As we know, the beautiful city of Venice is sinking year by year. Predictions say that it will totally be underwater in less than 100 years. However, new predictions have come out that establish that the entire permanent population may cease to exist by 2030.
There are several reasons for this, but the main one is that life has become really expensive. The tourists are still there, but the problem is that not even half of the daily tourist population sleeps in Venetian hotels. They just go during the day and have a picnic, which leads to the tourists not spending a single euro in the city.
As time has passed, the economic difficulties have taken residents to pay more and more each time for all of their daily items, like food and water. The "tourist" and "local" prices have even become the same due to said problems.
As we can see, the future is not looking very bright for this legendary and beautiful city, pillar of the Italian economy and a very important part of the tourist side of Europe, so what do you think the government should do to preserve it?
To keep on reading, click the link below...
http://www.newsweek.com/id/220748
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Will Venice become deserted?
The EU Treaties
| 1948 Brussels | 1951/52 Paris | 1957/58 Rome | 1965/67 Brussels | 1986/87 SEA | 1992/93 Maastricht (founded EU) | 1997/99 Amsterdam | 2001/03 Nice | 2007/09 Lisbon | |
| European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) | |||||||||
| European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) | European Union (EU) | ||||||||
| European Economic Community (EEC) | → P I L L A R S → | European Community (EC) | |||||||
| ↑European Communities↑ | Justice & Home Affairs(JHA) | ||||||||
| Police & Judicial co-operation in Criminal Matters(PJCC) | |||||||||
| European Political Cooperation (EPC) | Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP) | ||||||||
| Western European Union (WEU) | |||||||||
What is the European Union?
Here's a short but interesting animation on the advantages that the creation of the European Union has brought on members and non-members--the unification of Europe, the elimination of tension between countries, a unified market, the accepted currency, etc.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
More Lisbon Treaty, Lisbon Treaty, Lisbon Treaty
- Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker
- Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende
- Chancellor of Austria, Wolfgang Schüssel
- Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy
Slowly but surely, the Lisbon Treaty is approaching its final approval. Klaus has already said he will no longer stop the ratification course of the Lisbon Treaty, anymore. The Czech Republic will give its final say this November. And as this day comes closer, we'll be surely receiving news of how the new European Union begins to be build, for it is expected to have both the Foreign Minister and Presidency working by January 1st.
More information:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/merkel-and-sarkozy-unite-to-end-blairs-european-dream-1812260.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/29/david-miliband-eu-foreign-minister
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/31/content_12363525.htm
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jp4Lx1DtsiixahWoc0q7EyaTN2fQ
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/30/david-miliband-eu-foreign-minister
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/29/eu-presidency-tony-blair-rivals
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Lisbon Treaty Developments
Dear Students,
After hearing the Irish vote yes to the Lisbon Treaty on October 02nd, we are now seeing some very interesting developments in Europe.
The final country that needs to ratify the treaty for it to come into effect is the Czech Republic. Its Parliament has already ratified the document, but the President, Vaclav Klaus, is against the treaty and does not want to sign. Without his signature it cannot come into effect in any of the 27 countries.
This is a tense political situation because he is now facing pressure from the entire EU to sign - and there are reports that the Czech Government may force him out of office to enable the treaty to come into effect!
Obviously this is a dangerous situation, but from a uniquely academic point of view I feel that we should all follow this situation closely over the next two weeks, which will be crucial.
To understand how the President is delaying the ratification, and to put this into perspective, I include two articles (in Spanish) for you to read. The first explains today's news from the European Commission. The second speaks about Tony Blair and the possibilities that he could be the first EU President.
1) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Barroso/condena/Praga/aislamiento/firma/tratado/europeo/elpepuint/20091014elpepiint_3/Tes
2) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/presidente/Europa/elpepuint/20091014elpepiint_4/Tes
I actively want everyone to follow these issues over the next couple of weeks as they are very important.
See you in the next class.
Maestro.
Monday, October 12, 2009
“Dialogues with Europe”
“I think that the EU with the Lisbon agenda has put the right emphasis on growth and employment.” (Angela Merkel)
With 27 member countries and a population of nearly half a billion, the European Union covers a large part of Europe. Since its creation, it has worked to bring prosperity and stability to its citizens. Its policies and actions affect us all directly and indirectly.
