For once, the topic is not democracy, human rights or gas pipelines. Turkish diplomats are in Brussels since Tuesday to discuss tax reform with the European Commission. If Turkey wants to join the European Union one day, it will also have to adapt its tax system to the European rules. But the most important message coming out of Brussels and Ankara is that negotiations, which began in 2005 after Turkey was officially recognised as a candidate for membership in 1999, are in fact still ongoing. Very slowly Turkey is edging closer to EU membership, despite the fact that French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel have said they don't want Turkey to join, and despite the fact that many extreme-right parties did well in the European parliament elections in June by campaigning against Turkish membership. With the elections out of the way, the Turkish government found it necessary to remind the EU countries that it is still intent on joining the EU as promised. Four years into the negotiations Turkey still hasn't come very far. Officials in Brussels say Turkey itself is to blame. The EU wants the country to move faster in changing its laws and rules to make the country more democratic and to better protect human rights. It also wants Turkey to allow ships and planes from Cyprus, an EU member state, on its territory. But the visiting Turkish ministers were clearly on the attack. Did the EU countries realise the huge benefits Turkish membership would mean for their economies? Did they realise what kind of message it would send to the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world if Turkey is not allowed to join?
Agim Ceku, the former Kosovo prime minister who arrested at the Macedonian-Bulgarian border on June 23 2009 on an Interpol red warrant issued at the request of Serbia for Ceku to face war crimes charges, returned to Kosovo on June 30 after his release by a Bulgarian court formally took effect. On June 25, the district court in the south-western Bulgarian town of Kyustendil released Ceku from custody. Prosecutors had three working days to appeal against the finding in the appellate court in Sofia. After they did not do so, his release from custody was confirmed. His release by Bulgaria was the fourth time that a country has declined to extradite him to Serbia for prosecution. Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, does not deem Serbia to have jurisdiction over Kosovo citizens. Within a day of Ceku’s arrest, Serbia’s justice ministry sent Sofia a request for his extradition. Serbian news agency Beta said that the charges against Ceku dated from when he was commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and is alleged to be responsible for the murder of 669 Serbs and 18 members of other non-Albanian ethnic communities. "As for us, the most important thing is that, for such a serious crime, that of genocide, there is no statute of limitations and we are convinced that, sooner of later, Ceku will be brought to justice in Serbia and will be tried for the war crimes committed," Homen said.
Hopes are high for the upcoming summit between presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, to take place in Moscow on July 6-8. At the very least, the world expects to find out what “resetting relations” will mean. For all their differences, both leaders are counting on a productive dialogue. Last week President Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia was prepared to make deep cuts in its arsenal of strategic offensive weapons. Many commentators in the West took his statement to mean that the Kremlin was ready to make significant concessions to the United States in a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start). But Medvedev’s statement contained nothing about concessions. Russia is not planning to participate in an arms race, it is ready to make further cuts in strategic offensive weapons, but on a basis of compromise with the United States. This compromise must include Washington’s legally binding rejection of a third position area in Poland and the Czech Republic. As for concerns about Iran’s missile preparations, these can be allayed with the help of Russian radar stations in Armavir, southern Russia, or in Gabal, Azerbaijan. One could use one station or the other, or both. One might also call on the Centre for the Ex-change of Strategic Informa-tion, whose opening has al-ready been delayed a decade. The main thing in Start is predictability, control and trust. Without these any treaty will be ineffectual. A joint statement by the leaders on nuclear security is also being prepared for the summit. In preparing for the visit, the Americans have apparently, said one diplomat, stressed the impor-tance of “getting the agree-ments documented”. In the past getting George W Bush, the lover of “gentlemen’s agreements”, to sign legally binding documents was like getting blood out of a stone. On the other hand, such a “change of roles” is probably also a test for Russian diplomacy. How much are they prepared for a situation in which the key partner, in its own way, perhaps, and in line with its own interests, nevertheless comes across as particularly compliant? Will they realise that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?
The Greeks should erect a statue of Lord Elgin near the Parthenon to express their nation's gratitude to him for saving the Marbles... Having built this new museum for the Elgin Marbles, the Greeks have managed to rustle up one or two British journalists credulous or naïve enough to write articles calling for their return. But if anyone thinks the building is ever going to house anything other than the plaster casts that are on display there now, they are hopelessly out of touch with reality. There is virtually no chance that the director or trustees of the British Museum, now or in the future, will comply with this outlandish demand. Let’s review the facts. Lord Elgin paid the enormous sum of £39,000 to acquire the marbles, and was careful to obtain documents from the Turkish Government approving their removal from Greece, which had then been part of the Ottoman Empire for 350 years. Since Parliament legally purchased the marbles from Lord Elgin in 1816, the British Museum’s title to them is unassailable. The Greeks know this perfectly well – otherwise, instead of pulling this PR stunt, they would be suing Britain in the European courts. So here are a few ideas for the Greeks: first, why not erect a statue of Lord Elgin near the Parthenon to express their nation’s gratitude to him for saving the marbles? After the Ottoman conquest of Athens in 1458, the Turks used the Parthenon as a mosque and then as a powder magazine. In 1687, when the building took a direct hit from a Venetian cannon, most of its interior walls were destroyed, bringing much of the frieze down with them. By the time Lord Elgin became ambassador to Istanbul in 1798, the Parthenon was a ruin. Turkish soldiers used the marbles for target practice, and the locals burned statues to make lime for the mortar to build their houses. His purchase of the marbles was motivated by the real risk to their survival. Second, instead of whining about events that happened more than two centuries ago, perhaps the Greek ambassador should formally thank Britain for displaying the marbles in those beautiful galleries at the British Museum, where 4.6 million visitors a year from all over the world can view them free of charge. The marbles no more “belong” to Greece than do the plays of Euripides. Let the new museum stand as a monument to the futility of cultural nationalism — in this case trying to claim back something that by now belongs to the whole world.
