European Foundation Intelligence Digest, 18th

Europeans reject threats to Syria

The situation in the Middle East continues to place strains on relations within the European Union, even though Berlin and Paris seem to be making efforts to mend the fences broken in the run-up to the Iraq war. After the latest threats to Syria issued by Washington, the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, called on the Americans to show restraint. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, similarly called on Washington to tone down its statements about Syria. Fischer said, “We should concentrate on trying to win the peace, rather than entering into a new confrontation.” Solana said, “I think it would be better to make constructive statements, to see whether we are in a position to calm the situation down in the region.” The French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, by contrast, tried to be more accommodating towards Washington. He avoided any direct criticism of the latest threats to emanate from America, but admitted that there was “great unease” at them in the Arab world. The Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gül, also warned the Americans against extending the war to Syria. Following a meeting with his Israeli opposite number, he said he was “very concerned” by the latest threats issued against Damascus. For its part, the Syrian government has rejected the accusations levelled against it by the Americans, that it is harbouring members of the former Iraqi government and that it possesses weapons of mass destruction. “The only chemical and biological weapons in the region are possessed by Israel,” said a spokesman for the Syrian government. [Frankfurter Rundschau, 15^th April 2003]

Spain says Syria will not be attacked

The Spanish prime minister, José-Maria Aznar, who strongly supported the Anglo-American attack on Iraq, has said that “Syria is a friend of Spain”. Aznar added that “there is no intention on the part of anyone to extend the conflict to Syria” and he said he would go and meet President Assad as soon as he could. The deputy prime minister agreed, saying “There is no threat of another war and the Spanish government lends no credence to the view that Syria has chemical weapons.” This latest remark was a clear rebuke to President Bush, who claimed the opposite at the weekend. [El Mundo, 15^th April 2003]

Mr Aznar, indeed, has had to confront emotional protests by Spanish journalists during recent governmental press conferences. A special correspondent for El Mundo and a Spanish TV cameraman were killed in Iraq, the latter by the American tank which fired into the Palestine Hotel. Journalists and photographers ostentatiously put down their notebooks and cameras when José-Maria Aznar arrived to address a meeting of the Partido Popular at the Senate on 9^th April. The same thing happened later on the same afternoon, when he went to the Chamber of Deputies: the journalists just stood, staring at him silently. Others held up a photograph of the cameraman killed by the Americans, at which first opposition then government deputies applauded. The protest was repeated during Jack Straw’s visit to Madrid, when the only questions were about the cameraman’s death. When the Spanish foreign minister said that Madrid had asked Washington only for “information” about the cameraman’s death, but not for an explanation, the journalists all walked out of the press conference. The following day, the TV channel for which he worked, TeleCinco, started to broadcast openly against the war; a general strike was called on Thursday which was followed throughout the country, especially in Catalonia. The family of the cameraman has said they will sue the Americans for war crimes. [Martine Silber, Le Monde, 12^th April 2003]

Israel accuses Europe of anti-Semitism

The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has said that he will take no lessons from European countries, which he says are anti-Semitic. “Some European countries cannot accept the idea of the existence of the state of Israel,” he said in an interview with the Israeli daily Maariv. He said that he had not the slightest intention of feeling guilty, or of justifying himself, as a result of the (unspecified) allegations made by these (unspecified) countries. Sharon has recently accused France of anti-Semitism and advised French Jews to settle in Israel. [Frankfurter Rundschau, 15^th April 2003]

Italy votes to send troops to Iraq

The Italian parliament has voted to send some 2,500 to 3,000 Italian troops to Iraq. The idea is that they will be responsible for delivering humanitarian aid. [Corriere della Sera, 16^th April 2003] The soldiers are expected to leave shortly after Easter, and will be composed mainly of carabinieri (military police) units which have served in Kosovo and Albania. [La Repubblica, 16^th April 2003] The vote was supported by some of the opposition and the motion was carried despite massive public opposition in Italy to the war, which culminated in yet another anti-war demonstration in Rome on Saturday. The fact that the government has supported the war in the face of such opposition has weakened its popularity.