The main theme of the interesting conference given by Ambassador Mendel Chief Goldstein, leader of the delegation from the European Commission that work in México is the current and future relationship between Latin America, especially in México and Europe. The European Union is making a great effort to improve México and Latin America. The issues that were mentioned were the financial crisis, immigrants, political issues, trade and cooperation. In the other hand, Mendel C. said that most people think that their meetings are only to take the picture and that members don’t take it seriously, but actually they talked about very important issues that México is struggling like for example climate changes, reforms, fight criminal delinquency and money laundering.
He also said the reasons why the European Union IS interested in Latin America and particular in México and the reasons are because of their geographical position (between USA and Central America), territory, and change of politics because the past president Salinas looked ways to improve the economy.
We feel that the European integration with Mexico give a lot of advantages to our country in various ways, first of all, the social aspect for example: the EU help Chiapas’s government and support and capacitates the people working class like farmers. Then in the economic aspect, they support the market, helping little and medium companies to get closer to the European market. In Education and culture they want to increase scholarships, so Mexican students can go of interchange to Europe.
What do we discovered? This video makes us realized that México was the first country to establish a global agreement: free trade, politic dialogue and cooperation programs. Also, we learned that México have 9 years having a relation with the EU (since 2000) and that NAFTA don’t have political dialogue. And last but not least, we learned that México have 44 treaties with other countries. We feel proud of it! :)
We noticed that the Ambassador made little mistakes in Spanish with the pronunciation and he conjugated few words wrong, but overall he talks very good Spanish for being a German. Honestly, we were able to understand everything he said.
We wonder if the United States has this treaty with the European Union. We’d like to know more information about the Andina community and why the EU thinks that they would get to an agreement until 2010.
Questions were asked by the audience. Some of them were:
1) Do you think that having an impact in the short, medium or long term, development of missiles in Poland response to Russia-Georgia conflict if the main goal of EU is maintaining peace and stability?
2) What impact would if have in PESK?
3) What it would be the main feature if it would reach a comprehensive global agreement to be reached and what benefits would it had?
4) Which is the EU policy on immigration and more with the problems of creating needed jobs for Europeans?
To conclude, the goal of the EU is to form a region of freedom, security and justice. Freedom in this connection cannot be just the freedom of the strong, but it must be combined with fraternity and equality.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
European Union
There are actually 27 members of which 16 are European countries
This union was also made for economic integration and recuperation.
Then Robert Shuman and Jean Monnet established the European Coal and Steel CommuityECSC) the members of this community were
Belgium
Luxembourg
Netherland
France
Italy
West Germany
Later this countries signed the Treaties of Rome which extended the cooperation among the coal and steel and Created the European Economic Community (EEC)
different countries like Portugal and Spain , Denmark and others started uniting.
In the 60's the EU has developed a the through a standardized system of laws which apply in all member states, ensuring the freedom of movement and people, services, goods and capital. It mantains common policies on trade among fishers agriculture and regional development.
European Union - Mexico
European Union – Mexico
Seen the history of the European Union since 2004 it had 15 countries joining it. It was the biggest market in the world. The total population was of 380 millions. And the GDP per capita was €24,000.
In may first of 2004 ten more countries joined the EU. And in the actuality 27 countries are joining it. It continues having the biggest market of the world with the 19% of the total market of the world. Now the EU has a free treat with business, services, capitals and people. All this allows to all the members travelling and easy interchange of products. All the members of this Union have to have political stability and the countries with the ones that have commercial treat too.
Considering that Mexico had been involved in international relation in all its history the European Union had evaluated that and its political stability. In September of 2000 a treat between the European Union and Mexico was signed.
As a result of this treat Mexico now has increase its international exportation and importation of products. Now days the 4% of al the exportation of Mexico are with the EU wile the 92% are with the members of the FTA. The 12% of the importations of products to Mexico is with the EU wile the 65% is with the FTA countries.
All this is important to Mexico because of all the benefits that it can have. Beginning with the possibility of Mexico to import a lot of products, without expensive taxes. And also because with all the exported products that Mexico gives to other countries augment the GDP.
Read More......
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The EU: Leading the way or just an imploding bomb?
