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Friday, March 19, 2010

Michael's List- Greek problem exaggerated; FYROM-NATO; Serbia-Slovenia; EU Rubbish; Russia-US Congress; US-Cyprus-HalkiSeminary; EU-Orthodox-Committee



After the crisis crunch, many countries in the Eurozone face the same economic threat, said Joerg Wolf, editor in chief of the Atlantic Initiative. He also believes the Greek problem has been exaggerated. “There is a danger of a chain reaction – Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain have the same problems, huge deficits and debts,” he said. The two strongest Eurozone members are split over the nature of a financial lifeline for Greece. Germany is softening to the idea of an international rescue, whereas France remains reluctant to cry for help outside of the EU family. Greece has been calling for help to reduce its budget deficit, which is the biggest in Europe. On Thursday, Athens warned it would turn to the International Monetary Fund unless European leaders make a firm financial pledge at next week's EU spring council meeting. The debt-stricken country believes investors will be more confident if the continent is seen as playing a supporting role.


Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, Commander of NATO Joint Force Command Naples, discussed Wednesday in Skopje on the relations between FYR Macedonia and the Alliance. FYR Macedonia's accession to NATO remains one of the country's foreign policy priorities, Gruevski told the high guest. To that effect, FYR Macedonia is committed, via own reforms and contribution to NATO-led missions, to act as an equal partner of the Alliance's member states, sharing and defending the common values and responsibilities, the PM said. He told Fitzgerald that in 2010 FYR Macedonia would send 80 ARM troops to Afghanistan mission ISAF in addition to already deployed contingent of 164 and affirmed the country's support of the new Afghan strategy. The PM welcomed the recent statements of NATO officials, including the one of Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, which call for swift settlement of the name row imposed by Greece. FYR Macedonia is strongly committed to the UN-sponsored process for finding a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue, Gruevski said. Fitzgerald praised FYR Macedonia for its contribution to global, regional stability, saying that there was no obstacle from the military point of view to the country's full-fledged NATO membership.


Serbian President Boris Tadic will not participate in the regional conference on the West Balkans, scheduled for tomorrow in Slovenia, in Brdo Kod Kranja - the office of the Serbian President communicated. As underlined, from the very beginning Serbia has defended the principle by which the delegation of Kosovo can participate in regional meetings only in accordance with UN documents, especially Resolution 1244. Unfortunately, the organizers have not been able to organize the gathering in accordance with such principles, which prevented the presence of the Serbian president - the statement reads. The Office of the Serbian President indicates that Serbia had a constructive role in talks on modalities of the organization of the conference and demonstrated a desire not to block the participation of the Kosovo representatives. At the beginning of the talks, the principled position of Serbia was clearly demonstrated to the organizers in order for them to have a criterion and find a formula that would be in accordance with the principles of the UN - the statement reads.


The Europeans who churn out the most rubbish are the Danes, the Cypriots and the Irish, according to official Eurostat figures on municipal waste just released for 2008. This also went into how the European Union member states deal with their trash. Eurostat says 40 percent of the stuff is recycled or incinerated. While rubbish for the average Dane tipped the scales at more than 800 kilos, the Czechs were the least rubbishy, producing a comparatively abstemious 300 kilos or so. The overall EU average was about half a tonne. It is 565 kilos per head in the UK. The treatment methods differ substantially from one country to another: landfill, incineration and recycling. In seven countries, less than 10 percent of waste was recycled. One of the poorest EU members, Bulgaria, sends it all to landfill, Romania, Malta, Lithuania and Latvia about the same proportion. Austria shows up the most environmentally responsible (70% of its waste is recycled or composted). The Danes may produce the most but they also burn the most — more than half. The Czechs send over 80 percent of their 306 kilos of municipal waste each to landfill sites, only recycling two percent, and composting the same. Germany, Sweden and Belgium recycle the most.


The Russian government would like to see more active cooperation with the U.S. Congress to facilitate trade between the two countries, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday. "We are ready to work more intensively with Congressmen and discuss what is happening in our country and what is happening in your economy," he said during a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He said Russian companies operating in the United States needed signals from U.S. authorities that they were welcome. "A number of companies are under sanctions initiated by your department," he told Clinton, referring in particular to steelmaker Severstal and metals producer Norilsk Nickel. "They need support. They need signals that they are welcome," Putin said. Clinton said she was aware of those problems and said it was important to work together to overcome them and move forward.


US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon (foto) has said that United States continues to encourage the negotiations held between the two communities in Cyprus under the auspices of the UN Secretary General. Speaking at the Brookings Institution, in Washington on Tuesday, he said that a regional issue where Turkey can play a productive role is Cyprus. “The United States continues to encourage the negotiations between the two communities under the auspices of the UN Secretary General. Turkey and Greece can also play constructive roles in helping the Cypriot parties toward a lasting solution to their differences”, he said. Gordon said that the US commend both Cypriot leaders for their efforts and urge them to seize this window of opportunity to pursue negotiations leading to a settlement that reunifies Cyprus into a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation. He expressed the view that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent and “very constructive comments to the Cypriot press endorsing such a solution were very welcome and should help bring this outcome about”. The US official noted that the US welcomes as well “the positive dynamic in the relationship between the Turkish and Greek Prime Ministers – something that Greek Prime Minister Papandreou, who was just on this stage, spoke about when he was in Washington last week”. Referring to Turkey’s EU course, he said that the United States continues to strongly support Turkish accession and urges Turkey to continue the democratic and political reforms necessary to complete the membership process. “Further progress on promoting human rights and religious freedom, including important steps like reopening the Halki Seminary, will move Turkey’s EU prospects forward”, he added. Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have been engaged in direct negotiations since September 2008 with a view to solve the problem of Cyprus, divided since the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.


The Committee of Representatives of Orthodox Churches to the European Union has initiated its work. As was reported in communique, adopted on the results of the Committee session in Brussels and conveyed to Interfax-Religion on Thursday, the new structure members believe that "the dialogue between the political community and the Churches is very welcome as a manifestation of mutual respect and as a sign of hope for a better Europe and a sustainable world." The Committee considers such a dialogue as an opportunity "for promoting the fundamental values and principles upon which European culture has based itself and along which it has developed." Among such values are "justice, peace, protection of the environment, sensitivity in front of situations of poverty and suffering, reasonable distribution of financial assets, condemnation and avoidance of all sort of violence, protection of children and women, access to education for all, standing in solidarity with one another, freedom of communication and expression, protection of religious freedom concerning both minorities and majorities and the rule of law," the document reads. Acting representative of the Russian Church to the European Union Archpriest Antony Ilyin told the agency that "the Committee of Representatives of Orthodox Churches is called to make visible the presence of the global Orthodoxy both for the decision-making political elites and for an expert community and mass-media in Brussels." According to him, Europe is a common space united not only by acquis communautaire, the Roman law, the Renaissance culture and the Enlightenment project "but above all it is united by the idea of freedom and dignity of a human person created according to the image of God, by the idea of Christian personalism and sobornost. Ignoring them makes the whole European project losing its content and its historical mission." The initiative of creating of the Committee of Representatives belongs to Metropolitan Hilarion, the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations and to Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, the representative of the Constantinople Patriarchate to the EU who agreed to assume the function of the moderator of the Committee. Holding briefings, round tables, seminars and thematic conferences dedicated to the present challenges of today's Europe is among the prospects of the Committee. It implies forming the expert groups of all interested partners including the acting Orthodox politicians, media workers, scientific community and NGO's in Brussels.