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Tuesday, July 5, 2011
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EUROPE
Otto von
Habsburg
dies at
age 98
Otto von Habsburg
AP
BERLIN
OTTO VON HABSBURG,
the oldest son of Austria-
Hungary’s last emperor
and the longtime head of
one of Europe’s most
influential families, died
on Monday, his spokeswoman
said. He was 98.
Habsburg died in his
sleep at his home in
Poecking in southern
Germany, where he had
lived in exile since the
1950s, spokeswoman Eva
Demmerle said. A longtime
advocate of European
reunification, he campaigned
against communism
and for the removal
of the Iron Curtain.
Born in 1912 in what is
now Austria, Habsburg
witnessed the family’s
decline after the empire
was dismantled and
Austria became a republic
following World War
I. He became head of the
family at his father’s
death in 1922 and continued
to claim the throne
until the 1960s.
He was a member of
the European Parliament
for the conservative
Bavarian Christian Social
Union in southern
Germany and also served
as president of the Pan-
European League from
1979 to 1999.
In that role, he was
instrumental in helping
organise the Pan-
European Picnic peace
demonstration in 1989 on
the border of Austria and
Hungary. The border was
briefly opened in a symbolic
gesture, which created
the opportunity for 600
East Germans to flee communism
months before
the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It was the first time an
Eastern European nation
had opened its borders,
and is widely seen as the
start of the fall of communism.
EU president accuses member
states of weakening the union
AFP
WARSAW
POLAND painted itself as a
saviour of the European project,
while accusing fellow
member states of selfishness
and short-sightedness, as it
began its six-month presidency
of the EU.
Times have changed since
this nation of 38 million people
was led by twin brothers
Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczynski
of the conservative Right and
Justice party, a government
considered hostile to the
European Union.
Since 2007, under Prime
Minister Donald Tusk,
Poland has taken a sharp
turn. Opinion polls show
strong support for the EU at a
time when frustration with
the union is growing in “old
Europe”.
As he took the rotating
presidency on Friday, Tusk
implicitly criticised larger
countries like Germany,
France and Italy, accusing
them of putting “egotistical
national interests” at the
heart of the union.
Tusk worried about “the
birth of a phenomenon”
where politicians say they
are favourable to more EU
integration but at the same
time “suggest actions or
decisions that weaken” it, he
said.
Warsaw was particularly
angered by salvos against the
Schengen agreement from
Paris and Rome calling for
stricter border controls in
what is meant to be a no passport
zone.
Adam Casser, an advisor to
Mladic refuses to plead on charges
AFP
THE HAGUE
FORMER Bosnian Serb army
chief Ratko Mladic was on
Monday removed from a UN
Yugoslav war crimes courtroom
after refusing to enter a
plea and continuously disrupting
proceedings before judges.
Mladic is accused of 11
charges of genocide, crimes
against humanity and war
crimes before the
International Criminal
Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY), stemming
from the 1992-95 Bosnian
war.
Security guards led the 69-
year-old away after court president
Judge Alphons Orie lost
patience with his constant
interruptions.
As he was being taken from
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in Brussels, recently. (AFP)
Tusk, said “there are those
who want to maintain
European cohesion and others
who want it shattered.”
In a case used to illustrate
the point, on Sunday Poland
accused the Netherlands of
trying to renege on EU policies
by putting forward a law
to limit the number of
migrant workers — many
Polish — working on its territory.
Polish European Affairs
Minister
Mikolaj
Dowgielewicz said “very
robust discussions” had taken
place with the Netherlands
and he hoped the Dutch government
would respect EU
laws.
Though not yet a member,
Poland intends to make its
the courtroom, an angry
Mladic shouted at the three
judges, telling them they were
not “allowing me to breathe”.
Dressed in the same grey
suit as during his first appearance
before the court last
month, Mladic repeatedly
interrupted Judge Orie, first
complaining about not being
able to hear the proceedings
and then about being cold.
He asked Orie whether he
could replace his sky-blue cap
which the judge ordered be
removed earlier.
“Mr Orie, I am not underestimating
you in any way. I am
cold on my head, let me put
my cap on. When I am cold
half of my body isn’t functioning...
you impose impossible
conditions on me,” he told the
judge.
