Eu cu cine votez?

La alegerile europene din 7 iunie am 2 opţiuni majore:

1. iau un buletin de vot care va ajunge în urnă
2. nu iau un buletin de vot care n-are cum să ajungă în urnă

1. iau un buletin de vot care va ajunge în urnă

Opţiuni

-votez de aşa manieră încât votul meu să fie valabil exprimat
-votez de aşa manieră încât votul meu să fie anulat

-votez de aşa manieră încât votul meu să fie valabil exprimat

Clase de opţiuni

partide mari: PDL, PSD, PNL
candidaţi şi partide de forţă medie: EBa, PRM, UDMR
candidaţi şi partide de mic impact: Forţa Civică, PNTCD, Pavel Abraham

-votez de aşa manieră încât votul meu să fie anulat

Opţiuni

--introduc buletinul de vot în urnă exact cu aceleaşi înscrisuri ca la primire-adică nu pun ştampila, blanc,
--desenez o căsuţă în faţa căreia scriu fie "Niciunul din această listă nu merită votul meu" sau "Alt candidat"
--desenez o căsuţă în faţa căreia scriu numele candidatului meu sau partidului meu preferat şi care nu se regăseşte în lista celor 9 concurenţi electorali, 7 plus 2, De exemplu scriu "Daniel Funeriu", "Dorin Chirtoacă", "Vlad Ţepeş", "Somnulescu", "Ştefan Cel Mare", "Paul Sava" şi pun ştampila cu votat în interiorul sau exteriorul căsuţei pe care am desenat-o.

Revenind la
1. iau un buletin de vot care va ajunge în urnă
-votez de aşa manieră încât votul meu să fie valabil exprimat
Clase de opţiuni
partide mari: PDL, PSD, PNL
candidaţi şi partide de forţă medie: EBa, PRM, UDMR
candidaţi şi partide de mic impact: Forţa Civică, PNTCD, Pavel Abraham

Dacă este să introduc un buletin de vot care să fie valabil
mă orientez spre partidele pe care le cunosc
mă orientez spre partidele care se potrivesc aşteptărilor mele
mă orientez spre partidele pe care le-am mai votat şi care nu m-au dezamăgit
mă orientez spre partidele care nu sunt de stânga
mă orientez spre partide, nu spre candidaţi independenţi
mă orientez spre partidul al cărui posibil candidat pentru prezidenţiale are reprezentanţi puternici, corecţi, harnici, relativ tineri (sub 45 de ani) în comunitatea locală din care vin sau în care mă aflu
mă orientez spre partidul care a făcut campanie pe subiecte de interes european (extinderea obligatorie spre Turcia, România să impună/negocieze primirea Republicii Moldova în Uniunea Europeană în schimbul acceptării Turciei, Croaţiei şi a Serbiei, Parteneriatul Estic, reducerea dependenţei energetice de Rusia, reducerea birocraţiei europene, crearea Armatei Europene, schimbările de climă- Kyoto-ţinta de reducere a emisiilor de carbon cu 20% până în 2020-biocombustibilii, transparenţa deciziilor Consiliului de Miniştri, Comisiei Europene, Parlamentului European, legalizarea avortului, a prostituţiei şi a consumului de marijuana şi libertatea religioasă să fie garantată, încurajarea cercetării şi inovării, consultarea prin referendum european pentru decizii majore la nivel european, drepturi egale pentru femei şi bărbaţi, paritatea de gen în politică, să se elimine recomandările Parlamentului European referitoare la bloguri-Raportul Mikko, colaborarea cu Uniunea Africană, Liga Arabă, China, denuclearizarea Europei şi a planetei, multi şi interculturalismul, interzicerea producţiei, vânzării, distribuţiei, achiziţionării de ţigări sau produse din tutun, salariu minim garantat pentru tinerii din Uniunea Europeană-600 euro pentru 35 de ore de lucru pe săptămână, încurajarea învăţării de către copii a două limbi străine, implicarea în procesul de pace din Orientul Mijlociu)

Deci, EU CU CINE VOTEZ?

