Greek socialists win snap general election

Greece's socialists have won a strong parliamentary majority over the governing conservatives, according to exit polls from Sunday's (4 October) general election in the country. The centre-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or Pasok, of leader George Papandreou, is leading according to the polls, with 43 percent of the vote, giving the party 159 seats in the 300-seat chamber.

The centre-right New Democracy of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, which had called a snap election only two years after his 2007 election win, had hoped to give a boost to his faltering government with its one-seat majority. His gamble did not pay off, however, with his conservatives gaining the support of just 34 percent of voters, translating into 94 seats.

Mr Karamanlis' party had been hit by a series of corruption scandals, the economic crisis and was widely viewed as having badly handled a series of natural disasters. Moreover, the election offered a clear choice between Pasok and New Democracy.

The former promised a €3 billion stimulus package that would include above-inflation wage and pension increases, higher taxes for the wealthy and a review of the privatisation of flag carrier Olympic Airlines and the sale of the government's stake in OTE, the telecoms firm. Meanwhile New Democracy campaigned on promises of wage and pension freezes for government employees and further austerity and cutting of social programmes in order to tackle the country's deficit, already twice the European Union's allowed maximum of three percent of GDP.

Despite the convincing victory, recent polls have shown that as many as nine out of 10 Greeks do not trust either party, and abstentions were also high amongst the young, who analysts worry are turning their back on parliamentary politics. Last December, the country was rocked by violent youth riots that lasted three weeks in what was described at the time as the worst unrest to hit Greece since the restoration of democracy in 1974.

Euobserver

Másodszorra az igenek győztek Írországban

A Lisszaboni Szerződésről tartott második népszavazáson – a korábbinál nagyobb részvétel mellett – a polgárok kétharmada a szerződés elfogadása mellett szavazott.

A pénteki (2009. október 2.) referendumon a mintegy hárommillió választópolgár 58 százaléka járult az urnák elé, akiknek 67,1 százaléka támogatta voksával a Lisszaboni Szerződés elfogadását. Ez éles ellentétben áll a tavaly júniusi, kudarccal végződött első referendummal, amelyen 51 százalékos részvételi arány mellett a „nem” szavazatok - nagy meglepetésre - 53,4 százalékos többségbe kerültek.

Euvonal

Germany set for centre-right coalition

Germany was on course on Sunday night for its first centre-right government in 11 years after voters gave chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and her Free Democratic allies a majority in parliament.

Victory of the conservative-liberal alliance – which had campaigned for tax cuts and a return to nuclear energy but also social justice and tougher rules for finance – ends four years of awkward co-operation between the CDU and its rival Social Democratic Party in a grand coalition. “We achieved something fantastic,” said Ms Merkel, now facing a second four-year term. “We achieved a stable majority in Germany for a new government . . . We can party tonight but there is a lot of work waiting for us. Let us not forget that we have a lot of problems to solve.”

The change of government could herald a more confrontational phase in German politics as a stronger left-of-centre opposition links up with reinvigorated trade unions against the centre-right coalition.

The CDU and FDP were expected to win 332 seats in the 623-strong Bundestag, or lower house, giving the alliance a 20-seat majority.

The results were a slap in the face for the country’s two largest parties. The CDU obtained its lowest score since the first postwar election of 1949 while the SPD lost 11.3 points to reach a postwar low.

The vote will draw cheers from business, with a centre-right government coming to power for the first time since Helmut Kohl, CDU chancellor, lost out to Gerhard Schröder, his SPD successor, in 1998.

Ft.com

Results:

CDU/CSU - 33,8%

SPD - 22,9%

FDP - 14,6%

Linke - 12%

Grünen - 10,7%

Portugal's Socialists lose absolute majority

Portugal's ruling Socialist Party won the country's general election on Sunday, although it lost its absolute majority, exit polls suggest. The Socialists garnered an estimated 36.5 percent of the vote, according to polls reported by SIC television channel, giving the party 96 seats, down from the 121 MPs the centre-left won in 2005.

