders at the top table of European decision making. Meanwhile in England, the junior coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, defended their apparently unimpeachable lead in the Eastleigh by-election. They won; but only just, dropping their ma-jority by about 14 percentage points and securing an-ever-so-narrow victory over the Eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). They increased their electoral share in the region by 24%, in contrast to the Liberals, whose vote dropped by 14%. The Conserva-tive Party, who have vowed to hold a referendum on EU membership after the next general elections, are perceived as the biggest losers, falling into third position, with a drop in vote by 13%.UKIP, hopeful of an upsurge in the anti-EU protest vote against the current government, are confident of increasing their representation in the European Parliament in 2014. This may or may not happen; but for Eastleigh, the party campaigned on a self-confessed anti-po-litics campaign, a scattergun approach promising tax breaks, conces-sions and renewed policing and defence spending to all and sundry. They promised to be all things to all people. Of course, Grillo’s party did the same; and given the Italian circum-stances, it is perhaps no wonder they did as well as they did. But at their heart they are simple malcontents, not a political movement. The Conservative Party in the UK are fighting a populist battle also, and they may be losing. Grillo will never be part of the political es-tablishment, like UKIP they have vowed to take it down; but such times that create the conditions for protestations will not last. If M5S and UKIP want to last, they might want to start adapting themselves for the long run. There is nothing wrong with wanting to overturn the establishment. It just has to be done in a grown-up manner. Time to take off those red noses.

Send in the clowns?

03ANALYSISNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

Senior MEP: Bersani is the right man to do what’s right for democracy

New Europe spoke with Spokeperson, Mr. Stefano Di Traglia, one of the closest ad-visers of Mr. Bersani, Leader of the Partiti Democratici, about the results of the Italian election and forming a government after the rebuff from Beppe Grillo.

Right after the election results, Mr. Ber-sani underlined the need to open dis-cussions on a future government with Mr.Grillo.It seems that from the blog you received a negative reaction.It‘s not a blog that decides if the proposal of Mr. Bersani is unacceptable, but the mem-bers of Parliament. Then, in the blog I also saw various comments and different opini-ons from the one of Mr. Grillo.In the Parliament everyone will be responsi-ble for his decisions. On our side, we propo-se a new idea of government, and if President Napolitano will give Mr. Bersani the explora-tory mandate to form the new government,

and I think that this will be the case, it will be the occasion to present a concrete agenda.The strong points of our proposal are: mo-rality in politics, cutting costs in politics, conflict of interests, the anti-trust law, robust anti-corruption laws, social measures and ac-tions to boost economic growth.I think also that Mr. Grillo will have to esta-blish a discussion with his Parliamentarians. The voters pushed strongly for change, this was one of the topics of the phone call today with President Hollande; we have to avoid the populist wave of the past years, which brought to power right wing coalitions, this could happen again because of the austerity measures.I have to underline that this phenomenon is not only an Italian problem and Europe un-derstands this.

This proposal will be only addressed to Mr. Grillo?Mr. Bersani is going to introduce his propo-

sal to the entire Parliament, then is the PDL ready to accept a stronger corruption law?On the conflict of interests is it ready to ap-prove a law that resolves this problem?Then we have the anti-trust law. Which measures to take on labor policy?We will present an agenda, but we are not searching for a privileged role with any po-litical group, after that the single groups will have to decide. The need for a change is born more from one side and this is evident.

An important act of the Parliament will be to quickly nominate the presidents of the Senate and of the Chamber, this will be the first occasion to test a potential coa-lition .What‘s the agenda of Mr. Bersani?It’s not a mere assignment of seats, in the past years we saw in Italy the negative trend of al-ways having the winning coalition as presi-dent of the two chambers. Mr. Bersani wants to change this trend, and he is open to share with other groups the responsibility to rule

the two wings of the Parliament. In that very moment we will be able to understand also how the various political groups are going to interact on the interest of the country.

Europe is concerned about the Italian situation, what‘s your impression about that?Europe is asking for a concrete and stable path and I think that our coalition could of-fer the elements to govern as Europe is as-king at the moment.In the Senate we have this difficult situation, but I also think that tackling issues, measure by measure, we can offer some concrete ac-tion, we now have to convince Europe that we are ready to take tangible actions in the direction of growth.This new wave, which was highlighted on the world press as negative, can also be, with a responsible attitude, an important element of positive change from the political point of view.

The electoral system in Italy needs to be radically reformed if the country is to avoid the kind of gridlock it is currently

faced with, a senior MEP has told New Europe.Gianni Pittella, vice-president of the Eu-

ropean Parliament and member of the Partito Democratico, the party of Pier Luigi Bersani, the centre-left candidate who is hopeful of receiving presidential approval for forming a government, told New Europe that the new prime minister needs to address the flaws in the current electo-ral system that have contributed to the current instability.

The Italian elections, held on 24/25 Februa-ry, fractured the political system, with Bersani se-curing a majority in the lower house, but failing to get the required majority in the senate.

According to Pittella, there are two major questions that the new prime minister will need to address upon taking office. “Mr Bersani has the possibility of a renegotiation of the agree-ment with the EU to have more flexibility in line with the stability pact. This is vital for the econo-my, to give more jobs and improve growth”.

“The second proposal is to cut the expen-diture of political life, through certain public spending cuts, and to ensure in the reform of the political system – maybe a cut in the number of MPs, and a possible change in the bi-cameral system. If Mr Bersani is trusted to form a govern-ment, these should be his main priorities”.

Pittella said that recent quotes by Bersani putting this election firmly in the context of growth versus austerity for Europe, needed to be taken seriously. He said that this was the big issue facing the EU at the moment. The Partito Democratico, he says, are “fully with Europe”, but that current austerity measures pushed by in-fluential governments, such as Germany, as well as by the European Commission, whose econo-mics commissioner, Olli Rehn, is a firm advocate of fiscal prudence.

The election result, says Pittella, “is a vote against austerity, and against embedded politics. In Italy, like in Greece, Spain and Portugal, auste-rity has triggered an increase in unemployment and poverty, and not only amongst the working class, but also the middle class”.

“Then there are the embedded politics”, he says. “In Italy there were instances, for instance,

where some public funds were not used in an ap-propriate way, and the citizens protested because of this”. Former prime minister, Silvio Berlusco-nai, who staged a remarkable comeback at this election, for instance, has to answer to the electo-rate for his populist promises, says Pittella. Other European governments, notably Germany, who distanced themselves from their centre-right colleague, backing instead the technocratic Ma-rio Monti, will not be so taken with his tactics, he says.

Pitella dismisses speculation that there will

be a quick re-election in Italy, in a re-run of the last Greek elections, or that there will be external EU pressure on the county to form a govern-ment quickly in an attempt to quell market ner-vousness.

“Outside or German influence is not seen by Italians as a positive thing. If there is a lecture form Angel Merkel about austerity, the Italian re-sponse will be ‘what do you have to teach us?’ I don’t think that there will be another election in Italy. This will be a great danger, not just for Italy, but also for the wider Europe”.

By Cillian Donnelly

By Federico Grandesso

Pier Luigi Bersani “Has the possibility of a renegotiation of the agreement with the EU to have more flexibility in line with the stability pact. This is vital for the economy, to give more jobs and improve growth” |AFP PHOTO / ODD ANDERSEN

Change of electoral system needed for Italy

Bersani expected to be asked to form government

04 PENSION REPORT NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

Raising the Swedish pension agePensions in Sweden is currently one of the country’s most hotly debated issues, as the cen-tre-right Alliance for Sweden coalition govern-ment attempts to implement sweeping reforms

The raising of the retirement age being one of the most controversial policies, in a proposal is to hand people the right to work until they are 69, rather than the current cap of 67.

It is not the first time that Sweden has made a bold statements when it comes to pen-sions, as part of their welfare reforms of 1998, they began to phase out defined benefit pen-sions in favour of defined contributions ones, and based pensions more on lifetime average incomes, displaying prescience as many EU country’s now look to move away from final salary pensions

The Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Rein-feldt has even suggested, much to the centre-left’s dismay, that people should be allowed to work out up to 75, arguing to reduce welfare costs to be more competitive with the emerging economies.

The state pension system is unique in that it is autonomous from the budget of central government, and is separated into three main categories.

The Income Based Pension is the main part of the national state pension, and is calculated on total lifetime earnings, the longer that some-one works the higher the pension. A contribu-tion rate of 16% has been set for all salaries, and this will be supplemented by social security incomes.

A further 2.5% is allocated for the funded Premium Pension, all employees can choose up to five pension funds out of 700 mutual funds to invest in. Both the premium and income based pensions are flexible, and can be drawn from the age of 61.

For those who do not wish to be too invol-

ved in making their own fund decisions, their contributions are automatically placed in the Premium Savings Fund, which is managed by the seventh Swedish National Pension Fund, or otherwise known as AP7.

The AP7 is one of five ‘buffer funds’ for the national pension system, and they are used to cover any deficits when payments out of the national pension system exceed contributions.

All funds have different investment portfo-lio, with AP1 concentrating on its global invest-ments with assets worth SEK 221 billion, AP2 focuses on returns from long term assets, AP3 is a state owned fund with a government ap-pointed board, to manage the fund that holds 10% of the total assets in the Swedish pension system.

The AP4 fund is a government authori-ty, and appoints a governing board, but its is slightly less independent that the AP3 fund,

in that Ministry of Finance supervises fund operations.

In August last it was recommended by a go-vernment review of the funds that they be more streamlined, and reduced from five to three to promote more flexibility, as the current system was accused of inefficiencies and poor returns.

The third part of the state pension fund is the ‘guarantee’ pension, to help those who do not have a adequate pensions, this is financed by central government through index-price payments, that will rise if necessary with the rate of inflation.

Occupational pensions have been helped by the favourable rates of economic growth and unemployment levels compared to most other EU nations during the economic crises. Eurostat say that they growth rate in the EU is contracting by 0.5%, as opposed to official Swe-dish statistics that say the economy is growing

at 0.7%, even reaching 8.1% in the first quarter of 2011.

There are four different collective agree-ments for occupational pensions, the ‘ITP’ where employees have a pension deal negotia-ted by the Confederation of Swedish Enterpri-se, and the Federation of Salaried Employees in Industry and Services. The pension plans are defined benefit, and 30 years of service is re-quired to claim them, the ITP’s can be earned from the age of 28.

Private sector employees who are part of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation have the ‘SAF-LO’ package, which is a defined con-tribution insurance pension, where 3.5 of an employees salary is funnelled into a pension scheme from the age of 21.

The PFA applies to local government and council employees who were born in 1938 or later, where once reaching 28 the employer will allocate 3.4-4.5% to be placed in a pension fund. Then for government employees there is the ‘PA03’, which is a defined benefit pension that requires 30 years of service, where the pen-sion will be calculated on the final salary princi-ple, normally paid out at the age of 65.

A financial report last year collated by Riksbank, the Swedish Central Bank, reveals that pension institutions, alongside insurance providers, accounted for 8.7% of the total share holdings of those listed on the Swedish market-place, although that is slightly down by 0,.2&% from 2010.

The investments in the bond markets from the AP funds have been steady over the last decade, and in 2011 reached around SEK200 billion, a peak since 2002.

With a package of pension expected in April, in a country where the welfare state has usually been social democratic in nature and a strong provider, the demands of the modern climate should ensure the pensions debate is not going to go away soon.

In response to our Pension Special which will be focusing on every country in the European Union over the next 26 weeks (having already covered the UK and Ireland in the past two weeks) the spokespersons for the Irish Pre-sidency of the European Union sent us some additional figures and facts which we share here with our readers.Under the National Pension Framework, the age at which people will qualify for the State pensi-on will be standardised at 66 years in 2014, 67 in 2021, and 68 in 2028.

Separately, the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, has requested the OECD to con-duct a short and focused review of the viability and long-term impact of the proposed changes in pensions policy in Ireland, taking into account the impact of the economic downturn.

The review, which the Minister expects to receive in the coming weeks, encompasses the totality of pension provision in Ireland – State,

private, occupational and public sector. The review will be informed by Government

commitments and developments at EU level in relation to both pensions (such as the Commis-sion White Paper An Agenda for Adequate, Safe and Sustainable Pensions and the initiatives set out therein) as well as in relation to increasing the labour market participation of older workers (for example in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy).

Particular aspects which the OECD has been asked to examine:

•The long-term impact of the planned changes in pensions on achieving the required objectives in the area of :

▶ the sustainability of the pension system in the light of demographic and investment challenges; ▶ the adequacy and coverage levels, in order to ensure adequate income in retirement with a particular focus on lower and middle-

income groups; ▶ the modernity of pension systems to ensure flexibility in the labour market and suppor-ting mechanisms for longer working; ▶ equity within the pension system, • The role and contributions being made by

employers, employees, the self-employed and the State;

• The structure, role and interaction of occu-pational and private pension provision, including the introduction of an auto enrolment system;

• The taxpayer subsidies for pension savings including the distribution among workers of dif-ferent income levels, different ages and diffe-rent sectors;

• An assessment of opportunities to encou-rage and facilitate Irish pension schemes to incre-ase the extent to which they invest their funds in Ireland;

• Any means by which public understanding and confidence in the pension system could be

maximised. Minister Burton has indicated that, depending on the outcome of the OECD review, she would like to see an auto-enrolment pensi-onscheme for all employees in Ireland, which would make it easier for them to save for retire-ment. Speaking about this earlier this year, she stated: “A critical issue for the country into the fu-ture will be how we provide adequate pensions-for people. At the moment, people have the State contributory old-age pension or the non-contri-butory pension, but for a lot of people, that’s not sufficient to give them the kind of retirement that they envisage. So we’re looking at what a lot of other countries have actually done so far, which is some form of automatic enrolment into a pensi-on fund when people are in work, with contribu-tions from the employee, the employer and the State itself, with a view to building up people’s entitlements in terms of pensions to a reasonable amount to provide for a decent and adequate re-tirement.”

Irish pension scheme deconstructed further

By Peter Taberner

A woman strolls on February 13, 2012 in Djurgarden park under the snow in Stockholm. |AFP

PHOTO/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND


“Should Scotland be an inde-pendent country?” will be the question posed to the Scot-

tish people in the referendum held at the end of 2014. But the debate on EU membership proves implications of the vote are far more intricate than what is yielded by a yes or no answer.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Stur-geon acknowledged at a conference with the European Policy Center think tank on 26 February that an indepen-dent Scotland would have to apply for EU membership.

“We’re not arguing to fundamen-tally change Scotland’s position within the EU,” Sturgeon said. “And we would begin seeking to apply the principle of continuity of effect: in other words, on issues like the euro, Schengen and the rebate, our aim would be to retain the prevailing terms of Scotland‘s member-ship.” Sturgeon took a confident stance that after the Scottish people vote to break from the UK, the government would immediately notify the EU of their intent to continue as an indepen-dent member state.

“We would begin as a nation keen to be an equal and constructive partner in the EU – recognizing its benefits; par-ticipating in dialogue about its future; and contributing to its development and growth,” she said. “Independence goes hand-in-hand with interdependence. Our enthusiasm for Europe and that partnership is not running away from

everything that is British.”The Scottish National Party (SNP)

previously maintained the stance of an automatic transition, or at least a nearly seamless one, into EU membership as and independent nation. This assump-tion and a seeming lack of appreciation for Scotland’s current status as a mem-ber of the European Union, even if that position is represented through the UK, brought on harsh criticism from EU officials, member states and candidate countries.

Sturgeon made it very clear that this is not the view of the Scottish govern-ment. “We do not take the accession process for granted,” she said.

There is no shortage of critics of Scotland’s EU membership issue. The SNP’s confidence in the citizen’s desire to leave the UK was challenged by Scots at the conference, many of who are wary of the benefits of such a move. How an independent Scotland would fair in the EU’s decision-making process is a major concern.

“Scotland has a stake in how the EU functions and that doesn’t seem to be factored into David Cameron’s policy,” Sturgeon said. “If the key decisions are made in Westminster, that will create an-omalies that are evident here in Brussels. Deep-seeded inequalities are better con-trolled by an independent state.”

As much as Sturgeon emphasized that the UK does not adequately re-present the views, wants and needs of Scotland in EU policy deliberation, the basic issue of geographical size and it’s

reflected representation would be a big change. Scotland would be one of the EU’s smallest member states, thus af-fecting their number of parliamentary seats.

Furthermore, as is always the debate when adding a new member state, other nations would have to forfeit their own seats. For an independent Scotland, that at this point would like to maintain the UK’s opt outs, it would be a hard sell in the negotiation process - a process that Scotland is already hoping to expedite.

The financial and structural climate of the European Union today is an un-stable one, and the concerns of its func-tionality spillover into concerns of the Scotland accession debate.

In the even of a ‘yes’ majority come next year, Sturgeon made clear that she would expect even the critical Scottish MEPs to be on the same page in negotia-ting Scotland’s EU membership.

“It’s about the terms, not the princi-ple of the thing,” she said. “We need to keep the fundamental needs of Scotland in mind.”

Brussels insiders say that the nation is being treated a little unfairly, noting “They have oil and fish” and they have long standing and deeply entrenched democratic traditions.

It is felt that the cold shoulder shown to the Scots by the Council and Com-mission presidents is more due to alarm over the growing calls for independence in Europe, increasing after austerity measures, such as in Spain and Italy, than the Scottish case for membership.

Yes or No, EU: Can an independent Scotland join the club

By Clare Murphy

After success in the Scottish elections, Scottish National Party leade, Alex Salmond is hoping Scots will vote to break with the UK, but remain in the EU.| EPA/DEREK IRONSIDE

A crisis of ethics

By Nirj Deva MEP

Over the past five years we have played witness to an unfolding economic crisis, the consequences of which have been felt, to one degree or another, by us all globally.Here in Europe vast bailouts and financial relief packages have become remarkably common as blocks of nation states teeter on the verge of an economic and social abyss. We have looked on as Governments have made drastic cuts to their public services and people have been forced to tighten their belts as any future financial stability remains unclear. We have built ourselves a sys-tem that values greed, greed for money, greed for status, greed for power; a system that all too often rewards success at any cost and ignores consideration as to how it was achieved or who suffered for it.David Hume perhaps summed it up best when he stated that:

And indeed, we have allowed market trades to operate without consequence in their investments and individual borrowers to live beyond their means. We have ignored governments who go on borrowing past their ability to ever repay and deferred their mistakes to future generations. We have exploited our environ-ment recklessly, depleting natural resources without thought for their possible replenishment. What we face is not an economic problem or even a political one. We face a crisis of ethics.Almost ten years ago I helped found the World Forum for Ethics in Business with the aim of bringing all stakeholders, from the public, private and political spheres together with one aim - to address the critical and pressing need for a common system of values for all business practices.We have found ourselves with the critical imperative to trans-late accountability and transparency from words into reality; a universal need for a common system of values that mainstreams Corporate Shared Responsibilities (CSR) and demands lucidity in business practices, ruling out ambiguity and producing measu-rable results. It is all too easy for us to make sweeping statements, indicating a need to cultivate such concrete codes of behaviour; codes that address themselves to the external monitoring and im-plementation of verification mechanisms in business practices, especially in the area of extractive industries and procurement. Yet the ugly truth is that these are not easy solutions!In the recent Transparency International Global Corruption Ba-rometer, a poll taken from 91,000 ordinary citizens, an alarming 97% of Europeans stated that they believed that corruption had either stayed the same or gotten worse over the past few years. Clearly we are not doing enough.Yet we must be careful not to fall into the trap posed by over-regulation. Increased regulation to business practices will merely serve to overburden already struggling small businesses; the very building blocks of any economy. The focus must instead be on clarifying and enforcing existing rules. However, at the very heart of this issue, we need to affect perception; to change the way we view business collectively. Such a change demands the involve-ment of all stakeholders, from every sphere, if we are to make the concrete and resolute strides necessary for a better future.

Nirj Deva MEPConservative MEP for the South East of EnglandVice-President of the Development Committee in the European Parliament

This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society.”

World Forum for Ethics in Business

06 INTERVIEW NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

Leonidas Kanellos: ‘There are various ways to exploit spectrum’ During the Mobile World Congress

in Barcelona on 26 February, New Europe spoke to Leonidas Kanellos,

Chairman of Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) to dis-cuss the current situation of spectrum in Euro-pe and possible solutions to expand this scarce resource.

According to Kanellos, “Europe is lagging behind” in comparison with US and Asia, and BEREC is working with the European Com-mission in order to relax the regulation and at-tract investment.

One of the most difficult issues at the moment in Europe is the lack of spectrum and disproportionate legislation among re-gions. How can BEREC contribute to solve this situation? How difficult is to agree with different partners involved?

The European Spectrum policy is suppo-sed to release space of spectrum to allow mo-bile broadband to expand. However, so far, go-vernments have released only 65% of the entire spectrum available and we are closely coopera-ting with the Radiospectrum Policy Group.

Our aim is to simplify the procedures in the optioning of spectrum. We do believe that there are various ways to exploit spectrum. By com-bining, for instance, a lower price for the oppo-sition of spectrum in change of some coverage implications.

Besides, is very important to find the balance between the need of ministers of fi-nance to collect as much money as they can from the regularisation of this resource cal-

led spectrum, and consumer prices.

There are very strict radiation emissi-on regulations among Member States, but sometimes they are also disproportionate. How is BEREC working on this?

We are trying to introduce licensing proce-dures, which take into account the environmen-tal concerns of citizens. There are regulations related with the radiated power of the antennas, but we don‘t have any indications that in Euro-pe those emissions are not respected. However we put forward permanent control of the radi-ated power.

We would like to have streamlined pro-cedures, which are necessary for the good deployment of new networks, including LTE 4G and 5G.

The Commissioner for the Digital Agen-da Neelie Kroes announced at the MWC that, by 2020, 5G networks will be expan-ded. However, there are still several regions without access to 4G and even 3G. Which will be the strategy to catch up countries like the US?

BEREC would like to avoid this situation and all regulators are cooperating with national governments in order to accelerate this pro-cess. One important condition is that the digi-talswitch over must be completed to release the digital spectrum. Nevertheless, not all coun-tries can take the necessary steps to achieve this quickly schedule.

