Background

Straight after Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence EU launched its rule and law mission EULEX. The idea was to deploy a new civilian mission in Kosovo to replace the UN administration. However UNSC did not replace resolution 1244 - which was adopted in 1999 when the international administration and peacekeepers enter the province and confirms Serbia’s sovereignty over the province - so new mission’s legal base was in doubt.

Six-point-plan

To deploy EULEX the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon of UN proposed on July 2008 technical negotiations between UN and Belgrade and Pristina authorities over six issues – police, customs, judicial system, traffic-infrastructure, borderline and Serbian cultural heritage.

Serbia outlined three conditions under which it would accept deployment - that

• Eulex secure UN security council approval,
• be neutral with respect to Kosovo's status and
• not implement the Ahtisaari Plan, which also lacks security council authorisation.

Few weeks ago agreement with Belgrade was reached. The amended six-point plan of the UN secretary-general, which Serbia declared it would support, also envisages an autonomous police force for Serb-majority areas, which would receive directives from the UN's mission in Kosovo (Unmik); with Eulex responsible for policing structures in majority-Albanian areas.

Four-point- plan

Analysts in Priština have noted, that accepting the 6-point-plan for would mean that the Kosovo officials would formally lose their sovereignty over North Kosovo, though this sovereignty does not exist essentially. This view Kosovo’s separatist government shares.

The rival plan unveiled by President Fatmir Sejdiu is argued by Pristina to be in accordance with Kosovo’s constitution and the UN plan for Kosovo’s independence drafted by ex-UN envoy for Kosovo’s final status, Martti Ahtisaari. “First – We back the very swift deployment of EULEX in Kosovo according to the mandate foreseen in the declaration of independence, Ahtisaari’s Plan and the Constitution of the Kosovo Republic.” “Now Kosovo has its own four point plan which is a blueprint for EULEX’s extension all over the territory of the Republic of Kosovo,” added Kosovo’s head of government. (BalkanInsight 18/11/2008)

The proposed plan includes four points (Source New Kosova Report 18/11/2008):

• the Government of the Republic of Kosovo support the quick deployment of EULEX in Kosovo in based on Independence Declaration, Ahtisaari document and Kosovo Constitution;
• institutions of the Republic of Kosovo reject entirely the Six-Point Plan;
• institutions of the Republic of Kosovo will closely cooperate with EULEX in the entire territory of Kosovo; and
• institutions of the Republic of Kosovo will cooperate as always with the United States of America, the European Union and NATO.

From my point of view word plan is exaggerated in this case, declaration or statement could describe beter the content.

USA decides …what?

Kosovo leaders continued 18th Nov. 2008 talks with the US State Undersecretary for Eurasia Daniel Fried and EU officials on finding a solution for the deployment of EULEX on the whole territory of Kosovo. After talks Kosovo leaders informed that USA is backing their 4-point plan.

However on 20th Nov. 2008 US Ambassador to Serbia Cameron Munter says Kosovo officials have been informed of Washington’s support for the UN six-point plan, and Pristina is also urged to back the plan. The ambassador said Pristina was told that it should take into consideration that an agreement with Belgrade has been reached over the (6-point) plan and that Washington, which has been instrumental in supporting Kosovo’s efforts to gain independence from Serbia, deems the plan acceptable as well.  (Source: BalkanInsight 20/11/2008)

Prima facie the 6-point and 4-point seems to be mutually exclusive, but hey are not when understanding 4-point to valid south of Ibar river and 6-point north of that.

To be continued

The session of the UN SC on Kosovo at which the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is expected to submit his report might be held on coming week. Until then, Belgrade has interrupted all further talks waiting for the Ban Ki-Moon’s report. If conditions set by Belgrade are precisely defined in that report (status neutrality of the EULEX deployed in Kosovo under the UN umbrella and not implementing Martti Ahtisaari’s plan), Serbia shall give the green light for deployment of the EULEX in the whole territory of Kosovo.