Orie refused, warning the
views known on the future of
the eurozone during its presidency.
On Sunday, Polish Finance
Minister Jacek Rostowski
criticised the billions of euros
promised in bailout schemes
in favour of Greece, Ireland
and Portugal.
The existing plans need “a
lot of improvements” said
Rostowski, calling them too
focused on debt reduction
and not enough on growth.
And despite being legally
bound to adopting the euro,
Warsaw refuses to set a date
for joining the common currency.
Before Poland drops the
zloty, Tusk has said the EU
must provide an effective
system to prevent future
crises.
“Who would want to enter
the euro area now? We’ll see
once the eurozone is out of
the hospital,” European
Minister Dowgielewicz said.
During its presidency,
Poland intends to attend
eurozone meetings to keep
appraised of debates at this
crucial moment for Europe
and the euro.
Eurozone countries have
resisted Poland’s presence,
afraid of setting a precedent.
But after what Prime
Minister Tusk called a “lively
debate” between Warsaw and
its partners, the Eurogroup —
the entity that unites eurozone
countries — said it was
prepared to invite Poland to
its next meeting.
People watch a live broadcast of the court appearance of Ratko
Mladic, at the city’s ‘Children’s square’, in Sarajevo, on Monday. (EPA)
Poland to
hold general
election on
October 9
WARSAW Poland will hold
a general election on
October 9, President
Bronislaw Komorowski
announced on Monday.
The parliamentary ballot
had been widely expected
to take place that month,
but a presidential decision
was needed to fix the
date.
Komorowski told
reporters that October 9
was the earliest possible
date under the constitution.
Polls put the centre-right
Civic Platform movement
of Prime Minister Donald
Tusk well ahead of its
rivals, with a recent survey
by the OBOP public opinion
institute giving it 45
percent support.
On the opposition side,
the conservative Law and
Justice party run by ex-premier
Jaroslaw Kaczynski
mustered 27 percent, and
the Democratic Left
Alliance 14 percent.
Civic Platform currently
rules via a two-way coalition
with the centrist Polish
People Party, whose ratings
having slumped below the
five percent needed to win
seats in Poland’s 460-
member Sejm. (AFP)
former general not to communicate
with the public gallery
and focus his attention on proceedings.
“Mr Mladic if you continue
speaking to the public, measures
will be taken,” Judge Orie
warned.
But the man referred to as
the “Butcher of Bosnia” persisted
and the judge’s patience
finally ran out.
Shortly before being
removed by UN security
guards, Mladic told Orie: “You
can do whatever you want,
without (my lawyers), there’s
no need for me to receive anything
or say anything, you can
do whatever you want.”
The hearing resumed a few
minutes later with an empty
dock.
Judge Orie then read out the
11 charges against Mladic
including about his involvement
in the Srebrenica massacre
in July 1995, entering an
automatic not guilty plea on all
of them according to ICTY regulations.
Turkey
freezes
Libyan
assets
AP
ANKARA
TURKEY froze Libya’s holdings
in a Turkish bank on
Monday, a day after it recognised
Libya’s rebel leaders as
the country’s legitimate representatives
and quietly
removed its ambassador from
Tripoli.
Turkey’s banking regulatory
fund said it was temporarily
taking hold of Libyan Foreign
Bank’s 62 percent shareholding
in Turkey’s Arap Turk
Bankasi AS in line with UN
Security Council decisions to
freeze Libya’s foreign assets.
Since the beginning of the
uprising in Libya, the
European Union also has
frozen the accounts of the
country’s state-controlled
companies and investment
funds, as well as those of key
members of the Libyan
regime. EU states also said
they would not provide the
Gadhafi regime with any new
funding by buying up oil and
gas from the country.
Turkey’s decision regarding
the bank shares is the latest
indication that its government
is breaking ties with Libyan
leader Moamer Qadhafi,
despite close Turkey-Libya
trade ties.
Turkey has repeatedly called
on Qadhafi to give up power to
allow the transition to a more
democratic Libyan government.
