Europe in Brief
Who does what in the European Union? An
overview of the institutions, history and economy of the community
The European Union:
The European Union (EU) is currently an
organization of 15 independent countries whose members have closer ties than in any other
regional association worldwide. The EU, originally known as the EEC, was founded in 1957
by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In 1973, membership
increased to nine countries (Denmark, Ireland, the UK). Eight years later, Greece became a
member, followed by Portugal and Spain in 1986. The most recent enlargement occurred in
1995 with the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden. The EU is currently negotiating on
accession with 12 countries.
Council of the EU:
This institution, also known as the Council
of Ministers or simply the Council, is the real decision-making body of the EU. Meetings
of the Council are made up of the relevant ministers of the member states depending on the
issues discussed-for example, agriculture or transport. Decisions can be made by a
qualified majority (62 out of 87 votes) provided that unanimity or a simple majority is
not prescribes for the issue in question. Each country has a specific number of votes
depending on its size: for example, Germany and France have ten, Belgium five, and
Luxembourg two. When the Treaty of Nice comes into force in four years, the distribution
of votes will be more strongly weighted towards population size. The Council is based in
Brussels.
European Council:
A leading function in the European Union is
performed by the European Council, which is composed of members' heads of state or
government and the president of the European Commission. Government leaders, supported by
their foreign ministers, assemble for these summit meetings at least twice a year.
According to Article 4 of the EU Treaty, the European Council shall provide the Union with
the necessary impetus for its development and define the general political guidelines of
this development. Among other things, this body is responsible for decisions on
fundamental reforms of the EU.
European Commission:
Union treaties stipulate that only the
Commission has the right of initiative, i.e., the right to initiate legislation. However,
Commission proposals are subject to the approval of the Council and the Parliament, who
can also call upon the Commission to present draft legislation. The 20 commissioners can
enact implementation rules to put EU regulations into practice. They also monitor
compliance with EU law and EU treaties. In the event of non-compliance, the Commission
must initiate legal proceedings against an EU member state at the European Court of
justice. Each EU country sends at least one commissioner to Brussels. The commissioners
are each responsible for a specific area, such as agriculture, trade or foreign relations.
They work entirely independently of governments or other organizations. The Commission can
take only decisions collectively by a majority vote of the members. The president of the
Commission, currently the Italian Romano Prodi, is also a member of the European Council.
The Commission's headquarters is located in Brussels. It has missions in all member states
of the European Union and delegations in 128 countries.
European Market:
The European market is the domestic market of
all Union citizens. Realized in 1993, it encompasses the 15 member states and Iceland,
Norway and Lichtenstein, which form the European Economic Area with the EU. The four basic
freedoms apply in the single market: free movement of people, goods, services and capital.
EU Presidency:
Every six months, one of the member states
assumes the Presidency of the Council, in other words the Chair of the European Council.
The country in question-until the end of this year it is Belgium (read for the year
2001)-is responsible for the work in progress and can influence the direction of future
policy. In 2002 it will be the turn of Spain and Denmark, and in 2003 Greece and Italy
will assume the chair. The presidency must organize all meetings of the Council. It
represents the European Union externally and acts as the contact for third states. At the
beginning of each Presidency, the country presents its programs, which is debated by the
parliament. At the end of the Presidency, a report has to be submitted. The program
encompasses uncompleted projects of the previous Presidency and new tasks arising out of
decisions by the Council.
European Parliament:
The European Parliament, EP, is the directly
elected body that represents the citizens of the European Union. In many areas, the
European Parliament plays a decisive role in Union lawmaking. The Parliament can amend
draft laws presented by the Commission and reject them if the Council of Ministers does
not accept these amendments.. Furthermore, it can pass bills if it accepts amendment
proposed by the Council. In addition to this, the European Parliament debates and approves
the budget proposals of the Commission in conjunction with the Council. The Parliament
must approve the appointment of the Commission President and the commissioners. With a
no-confidence vote (majority of members), the parliament can also compel the Commission to
resign. International treaties of the EU can only enter into force if they are approved by
the Parliament-an important right in the case of EU enlargement. Plenary sessions of the
European Parliament are held in Strasbourg twelve weeks of the year. In the intervening
periods, parliamentary groups and committees meet in Brussels.