Sugestii? Argumente bazate pe cerinţele/aşteptările mele?

Cătălin Onofrei (editorialist Ziarul de Iaşi)- Votul de blam

Romania subtly threatens Russia to invade Moldova and to break the new Iron Curtain

Today the Romanian President Traian Basescu held a major speech in a joint parliamentary session. The topic was the turbulence in the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, formerly a Romanian territory which was taken by the USSR.
Below are the paragraphs from the speech which clearly indicate that Romania considers a military solution to the political unrest in the Republic of Moldova. Statement which could trigger a brutal start of the second Cold War.

1.
RO "Suntem îngrijoraţi de represaliile pe care autorităţile Republicii Moldova le întreprind, de încălcările grave ale drepturilor omului. Situaţia este agravată de limitarea şi blocarea activităţii reprezentanţilor mass-media, acţiuni prin care se încearcă să se ascundă opiniei publice abuzurile şi comportamentul brutal al forţelor de ordine. Jurnaliştii care mai pot transmite menţionează răpiri de persoane, reţineri abuzive, ameninţări, terorizarea cetăţenilor, fabricarea de dosare, anchete fără asigurarea asistenţei juridice pentru persoanele reţinute."

EN "We are concerned about the reprisals inflicted by the Moldovan authorities, about the serious violations of human rights. The situation is worsened by the restriction and obstruction in the journalists' activities, actions by which they try to hide to the public opinion the abuses and the behaviour of the security forces.
Journalist who can still do their job speak of kidnappings, abusive arrests, threats,terrorizing the civilizians, forgery of cases, inquiries without providing legal assistance for those held in custody."

2.
RO "România îşi manifestă preocuparea faţă de agresarea şi măsurile ilegale întreprinse până acum împotriva cetăţenilor români."

EN "Romania expresses its concern about the attacks and illegal actions launched so far against the Romanian citizens."

3.
RO "În condiţiile în care măsurile represive vor continua, România va analiza, în conformitate cu normele internaţionale, formele de asistenţă umanitară şi de protecţie pentru cei a căror viaţă şi integritate fizică sunt ameninţate."

EN "If the repressive actions continue, Romania will examine, according to the international regulations, all forms of humanitarian assistance and protection for all those whose lives and physical integrity are under constant threat."

4.
RO "Amintesc că prin articolul 7 al Constituţiei, statul român are obligaţia să acorde sprijin etnicilor români din afara graniţelor."

EN "I recall that article 7 of the Romanian Constitution stipulates that the Romanian authorities are bound to assist the Romanian ethnics living abroad."

My commentary

This is exactly how the NATO-Jugoslavia War began in 1999 and the Russia-Georgia War erupted in August 2008. The right to defend an ethnic group from repressive actions taken by a certain type of government. We are drawing closer to a war. NATO and EU are still rather neutral. We wait for their standings. I foresaw the increase in the alert condition applied to the Romanian armed forces. I bet that our army generals and the intelligence services prepared strategic planning and war scenarios.

What does this say about the Greek Youth Uprising?

There is no media report about any dead police officer in the clash between the protesters and the Greek police.
But there are two confirmed reports about two Greek unarmed kids being killed by the Greek police.
There is no doubt that after the death of a police officer in the clash between the Anarchists and the police, things will be totally different.
In the last days I browsed some Internet sources and it seems that the Greek Youth Uprising has no direct organizational relation with any Anarchist Group. Most sources say that the protesters are huge crowds of Greek students accusing the Conservative Government of giving them bullets instead of social and sustainable support.

Is Greece an 'ungovernable' democracy?

'Student Intifada' blows lid off Greece's bubbling tensions, putting nation near `societal collapse'

Iason Athanasiadis
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

ATHENS–The riots and sit-ins continued for a second week across Greece yesterday as protesters kept up pressure on the government to step aside and commentators described the country as being on the verge of "societal collapse."

Universities and 400 high schools are occupied by student activists as a leaked police report revealed official fears that the current crisis will fuel a recruitment drive for Greece's anarchist movement.