With close interaction of operators and governments we will be able to bridge this gap between the most advanced countries that al-ready disposed infrastructures with several plat-forms delivering high-speed broadband, and other countries that are less developed.

Several CEOs had proposed Neelie Kroes to have an European regulator and not various national regulators. Do you think this will cover industry‘s demands?

A national regulator is very familiar with its national market and during the last 15 years, all the European regulators have done a very good job. An European regulator its going to be bure-aucratic and won‘t help harmonisation.

In the framework of BEREC is good that all

national regulators cooperate in order to have consistence and harmonisation. I‘m a firm be-liever that we should allow national regulators to cooperate smoothly in their own markets and the experience of the liberalisation of the sector is the best proof of that statement.

How difficult is it to leverage the protec-tion of the consumer versus the protection of the industry?

This is a very difficult exercise, because on one hand we would like the industry to invest into new network infrastructures and new services, and on the other hand we would like consumer prices go up, but those objectives are conflicting.

Every operator that is investing has a rea-sonable request for a return on the investment, and costumers want innovative services at mar-ginal cost. Therefore, is a difficult exercise to find out the right price a consumer would pay for the adequate service that the operator offers.

In Finland, 1Mgb Internet access is con-sidered a human right. Do you think this is something we are going to see expanding across the EU?

In my personal opinion I consider that it would be politically attractive to expand a ba-sic connectivity included within the universal service concept. However, there is a major issue that need to be tackled, the problem of founding.

To find a good compensation mechanism for service providers is not easy in all European jurisdictions. I welcome the initiative, but first of all we need to find the adequate mechanism.

By Nerea Rial

What is the Crans Montana Forum ?Our organisation has been around for 30

years. Following the fall of the Berlin wall, new democracies born in Eastern Europe nee-ded a type of ‚parading ground‘ and contacts with the west before being able to adapt to their changes and the necessary evolution to-wards liberalism and democracy.

How was it formed ?In the years that followed we started orga-

nising events in the Mediterranean and then in the Middle East, moving further down the Ara-bique Peninsula and Persian – Arab Gulf and the Mediterannean we continued on naturally to Africa. We were the first international orga-nisation of this kind to create and hold follow-ing all these years relations with Africa.

Tell us more about the South South re-lationship ?

Africa is condemned to succeed ! I meant it when I said « condemned ».

The future of the world really lies in Sou-th – South relationships. The North South cooperation cannot be discounted but at the end of the day it has not delivered any positive results especially on the evolution of demo-cracy. On the other hand today the Northern countries are now bankrupt ! It is now impos-sible for them to help with development as before.

If we put together the industrial ingenuity of South America, the natural ressources of Africa, the financial power of the Gulf, ingeni-ousness of Singapore and Malaysia, the indus-trial might of India, Indonesia and China we will soon see that the future lies there.

It is an inspirational chance for Africa. Afri-ca still suffers from having been, during the past decades, the victim of industrial groups, guides by politics, that came to the South within their

own over political agenda and influence.

What next for Africa ?Africa isn‘t asking for charity. It is taking

its place, nothing but its place but its entire space with a global integration scheme. I think that the Africa of today has an exceptional op-portunity.

The youth of Africa is extremely dy-namic, educated, taught and brought up. It moves and travels. These people who will in the near future be able to represent a new vision and administer public affairs. And that is exactly where hope should be reignited. It is necessary to improve public administration so that they are instilled with transparency and ethics. This wil hap-pen by foreign groups working in Africa and should be implemented with the highest of ethical examples.

Tomorrow‘s will is there.

INTERVIEW JEAN PAUL CARTERON

Crans Montana Forum brings worlds together

Leonidas Kanellos, Chairman of Body of European Regulators of Electronic Com-munications (BEREC)

Jean-Paul Carteron


By arming Saudi Arabia, Europe breaks its own law The most offensive thing I have

read lately are the new “prelimi-nary results” from the weapons

company BAE Systems. On page four, the firm gloats at how

it won orders worth 3.4 billion pounds (5 billion euros) under the Saudi-British De-fence Cooperation Programme last year. A separate contract worth 1.4 billion was awarded to BAE in May 2012 to support the “training requirements” of the Saudi air force by supplying it with warplanes.

Let us pause for a second. How did Saudi Arabia respond to that wonderful exercise in people‘s power known as the Arab Spring? In March 2011, it sent 1,200 troops across the causeway linking it to Bahrain. Many of the troops travelled in Tactica tanks, manufactured by BAE. They were used to destroy a protest camp at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the capital.

The Saudis have displayed a similar intolerance towards freedom of expressi-on within their own borders. After about 300 people brave enough to attend de-monstrations were arrested in early 2011, the Saudi interior ministry decreed that all protests were banned.

Disgracefully, the European Union re-sponded to this crackdown on dissent by selling the Saudi royal family more arms. During 2011, Saudi Arabia was the single largest client for EU weapons companies, spending more than 4.2 billion euros.

These exports violate the EU’s own laws. Since 2008, the Union’s govern-ments have been obliged to respect a le-gally-binding “code of conduct” on arms exports. The code explicitly states that governments must “exercise special cauti-on and vigilance” in authorising weapons sales to countries where serious human rights abuses occur.

No such caution has been exercised in the case of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi women are forbidden from working, travelling abroad and receiving some types of surgery without rewritten permission from their husbands or a male relative. It wasn’t until September 2011 that King Abdullah declared that women would be allowed to vote in local elec-tions.

Executions more than tripled bet-ween 2010 and 2011. This year the Sau-dis have been beheading almost two peo-ple every week. They included Sri Lankan domestic worker Rizana Nafeek, who was only 17 at the time of her alleged crime. Her execution breached the UN Conven-tion on the Rights of the Child, which outlaws executions of people convicted of committing an offence when they were

under 18 years of age. Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign

policy chief, was “deeply dismayed” by Nafeek’s execution, according to a state-ment prepared by Ashton’s spindoctors. Yet Ashton has been silent about how BAE arms this most repressive of states. Her silence is shameful, though not sur-prising. Ashton’s mentor, Tony Blair, be-haved as a salesman for BAE. When the British authorities gathered evidence that BAE had resorted to bribery in order to secure a 43 billion pounds arms deal from the Saudis, Blair ordered that the investi-gation be halted.

BAE now seems to be attempting a makeover. According to its website, a “business ethics” department has been established in BAE‘s Saudi offices. BAE‘s commitment to ethics did not last long. In February, it rejected calls for an enquiry into how Richard Evans, the company‘s former chairman, apparent-ly acquired two penthouse apartments in London from offshore firms linked to the same arms deal that Blair was so eager to protect.

Saudi Arabia is, of course, a major ally to the US. Its attraction to George W. Bush was easy to explain: a fossil fuel mer-chant couldn‘t fail to be aroused by having close connections to a country that hosts nearly 20% of the world‘s proven oil re-serves. Despite his promises of “change”, Barack Obama has maintained the Saudi royal family in a constant bear-hug. Those drone strikes that Obama has ordered in Yemen have been launched from a CIA base in Saudi Arabia.

During his first term in office, Oba-ma appointed his erstwhile rival Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state. Clinton

rarely missed an opportunity to defend women’s rights. Yet she was untroubled by doing business with Saudi Arabia. In 2010, the US clinched a $60 billion arms agreement with Saudi Arabia; according to the State Department, it was the big-gest ever weapons deal with that country.

The ongoing atrocities in Syria seem to have given the West further pretexts for snuggling up to Saudi Arabia. Reports in the US press indicate that the Saudis have bought a large consignment of weapons from Croatia and have been sending these weapons to opposition forces in Syria sin-ce December. If these reports are accura-te, questions must be asked about why the Saudi royal family brooks no opposition at home, yet supports opposition forces in other lands.

NATO, meanwhile, has been in dis-cussions with the Saudi foreign ministry about forming a new “partnership”. This is logical from a narrow perspective: neighbouring countries in the Gulf have participated in NATO’s wars. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have sent tro-ops to Afghanistan; Qatar and the UAE have provided warplanes used to bomb Libya.

But the embrace of Saudi Arabia has already had deadly consequences. Osa-ma bin Laden, lest we forget, was a Sau-di; so were most of the hijackers on 11 September 2001. The presence of US military bases in his country was one of bin Laden‘s chief grievances. Bin Laden is gone. The injustices that he invoked when recruiting young men to commit despicable deeds remain.

Selling weapons to the Saudis en-riches a few arms dealers - and endangers the rest of us.

In 2004 Saudi Arabian military officers pictured pray behind their weapons during a display of the security measures undertaken to safeguard the Haj (Moslem piligrim-age) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia 27 January 2004. Since then Saudi Arabia’s artillery, defence capabilities and acquisitions have increased dramatically. |EPA/MIKE NELSON

Why Europe must halt the abuse of innocents

By Nicolas Beger

We continue to hear reports from around the world about children being forcibly recruited to fight in conflicts, most recently in Mali. Although global campaigns have raised public awareness about this pernicious practice, are we really any nearer to resolving the problem?Although most countries oppose the use of child soldiers, and some 150 governments have already signed the optional protocol on the Convention on the Rights of the Child which bans under-18s from being deployed in hostilities, children are still being pressed into armed combat. It is estimated that since January 2011, child soldiers have been forced to fight in conflicts in 19 countries. Not only are they exposed to terrible danger, they are often traumatised by the experience. The physical, psychological and sexual abuse of child soldiers by their commanders is common. How can we put an end to this? There’s no easy answer. But an important piece of the puzzle is making sure arms transfers are better regulated. Doing this would help prevent guns from ending up in the hands of children; children are then forced to injure, maim and kill with the weapons. It’s outrageous that thousands of arms continue to be sold legally even when it’s known they are likely to fall into the hands of the armed groups who commit atrocities. As national officials prepare to meet at the United Nations this month (18-28 March) to finalise the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), the opportunity to secure better regulation of arms transfers is within reach. This is a burning opportunity to complete a process begun many years ago, a process which could mean fewer weapons entering the clutches of armed groups who use them to forcibly recruit children and then arm those children.The problem is that the treaty’s current text is a bundle of anaemic rules which do little to prevent arms transfers to countries or groups which take advantage of child soldiers. The draft rules that require arms transfers to respect international human rights and humanitarian law could easily be circumvented. The rule on violence against children merely requires a country to “consider taking feasible measures”. And the measures to prevent the diversion of arms are flimsy. For example, ammunition isn’t covered. Amnesty International is pressing for these loopholes to be closed, so states would have to prevent arms transfers that threaten to increase violence against children, including the recruitment and deployment of child soldiers.The EU and its member states have been staunch supporters of the Arms Trade Treaty, which of course is to be welcomed. But that fact alone isn’t enough. We’re looking to the Union and all 27 European member states to deliver a robust and muscular treaty. This will mean they will need to stand firm against any countries which try to weaken the provisions. For the children embroiled in the chaos of these war-torn countries the consequences of not being staunch are sobering. Emmanuel Jal, an activist, musician and former child soldier, has said: “as a child I used to wonder: how could they [armed groups] get these weapons so easily?” If we can secure an Arms Trade Treaty which has real clout it might mean we can prevent other children from having to worry about this issue, and save them from suffering and committing the atrocities which all too shamefully remain a hall-mark of today’s war zones.

Nicolas Beger, Director, Amnesty International European Institutions Office

By David Cronin


3 - 9 March, 2013

The UK economy was stripped of its triple AAA credit rating by Moody’s, after they decided to

downgrade it by one notch to Aa1. The decision was taken due to the

perceived continuing weakness in medi-um term growth, Moody’s now expect the sluggish recovery to now carry on into the second half of the decade.

Due to the lack of growth, the austere fiscal path that the Conservative-Liberal coalition has taken, generally supported by Moody’s, is also under threat. A conso-lidation programme that is now expected to extend into the next parliament, when the original plan was to wipe out the cur-rent deficit during one term in office.

This leaves the UK increasingly un-able to control its rising debt burden, as part of the vicious cycle that has resulted in the downgrading.

Moody’s now expect general govern-ment debt to peak at just over 96% of GDP by 2016. Also, the UK’s susceptibi-lity to be affected by the Euro zone was highlighted, as having significant poten-tial to be a drag on future growth pro-spects, through less trade activity and the possible effects of financial links.

Although Moody’s did not conclude it was all bad news in their latest analy-sis, and said that the UK’s creditworthi-ness remains high. This was attributed to strengths such as a competitive and diversified economy, a strong record of fiscal responsibility and a favourable debt structure, with an average debt maturity of 15 years, higher than all other com-parable highly rated global economies, which has played its part in keeping in-terest rates down.

In the aftermath of the announce-ment the pound plummeted down to 1.144 against the Euro, the worst perfor-mance for over a year. It was the same sto-ry against the US dollar, with the pound falling to 1.509, before recovering itself in the days after the UK was given the news of its downgrade.

The political fallout for Chancellor George Osborne could be dangerous, as he has always staked the UK’s economic reputation on its ability to maintain the triple AAA rating through the financial crises.

Criticism has rained down on him from all directions, with his own back-bench Conservative MP’s looking a ran-ge of tax cuts for businesses at the next Budget statement on the 20 March.

The opposition Labour Party predic-tably has been quick to taunt Osborne, supporting more fiscal support to stimu-late demand in the economy in order to reduce the deficit in the long term. They also pointed to the fact that the economy was growing at 0.7 when Labour were inn power, and that the chancellor’s di-

rection may create a triple dip recession with the economy contracting at 0.3%

However Osborne remains unrepen-tant on his economic policies, and says he will be not be swayed by the news from Moody’s, he retorted: „I think we‘ve got a very clear message, a loud and clear mes-sage that Britain cannot let up in dealing with its debts, dealing with its problems, cannot let up in making sure that Britain can pay its way in the world.”

“Britain’s got a debt problem. I agree with that. I’ve been telling the country for years that we’ve got a debt problem, we‘ve got to deal with it. What do they also say? That if we abandon our com-mitment to deal with that debt problem, then our situation would get very much worse, and I’m absolutely clear that we must not do that.”

Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist with analysts Capital Econo-mics, reflected: “Economically I don’t think that the effect of the downgrading will be too damaging, and the fallout should be a pretty small one. Although this may mean more of the bond buying policy of the Bank of England to keep the gilt yields low.”

“As for the wider plan I don’t think that there is a right or wrong answer, and in terms of the budgets there has been more change that what people recognise, with alterations to spending and tax cuts from the original plan as well, generally the coalition is right to be sticking to its course.”

He added: “There has been other countries that have received downgrades, and that has not always resulted in a poli-tical problem, although it may have been unwise for George Osborne to have atta-ched himself to the triple AAA rating so unwaveringly.”

Recently there has been mixed news for the UK’s public finances from figures

released by the Office for National Sta-tistics, where public borrowing reached minus £11.4 billion in January this year, a repayment £5 billion higher than in 2012, with the public net debt climbing to £1,162.8 billion at the end of January, equivalent to 73.8% GDP, a rise of 3.9%.

On the positive side for 2011/12 the total borrowing reached £121 billion, which was £5 billion lower than forecast by the independent Office of Budget Responsibility, and there was a higher public current budget surplus, with £5.1 billion more being saved than from a year ago.

Sam Bowman, research director of the Adam Smith Institute, believes that in response to recent events, reforms need to be speeded up. “I would say that the downgrading is symbolic mainly, Moody’s like to make the headlines by calling downgrade’s first, and I would expect Fitch and Standard and Poor to follow suit soon.”

Although spending more money on capital spending projects, as advocated by the influential Confederation of Bri-tish Industries, he does not believe is the answer.

“We have seen examples, such as in Japan, where there were projects where money was spent just to get the economy going, and not looking at the long term.” Bowman explained.

“The remedies that the economy need is a target on the kind of tax cuts ne-cessary that include cuts to business taxes and national insurance reductions, that will aid small and medium sized enter-prises to employ more people. Spending on welfare should again be reviewed, and the ring fencing on the NHS budget needs to be scrapped, there needs to be a more aggressive strategy, such as incen-tives for people to take out private health insurance to reduce costs.”

The Industrial Europe

By Francisco Jaime Quesado

We need to build a new strong Industrial Europe. In the New Competitive Society, where the role of the universities as the drivers of Innovation and Creativity in economy is becoming more and more important, Europe has a new challenge – to redefine its value chaine, to integrate the global networks with new ideas, new solutions and new proposals of competence. The industrial imperative is a contract of trust in this agenda of change, an agenda of construction of a new effective vision for the future.

The Industrial Europe is the bridge between those that believe in the power of people in creating new solutions with new ideas to more complex problems that are arising in society and those that want innovation and creativity to be the plat-form of creation of value in a global competitive economy. The Industrial Europe is the confirmation of a process of evolution of the integration of people in society – the individual contri-bution must be a case of commitment with the organization of society and its main elements.

The Industrial Europe must be centered in an active en-trepreneurial culture and attitude - people have most of the times an effective negative attitude towards the financial risk, the focus on innovation and the share of a culture of positive dynamic. We need society to have a new challenge. Society must be able to be the real Platform of a more Entrepreneurial Society, centered in new areas of knowledge and new sectors of value. In a Modern and Active Society, the key word is Co-creation. To promote a dynamic and active creation process involving each citizen is the big challenge for the next years in society.

In the future, a Society of Solutions must be the most com-plete example of positive attitude towards the future. Industry must be the new competitive advantage of this new Society of the Ideas pushed by the “enablers” of Modernity, Added Value and Excellence. A very clear idea that suits the big challenge that our society really faces and that requires new answers for different questions. The act of global participation in such a demanding society is an exercise of commitment between the individual creativity and the collective cooperation. This is the key for the right future for society.

Industry is the key for a contract of ambition. We must understand that in an open society, where the integration of people is a signal of a positive contribution to the future, the ambition of excellence is essential. We need to believe in the capacity of people giving society a strategic capability essen-cial to the challenges of the future. This is the message of the Industry Imperative. This is the message of a new challenge for people and for society. This is the answer of a new generation of industries that know that the key for success is based on the contribution with freedom and equality.

Francisco Jaime Quesado is the General Manager of the Innovation and Knowledge Society in Portugal, a public agency with the mission of coordinating the policies for Information Society and mobilizing it through dissemination, qualification and research activities. It operates within the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education

UK: A debt burden out of control

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne leaves11 Downing street in central London on February 27, 2013. Osborne pledged February 25 to continue slashing the deficit after Moody’s stripped Britain of its AAA rating, as the op-position Labour party labelled him the “downgraded Chancellor”. Meanwhile, the British economy shrank by an unrevised 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, but eked out slender growth during the course of 2012, the latest official data showed on February 27. |AFP PHOTO / BEN STANSALL

By Peter Taberner


Passing Tobacco Directive a ‘no brainer’Borg pleads for quick approval

With 700,000 Europeans dy-ing every year the Tobacco Directive was brought to a

public hearing in the European Parlia-ment.

Before the meeting, Health Com-missioner Tonio Borg told New Euro-pe, “The ambition of the Commission is to have the Tobacco Directive ap-proved by the co-legislators during the current parliament, this is extremely important.”

He said, “There will be a transitio-nal period, so if everything goes right, we’re thinking of a directive that will come into effect in three and a half to four years time.”

Noting that there was considerable support for the directive, the Commis-sioner said, “It’s amazing. There are al-ways two sides to any question so don’t get too impressed if there’s support from one sector and a lack of support in another.”

Sounding a note of caution, he added, “Certainly, there is a group of states who are concerned becau-se of the economic consequences of this directive but there are answers to that, health is unique. I think the health and lives of our citizens are our primary consideration. There are economic considerations, but they are secondary.”

During the hearing Borg was even more forthright. Pointing out that the directive had already taken 11 years, he urged immediate action, saying, “This is not regulating for the sake of it. The main aim is saving lives.”

Borg replaced John Dalli, whom tobacco company, Swedish Match had accused of soliciting bribes, lea-ding to his controversial sacking by Commission President Barroso. Dalli strongly denies this and has initiated legal action.

Despite this inauspicious start, Borg impressed MEPs at his confirma-tion hearing and a range of health or-ganisations looking into public health and smoking.

He said that he was trying to bring in something balanced that would get broad support and he understood that the directive was not as comprehensive as some were wanting.

SUB: A Biblical struggleRepresenting herself as ‘David’

fighting the tobacco lobby’s ‘Goliath’,

Forence Berteletti-Kemp of the Smo-ke Free Partnership compared their two person operation with the lobby, saying that the tobacco industry spen-ds over €5 million a year on lobbying, employing a hundred full-time lobby-ists in Brussels.

Berteletti-Kemp also noted that tobacco lobbyists seemed to be able to get more high level access to the Com-mission than the health groups did, meetings that were only disclosed after pressure from health organizations and applications under transparency rules. She asked, “When we asked to get a meeting on the tobacco productive directive, we were referred back to the health commissioner. So who has been given fair access at the highest level and who has not?”

The directive was also supported by James Reilly, the Irish Health Mi-nister, who declared, “This is my key priority during the Irish presidency.” He added, “I‘m personally committed to stopping smoking.”

The tobacco lobby is notorious-ly powerful in Brussels, but prefers to operate in the background, but Michiel Reerink a board member of the Con-federation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM) said that he didn’t want children to start smoking but protested about the

directive, which he even said was ille-gal, and that there was no evidence that graphic warnings would deter smokers and would damage the single market.

There were several MEPs who, while announcing their deep concern over children taking up smoking, each had one unique little issue that made them object to the directive.

These included the issue of free choice, neglecting that nicotine is ad-dictive and, by definition an addict doesn’t have a free choice. Others said that slim cigarettes should be exem-pt because the member hadn’t seen a child smoking one. Others were con-cerned about added flavours, saying that some people enjoyed them, others that the changes to packaging would make counterfeiting easier.

And there was the issue of jobs and the economy, with some suggesting that governments needed the revenues.

Borg was adamant that there was no real economic case against the di-rective, noting that smoking costs Eu-rope €23 billion a year in healthcare costs alone. To choose to fight smo-king, given that financial burden was, the Commissioner said, “A no brainer.”

The Irish minister also said, “I don‘t think this is a choice between lives or jobs, that‘s not a choice we should ever make. Lives come first.”

