The European Union in crisis; Will it survive?

By DON MELVIN

BRUSSELS (AP) — Until recently, the idea that the 27-nation European Union might disintegrate would have been unthinkable, for uniting a continent ripped apart by two World Wars was considered a rousing diplomatic success.

But the EU’s two most cherished achievements — a common currency and the free movement of people across borders — are under threat. And the possibility that the decades-long experiment that is the EU might not survive in its present form has now entered mainstream debate.

The Polish finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, has raised the prospect that the EU might split apart. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said if its common currency, the euro, failed, so too would Europe itself. And experts say the euro’s stability is by no means assured: George Osborne, the British chancellor, has said that only a few weeks remain to save it.

On Wednesday, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, described the state of the union in unusually stark terms. The EU, he said, was facing the biggest challenge since its creation.

“We’re in a crucial moment in history,” he said. “If we do not move forward with more unification, we will suffer more fragmentation.”

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European Commission chief Barroso says more unification critical to EU’s survival

By DON MELVIN

BRUSSELS — A senior EU official urged more unification in Europe as it grapples to contain a debt crisis in Greece that’s threatening the survival of the euro currency itself.

In a state of the union speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Barroso, who heads the executive European Commission, came down firmly in favor of the 27-nation EU having a stronger central government.

“If we do not move forward with more unification, we will suffer more fragmentation,” he said Wednesday.

“I think this is going to be a baptism of fire for a whole generation,” Barroso added.

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Belgian soccer tackles insults step by step

By RAF CASERT

BRUSSELS (AP)—The referee heard the insulting chants toward French-speaking Walloons cascading from the stands, and he had enough.

The Belgian league soccer game pitted Racing Genk of Dutch-speaking Flanders against Standard Liege, the biggest club in Wallonia. The Flemish fans started hurling scatological insults in French at rival fans, prompting referee Jerome N’Zolo to stop the game.

Eiji Kawashima

A few weeks earlier, a game between Lierse and Beerschot was suspended when fans taunted Lierse’s Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima with cries of “Fukushima, Fukushima”—referring to the disaster at the nuclear power plant following the tsunami and earthquake in March.

After years of working to contain hooliganism, authorities now want to do more to crack down on racial insults and crude taunts that rain down from the stands during games through much of Europe.

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A ‘promise broken’; Romania and Bulgaria denied entry into Europe’s free-travel zone

By DON MELVIN

BRUSSELS — Romania and Bulgaria, the European Union’s two newest members, were denied entry into Europe’s borderless free-travel zone Thursday when EU interior ministers could not reach the necessary unanimity and decided not to hold a vote.

Poland’s interior minister, Jerzy Miller, said angrily that both countries had been promised entry and had met the requirements.

“Today, the promise has been broken,” Miller said. “Today, we were not confident enough to say we want to act together, not separately.”

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NATO says Gadhafi fighters continue to be threat

By RAF CASERT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The general commanding NATO’s mission in Libya said Thursday that isolated groups of forces loyal to ousted strongman Moammar Gadhaficontinue to be a threat to local people but are unable to coordinate their actions.

Bouchard

 

Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard said in a conference call with reporters that many Gadhafi forces are surrounded with no way out. On Wednesday, NATO’s decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, granted approval to extend the mission for another 90 days. Without an extension, permission for the operation would have expired Sept. 27.

“We are now at a point where I can only urge regime forces to surrender, to bring an end to these activities,” Bouchard said.

Despite their isolation, the general said, forces loyal to former strongman Moammar Gadhafi “are still dangerous … and violence against the population continues.”

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Rights group: EU agency exposing migrants to abuse

By DON MELVIN

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s border control agency is knowingly exposing migrants to inhuman and degrading conditions by transporting them to unacceptable detention centers in Greece, an international human rights agency said Wednesday.

In a report titled “The EU’s Dirty Hands,” Human Rights Watch argues that detaining people and taking them to facilities known to have inhumane conditions means the border control agency, Frontex, shares responsibility for human rights violations.

“Frontex has become a partner in exposing migrants to treatment that it knows is absolutely prohibited under human rights law,” said Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch’s refugee program director.

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Jewish leader says Europe has responsibility to vote no on Palestinian state at UN

By DON MELVIN

A European Jewish leader said Tuesday that the continent must oppose any U.N. Security Council resolution that would recognize a Palestinian state and admit it as a member _ not only for Israel’s sake but also for Europe’s own safety.

“There are a lot of radical elements in Europe, in every country, which can be like dynamite, and this recognition could be like a trigger for this dynamite,” Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress told the Associated Press in Brussels.

He said he was referring primarily to Islamist radicals but also to others, including right-wing radicals.

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Central control of Europe’s borders proposed

By DON MELVIN

BRUSSELS (AP) _ The European Union’s executive branch proposed Friday that national borders in Europe’s visa-free travel zone be controlled by officials in Brussels, the EU capital, rather than by individual governments — a plan already opposed by Germany, France and Spain.

The proposal by the European Commission follows a call for stronger economic governance within the area that uses the euro currency, and reflects a push toward more centralized decision-making to protect the European Union’s two proudest achievements, the free movement of both people and capital.

It is unclear at this point whether either of those achievements will survive, said Paul de Grauwe, an economics professor and EU expert at the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium.

“I would say we are at a road, and suddenly there is a bifurcation and we have to make choice,” de Grauwe said. “One road is more integration to save the project, to save the Schengen zone and the monetary union. But there is a lot of opposition. It’s also possible that we take the other road, no further integration, and then we risk the collapse of these two experiments.”

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EU Parliament slams Eritrean writer’s imprisonment

By DON MELVIN

Almost 10 years after an Eritrean journalist was imprisoned as part of a crackdown on dissent, the European Parliament unanimously condemned his detention and called for him to be given a fair trial by an independent court.

Dawit Isaak, a dual Eritrean-Swedish citizen, has never faced charges but the presumption of human rights activists is that he was detained because of his criticism of the Eritrean government. He was arrested in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, on Sept. 23, 2001.

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NATO balks at Libya nation-building, policing

By SLOBODAN LEKIC

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO, which has been bogged down for nearly 10 years in Afghanistan and more than 12 in Kosovo, is desperately seeking a mission it can end, quickly, cleanly and for good.

So at the top levels of the military alliance there is great eagerness to wrap up the Libyan air campaign as soon as possible, and great reluctance to get involved in nation-building or policing now that the country’s former leader, Moammar Gadhafi, has fallen from power.

“We must end this Libyan business quickly,” one senior military officer told The Associated Press. “We just cannot afford this proliferation of missions which just drag on and on. One needs to finally end.”

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