During the course of this class, we have all seen the benefits that can be attained if we achieve a level of integration such as the one from the EU. With no borders, countries can work with each other in order to make improvements and contribute to an ever-extending globalised society.
However, we also have to think about the negative aspects of said union. For example: we all know that the EU has very specific criteria for countries who want to join, like being a democracy and some other things. But what happens when a country who fulfilled that criteria goes bankrupt? It would borrow lots of money from the union, which could severely affect the most powerful and wealthy countries. We can also cite examples of countries that benefit a lot from said unions, but do not give enough in return, such as the countries in Eastern Europe.
All in all, the EU is leading the way for the rest of the world in terms of integration, be it economical, social or political. But before thinking integration of that kind may be the future, we have to wonder: could it transform itself into an imploding bomb in the long run, making the problems it tried to solve even worse?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
A little bit more about the Lisbon Treaty
A group of Czech senators are looking forward to file a complaint against the Lisbon Treaty and they would like the Constitutional Court to revise it and confirm there is no contradiction between the treaty and the constitution of the Czech Republic, backed up by the fear of losing, of course, the republic’s sovereignty (which they claim will be undermined), in order to proceed with the ratification. This process would take time and even moths until the final appeal is given and it looks like President Klaus is not willing to sign the ratification at any moment before he hears the final word from the Constitutional Court. This will unquestionably increase the nervousness of the European leaders and the people who has been waiting for quite some time for a resolution.
And in case Ireland, or Poland or the Czech Republic rejects the treaty… what would happen then? It would be a second failure for the reforms of the European Union. As anxiety grows in Europe, the uncertainty of the European Union’s future prevails and so it will continue if nations do not completely agree on the Lisbon treaty. Is it possible to continue growing as a community in the very same conditions? Maybe it is, but in a slower pace, I believe. But as long as that intense fear of losing power stays alive within the members, there will be no definite approach to a more integrated union.
Information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8281098.stm
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/09/30/1221s519599.htm
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54684
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6841622.ece
http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/09/28/790844_lisbon-treaty-passes-milestone-in-germany
EU: Hsitory and Legislature
I found two very good videos on the European Union. The first one, tells the history of the EU in 5 minutes, with images and years. It doesn't only mention what we've seen in class, but it also expands on that information and gives some extra facts. It's a nice way to review the EU history for those of you who like a more visual approach.
Bloody Results After a Peaceful Protest
We know that in many places of the world, “freedom of expression” is nothing more than a myth. Just yesterday, Guinea presented an awful proof of the repression that governments tend to have over its people, especially in countries where democracy is an ideal more than something practiced by the nation.
Soldiers attacked a group of pro-democracy citizens at a peaceful rally, which were led by opposite parties concerned about the possible participation of Camara (current president of Guinea) in the next elections. Fire was open, civilians were shot, some others were injured and stabbed; some women were stripped and sexually assaulted. What a shameful assault to human rights that is! If I could only express my disgust with every adjective, of every language and dialect in Earth, I would certainly do it, really! And as people shivers at the pure thought of the savage incident, the Guinean government claims the civilians were the ones who acted violently and that most of the registered deaths were caused by suffocation in the crowd, not because of the troops’ movements.
Institutions and organizations’ eyes instantly posed on the cruel event and they didn’t hesitate to demonstrate their disapproval by condemning the political decision of the Guinean government. It was obviously a very impulsive, unwise action that both ended up harming and injecting fear into its population, as well as damaging the country’s international relationships. Human Rights Watch, the African Union, as well as the European Union deeply criticized the tragedy. France decided to suspend their military ties with its ex-colony and asked Camara to stand aside from the elections. There will soon be a meeting (perhaps tomorrow) at a European Union level, to discuss what other processes should be initiated regarding Guinea’s attitude.
Democracy may not be clear in sight and it will never come to be realized if there is no real dialogue between the government and the people. The country certainly needs to instil respect in both sides in addition to mutual commitment for development that will hopefully and finally lead to a more stable future.
Information:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/29/guinea.protest.deaths/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQywgWN9zGdcetoy3lieT2LxnYEA
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1926659,00.html
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4741000,00.html?maca=en-en_nr-1893-xml-atom
Help our world. Ecology is in crisis too.
As we may already know, we're not suffering an economic crisis only, our ecology is in crisis too. Are you helping our world to heal? World leaders are, we should be too.