The Welle blue yonder

By Andy Carling

Constructive Ambiguity

A short while ago, I was trying to recover from attending the Legal Affairs Committee, drying away the tears by spraying Deep Heat onto my face while reciting the names of the saints; Spinelli, Monnet and Schuman. But I took a wrong turn somewhere on my way back to the press room. I noticed a corridor that looked slightly out of place, being more like the plush offices on the top floors, rather than the more functional below ground areas. I wandered down, playing the vaguely inquisitive journalist until I saw a door marked ‘Europarl TV Executive Director’.Just as I was taking a sneaky photo of the sign, the door blasted open and slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. I picked myself up to see an elderly gentleman looking down at me. “Why are you here?” He barked at me in a German accent, “Why? Tell me, I demand to know.”I stuttered an explanation that I was looking for the press room. This made him even angrier, “No! I asked, why are you here?” Feeling disorientated, I suggested “because of a great cosmic joke?” This seemed to delight him tremendously. He picked me up, embraced me like a long lost brother and said, “This is completely correct, I can see that you are my fellow conquistador, together we will discover great truths.”This is how I started working for Werner Herzog at Europarl TV.He explained that he had been brought in to Europarl TV, “I am not interested in politicians, I will only show the reactions of the audience, this is much more revealing. The soundtrack will be not words but a solo oboe. I have a real affection for the oboe, I was befriended by one as a child in Bavaria.”We went to the Mickey Mouse bar, but Herzog stopped at the closed Hemicycle where he harangued a passing official with a monologue on the utter futility of all existence, a conclusion he drew from noticing the plenary chamber was closed for repairs.It took some time before he fully appreciated that the poor official’s explanation, that the roof had collapsed, was not a metaphor but real.Things didn’t improve when he bumped into Nigel Farage and insisted that he explain the meaning of ‘independence’ in “a complex, nightmarish universe where our fate can be in the hands of a random gamma ray burst that will extinguish all life,” or when we wandered into a meeting where he terrified the translators with his demand that “there are too many words” and the solution was to translate everything into Sumerian “and leave it at that.”The only area where the Director was willing to show flexibility was press conferences, “I insist, most seriously, that those giving such ‘performances’ must be hypnotized, for this is how we can find the underlying truth.”It’s best not to mention his assault on Joseph Daul because he had, in Herzog’s opinion “Kinski’s eyebrows,” nor his attempts to burn the Gym down on the grounds that “running machines are a pitiless, inhuman crime against the nature and the essential, unwinnable struggle that is the overwhelming sadness of human existence.”He was last seen trying to enter the Parliamentarium with a dirigible.

By Andy Carling

European Union commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy Tonio Borg speaks during a press conference. | AFP PHOTO / JOHN THYS


3 - 9 March, 2013

Joining the single currency will add further stability to the Latvian economy and ensure continued economic success, the governor of the central bank has said.

Speaking in the European Parliament in Brussels on 26 February, Ilmārs Rimšēvičs said that European monetary union “is the sta-ble big ship” and that by “giving up the natio-nal currency, Latvia will be even more stable”.

The country is hopeful of adopting the euro on 1 January 2014. The Government will next week request that the European Commis-sion and European Central Bank report to the council on Latvian progress on fulfilling the criteria for membership of the single currency. A report will be published in the spring. The government is confident that report will prove to be a positive assessment.

Latvia is currently undergoing a period of economic recovery after suffering what Rimšēvičs describes as a “deep and severe crisis” following 2008 in which about 21% of the country’s GDP was lost in one and a half years. “The last crisis was so severe, that it will be staying in Latvian minds for generations”, he says.

However, recent economic recovery has seen Latvia emerge as Europe’s fastest growing economy. That turnaround, says, Rimšēvičs, “will be studied by many academics”. He puts its success down to a speedy reaction to events and solidarity amongst social partners.

These sentiments are shared by the Latvi-

an Finance Minister, Andris Vilks. Also spea-king in the European Parliament, he said that the policy of frontloading was “very much ap-preciated by the markets”.

This rapid response, which saw the crea-tion of reform management group comprised of the government, trade unions and entre-

preneurs and “who looked at all reforms to-gether”, proved to be decisive. Frontloading fiscal reforms, he said “is so important, espe-cially for a small country”.

The Latvian government, he says “is very confident about future growth” and the abili-ty to keep inflation, which is at a historic low, steady.

The real success of the economic recovery, he says, “was being able to combine austerity measures and growth-friendly reforms”. He said that this kind of fiscal prudence, which does not ignore growth, allows the govern-ment to address issues such as healthcare and social reform. Next year, he said, Latvia aims to introduce a more progressive tax system.

As for the single currency, Vilks says that it is vital for “bringing solidarity to all common issues” affecting Eurozone countries.

However, there is still a battle to be won with the Latvin population. Recent estimates suggest that about 30% are in favour of ad-opting the euro, with 33% against.

The government aims to introduce an information campaign, advocating the single currency. “We hope that support for it will be over 50% by the summer”, says Rimšēvičs.

EU food legislation ‘sound’ says commissionerResponsibility for fraud ‘must remain in hands’ of member states

EU food legislation is “sound”, and does not need to be extended in the wake of the current horsemeat scandal, the Eu-

ropean Commissioner for Health, Tonio Borg, has said.

Speaking in the European Parliament on 28 February, Borg said that demands to bring in new legislation for food labelling were unfoun-ded. He did say, however, that “problems exist with enforcement”.

Borg told members of the parliament’s en-vironment committee that he still believed that the scandal “does not seem to be a public health issue”, and “was one of fraud”.

Earlier in the week, a group of Green MEPs called on the EU authorities to overhaul the sys-tem of food processing and production in Euro-pe. “The system is far out of control. We need to change the whole system”, Rebecca Harms, the Green co-chair said on 25 February. She said that current proposals for food labelling and rules on control methods “are not really addres-sing the heart of the problem”.

It is, she said “time to look again” at the “whole system of production and process”.

“The system has become gigantic”, says Harms. “It is not just pan-European, but global”. She said that EU should divert some of its ag-ricultural funds into regional production and processing.

“We will be able to change the system, if we can change the behaviour of consumers”, she

says. Without a change in the current situation, the EU will “only create the scandals like the ones we see in Europe at the moment”.

The scandal, which has seen horsemeat mislabelled as beef, now affects the majority of member states. It first became a public issue when evidence of horse DNA was discovered in beef samples analysed in Ireland In January. Since then mislabelled beef products have been discovered in the food chain throughout the EU. On 13 February, EU agriculture ministers gathered in Brussels to present a proposal for DNA testing of beef products. Two days later, Borg announced that the EU’s standing com-mittee on the food chain would implement such a plan, which went into operation on 1 March.

DNA tests will be carried out on beef pro-ducts in all member states, as well as testing for traces of the equine medicine phenylbutazone (‘bute’), which is potentially harmful to hu-mans if found in the food chain. The results of the tests will be published on 15 April.

Borg told MEPs on 28 February that swift reaction to the scandal was vital for ensuring consumer confidence.

As with his previous statements, he said that the “primary responsibility” for enforcing current labelling rules lie with the food busi-ness operators in member states, not with the European Union. “The existence of fraud does not question the validity or essence of the le-gislation”, he said, adding that it was important that any tests that need to be carried out, either in slaughterhouses or at national borders, “does

not undermine the internal market”.“Those that think the EU has an army of

inspectors; there is nothing in existence of this sort”, he said. “The responsibility remains, and has to remain, in the hands of member states”.

“I do not mean to suggest in any way that we should be complacent or that there are lessons to be learnt”, he said.

He said that a swift, but measured ap-proach to the situation is best for both autho-

rities and consumers. “Reactions can be irrati-onal. For instance, there have been economic effects of the scandal, even though it is not a food safety issue. It is nothing of the sort, alt-hough it is a fraud issue.

He said that any company or operator food guilty of fraudulent mislabelling has to face tough sanctions. “Penalties have to be appropri-ate and dissuasive”, he said. “But they have to be at the discretion of the member states”.

An agent of DDPP (Departmental protection of populations) conduct a verification of the with-drawal of frozen products containing horse meat in Herouville Saint-Clair, northwestern France, on 26 February . A Europe-wide food fraud scandal over horsemeat sold as beef emerged in mid-January when Irish authorities found traces of horse in beefburgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi. The scandal intensified earlier this month when Comigel, a French frozen meal maker which bought 500 tonnes of mislabeled horsemeat from Spanghero, alerted Findus to the presence of horsemeat in the meals it had made for the food giant and which were on sale in Britain. |AFP PHOTO/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU.

People protest against the Latvian government plan to join the Eurozone in front of the parliament in Riga on 31 January. Latvia passed key legislation on that date, paving the way for a request for EU approval of its entry as the zone’s 18th member on January 1, 2014. |AFP PHOTO/ILMARS ZNOTINS’

Top banker says joining euro will ‘stabilise’ LatviaBy Cillian Donnelly

By Cillian Donnelly

11EU-WORLDNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

The latest meeting of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Co-operation Com-mittee ended in a stalemate between

both parties.The two-day series of meetings in Brussels

concluded with no documents or resolutions on the future relations between both parties being produced.

The next meeting between the two bodies won’t be held until after presidential elections in 2014. Speaking after the final meeting of this year’s committee at the European parlia-ment in Brussels on 26 February, the EU’s co-chair of the committee, MEP Milan Cabroch, said that the “very polarised political system in Georgia” meant that a stalemate between the parties was somewhat inevitable.

In October 2012 the opposition Georgia Dream Coalition, led by billionaire business-man Bidzina Ivanishvili, defeated the party of president Mikheil Saakashvili, the United National Movement (UMM) in general elec-tions. Saakashvili, will stay in office until pre-sidential elections in October.

The EU is still keen to maintain good re-lations with Georgia as it moves “closer and closer to Europe”, says Cabroch, adding that “all Europe” supports Georian economic and political progress.

Speaking from the Georgian side, Tinatin

Khidashvelli, said that while her country was eager for “closer and intensive co-operation” with the EU, she admitted that “lots of disag-reements” currently hamper co-operation.

Neither side was willing speak openly about what exactly these disagreements were in front of journalists.

Khidashvelli said that there was an open invite for MEPs to visit Tbilisi to examine legal documents and the like to satisfy Eu concerns over democratic practices In the country. She welcomed the fact that Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s com-missioner for human rights, as well as repre-

sentatives of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are cur-rently embarking on a tour of the country to assess the post-election situation.

“I am optimistic from this standing point, we will get into a much more engaging co-operation in the future”, she said.

By Cillian Donnelly

Latest EU-Georgia meeting ends in stalemate

Milan Cabrnoch (C) and Tinatin Khidahelli (2R), co-chairs of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Co-operation Committee. attend the 15th meeting of the body at the European Parliament in Brussels on 26 February | EUROPEAN UNION 2013

The continuing ascension of China in South Asia is not a recent world de-velopment. However, the increasing

power that China asserts on South Asia is now catching a lot of attention.

China has always played the appeasement game well and continues to do so today. It’s dominance over South Asia; especially Sou-th East Asia is noteworthy. China has always believed in peaceful development; it has ne-ver been forceful in its acquisitions. The Qing dynasty in China first introduced territorial claims as an expansion strategy in China.

South Asia as a Land of Interest

The resources that South Asia offers are considered as future sources of development by China. The nation takes enormous interest in parts of the world that promise unbridled resources of energy. China has also been drawn to countries with coastlines because of the ports that promise excellent trade net-works. Considering the opportunities that South Asia is brimming with, China has fur-ther increased its interest in establishing con-

trol over the areas that hold potential for de-velopment. Moreover, since China believes in mutual-benefit, it has been simpler for the gi-ant to win the trust of South Asian countries. The Maldives is just one example of a country that has been targeted by China as an ally.

The cultural and religious similarities bet-ween China and South Asia are a prominent reason for South Asia being of interest for Chi-na. This also makes it easier for China to exert its growing influence in South Asia.

The Threat

While some believe that the territorial expansion of China is making it a strong con-tender for being a world power, the majority see the rise of China as threat to their nations. There are a number of strong reasons why the growing dominance of China over South Asia is being considered as a threatening move that has been carefully and cunningly strategized by China.

In a way the strengthening bond between China and other parts of South Asia have been a threat to India and its ties with China.

The giant’s interest in oil ports has made those who possess them a little wary about Chi-na, and its intentions. Even though to date Chi-na has not made even a single acquisition by force its perpetual greed is a growing concern for South Asian countries. The Nine Dash line

is also one of the many strategies of China that ASEAN members should be wary of.

However, if we look at the broader picture it is clear that a rising China is no threat to Sou-th Asia. The sheer number of governments in Asia signifies how China’s endeavours are de-void of the capability to defeat Asia.

According to an online report, Asia govern-ments are clearly aware of China and its ven-tures to dominate South Asia. Not only does Asia understand China’s policies and appease-ment practices of expansion but is also aware of

the weaknesses that are inherent in the giant.

Conclusion

For a number of years, China has been envisioning unbridled growth for itself. Ho-wever, the UN keeps checking the ways and means of expansion of each country. With China sticking to its mutual-benefit practice, there is better in store for South Asia than a threat by China. As far as dominance is con-cerned. that’s not really going to happen.

Chinese Dominance in South AsiaBy Jacek Wlosowicz MEP

Jacek Wlosowicz is an MEP in the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group

A demonstrator (C) stands by banners prior to the budget address by Hong Kong Finance Chief John Tsang in Hong Kong on February 27, 2013. Hong Kong’s economy is expected to see “mod-est” growth this year owing to tepid exports, the city’s finance chief said on February 27 as he delivered a budget aimed at taming soaring property prices. |AFP PHOTO / Philippe Lopez

12 EnErgy & climatE NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 march, 2013

Bryza: Nabucco West, TAP commercially superior to South StreamATHENS – Regarding natural gas supplies, the solution in the long run for Bulgaria is to find the projects in terms of infrastructure and re-gulations that will ensure that the country has free-market trading of natural gas because the price is going to go down and its electricity pri-ces will go down as well, Matt Bryza, director of the International Centre for Defence Studies (ICDS) and former US ambassador to Azerbai-jan, told New Europe in Athens on 25 February. “But if you allow yourself to become a suppor-ter or become a captive of a project that is going to be commercially inferior to either to TAP [Trans-Adriatic Pipeline] or Nabucco West then you are moving and you are perpetuating your high prices,” Bryza said in an interview on the sidelines of the Athens Energy Forum 2013.

“My advice would be to pursue the gas pipe-line system that makes the most economic sense for Bulgaria and that to me without a question is going to be the Southern Corridor. Whether it’s TAP with a spur to Bulgaria or Nabucco West with a spur from Bulgaria to Greece, there is no question about the superior economics of the Southern Corridor to South Stream. No questi-on,” the American diplomat argued.

High prices and complaints about mo-nopolies created a political and social crisis in Bulgaria.

“It all depends on what the long-term price will be for the gas that will flow into Bulgaria through South Stream. My understanding is that the government was able to negotiate some discounts over the Gazprom price. But the que-stion is will it be cheaper gas from Nabucco West or from TAP by the way with a spur into Bulgaria or cheaper gas from South Stream? And just looking at the basic economics of it all, if South Stream is financed on a commercial basis through project financing the price of the gas in Bulgaria will have to be much higher than the gas that will flow into Bulgaria through the Southern Corridor just given the enormous-ly high cost of transportation through South Stream,” Bryza said.

Asked if the European Union is favouring Nabucco over TAP, Bryza, who has served at the US State Department as Deputy Assistant

Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said Brussels has not taken a position and will not take a position. “But I think stra-tegically knowing the people I do in Brussels and elsewhere that they would like it to see Nabucco. Nabucco was the flagship EU pro-ject. TAP wasn’t, Nabucco was. And there are other reasons why I think the European Union overall people maybe on balance favour Nabuc-co West. For example, the markets served by Nabucco West will be the ones that are most heavily dependent in southeast Europe on one major supplier. That said, I also think the Euro-pean Union will be absolutely fair, will no pres-sure anyone on this,” Bryza said, stressing that it is not up to the EU. “The decision will not be made on the basis of politics; it will be made by the Shah Deniz consortium,” he said.

Asked to comment on an earlier statement

which caused a stir during the conference that Azerbaijan favours Nabucco West over TAP, Bryza clarified that their policy is very even handed. “For example everybody says I love all my children equally. That’s what they say and everybody has a favourite child. So the Azer-baijani government may have a favourite child. But, of course, their policy is going to be even handed. Not only because that’s politically fair but because that’s smart negotiating. If you have a preference one way or the other, you still want everybody to have to compete so that option is as attractive to you as possible and the Shah Deniz consortium. So yes, I think all parties in this are going to be absolutely even-handed in the way they treat the project. But inside they might have a preference one or the other way,” Bryza told New Europe.

He stressed, however, that at the end Shah

Deniz will pick that pipeline that will be more commercially attractive.

Asked if South Stream is competition for the Southern Corridor and are the chances of South Stream being constructed, Bryza said, “the chances are excellent. When the leader of Russia puts his mind to a pipeline it happens. Like Blue Steam – many people said it couldn’t happen. It happened. And it was built by the same people – Saipem – who will build South Stream. So I think probably it will happen”.

Bryza argued that South Stream is inten-ded by Moscow as a way to block competition from the Southern Corridor. “In other words, I think South Stream is intended as a way to inti-midate investors not to proceed with the Sou-thern Corridor. But I don’t think that’s going to succeed. I think that strategy is going to fail because the Southern Corridor is going to be a reality. So then probably will be both pipe-lines. I think they both will find ways to market the gas, but my guess is that, as this happened with Nord Stream, that the price that Gazprom needs to earn the return on investment it pro-mised investors will not be reachable because of free-market trading. So then you have to ask yourself: “My god is it worth it, Gazprom? Is it worth it to build this?” Bryza asked.

The former US ambassador to Azerbaijan stressed that he doesn’t think that South Stream will endanger Nabucco now that the Russian project has abandoned its southern branch to Greece and Italy and focused more on its nort-hern branch, serving virtually the same markets as Nabucco West.

“I think the supporters of South Stream would like South Stream to endanger Nabuc-co and I think they are worried more about Nabucco much more than any project because of the precedent it sets: Getting gas from the Caspian to the gas-trading hub in Baumgarten, number one. Number two, Nabucco will ser-ve those eastern Balkan and central European countries that are most dependent on Gazprom right now. So it will dilute Gazprom’s monopo-ly and so Gazprom wants to try to stop that by going with South Stream. But I don’t think that’s going to succeed. I think this strategy will fail. I think both South Stream and either Na-bucco West or TAP will be built,” Bryza said.

Russian state-owned company Rosneft may increase oil supplies to China by more than 9 million metric tonnes, Deputy Prime Minister Arkadi Dvorkovich said on 25 February, news agencies reported. The additional oil would help supply a joint refinery project in the nort-hern Chinese city of Tianjin.

Meanwhile, Gazprom aims to sign a con-tract to deliver natural gas to China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) by the end of 2013,

the Russian gas company said following talks between the chief executives.

“Gazprom and CNPC agreed to intensify talks on supplies of Russian natural gas via the eastern route with the aim of signing a buy-and-sell contract by the end of 2013,” Gazprom said in a statement on 27 February.

Gazprom is seeking to boost supplies to Asia amid falling demand and regulatory pres-sure in its most lucrative market, Europe. Russia

has for years sought to reach a deal with China, but talks have been hobbled by disagreements over price.

CNPC Board Chairman Jiang Jiemin met with Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev in Beijing to discuss natural gas op-tions for China. The Chinese company in Janu-ary said it was looking to secure more natural gas to address surging winter demand.

Gazprom in 2007 adopted a programme to

get more natural gas to Chinese and other Asian consumers.

Gazprom said both sides would reach agree-ment on a natural gas deal “as soon as possible”.

Both sides also discussed the outlook for the Vladivostok liquefied natural gas project. Gazprom two weeks ago said it approved of the investment rational for the LNG plant, which will have three process trains with an annual ca-pacity of 5 million tonnes of LNG each.

Rosneft may increase oil exports to China

By Kostis Geropoulos

Matt Bryza, who was then US Assistant Secretary of State, addresses the Nabucco Summit in the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, 27 January 2009. Bryza, who is now the director of the International Centre for Defence Studies (ICDS), told New Europe that South Stream will be built because Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to build it. |EPA/SZILARD KOSZTICSAK

13EnErgy & climatENEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 march, 2013

ATHENS – Russian gas giant Gazprom will consider a branch from the South Stream pipeline to Greece if there is need in the Mediterranean country’s market for additional gas supplies, a Gazprom official told New Europe on 25 February.

“We really considered very carefully the capacity of the Greek market. The question is, before taking any decision of investment on building, for sure we should first analyse what is the market for this volume. And what we cannot exclude and what is possible is to build a branch from South Stream to Greece,” Gazprom‘s President of Marketing and Trading in France Iouri Virobian said on the sidelines of the Athens Energy forum 2013, elaborating on his earlier speech.

Gazprom last year abandoned its plans to build a southern section of South Stream via Greece, ending in sou-

thern Italy. “The main pipeline is going to (northern) Italy and from this pipe-line we can take a branch - like we will do for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia - to build a branch to Greece in order to deliver the necessary volumes. But it is under consideration. It will depend on the development of Greece’s market,” Virobian said.

Asked if Gazprom considers the EU-backed Southern Corridor as com-petition, Virobian told New Europe that Gazprom considers “there is a place in Europe for many projects like South Stream and possible other projects”. He noted that there is an increase of con-sumption and decrease of local produc-tion in Europe. “There is a place to make gas, deliver it by South Stream and other pipelines. There is no problem for us,” he said.

Asked if there is enough gas for Nord Stream, South Stream and still have Rus-sian gas transiting through Ukraine, Virobian said: “In Russia, yes. We have all necessary gas. Moreover, we have potential new reserves which are for the moment not developed, waiting for new consumption. If there is new consumpti-on we can develop new production sites in Russia to deliver it because we first like to have a market, contacts, sales, and after that production”.

But the Gazprom official was scepti-cal about the European Union’s Energy Charter and the possibility of the Russi-an company giving third-party access to its South Stream pipeline.