Accepting 6-point-plan does not change the actual situation on the ground. Southern part will continue its life under EU supervision implementing Ahtisaari plan, northern part will formally continue to be an UN protectorate de facto integrated to Serbia.

balkan
belgrade
EULEX Kosovo
ari rusila

I would like to know your opinions about the "One Seat"-campaign for stopping moving and travelling the Parliament between Brussels and Strasbourg.

Don't we believe that the money used on moving the Parliament could be used better than that? Don't we think that the citizens in the union deserves better than wasting our money by moving the Parliament to Strasbourg and back to Brussels?

We can use those money better than that. We can build a New Social Europa with a flexible labour market, a social security for everyone, a new climate policy and a common responsibily of solving the big problems in the whole union.

I would like to hear some opinions from you, pals!

Young regards,

Jakob Esmann

- Leading Media Effort Coordination Assistant for Danish Prime Candidate to the European Parliament MEP Dan Jørgensen
- Chairman, The Social Democratic Youth of Denmark (DSU) - Kolding department
- Member of The Social Democrats of Denmark

 jakob(AT)dsukolding.dk

 The annual March of Equality walked through the city of Poznan, capital of the Wielkopolska region.
Approximately three hundred people took part and 350 policemen protected them. But apparently it was not enough.
Right after the conclusion of the demonstration, a few young activists holding banners: ¨Diversity YES, Intolerance No¨ bearing PES were attacked by thugs and hooligans.

Mateusz was severely beaten, just because he was carrying a PES banner. A girl who was accompanying him, Magda, had her arms twisted in order to take the banner away from her. The rest of the staff managed to escape from the attackers.

“Our activists were attacked because they were demonstrating peacefully for tolerance. I am very glad that they were not seriously injured, and my first thoughts are with them. I thank them for their bravery and I wish them a full and fast recovery from their injuries and their undoubted shock”, said Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the PES President.
“I also have a message for the cowards who carried out the attack. We will not be intimidated by this violence. Not in Poznan, not anywhere. It will only strengthen our determination to keep making the case for respect for diversity. We will continue to say Diversity YES, Intolerance NO throughout Europe.”

Over 300 people from all over the Netherlands turned up for the Europe Day which was also addressed by MEPs Ieke van den Burg and Jan Marinus Wiersma, by PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Dutch Labour Party leader Wouter Bos. It was also the first public debate of the four people who are competitng to be selected as head of the Dutch Labour Party list for the European elections.    

Ils étaient 4 au départ, il sont (presque) 4 à l'arrivée. On a cru que Benoît, Bertrand et Martine allaient parvenir à créer le T.S.S. (Tout Sauf Ségolène), mais non, les egos ont été, une fois de plus, les plus les forts, et chacun ira de son côté.

Vendredi, François Hollande a appelé au rassemblement et nous a dit au revoir. Samedi, Bertrand Delanoë a parlé, mais celles qui étaient vraiment attendues étaient Martine et Ségolène. A l'applaudimètre, Martine a remporté le duel. Ségolène a un peu agacé avec ses airs de Vierge Marie "tous ensemble, nous rallumerons tous les soleils et les étoiles du ciel". Il faudrait commencer par rallumer la flamme de l'unité au sein du Parti. Si elle gagne, Ségolène promet d'en appeler aux militants pour décider si oui ou non, il faudra envisager une alliance avec le Modem, afin de rassembler le plus grand nombre. Les 3 autres sont contre, considérant qu'il faut s'unir à gauche. Samedi soir, ils ont essayé de se mettre d'accord, mais ça n'a pas marché. Dimanche, ils sont tous revenus à la tribune pour nous expliquer pourquoi ils maintiennent leur candidature. Bertrand n'étant pas parvenu à être désigné par Martine et Benoît comme leur candidat, il a annoncé qu'il se retirait de la course.

Alors, jeudi prochain, chers camarades, tous aux urnes pour décider de qui sera le prochain leader du PS. Et sans doute, rebelote vendredi!

Si l'ange au sourire était militant du PS, je me demande s'il continuerait à avoir la banane!

So America, see you again on 20 Jan 2009. I think and I feel feeling that the PES really can make a good contribution to a better future with all progressives. And our next step will be the PES Council in Madrid on 1-2 Dec.