- Economic Crisis
- Nuclear Disarmament: "We continue the march for a world without nuclear weapons.” -Council
- Climate Change
- The need to limit the global average temperature rise to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius with most vulnerable countries pushing for an even more stringent 1.5-degree limit.
- China said it would be prepared to take additional actions to reduce energy intensity in the context of an international agreement.
- They should be 5 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020.
- “At long last, leaders focused on climate change financing and got more concrete, with many expressing support for the proposal for $100 billion annually over the next decade for concrete adaptation and mitigation actions,” Mr. Ban said.
Turkey in the EU?
European Union Decision Making Process
As we all know, the European Union is a very important institution that has big responsibilities. They also need to take big decisions in which they use this process:
Decision-making at European Union level involves various European institutions as the European Commission, the European Parliament (EP), and the Council of the European Union. Decision making process involves three main procedures:
1.- Codecision:
This procedure is used for most EU law-making. It shares legislative power equally between the Council and the Parliament. If Council and Parliament cannot agree on a piece of proposed legislation, it is put before a conciliation committee, composed of equal numbers of Council and Parliament representatives. Once this committee has reached an agreement, the text is sent once again to Parliament and the Council so that they can finally adopt it as law.
2.- Assent
The assent procedure means that the Council has to obtain the European Parliament's assent before certain very important decisions are taken.The procedure is the same as in the case of consultation, except that Parliament cannot amend a proposal: it must either accept or reject it. To accept it, it is requires an absolute majority of the vote cast.The assent procedure is mostly used for agreements with other countries, including the agreements allowing new countries to join the EU.
3.- Consultation
The consultation procedure is used in areas such as agriculture, taxation and competition. Based on a proposal from the Commission, the Council consults Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Parliament can approve the Commission proposal, reject it, or ask for amendments.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Mexico-EU Free Trade Agreement
As we all have seen in class, Mexico was the first Latin American country to sign a partnership agreement with the European Union (the Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement) in 1997, although it entered into force in 2000. It covers political dialog, free trade in goods and services, and cooperation programs in various sectors. When I heard this in class I always felt curious about what and how much was Mexico trading with the EU, so here yo have some facts and statistics:
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Turkey Inside the European Union?
Constituted in the beginning by only 6 members, the European Unions has not ceased expanding across the territory surrounding the countries that initially founded it, accomplishing the unification of a continent that for a while was separated as a result of political and military actions. Nonetheless, we cannot say yet that every and each one of the countries of the European continent are together thanks to a vote of union, nor we can say that they are all represented by the image of this organism that is the European Union. Despite the fact that some countries have been left out from the community, either because of their own will or because they have not received the permission to enter, the European Union maintains an enlargement policy that hopes that, as years go by, more countries are added to enrich this intended integration.
Event though, it is clear that as more members join, more challenges and difficulties will make their appearance, and they will complicate the decisions and frustrate the objectives of the European Union. Taking these risks into consideration, the European Union has implemented a series of requirements that have to be met by the candidates before they proceed into the Union. Some of the criteria expect that the candidate:
- Is a democracy
- Respects humans rights
- Protects and respects minorities
- Has a functioning market economy and that the country is able to overcome any kind of difficulties that may emerge in the economic area.
- Assumes responsibility and fulfils its obligations as a member once he is accepted.
- Is, needless to say, willing to continue and cooperates for the well-being and development of the European Union.
Currently, there are three countries that are considered as candidates: Croatia, Turkey, and the Former Yugoslav State of Macedonia. Turkey is, perhaps, the country who has caused more controversy after its request to become part of the European Union, and after its acceptance as a candidate in 1999. It is easy to build up debates concerning the acceptance or the rejection of Turkey. Just go into Youtube, search for a video related to Turkey, and you will see hundreds of comments that mention its accession. Opinions find their way through and even mini wars are started among people all around the world who differ and turn this theme upside down with the purpose of finding a conclusion. Outside the virtual world that serves as a mirror of a reality in which diplomats and citizens hesitate, a number of studies are being opened in order to evaluate Turkey’s petition, the consequences and its capability for integrating the European Union.
I believe that this indecision and these doubts are not just an exaggeration. They all come out because there are many aspects that have to be considered before determining the Turkey-EU situation, which could end benefiting the European Union or damaging it, in some sense.