"Changing governments is not enough," wrote commentator Giannis Pretenderis in the Athens daily newspaper Kathimerini, "because whichever government replaces the current one – whether a better or worse one – the country will remain ungovernable."

Students are protesting the Dec. 6 police shooting of a 15-year old, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, which set off anger toward the government and the economic hardships being faced. Greece ceased being a predominantly agricultural economy and an exporter of immigrant labour in the 1980s and became a gateway into the EU for Third World economic refugees. The week-long "Student Intifada" has blown the lid off the country's bubbling social tensions.

A decade of factory closures, heavy immigration and rising agricultural costs has left one fifth of Greeks living under the poverty line. Many of the demonstrators are Greece's future white-collar workers. They know the most they can expect is a subsistence salary in a marketplace awash in nepotism.

They are massed in the student district where Grigoropoulos was shot – an area known as the unofficial headquarters of Greece's vocal anarchist movement. Itinerant immigrants, printing houses, cafes and a transient community of heroin addicts complete the makeup of Exarchia , a downtown area considered so dangerous that police officers call its station Greece's worst hardship post.

"It was a matter of time only before this generation came out onto the streets," said Afrodite Kamara, the director of Time Heritage, a cultural heritage consultancy. "There was a generation-long pause after the collapse of the dictatorship that's ending with the current wave of protests. They're eloquent, know how to criticize and posit things well, but they lack leaders who can give flesh and bones to this dissent and make specific demands."

Since violence erupted following the fatal police shooting, some 150 people have been arrested and another 70 injured, while hundreds of stores were damaged. The police officer accused of killing the teenager is charged with murder and is being held pending trial.

The government was forced to cancel municipal Christmas celebrations after protesters caused more than $200 million of damage to businesses. "The government cannot deal with this crisis," said socialist opposition leader George Papandreou, calling for early elections. "It cannot protect people – their rights or property – and it cannot identify with the anxiety felt by the younger generation."

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose party has a single-seat majority, has rejected calls to resign and call early elections.

Of an estimated 100,000 demonstrators across Greece, 3,000 are deemed to be hardcore anarchists, according to the police. But many of the anarchists are related to prominent people, including judges and politicians, and so the issue of arresting them has been compromised, according to a leaked police report quoted extensively in To Kyriakatiko Vima newspaper.

Many high school students who have participated in the protests, however, have tried to distance themselves from the anarchists' violence, dressing in white and attending candlelit vigils to symbolize their peaceful intent.

They mobilize through text messages and online social networking sites. Prior to the protests, they were dubbed the "Starbucks generation" and the first Greeks to grow up in a wealthy European Union member state rather than the poverty-stricken post- World War II society of their elders.

But 28 per cent unemployment among university graduates younger than 30 is spurring disillusionment.

Other disaffected portions of Greek society have found common cause with the students. Trade unions ignored government calls to cancel a nationwide strike Wednesday and intend to continue efforts to paralyze the country's transportation and services sectors. Right-wing vigilantes have linked with business owners to perform on-the-spot identity checks and citizens' arrests. Neo-Nazi fascist groups such as the Golden Dawn militia are organizing provocative counterdemonstrations and brawling with leftists.

As Greek society is smashed by the widespread violence, prominent columnist Alexandros Papahellas suggests there is no obvious solution. "Our problem today is not whether tanks might roll in the streets," he concluded, "but that even if they did they would likely collide into each other."

HERE

Model European Union 2008, Konstanz, Germany, Newspapers

Leftist Press, EuroTimes, 07/11/2008

Leftist Press, EuroTimes, 08/11/2008

Conservative Press, The Voice, 07/11/2008

Conservative Press, The Voice, 08/11/2008

Rainbow Press, XPost, 07/11/2008, page 1


Rainbow Press, XPost, 07/11/2008, page 2

Rainbow Press, XPost, 07/11/2008, page 1


Rainbow Press, XPost, 08/11/2008, page 2

Remarks:
The structure of the Simulation Game had three types of press: left-oriented (leftist), conservative and rainbow. All five (+our chair) of us had to find names for our newspaper together with the other journalists from the other kinds of press.
The layout for EuroTimes (the leftist newspaper) was made by the organizers. The spelling mistakes and the dislocated comas are due to organizers (They put inverted commas where I didn´t put any and they deleted some inverted commas. This really changed the meaning of some of my articles.) So, wherever you find inverted commas, think that I may not have used them.