Greeks, the heaviest smokers in Europe, face new curbs on their habit today, as the country enforces its latest attempt to reduce tobacco consumption and the annual 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion) spent on smoking-related illnesses. As of today, smoking is banned in all indoor public areas in Greece, including airports, taxis and buses. Cafes, restaurants and bars in establishments of less than 70 square meters must opt to be either smoking or non-smoking venues, while larger establishments must provide restricted ventilated smoking areas. “Despite all the preparation, the information, the talks, this is the hard part,” Dimitris Avramopoulos, the health minister, told reporters on June 25. “We will show -- demolishing a myth that exists in Greece -- that the country can adopt laws that are applied and applied by all.” Greece has been passing laws to restrict smoking since 1856 and most recently in 2002. Still, 42 percent of Greeks are smokers, the highest rate in the European Union, partly because laws aren’t applied. Avramopoulos has announced a squad of inspectors to enforce the rules; smokers breaking the laws face fines of up to 500 euros, while proprietors may pay as much as 2,000 euros. Originally due to come into force on Jan. 1 next year, Avramopoulos moved forward the implementation to the summer period to permit Greeks to adjust “gradually” to the restrictions, by allowing them to smoke outdoors. Today’s ban aligns Greece with much of the European Union, the U.S. and Australia, which have all acted to protect workers from tobacco smoke. Around 20,000 people die from smoking every year in the Mediterranean country and 700 from second-hand smoke, according to health ministry figures, costing the state, the most indebted after Italy, 2.1 billion euros annually. Sixty percent of workers in Greece are exposed daily to environment tobacco smoke, or ETS, a known carcinogen and toxin, according to the latest Eurobarometer on Tobacco. That’s the highest percentage in the European Union.
The Dutch are pulling out all the diplomatic stops to get on president Barack Obama's good side. This week, finance minister and deputy prime minister Wouter Bos pleaded with treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to be invited to the next G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the leaders of the world's 20 major economies will meet in September. Bos' visit to the US is part of a larger diplomatic effort by the Dutch. In two weeks time, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende will meet with Obama. It is an open secret, however, that the Netherlands is having trouble establishing a relationship with the Obama administration similar to the one it had with the Bush government. The Netherlands supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and it was one of the first Nato countries to send troops to Afghanistan. That gave Balkenende easy access to George W. Bush, whose poor relations with Germany and France made the Netherlands a more important player for bilateral deals. That is no longer the case now that Obama is in power and none of the major European nations are sceptical about his policies. Also, the Netherlands was slow to act on an early invitation to boost its relationship with the new administration. Obama's people had hoped the Dutch would help out with the dismantling of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, just like they showed solidarity with Bush in Iraq and Afghanistan. But to Washington's disappointment, the Netherlands has so far refused to take in any detainees from Guantánamo. The Netherlands still has some credit in Washington because of its efforts in Afghanistan. In March, secretary of state Hillary Clinton asked the Dutch to organise a summit on the future of the country. And Clinton praised foreign minister Maxime Verhagen when he came to Washington in April. However, with the Dutch terminating their mission in Uruzgan province by the end of next year, that credit is going to run out soon. Geithner has made no promises for the upcoming G20 summit.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The Fourth of July is a day when we join with people across this nation and around the world in the celebration of an historic achievement that exalted the necessity of human freedom and initiated a political and social environment filled with opportunity and potential. The United States of America, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, was “conceived in liberty,” dedicated to the ideal of justice and equality for all, thus becoming a nation that broadened the scope and function of citizenship and of the meaning of belonging and community. As Orthodox Christians, in addition to our American citizenship, we know and experience community also through our worship, fellowship and ministry in our local parishes. In these communities of faith and love we are connected to a much larger and eternal community, the Kingdom of God. In God’s Kingdom, we are citizens of a realm of life and being, in which we follow His will, and are recipients of His grace. As citizens of His Kingdom, we are called to an awareness and response to the needs of others during the course of our lives on this earth. Our Lord affirmed this in His ministry and His teaching, even emphatically stating that the inheritance of the Kingdom and of eternal life is intertwined with our response to the needs of one of the least of these my (i.e. Christ’s) brothers (Matthew 25:40). Thus, an essential characteristic of our heavenly citizenship is our active care on earth for those in need. The responsibility for others, especially in their time of want or crisis, is also critical to the strength and viability of a free society. Our citizenship and our belonging in this great American nation implies the presence of a nurturing community that advances the ability for all people to experience life, liberty, and happiness. It also implies the presence of a community that itself is nurtured by the free response of its members to the needs of their fellow citizens and residents. With discernment but without discrimination, we respond to any person in need, knowing that our ideals of freedom, justice, and equality are related to the well-being of each and every person in our society. In our celebration of Independence Day, may we take a moment to reflect upon the meaning of our citizenship and our belonging as an American people, and as members of the Kingdom of God, affirming that compassion for and assistance to others is essential to both. May we also remember that our calling as Orthodox Christians is to share the Gospel of love and truth, so that all may know the grace of God and may find salvation in Jesus Christ. Our sharing and heralding the message of the Gospel enhances our responsibility as Americans to care for our neighbors. When we respond to others in need, we strengthen the general welfare of our society; and we sustain the freedom, justice, and equality that we cherish, and that we enjoy as a superb gift of God.