The main opposition party, the Social Democrats (PSD), which is a force of the centre-right despite its name and the party of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, came in second with 29 percent, giving them a probable 78 seats in the 230-seat parliament.

However, the big winner of the campaign was the far-left, scooping up a combined 17.7 percent, with the Left Bloc, an alliance sometimes compared to Germany's Die Linke of anti-globalisation activists, ecologists, Trotskyists and Maoists, gaining 9.85 percent, giving it 16 seats, and the Portuguese Communist Party securing 7.9 percent and 15 seats. The rightist Popular Party also boosted its standing, climbing to 21 seats up from 12 in 2005 with its 10.5 percent.

Domestic analysts have attributed the victory of the left of the left to alienation amongst blue-collar workers, civil servants and young people from the the Socialists, who ahead of the economic crisis had imposed formidable public spending cuts that provoked massive protests, including a general strike. In the wake of the economic crisis, the Socialists appeared to have dusted off the Keynesian textbooks, but to little avail.

According to the Bank of Portugal, the economy is set to decline 3.5 percent in 2009, with unemployment on 9.1 percent and rising. Portugal is not however faring as badly as its Iberian neighbour, Spain, with unemployment at half the rate and below the EU average. The country also emerged from recession this year, with GDP growth of 0.3 percent in the second quarter.

Both leading parties ahead of the election ruled out a grand coalition and the Socialists, the Left Bloc and the Communists have said they would not form a leftist coalition, although such a move would give the parties a comfortable 127-seat majority.

Abstention climbed in the election from 36.9 percent in 2005 to 41.1 percent.
Euobserver

Russia drops EU missile threat

Russia yesterday dropped a threat to place missiles on the borders of the European Union, a military source said, easing tensions after the US scrapped a controversial missile shield. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hailed the "correct and brave decision" by President Barack Obama to abandon the central Europe project and expressed hope that it would lead to further improvements in US-Russian ties.

The move to halt the threatened deployment of short range Iskander missiles in Russia's territory of Kaliningrad, announced to Interfax news agency by the military source, was Moscow's first concrete response to Obama's decision.

Meanwhile, Nato proposed a new era of co-operation with Russia, calling for joint work with Moscow and Washington on missile defence.

Barroso 2

Jose Manuel Barroso was re-elected for a second five-year term as European Commission by a clear majority in the European Parliament on Wednesday (16 September), putting an end to weeks of uncertainty and sabre rattling by his opponents in the EU house. Against many predictions, the centre-right Portuguese politician won an absolute majority of the 736-strong parliament hauling in 382 votes in his favour, 219 against and 117 abstentions.

A clearly delighted Mr Barroso, who received a bouquet of flowers from the Swedish EU presidency, thanked MEPs for their "expression of confidence" and pledged to work "with all political groups" in the parliament. Charged by critics with being a weak president too willing to bow to the wishes of large member states, Mr Barroso said his re-election gives the commission and its president "great authority." "I will use that [political] capital for more energy for Europe."

While pledging "loyalty" to member states, he said he would in future "challenge" those countries who are looking out for "strictly national interests." He refused to apologise for his leadership style, a point of strong criticism for his opponents, saying that building consensus and the art of compromise is the way Europe works.

Euobserver

Poland keen to shed anti-Russian image

Positive chemistry between Russia and Poland at a World War II remembrance event on Tuesday (1 September) could open a new chapter of realpolitik in bilateral ties, with implications for Poland's place in the EU.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Polish leader Donald Tusk on Tuesday morning spent 30 minutes chatting in a friendly manner in view of cameras on a pier in the Polish town of Sopot on the Baltic Sea coast.

The meeting - the first of its type in eight years - stood out next to ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II in nearby Westerplatte, where around 20 European leaders gathered to pay respects. Mr Putin in an open letter in Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza the same day held out the prospect of putting Russian-Polish relations on the same privileged footing as Russian-German ties. "The Russian-German partnership has become an example of reaching out to one another, of looking to the future while paying attention to past memories ...I am sure that Russian-Polish relations will sooner or later attain the same level," he wrote.