“I think this question will come in time. I think we are planning to negotiate this and that is why we will try to get this exemption,” Virobian told New Europe.

Gazprom in LNG purchase deal with IsraelA Gazprom subsidiary has si-

gned a 20-year deal with Le-vant LNG Marketing Corp.

for the exclusive purchase of lique-fied natural gas from Israel‘s Tamar offshore gas field, Gazprom said on 26 February.

Delek‘s subsidiaries said a heads of agreement deal was signed by Levant Marketing Corp. and Gazprom‘s tra-ding arm for the sale of three million tonnes per year of LNG from the giant Tamar natural gas field in the Mediter-ranean Sea.

Delek said gas from Tamar would be developed using a floating LNG faci-lity in a way that doesn‘t affect the sup-ply of natural gas to the Israeli market.

Gazprom is the world‘s biggest gas producer and relies heavily on pipeline supplies to Europe, which make up around 80% of its revenues. The Russi-an gas monopoly wants to build up its LNG trading business to diversify away from traditional European customers receiving natural gas via pipelines.

“This is an important milestone for strengthening Gazprom’s position in the global LNG market,” RIA No-vosti quoted Gazprom Marketing & Trading CEO Vitaly Vasiliev as saying. “We are confident that this deal will not only help strengthen and diversify Gazprom’s LNG portfolio, but also help GM&T build on our success in the Asia-Pacific region, where we have recently closed long and medium-term deals with numerous counterparties in

India and North East Asia.”Israel has two large offshore gas

fields - Tamar and Leviathan - off the coast of the city of Haifa. The Tamar gas field’s reserves are estimated at 238 billion cubic metres and the potential of the Leviathan field is estimated at 453 billion cubic metres. Two of the main partners in Tamar, Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel‘s Delek Ener-gy, are also part of the consortium de-veloping Leviathan.

Some uncertainty remains though, because Tel Aviv has yet to officially say it will allow significant gas exports. A debate is going on at the moment whether gas discoveries should be used mostly to secure Israel’s domestic consumption in the future, Israel’s Eco Energy CEO Amit Mor told an energy conference in Athens on 25 February. He added that Israel’s energy switch in the economy over the last few years has been quite impressive.

One of US-based Noble Energy’s platforms in the Mediterranean. |EPA/CYPRIOT PRESS

OFFICE/HANDOUT

Dialuce: Any new Italian government to support TAP


Energyinsider

ATHENS - The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the deve-lopment of Europe’s Southern Gas Corridor will proceed re-gardless of Italy’s new government, Gilberto Dialuce, director general for security of supply and energy infrastructure from Italy‘s Economic Development Ministry, told New Europe in Athens on 25 February. “It’s not a political question. It’s a mat-ter of fact because we started to study the possibility to open the Southern Corridor since 2005 when we decided with the Greek government to possibility to link the Greek and the Ita-lian network,” Dialuce said. Initially, both governments had thrown their support behind the Interconnector-Turkey-Gree-ce-Italy (ITGI), the Italian official explained, adding that after the project was excluded from the competition to transfer gas from the Phase 2 of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field, Athens and Rome have been supporting TAP in the race against Nabucco West.“We supported this project and the opening of the Southern Corridor, which is a general policy to increase security of sup-ply not only for Italy but also for Europe. So notwithstanding the next change in the Italian government, it’s a matter of fact,” Dialuce said.The final decision between TAP and Nabucco West will be made by the Shah Deniz consortium at the end of June. He said the European Commission is remaining neutral in terms of vocal support for TAP or Nabucco West and there are no conspiracy theories. “We had many meetings with European Commissioner [Gunther] Oettinger and the Commission of-fices now that the Commission is neutral for the two projects. It is common interest of the whole Europe that the Southern Corridor opens as soon as possible. Notwithstanding the total volumes that we can expect from Azerbaijan will not exceed 10 bcm (billion cubic metres) so it will not change the future of European gas demand,” Dialuce said.He noted that it is a good possibility to increase the opening of the Southern Corridor to exceed 10 billion cubic metres. But in order to boost these volumes more gas supplies from Azer-baijan and also from Turkmenistan is needed. “But to have gas from Turkmenistan we need to build the Trans-Caspian pipe-line and that is not so easy,” he said, referring to the disputed status of the Caspian Sea.Regarding Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline, Dialuce said that, according to the latest information, South Stream is sche-duled to be connected to the Italian network just south of the entry point on the boundary between Austria and Italy. “But since now we have not received any application from the com-pany to build the project or to have the environmental impact assessment or to have an intergovernmental agreement so it is a project also in the feasibility stage,” he said.Regarding Europe’s reliance on Russian gas, Dialuce pointed out that it is very difficult to imagine a European Union totally independent from Russia. The domestic production in Europe will decline. Also taking into account the economic growth that hopefully could start again in a few years but also considering the European policies for renewables and efficiency there will be the need to increase the import of gas so Russian gas will remain important for Europe, he said. “But at the same time we need to diversify the source of supply.” [email protected] follow on twitter @energyinsider

Gazprom official: South Stream may build branch to Greece

Governments and specialised Companies from more than 100 countries are meeting in Brussels on the occasion of the Crans Montana Forum on Africa & South-South Cooperation’s annual session.

Security upheavals in the Sahelo-Saharan zone and decisive democratic changes

Focus on Nigeria : management of Energy resources Africa, key partner of South-South Cooperation: Economic

development and global integration Transparent management of Public affairs and Natural resources Stimulating Foreign direct investment, a matter of credibility, stability

and confidence Club of African Port Meeting : Maritime Security & Port

Competitiveness CMF New Leaders for Tomorrow – The Digital revolution creating

unprecedented changes Crans Montana Women’s Forum : Fighting Poverty & Child

Malnutrition

Information & Registration : [email protected]

www.cmf.ch

Brussels (Belgium) - Hotel Le Plaza March 6 to 9, 2013

CRANS MONTANA FORUM AFRICA & SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi Executive Governor Rivers State, Nigeria

Mr. Charles Koffi Diby Minister of State

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Côte d’Ivoire

Mr. Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi Director General

Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, U.A.E

Mr. Philippe Douste-Blazy Dep. Secretary General, United Nations

President, UNITAID

Mrs. Mari Pangestu Minister of Tourism & Creative Economy

Indonesia

Mr. Rached Ghannouchi President & Founder

Ennahda Movement, Tunisia

Mr. António Mascarenhas Monteiro Former President of Cape Verde

UN Special Envoy for Nutrition for West Africa

Mr. Masoud Barzani President

Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq

Mr. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal Speaker of the National Assembly, Nigeria

Mr. Alain Michel Luvambano Secretary General, MOWCA

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15EU-WORLDNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

New York Mayor gives $100 Million to fight polioMichael Bloomberg, the business-

man and current Mayor of New York has announced that Bloom-

berg Philanthropies will donate $100 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) six year plan to eradicate polio.

Polio can disable or kill, but can be pre-vented with a vaccine.

The numbers of people and nations af-fected by the disease has fallen to record lows, leaving campaigners with a realistic ambition to end the disease.

There were only 225 documented case and just three countries were affected, Ni-geria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. India, long-regarded as the nation facing the greatest challenges to ending polio, was declared polio-free in February 2012.

“It’s unthinkable that polio still exists in the world when we have the tools and tech-nology to protect children from this preven-table, debilitating disease. Now is the time to invest in making polio history.

Doing so will protect future generations of children and pave the way for other life-sa-ving interventions to reach the world’s most vulnerable populations,” said Bloomberg. “We are thrilled to join the Gates Foundati-on and other partners in the effort to end this disease once and for all.”

“We’re at a critical juncture in the global effort to end polio. If we’re going to achieve a polio-free world, we must act quickly and commit now to providing the resources nee-ded to fund the GPEI plan and to get the job done. Mayor Bloomberg’s commitment is a

key development in helping to ensure that all children are protected from this and other vac-cine-preventable diseases. I look forward to continuing to work with him on this and other critical global health initiatives,” said Gates.

A vaccine against polio was discovered by Dr Jonas Salk in 1952, passing tests in 1955.

An oral vaccinne was licensed in 1965.GPEI’s Polio Eradication and Endgame

Strategic Plan 2013-2018 is spearheaded by WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in broad consultation with countries, donors, vaccine manufacturers, regulatory agencies and nati-

onal and international advisory bodies. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on im-munization in November 2012 followed by the WHO Executive Board in January 2013 endorsed the major objectives of the Plan and its associated milestones. Finalization of the Plan is anticipated in March 2013.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (L) speaks at a City Hall press conference.|Mario Tam/AFP

180,000 at risk of FGM in EUActivists prepare to fight genital mutilation

Several panels of women from around the world gathered at the European Parliament on 27February to discuss the issue of female genitalia mutilation (FGM) and Europe’s hu-man rights stance on putting an end to this form of violence against women and girls.

More than 10 women shared results of their research studies and personal expe-riences working with victims of FGM in the field. Speakers included Vice President of the European Parliament Isabelle Durant, Dr. Fa-bienne Richard, Ifrah Ahmed and Dr. Chri-stine Loudes, the director of the END FGM European Campaign.

“There are a half a million individuals in Europe living with the consequences of FGM and 180,000 girls are at risk,” said Dominque

Dubourg, Senior Research at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. Those stati-stics were reiterated through the afternoon as a call to end this type of violence against women.

From the human rights perspective, there is a clear action plan. But when asked about a financial budgeting needed for to carry out the necessary policies, Dr. Loudes said there is currently no such specific plan.

“We are very much lacking an economi-cal argument for FGM unfortunately,” said Dr. Christine Loudes. “It’s all piecemeal right now. There are no coordinated action plans from the EU and no economic vision for the budget because we don’t know how much money is needed.”

On 6 March the EU partnered with Am-nesty International and will release research

results and statistics on FGM in Europe. It will be the most extensive research that has been done on the issue.

The END FGM campaign leaders are hoping this research will spark momentum toward action and developing a funding fra-mework.

The END FGM plan includes five ele-ments: further data collection, challenging Europe’s health care services to help women living with FGM, acknowledge FGM as a form of violence against women and girls from which they need protection, providing asylum and the EU accepting a significant lea-dership role to promote cooperation on this issue.

Originally from Somalia, Ahmed sought asylum in Ireland in 2006 and has since been an active spokeswoman on the topic of FGM.

“When I went to get a medical check up, the nurse did not know anything about FGM and I did not know how to describe what hap-pened to me,” she said.

While many people don’t think this is happening in Europe, but rather a far off Af-rican country, women and girls are at risk when parents immigrate to various European nations and believe they are carrying out their religious traditions.

“It is not a religious act, but a cultural one,” Ahmed said.

The act of FGM is a difficult crime to prosecute, as it is often done by a parent or close family member, and justified as a reli-gious tradition. The END FGM campaign is focused on prevention and medical awareness supported through increased research to put a stop to this type of violence.

By Andy Carling

By Clare Murphy

16 ARTS & CULTURE NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

On the 8 March 1978, BBC radio broad-cast the first episode of The Hitch Hi-kers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas

Adams, who first conceived the idea seven ye-ars earlier while lying drunk in a field near In-nsbruck.

The story is about Arthur Dent, an English-man who is whisked off to space by a friend, Ford Prefect, who “was not from Guildford, but a small star near Beetlegeuse” seconds before

the earth is demolished to make way for a hy-perspace bypass. Ford is revealed to be a resear-cher for the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Halfway through the first series we discover the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Learn how mankind is only the third most intelligent species on Earth, who built the plant and why. Then it all begins to get rather strange.

Alex McLintock, President of the show’s appreciation society says, “The Guide in the title was something like Wikipedia but written

by one company and stored on a hand held device. This was about fifteen years before the World Wide Web.”

Technology was a key ingredient of the show and in how it evolved from a radio pro-gramme to being a record, play, books, compu-ter game, TV series, comic and film.

Although firmly in the realm of science fiction McLintock explains that it “explored themes of philosophy, politics, religion, econo-mics and where to get the best alcoholic beve-rages and what you can do afterwards,” but it is best known for a very English humour and sati-re, laced with a subversion of the genre.

While much sci-fi has an intrepid hero sa-ving the world, in H2G2, as it is called by fans, the Earth is destroyed early in the story and the two protagonists are either looking for a party or, searching for a cup of tea.

But while multimedia and multi-platform have become modern day clichés, H2G2 has, without any planning or forethought, been a pi-oneer in telling a story in different formats.

“I don‘t think there was any deliberate at-tempt to tell the story in multiple formats at once,” says McLintock, adding, “For example the story is not always the same in different media. Some changes were forced upon them (such as using music for the radio show without permission) and others were just because the story was being retold.”

Adams died in 2001, but he was an early adopter of technology, said to have possessed one of the first Apple Macs in the UK, but McLintock says of the differing formats, “I think it was merely a means of getting the story to as many people as possible. He was working in radio and did a great job with it. He wrote the novelisation and added so much great ma-terial that you may not realise it was based on something else. “

He speculates, “Another possibility is that

Douglas Adams never threw any stories away. He often retold stories in different ways.” One of the plot lines of one of the later books was turned into a Doctor Who story, which was ne-ver filmed.

Another example is the early 80s text ad-venture game for home computers. It was fien-dishly difficult, relying on intuition and subver-ting logic.

As mentioned earlier, the galactic guide-book was akin to a Wikipedia, although as the show points out, it was incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable. The Earth’s entry, after updating by Ford Prefect, is simply “Earth: Mostly Harm-less.”

“Back in 1990 I was involved with an Inter-net project to recreate The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy using the Internet. We followed his idea of using field researchers, but Wikipe-dia worked much better by making anyone and everyone to contribute,” says McLintock.

Adams a had a go at overseeing an online guide many years later, called H2G2, and it is a more personable, informal and warmingly eccentric version of Wikipedia and well worth exploring.

For those new to the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, McLintock suggests, “It is real-ly funny and entertaining. Despite being over thirty years old the humour is as fresh now as when I first saw the tv series as a kid. The book is probably the best place to start, followed by the radio or TV series depending on which for-mat you like.”

He’s too diplomatic to mention it, but the 2005 film is not highly regarded by H2G2 fans, or indeed, cinema audiences.

If you want to know why the number 42 is so important, or the three worst poets in the universe are, then the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy will answer all your questions, alt-hough accuracy is not guaranteed, or likely.

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The most remarkable book in the galaxyUK science fiction author ‘accidentally’ reinvents storytelling

By Andy Carling

H2G2 on the web:

Official Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy Appreciation Society: http://zz9.org/Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_GalaxyH2G2, the fan made guide: http://www.h2g2.comThe Adventure game online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtmlA walkthrough of the adventure game: http://www.ign.com/faqs/2008/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-walkthrough-429003

Galactic adventurers, Ford Prefect (L) and Arthur Dent(R)

17fashion & styleNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

It is with utmost pleasure that we scrutinize Michael van der Ham’s new collection. This season, the Dutch designer took his

art of fabric decoupage a step further, reaching the delicacy and refinement of Japanese prints on light embroidered tops and dresses. Van der Ham added to his usual patchwork technique by experimenting with burnt, torn and crumpled effects, thus subverting the almost ‘too proper’ appearance of his ladylike dresses. Especially noticeable is his peculiar use of classical prints borrowed from the male wardrobe like tie and dressing gown fabrics for strict jackets and trousers.

Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos presented a spectacular collection in flamboyant primary colours, blood red, electric blue, citrus yellow, and sea blue highlighted by white and black, that evolved around the ‘armour’ theme, either the impressive gear of a Sci-Fi warrior or the protective carapace of the animal world: insects, shells and sea animals. ‘Solid’ structured jackets or coats recalled hawkish Samurai costumes, while others hinted at the sporty action woman with flashy and recognizable diving or skiing style outfits. Shapes and prints were oversized as if they were seen through the lens of a magnifying glass. Meanwhile, leopard

or reptile-like animal prints and white fur added to the general ‘wild’ impression.

When looking at the Vivienne Westwood Red Label each season, we rediscover Dame Vivienne’s peculiar sense of tailoring: her impeccable dandy jackets and coats, which are flatteringly fitted at the waist, her sophisticated buttoning, bias-cut miniskirts and asymmetrically draped dresses…all in joyful, optimistic colours. Westwood’s gift is indeed a touch of fantasy to women of all ages.

This season, Louise Gray’s self-acknowledged source of inspiration was performance art and the graffiti photo collages of artist Barbara Kruger. Gray’s prints were especially designed for the collection to serve her brightly coloured patchwork aesthetic. She collaborated once again with Robert Clergerie to create shoes with prints that perfectly matched the clothes, Stephen Jones to make ‘trash’ plastic bag hats and also with Lunettes Kollektion to produce ‘fun’ sunglasses and glasses with fake eyelashes attached.

Holly Fulton showed a collection that winked at the Bauhaus movement and the Russian Constructivist Avant-Garde in painting, architecture and advertising. For her prints, Fulton chose abstract motifs, cubic constructions and even photo collages featuring consecutive rows of lipstick that recalled 20’s futuristic advertisements. Indeed, even the colours of the garments, black, white, red and terracotta, were a tribute to this artistic period and added coherence to this meaningful collection.

Christopher Kane also gave in to the warrior trend this season, with a collection that beautifully reinterpreted the camouflage style in unusual autumnal tones, which he luxuriously adorned with fox fur. Then came a series of weaved ‘lace’ Amazon mini dresses with geometrical patterns that enhanced

Kane’s own personal taste for delicate detailing. Another technically impressive sub-theme was that of the mysterious flowers sewn onto light silk dresses. Last but not least, came the MRI scan images of a ‘healthy brain’, printed and embroidered onto black satin outfits. Kane’s was a richly themed collection, indeed, which paid tribute to all the fashion crafts, from lace making to embroidery and digital prints.

As for Jonathan Saunders, he presented an ultra-sexy series of lace dresses embroidered with foliage motifs in turquoise and red, while adding vinyl corsets or belts to otherwise ‘reasonable’ outfits. The overall collection was tinted with a certain retro feel as full knee-length skirts, tight waistlines and preppy coats gave the models a 50’s pin-up air. Louise Kissa

[email protected]

Tune in to London LONDON FASHION WEEK: FALL/WINTER 2013-2014

LOUISE GRAY© Louise Gray

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD RED LABEL© Ben Stansall/AFP

PETER PILOTTO© Andrew Cowie/AFP

MICHAEL VAN DER HAM© Andrew Cowie/AFP

HOLLY FULTON© Holly Fulton

CHRISTOPHER KANE© Christopher Kane

JONATHAN SAUNDERS© Jonathan Saunders

18 BRUSSELS AGENDA NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

An initiative of the Foundation for the Arts, Brussels

LAST MINUTE TICKETS FOR SHOWS & CONCERTS AT -50%

Avec le soutien de LA COMMISSION COMMUNAUTAIRE FRANÇAISE

Tickets for half price for performances and concerts on the same day. Arsène 50 offers you every day a wide range of performances, advises you in your choices and takes care of your reservation.

www.arsene50.be

Ticket sale: - At BIP, 2-4 rue Royale (Place Royale) 1000 BruxellesTuesday to Saturday, from 12.30 pm to 5.30 pm- Online on www.arsene50.beTuesday to Saturday, from 2 pm to 5.30 pm

FPA076-NewEurope 84x255.indd 1 8/09/11 12:35

UpcoMiNG EvENtS

Mehliana Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana Duo Ancienne Belgique Thursday March 7 – 20:00

The collaboration of renowned pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer/percussionist Mark Gu-iliana was a long awaited project between the two musicians.

Brad Mehldau is a jazz pianist best known for his work with the Brad Mehldau Trio, but has also per-formed with other well-known musicians like gu-itarist Peter Bernstein and singer-songwriter John Mayer. Mark Guiliana, leader of the band Beat Mu-sic, is best known for his work with Mehldau.

The idea of Mehldau jamming, for the first ti-me ever in a live setting, on a fender Rhodes and collection of vintage synthesizers accompanied by Guiliana maintaining the rhythms and beats was born several years ago. Due to touring, pursuing other projects and recording schedules, the mu-sic making didn’t begin until 2011.

In August of that year the duo premiered the result of their collaborative effort to a modest au-dience at the Falcon, a cozy venue in upstate New York, in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Mehldau’s hypnotic ease paired with Guiliana’s machine-li-ke jungle beats made for a uniquely free and en-chanting concert experience. After being gree-ted with much success in the US, Mehliana is tra-velling through Europe, with a pit stop in Brussels for a night.

What to expect? “A completely free form performance, with no

set compositions,” according to the Ancienne Bel-gique. It’s the defining characteristic of Mehliana’s music, making each concert an individual expe-rience of complete free styling from two incre-dibly talented musicians. Mehldau’s harmonic and melodic qualities of a traditional pianist and Guiliana’s natural percussion is a refreshing im-provisation of electronic music.

Jan Swerts Ancienne Belgique March 9 – 16:00

Through their Artists in Residence program, the Ancienne Belgique sponsors artists who are just catching their stride in the music business and still searching for some foot hole to sustain their passion. The AB’s knowledge of the music busine-ss gives artists that extra push through concerts, re-

cordings in the AB studio or ABtv, photo sessions and providing an extensive network of contacts to help them experience success.

Meet Jan Swerts. He’s a Flemish minimal pia-nist that won over the hearts of the staff and au-diences at the AB. So much so that the demand for the 8pm concert on March 9 was so high, that Swerts agreed to do a second show in the after-noon of that same day.

Swerts has received praise from some of the mu-sic world’s most acclaimed musicians, inclu-ding Joni Mitchell and Wim Mertens and a wave of classic indie composers. The self-re-leased album “Weg” was the artist’s debut in 2010.

This year Swerts released his second album “De Anatomie Van De Melacholie”, this time produced through a major record label. Wi-th the evident jump in support between al-bums one and two, he has clearly taken a step in the right direction. The second album deals with scenes of awe-inspiring beauty commu-nicated through the minimalist singer-son-gwriter sound.

Though Swerts considers performing live a “necessary evil” the double showing at the Ancienne Belgique should prove to be an in-timately special day with the artist.

Slavic to the rhythmn

Calling all music lovers. A concert this coming

weekend (9 March) promises to offer a bit of so-mething for everyone.