If the organizers were to say that this Simulation Game was a success, they should really think about these points:
1. How many AEGEE antennae did send a positive feedback about the PR situation around MEU Konstanz 2008?
2. How many AEGEE antennae were represented at the Simulation Game?
3. How many participants at the Simulation Game are students at the University of Konstanz?
4. How strong was the diversity of channels used to promote the Simulation Game among students, European, in Konstanz, European Union or International students?

In my opinion, the Simulation Game was a local event, not even a German one...Far from being an European one! It´s about spread.

Against the European Union

I strongly resent the European Union as it is constructed nowdays.

I strongly resent those European countries which did not decide to call over a referendum on implementing GREAT CHANGES.

I strongly disagree with the cowardice of the so-called European democratic leaders because not all these stakeholders decided to hear the people´s voice in the matter of the Lisbon Treaty and the acceptance of the 2004 and 2007 new member states (for Romania, it was an act of mercy, I think).

When it came and it comes to taking important decisions, I think the popular vote is the most relevant option. I think that the parliamentary vote is a surrogate for the shallow European democracy.

I think that the European Union should include in the future only countries with a Christian-based dominant belief (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant et alia). I strongly disagree with Turkey, Russia and Israel entering the European Union because these countries belong to the Asian space proper. And I have nightmares thinking of the Eurasian Union (or the Asian-European Union/ Federation or the United States of Eurasia). And further more, with Russia in the European Union there will be perpetual political confruntation between the neo-Soviet Russia and those former Communist countries which mostly suffered from the military occupation inflicted by the Red Army (which, by the way, was the ruthless result of obscure agreements concluded between Stalin and the Western puppies).

I think that the European Union should have exactly the same kind of relations with the United States of America, Russia, India, China, Japan, Brazil, Nigeria. I strongly resent the idea of the Union becoming the submissive subject of a major power (´proxy agent´), let say, the United States, Russia or even China. No emergent or traditional regio-continental power should be favoured by the European Union. Same treatment for everybody.

I think that the most serious military threats for the Union might come from the frenzied East, (Russia and China particularly). I think that China and Russia, as growing economies and cultures, will look for a close geographic space to further their development. No Chinese or Russian soldier should be allowed to occupy an European Union member state. PLEASE check again the lebensraum principle.

I strongly think that by 2015 the European Union should expand deeper into the continent. Suitable candidates: Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Albania, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and all other really continental European countries of which unfortunately I cannot remember now.

If it were to speak of a relevant foreign policy followed by all member states, they should work together to quickly decrease the dependence on the foreign energy resources (especially on the Russian oil and gas).

And about the European Army...well...you know...I am a pacifist, BUT if you really want to do this PLEASE remeber the shameful failures of the United Nations Forces in Rwanda (1994), Srebrenica (1995), Darfur (2007) and Congo (2008).

You, Brussels bureaucrats, you cannot be serious when you speak about the European identity. There is no such thing now...There is no strong European identity without real, actual individuals feeling like this. It is totally unproductive, as far as I see, to have divided loyalties. How many, let say, Lithuanians, Irish people, Germans or Romanians think as themselves as firstly being European and then nationals/ citizens of their countries? The European identity cannot and should not be created in the Brussels dark and secretive offices.

The Irish big NO...I do not really understand why the so-called European intelligentsia considered the Irish big NO for the Lisbon Treaty as an act of stupidity. Why should someone blame the Irish people because they rejected something which they did not understand well or did not understand at all?

I cannot be an Europhone/Europhile if I do not really understand or know what happens in the Union in general.

