Early results from the Irish referendum suggest that it’ll be time to go back to the drawing board. Hm.
Update: Comments in P’s thread.
Monthly Archives: June 2008
EU 2009 open thread
In which we discuss the European Union Treaty of Lisbon, due to come into force in 2009. Irish state broadcaster RTE is sticking to its earlier prediction (based on the Irish specialty of “tallymen” who watch the ballots as they are being sorted) that the Treaty has been rejected. See RTE news updates and Irish Election for blog commentary. Plenty of space on Doug’s post too.
Euro 2008 open thread
One thought: Probably the first true upset of the tournament with Croatia’s win. Germany looked strangely like England against them. It means that Austria’s final match will matter a lot despite its likely irrelevance to Austria’s prospects.
And then there were three
Unexpected good news from Serbia: police have picked up Stojan Zupljanin, one of the four remaining war crimes suspects still at large.
Zupljanin is a pretty good catch. He was a medium-big fish: a police administrator in Yugoslav times, he became head of all police in the Serb part of Bosnia. He was deeply involved in the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats, and then a bit later he had administrative authority over the detention camps where hundreds died and thousands more were beaten, starved and tortured. (A copy of the ICTY indictment against him can be found here.) You could maybe call him the Ernst Kaltenbrunner of wartime Bosnia.
There was a € 250,000 Euro award for his arrest; it’s not clear who, if anyone, is collecting this. In fact, the circumstances of his arrest are still murky. He was picked up in Pancevo, a suburb of Belgrade — it’s just across the Danube to the north. Continue reading
Romania: strength to strength?
So Romania’s economy grew by about 8% in the first quarter of this year.
To put this in context: Romania has been growing at a rate of around 6% per year nonstop since 1999. So — on paper at least — its economy has nearly doubled in size since then.
And you can see it. Bucharest bustles with traffic and new construction. People on the streets are visibly dressed better than just a few years ago. A large and growing middle class is serviced by European hypermarkets and superstores, including several Carrefours and an Ikea.
But… it doesn’t feel like a country that’s seeing Asian-style hothouse growth. Doing well, yes, but not that well.
I started a longish post discussing reasons for this (Geographical and sectoral imbalances, distribution issues) and also whether it’s sustainable (credit issues, balance of trade, of course demographics, corruption) but decided to throw this one to the commenters instead.
So: Romania. Good? Not so good? Sustainable?
Irish Referendum Tomorrow
Henry of Crooked Timber, whom I know from way back, is in Ireland and has written up how the country’s referendum on the Lisbon Treaty looks the day before voting. There’s also a more academic version, for those inclined.
I hope that it will be a moot point, but I’m curious about how things would work if this treaty gets shot down. Presumably a couple more years of muddling through and then try again with another version of institutional reform. The house that was built for six is getting rather creaky with 27 and definitely needs renovation on its way to nearly 40.
One of the things that comes out in his post is the Irish flavor of fringe opposition. Whereas in the UK, for example, the fringe sometimes sees the EU as a Papist conspiracy (Treaty of Rome!!!!), in Ireland apparently the “wrap-the-green-flag-round-me nationalists and ultramontanist religious loons [are] convinced that the EU is a plot intended to foist devil worship, abortion and gay divorce on the country.”
And to Think that her Husband is Poland’s Foreign Minister
Sadly, No reads Anne Applebaum so you don’t have to. Hijinks ensue.
Continue reading
Euro 2008 open thread
One thought from the first match: qualification form seems to matter. Russia scraped into the tournament. They had some nice touches but the gulf in quality showed. Would England have been picked apart the same way?
Second Fiddle
Lest we be accused of running an all-football blog in June, let’s pause to briefly take note of the fact that George Bush is on the continent at the moment, beginning in Ljubljana (and a little unsteady on his feet?) for the EU-US annual summit before going to Rome, Berlin, Paris, London, and Belfast. One interesting aspect this time is how few people seem to care — for the most part, Europe seems content to wait him out and see what Obama or McCain can offer in January. Adding to the sense of fin de siecle is that, all going well, this will be the last EU-US summit in its current format i.e. with the EU counterpart whoever holds the 6 month rotating presidency at that time. Because of course, if the Irish people listen to Bernard Kouchner, they will vote Yes on the Lisbon Treaty and the permanent EU presidency could be up and running in time for the summit with President Obama/McCain in Washington this time next year.
All according to plan
That has to be the theme from Les Bleus following yet another slow start to the group stages of a tournament — such a start a couple of years ago not precluding an eventual run to the final. Since there will be more attention on Raymond Domenech’s starting selections: Anelka? The man who somehow dodged the opprobrium after Chelsea’s penalty kicks loss in the Champions League final, with John Terry taking the fire.  Surely a prime candidate for a reshuffle before the next match.