麻豆约拍 NEWS | The Reporters

EU to lift Cuba sanctions

Mark Mardell
19 Jun 08, 11:28 PM

The foreign ministers' dinner finished about half an hour ago. They've decided to lift sanctions against Cuba.

Czechs wary on Lisbon

Mark Mardell
19 Jun 08, 11:07 PM

We're hearing that the Czechs don't want any mention of further ratification and the ongoing process of ratification will be "noted", not "urged".

The presidents and prime ministers of the European Union dined on Slovenian-inspired delicacies such as trout with pumpkin foam, lamb "Idrija" style and Kefir pudding with Teran liqueur and red berries.

I am itching to find out what the Irish prime minister told them, but as yet nobody is talking. Indeed I am not sure they've quite got round to the coffee.

It has been decided that the Irish have four months to report back: but it isn't clear if that is a deadline or merely a staging point. The Czechs are coming out strongly that it should only be the latter. The deputy prime minister, Alexandr Vondra, told the 麻豆约拍 that he was glad the Lisbon Treaty was in a "parking lot" (being scrutinised by the constitutional court) in his country and that his message was "please don't press us".

The Czechs don't want any encouragement in the final text to continue with the process. Oh and I hope their dinner was less "imaginative" than the anchovy and salami rolls in the press room.

Show of solidarity

Mark Mardell
19 Jun 08, 06:33 PM

The Irish prime minister was one of the first to arrive at the meeting. He'd already held a brief joint news conference with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and was meeting with Germany's Angela Merkel. He is getting lots of warm handshakes, pats on the back and touches on the arm, like a family member who has suffered a bereavement.

Brian Cowen and Jose Manuel Barroso There seems to be agreement that Ireland cannot and should not be isolated: at least not at the moment. Angela Merkel has dismissed talk of a two-speed Europe. The official statement will definitely talk about giving the Irish more time and "respecting" the "No" vote.

But will the Czechs sign up to anything that talks about continued ratification? And will the Irish be expected to come up with a concrete plan at the summit in October?

A double-crisis summit

Mark Mardell
19 Jun 08, 02:07 PM

The barriers are up and the leaders are about to arrive.

The former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw used to talk of summits as "two shirters" or "three shirters", taking ministerial packing as a good clue to how long it would all take.

But this could be the "two crises" summit. The one is that caused by the Irish "No" to The other, the subject previously top of the agenda, is the fuel crisis hitting families and businesses all over Europe. Don't be surprised if the leaders try to combine the two: "we'd love to help but we need the Lisbon Treaty to act". At the very least they will stress that their top priority is dealing with concerns about high prices, rather than institutional navel-gazing.

This is a critical summit. The outcomes may not be dramatic, because it is in the leaders' interests to appear calm and collected. It's most likely, after some preamble on meeting the concerns of citizens, they will talk about respecting the Irish, the need for Lisbon and push everything off to another summit in October. But even if they manage an appearance of stately swan-like progress there will be furious paddling beneath the water.

Here are the things to look out for:

Is the October meeting a deadline or just a staging post? In other words, how much time will the Irish be given to come up with some proposals? The mood music towards the Irish, punitive or understanding, will be important.

Is there a united Franco-German position? For the first time ever the German press conference will be translated into English and French - a sign Chancellor Merkel intends to speak for Europe.

Is a bigger European Union linked to the treaty? France's President Sarkozy and the president of the European Parliament have argued: without Lisbon, and others can't join the EU as planned. Does everyone agree?

The Czech position: They are teetering on the brink of pulling the plug.. will they do it? We know the president is not keen on signing, the prime minister has issued a statement saying: "The Irish 'No' is not of a lesser impact for us than the French and Dutch 'No'. It signifies that no matter whether the ratification process continues or not, the Lisbon Treaty will not enter into force. The Czech ratification process has been suspended until the official decision of the constitutional court. That leaves us time for further debate inside the Czech Republic as well as in the EU."

Sounds clear enough, but will he be sat upon?

The real business will be over dinner, but I'd better go and watch what the leaders say as they come into the first meeting.

The meaning of 'No'

Mark Mardell
19 Jun 08, 01:00 AM

EU leaders are gathering in Brussels for after the Irish said "No" to the Lisbon Treaty. But the 27-nation bloc won't be considering scrapping the whole project. Here is a longer version of my piece which was on this morning's Radio 4 Today programme.

Flags of EU and member nations To many a British newspaper the Irish are a heroic race, who have smashed the hated In many European capitals campaigners gathered outside Irish embassies to show their thanks. But many newspapers on the continent take a rather different tack. A Swedish newspaper fumed "Ireland should be forced to rethink or become an associate member of the EU". An Austrian editorial declared "Ireland should do the rest of Europe a favour and leave".

This is not just the gut reaction of some journalists, but of many in the political classes all over Europe. And it raises the question: "What part of 'No' do they not understand?" It sounds like a cheap jibe, but it goes to the heart of the European Union. Those who dislike the EU's direction of travel call it the "ratchet effect": the EU's only movement is one way, towards more common policies, more co-operation between countries, more power to the centre.

But the British newspaper template - that Brussels is forcing reluctant, bullied countries to do something or other - misses an important point. National governments are the ones forcing the pace, not the Commission, not the European Parliament.

All the EU countries signed this thing, most genuinely like it, and governments like to get their way. Especially big ones. Imagine if Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Italy and all the rest had agreed to build a space rocket and Ireland for whatever reason objected. Would they say: "OK that's fine, we'll call the whole thing off", or would they press ahead with the plan without Ireland?

But of course the European Union is not a space rocket or any other one-off project... it's a club with a mission: and moreover a quite clearly stated mission. Those who signed the , establishing the Common Market 50 years ago agreed they were "DETERMINED to establish the foundations of an ever closer union among the European peoples".

The the one that the EU operates under at the moment, says they are: "RESOLVED to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe".

The repeats this and adds it should "mark a new stage in the process of European integration".

And of course the EU has They have two main jobs: to suggest new laws, and to promote the purpose of the treaties. So it's in their job spec to push for more integration.

Some argue history is at the heart of it. They would say the architects of the European project came out of the war profoundly suspicious of what they would have regarded as the excess of democracy, the populism that produced Hitler and Mussolini. They wanted to establish a French-style bureaucracy, as wise guardians of a higher truth. This may be so.

I suspect though that one seasoned diplomat got it right when he said there are "a lot of people who think they have been working for a long time for the good of the people of Europe and really don't understand why the benefits have not come across".

I'm told that when the earlier this week half of them raised the question of what they were doing wrong, and agonised about being seen as an out-of-touch technocratic elite. What they don't discuss is whether the EU should be a completely different beast altogether.

That is very frustrating for people who want a change of direction. They ask if there is anything anyone could do that would derail the project. After the Danish people rejected Maastricht, the Irish people rejected Nice, the French and Dutch people rejected the constitution and now after this vote, there is no fundamental rethink. After the rejection of the constitution, Tony Blair said that the trumpet had sounded outside the walls. But the walls have not fallen. In the end the European Union is still about governments and what they want. Only a government with a very strong will and a clear agenda to shake the foundations could make a "No" mean no. That is why on the continent they will watch the next British general election with a degree of nerves.

The 麻豆约拍 is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Description