In a very bizarre twist, a leading Austrian politician, Stefan Petzner, has revealed a “special relationship” with the late Jorg Haider. Haider, the famous anti-immigrant far-right politician, died in a motorcycle crash earlier this month.
The new head of the Freedom Party (Haider’s party) admitted that “Haider was the man of my life.”
Heider was Roman Catholic and married with two children. The party fired Stefan Petzner yesterday.
Wow.
The Alliance for Austria... Read Full Story
The French Senate has approved a measure that calls for a national referendum every time time a new country seeks to join the European Union. This bill is a revised version of the law that was rejected earlier in the year. The earlier draft was written so that only Turkey’s EU accession would be put to a referendum (French Senate ends Sarkozy plan to block Turkey). The bill must still be approved by the French National Assembly (lower house of parliament).
While the new law does not spe... Read Full Story
Turkish Daily News reports that Turkey will receive 495 million Euros worth of development assistance from the European Union. While this figure may sound like a lot of money, Serbia will receive 186.7 million and Croatia will receive 138.5 million. When viewed in terms of Euros per capita, Turkey’s sum appears even less significant. Croatia will receive about 30.8 Euros per capita, Serbia will receive about 18 Euros per capita, , and turkey will receive about 7 Euros per capita.
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A brief glance at any Turkish newspaper printed in the last six or seven years shows that one of Turkey’s most pressing internal problems is the split between the country’s so-called “secularists” and so-called “Islamists.”
To grossly oversimplify the situation: the “secularists” dogmatically follow the ideals of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. They believe that religious symbols should be banned from the public sphere, and they believe that the AK Party... Read Full Story
There are many hurdles Turkey must overcome before it can think of joining the EU. One is the Armenian Genocide issue.
Armenians claim that over 1 million Armenians were systemically murdered by the Ottoman military in 1915. They, along with scholars from across many discipline, call these murders genocide.
Turks disagree. Some claim that “people were killed on both sides” and that what the Armenians suffered was not worse than what Turks suffered. Some claim that the Ottomans wer... Read Full Story
The new “Mediterranean Union” has been hyped by French President Nicholas Sarkozy since his 2007 election campaign. At the same time, the idea has been derided in Ankara and various other capitals across the EU and Muslim Mediterranean.
The impetus behind this Sarkozy project was to let Turkey think that it was actually joining Europe while denying the very large and very Muslim country membership in the European Union. Perhaps of equal importance was the chance to cast France as... Read Full Story
Any traveler in Central or Eastern Europe will likely meet or see someone of Roma (Gypsy) descent. If said traveler happens to strike up a conversation with a friendly Bulgarian, Romanian or Slovak, there is a good chance that the traveler will be warned about “the dark people who will steal your money.”
Although it varies in its intensity, such appalling anti-Roma racism can be found in almost anywhere in Europe (Turkey included).
In a move reminiscent of its fascist past, Italy&... Read Full Story
The Irish No-vote will have negative ramifications for Croatia’s EU hopes. Sarkozy has said that without agreement on the Lisbon treaty, it is inconceivable that enlargement negotiations will move forward. Merkel has thrown her support behind Sarkozy.
Bad news for Turkey? Sort of. Even before the downfall of the Lisbon Treaty, Turkey knew that membership in the EU would not occur for at least 5-10 years. That said, Turkey will have to wait in line for membership behind Croatia. The long... Read Full Story
The positive momentum between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots may be coming to a screeching halt (background: click here).
The Turks are angry over a recent memorandum of understanding between the UK and the Republic of Cyprus. The memorandum purportedly supports the Greek point of view in the conflict.
Furthermore, the Greek Cypriots have decided to conduct military exercises in the Mediterranean, with — you guessed it — France. The Greeks would have been hard pressed to ... Read Full Story
The answer to the above question is, of course, yes.
And what are Europe’s energy woes? Obviously, EU countries must contend with high gasoline prices, just like almost everyone else in the world. Unlike other countries, Europe must also balance its need for natural gas with its fear of one-sided dependence on Russia. Russia has shown that it is willing to use its energy resources for political gain. Leaders in EU capitals are searching for natural gas transit routes that are not contro... Read Full Story