European Central Bank:
The European Central Bank, ECB, was
established on June 1, 1998 as the successor of the European Monetary Institute. It is
based in Frankfurt am Main. The European Central Bank is overseeing the introduction of
the Euro and decides on the monetary policy in the Euro zone. The primary goal of the ECB
is price stability. At the same, time it supports member states to meet their self-imposed
financial stability targets (new borrowing, national debt, and interest rates). The Bank
is not allowed to grant loans to finance government spending. The ECB is completely
independent of governments and organizations of the European community. The European
Central Bank is regarded as the most integrated European institution.
MEPs:
There are currently 626 members of the
European Parliament, MEPs, including 190 women. The largest of the eight parliamentary
groups is the European People's Party with 232 seats. The party of European Socialists
with 181 seats follows it. Elections are held every five years:; the next poll will take
place in June 2004. EU enlargement will increase the number of MEPs to 732. In order to
give specialist attention to the various areas of policy, MEPs work in a total of 17
sub-committees.
A revolutionary film on the
French revolution
-Sophie BARRAU, France
"The Lady and the Duke"', a new
film by the French director Eric Rohmer, gives an impression of marvelous hallucination.
The overlaying techniques used in this film have made it possible to recreate a historical
Paris such as Hollywood has never dreamed of. The result is astounding.
"''I wanted to do better than the
Americans"', Eric Rohmer declared in a French weekly. The film is painted just as
much as it is staged. We do not see an old Paris but, on the contrary, a brand new Paris,
that is to say one as fresh as it must have been at time of the story. "'The Lady and
the Duke" is the true story of Grace Elliot, a young Scottish aristocrat who had been
detained in Paris at the time of the French revolution. The film, which has been adapted
from her memoirs, reveals the moving and difficult relationship between Grace and Phillipe
Egalite, the Duke of Orleans and a cousin of king Louis XVI. Grace and the Duke, erstwhile
lovers, had a relationship that was full of ambiguousness. This complex intimacy made up
of friendship, respect and love, was largely called into question by the dramatical
historical events which they at once witnessed and took part in. Grace, a fervent
monarchist, could not accept the regicide vote of Phillipe Egalite. She was torn between
her love and her political convictions and, moreover, she had to protect the secret life
as a spy for England.
Eric Rohmer had the idea for this film when
he came across a summary of Grace Elliot's memoirs in a history magazine. The article said
that one could still see her private mansion in Rue Miromesnil in Paris. "'It gave me
the idea for a film: a film which would take place in that place and which would feed on
the relation between this precise location in Paris, this peaceful apartment, where, in a
way, she hid herself, and the rest of the city in the throes of the revolution", the
film director explained.
Eric Rohmer denies making the film for
political reasons. "In it, I don't defend any party, neither a royalist one nor an
anti-royalist one. However, I would like to contribute to maintaining a taste for history
in the public, both young and old." Eric Rohmer managed to obtain a complete version
of the text that inspired him. The book, "'Journal of my life during the French
Revolution"', had been published in France several times. Grace Elliot was born in
1760 and died in 1823. Her diary began on 14 July 1789 and ended shortly before her
liberation, which took place after Thermidor in the Republican calendar and the fall of
Robespierre, 27 July 1794. "There is something striking in this text, as if it was
already scripted, with scenes, sequences and even dialogues", relates director
Rohmer, who for this film, has chosen the passages dealing with the relations between
Greece and the Duke. They are situated mainly around five dates which are those of major
events in the history of the French Revolution.
Highlights in Eric Rohmer's filmography
include La Collectionneuse, My Night at Maud's, Pauline at the Beach, Full-Moon in Paris
and his tales from the Four Seasons. Grace Elliot links up with Rohmer-style characters
who are dandies and self-centered. "The Lady and the Duke"'' is "a gesture
of fanatical solitude, secluded pride, belief and faith, the French daily
"Liberation" quite rightly stresses. Rohmer is keen to point out the effect of
reality produced by the details given by the text and which he has retained for his film;
"For instance, I think that at that moment when the Duke of Orleans looks at his
watch, we find ourselves in that instant, in the present, and that is why it is
cinematography. The past is the tense of novels and the present that of film".