Italian parliament speaker wants UN seat for EU

The president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, has said that the United Nations has not been rendered irrelevant by the Iraq crisis but that the institution needed to be reformed by giving a seat to the European Union. He said that he regretted the absence of a common foreign policy in the Iraq crisis and that Italy should work towards rebuilding relationships damaged in the crisis. “Perhaps this is the time to resurrect the idea of a permanent seat in the Security Council for the European Union, which could speak with one voice. The Iraq crisis has pitilessly revealed how far Europe is from a common foreign and security policy, even though it now has a single monetary policy and even though it is consolidating its own continental identity by enlargement.” Casini said that Italy’s role should be to outline “what political physiognomy Europe should assume in the 21^st century.” He went on, “There is no prospect of peace in the world without the Euro-American bridge; if it distances itself from Europe, the United States would deprive itself of an indispensable pillar for the New World Order. If Europe distances itself from the US, Europe would grow weaker in irrelevant and fanciful nostalgia. A Europe which is more united and stronger can only be a more solid and more responsible ally of the United States. We must rapidly fill the gap which has widened between the two shores of the Atlantic by making a mutual examination of conscience which must, above all, involve public opinion.” [Corriere della Sera, 15^th April 2003]

Four EU states want to launch common defence

The diplomatic advisers of the heads of government of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg met in Brussels on 9^th April to prepare a summit on EU common military policy which will be held on 29^th April. The four countries are convinced that they need to make progress towards common European military policy, following the extreme disagreements during the Iraq crisis, even if for the time being this common policy is supported only by a small “avant-garde” of countries. The four propose, in other words, to invoke the “reinforced co-operation” procedure provided for by the Nice treaty. The four countries have asked Javier Solana and the Greek prime minister Costas Simitis (current president of the European Council) to attend, although it is not clear yet whether they will do so. It is also not yet clear what will come out of the meeting, although one option is of course that the four put forward a proposition which other countries would be invited to join. The four seem to envisage a co-operation “outside the treaties”, similar to the Schengen accords. But of course they would hope for whatever agreement they reach eventually to be integrated into the EU treaties. The Belgians are in favour of an integrated military command structure, which is not how the European Rapid Reaction Force is supposed to operate; the Germans are more reticent and want to work with existing organisations like the Eurocorps. [Henri de Bresson & Arnaud Leparmentier, Le Monde, 11^th April 2003] Germany’s plans to create a European defence pact outside the EU treaties and in parallel to Nato have provoked negative reactions in other European chancelleries and in Nato itself. The supreme commander of Nato, General James Jones, said it was “redundant” to create parallel security systems at this time, because Nato itself plans a Nato Response Force of 21,000 soldiers. Germany has proposed that the European force operate initially as an agreement outside the EU treaties, and that it be independent of Nato. Britain, Spain and Italy have also expressed concern. Nato officials said the proposal was “not very useful” in dispelling American prejudices about old and new Europe. EU officials said that the proposal would not get off the ground without British participation, and not if it was directed against the US. [Die Welt, 11^th April 2003]

