EURCP NEWS March 2011

Our name & mission "The European Union Review & Call to Prayer"

 Part of TPM, Targeted Prayer Ministries, Newsletter publishers: Hugh & Norma Davis 

WEB http://euprayer.com/ Now available as noted

 

The EURCP – Articles intros with links

Calling Christians in Europe TO PRAY...before it's too late [you have authority ["... that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made..for kings and all who are in authority" (1 Tim. 2:1-2 and Matt 6:33)

 

 

ISRAEL

SPECIAL : THE EUROPEAN COALITION FOR ISRAEL [EC4I]

 There will be more later but we want you to focus on this news first.

Brussels, 28 February, 2011 –

http://www.ec4i.org/

The European Union has failed to promote democratic reforms among its immediate neighbours around the Mediterranean Sea, writes the European Coalition for Israel in a statement on Monday.

 

Instead of supporting the opposition movements, which are now reshaping the region, it has kept old despots in power by providing them with important European business opportunities and by legitimizing their power base. Now the EU needs to seriously reconsider its neighbourhood policy in order to help support the democratization of the Mediterranean region.  

     When the iron curtain fell in 1989 the EU immediately took action in order to help the newly liberated countries with financial resources and technical support to build democratic institutions. If the EU and the international community fail to support the democratic opposition's call for universal values (freedom of speech, religious freedom, etc.) the uprise will have been in vain and the nations may soon turn back to authoritarian rule. Political forces which are seeking to establish sharia law and spread hatred in their communities can under no circumstances be supported by the international community. Pray for Israel and Judeo-Christian heritage upon which much of Europe's moral values are based.

 

ISRAEL

EC4I CALLS UPON THE EU TO PREVENT FURTHER RADICALISATION OF THE MIDDLE EAST

http://www.ec4i.org/

 Brussels, 3 February, 2011

– In an open letter to Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, ECI is today calling upon the EU to prevent a further radicalisation of the Middle East by engaging in dialogue with all the democratic forces in Egypt. While engaging in this dialogue for an orderly transition and political reforms, the EU needs to make it clear that organisations which do not respect basic human rights and fundamental freedoms can under no circumstances be supported by the international community. 'Despite its stated goals to promote democracy and human rights in the Middle East, the EU has not given sufficient support to a democratic opposition', writes ECI director Tomas Sandell in the letter. 'For many years the European Commission has been accused of letting organisations with links to known terrorist groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories use EU funds for their humanitarian activities, thus strengthening the fundamentalist forces in the region while at the same time making it more difficult for a true democratic opposition to evolve'. Pray for democratic forces in Israel/Palestine struggle

 

ISRAEL

ECI CALLS UPON THE EU TO IMMEDIATELY STOP FUNDING OF PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT TO HATRED AFTER BRUTAL MURDER OF JEWISH FAMILY IN ISRAELI TOWN OF ITAMAR

 http://www.ec4i.org/

Brussels, 14 March, 2011 – While the government of Israel was one of the first countries to offer help to Japan after the massive tsunami which hit the Japanese coastland on Friday, a Palestinian terrorist brutally slaughtered a Jewish family of five in the Israeli town of Itamar, the youngest of whom was a baby less than a year old.The two main news items of the weekend contradict one another in that the Israeli government is reaching out to save lives, while its adversaries take lives by murdering innocent children in their sleep.

 

ECI has for many years alerted the European Union institutions in Brussels about the Palestinian Authority incitement to terror and the culture of death, which is penetrating Palestinian society, through their media, education and popular culture. On the day when the brutal murder of the Fogel family was announced, Hamas was celebrating their death by handing out sweets to children in the streets of Gaza. Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority was announcing the name of a new street called after a convicted terrorist. Pray for defunding of known terrorists in Israeli area

 

EU PARLIAMENT

[COMMENT] THE EU'S STRASBOURG TABOO HAS FINALLY BEEN BROKEN

http://euobserver.com/9/31964/?rk=1

BEN FOX

11.03.2011 @ 09:33 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - This week MEPs made sure that this Strasbourg session was one to remember. Having backed an EU Financial Transaction Tax on Tuesday, MEPs voted the following day to open up one of the EU's biggest political taboos – whether or not to abolish the Strasbourg sessions.The 'One Seat' campaign – to base the Parliament permanently in Brussels – has existed for many years. Gradually, through use of the Rules of Procedure and the introduction of 'mini-plenary' sessions in Brussels, the role of Strasbourg has been diluted. But the question of challenging the treaty requirement for twelve sessions to be held in Strasbourg each year has been a hot potato that no one dared touch - until this week.