"We can't encourage
and finance friendly terrorist organizations in one place and attempt to defeat the
others"
-President Chandrika, Sri Lanka
The most terrifying political
development of the last three decades of the twentieth century in South Asia has been the
rise of terrorist movements in almost every one of our nations, except perhaps, very
happily, in Maldives and Bhutan. Every one of our nations has experienced the horror and
pain of terrorist violence either emanating from within or from a neighboring State.
We have to join hands, at least now, more
honestly and with more dedication, to fight the wave of terrorist politics that is
sweeping across the region. To do this, it may not be sufficient to say, that we will hunt
down the perpetrators of terror and their allies.
We must attempt to understand the deep-rooted
causes of this most unnatural, de-humanizing phenomenon very specific to 20 century-that
is terrorism.
Some one once said, "hope betrayed
transforms itself into bombs"'. I would add "perceived injustice, of allowed to
continue unresolved, would also transform itself, first into despair and then into
violence"''. IN today's context the demand for the rectification of injustice is with
acts of violence, which by itself raises issues of ethics in terrorist violence.
I think it was Leon Trotsky who once
described the two emotions central to terrorism as being despair and vengeance. We need
today to desperately study and understand the true causes of terrorism and terrorist
movements, or for that matter any social upheavals within Nations.
At this point it would be useful to remind us
that it is not terrorism nor terrorists that divided Ireland nor caused the
Israel-Palestine problem 50 odd years ago. They did not impose white rule in South Africa,
nor did the terrorists overthrow the duly elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile.
The terrorists did not separate India and Pakistan and create the tragedy of Kashmir as a
buffer zone. To come closer home, neither did the LTTE nor the armed Tamil militants
create the circumstances for the marginalization of the minority communities of Sri Lanka.
Violence-social, political or physical,
perpetrated by the State or the agents of the State against other States or its own
peoples is the womb of terrorism, humiliation its cradle and continued revenge by the
State, becomes the mother's milk and nourishment for terrorism.
We need to look at the causes of modern day
terrorism because it has become, in the past decades, the one single most terrifying
factor in national and international politics. At long last, on the 11 September 2001,
when terrorism struck at the heart of the developed world, the community of the rich and
powerful countries woke up to the base, senseless, inhumanity of terrorism.
We hope that at least this would make the
whole world, the powerful and the not so powerful, and the least powerful, join hands
together in the common realization that the modern expression of frustration, of destroyed
hopes will not be contained within the boundaries of one nation, but will spill over in
the most horrendous and terrifying fashion, across the boundaries of all nations to
en-globe the entire world.
I believe most honestly and strongly that the
most effective response to terrorism is to stop generating it. How should we do this?// By
finding solutions to the problems that cause terrorism.
We attempted to deal with the root causes of
the problem arising from the marginalization of the Tamil and other minority communities
of Sri Lanka. While we have not succeeded in ending the conflict, we have made much
progress towards peace.
The recent election has provided a historic
opportunity for the two major political parties of Sri Lanka, now both in Government,
through the Presidency and the Cabinet, to evolve new systems of constructive
co-habitation and collective action for the resolution of the separatist conflict.
The most startling realization of the potency
of modern technology in the hands of the terrorist came to the entire world on 11
September through the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and closer home in New
Delhi and numerous times in Colombo.
I believe that it is time now for the world
to stop and take stock-honestly and strongly. We can't encourage and finance friendly
terrorist organizations in one place and attempt to defeat the others.
Double standards can't work any more, and
will not resolve the long-standing problem of terrorism. The use of force directly by a
State or through encouraging other terrorist movements to use violence against an Enemy
State or group, may temporarily curb a terrorist movement or the enemy. But these methods
have proved to spread and intensify violence.
Today I believe that the challenge before us
nationally and regionally, is to recognize terror and political violence as the main enemy
of modern society. The main enemy of all that is just and decent, of all that humanity has
built up through the centuries, to be respected and looked upon as civilization.
Speech made by the Sri Lankan President
at the inaugural ceremony of the SAARC XI Summit held in Kathmandu early January-Chief
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