The concert, at St. Gertrude Collegiate in Nivel-les, features a large mixed choir, a children’s choir, plus a symphony orchestra!

It is actually a rare opportunity to see this magni-ficent work under the general direction of Jacque-line Detroz.

Some 250 choristes and musicians from all over Belgium will come together a work of rare emoti-onal power.

The work is Slavic inspired and written in an ima-ginary language. It contains rhythmic and melodic themes and is sure to touch the hearts of everyo-ne present.

The six different choirs involved are: the Ami-croches, Choir Anthology, the Chantanne, the Shepherds, the Villanelle and the Chamber Or-chestra of Waterloo.

Information about tickets, which are priced 20 euros or 15euros if bought before the event, can be made via Nivelles tourism office on 067 840864. They are selling fast so you have been warned.

The Twelve, Thon Hotel EURue du la Loi 75Tel 02 204 3922

Open 12-2.30pm (Mon-Fri) and 6-10pm (daily).

If you thought hotel restaurant food has to be bland and boring,then think again.Named after the number of stars on the EU flag, this 70-seat restaurant happily bucks the trend and is an ideal place for a spot of lunch or relaxing dinner.The fixed lunch menu is complemented by modern dishes that change weekly.Starters feature pan fried forest mushrooms and Norwegian scallops while the main courses, ranging in price from 15 to 26 euros, include duck confit, Norwegian salmon roulade and Belgian Blue filet steak. All are delicious.The same can be said of the deserts, particularly the deep fried vanilla ice cream in spicy spe-culoos biscuit which is both original and very tasty. Snacks are also served and the open –plan hotel lounge bar is also very pleasant.The Twelve celebrates its first anniversary in April. It’s a ‘hidden gem’ at the heart of the EU quarter that is well worth checking out. Highly recommended.

Resto Bites

19ARTS & CULTURENEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

Fine writing from a journalist is not surprising but the ease of shifts in time and glances from the personal to the political are always astonishing when done right. Rick Zednik was co-founding editor in 1995 of The Slovak Spectator. He has written for, among others, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Columbia Journalism Review.Now with this memoir that begins with him gaining Slovak citizenship, he does more than offer a perso-nal account, although he does this as well, he also attaches personal significance to political events that happened to his ancestral and newly found country.There‘s a sense of looking through a family scrapbook and finding clippings of political leaders and revoluti-onary change. Not every family goes through this and few combine it all in quite such a readable fashion.His father, JuraJ Zednik, was a student abroad in the summer of 1968 when Warsaw Pact tanks invaded Czechoslovakia and given the choice, he decides not to go back home. He effectively loses everything as the Communist regime force him to renounce his Czechoslovak citizenship.Juraj has no choice but to embrace the immigrant life and then passes on this same route to his son who in later years goes back to his father‘s city of Bratislava. Rick, however, doesn‘t speak the language and is only just out of university.The innocence of a new life combined with the dying of a country‘s political system and the illness of his grandfather make surprisingly compelling writing. Dedko, his grandfather, and Babka, his grandmother, are our link between old and new in Slovakia.They are the constant in Rick‘s new life and they gain much importance in this tale. They connect all the generations and the personal and political. The are

the moral compass against which we decide whether abandoning an entire country and family is ultimately worth it.The Zedniks aren‘t the only family to have to evalua-te the importance of family and country through the toughest means possible, losing everything with no choice to go back. But they do have a chance many expatriates don‘t get. They have the chance to go back and examine it all after the Velvet Revolution topples Communism in 1989.This is an alluring tale which must have taken a lot of dedication and note-taking over the years as past and present are told with an eye to even the finest de-tail. Sometimes it can be overenthusiastic with exact heights of family members recorded and some anec-dotes included perhaps just because they could be.Overall though there is something very touching about this story which covers both political and per-sonal but never veers too far on either side.

Kandinsky & Russia8 March – 30 June , Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

One of the founding fathers of abstract art, the Russian painter, Wassily Kandinsky, is retur-ning to Brussels, 100 years after his last exhibition in May 1913.

The exhibition has over 150 works, but Kandinsky provides a third of all the paintings on show. They show the artistic and intellectual complexity of a true genius who drew inspirati-on at the same time from the Russian symbolist movement, Greek culture, German metaphysics, orthodox spirituality and esotericism.

The other works include popular art works and paintings by Larionov and Malévitch.

Apart from being credited with producing the first abstract painting, ‘Painting with circle’ in 1911, the artist became a European figure.

Born in Moscow in 1866, it was 30 years be-fore he began studying art in Munich, leaving be-hind a career in teaching law and economice. As a student, Kandanski excelled.

In 1914, the artist returned to Russia, and

collaborated in art education and museum re-form, but he concentrated on teaching art. His spiritual views, influenced by Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, who were enthu-siasts of the occult and eastern religions, and ar-tistic leanings towards expressionism and the ab-stract, brought him into conflict with the political forces in power.

In 1921, he accepted an invitation to teach at the Bauhaus, where he taught the basic design class for beginners and the course on advanced theory. His theories deepened and he took a gre-ater interest in geometric forms.

“Everything starts from a dot,” he said.Kandinsky was one of Die Blaue Vier (Blue

Four), formed in 1923 with Klee, Feininger and von Jawlensky, which lectured and exhibited in the United States in 1924. Due to right-wing hostility, the Bauhaus left Weimar and settled in Dessau in 1925. Following a Nazi smear cam-paign the Bauhaus left Dessau in 1932 for Berlin, until its dissolution in July 1933. Kandinsky then left Germany, settling in Paris.

In 1936 and 1939 he painted his two last ma-

jor compositions, the type of elaborate canvases he had not produced for many years.

In Kandinsky’s work some characteristics are obvious, while certain touches are more discrete and veiled; they reveal themselves only progres-sively to those who deepen their connection with his work. He intended his forms (which he subt-ly harmonized and placed) to resonate with the observer‘s soul.

Kandansky also had the disapproval of Germany’s own political extremists, the Nazis, who raided the Bauhaus in the 1930s resulted in the confiscation of Kandinsky‘s first three Com-positions. They were displayed in the State-spon-

sored exhibit „Degenerate Art“, and then destro-yed (along with works by Paul Klee, Franz Marc and other modern artists).

Composition VII, the artist said, is his most complex work, the first seven in this series were loosely based on apocalypse, He made over thir-ty preparation drawings before finishing the pain-ting in just four days, but it is considered to be his greatest achievement. Art experts have noted the central form, almost like a hurricane, with form and shape in its wake. It’s said that the work con-tains themes and references to the resurrection, final judgement, the deluge and garden of Eden.

It is remarkable and… in Brussels.

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Composition VII 1913, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Kandinsky returns to Brussels after 100 years

A book review by Joanna Papageorgiou

A Country Lost, Then FoundDiscovering My Father’s Slovakia by Rick Zednik

A COUNTRY LOST,THEN FOUND

Discovering My Father’s Slovakia

RICK ZEDNÍK

book REviEw

20 TECHNOLOGY NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

Europe is facing several challenges in the wireless industry trying to not fall behind the US and Asian countries. Mobile spec-

trum demand is one of those challenges and EU Member States are trying to align their approach creating a telecoms single market.

“Spectrum is still a mess. The EU spectrum allocation maps look like a bowl of spaghetti”, sta-ted Digital Agenda Vice President Neelie Kroes during a conference at the Mobile World Con-gress (MWC) in Barcelona.

The commissioner talked up intentions of 5G networks expansion by 2020 and announced €50 million EU research grants to develop this kind of technology. “I want 5G be pioneered by Europe-an industry, based on European research and cre-ating jobs in Europe – and we will put our money where our mouth is,” Kroes said.

The EU has authorised 1,200 megahertz of spectrum for wireless broadband, but on average Member States have only granted 65% of it, Le-onidas Kanellos, Chairman of Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BE-REC), told New Europe.

Kanellos explained that it is important to find the right balance between the need of ministers of finance to collect as much money as they can from

this formalisation and the prices telecoms offer to users. Kroes, described the spectrum situation as an “inexcusable waste.” Spectrum is becoming a resource in shorter, therefore harmonisation is needed among all policies and the mobile sector, the commissioner explained.

Besides, “it‘s not just about having the right amount of spectrum. It‘s critical that the spectrum is harmonized on a global basis,” Franco Bernabe, chief executive of Telecom Italia in a speech at the mobile conference.

But this urgent necessity of spectrum may carry consequences, such as the disappearance of some technologies that are changing the way they reach the public.

Renato Lombardi, Vice President of Huawei‘s Microwave Product Line, told New Europe at the MWC that “GSM will stay for a long time, becau-se is good for voice calls and its investment has been large”. However, he affirmed that other type of technologies, like TV, have more possibilities of be deleted.

New TV services, such as IP TV, “ will per-mit setting free spectrum”, he said and added that “mobile will be also a good vehicle for TV, but for instance the digital TV is using a very valuable spectrum which could be useful.” NR

Will TV survive the spectrum demand in Europe?

Huawei showcases AirSharing cloud solution at MWC

The Chinese company Huawei show-cased on 27 February at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona

its latest solution AirSharing, which connects a range of devices including smartphones, tablets and home gadgets. AirSharing integrates con-tent from all devices and their control, through Huawei’s wireless cloud. Among its functions, we can find the projection of photos from a mobile phone for instant viewing via television and the possibility of sharing the gaming experience from smartphones to tablets or TVs.

The cloud solution was developed to be also useful for businesses. For instance, people won‘t need laptops to project documents onto a mo-nitor, they will have the possibility to use their smartphones and a Wi-Fi connection.

For the time being, Huawei is offering AirS-haring to its costumers, but in the near future the company plans to open it “to third-party content providers and developers to further build on this multi-platform to benefit customers even more through a smart, integrated world”, said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group.

By providing AirSharing to third-party com-panies, Huawei aims to provide more interactive and richer content in videos and music so as to be a high-quality, multi-media source for users. On 24 February at the MWC, Huawei introduced the world‘s fastest smartphone in the market, As-

cend P2. It is the first smartphone to support 4G or LTE, which allows for download speeds up to 150Mbps. Richard Yu explained the device offers faster Internet access speeds on Wi-Fi networks, sports a 4.7-inch display and runs on a 1.5GHz quad-core. In addition, Ascend P2 runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, has a 13 megapixel rear-facing ca-mera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing one.

According to Gartner report, Huawei is the world‘s third-largest maker of smartphones, after Samsung and Apple. Director of Global Brand Management, Amy Lou said that it takes time to build a brand, but that the company is committed to build a name as a “visionary challenger.”

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Huawei’s Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu | AFP PHOTO / JOSEP LAGO

21TECHNOLOGYNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

The digital revolution and new tech-nologies are changing the way people around the world connect with each

other, work, are informed and entertain them-selves. In the middle of this scenario, the Chi-nese giant Huawei, is holding a series of events in an attempt to bring together influential ICT stakeholders and discuss broadband infra-structure and strategies.

During the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-Ge-neral of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) explained at Huawei´s forum “Mobile Broadband Drives Digital Society” that the digital divide is still an issue in several regions and that stakeholders have to build a bridge between both societies. “We need to see priority given by policy-makers”, he stressed.

Today, online services go from science to health care to education and beyond, and an efficient broadband infrastructure is essential to achieve success and deliver these technolo-gies to citizens.

According to Ryan Ding, CEO of Huawei Carrier Network Business Group, broadband offers the digital society opportunities to grow, but also risks “to our economies if we do not take appropriate action.”

Wen Ku, Director General at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China, highlighted that every person in the world has the right to be connected and im-prove their lives using, for instance, mobile

applications.Discussing about concrete strategies that

governments should launch to maximize the impact of broadband and the digital society, Wen Ku pointed out that in few years rural areas should have, at least, a 4Mgb connection and that the investment on apps must increase.

Broadband innovation is an enabler of so-cial and economic development in countries like Nigeria. According to Eugene Juwah, CEO of Nigerian Communications Commission, the GDP increased in Nigeria 1% since they bet on mobile technologies and will climb to 10%-15% by 2017 thanks to broadband pene-tration.

Juwah also explained that suppliers´ strate-gy is essential for development and Huawei is

helping the country to delete the digital divide. For instance, the Chinese solutions provider developed Windows phones in the country and it will invest $627 million in the Nigerian telecommunications company Nitel

The gap on mobile broadband is still big and a new infrastructure is needed, as well as the necessity of differentiate between markets and establish standards, pointed out Peter Ja-rich, Vice President of Current Analysis.

Nevertheless, to redefine the current in-frastructure and business model is a challenge, and other issues have to be taken into account, such as transparency, net neutrality and cy-bersecurity, concluded Tomasz Gerszberg, from Deutsche Telekom.

Discounted mobile messaging from Facebook

Pamela Clark-Dickson, Senior Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media spoke about Facebook’s decision to offer dis-

counted mobile messaging data in 14 coun-tries. Facebook’s partnership with 18 mobile operators can deliver benefits to the operators and to Facebook said Ms. Clark-Dickson.Facebook seeks to improve the experience of its users. One of its late accomplishments is that will of-fer either free either discounted mobile messa-ging data in 14 countries. Some of the mobile operators are in emerging markets, where smartphone penetration is low, but where Facebook is very popular. Both Facebook and mobile operators will benefit from this partnership. Meanwhile, in late January Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that in 2012, Fa-cebook became a mobile company. Since that, Facebook announced or executed a number of new practices that reinforce Zuckerberg’s pro-nouncement. For example, “the social network recently introduced free calling within North America”. Informa Telecoms & Media believes that Fa-cebook could generate about US$1 billion in revenues from mobile advertising in 2013, or about 10% of total global mobile advertising revenues of US$12.8 billion in 2013. NR

Technologies such as Near field commu-nication (NFC) and mobile applications are changing the way consumers pay

for goods. Google Wallet, Apple’s Passbook, Isis Mobile Wallet and Visa payWave are part of a market which showed, during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, new mobile pay-ment services from around the world.

The South Korean MoCa Pay describes itself as “the most convenient and intelligent payment service” and according to Jai Jang, Vice President of Service Division, this application “is better than Google Wallet.”

Jai Jang told New Europe that MoCa Pay can be used online and offline, and the payment can be processed via barcode, QR code, NFC or Push Notifications. Besides, MoCa saves 90% of the time it takes to process payments, both online and offline.

While Google Wallet is only available for Samsung, LG and HTC and only accepts a few number of credit cards, the South Korean com-pany offers a service compatible with all products and credit cards.

MoCa is a free mobile application and can be downloaded at the Apple App Store and Google Play. Once users have the app installed they just have to select the payment method, select a card, enter their PIN, select the best option the app offers (coupons, discounts,...) and pay. In additi-on, they have the option of make a donation to UNICEF.

The payment system is already available in South Korea and its European expansion is ex-pected to take place during this year, Jang told New Europe. Moreover, MoCa Pay has been se-lected as a finalist for the 2013 Innovator Award at Harvard University in the Best Technology Category.

Also at the MWC, ams AG and Mobeam announced they have signed a partnership in an attempt to accelerate the ability of smartphones to transmit barcoded content that can be read by all point-of-sale (POS) laser scanners.

With this partnership, handset makers will be able to fully support mobile commerce ap-plications that use barcodes, such as coupons, loyalty cards, gift cards and tickets. Furthermore, this will mean the end of printed coupons, which consume 13 million trees every year.

Besides, Swedish tech company Mobill laun-ched at the MWC a new version of M-Ticket, which is Sweden’s most popular mobile payment service and announced plans for an international expansion.

With M-Ticket 2.0, users can buy tickets using their mobile devices with payment via a mobile wallet, bank/credit card or mobile phone account. Likewise, it can be adapted to a variety of payment options, languages, mobile operators and network technologies.

MWC has offered just an introduction of what users will see during 2013, which will pro-bably be the year of mobile payment. NR

Mobile payment to take off in 2013

Mobile broadband, key for development and growth

Panel discussion at Huawei´s forum at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona | Nerea rial

By Nerea Rial

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22 EUROPEAN UNION NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

FINLAND | CENSUS

Angola’s population register to be compiled by VaadinThe Turku-based technology company Vaadin has received a major order from the judicial system of Angola in Southern Africa. The project involves the reform of the register, notary and legal services provided by Angola’s Ministry of Justice. The reform will be carried out jointly with the country’s largest IT supplier Merap Consulting, it was reported on 25 February. Angola has eight million inhabitants, of which about five milli-on live in the capital Luanda. During the internal conflict that ended in the country in 2002, the majority of the population migrated elsewhere and were never registered as citizens of Angola. One of the project’s main goals is to reach that part of the population and to include them in the population register in order to guarantee them the rights and obligations that be-long to them, such as the right to vote. “The value of the deal is impossible to evaluate at this point, as it involves a consul-tancy agreement. Nevertheless, this project will account for a significant part of our net sales and right now, we expect it to keep us busy at least until the end of this year, said Vaadin’s Sa-les Director Fredrik Ronnlund.

DENMARK | SHIPPING

Growth on the way for MaerskShipping and gas giant AP Moller-Maersk released its annu-al report on 22 February and revealed a pre-tax profit of 42.5 billion Danish crowns for 2012, which represents a 16% de-crease over the previous year, Copenhagen Post reported. Overall revenue, however, came in at 23.4 billion crowns, a 29% increase over 2011. Nils Andersen, the CEO of Maersk Group, expressed satisfaction with the results, highlighting the performance of its shipping business. “After a difficult start, Maersk Line improved its performance and the group achieved a result above last year’s, both in terms of net result and in underlying performance,” Andersen said in a press sta-tement. According the company, higher freight rates and cost cutting measures were the primary reasons for the improve-ment. In a press conference following the annual report’s re-lease, Andersen told reporters that Maersk expected to acqui-re four new Triple E mega-ships, the largest in the shipping branch, in 2013. The company also said it would hire thou-sands of new employees this year. In Maersk Drilling, one of the company’s subsidaries, the company is expected to hi-re 1,300 people this year as part of a plan to add 3,000 new workers by 2018. Maersk’s 2012 profits totalled 342 billion crowns, a 19 billion improvement on 2011.

LATVIA | REGIONAL COOPERATION

Riga hosts Northern Future ForumThis week, the Cabinet of Ministers will open its doors to Pri-me Ministers and experts of Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as Great Britain, who will arrive in Riga for the Northern Future Forum to discuss bridging the digital divide in the soci-ety and competitiveness of green economy. A meeting betwe-en the Prime Ministers of Latvia and Great Britain was held on 28 February. Around 100 participants are expected to take part in the Forum - Prime Ministers and delegates. The dele-gates will include more than 50 experts, researchers and entre-preneurs representing nine countries: the United Kingdom, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Fin-land and Sweden. Those who are interested in the Forum ple-ase find the programme and follow the discussions on the web-site of the Northern Future Forum. The Prime Minister of Fin-land Jyrki Katainen will not attend the Forum due to domes-tic policy reasons.

German greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2012. German greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2012 due to more coal and gas usage, while the country tries to develop its renewable energy sources, officials said Monday.

The German federal environment agency said in a written statement: “Green-house gas emissions in Germany increased slightly in 2012 by 1.6%. More coal was burned to generate electricity and more gas was used to heat homes, due to the weather,” it added. “The development of renewable energies abated the emissions‘ increase however.“ Germany’s ultimate goal was to eliminate the use of nuclear power. However, the country emitted the equivalent of around 931 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2012, or 14 million tonnes more than a year earlier, the federal environment agency said.

After the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, Germany decided to phase out its nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 and bolster renewable sour-ces of energy such as solar and wind po-wer. Concerns have risen over this am-bitious plan. Many afraid that this plan would lead to a sharp rise in electricity prices amid difficulties in building a net-

work able to transmit energy from the North Sea coast to the energy-hungry south of the country.

The AFP reports that Agency‘s presi-dent Jochen Flasbarth said fears that the nuclear exit would spark far greater green-house gas emissions had not happened

“because, above all, the further develop-ment of renewable energies has countered it. However, the trend of again converting more coal into electricity worries me”

Despite its high greenhouse gas output in 2012, Germany reduced its greenhouse gas emissions 25.5% compared to 1990.

Greenhouse gas emissions increase

A burning CO2 sign before the chancellery in Berlin during a environmental or-ganization Greenpeace protest action, 8 December 2011, asking German Chancel-lor Angela Merkel for a more decisive approach to climate protection. Greenpeace staged the protest to draw attention to the United Nations talks on climate change in Durban, South Africa.| EPA/SEBASTIAN KAHNERT

Finnish mobile manufacturer Nokia has unveiled four new phone models at the Mobile World Congress industry conven-tion in Barcelona.

The Lumia 720 and 520 are lower-pri-ced versions of its flagship Lumia Windows smartphone.

The Nokia 105, the company’s new ba-sic, entry-level phone, will sell for € 15 and the 301 will go for € 65. Both target consu-

mers in emerging markets.“By offering better experiences at a

more affordable price we are reinventing the battle for affordable mobile devices, and Nokia has the building blocks to win, said Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop.

The Finnish company hopes the new phones will increase sales in emerging mar-ket and shows it is refocusing on the chea-per end of the market, where it makes the

bulk of its handset revenue.Priced at about € 249 and € 139 respec-

tively, the Lumia 720 and 520 will start to roll out around the world in the second quarter with limited availability in Asia du-ring the first quarter.

The new phones are designed to fill the gaps in Nokia’s product line-up following the launch of its high-end Lumia devices and its mid-tier Asha feature phones.

Nokia increases range of phones

Swedish telecom giant Ericsson will save the British thirst for 4G, as it prepares to roll out the technology in a deal with UK provider O2, The Local reported on 25 February. “This network transformation will put us in a great position for a seam-less launch of 4G services this year,” said Andrew Conway, O2 mobile access head,

in a statement. The deal, announced last Monday,

follows on from a 3G cooperation that begun in 2010. Ericsson announced that it would be “deploying RBS 6000 multi-standard radio base stations for 50% of O2’s radio access network in the UK”.

The statement noted the increased

proclivity for smartphone usage and the increased demands it put on the mobile networks and data transfer capacity. “The end result will be a nationwide multi-stan-dard network that supports 2G/3G/4G, giving O2 the ability to manage with data traffic growth and expand its mobile co-verage,” Ericsson statement read.