Last month, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said he had offered
Qadhafi guarantees in return
for him leaving Libya but had
not received a response.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu visited the
Libyan rebel’s stronghold of
Benghazi, recognized the
rebel’s National Transitional
Council as Libya’s representatives,
and promised an additional
$200 million in aid.
Turkey also formally recalled
its ambassador in Tripoli,
according to the Official
Gazette, an official record of
government decisions.
Turkey joins several other
countries, including France,
Qatar and Italy, in officially
recognising the rebels.
Turkish companies were
involved in construction projects
worth billions of dollars in
Libya before the February outbreak
of a Libyan anti-government
uprising that has evolved
into a civil war. The rebels control
Libya’s eastern third, but
Qadhafi clings to power in the
west, but has been unable to
crush pockets of resistance
there. As a NATO member,
Turkey is supporting the
alliance’s airstrikes against targets
linked to the Qadhafi
regime.
‘Strauss-Kahn election bid unlikely’
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in Manhattan, recently. (AP)
REUTERS
PARIS
FRANCE’s Socialist Party
said on Monday it was unlikely
its erstwhile star
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
would enter the 2012 presidential
race, despite the
weakening of the sex assault
case against him in New York.
Party spokesman Benoit
Hamon said the idea that
Srauss-Kahn could now run
for the presidency was “the
weakest” of all possible scenarios
for the former IMF
chief’s political future.
He said, however, that if he
opted to make a late entry for
the Socialists’ October primary,
beyond the July 13
deadline for candidates to
register, the party leadership
would not block it.
“Let’s leave Dominique
Strauss-Kahn some breathing
space and let him speak once
he is ready,” Hamon told a
news conference.
Former party leader
Martine Aubry said at the
weekend that nobody should
stand in Strauss-Kahn’s way
if he decides to run.
Strauss-Kahn had been
tipped as the left’s best
chance of defeating conservative
President Nicolas
Sarkozy in April 2012, but his
shock arrest in mid-May on
attempted rape charges has
meant the Socialists have had
to press on without him.
Now, the left’s election
plans have been thrown back
into turmoil, and public
opinion divided, by news late
last week that the case
against him could unravel
due to doubts about his
accuser’s credibility — raising
the prospect of a political
comeback.
Socialists called on Monday
for an inquiry into the rush to
judgment against Strauss-
Kahn, arrested on charges he
tried to rape a hotel maid,
while Interior Minister
Claude Gueant dismissed
The left’s election
plans have been
thrown into turmoil,
and public opinion
divided, by news
that the case
against him could
unravel due to
doubts about his
accuser’s credibility.
mutterings of a political plot
as “scandalous”.
Strauss-Kahn’s abrupt
reversals of fortune have
angered French opinion,
which broadly saw New York
police’s decision to parade
him after his arrest, dishevelled
and in handcuffs, as trial
by media and a gross violations
of his rights.
Analysts say the influential
centre-leftist could choose to
try and bolster the Socialists’
election campaign through a
backstage role, but note the
picture painted of him as a sexual
predator could ultimately
prove damaging for the party.
A judge released Strauss-
Kahn from house arrest on
Friday after prosecutors
uncovered a pattern of lying
by his accuser that they said
undermined her credibility.
The sex assault charges
remain in place.
While five contenders are
jostling in France for the
Socialist nomination,
Strauss-Kahn is confined to
the United States ahead of his
next court hearing on July 18
hearing.
Opinion polls show voters
are deeply divided over
whether the former French
finance minister could return
to politics after the muck-raking
that has followed one of
the most dramatic political
downfalls in history.
Strauss-Kahn’s allies are
rallying round him, however.
Celebrity philosopher
Bernard-Henri Levy said
Strauss-Kahn was the sole
victim in the affair and should
return to politics.
“There is only one victim, in
terms of someone whose life
has been shattered. It’s DSK,”
Levy told Europe 1 radio,
using a popular nickname for
Srauss-Kahn. “He’s a man
whose life has been trampled
on, broken, discredited,
degraded.” Jerome Coumet,
Socialist mayor of a central
Paris district, said Strauss-
Kahn would be vital to securing
victory in 2012.