Thank you to all, reading my blog from the US, thanks to all PES activists reading my journey. See you soon.

Moving together


Speaking at the University of Columbia with Professor Joseph Stiglitz (in the photo) about the financial crises, it is very striking how close our analysis is from both sides of the Atlantic. The consequences of this, the worst speculative crises since World War II! What went wrong? Why did it went disastrously wrong? What must we do to avoid a new disaster in the future?


I see that the ideas and proposals of the PES to regulate were well received here in the US, among progressives and Democrats. In the progressive environment of universities: from Stanford and Berkeley in California where I was participating in a conference three ago, to Columbia University in New York now!

Now, way forward is clear for me: we need to start on two road maps for regulatory reform, one in the US, one in Europe. But lets do it in such a way the two road maps are complementary. That is exactly what I am here trying to obtain a common direction. And we are definitely making big progress.

Obama + 8

Wouldn’t it be wonderful?


I am standing at the corner of 33rd street and 2nd Avenue reading the headlines of a fake edition of the New York Times “War in Iraq Ends”. A woman standing besides me, waiting at the traffic light, looking at the headlines of my newspaper. Spontaneously, she commented loudly: “wouldn’t it be wonderful?“


She’s right! But it seems to me, and to the woman too, only the new President - Barack Obama – can do it! And do it the right way!

 All in the same boat, including Private Equity

No matter who I ask, from the chair of NY Fed, former CEO of SEC, former chief of the FED, the best progressive brains dealing with finance, Nobel prizes winners in economics,  leaders of the international institutions, they all confirm that  Private Equity were implicated in the crisis.

 
Leverage and debts, through highly geared lending, are used to buy companies and withdraw money from the purchased company for the PE fund managers . That “activity” has  heavily damaged the credit market.

 
We are faced with new financial market defaults: the corporate lending market is in trouble due to the many companies, who are now in trouble because of debt overload made by Private equity funds. They can’t get their loans recapitalized and the risk of default and company bankruptcy increases every day.

 
That is also why PE must be covered by new and effective regulation, here in the US and in Europe, as we have insisted in my report to the European Parliament. 

Obama + 8

 Finally Paulson gave up buying bad loans

 

Paulson now admits that the bail out package of 700 billions USD to buy bad loans was not a good idea! We knew that when he announced it.

 
Now he is listening to the Democrats and focusing on ensuring that the banks behave and to do their job properly to help families against foreclosure of their home, to ensure that companies’ have access to loans for investment.

 
That is the proper focus!

Obama’s declared plan for withdrawal from Iraq will be the first ,urgent and huge foreign political job for the new President. And they are preparing it already in the transition team.

But it will be linked to a reinforced presence in Afghanistan? Soon, we will hear a new voice from Washington saying to Europe “I need your help”. Understood, Europe must also reinforce its presence in Afghanistan. I hope we can manage that challenge.

And I sincerely hope that we, Europe and US, can very soon make a better day also in our efforts for peace between Israel and Palestine.

Meeting with Barney Frank’s team just confirmed my belief that US Democrats have exactly the same conviction as the PES – namely that the two crises, financial and recession, must be tackled simultaneously because they are so heavily interconnected.

The financial crisis is far from over. It’s getting worse. Someone told me it is like opening a new pandora’s box every day.

As I see it, the US will act very soon. How? They will act by reforming their supervisory and regulatory system, strengthening the authority and power of the Fed. They will act by putting the Republicans under pressure to accept a much bigger social content in the new financial stimulus package: increased unemployment insurance, helping families with their heating bills, helping poor home owners with mortgages difficulties etc.

This will be combined with new assistance to State Governments to invest in infrastructure - urgent intervention and long term investments.

That is my judgment. When they move here, they move fast. We must move in Europe too. It’s a discussion which will come up again at our PES Council in Madrid, just two weeks from now on 1 and 2 December.