Ericsson hooks up with O2 for UK 4G

Connie Hedegaard, the European Commissioner for Climate Action, and Marcin Korolec, the Minister of the Environment discussed the issue of preparations to the UN Climate

Conference COP19 on February 25 in the Ministry of the Environment. The UN Climate Conference COP19 will be organised at the National Stadium in Warsaw on 11-22 November 2013.

This will be the most important world discussion forum on global climate po-licy. The said meeting in the Ministry of the Environment is one of the stages of preparations to the Warsaw summit.

COP19 to be held in Warsaw November 2013

SWEDEN | TECHNOLOGY

FINLAND | MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

POLAND |CLIMATE CHANGE

GERMANY |CLIMATE CHANGE

23EUROPEAN UNIONNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

AUSTRIA | CONSUMER PROTECTION

IKEA stops selling meatballsIKEA’s additional "precautionary measure" was taken in all Eu-ropean countries, including Austria, said Barbara Riedl, spo-kesperson of the company with headquarters in Vosendorf (South of Vienna), Austrian Independent reported on26 Fe-bruary. Since the horsemeat scandal broke out, the company has repeatedly tested batches. Traces of horsemeat were found in the Czech Republic last week. I KEA decided to stop the sa-les of meatballs until there are further test results. "We are es-timating that probably at the end of the week test results will confirm that there is no horsemeat in the meatballs", a press release stated. Anders Lennartsson, IKEA Food Services, said that the company is taking the incident in the Czech Republic seriously. Few weeks ago, IKEA arranged for a DNA analysis of all meat products in their product range. Twelve samples of different batches of meatballs did not contain any horsemeat.

SLOVENIA | EMPLOYMENT

Slovenia unions strongly against privatisationSlovenia trade unions came out against the sale of state-owned companies last Monday, voicing fear about the recently adop-ted classification of investments in line with which state capi-tal assets will be transferred onto the Slovenia Sovereign Hol-ding, Slovenian Times reported on 25 February. The list in-cludes good, profitable companies which pay taxes and con-tributions, executive secretary of the ZSSS union federation Adreja Poje told the press. According to union, the classifica-tion is based on political preferences and short-sighted in pur-suing only the objective of getting money to reduce the budget deficit. The telco Telekom Slovenije as well as the motorway company DARS are classified as portfolio investments, mea-ning that they could potentially be sold in their entirety. "No sensible government would sell the national operator, the de-cision could even have an adverse effect on national security," said Srecko Lorencak, the head of the Trade Union of Trans-port and Communication. As for DARS, he said selling would not be sensible, as roads must remain a public good. The sta-te should retain a controlling stake, he said. Bostjan Marinko, the chief unionist in energy group Petrol, which is also classi-fied as a portfolio investment, said it was wrong to "sell a goo-se that lays golden eggs". Concern was also voiced by union re-presentatives in chemical group Helios, gaming chain Hit and insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav.

FRANCE | RETAIL

Carrefour signs new quality line partnershipsCarrefour France, the international supermarket chain, has sig-ned two new “Carrefour Quality Lines” partnerships, as part of its strategy of forging closer ties with producers. They include a new poultry line, the first in France, with chickens reared on GMO-free feed and treated without antibiotics, in partners-hip with more than 150 chicken farmers in the Auvergne regi-on of France. These free-range chickens are mainly fed on cere-als (up to 75%) and are available in the fresh produce depart-ment of Carrefour and Carrefour Market stores. The second partnership belongs to Carrefour’s Charolais beef line with Puigrenier, a family company located in Allier, Montluçon, in the centre of France. This partnership will eventually expand the Carrefour Quality Lines network to include 600 additio-nal cattle farmers. Carrefour currently has 87 “Carrefour Qua-lity Lines” in France and over 400 worldwide, covering fruit and vegetable, cheese, meat and fish, supplied by Carrefour’s 20,000 French partner producers.

On 27 February, France’s UN ambassa-dor Gerard Araud announced that a UN peacekeeping force will not be establis-hed in Mali until at least April. Mr. Araud stressed that France will not propose any request for a peacekeeping force until “se-curity conditions allow it.”

However, on 7 February, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius high-lighted that the French government aimed to replace its forces with a UN peacekeeping force by April. Fabius told reporters then, “from the moment that security is assured, we can envisage wi-thout changing the structures that it can be placed under the framework of U.N. peacekeeping operations.” When he was asked about April’s goal he replied, “yes, our experts and those we are working with are aiming for that.”

Yesterday, Araud told reporters that the UN Security Council agreed to send a let-ter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asking for an assessment on “the modalities and conditions for the creation of a peace-keeping force.” When the Council receives the study, then it will start negotiations for setting up the mission.

However, according to France 24, even if the Council approves the peacekeeping

force resolution in April, it normally takes up to three months after that for the UN to set up its own military command.

The reason behind the delay seems to be the lack of political cohesion bet-ween the different groups in the African country. The Security Council acknow-ledged the fact that a consensus between the Bamako government, the ethnic

Tuaregs and the Arabs in the North is necessary for achieving a sustainable so-lution in Mali.

For that reason, Araud quoted a letter written by Malian President Dioncounda Traore. Mr. Traore asked the rapid deplo-yment of AFISMA in Mali as he believes that the African force can contribute to Mali’s political stability.

Peacekeeping force in Mali comes up against delays

French soldiers patrol a street on February 28, 2013 in the northern Mali's largest city Gao.France, which is battling Islamist militants in Mali, will not formally propose setting up a UN peacekeeping force to take over until at least April, the French UN ambassador said Wednesday. |AFP PHOTO /JOEL SAGET

One of the world’s largest private educatio-nal and language travel companies, EF Ed-ucation First, will organise the first Interna-tional Language Days in Brussels on 8 and 9 March. Even though it is organised for the first time in the European capital, the event is already well known in Spain and Italy, where it took part in February this year and June 2012, respectively. The initiative, which

is expected to bring more than 1000 people, aims at providing information about more than 40 language travel destinations, trai-neeships and options for working abroad. It is directed mainly at people who want to do a language travel trip, step-up their career by improving their linguistic skills or just learn a new language. Besides the information stands, the visitors will have the opportunity

to take part in various free-of-charge acti-vities, including workshops and seminars. Some of them will provide advice on how to create a successful international CV; proce-dures on obtaining an internship abroad; ex-planation of the Cambridge certificates and TOEFEL; presentation of the Marshall plan scholarship; as well as opportunities to learn a language with the use of new technologies.

Brussels to host International Language Days

The Liberal Democrats won the election with 32% and UKip's 27.8% beat the Conservatives 25.37% into third place, giving the Eurosceptic party their best ever result. Labour trailed with under 10% of the vote. The constituency is near Southampton, nestled between the South Downs and New Forest National Parks. The election was called after Libe-ral MP, Chris Huhne resigned after ad-mitting perverting the course of justice, after it was revealed that, whilst an MEP, he persuaded his wife to take the blame for a motoring offence he had commit-ted. In 2010, Huhne beat the Conserva-tive candidate by under 4,000 votes with

Labour coming a distant third.The two coalition partners were in

a bitter fight with each other, and UKIP, who gained steadily throughout the elec-tion campaign.

The Conservatives are dismayed as their highly Eurosceptic candidate is considered to have had a very poor cam-paign, with failing to appear at hustings and questions being asked over her clai-med business record. It was also believed that, after a series of high profile gaffes, that the party minders kept her away from the press.

David Davis, considered as a right wing challenger in waiting for the party

leadership said that a loss would be a "cri-sis" for the Tories.

UKIP campaigned on an anti-immi-gration platform and their candidate had to apologise for referring to Romanian migrants as criminals, a charge party lea-der, Nigel Farage MEP repeated, saying, "people should use this byelection as an opportunity to send a shattering message to the coalition that we do not want total open-door immigration to Romania and Bulgaria."

Farage said their result showed a "re-vulsion" for politicians and he ruled out any sort of deal with "con man" David Cameron.

Liberals win in Eastleigh

BELGIUM | EDUCATION

FRANCE | DEFENCE

UNITED KINGDOM |POLITICS

24 EUROPEAN UNION NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

ATHENS – The acquisition of Greek state-run gas company DEPA by Gazprom could undermine EU energy competition if the Russian gas giant bought DEPA and “then used that control to limit the ability of others to compete for contracts,” Matt Bryza, director of the International Centre for Defence Studies (ICDS) and former US ambassador to Azerbaijan, told New Europe in Athens on 25 February. “In other words, if it used the control of the ability to reach gas-supply contracts in a way that locked others out for a long time that could be a problem,” he said on the sidelines of the Athens Energy Forum 2013.

In addition to Gazprom, Russian energy firm Sintez Group, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and two Greek groups are among the bidders for DEPA.

Bryza said he believes Gazprom wants to acquire DEPA because it would like to maintain the current access it has to the Greek market. He added that Sergei Komlev, head of pricing and contract formation at Gazprom’s export division, and Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev have openly said they would like Gazprom to maintain oil-indexed trading instead of hub-based trading. “Whether the EU would find that out of compliance with EU regulations remains to be seen. It would depend on how the owner of DEPA behaved,” Bryza said.

Asked if Washington is pressing Athens not to sell DEPA to Gazprom, Bryza, who has served at the US State Department as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said: “There is a clear desire or hope among

the US officials that focus on this, which is not that many people by the way, that Greece will not take a step that reduces competition and works contrary to all the other efforts under the European Union right now to increase diversified supply. But I don’t think the US government is applying any pressure at all to Greece on this. I don’t think Obama administration and the Bush administration before that when I had responsibility on these issues ever believed it could pressure Greece to do anything”.

Brussels is pressuring Greece now for fiscal reasons, he said, adding that “on energy pipelines I always felt that Greece is going to make its own decisions”.

A well-informed industry source told New Europe on the sidelines of the Athens conference that Greece should not only look at the price when it considers bidders’ offers for DEPA “but the development prospective of the company given the undisputed importance of the company as an incumbent in the Greek market but also as an important regional player”. But he added that it cannot overlook a high offer.

Bryza told New Europe that the sale of DEPA to Gazprom could work if, and that’s a big “if”, there are the right terms and conditions and the right regulations put in place to allow gas to be traded according to the forces of supply and demand.

“It’s entirely how the contracting authority will be regulated that matters here and my question I would put back to anyone is why does Gazprom want to acquire DEPA? It’s not because it believes in the European Union’s attempts to de-index oil and gas prices to bring prices down. No, it wants to keep prices high. That’s

obvious, that’s openly stated by Gazprom. So how could it be in Greece’s interests to see higher prices in Greece? The economy does not need higher prices,” Bryza argued.

The US diplomat said that high prices and complaints about monopolies created the crisis in neighbouring Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, Gulmira Rzayeva, Research Fellow at Azerbaijan’s Centre for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan, said SOCAR should be keen to acquire 30-35% of DEPA’s shares to push its interests.

The expert said the sale of DEPA “could indirectly affect the Southern Corridor” because DEPA and transmission system operator DESFA have quite important strategic value since they are involved in a very important infrastructure project - the Interconnector Greece Bulgaria (IGB).

She noted that both Greece and Bulgaria are entry points to Europe and gateways to the European market. Both countries need to be connected so if the Shah Deniz consortium selects the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), it can easily reach Bulgaria and other neighbouring countries via this interconnector and if Nabucco West is selected, then it could penetrate Greece, Albania and even the other Balkans by using the IGB in reverse flow, she said.

“If SOCAR becomes a shareholder of DEPA or DESFA it can be a shareholder of IGB and push it forward to be constructed and then we will have indeed a very important infrastructure in place so that to realise our project,” Rzayeva said. But, she argued, that if any other company takes over DEPA it can “just kill the project” if it’s not interested in having the IGB, which is the main driver of the Southern Corridor and is of strategic importance.

GREECE|ENERGY

Hellenic Petroleum profit up On 28 February, Hellenic Petroleum, Greece’s biggest oil re-finer, reported a 70% rise in profits as stronger refining mar-gins and soaring exports more than offset a slump in domes-tic demand for its fuels. Profit, adjusted for the value of the company’s oil stocks, rose to €232 million from €137 milli-on in the previous year, the company said. “2012 was a diffi-cult year for any company operating out of Greece, with eco-nomic activity declining for the fifth consecutive year coupled with tight liquidity conditions,” Hellenic Petroleum CEO John Costopoulos said. “Fuels consumption is now over 30% lower verses 2009 resulting in a totally different market landscape in terms of competition and supply chain requirements. At the same time, global oil markets were characterised by uncer-tainty, crude oil price volatility and weak demand fundamen-tals. In this environment we delivered a good performance, as a result of stronger refining margins and our focus on operati-onal competitiveness and cost control,” he said. “In addition, 2012 marks the completion of a five-year strategy that culmi-nated with the successful and safe start-up of the Elefsina new refinery. This €1.4 billion upgrade, the largest private invest-ment in Greece, has already moved into production allowing higher returns and increased exports, as well as transforming our group into one of the most competitive refinery, logistics and fuels marketing organisations in the East Med and So-utheastern Europe. Our priorities for 2013 will be the full le-verage of our modernised refineries, further cost control, the reduction of gearing, as well as the successful completion of the DEPA divestment process,” Costopoulos said.

ROMANIA|ENERGY

Dacia to enter green marketRomanian car manufacturer Dacia is to install solar panels on the roof of the Mioveni car factory and will thus enter the lo-cal energy market, Romania Insider reported on 22 February. Dacia’s parent company, French car maker Renault, has alre-ady installed solar panels at all six of its production plants in France. The Renault solar panels are above car parking areas for staff and new cars waiting for distribution and have the ad-ded benefit of protecting vehicles from the sun.

ROMANIA|ENERGY

Transgaz profits fall Romania’s National Gas Transmission Company Transgaz Medias recorded a preliminary net profit of €63.1 million in 2012, down some 26% compared to the previous year, accor-ding to the company’s repor, Romania Insider reported on 27 February. Transgaz’s total revenues also dropped over 2% last year, to some €319 million, mainly because the company trans-ported 547 million cubic metres less gas compared to 2011. The expenses of the gas company grew 3.1% year-on-year, to some € 229 million, while the turnover went slightly down to €292 million, according to the preliminary results. The Ro-manian state holds 73.5% of Transgaz’s share package, through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business Environment, while Fondul Proprietatea has 14.9%.

ROMANIA|POST

Total Post turnover triplesThe turnover of Total Post, one of the largest players in the addressed mail market in Romania, tripled last year to over 35 million Lei (€7.8 million), sustained by significant growth in mail deliveries that rose four fold to 43 million, Business Re-view reported on 26 February. The client portfolio also mo-ved up by 60% to over 200 companies that are active in the te-lecom, financial services and utilities sectors.

The Greek-Turkish natural gas pipeline in Peplo village, Evros prefecture, 18 November 2007. Greece’s state gas company DEPA and transmission system operator DESFA have important strategic value. |EPA/SIMELA PANTZARTZI

GREECE|INVESTMENT

Bryza warns of Greek DEPA sale to Russia


25ENLARGEMENTNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

FYROM | DEVELOPMENT

FYROM, Greek women work jointly in EU development projectWIN/WIN project, a new EU-funded project is garnering wo-men from FYROM and Greece to join in regional develop-ment and growth through their participation in employment and entrepreneurship, MRTOnline reported. The project whi-ch is part of IPA cross-border co-operation programme aims to establish connections that could serve as a basis for futu-re potential co-operation. In addition the project also aims to support and develop women’s businesses in targeted regions, and affect the economy on a local level. Some segments of wo-men participating in the project are especially unemployed women having difficulty finding employment, women with business ideas, women-owners or managers of small busine-sses, and women who are looking for extra income or want to work from home. In January the second of six conferences on the project was held in Bitola, a city bordering with Greece. It was attended by More than 120 women and the numbers are expected to grow to 200. Meri Stojanova, head of the project said, “Women’s opinions are collected at these workshops to determine the interest for each woman individually, each wo-man entrepreneur.” She stressed that Greek partners expertise has helped a lot. Popi Sourmaidou, managing director from Er-gani Centre, a leading partner of the WIN-WIN project in Gre-ece said that the WIN-WIN project is tailored to offer possibi-lities to women in order to gain new skills and abilities, to capi-talise profits from collaboration opportunities in new activiti-es. Gordana Sekulovska is a participant in the WIN-WIN pro-ject and a member of the Association for the Development of Alternative Tourism in Ljubojno, FYROM. She said that both sides fulfilled their duties conscientiously, professionally and successfully. A contact point for the project was opened in Re-sen, FYROM, to provide information to women or interested business circles after the project’s completion.

TURKEY | AGRICULTURE

Greenhouses to increase productionLast year the agricultural sector of Turkey has contributed $62 billion to the economy noting favourable geographic conditi-ons and abundant rainfall. The sector witnessed a great stride over the past three years which stems from significant govern-ment investment in major irrigation and infrastructure projects, Zaman reported. It was noted that the South-eastern Anatolian Project (Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi, GAP), a regional sustai-nable development scheme, has played a major role in strengthe-ning Turkey’s agricultural industry by providing infrastructure, planning and education for farmers. GAP provided training to farmers in contemporary irrigation and cultivation techniques, while providing them with modern tools and equipment. The scheme also expedited agricultural exports from $1.7 billion in 2002 to $5 billion in 2010, excluding processed food, Invest in Turkey said in a statement. In January-October 2012, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the agriculture sector also soared over the years, reaching $2.1 billion, according to the agricultu-re minister, Mehdi Eker. GAP greatly benefited the south-eas-tern city of Sanliurfa. The city tapped land consolidation pro-jects and irrigation systems to transform itself into a hub for gre-enhouse fruit and vegetable production. It was reported that se-veral EU states are now eyeing the region’s investment potenti-al with the increasing demand for produce in Europe. Around 54.216 ha were allotted for greenhouse production in Turkey, which was paced in fourth position for fresh vegetable cultivati-on in the world. On the global list for fruit production, the coun-try stood in the 11th rank. Turkey took steps to boost its green-house production in 2000 by drilling 54 geothermal wells in the south-east. Today, geothermal greenhouses in Sanliurfa hold a 24.5mw capacity over an area of 106,000 sq metres.

Commissioner for Enlargement and Eu-ropean Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle met Chairman of the Socialist Movement for Integration Ilir META in Brussels on 27 February to exchange views on the follow-up to the Council Conclusions from December and on the latest developments of the political situation in Albania.

The Commissioner said that Albania has no time to spare in its EU-related agenda:

“The current campaign period is no excuse for slowing work on EU-

oriented reforms, and government and opposition alike need to assume their responsibility in bringing Albania closer to the EU.”

Commissioner Füle reiterated the im-portance of successful preparation and conduct of the parliamentary elections on the 23rd June as a crucial test for the functioning of Albania’s democratic in-stitutions.

“It is essential that political leaders play their part in ensuring the elections are in line with international standards, to improve the credibility and stan-

ding of the democratic institutions and strengthen the accountability of politi-cians towards the Albanian people,” he said adding that the European Commis-sion is ready to assist in this process as much as possible and intensify its enga-gement if the political parties create the necessary conditions for that.

“When it comes to elections it is im-portant to ensure highest possible par-ticipation of voters and coming back to the business of the European agenda very soon after the elections,” Commis-sioner Füle stressed.

Elections awaited

Turkcell has announced plans to launch a smartphone designed and manufactured in its home

market of Turkey by the end of 2013 Mo-bile World Live reports from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The an-nouncement was made by Süreyya Ciliv, Turkcell’s CEO, in the presence of Binali Yildirim, Turkey’s Minister of Transport, Marina Affairs and Communications, at a press conference in Barcelona today.

Code-named Gabze, after the city in which the 700-employee Turkcell Tech-nology R&D centre is located, the new smartphone will be developed by Tur-kish designers and engineers and incor-porate an interface unique to Turkcell.

The Gezbe smartphone will build on the T Series range of Turkcell-branded Android smartphones manufactured for the operator in China. The range of competitively priced devices was develo-ped to improve equality-of-access to the internet. T Series sales have exceeded 750,000 units. Turkcell has also laun-ched its own tablet.

Observing that Apple iPhone is de-signed in California but manufactured in China, Ciliv inferred that Gezbe could become the Cupertino of Turkey.

Ciliv said, “With our Gebze smart-phone, we aim to lead and encourage

other sector players to manufacture in Turkey, thereby positively contributing to the current account deficit. Inde-ed, it is possible that TRY500 million (€212,256,158) will remain in Turkey’s pocket for every million units of local smartphones sold.” Turkcell also hopes to open up export markets for the new device, initially in its local region.

Turkcell also announced a co-opera-

tion agreement with Qualcomm that will give Turkcell access to advanced features of Qualcomm chipsets and open the door to joint R&D initiatives.

Qualcomm Senior VP & President of Europe Enrico Salvatori said that Qualcomm’s partnership with Turkcell marked an important development not just for Turkey, but also for other coun-tries in the region.

Turkcell smartphones to be manufactured in Turkey

Turkey was recently placed as the lowest among OECD countries in female em-ployment, according to the statistical data provided in the “Factbook 2013” on the OECD’s environment, economy and so-cial fields, Zaman reported, In 2011, The average female employment was 56.7% but in Turkey it was mere 27.8%. “Factbook

2013” states that although the country is low in female employment, but it also shows a brighter finding for Turkey.

It states that in the rate of self-employed women, Turkey is leading among OECD countries with 48.4%. This signals how successful a distance Turkey have covered on the road of female entrepreneurship. It

was reported that the policies supported by the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGIDER) set up by 38 female entrepreneurs led by the head of the exe-cutive committee of Otaci, Meltem Kurt-san, in 2002 that have played a major role in boosting the accessibility of microcredit for women.