Klaus opposes extra-European interventions

The Czech president, Václav Klaus, has said that he is opposed to the idea of the EU exporting democracy, and that he is also against the idea of a larger military role for the European Union. He says that any such EU defence policy would lead to extra-European military intervention. “We do not need Europe to be a power which intervenes all over the world,” he said. He said that just as he had previously opposed the export of socialism, so today he opposed the export of democracy, revolution, or the transformation of society. Klaus described the Czech Republic’s decision to join the EU as one based “on reason, not love”. He said that the Czech Republic was neither an island nor geographically on the edge of Europe and that it was therefore “quite impossible not to join the EU”. Membership of the EU was nothing other than a stamp which showed that the Czech Republic is a normal, problem-free country. [Der Standard, Vienna, 15^th April 2003; interview in Die Zeit, Hamburg] Klaus’ remarks come after a visit to Germany on 10^th April, after which he described German-Czech relations as “better than ever before in history”. Chancellor Schröder accepted an invitation to visit Prague in September: he had postponed a similar trip last year after the then prime minister, Milos Zeman, caused a row by describing the Sudeten Germans as “Hitler’s fifth column”. Klaus told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [10^th April 2003] that he thought that the past could be “studied but not changed”, a reference to the outstanding Sudeten issues. He said was “not sure” that a new gesture of reconciliation was needed by the Czechs towards Germany. In a meeting with the Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, Klaus expressed “concern” that the MEPs from the Bavarian Christian Social Union had voted against the Czech Republic’s accession to the EU on 9^th April. Klaus also said that he was not a supporter of the Franco-German idea of a common EU foreign policy, and he warned against the idea of building up an EU bloc as a counterweight to the United States. He said the EU needed a wide range of foreign policy options, not a harmonised policy coming out of Brussels. He said that the EU should “strengthen the trans-Atlantic axis” and not seek confrontation with the USA. He said the Iraqi dispute should not lead to an acceleration of EU foreign policy standardisation. [FAZ, 10^th April 2003]

Germans vote against Czech EU membership

The vote by CSU MEPs against Czech membership of the EU has upset people in the Expellees Association as well as in Prague. The vote had been led by Bernd Posselt, the president of Pan Europa Union Deutschland and head of the Sudeten Germans association. He said that the Czech Republic should not be admitted because of its continuing discriminatory effect of the unjust Beneš decrees. Other members of the expellees’ association, however, criticised Posselt. Herbert Werner of the German-Czech Future Fund, and Walter Rzepka of the Ackermann Community, said Posselt had caused “a chance to be missed”. They said that the past should not rule over the present and the future, and thanked those who had voted Yes to Czech EU membership. Posselt said he had no regrets about voting No, and claimed that 100 MEPs would have done the same if the vote had not been subject to party discipline. [Die Welt, 15^th April 2003]

Beneš row rumbles on

The continuing disagreements between the Czech Republic and Germany has been exacerbated by the opening of a Sudeten German representative office in Prague. One Czech political commentator has said that the outrage at this is greater than if Al-Qaida had opened an office. One Czech Social Democrat deputy who attended the opening ceremony enraged his party colleagues so much that they voted for a special motion condemning him (which failed to pass formally only because there was not a quorum). The Communists and the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) called for the office to be closed. The Communist Party newspaper, Pravo, published the address of the new office, and gave the colour of the building: the weekly Respekt accused Pravo of doing this so that demonstrators would go there and break the windows. Czechs who are opposed to EU membership will be watching the next congress of the Sudeten Germans, which takes place on the second weekend in June, for any harsh words addressed to Prague, for the Czech referendum on EU membership is a week afterwards. [Hans-Jörg Schmidt, Die Welt, 15^th April 2003]

Foreign ministers approve EU enlargement

The 15 foreign ministers of the EU have signed off on the next wave of EU enlargement, which will allow the EU to accept 10 new members. This clears one of the last juridical hurdles for the admissions process, although the accession treaties have yet to be voted on in most candidate countries, and then have to be formally ratified by the existing member states. The first wave of admissions will start on 1^st May 2004, when Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Cyprus are expected to join. [Der Standard, 15^th April 2003]

Poland votes sovereignty over moral matters

The Polish parliament has voted a declaration stating that its national laws on moral questions take precedence over European laws. Approved by 374 votes to 25, the text says that “Polish legislation on matters concerning the moral order governing social life, the dignity of the family, marriage and education, as well as the protection of life, cannot be limited by international provisions”. This declaration comes several weeks before the referendum on Polish membership in June, and is intended to allay the fears of conservative and Catholic voters who fear that the EU will force Poland to change its abortion laws. In Brussels, officials have been purring that this declaration does not contravene EU principles because the EU, in virtue of the principle of subsidiarity, has no competence in these matters anyway. If there was any change in this, they say, it would be up to the European Court of Justice to decide who has the final say – one way of stating that the declaration might be rendered null and void one day. For it is clear that if the EU ever did adopt a law on such matters, it would have to be applied in Poland as much as anywhere else. A phrase has recently been inserted into the text of the draft Constitution which specifies that EU law trumps national law. Peter Hain, the British government’s representative on the Convention, tried to stop this sentence being inserted because he said that public opinion would misunderstand it. But Jean-Luc Dehaene, one of the Convention’s Vice-Presidents, retorted, “Your problem is that you are afraid of saying clearly to European citizens just what the European Union is.” Peter Hain gave in and the sentence was inserted. [Thomas Ferenczi, Le Monde, 13^th April 2003]