As I read some web pages, I found out some of the most noticeable aspects that people tend to argue about, concerning the access of Turkey into the EU:
1. Geography
This is one of the most used arguments, especially by those who want to immediately silence every person in favour of Turkey’s acceptance into the EU. For us, it is easy to know which countries belong to the American continent, because there are oceans all around, separating us from the world. But to whom does Turkey belong: Europe or Asia? There are people who say it belongs entirely to Asia. Others claim that a part is in the European Continent and the rest is located in Asia. If Turkey were Asian, it would be “easy” to end this debate (“if it is not European, why should it be included within the EUROPEAN Union?”). But when people say that Turkey is divided between two continents, what do we do then? It would be ridiculous to accept only one small piece of the country (if we were still using the same argument of acceptance if Turkey = European).
At the same time, there is another notorious point: its proximity to the Middle East. Some people think this would be a threat to the EU’s security and stability, as for them Turkey will serve as an entrance for the “problematic nations”, like Iran and Iraq. On the other side, there are people who think Turkey would carry out an important and useful role regarding the European-Asian relations, working as an intermediary to “soften” and making negotiations smoother with the Middle East.
2. Population
Turkey has an estimated population of 76 000 000 people (according to CIA’s World Factbook). If Turkey entered the European Union, it would easily become on of the most populated countries, behind Germany. To this we can add the fact that Turkey has a high quantity of young people that would serve a working force, which will at once help “resolve” the problem of the aging population in Europe. Also Turkey has a higher birth rate in comparison: 18.66 births/1,000 population against 9.9 births/1,000 population from the EU. Turkey could then bring workers that would generate money to pay for the pensions, but it would as well bring more responsibilities towards a bigger population.
3. Religion
(Mainly) Islam vs. Christians
I think I have nothing further to say in this point but that. Oh, no, wait. I believe this should not be a problem at all, considering the EU is based in respect and freedom (which includes freedom to choose your religion), and that all of its members should agree with these values, am I not right?
4. Human Rights
The EU thinks Turkey needs to improve in this area and guarantee the authentic respect of human rights inside the country, by changing, for example, the violence against women. There is also some old history involved, since in the 1900’s there was a campaign (taken as “genocide”) to eliminate the Armenian population in Turkey… or the Ottoman Empire, as it was known then. However, Turkey has not accepted is responsibility, which is, in a certain way, a refusal to accept its not-so-straight position on the subject of human rights.
5. Energy
Pipelines across Turkey supply Europe with oil and gas.
6. Economy
Even though Turkey has experienced an economic growth, it is still too “poor” for joining the European Union. Some argue that is adherence would dry out the EU’s resources and that Turkey would need some help for improving its economy, which would leave the poorest countries that are already members of the EU without the necessary attention and support.
Turkey is already a trade partner for the European Union. They even share a customs union since 1995. As far as it goes, Turkey has done various reforms to “please” the EU’s wishes and obviously for Turkey’s own sake and prosperity (a new penal code, prohibition of death penalty and torture, and has given rights to minorities), in order to be honestly considered as a candidate. On of the web pages I read, the author closed its article with a quote I would also like to use to end this post: "We are talking a lot about Turkey's readiness, but really it's the readiness of the EU that we need to be talking about, the readiness of Europe to embrace Turkey in the way they expect to be embraced." (Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, German politician). It really leaves you thinking about who is the most unprepared: the EU or Turkey? Because Turkey can continue changing every law to make them match the European Union’s desires, but no one can really assure that they will be accepted in, at least on a near future.
Mucha, mucha información sobre este tema:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/candidate-countries/turkey/index_en.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3682828.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/6223612/Will-Turkeys-EU-membership-dream-come-true.html
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/04-turkey-shows-its-clout-qs-06
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1920882,00.html
http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/leaders-urged-unblock-turkey-eu-bid/article-185202
http://www.cfr.org/publication/8939/turkeys_eu_bid.html#p1
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,333126,00.html
http://www.europesworld.org/NewEnglish/Home/Article/tabid/191/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/21291/Default.aspx
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/46934,features,pros-and-cons-turkey-becoming-a-member-of-the-eu
http://www3.larioja.org/oficina_bruselas/pdf/pros_contras_turquia.doc
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ee.html