Female entrepreneurs can boost growth

ALBANIA | ELECTIONS

TURKEY |TEChNOLOGY

TURKEY |BUSINESS

Locals in Istanbull pass by a TurkCell outlet. Istanbul, Turkey. HURT

26 ENLARGEMENT NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

SERBIA|INVESTMENTS

IMF arrangement guarantee for safe investments The resumption of talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May will entail the restoration of a precautionary ar-rangement, Belgrade-based daily Vecernje novosti quoted Cen-tral Bank Governor of Serbia Jorgovanka Tabakovic in an inter-view. She said Serbia does not need another financial arrange-ment, but a precautionary arrangement, which would be an ad-ded guarantee for investors that Serbia is a safe country for in-vestments, with a sustainable economic policy, and capable of meeting its obligations by maturity dates. He stressed that Ser-bia need IMF arrangement as a guarantee that it is safe for invest-ments. Outlining the most important goals set by NBS, Tabako-vic said that by the year end she expects the inflation would drop to the target band and stabilise at a low level.

MONTENEGRO|EU AFFAIRS

Van Rompuy, Dukanovic discuss Balkan regionPresident of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy re-cently met with Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milo Dukano-vic in Brussels. In course of talks, Rompuy said that the ope-ning of EU accession negotiations with Montenegro indicates that EU doors are open for the entire region, Montenegro Ti-mes reported. Rompuy praised the positive and constructive role of Montenegro in the Balkan region and urged Montene-grin Prime Minister Dukanovic to continue such efforts. Rom-puy congratulated Montenegrin premier for the country’s’ suc-cess in 2012 which led to the launch of accession negotiations. He stressed that Montenegro builds on the progress made es-pecially in the rule of law.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA|AVIATION

BiH airlines to expand network this summerAs part of its strategy to expand fleet this summer season, Bosnia and Herzegovina Airlines plans to lease a Fokker 100. The Bos-nian national carrier is eyeing a possible wet or dry lease of a jet engine aircraft, Fars news agency reported. The F100 has been listed on global ticketing systems and will enter service for the airline from 31March although no firm decision has been fina-lised whether this model will be selected. The airline has kept all its options open. All other aircraft being considered have a si-milar capacity to the F100, though not affecting ticket sales. The aircraft would be used on flights to Istanbul. Last February BiH Airlines featured a jet engine aircraft in its fleet.

CROATIA|BATTERIES

Croatia to host Battery Recycling conventionInternational Congress for Battery Recycling 2013 is schedu-led to take place on September 11-13 at the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace on the Croatian coast, Javno reported. The event organi-ser is Swiss firm ICM. The event will garner more than 200 in-dustry, authority and academia representatives. Main topics t e covered includes worldwide battery legislation; the success of Li-ion battery technologies; emerging recycling technologies and processes; the future of LEV, EHV, PEHV and EV battery systems; recycling efficiency and experiences spanning mul-tiple countries; safety issues; and transportation regulations. Within the sidelines of the forum, ICM will also offer a targe-ted training course regarding the transport of dangerous goods.

Expressing concern over the recent de-velopments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Renzo Da-viddi called on Federation President Zivko Budimir, in agreement with the Federation Vice-Presidents, and the relevant political parties to ensure that the Federation gets a fully functional go-vernment at the earliest, Fars news agen-cy reported.

Daviidi underlined that the Federati-on authorities need to agree on all the necessary political and economic re-forms as well as on the key EU priorities.

Political Analyst Adnan Huskic re-called that EU envoys no longer want to participate in the process of government reconstruction in Federation but they can’t be totally diverged from it. He said that Sarajevo citizens are aware of the lack of a functional government in Fede-ration which is need of the moment.

A no-confidence vote in government at the parliament had triggered the pu-blic. Now the Constitutional Court has to make a decision in this regard but so far Constitutional Court judges have been named.

The top priority now is that the Fe-deration quickly gets a fully functional Constitutional Court and that the judges are appointed to the Court without any further delays so that the Court becomes fully operational and able to address is-sues of national interest.

Huskic said that all eyes are now fixed on the appointment of missing judges at the Constitutional Court which would later resolve the issue of vi-tal national interest that was initiated at the House of Peoples. Daviddi said that EU expects the Federation President and all relevant political parties to follow

standard democratic rules, refrain from obstructing democratic processes or mi-suse constitutional mechanisms.

European Commissioner for En-largement and Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle has said the prospect of a credible application of Bosnia and Her-zegovina remains open.

EU calls on BiH for a fully functional government

European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle attends a conference. The EU said authorities need to agree on all the necessary polit-ical and economic reforms as well as on the key EU priorities. |EPA/FILIP SINGER

According to data unveiled by the Stati-stics Authority of Montenegro, turnover in wholesale and retail trade of motor vehicles and motorcycles in the country last year went down by 13.5% compared to 2011, Montenegro times reported. The data also showed that turnover in wholesale trade decreased by 5.1% and in retail trade by 19.8% compared with

2011. Last year the number of stores wi-thin the wholesale and retail trade of mo-tor vehicles and motorcycles decreased by 0.1% compared with 2011.

The wholesale trade of motor vehi-cles and motorcycles witnessed a decline by 2.2% while in retail trade of motor vehicles and motorcycles it increased by 0.4%. Again, a slump by 3.6% in the

number of employees in the total who-lesale and retail trade of motor vehicles and motorcycles was reported in 2012 compared with 2011. Within the whole-sale trade of motor vehicles and motor-cycles, the number of employees decrea-sed by 8.4% and a rise by 1.5% was noted in retail trade of motor vehicles and mo-torcycles.

Motor vehicles trade declines in Montenegro

Visiting Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni recently met Serbian State Secretary for Tourism Goran Petkovic in Belgrade. At the meeting, the sides discussed plans to launch joint religious tourism packages to encourage tourists from faraway destinations to visit both countries, Beta news agency reported. They also discussed ways to promote Greece and Serbia as city break destinati-

ons and the organisation of joint cultural events that would bind both countries.

Commenting on tourism education, Greek minister said that her country has tourism schools that could offer training sessions to Serbs working in tourism.

The Greek minister invited her Ser-bian counterpart to visit Athens and sign a new tourism cooperation agreement with Greece. Last tourism agreement si-

gned between Greece and Serbia was in 1959.

The tourism ministry said in a state-ment that some 600,000 Serbs visit Greece each year. With new avenues of co-operation opening up between the two countries, Kefalogianni said that Greece is aiming to increase the afo-resaid number of Serb tourists in the co-ming years.

Belgrade, Athens to launch joint tourism packagesSERBIA|TOURISM

MONTENEGRO|AUTO INDUSTRY

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA|EU AFFAIRS

27PARTNERSNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

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Following the release of the public fi-nance situation on 28 February the Swiss economy showed signs of reco-very slightly in 2011. The overall fiscal balance of the general government is set

to remain more or less at breakeven in 2012 despite the economic slowdown the Ministry of Finance stated. The Con-federation, social security funds, cantons and communes should post balanced ac-

counts in 2013. The overall fiscal balance of the general government should impro-ve again from 2014 onward. Moreover, the debt ratio should continue to decline in all sectors over the next few years. This is depicted in the latest financial statistics figures.

Swiss economic growth was curbed in 2012 by the deterioration of the world economy. GDP nevertheless grew by 1.0% in real terms.

The general government‘s balance should remain in slightly positive terri-tory in 2012.

A surplus of 0.3% of GDP, similar to the previous year‘s level, is expected for the general government.

The deficit/surplus ratio should be zero for the Confederation, slight-ly negative for the cantons (-0.1%) and communes (-0.1%), and positive for the social security funds (+0.5%).

Public finances report 2011-2014

SWITZERLAND | BANKING

Banking sector referendum 3 MarchA referendum is being held in Switzerland as we go to print on 3 March to decide on new regulation in the banking sector. Robert Goddard, Senior Lecturer in Law at Aston Business School in Birmingham, UK describes the nati-onal plebicite as an event where Voters are being asked to consider three proposals, one of which - the so-called “Minder initiative” - concerns corporate governance. The vote on this proposal has been instigated under the popu-lar initiative mechanism and contains measures to require listed companies to hold an annual binding vote on direc-tors‘ remuneration and subject directors to annual elec-tion. Restrictions on certain forms of remuneration are also included.the popular initiative “against excessive pay” aims to set limits on listed companies, so that they can no longer pay excessive salaries to their executives. It provides for this purpose three new provisions: the remuneration of the Board of Directors and management necessarily must be approved by the general meeting of shareholders, the term of office of members of the Board shall be limited to one year, some forms of compensation, such as sever-ance pay or bonuses for purchases of companies will be prohibited. In addition, anyone who does not comply with these rules will be punished.

NORWAY | ENERGY

Aker Solutions, FMC agree on framework agreement Statoil has awarded framework agreements for subsea ope-rations services on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) to Aker Solutions and FMC Technologies, Norway Post re-ported on 27 February. The agreement ensures long-term supply of maintenance and operational support for Statoil‘s‘ subsea fields. The framework agreements could have an es-timated total value of up to 14 billion Norwegian crowns. It compromises subsea operations services for all existing subsea fields, and may also be utilised towards future subsea field developments. The scope of works covers service and maintenance of subsea production systems during installa-tion and operation phases. Aker Solutions and FMC Tech-nologies shall provide subsea services, including operation, maintenance and modifications. These agreements ensure Statoil‘s long-term in the supply of maintenance and ope-rational support for the company‘s subsea fields. With over 500 subsea wells, Statoil is the largest operator under water on the Norwegian shelf. With an aging subsea park, Statoil is a major customer worldwide with regards to maintenance and overhaul - the so-called aftermarket. Statoil said subsea wells contribute to more than 50% of the company‘s total oil and gas production. Service and maintenance of subsea production system is an important factor to maintain and increase the production and for Statoil to reach the ambi-tion for 2020.

Statoil has awarded Marubeni Itochu/JFE the fabrication contract for linepipe to the Polarled project, while Wasco has been awarded the coating contract, and Allseas the pipe-laying contract, Norway Post reported on 22 February.

The Polarled-pipeline will export gas from the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea to the Nyhamna gas plant near Molde. No other oil/gas pipe-line of this dimension has ever been laid at these water depths before.

The total estimated value for the three contracts is 4 billion Norwegian crowns. The contracts have been awar-ded on behalf of the Polarled partners and are the result of a broadly based, competitive international tender bet-ween pre-qualified suppliers.

Statoil said in a press release that the coating contract includes the establish-ment of a new production base in Mo i Rana, Northern Norway.

“The Norwegian Sea is an exciting area on the Norwegian continental shelf. Polarled underpins this. Establishing new infrastructure increases the oppor-tunities for the discoveries already made, and at the same time paves the way for further exploration and the develop-ment of future discoveries,” said Rune Bjørnson, Statoil‘s head of Natural Gas.

Statoil pipeline contracts go to Polarled

A statoil prototype floating wind turbine generator offshore Stavanger. After delays that left the American industry years behind other nations, the first wind farm off the US coast should finally produce electricity by 2015. With Americans living atop mountains of coal and reserves of petroleum and natural gas, it is little wonder there is resistance to financing a renewable but expensive offshore energy resource that remains untapped in the United States. |AFP PHOTO/IGOR GEDILAGHINE

On 28 February Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland, visited UNESCO, marking the first visit of an Icelandic President to the Organization, and held a long and rich bilateral meeting with Iri-na Bokova, UNESCO Director-General. The Director-General welcomed the Pre-

sident and recalled the longstanding co-operation between the Organization and Iceland, particularly in the fields of culture and the sciences. “Iceland is a unique ex-ample of the power of resilience through investing in culture,” pursued Irina Boko-va, underscoring the contribution of Ms.

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former President of Iceland and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Linguistic Diversity and Multilingual Education and a staunch ad-vocate of the role of languages to sustain cultural diversity and mutual understan-ding.

UNESCO: ‘Culture lies at heart of financial recovery’

NORWAY | ENERGY

ICELAND |BANKING

SWITZERLAND | FINANCE

28 EASTERN PARTNERSHIP NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

AZERBAIJAN|LOAN

World Bank starts discussing new financingA World Bank mission led by JMP curator Amit Mukher-jee paid a visit to Baku on February 23-March 2 to launch consultations on the prospects of additional financing for extension of the WB-funded Judicial Modernisation Pro-ject ( JMP) until 2018, the Baku-based Wold Bank resi-dent office said. The purpose of the mission along with re-view of the JMP realisation also starts discussions with the government of prospects and the need for new additional funding for the project. The World Bank representative in Azerbaijan Larisa Leshchenko had earlier stated that exa-mining the need for additional funding can be made wi-thin two months. Leschenko mentioned that work in this direction has already started and the Bank expects fruitful results from JMP realisation in the country. “At that, we think that the transparency of court decisions, implemen-ted in Azerbaijan, is very important to ensure the rule of law. Such practice will enable to ensure single interpreta-tion of the law,” said Leschenko. According to the World Bank envoy, such practice will enable to ensure single in-terpretation of the law.

GEORGIA|INTEGRATION

UNDP envoy hails Georgia’s progressUnited Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Ad-ministrator Helen Clark recently had a meeting with Ge-orgian Patriarch Ilia II at Svetitskhoveli residence in Mtsk-heta, Civil Georgia reported. At the meeting, the patriarch said that Georgia is willing to integrate with the European Union and expressed interest to co-operate with the Uni-ted Nations and other international organisations. “We will do everything possible to keep in close contact with the UN. You promote economic and political development in Georgia,” the patriarch told Clark. He also mentioned the presence of several young Georgians receiving education in the west in order to gain knowledge, study European culture and be introduced to European structures. He ex-pressed dissatisfaction over the fact that territorial integrity of Georgia is not restored yet but hopes that the territories Abkhazia and Tskhinvali will be returned to Georgia soon. The Patriarch also underlined that Georgia safeguards its culture, language, land and independence for many centu-ries. In turn, Clark said that he the spiritual leader of the Georgian people. He suggested that dialogue is only op-tion to resolve internal confrontations in the country and thanked the patriarch for supporting the same idea.

GEORGIA|BUSINESS

PM appoints new business ombudsmanDuring a recent meeting with entrepreneurs, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili appointed Giorgi Gakha-ria as Georgia’s business ombudsman as discussed the prospects of doing business in Georgia, The Messen-ger reported. The premier said that Gakharia will help businessmen to brief the government their messages and problems. Pledging that private businesses will not be interfered by anyone, Ivanishvili stressed that all the ne-cessary issues interesting for businessmen should be de-livered in a facilitated way without any state interference on the freedom of business. At the meeting, the premier said that business leaders have great confidence in the government’s ideology.

On the 21st anniversary of Khojaly Ge-nocide, Azerbaijan’s Commissioner on Human Rights Elmira Suleymanova said that the crime committed by the Armeni-an armed forces together with the 366th motor-rifling regiment of former Soviet troops in Khankandi 21 years ago on the night from 25-26 February, was one of the unprecedented events marked in the history of Nagorno-Karabakh war and also in the world wars due to its horrible results, news agencies reported.

Suleymanova addressed the state-ment to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, United Nations Se-curity Council, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Euro-pean Commission, Council of Europe, OSCE, International Ombudsman In-stitute, European Ombudsman Institute and Asian Ombudsman Association, In-ternational Peace Bureau, International Peace Federation, ombudspersons of fo-

reign countries, embassies of Azerbaijan abroad, as well as the foreign embassies in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani diaspora organisations.

In the statement, she mentioned that Khojaly genocide committed by Armeni-an aggressors against the Azerbaijani peo-ple, had killed 613 people, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 old people. It also injured 487 people and took hostage around 1275 civilians. Following the ge-nocide, some families were completely exterminated, civilians were killed, the corpses were mutilated and the captives faced immense torture. Noting these deeds which aimed at total or partial ex-termination of people on the ground of their national origin, the horrendous acts constitute genocide under international and domestic law, said Suleymanova. In her message she says, “Occupied Nagor-no-Karabakh and surrounding seven re-gions are integral part of the Azerbaijani

territory, and the UN Resolutions 822, 853, 874, 884, UNGA Resolution titled “Situation on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan” dated March 14, 2008. Reso-lutions 1416 and 1669 of the Parliamen-tary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) confirm the occupation of Azer-baijani territories by the Armenian milita-ry forces and that the Nagorno-Karabakh is now run by separatists, which proves the abovementioned facts once again.” It also states that the world community has witnessed genocide policy for years. She added, “However, according to the universal norms of international law, invi-olability of borders should be respected; violation of territorial integrity and so-vereignty is unacceptable.” According to her, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno-cide and other relevant international legal acts provide a legal framework for recog-nising Khojaly tragedy as genocide

Ombudswoman speaks on 21th anniversary of Khojaly genocide

Azerbaijan’s Commissioner on Human Rights Elmira Suleymanova said that the crime committed in Khankandi 21 years ago was one of the unprecedented events marked in the history of Nagorno-Karabakh war. |NEW EUROPE PHOTO

An Azerbaijani delegation headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Investments of Azersu Ilgar Tagiyev recently paid a visit to Saudi Arabia to conduct negotiations with the Saudi Fund for Development on Credit Ag-reement on reconstruction and expan-sion of water supply and sewerage of Khirdalan city’ project. Azerbaijan’s na-tional water operator Azersu OJSC and the Saudi Fund for Development have signed a protocol of negotiations within

preparation for a new loan agreement on a new joint project, news agencies reported.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Saudi Fund for Development will provide $35 million to Azerbaijan for the project. The start of the project is scheduled for the second half of this year.

The project will create a water supp-ly system with a total length of 159 km. During the visit, the sides have finali-

sed the agreement and final protocol. According to some estimates, the total cost of the project of reconstruction and expansion of water supply and se-werage system of city Khirdalan is $100 million. Construction of sewerage net-work in Khirdalan will begin after the commissioning of the new sewer. Upon completion of the project, over 100,000 residents of Khirdalan will use the im-proved water supply and sanitation ser-vices.

Saudi Fund for Development to offer $35mn to AzerbaijanAZERBAIJAN|INVESTMENT

AZERBAIJAN|FROZEN CONFLICTS

29EASTERN PARTNERSHIPNEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

The International Finance Corporation plans to implement deals in the financial sector and the agribusiness of Belarus in 2013. The information was released by head of the IFC representative office in Belarus Olga Shcherbina at the third in-ternational forum Capital Market of the Republic of Belarus on 28 February, Bel-TA reported.

Speaking about prospects of investing in Belarus in 2013, Shcherbina remarked: “In the near future we would like to re-

ach the level of the financial year 2011 when we had $125 million. It is a sum we would like to aim for. We have several deals in development. Those are deals in the financial sector and agribusiness”. She underlined the volume of the money the IFC invests in Belarus is still very far from the theoretical maximum credit limit set for the country.

A while ago the IFC implemented several successful deals in the Belarusian agribusiness. “At present the IFC pays

close attention to the agribusiness sec-tor because the IFC and the World Bank Group have undertaken certain obliga-tions before the G20 to reduce the food security problem in the world,” Shcher-bina said. IFC invests in private business.

Belarus became an IFC member in 1992. At present the corporation focuses efforts on improving the business envi-ronment and the investment climate in Belarus and raising the competitive abili-ty of the private sector.

MOLDOVA|POLITICS

Government faces no-confidence vote Moldova's government will face a vote of no confidence this week that could trigger an early election if the feuding leaders of the ru-ling pro-Western coalition fail to unite against the motion. The ballot was called on 28 February by opposition communists af-ter Prime Minister Vlad Filat fell out with other leaders of the Alli-ance for European Integration who have called for his resignati-on. According to parliamentary procedure, the no-confidence vote must be held on 5 March.

UKRAINE|ENERGY

Electric transport upgrade with Ukrainian vehiclesThe electric transport of Ukrainian cities and towns will be upgra-ded only with Ukrainian-made vehicles with a local content le-vel of at least 80%, Vice Premier Oleksandr Vilkul said on 27 Fe-bruary. "The trams and trolleybuses that upgrade the fleets of ci-ties and towns will have to be of Ukrainian origin and with a local content level of at least 80 percent. Energy saving technologies wi-th savings up to 40 percent will be used, and all the conditions for carrying passengers with special needs will be taken into account," he said, speaking at an extended cabinet meeting in Kiev.

BELARUS|ENERGY

Minsk, Tokyo discuss Fukushima accident managementThe Belarusian-Japanese co-operation as well as promising are-as in developing mutual relations were discussed in a meeting between Ambassador of Belarus to Japan Sergei Rakhmanov and MPs of the lower house of the Parliament of Japan, members of the Association of Friendship and Parliamentary Relations with Belarus, the Foreign Ministry of Belarus said. “The Japanese si-de expressed gratitude to Belarus for assistance in mitigating the impact of the accident at the nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 and confirmed its interest in strengthening bilateral cooperati-on,” the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.

BELARUS|BUSINESS

Belarus, Saxony agree on co-operation until 2015Belarus- Saxony trade and economic co-operation was discussed at the third session of the Belarus- Saxony business council in Leipzig, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry reported. Partaking in the session was the Belarusian business delegation led by First Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vyacheslav Reut. The German delegation was led by President of the Leipzig Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try Wolfgang Topf.

BELARUS|CUSTOMS UNION

Minsk, Moscow try to improve Union budgetingCo-operation between financial watchdog services of Belarus and Russia helps optimize the budgeting process in the Union State, Chairman of the State Control Committee of Belarus Ale-xander Yakobson told reporters following a joint session of the State Control Committee and the Accounts Chamber of the Rus-sian Federation in Moscow on 28 February, BelTA reported.

The Currency and Credits Commission of the Council of Ministers of Belarus has approved the proposal of the State Standardization Committee and the En-ergy Ministry to take out an additional loan as large as $90 million from the In-ternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for the sake of im-plementing an investment project to raise the energy effectiveness in the Republic of Belarus. The proposal had been agreed with interested government agencies, Bel-TA quoted Zhanna Zenkevich, head of mass media of the Energy Effectiveness Department of the State Standardization Committee.

The loan will be used to implement two investment projects as part of the Energy Ministry system. The projects envisage the reconstruction of turbines using modern steam-gas technologies at Mogilev cogeneration plant No. 1 and the reconstruction of Gomel cogeneration plant No. 1, with a combined-cycle gas turbine, a gas-turbine unit, a heat-reco-very boiler, and a steam turbine installed.

As part of the reconstruction the po-wer plants will start using steam-gas tech-nologies. It will allow increasing their out-put potential, electricity generation, and

performance of the previously installed equipment. In order to accomplish that, there are plans to sign turn-key contracts with general contracts that have yet to be selected via open international tenders. The tenders will be held in line with IBRD rules.