Do not force people to think in a particular way! You can convince them, but no hypocrite, double standards propaganda, no totalitarian manipulation...

If the citizens of all member states cannot be persuaded in a reasonable way that the whole European Union idea has many advantages for everybody, all the Brussels bureaucrats should go home and the European Union should be dissolved (and the United Nations and NATO).

Do not force a country to adopt an European ideology (some would say, instead of ideology, the European positive set of values, but this is an ironically arguable point).

One reason for which I do not agree with the actual status of the Union is that I think the whole policy-making process is deadly difficult to grasp and it has little connection with the popular will. One of the problems is that there is no clear distinction between the executive and the legislative powers.

The actual structure of the Union´s policy-making process resembles a sheik with so many wives that he does not know all of them.

I may accept the idea that the actual political structure cannot be rendered clearer now, BUT improvement, transparency and efficiency is all I ask from the so-called European democratic leaders.

My warning for the European bureaucrats: do not take the Irish big NO as toilet papers for your offices, because some time in the future social protests within the Union would destroy all the good job which has been done since the defeat of the Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

Wasn´t Thoreau who said that people can use militias to overthrow a government which they do not take any longer as representative and democratic? People should resist, mainly peacefully, a government which is no longer reliable and which no longer works for the people´s best interests?

In the end, I would kindly beg you not to sell any longer weapons to support the racial killings in Africa. I am so ashamed that we, the Europeans, sold weapons for everybody who afforded and who wanted to inflict violence, hatred and suffering in Africa.

And I think it is even to much to ask for complete denuclearization and the dismantling of military and police forces, right? As long as the OTHERS do not do this why even bother, right?

The show must go on...

And the deckchairs need to be rearranged...

Imbalance, bad management, manipulation or stereotypes?

Political Groups

EPP-ED-13 repr. out of 34 MEPs

Germany

France-Speaker

Poland

Spain

United Kingdom

Portugal

Cyprus

Austria

Italy

Greece

Slovakia

Lithuania

Belgium

PSE-12 repr. out of 34 MEPs

Germany-Speaker

France

Spain

Ireland

Hungary

Malta

Slovenia

Czech Republic

Finland

Bulgaria

Netherlands

Latvia

ALDE-6 repr. out of 34 MEPs

Denmark-Speaker

United Kingdom

France

Poland

Estonia

Romania

Greens- 3 repr. out of 34 MEP

Germany-Speaker

Luxembourg-2 representatives (most probably an error of the Organizers)

Press

1. conservative press-2
2. left-oriented press-2
3. rainbow press-1

Lobbyists-4

Ministers of the Council of the European Union

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Cyprus

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

Sweden does not have a parliamentary representative (most probably an error of the Organizers).

15 German participants (German=nationality+country of residence)

7 will act as Ministers

4 will act as MEPs

3 will act as journalists

1 will act as lobbyist

They represent 22% of the total number of participants.

First class- countries (with more than one MEP)

Germany-3 (EPP, PSE, Greens)

France-3 (EPP, PSE, ALDE)

Poland-2 (EPP, ALDE)

Spain-2 (EPP, PSE)

UK-2 (EPP, Liberals)

The number of participants coming from first class-countries and playing the role of a MEP from EPP or ALDE (7) is bigger than the number of participants coming from first class-countries and playing the role of a MEP from PSE or the Greens (1). Therefore I must say that it is possible the building of a political alliance during MEU Konstanz 2008 because participants coming from countries with a strong representation within MEU Konstanz might tend to adopt the attitude of the strongest political block, that is EPP-ED, with 5 major powers in the European Parliament of MEU Konstanz 2008. So, the right-oriented parties would create a solid block against the left-oriented parties. I also noticed that only one MEP from PSE comes from a first-class country.

Another political alliance: France has 4 places in MEU Konstanz 2008 (3 MEPs and 1 Minister). How many German participants do you think have the role of a French representative (either MEP, either Minister)? Genau, 3 French roles out of 4 were given to the German participants. So write down this: political alliance within the Council and the European Parliament between Germany and France. Another argument to my presentation is the fact that Germany and France control 3 positions of Speaker out of 4. And it will be very hard for participants coming from second-class countries to have a strong point within EPP-ED meetings, for instance.