The Russian premier offered to open national archives on the Katyn massacre, where Russian soldiers in 1940 killed 21,768 Polish officers and intellectuals being held as prisoners of war. He also signed an agreement giving Polish ships passage to Polish waters - the Zalew Wislany - through a Russian-controlled gap in a Baltic Sea promontory.

For their part, Polish politicians avoided any Russia-critical remarks. Even the nationalistic Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, restrained himself to a muted allusion to Russia's 2008 partition of Georgia, saying that infringements of territorial integrity are "wrong also today." "Russia and Poland have a perspective of working together as partners, of building relations appropriate to two great European nations," Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said. "This [Mr Putin's letter] is the kind language that one partner should use with another."

Euobserver

EU to begin phasing out standard lightbulbs

The EU will start making the transition from power-draining lightbulbs to more energy efficient ones Tuesday, the European Commission said. Several nations including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines have already announced they will phase out or restrict sales of traditional bulbs as well. In 2007, President George W. Bush signed a bill that calls for the bulb to be phased out in the U.S. beginning in 2012.

The new European Union rules follow an agreement reached by the 27 EU governments last year to phase out the traditional incandescent lightbulb over three years starting this year to help European countries lower greenhouse gas emissions, the EU executive said Monday. This aims to curb climate change and to reduce energy bills. As of Tuesday, old standard frosted lightbulbs and clear bulbs of 100 watts and more will no longer be manufactured or imported into the EU as part of the plan. The measure is part of a series of energy-saving measures planned by the EU to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming and to reduce energy expenditure.

AP

Europe's surge signals hope for recovery

The European economy bounced back with unexpected strength in the second quarter, buoying hopes that a worldwide recession was drawing to a close. The economy of the 27-country European Union shrank 0.3 percent in the three months ended June 30, for an annual rate of roughly 1.2 percent.

The 16 countries that use the euro registered a 0.1 percent decline for the second quarter, or an annual rate of roughly 0.4 percent. Despite being in negative territory, the European data looked much better than in the first quarter of this year, when both the European Union and the euro zone contracted 2.5 percent from the last three months of 2008. Europe still faces the possibility that its recovery could slow or even stall in early 2010 because of lagging efforts to repair its banking system and sharply rising unemployment. Nonetheless, the sunnier picture in Europe, particularly in Germany and France, has given the region a leg up sooner than most economists expected. Because of its sharply different recipe for combating the recession, Europe is likely to have slower growth than the United States by 2010, economists predict.

Underlying the strong reading were solid performances in France and Germany, each of which grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter, government data showed. Germany’s economy, the largest in Europe, will still probably contract about 6 percent for the full year, economists say.

Within the euro area, France and Germany are helping balance out much weaker performances in Italy, a perpetual laggard, and Spain, where a collapsing housing market has brought an acute recession. Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary and the Baltic countries, remains deeply troubled. And the once-mighty British economy still faces a steep rise in unemployment, though it, too, could return to modest growth in the third quarter, economists said.

The surprise expansion in Germany — most economists had expected a flat or slightly negative reading — reflects gains for the country’s exporters from growth in Asia and what may be a bottoming of the downturn in the United States. Industrial production has also received a fillip from programs that give auto buyers a 2,500 euro ($3,541) bonus if they swap older cars for newer, environmentally friendly models. News last week that German exports had leapt 7 percent in June over the previous month foreshadowed the positive reading on gross domestic product.

But that masked an overall collapse of orders from abroad; German exports in June were down 22 percent from the period a year earlier. And unemployment is expected to rise sharply this year as government programs that kept people on private payrolls throughout Europe begin to expire. Already, the euro area’s unemployment rate stands at 9.4 percent, its highest level in 10 years, and the anemic growth of the coming quarters will not be enough to arrest the slide. That, in turn, could drag down consumer confidence or even generate political backlash in Europe, economists said.

TheNewYorkTimes

EU population to hit 500 million

The European Union's population is set to reach the 500 million mark in 2009, new figures from Eurostat, the bloc's statistics agency, showed on Wednesday (3 August).

