MEP’s call for end of Israeli blockade on Gaza. A delegation from the European Parliament has visited Gaza last week. From the press release:
A delegation of nine Members of the European Parliament, from the Foreign Affairs, Budgets and Development committees, left the Gaza Strip on Friday after a fact-finding mission hosted by UNRWA. The delegation monitored and assessed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the impact of EU financial assistance. The visit was made possible thanks to the support of the Egyptian authorities whose invaluable help was highly appreciated by the delegation.
“The alarming and worsening humanitarian situation calls for an immediate, comprehensive and lasting end to the Israeli blockade on Gaza,” said the delegation. This call comes at a time when violence in Gaza has fallen sharply. The delegation points out that the siege has completely isolated the people of Gaza, condemning them to a life of extreme poverty, with 80% of the population dependant on food aid. Not only is the blockade hurting the population and creating a black market, it is also playing into the hands of the most radical factions and empowering them by providing them with extra funds: “The blockade must be lifted in order to allow full access to humanitarian assistance, to enable reconstruction and to give a new lease of life to legitimate economic activity and hope to the population,” said the MEPs.
“UNRWA is doing a fantastic job, but it is starved of funds. The EU and other donors must urgently come up with more funding for UNRWA’s work, especially for education, which represents 80% of its budget. Every year there are thousands more school-age children but there is no more money to build additional schools and pay teachers”. The MEPs say they will do everything within their means to ensure Parliament as a whole increases financial support to UNRWA.
“The EU must launch a political initiative without delay to lift the blockade and begin reconstruction of basic infrastructure. ‘Seeing is believing’ when it comes to understanding the situation in Gaza. Only two EU Foreign Ministers have so far visited Gaza. We call on the remaining 25 to go and see the situation on the ground. The EU must actively engage to become a genuine peace player.”
On Friday, Catherine Ashton’s spokesperson made a statement (pdf here) on the flotilla sailing to Gaza:
We strongly urge that all involved act with a sense of restraint and responsibility and work for a constructive resolution. The EU remains gravely concerned by the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The continued policy of closure is unacceptable and politically counterproductive.
We would like to reiterate the EU’s call for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.
Tblisi election exposes weakness of Georgia’s opposition. The New York Times reports:
Voters in Georgia’s capital city on Sunday appeared to overwhelmingly endorse President Mikheil Saakashvili’s ruling party in municipal elections, barely a year after opposition parties had thronged the streets vowing to force him from office. (…)
Early exit poll results gave an overwhelming lead to the incumbent mayor, Gigi Ugulava, a longtime political ally of Mr. Saakashvili’s. Mr. Ugulava had about 60 percent of the popular vote, according to the United States polling company Edison Research. His strongest challenger, a former diplomat, Irakli Alasania, trailed with about 17 percent of the vote, Edison’s poll showed. (…)
The race has deflated the expectations of Georgia’s opposition, which counts Tbilisi, home to more than a quarter of the electorate, as its most important stronghold. Ghia Nodia, a political analyst, said that opposition leaders set the stakes too high last year when they promised to oust Mr. Saakashvili. “If the opposition cannot even win the Tbilisi mayoral election, it certainly cannot win nationally,” Mr. Nodia said.
Western Balkans’ place in Europe. Hillary Clinton, Catherine Ashton and Miguel Angel Moratinos (on behalf of the rotating EU presidency) have authored an opinion piece published in the Guardian, ahead of the EU-Western Balkans High Level Meeting. Excerpt:
On Wednesday the EU Spanish presidency will host a ministerial meeting in Sarajevo attended by senior leaders from EU member states, the western Balkans, the US, Russia and Turkey to reaffirm our shared commitment to the security of the Balkans through integration into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions. Integrating the western Balkans remains one of the last challenges to building a democratic and unified Europe. In Sarajevo EU ministers will recommit themselves to the Balkans’ place in Europe. Ministers from the region will reaffirm their commitment to implement the reforms necessary to meet the aspirations of their people and to move their countries on the path to the Euro-Atlantic community.
As we have seen in the past two decades, the perspective of integration into the EU and Nato is a powerful driver of reform, economic prosperity and the rule of law. It means a seat at the table in European decisions, free movement of goods and people and a guarantee of security. The reforms required are also transformative. The people of the region want and deserve transparency and accountability in their governments, a level playing field for business and the opportunity to raise their children in peace and security. This is also what we want for them. The pace of global change is such that none of us can afford stagnation and “business as usual”. Commitments on both sides have to be real, not rhetorical.
The rationale for this new path is clear: to replace the old dynamics of disintegration with the new dynamic of European integration. The Lisbon treaty embodies the ambition of the EU to become a more effective global actor, and the Balkans represent an important test for the success of this ambition. (…)
A little over a year ago, Joe Biden, the US vice-president, and Javier Solana, the EU high representative, visited Sarajevo with a message of hope: the doors to Euro-Atlantic institutions remain open to all the countries of the Balkans, once they meet the requirements for accession. The compact with the region, to which the EU and US will rededicate ourselves at Sarajevo on Wednesday, remains firm: we stand ready to assist the citizens and leaders of the region in building a better future together.
European Union based on solid self-interest, says Andrew Moravcsik at Newsweek:
European countries consistently find common solutions not because they are sentimental believers in the European ideal but because they inhabit the world’s most economically interdependent continent. (…)
Bank bailouts, European or national, are no more popular in Europe than in the U.S. That’s why the German government delayed so long before supporting the rescue, as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party hoped (unsuccessfully) to avoid a thrashing in regional elections. (…) Merkel did not act because President Obama called her—as was conveniently leaked to the German press. Europeans don’t risk their currency to do favors for the Americans. European politicians made, rather, a hard calculation of self-interest: they acted to avoid a disastrous loss of confidence in French and German banks and bonds, which are linked to Greece. (…) If Greece had gone under, the entire European banking system might have gone with it. Germany and France did not bail out foreigners; they bailed out their own people. Self-interest left them no choice. (…)
The EU is succeeding because its policies are not based on idealism but on the recognition that a union of diverse nations can find realistic ways to work together. The commitment of Europeans to one another is not unconditional, as federalists believe, but it is stronger than skeptics fear. The European style of muddling through may be unglamorous, but it works. Those who bet against the economic self-interest of European governments are likely to lose.
EU-Russia summit starts today. EU press release here, curtain-raiser from AFP here, Moscow Times here, RFE/RL here and New Europe here. Eurostat has the latest figures on EU-Russia trade relations, here.
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