Energy pushes Turkey and EU closer

The European Union has to speed up membership talks with Turkey because it badly needs the nation as a reliable energy partner, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said Monday.

Barroso said he would push to get talks moving again on Turkey's EU membership bid as the bloc searches for alternative energy routes after an energy dispute between Ukraine and Russia left many EU nations short of natural gas. One option is the Nabucco pipeline, which is being planned to bypass the feuding nations and carry Caspian natural gas through Turkey to Europe.

Erdogan said his country was ready to play a key role to help EU energy security. "Turkey is not coming to the EU to become a burden; we are coming to relieve some burdens off the shoulders of the European Union," he said.

The EU has suspended membership negotiations in 8 of 35 different policy areas, over Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus, an EU member, and to open its ports to the small island nation. Only 10, less important, files have been opened for negotiation.

Diplomats say Cyprus has been blocking the opening of talks in the energy area because of a dispute with Turkey over gas exploration at sea. Energy is one of the 35 areas, or so-called chapters, in Turkey's accession talks. Barroso told said that an issue as important as energy security should not be made conditional upon such a specific issue.

Link

European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership

European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership was launched 15.04.2008.

Václav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic, and founding Chair of the Council of Patrons of the new European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership (EFDP), will join other patrons of the EFDP in a public event launching the new foundation in Brussels on 15 April 2008. He will be joined at the event by other EFDP patrons, including former Vice-President of the European Commission Etienne Davignon, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Uffe Ellemann Jensen, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Bernard Bot. On 15 April 2008, together with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and former president of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano, they will introduce this new initiative to strengthen European efforts to support democracy around the world.

http://www.efdp.eu/homepage

“By investing in the democratisation of its neighbours and their partners, it invests in their openness and development. It invests in fairer societies in which the incidence of social problems, the use of force, and political, religious or cultural radicalisation is decreasing. Ultimately, the return on the investment made is collective and translates into prosperity, stability and peace for all." Barroso

EU leaders agree to weakened Mediterranean Union plan

EU leaders approved a watered-down version of a plan put forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a grand Mediterranean Union stretching from Morocco to Turkey and aiming to foster cooperation with the EU's southern neighbours.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa called the proposal an "upgrade of the Barcelona process" – the mechanism currently regulating the relations between the EU and the Mediterranean countries – and said it had received support during the EU leaders' meeting in Brussels.

An agreement was reached to launch the project as soon as possible, "with the principle that all member states will participate," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also said.

Mr Sarkozy also rejected claims that his initial proposal had been considerably weakened, saying that it was not very different from what was eventually agreed upon. There is still one secretariat, a joint north-south presidency, and periodical summit meetings foreseen, so "I do not think I have renounced anything," he said, adding that he was happy the principle of a closer partnership with the Mediterranean countries "was taken up with great enthusiasm" by the other member states, as the "Barcelona [process] simply did not work".

The proposal sparked ideas for other EU states as well, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying that the EU should now commit more to eastern states, particularly Ukraine, which should be given a clear European perspective."We accept this agreement in general, but we also have our own proposal about Ukraine," he said.

Meanwhile, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said that key points, such as what exactly the role of the new Mediterranean set up would be, remained unanswered and suggested the French president was working to reach national goals above all. "It is obvious that Sarkozy wants to make a name for himself during the French presidency and is focusing on a subject in which he has an economic interest," Mr Topolanek was quoted as saying by CNN.

EU presses neighbors for change in return for aid

Differentiation the key to ENP

“The closer you want to be to the EU, and the greater your commitment to reform, the more we will offer you in terms of both assistance to reach those goals, and opportunities to expand and deepen our relations,” European Commission President José Manuel Barroso told the European Neighbourhood Policy Conference in Brussels on Monday, 3 September.

President Barroso explained that “The fundamental principle of ENP is differentiation. The ENP is not, and never has been, a one-size-fits-all policy. There are as many variations of ENP as there are partners. We cannot and do not wish to ignore the differences between our partners.”

Acknowledging that “some have questioned the logic behind the ENP, questioned whether countries with such different societies, histories and traditions should, or even can, be brought together in one policy approach,” he insisted that “by focusing attention on the wider European and Mediterranean area, the ENP has leveraged more support from the EU’s Member States than when we looked at each of our neighbours in isolation…The ENP has spurred the Member States to think harder about the future of the whole of this corner of our planet, and the need to address our common challenges now. This has resulted in more money for ENP assistance programmes, and new opportunities for closer cooperation with the EU.”

"He also stressed that “the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is as important as ever – the cornerstone of our regional dialogue between the EU and our Mediterranean partners.”

Brussels

The European Union was to meet Monday with representatives of 15 neighboring countries and the Palestinian Authority to generate more momentum for a €12 billion program of economic and other aid in exchange for EU-supported changes, a strategy that has been a tough sell from the day it was started in 2004. The EU European Neighborhood Program offers neighbors cash, expertise and easy access to EU markets in return for commitment to change.

The "ring of friends" program is hobbled by the wide variety of participants - from Ukraine to the Palestinian Authority - and by the Union's insistence that they tackle issues like migration, terrorism or human rights. The European public's dim view of the state of democracy beyond EU borders has also undercut the program.

The EU's neighborhood outreach is little loved by some - notably Ukraine, which aspires to full membership - and little appreciated in Western Europe.

Last week, the EU made public the results of a public opinion survey showing that 54 percent of EU nationals had little or no interest in neighboring countries. The vast majority of respondents, however, said that cooperation in environment, energy, economic development, migration and the fights against organized crime and terrorism was important.

The neighborhood program was begun in 2004 to offer easy access to the vast EU market of almost 500 million without membership in the bloc. While most neighbors have made progress in economic and political changes, other areas remain problematic, including poverty, corruption, unemployment and mixed economic performance.

IHT

EU to push for six medics' speedy transfer from Libya

The European Union, along with the US, has called on Libya to transfer five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to its territory, after the Libyan High Judicial Council converted their death penalty into life imprisonment on Tuesday night (17 July).

"The fact that the High Judicial Council did not uphold the death sentence is a first relief", the European Commission president Jose Barroso said. "However, our objective is a solution which allows for the departure of the Bulgarian and Palestinian medical personnel from Libya and their transfer to the EU as soon as possible", he added.

According to Bulgaria's foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin, negotiations on the transfer of the medics will get under way later today (18 July). "This decision is a big step in the right direction... For us the case will end once they come back to Bulgaria," he was cited as saying by the BBC.

Tripoli, for its part, has already indicated it was willing to consider the medics' return to Bulgaria based on a 1984 extradition deal. "There is a legal co-operation agreement between Libya and Bulgaria and we don't mind that the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor benefit from it," Libya's foreign minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam told the AP.

The six medics have been jailed in Libya since 1999, after an outbreak of HIV among children at a Benghazi hospital. In 2004, they were convicted and sentenced to death for intentionally starting the epidemic.

Tuesday's decision by the Libyan panel comes after a deal with victims' families – something orchestrated by the Gaddafi Foundation, led by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son. Families signed a declaration, claiming they no longer insist on the death penalty, and in return received payments – one million dollars each. "

"This is indeed good news", EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero–Waldner said on Tuesday (17 July), following the announcement. She also stressed the bloc would "stand by [its] commitments to continue assisting the children, their families and the Benghazi hospital in fighting the scourge of HIV/AIDS".