On 1 January 2009 the population was estimated to stand at 499.8 million, compared with 497.7 million on 1 January 2008. The EU population has been on the rise since 2004 due to an increase in birth rates combined with annual immigration of between 1.5 and 2 million people.

Euobserver

Euro-zone retail sales fall 0.2 percent in June

The European Union says retail sales in the 16 nations that use the euro fell 0.2 percent in June from a month earlier, showing that consumers are wary of spending as unemployment hits a 10-year high.Shoppers cut back spending both on daily essentials such as food, drink and tobacco and on non-food items such as clothing, electronics and medicines.

Retail sales slumped by 2.4 percent in June from the same month last year.

LATimes

Moldova swings behind pro-EU parties

Pro-EU and pro-reform opposition parties have done better than expected in Moldova's snap elections. But tough coalition talks lie ahead. With 85 percent of ballots counted on Thursday morning (30 July), the four main opposition factions got 47.5 percent and the Communist party got 45.2 percent.

The snap elections were called after widespread accusations of fraud in an earlier poll in April, which ended in violent protests and deaths in police custody. The EU in the run-up to Wednesday's vote laid out conditions for deeper integration. Free and fair elections, respect for human rights and the creation of a credible enquiry into April's events would secure full participation in the EU's "Eastern Partnership" scheme and EU advocacy with international financial lenders, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said.

Moldova's future EU relations will be complicated by pro-Russian authorities in the breakaway Transniestria province, who have risen in stature due to the political mess in Chisinau.

euobserver

Iceland submits EU membership bid

Iceland has formally applied to join the European Union, a week after the parliament in Reykjavik voted in favour of accession to the 27-nation bloc.

The Icelandic Foreign Minister, Ossur Skarphedinsson, submitted the request to his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, during a ceremony in Stockholm. Sweden currently holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency. The bid must now be approved by the EU, after which Iceland's people will be asked to vote on it in a referendum.

"This is the day when I have the historic duty to hand in formally the Icelandic application to the European Union," Mr Skarphedinsson said at the ceremony in the Swedish foreign ministry on Thursday. Mr Bildt said that having Iceland within the EU would enhance its "Nordic dimension".

bbc

Számos problémát vet fel a német alkotmánybíróság határozata

José Manuel Barroso, az Európai Bizottság elnöke aggodalmát fejezte ki a német alkotmánybíróság Lisszaboni Szerződésről szóló határozatával kapcsolatban, attól tartva, hogy az alááshatja az Európai Unió kompetenciáit és a közösségi jog elsődlegességét. Az alkotmánybírák 147 oldalas állásfoglalása Németországban is heves vitákat keltett.

A német alkotmánybíróság 2009. június 30-án ismertetett véleményében ugyan összeegyeztethetőnek találta a Lisszaboni Szerződést a német alaptörvénnyel, azt azonban előírta, hogy még a ratifikáció befejezése előtt nemzeti jogszabályban kell megerősíteni a német törvényhozás jogköreit.

A határozat kimondja például, hogy a német parlamenté kell hogy legyen a végső szó, amennyiben az EU a Lisszaboni Szerződésben foglaltakon túl is ki szeretné terjeszteni a hatáskörét. A bírák emellett kritikával illették az Európai Parlamentet is, amely ugyan szélesebb jogkörökkel rendelkezne a szerződés hatályba lépését követően, azonban véleményük szerint nem az állampolgárok, hanem a tagállamok érdekeit képviseli.

Mindemellett az alkotmánybírák úgy határoztak, hogy a közösségi jog értelmezésében a végső szó a német legfelsőbb bíróságot illeti, amely így felülbírálhatja az unió legmagasabb bírói testülete, az Európai Bíróság döntéseit. Azonban az európai közösségi jog egyik alapelve a közösségi jog elsődlegessége a nemzeti joggal szemben, ami az évek során előmozdította az európai integráció folyamatát. Ebből a célból az Európai Bíróság számos ítéletet hoz olyan területeken, amelyeken a tagállamok is hatáskörrel rendelkeznek a közös piac integritásának fenntartása érdekében, ami viszont meglehetősen tágan értelmezhető fogalom.