 

'The chances of France giving up the Strasbourg seat for nothing are slim to non-existent' (Photo: EUobserver)

In the weeks leading up to the session MEPs from across parties and nationalities collected over 200 signatures for amendments to replace the two proposed Strasbourg sessions in October 2012 and 2013 with one. But their procedural trick was to insist that the vote on the amendments be taken under a secret ballot, on the basis of Rule 169. Knowing that their political group would not know how they voted, MEPs voted to abolish one Strasbourg session each year by a majority over 100. It may not sound much, but this vote sends a clear signal. The size of the majority indicates clearly that MEPs no longer want to spend twelve weeks a year in Strasbourg.

[… closing sentences]…

Wednesday's vote should be the beginning rather than the end of the debate on the future of the Strasbourg seat. Parliament has won a small but largely symbolic victory. The real battle lies in the European Council between the Member States. At a time when the EU is facing a profound crisis of confidence, with many Member States highly indebted and the Eurozone imperilled, the question of where the European Parliament is located seems trivial.

But symbols are important. At a time when most people across the EU are suffering the effects of the recession in their bank balances and declining living standards, knowing that the European Parliament has saved €200m per year would make a difference to their perception of it. For an institution that many feel is wasteful and aloof from the people it represents, abandoning the Strasbourg sessions would be a significant step in the right direction.

The writer is a political adviser to the Socialists and Democrats group's vice-chairman of the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee. Pray for the European Council as it moderates this issue.

 

EU PARLIAMENT

EP PRESIDENT BUZEK ACKNOWLEDGED FOR HIS ROLE TO PRESERVE THE MEMORY OF AUSCHWITZ AT HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL IN BRUSSELS

 http://www.ec4i.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97:ep-president-buzek-acknowledged-for-his-role-to-preserve-the-memory-of-auschwitz-at-holocaust-memorial-in-brussels&catid=74:press-releases&Itemid=53

Brussels, 27 January, 2011 –

The European Parliament was first out in honouring the victims of the Holocaust this week with the annual International Holocaust Remembrance day event on Tuesday night in Brussels. The event was organized by the European Coalition for Israel, European Jewish Congress and European Jewish Community Centre under the patronage of the president of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek and in the presence of the EU High Representatives for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Baroness Catherine Ashton, members of the European Commission and the European Parliament as well as Holocaust survivors, ambassadors and other invited guests  Pray for Holocaust constructive remembrance

 

EU FOREIGN MINISTRY

EU SUMMIT: SARKO STANDS ALONE?

http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2011/03/eu-summit-sarko-stands-alone/

March 11, 2011 10:31 am by Peter Spiegel 0 1

]

Today's back-to-back European Union summits in Brussels kick off with a discussion on Libya, and it's sure to be dominated by Nicolas Sarkozy's unexpected decision to recognise the opposition Libyan National Council as the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people. Officials at both Nato (where defence ministers are meeting) and the European Union (where European foreign ministers lunched ahead of today's heads-of-government summit) said Sarkozy's initiative was not hugely popular; one foreign minister I talked to said it was 26 vs 1 during the EU session. There are widespread concerns about who, exactly, the west is embracing, since intelligence on the opposition's leadership re-mails pretty thin. Still, treatment of the opposition will be interesting to watch. Sarkozy and David Cameron, the British prime minister, have written a letter to the summit's president, Herman Van Rompuy, that leans closer to embracing the National Council, and could be the focus of debate, since the UK and France remain Europe's most important foreign policy players. A copy of the letter is here. Pray for a common front on Libya

 

LIBYA

EU KEEN TO BUILD POST-GADDAFI LIBYA

http://euobserver.com/9/31968/?rk=1

ANDREW RETTMAN

Today @ 09:26 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU leaders will in a joint declaration on Friday (11 March) tell Gaddafi that he must step down and pledge to help build a new post-war Libya.

