Europe (1 Viewer)

[billygannon]

Just setting up a thread about Europe in general. The Nice treaty, if anything, focused people's attention on Europe and where the EU is going.

I think this is a pretty good article to get your brains moving.

From the FT by the way

 

[Chocohead]

i will get my arse in gear and read it...sometime .. today

 

[silo]

there was i guy i knew in college who used to buy a copy of the f.t. every day just to be seen walking around with it; i never saw him open it. prick.

i bumped into him at 2 in the morning after the last ballroom of romance, by the way. still a prick.

huh? euro-what?

 

[silo]

oh, and it's pretty obvious what the tendencies are: europe of nation-states versus europe of federalist integration, and in both cases the other debate of europe as "ally" of the u.s. or europe as "counterweight" to the u.s.: both involving increased military spending... as ever the only real course of action is involvement in social movements opposed to a europe of capital which is able to marginalise certain aspects of debate and prioritise others, thereby setting the agenda...

my hunch is that the single biggest growing source of tension in geopolitics is between the e.u. and the u.s.a.: give it 30 years and war isn't impossible. we live in a world which is economically tripolar (japan/east asia, europe, and the u.s.a.) but militarily unipolar (u.s.a.), and the americans certainly don't want the latter part of the equation changing any time soon.

 

[potlatch]

Ugh, my post timed out. What did I say?

First of all: silo's bang on about the future of international relations. That's a deadlock situation neither side is able to get out of.

Secondly: I don't hold out too much hope for the EU. It's still an elite organisation run by people who act like they've seen the light and will lead us to the land of mammon. Because of these felllas' interests, they're not the least bit interested in making the EU democratic. We're just too dumb.

So as much as people talk about polity and reform of the EU, it's not going to happen so we can look forward to greater levels of control and democratic deficit. Those kinds of people in power now are going to stay in power.

We can expect to see the EU far exceeding its original remit by interefering in everyday life in an effort to further control the economy (locally and globally) and to establish legitimacy but while keeping everyone else at a comfortable distance.

Nothing's going to change.

 

[MDR]

Europe are great - the final countdown will be played at my funeral.

 

[P. Littbarski]

EU leaders split as enlargement summit opens

DEEP splits divide EU leaders as they gather in Brussels today for a crucial summit to resolve conflicts over the cost of enlargement, writes Conor Sweeney.

In a signal of how seriously it treats both the divisions and its determination to reach a deal, the current Danish Presidency of the EU has warned it will not end the summit until leaders reach agreement, even if it means keeping the talks open over the weekend.

A dispute has developed between Britain and France, with the French President, Jacques Chirac warning that he won't consider any cuts to the CAP without revisiting the notorious British rebate.

Negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, this grants Britain up to stg#2bn back from the EU every year to balance its high net contributions.

But British diplomats in Brussels dismissed the demand but insisted their country was still determined to enforce cut backs to the common agricultural policy before agreeing to extend it to the 10 new member states.

The CAP will also top the agenda of the pre-summit meeting between President Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder today. The leaders have been repeatedly urged by both the Danes and the European Commission to follow the "spirit of Ireland" and show the political will to keep the momentum towards enlargement by 2004, as planned.

Along with the majority of countries, Ireland strongly supports the Commission's plan to phase in agricultural subsidies over 10 years to the new member states.

Four countries, Germany, Sweden, Britain and the Netherlands all demand that this should be accompanied by the phasing out of the €40bn CAP for the existing member states.

They also want to cut €4bn off the €42bn compensation package suggested by the Commission for the applicant states to ensure none of them becomes net contributors as soon as they join the EU, as currently forecast for three States.

President Chirac, supported by Ireland, insists that no major reform of the CAP should be considered before the current budget plan runs out in 2006.

The Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will chair the talks, said a deal was vital at the two-day summit.

 

[egg_]

I'd be delighted if most of the CAP was phased out. It's done untold damage to farming and the countryside, plus it shits all over non-developed countries

 

[Keeror]

Originally posted by silo
my hunch is that the single biggest growing source of tension in geopolitics is between the e.u. and the u.s.a.: give it 30 years and war isn't impossible. we live in a world which is economically tripolar (japan/east asia, europe, and the u.s.a.) but militarily unipolar (u.s.a.), and the americans certainly don't want the latter part of the equation changing any time soon.

Orwell's '1984' vision of the world seems eerily attainable now, doesn't it?
3 powers, forever locked in an antagonistic equilibrium.
Oceania - the Americas and UK
Eurasia - the EU plus Russia (how long till they want to join?), Turkey, etc.
East Asia - China, Japan (can't see them joining forces any time soon, but y'know...), SE Asia.
I can't remember where Australia fitted in.

Africa and the Middle East remain perpetual battlegrounds, their resources and populations exploited by the 3 powers.

Sounds like fun?

 

[billygannon]

I think Blair has his eye on that European President job.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentS...y&c=StoryFT&cid=1037872412970&p=1012571727092

 

[P. Littbarski]

Some EU candidate countries may decide not to join - report

12/12/2002
07:30:00


Some of the 10 countries whose applications for EU membership are scheduled for formal approval at the EU summit starting here today may finally decide against joining, the Wall Street Journal Europe reported, citing opinion polls and politicians.

The report said polls show that on average a thin 52% majority support EU membership in the 10 countries, with support at 45% in the Czech Republic, and barely over 30% in Estonia.

"Some citizens are a little bit concerned, particularly about the fact that 10 years after we won our sovereignty, it seems that we'll lose it again," Alojz Peterle, the former prime minister of Slovenia, was cited as saying.

Each of the 10 candidate countries has to officially accept membership, and all plan referendums next year, with the first in Hungary in April, it noted.

Anti-EU political movements have sprung up in nearly every candidate country, according to the report.

"The European Union is very like a disguised Soviet Union - a form of federal bureaucratic socialism," Uno Silberg, chairman of the 'No to the EU' campaign in Estonia, told the newspaper.

In Latvia, where polls show 49% of voters favor joining the EU and 35% oppose it, the government says it won't feel comfortable until membership has backing of at least 60%, the report said.

 

[silo]

wow. can you give me a link for that stuff, littbarski?

 

[P. Littbarski]

no problem...

it's http://www.irishnews.com/

it's a pay site, but the Breaking News bit is free.