További kényes kérdés a szubszidiaritás elvének megvalósulása. Az elvet – amely szerint a döntéseket mindig a legalacsonyabb, az érintettekhez legközelebbi szinten kell meghozni, s csak akkor kell közösségi szinten dönteni, ha a kitűzött célt nem lehet nemzeti szinten megvalósítani – a német alkotmánybíróság maximálisan szeretné biztosítani.

Barroso, aki hivatalos véleményét csak a későbbiekben közli, hangsúlyozta, hogy a felmerült kérdéseket politikai vitára kell bocsátani. A Bizottság elnöke hozzátette: fontos tisztázni, hogy a szubszidiaritás elve hogyan egyeztethető össze az európai integráció további fejlődésével. A határozat kihirdetését követően a kormányzó német Kereszténydemokrata Unió (CDU) testvérpártja, a Keresztényszocialista Unió (CSU) néhány politikusa szeretné elérni, hogy az unióban képviselt német álláspontot kötelező legyen a német parlamenttel elfogadtatni. Ez azonban többek részéről ellenállásba ütközik, hiszen magakadályozná, hogy Németország bizonyos rugalmassággal tárgyaljon a többi tagállammal, ami az ország befolyásának csökkenéséhez vezetne.

Euvonal

Schmitt Pál lehet az Európai Parlament egyik alelnöke

Az EP néppárti frakciója brüsszeli ülésén szerdán Schmitt Pált, a Fidesz EP-delegációjának vezetőjét jelölte az EP egyik alelnökének. A múlt hónapban megválasztott új Európai Parlament első plenáris ülésén, július 14-én Strasbourgban dönt a 14 alelnök személyéről. A néppártiak 5 alelnököt adnak, Schmitt mellett olasz, görög, spanyol és német képviselőt jelöltek a tisztségre.

Schmitt Pál - megválasztása esetén - az Európai Parlament eddigi legmagasabb rangú magyar tisztségviselője lesz.

Euvonal

Centre-right wins in Bulgarian elections

Bulgaria's Socialist-led coalition government suffered a severe blow in the general elections on Sunday (5 July), which saw a high turnout and a clear-cut victory for the centre-right opposition Gerb party of Sofia mayor Boiko Borisov.

Gerb, or Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, had nearly 40 percent (39.7%) of the votes with almost all ballots counted on Monday morning, the Central Electoral Commission said on its website. The Socialists came second with barely 17.7 percent, followed by the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) at 14.5 percent, the far-right Ataka (9.4%), and the right-wing Blue Coalition (6.7%).

Mr Borisov said he would now engage in talks with the right-wing groups that have made it in the parliament – the Blue Coalition, Ataka and the Order, Lawfulness, Justice party which obtained a little over the threshold of four percent (4.13%) – in order to try and form a right-wing coalition government.

"I hope we will be able to form a government as soon as possible," Mr Borisov, likely to become the country's new prime minister, said at a press conference on Sunday night. "Taking into account the inheritance we get, I can't promise miracles in the next five or six months," he added.

Socialist government linked with EU failures

With more than four million of the almost 7 million Bulgarians eligible to vote showing up on Sunday, the turnout in these elections was over 60 percent – five percent more than the previous vote in 2005 (55.7%) and 20 percent more than the European elections one month ago (40%). The high turnout shows that "people are returning to politics," outgoing Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told the press.

Mr Stanishev's government is credited with getting Bulgaria in the EU in January 2007, but was also strongly criticised for its failure to deal with widespread corruption in the Balkan country. The government was blamed for irreversibly losing €220 million of pre-accession EU funding last year over the persistent corruption problems, with millions more of EU money still frozen and at risk, unless Sofia delivers some results.