The reconstruction of the cogene-ration plants in Mogilev and Gomel will allow generating extra 363.1 million kWh

of electricity per annum, saving 50,934 tonnes of oil equivalent of imported fuel, and improving the environmental situation by reducing emissions. The performance of the energy system will be improved as well as the reliability of heat and electricity supply for all kinds of con-sumers.

The $90 million will be taken for the period of 16 years with a six-year respite.

Minsk approves $90mn energy effectiveness loan from IBRD

Electrical power poles are seen in front of the skyline on the outskirts of Grodno, some 270 kilometres from Minsk, Belarus. |EPA/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has asked Ukraine's human rights commissioner Valeria Lutkovska and European Parliament mission re-presentatives Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwasniewski to monitor her delivery to court in a criminal case on the killing of Ukrainian MP Yevhen Shcherban, news agencies reported.

This is stipulated in her statements, Tymoshenko's defence lawyer Serhiy Vla-senko said at a briefing on 27 February. "Today [on Wednesday] I visited Yulia

[Tymoshenko], and she instructed me to publish her written statements on her deli-very to court in Kyiv on 4 March. The first statement is addressed to the heads of the European Parliament's monitoring missi-on, Cox and Kwasniewski," he said.

Tymoshenko's statement reads: "despi-te my numerous written demands to de-liver me to court for the questioning of witnesses in the case of Yevhen Shcherban, the penitentiary service of Ukraine refused to do so on several occasions, particularly on February 13, 14 and 15, 2013, despi-

te the court's decision on my mandatory presence". Meanwhile, Kwasniewski said the murder charge against Tymoshenko is a “political disaster” for Ukraine. Ukraine should maintain her medical treatment for back pain and free her former colleague Yuriy Lutsenko from prison, he said. “The new case against Tymoshenko is a political disaster,” Kwasniewski told a conference organized by investment bank Dragon Ca-pital today in the capital, Kiev. “Lutsenko’s case isn’t serious. Each day he’s in prison is bad for Ukraine’s image.”

Tymoshenko asks EU to assist in her transportation to court

IFC unveils plans for finance, agribusiness

BELARUS|ENERGY

BELARUS|LOANS

UKRAINE|HUMAN RIGHTS

30 EURASIA NEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu

3 - 9 March, 2013

UZBEKISTAN | INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

US Congress delegation visits TashkentOn recent visit to Tashkent, a delegation of the US Congress led by Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the subcommittee for Europe and Eurasia of the House of Representatives was welco-med by Uzbek President Islam Karimov. The delegation com-prised of Chairman of the US House Subcommittee on Euro-pe and Eurasia, Congressmen Paul Cook, Ted Poe and Brian Higgins, Uzbekreport.com learnt from the Uzbek National In-formation Agency (UzA). The delegation met the Uzbekistan Senate Oliy Majlis (parliament) chairman Ilgizar Sobirov and Legislative Chamber Speaker Dilora Tashmuhamedova. The visit of US delegation is an extension of relationships develo-ped between the two countries, with a further strengthening of connections between the two governments. During the me-eting, President Karimov stressed that joint efforts of US and Uzbekistan will entail a promising bilateral agenda, covering the political, trade and economic and other spheres and ai-med at addressing common challenges given national interests.

TURKmENISTAN |BUSINESS

Turkish export goods expo opens in AshgabatIn collaboration with Turkish company Meridyen Fuarcilik, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Turkey organised an exposition of Turkish export goods at the Ashgabat Exhibi-tion Centre “Sergi kosgi”,Turkmenistan.ru reported. The expo displays the export potential of more than 70 leading Turkish companies and firms specialising in production of constructi-on materials, water treatment systems and heating equipment for power industry, hardware, household appliances, chemi-cal products, textiles, food products, cosmetics. Within the fra-mework of the expo, the Turkish partners presented new pro-posals for cooperation in the industrial sector.

UZBEKISTAN | mANUFACTURING

China Development Bank offers €110 mln for cement plant Rahnamo-Nur Uzbek-American joint venture received a loan of €110 million from the China Development Bank (CDB) to build the cement plant in Karakalpakstan (autonomous republic in north-western Uzbekistan), General Manager of Uzstroyma-teriali Akbar Mukhiddinov told Uzbekreport.com reported. A loan agreement with the CDB will be signed in March or April, Uzbekreport.com reported. Mukhiddinov said that the US bank JP Morgan has issued a guarantee for the Chinese loan. The Chi-nese CNTIC (China National Technical Import & Export Cor-poration) was selected as the general contractor for constructi-on of the plant. The contract with the company will be signed within a month, Mukhitdinov said. Construction of the plant is scheduled to complete by the end of 2014.

TURKmENISTAN | CULTURE

Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan work on cultural diplomacyAmbassador of Turkmenistan Toyli Komekov recently had a mee-ting with Azerbaijan`s Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Ga-raev. At the meeting, the sides agreed that the two countries enjoyed close cooperation in culture and tourism sectors. Garayev said frien-dly and cooperative relations between the two countries were ex-panding in all sectors, Turkmenistan.ru reported. .

At a meeting in Kiev, Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky said that his country plans this year to resu-me imports of natural gas from Turkme-nistan to ease a dependence on expensive Russian supply. “The approximate volume for delivery through Russia amounts to around ten billion cubic meters of gas,” he said, adding that negotiations are underway with Russia over the possibility of Turk-men gas transiting its territory to Ukraine. In particular, a compromise on this issue is planned in the context of a free trade zone agreement. The amount of Russian natural gas Ukraine imports this year will depend on price, Stavytsky said. Turkmenistansup-plied Ukraine with around 36 billion cubic meters of gas annually until 2006 when Uk-raine switched over to Russian gas.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov expressed hope that his country's energy agreement with Turkmenistan will help in the search for a mutually benefi-cial form of gas cooperation with Russia. He said that Ukrainian consumers will be getting gas at a fair price, and the country might be able to export gas to Europe due to direct delivery from Turkmenistan. The premier said, “The possibility of agreeing withTurkmenistan came about thanks to

an agreement concerning a free-trade zone in the context of the Commonwealth of Independent States that envisions equal ac-cess for all parties to a gas pipeline transport agreement.” The prime minister instructed Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boiko, Ener-gy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Sta-vytsky, and Economic Development and Trade Minister Ihor Prasolov with working up the documentation needed for imple-

menting the agreement reached during Yanukovych's visit to Turkmenistan. Few weeks back, Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukraine and the Turk-men state company Turkmengaz signed a memorandum of mutual understanding to advance bilateral cooperation in the field of oil and gas. The memorandum envisions the development of future cooperation on a contractual basis.

Ukraine counting on direct Turkmen gas

Gas supplies are awaited patiently. |AFP PHOTO / SHAUN CURRY

Kazakh Defense Minister Adilbek Dz-haksybekov and his Italian counterpart, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola signed in Astana an agreement on transit of military property and personnel from Afghanistan via Kazakhstan, Gazeta.kz learnt from the Kazakh Defense Ministry. Di Paola was re-cently on an official visit to Astana.

According to the agreement, after completion of certain legal procedures, Kazakhstan will allow Italy to transport military equipment and personnel through its territory as Italian troops participate in the mission of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

The agreement envisages transit of the Ita-lian Armed Forces' military personnel and equipment through Kazakhstan's territory by rail and by air. Kazakhstan has already signed similar agreements with the US, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, France and the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in general, the Kazakhstan De-fense Ministry said. “This agreement is like a continuation of the general agreement signed with Italy. This was the purpose of the trip,” Italian Defense Minister said. He informed that issues of security in Central Asia and the prospects for development of the situation in Afghanistan after the

withdrawal of troops in 2014 were also discussed. Calling the meeting as fruitful, the minister said that Kazakhstan is a very important strategic and political partner for Italy. Within the meeting the defense mini-sters of two countries exchanged views on security in Central Asia, and in particular on the current and future development of the situation in Afghanistan. Kazakh-stan and Italian Ministers also discussed bilateral military cooperation including the defense industry, procurement of new samples of military vehicles, surveillance and communication systems, as well as in-teraction of their ground forces.

Italian talks on military property

A Saudi delegation led by Minister of Trade and Industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Tevfik Fevzan bin al-Rabia recently paid a visit to Ashagbat. The de-legation and the heads and representa-tives of several government departments of the two countries attended the first meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Turkmen-Saudi Commission for Trade

and Economic Cooperation, hosted by Ashgabat,Turkmenistan.ru learnt form of-ficial sources. The Co-chairs of the Com-mission were pleased with the high level of interstate relations and supported the idea of expanding and diversifying cooperation between Saudi and Turkmenistan in tra-de and economy, oil and gas, agriculture, sports and tourism. The Saudi Members

of the Commission said the entrepreneurs of Saudi Arabia are ready to expand its presence in the Turkmen market to imple-ment joint investment projects. The sides also noted the importance of expanding cultural contacts, including through parti-cipation in international conferences and other art forums organized in Turkme-nistan and Saudi Arabia.

Turkmen-Saudi Commission inaugurates mission

KAZAKHSTAN | DEFENCE

TURKmENISTAN |ENERGY

TURKmENISTAN |FOREIGN RELATIONS

31RUSSIANEWEUROPEwww.neurope.eu3 - 9 March, 2013

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he had a feeling that US President Barack Obama‘s second administration, in the foreign policy field led by US State Secretary John Kerry, would try to play a more constructive role in solving inter-national issues. He made this statement after meeting with Kerry. Their first per-sonal meeting took place on 26 Februa-

ry in Berlin as part of Kerry’s European tour.

During their personal meetings in Berlin, Lavrov and Kerry focused on im-portant aspects of bilateral relations and the main global issues.

Their geopolitical agenda included the problems in the Middle East and the Korean peninsula, American missile sys-

tem in Europe and US adoptions of Rus-sian children.

“In my opinion the conversation was constructive. I felt the desire of my coun-terpart John Kerry to built relationship based on partnership without of course turning a blind eye to issues irritating our relations,” Lavrov told journalists after the meeting with Kerry.

Speaking about irritants in Russian-US relations, he said that he means the recently passed Magnitsky Act, as well as problems with Russian children ad-opted in the United States. “We exten-sively discussed problems surrounding adopted Russian children. John Kerry acknowledged that this problem is not farfetched but is real and assured me that he will personally take all the necessary measures to ensure full transparency and accountability for us in this area in the US,” Lavrov told journalists following a meeting with Kerry in Berlin. “I believe this is a very important statement. We will seek to make sure that these words are turned into practical deeds,” Lavrov said.

RUSSIA|DEFENCE

Putin sees strategic balance threatenedOn 27 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that US military ambitions in the region were upsetting the stra-tegic balance of power. The Kremlin leader told the Russian Defence Ministry there were systematic attempts at undermi-ning Russia‘s sphere of influence. “In fact, the second stage of the US global missile defence system is being launched, and the possibilities for further NATO eastward expansion are being explored,” he said. “The danger of the militarisation of the arctic also persists.”

RUSSIA|ENERGY

Gazprom inaugurates office in QatarOn 10 February, Doha hosted the ceremonial opening of Russian energy company Gazprom’s representative office in Qatar. “The countries of the Arabian Peninsula in general and Qatar in particular play an important role in today‘s global energy system. The representative office will contribute to stronger partnership ties and will provide an additional impe-tus to closer mutually beneficial cooperation with the states of the region,” Gazprom Board of Directors Chairman Viktor Zubkov said. Zubkov also met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim. The parties addressed the bilateral co-operation in the gas sector. At the meeting Zubkov and Mi-nister of Energy and Industry of Qatar Mohammed Al Sada exchanged opinions regarding the global gas market evolu-tion and discussed joint efforts aimed at the popularisation and promotion of natural gas as an effective and eco-friendly energy carrier.

RUSSIA|CONTRACTS

Putin: Liberalisation of contacts to benefit EU-RussiaRussian President Vladimir Putin said both Russia and the European Union would benefit from liberalising the contacts between citizens. The Russian President made these com-ments during his meeting with the former Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Commission Romano Prodi. He also added that it is in Russia’s interest to see Europe recover as fast as possible. “I see that whether here in Russia, or in Italy, no matter what the domestic political developments, everyone in both countries agree that we should keep deve-loping our bilateral relations, and this is very good to see,” he said. In turn, Prodi pointed out: “The question that we do face is how to build a system of mutually complementary interests in the new global energy landscape. This is a serious issue for you too, because all of the parameters are changing now.”

RUSSIA|ENERGY

Rosneft, ENI ink deal to develop trading opportunitiesRussia’s state oil company Rosneft and Italian energy major ENI have signed a strategic agreement to develop trading and logistics opportunities. The aim of the agreement is to deve-lop synergies between the companies’ respective logistic in-frastructure networks, extracting additional value from their own equity crude portfolios and refined products produc-tion. The agreement was signed on 23 February in Rome by Rosneft President Igor Sechin, and ENI Trading & Shipping (ETS) Marco Alvera.

On 28 February, Russia’s President Vla-dimir Putin said he backed “new propo-sals” on resolving the Syrian conflict that French President Francois Hollande put forward during his visit to Russia.

“Mr. President has formulated some new proposals that we need to discuss with other partners and try to imple-ment,” Putin said at a joint press confe-rence with Holland after their talks at the Kremlin. “It seemed to me that this issue can‘t be resolved immediately without a bottle of vodka, let alone a bottle of good wine. We will have to sit and think,” Putin said. “It‘s better to do it over a bottle of port,” Hollande responded.

Putin has warned against “interna-tional terrorists” exploiting the Syrian conflict for their own ends. “It is unac-ceptable for radical groups and interna-tional terrorists to exploit the Syrian tra-gedy for their own ends,” Putin told the news conference. Moscow and Paris have maintained fruitful political dialogue and strengthened humanitarian ties. Econo-mic co-operation has been enriched with joint ventures and co-operation with em-phasis on innovation and high technolo-gy, Putin said.

Putin said six satellites will be put to orbit using the Russian rocket Soyuz from the Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana in the second half of 2013. “Ano-

ther six satellites will be put in a near-earth orbit in the second half of this year,” Putin told the press conference. “Our joint pro-gramme Soyuz in the Guiana Space Cen-tre draws a lot of interest from consumers of space services, satellite operators,” Pu-tin said.France is actively participating in the development of Russian aircraft MC-21 and Sukhoi Superjet-100.

French companies are involved in such major projects as Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipelines and prepara-tions for the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 and World Cup 2018, Putin said.

The Kremlin leader also said Russia

backs the efforts made by France to re-store constitutional order in Mali. “We back the efforts taken by France to re-store constitutional and democratic or-der in the country,” Putin said. Hollande also promised to take measures to have the Russian language taught and used in France more extensively. Russia and France are sufficiently adept to overcome a minor decline in economic relations of 2012, Putin said. Putin said bilateral tur-nover reached almost $30 billion in 2012 when it suffered a blow from staggering global economy. “Your visit is quite well-timed,” Putin told his French counterpart.

Putin, Hollande discuss Syria, trade issues

Russian and French Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande, arrive at a press conference at the Kremlin in Moscow on 28 February. France and Russia had the same objective in resolving the crisis in Syria although they differ on the means to achieve it, Hollande said after talks with his Russian counterpart. |AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND LANGLOIS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Berlin, 26 February 2013. |AFP PHOTO/MAURIZIO GAMBARINI

Lavrov, Kerry hold constructive talks in BerlinRUSSIA|DIPLOMACY

RUSSIA|DIPLOMACY

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“President Barroso expressed his full confidence that Italy, as one of Europe’s and the world‘s big-gest economies, will ensure the conditions of po-litical stability in the interest of Italy and Europe as a whole.”

Just after the Italian election results were an-nounced, Commission President Jose Barroso met with Mario Monti, but it seems that they didn’t mention the election, where Monti, the technocrat installed by the EU to put in place the harsh austerity measure, received a lowly 10% of the vote.

However, if we are to believe the joint state-ment released after their private chat, away from the inconvenient questions of the press, all is well.

The statement set out the agenda, “Commis-sion President José Manuel Barroso and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti met today to dis-cuss the preparation of the upcoming European Council, which will be devoted to the coordinati-on of economic, fiscal and employment policies in the EU to boost growth and job creation, ba-sed on the Commission’s Annual Growth Survey published on 28 November 2012. They have discussed the Commission’s work in progress, following up to the December European Coun-cil, on contractual arrangements to raise com-

petitiveness through structural reforms, which includes solidarity mechanisms to help Member States. ”

The statement continued, “Both are convin-ced that continued and determined action at European and national levels is needed to ensure that the return of confidence into the euro area is sustained. The crisis is not yet over and ef-forts must not be relaxed. This implies pursuing commonly agreed and differentiated reform and consolidation efforts to create growth and jobs and enhancing competitiveness, while ensuring financial stability.”

Italy did come up in conversation, “Regarding the economic situation of Italy the Commission believes that Italy is undergoing an ambitious reform process that, if fully implemented, will significantly raise its growth potential. Italy has also put the public finances on a sounder footing which is an essential condition to ensure growth. President Barroso underlined that the Commis-sion remains committed to assist Italy and all the other EU Member States in this challenge.”

The statement didn’t mention Monti’s reac-tion to the “full confidence” Barroso showed in the nation’s immediate future, perhaps he was too moved to speak.

3 - 9 March, 2013Once upon a time in Brussels...There’s no more free food and drink for reporters at EU summits, due to cost saving measures. Will this affect coverage from tired and now hungry and thirsty hacks?

Brussels, Berlin and EPP defeated by a comedian and a politician

The Italian election did not result in a clear government but gave a clear loser and a clear winner.

The clear loser was German inspired austeri-ty in general, while the European People’s Party displayed very little political intuition and ethics, excluding from their ranks Silvio Berlusconi and embracing Mario Monti.

Silvio Berlusconi, a political party on his own, together with the Socialist Pier Luigi Bersani, won the two top positions with less than half a percentage point difference between each other. The first got control of the Senate and the se-cond of the lower Chamber. As to Mario Monti, proudly chosen by the EPP, he was ousted from the political life of Italy getting below the 10% vote threshold by a ….comedian, Beppe Grillo who got the surprising 25%!

As to the winner, it is ….Europe, the New Europe we need. The Italian election signified the beginning of the end of sick Europe we know in favor of the New Europe we all need, transparent, un-corrupt and democratic. Bottom line, the Italian election has shown that democracy and centrally planned austerity cannot go together for long.

The process of how, when and at what cost the sick Europe of the interwoven interests of mandarins and financiers will transform into a healthy Europe of the citizens is difficult to determine.

The change will be supported politically by societies and technically with digitaliza-

tion, the new element which entered our life and cannot be stopped or reversed. Follow-ing the laws of nature, as it always happens, the “new” will emerge from the “old” with many victims and collateral damage especial-ly among “civilians,” that is those who are not responsible for the crisis.

Looking from this perspective, one can easily realize that the Euro currency was de-signed to serve as the weapon of Germany to “occupy” Europe, something that it did not succeed militarily in two world wars. Ger-many won the Euro war but now, since the

democratic institutions of Europe cannot be abolished with an EU Regulation, the financi-al occupation of Europe cannot be protracted any more since the people of Europe have be-gun to react.

Indeed, Italy gave the first signs and soo-ner or later is likely to be followed by Greece, Portugal, Spain and, why not, France. As to Britain it is has never been part of the system so not only will they not have to leave the Euro but one day can lead the exodus.

From there on, it will be difficult to maintain a united Europe as the countries that

will return to national currencies, will certain-ly go to high inflation for years, which will have the same effect of continuing with austerity, unemployment and depletion of the middle class, but they will develop as they did after World War II. Free market, fiscal liberties, low salaries but a bright future with high emplo-yment, productivity, re-industrialization and export of goods, products and services which now are monopolized by the countries of the north, thanks to the common currency.

What may come next is difficult to foresee as the past dilemmas, status quo or commu-nism do not exist, as there is not any more a communist center able to lead any change with ideology, instructors and financial sup-port.

In Italy, no matter which party got what, in total the Italians voted by over 90% against austerity, which means that the second coun-try of the Eurozone is flirting with the way out. Whether it is right or wrong, it is irrelevant. What count is what the people want and this is the end of the story.

If Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin want to continue with austerity, rescue packages, measures over measures and the like, they have first to find a way to abolish democracy across Europe. That, in many quarters, this seems now to be the main concern is true. Whether they will dare to take the risk, is the trillion-dollar question.

Vassilis Koronakis

Feeding the presidencyThe cost of the Irish presidency of the EU has been queried in parliament.Richard Boyd Barrett of the United Left Al-liance, a disparate group that did surprisin-gly well at the last General election in 2011, has claimed that the presidency would cost the Irish taxpayer €70 million, “twice” the cost of the Danish presidency, which held office for the first six months of 2012.According to Barrett, gifts amounting to €66,000 for neckties (a traditional pre-sidency gift), €143,000 for wool scarves and €250,000 for the upkeep of a website and other sundry gifts, and an apparent €775,000 for stationary for “Eurocrats and journalists” are being dished-out at the taxpayer’s expense.Prime Minister End Kenny denied any ex-travagant spending, saying that it is impor-tant to “give our visitors a memento of the Irish presidency”, and that “those involved have to eat something”.He strenuously denied that the cost of the six-month presidency was anything near the figure alleged by Mr Barrett. He said it was “€60 million plus security costs”.

Treated like cattleAccording to recent media reports in Bel-gium, CAP spending on the upkeep of the EU’s cow population is €2 per day, almost 100 times that of an average employee of the European institutions, which amounts to a bargain €0.021 per day.However, with budget cuts looming and a threatened 5% cut in the number of em-ployees (2,500 across all institutions), some civil servants are suggesting an alternative; circulating inflammatory ant-bovine emails and advocating instead a reduction in the number of European cows by 25 a day. This would, apparently, “be better for the public, the environment, health...but a little less for cows”.

Crisis? What crisis?

Italy’s own ‘Comeback Kid’. | AFP PHOTO / OLIVIER MORIN

Senior EU officials discuss the latest round of job cuts. |EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA

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