Background of this post

Bloggers Unite is an attempt to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By asking bloggers to write about a particular subject on 1 day of the month, a single voice can be joined with thousands to help make a difference. This time, because of our work to increase human rights awareness, many members chose to go one step further to raise awareness for refugees — people who are impacted by these issues. So, on Nov. 10, thousands of bloggers will write about the various challenges faced by the 11 million people who have no country to call home and the 40 million more who have been displaced because of war and natural disasters. (More about this campaign here.)

Refugees and IDPs in West Balkans

This theme is of paramount importance in Balkans. Beginning 1991, political upheavals - such as the breakup of Yugoslavia - displaced millions of people. Officially one part of these people are refugees meaning that they have escaped to other country, one part is "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) meaning that they have escaped from their homevillage/-town but still are in the same country than before.

Latest statistics about this problem in western Balkans are following (country, no of refugees - no of IDPs - Total including also stateless etc. persons):

• Albania: 77 - 0 - 101
• Bosnia-Herzegovina: 7.367 - 130.984 - 146.586
• Croatia: 1.642 - 2.873 - 7.826
• FRY Macedonia: 1.235 - 0 - 2.397
• Montenegro: 8.528 - 16.155 - 24.822
• Serbia: 97.995 - 226.350 - 326.853
• Slovenia: 263 - 0 - 4.408

(Source: UNHCR statistics end-2007, table established 3rd June 2008)

The table above is maybe surprising to those who have the picture - made by western mainstreammedia - in their minds, that (only) Serbs were making ethnic cleansing. In reality today the Serbs are the biggest victims of Balkan wars.

Roots and possible solution

Bosnian war (1992-95) included massive transfer of populations so it was possible to draw new boundaries according ethnic groups. Dayton Agreement 1995 created federation like Bosnia with entities according these lines so situation with IDPs in Bosnia-Herzegvina is quite stabil.

In Serbia the refugee problem came when Serbs were expelled from East Croatia and Croatian Krajina. The IDP problem is a follow-up of Kosovo conflict when some 200.000 Serbs and some thousends of Roma were expelled from there to northern Serb-dominated part of province or to Serbia. During Nato bombings also Kosovo Albanians - about 700.000 - escaped from the province but most of them have returned back.

To solve refugee and IDP problem in western Balkans there is a need of massive housing programme especially in Serbia and this can probably be implemented with help of international donors. Housing activities should also be supported by economical development programmes to decrease unemployment figures and social problems common in locations with big share of refugees/IDPs.

More my views over Balkans and Caucasus one may find from my BalkanBlog

I have been told repeatedly in my many meetings in Washington DC this week that “The problem is that we have a President in the White House who is simply not capable of showing leadership on the complex questions.”

 

I have also been told repeatedly that many over here saw the financial crisis coming. Lots of warnings here in the US, and in Europe, including from the PES.  But the President just didn’t react. Remember McCain saying that the fundamentals of the economy were good.

 

“Now it will be different with the new President” they say. The work to get the financial markets under control is barely started.

 

“When they distributed a loan, no matter the quality or security, they just got their fees immediately.” So of course, they distributed more loans to get more fees. I listened carefully to the nicely suited CEO  from one of the lobby organizations of the financial industry. “It was all fees driven” he added.

Yes, I thought, and driven by unlimited greed. No wonder it all broke down, now wonder the bubble burst.

Now the shadow banking system has gone. And will not come back. If we make the right regulation we can say goodbye to  unlimited, uncontrolled and deeply irresponsible “securitization”, and goodbye to the opaque loan packages that have poisoning the global economy.

Give your support on Martin Schulz’s Facebook profile!

Here there are the links to those groups:

Odio gli Zingari, DIAMO UN LAVORO AGLI ZINGARI: COLLAUDATORI DI CAMERE A GAS, Odio gli zingari al semaforo!, Basta Zingari a Vicenza, Rendiamo utlii gli Zingari...trasformiamoli in benzina verde!, QUELLI CHE DISPREZZANO GLI ZINGARI, Sbattiamo fuori dal nostro paese tutti questi rom,zingari!!!!!

For more information, visit the PES Group in the European Parliament website.