The vote is "political punishment" for Mr Stanishev's government and is linked to Bulgaria's "so far failed EU membership," Vladimir Shopov, an independent political analyst told EUobserver.
"It has been an important element among the so-called 'middle generation' and the young people," who massively voted for Gerb, Mr Shopov said. With Mr Borisov coming to power, a change in both the tone and the style in the government's relations with the "European partners" can now be expected, he added.

Euobserver

Algirdas Semeta, member of the European Commission

Algirdas Šemeta takes up duty as Member of the European Commission responsible for Financial Programming and Budget. Following the resignation of Dalia Grybauskaité, who has been elected as President of Lithuania, Algirdas Šemeta has been designated by the Lithuania government for appointment as member of the Commission, in agreement with the Commission President, José Manuel Barroso.

Svéd elnökség

Link:
http://www.se2009.eu/

Cseh elnökség

Történt valami érdemleges?
Egy francia diplomata szerint az elnökséget "il sera difficile de faire pire". De ne legyünk igazságtalanok a csehekkel: nehéz helyzetben vették át a stafétabotot; mindjárt kezdhettek az orosz-ukrán gázválsággal és a gázai háborúval...
Az európai gazdaság válságban van; az első negyedévben még gyorsuló ütemben romlott a helyzet, főleg az ipari termelés zuhant meredeken. A második negyedévben lassult a visszaesés üteme, kicsit javult a bizalom a tőzsdéken, a hitelfolyam is helyreállt, köszönhetően az ECB gigantikus pénzinjekcióinak.
Tavasszal az európai politika fókuszába az Európai Parlamenti választások kerültek. A kampány során mindenki tartózkodóan viselkedett.
+ A cseh elnökség fő eredménye: a pénzügyi felügyelet létrehozásával kapcsolatos tanácsi komromisszum illetve az európai gazdaságélénkítési terv konkrét kidolgozásának folytatása.
+ Bevezették az Eurót Szlovákiában
- Kelet-Európa pénzügyi összeomlása kormányválsághoz vezetett Csehországban, Magyarországon, Lettországban

Megállapodás az uniós pénzügyi felügyeletről

Az Európai Tanács csütörtöki ülésén általános megállapodás született az uniós pénzpiaci felügyeleti rendszerről, amelyre a Bizottság a jelenlegi válság következményeként múlt hónapban tett javaslatot. A korábban fenntartásait hangoztató Gordon Brown is áldását adta a tervre, miután garanciákat kapott arra, hogy a Pénzpiaci Felügyeletek Európai Rendszerének felállítása nem veszélyezteti a tagállamok államkincstáraik feletti kontrollját.
Az Egyesült Királyság a bizottsági kezdeményezés közzétételét követő hetekben erőteljesen lobbizott az ellen, hogy a javaslat alapján felállítandó páneurópai hatóságok a tagállamok kormányait a tulajdonukba került pénzintézetek reprivatizációjára kötelezhessék.
A megegyezés értelmében a bankrendszert, a biztosítókat illetve az értékpapír-piacot felügyelő három európai hatóság kötelező erejű döntéseket hozhatna, továbbá vizsgálatot folytathatna a határon átnyúló ügyletekben, valamint közvetítene a tagállami hatóságok közötti vitás esetekben.
Az Egyesült Királyság végül belegyezett abba, hogy az újonnan felállítandó Európai Rendszerkockázati Tanácsot az Európai Központi Bank mindenkori elnöke vezesse. Gordon Brown azért ellenezte korábban ezt, mert így az eurózónán kívüli országok állampolgárai nem ülhetnek az európai pénzügyi rendszer makroszintű felügyeletét ellátó testület vezetői székébe.
Az Európai Tanácson elfogadott alapelvek nyomán a konkrét jogszabályok kidolgozása az ősz folyamán indul meg. Egyelőre azonban még nem tisztázott, hogy ezen jogszabályokhoz a Szerződések melyik cikkei biztosítanák a jogalapot, ami azért fontos, mert ettől függ, hogy a Tanácsban egyhangúságra vagy minősített többségre van-e szükség az elfogadásukhoz.
Euvonal