I said already that out of 15 German participants, 4 will act as MEPs. Most of them represent right-oriented parties.

The Council of the European Union within MEU Konstanz 2008 is strongly influenced by the fact that the German participants were given 4 out 5 places of the first-class countries. So, out of 27 Ministers, Germany, France, Poland, Spain and UK will have the power to arrange an official decision regarding the topic, the use of biofuels.

Concerning the press: it is very important to see why and how the Organizers of MEU Konstanz seized also the power of the press. Out of 5 journalist-roles only 2 belong to non-German participants, particularily the roles of the left-oriented journalists.

My predictions are the following:

The Organizers of the MEU Konstanz 2008 wanted (a very likely possibility) to please the strongest political party in the European Parliament, EPP-ED, which controls the president of the European Commission, the president of the European Parliament and the European Commissioner for Education and Culture, Jan Figel (also from EPP-ED), who sponsors MEU Konstanz 2008 through Youth in Action Programme.

Your objections may be the following:

It is not Germany which has given the biggest number of participants. Yes, it is Germany.

The big number of German participants can be explained by the fact that MEU Konstanz did not get to the target-group of youth as expected and the German Organizers from UNI

Konstanz had to fill the breach. It is possible, but, as I already showed, this can and probably will create political imbalance within the Simulation Conference.

I will send an email to the Organizers in which I will bring in their notice the fact that Luxembourg has 2 Green MEPs and Sweden does not have a MEP at all. Probably they will revise this by assigning one of the Green MEPs from Luxembourg to Sweden. As far as I noticed, this was due to a name mix-up.

I hope that these comments will not be the reason for me to be kicked out from MEU Konstanz 2008.
I want to assure my readers that I will verify these ideas thoroughly right within the Simulation proper.

N.B. This is updated now .

Later edit1

Look what the Organizers wrote in a research manual for MEU Konstanz 2008 sent to all participants 11 days ago:

Furthermore, we have reduced the number of countries represented in the parliamentary groups.

European Union, Africa and the use of biofuels

Interesting quotations from an UNCTAD workshop in Accra, Ghana:


In 2003, the EU established new targets on biofuels in the transport sector of 2% by 2005 and 5.75% by 2010. In 2008, the EU presented a new directive with an obligatory target of 10% biofuels in the transport sector by 2020 for each European country. There are international consequences of these decisions. While domestically, Europe could produce approximately enough biofuels to meet a 5% blending target, it will need to import biofuels from the Global South in order to reach the 10% target. Some of the challenges associated with this include: competition between countries in the South to have a better position in the world market for export, competition between small and large producers, and competition for resource use between food and fuel.

In many countries, foreign companies are coming into Africa to clear forests or take over crop-producing land for biodiesel production. Notably, more and more Asian companies (from India, China, Malaysia and Japan) are investing in this area. Africa is considered a good environment for biofuels production because of available land space, favorable climate and ―cheap‖ labor. Moreover, African governments have been providing foreign companies incentives to invest in the region.

Biofuels could help to provide energy for rural Africa, but it will require significant investment and careful planning.

Also
DemMov
IHT
DW

Me at Model European Union Conferece

Yesterday I received an email from the Organizers of the Model European Union Conference in Konstanz, Germany. I was accepted in the program.
I will get informed about the role I must play on 15 October latest.
Together with my role announcement I will receive further information assisting me in preparing my position paper, which has to be handed in by 22nd October.
I wish to tell my readers that in my application form I stated that I do not want at all to assume the role of a Member of the European Parliament or of a Minister of the Council of the European Union.
When asked to mention my favourite roles I wrote: journalist or lobbyist.
The MEU topic will be the use of biofuels.
The website of MEU Konstanz
I will try to present a full coverage of this Conference on my blog, but I do not guarantee good results due to technical limitations.