Hungary votes “Yes” to Europe

On a very small turnout, Hungarian voters have approved their country’s application to join the EU. The headline figure of 83.8% in favour hides the fact that a mere 45.6% of the electorate bothered to vote. Or, to put it another way, the people opposed to EU membership probably stayed away deliberately. In most post-communist countries, a 50% turnout is required for a vote to be valid. This low turnout contrasted with government predictions, and opinion polls, which said there would be a 70% turnout. The figure recalls the 49% turnout at the referendum on Nato membership in 1997. The Yes vote followed the confiscation by Hungarian police of 9,000 anti-EU posters, which compared Hungary’s integration into the EU with the takeover of the country by the Nazis and then the Soviets. The police justified their seizure of these posters saying that they contained prohibited symbols of tyranny. Meanwhile, the chief Slovak negotiator with the EU, Jan Figel, has said that the positive votes in Hungary and Malta will encourage a Yes vote in his own country, where a referendum is due to be held on 16^th-17^th May. [Radio Free Europe Newsline, 14^th April 2003]

Massive purge continues in Serbia

The total number of people who have now been questioned by police in Serbia is some 8,000. 2,000 people are in detention, with no access to their lawyers or to the outside world. This massive police operation is being justified in the wake of the assassination of the prime minister, Zoran Djindjić, last month. Many of those rounded up are members of the opposition Socialist Party, whom government ministers have openly accused of being involved in the assassination plot. Judges, journalists, and colleagues of former president Vojislav Koštunica are among those who have been detained. The state of emergency, which has allowed all this to continue, is to last for another month. The Serbian authorities claim that the assassination of Djindjić was carried out by a vast conspiracy by a group called “The Brotherhood of The Hague”, whose plan was to restore “patriots” to power in place of the present government. Initially, the arrests concerned mainly people allegedly connected with the “Zemun gang” which was initially fingered for having carried out the killing; now the operation has extended into all walks of life in Serbia. [Libération, 12^th April 2003]

EU suppresses critical reports on Poland

The EU has kept confidential its reports criticising candidate countries, including Poland. One of these confidential reports made its way into the hands of a Dutch reporter: it claims that the Polish judiciary is not independent and that criminal cases are subject to political influence there. But this information never made its way into the EU’s published reports on the accession countries. The negative report was withheld from the European Parliament, which voted in favour of enlargement last week. The confidential report had been written by a Dutch judge, who confirmed that his team concluded that Poland was not fit to join the EU. [KRO Reporter, 10^th April 2003]

Outrage at Fortuyn sentence

Members of the political party founded by Pim Fortuyn have expressed outrage at the lenient sentence handed down to his murderer, Volkert van der Graaf. The prosecution has asked for life, but the judge said that he did not want to damage the murderer’s chances of being reintegrated into society. It is likely that he will serve only 12 years of his sentence, i.e. that he will be free in 2014. The murderer was also ordered to pay €5,500 to Fortuyn’s family for the cost of his funeral, which was much lower than the damages requested by the family and the prosecution. [Het Parool, 16^th April 2003] Although the judge said that there were no mitigating circumstances, he also said that van der Graaf had wanted to protect “asylum seekers, Muslims and recipients of social security” by murdering the politician. Although the judge accepted medical opinions that the defendant suffered from a personality disorder, he also said that he had planned the murder very carefully and intelligently. Members of Fortuyn’s party declared themselves shocked by the sentence. [Die Welt, 16^th April 2003]