 

The latest draft of the declaration, seen by EUobserver, voices solidarity with victims of violence and says: "Colonel Gaddafi must relinquish power immediately." It adds: "The EU stands ready to engage with the Libyan authorities in order to help Libya build a constitutional state and develop the rule of law."

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a joint letter to European Council head Herman Van Rompuy on Thursday added that Colonel Gaddafi should end up in a jail cell in the Hague. "These acts may amount to crimes against humanity ... We support the investigation announced by the International Criminal Court Prosecutor, and the message this sends that the regime will be held to account for its actions," they said. Pray for constructive unity

 

LIBYA

GADHAFI'S UNDERGROUND DUNGEONS EXPOSED

http://abcnews.go.com/International/video/torture-at-libya-underground-prisons-13029246

No Lights, No Chairs, No Beds, Just a Plastic Pipe for Air

 By LAMA HASAN and MATT HOSFORD

BENGHAZI, Libya, March 1, 2011

 

The hole in the ground is drawing a crowd of gawkers because even in Benghazi, Libyans are amazed at the cruelty of their beleaguered leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The hole leads to an underground dungeon inside a government compound that was feared and avoided by the people of Benghazi. After chasing Gadhafi's loyalists from the city, the two room cinder block cells were discovered by people who heard voices coming from beneath them. 

Al Sha'beh, who had been a soldier in the Libyan army for 26 years before defecting to the ranks of the rebels 10 days ago, told ABC News Gadhafi's officials used to put prisoners in one of several vault-like underground jails.  "They used to put prisoners there and forget about them", he said. "They would die and you'd just find skeletons. They would never come out alive."

 

One of those who came to see the cells today was Abdullah Ali, a Libyan engineer. "It is the worst kind of punishment," he said pointing to the dusty ground where the prisoners were entombed. "Gadhafi is a bad man, frightening man. He has no feeling to the people." The dungeon was discovered by Libyans who were touring the Benghazi's government compound, a secret world where no one knew what really took place behind these windowless walls. No one had been allowed anywhere near it. Sha'beh brought his four children to walk through the burnt wreckage of the compound where Gadhafi used to live when he visited Benghazi. Look, he has so many houses here, he told ABC News and his children. The former soldier said Gadhafi used to sleep in his tent underground because he was paranoid something would happen to him. Then he asked if we had seen the underground prison.

[… closing sentences]……The only visible sign that the prisoners were meant to stay alive is a white plastic pipe that appeared to provide air for the prisoners. The compound itself has since become something of a tourist attraction. As we left, more visitors began arriving, citizens of Benghazi coming to see where prisoners were punished and left to die. Pray for the release of protesters and change of government

 

FRANCE LIBYA

FRANCE ALIENATES FELLOW EU COUNTRIES ON LIBYA

http://euobserver.com/9/31961/?rk=1

ANDREW RETTMAN

10.03.2011 @ 17:22 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's surprise decision to formally recognise Libyan rebels in Benghazi as the legitimate government of Libya caused dismay at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday (10 March).German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle in an unusually candid press briefing said he was sitting next to French foreign minister Alain Juppe in the EU capital when the news broke, complaining that he had not been pre-notified and that Mr Sarkozy appears to have acted "on a whim". He added that the French position is "not the German position or the European position."

 

Berlin believes the Sarkozy move is a public relations stunt following recent revelations that his prime minister and former foreign minister took gifts from dictators in Egypt and Tunisia shortly before the revolutions. It also believes the move is linked to the 2012 presidential elections in France, with the latest polls indicating that Mr Sarkozy will not make the second round. Italy as well distanced itself from the French position. Foreign minister Franco Frattini told press that the UN and EU should send new fact-finding missions to Benghazi before making any decisions. Belgian foreign minister Steven Vanackere said there is a "difference between engagement and recognition." Swedish FM Carl Bildt tweeted: "Sweden recognizes states - not regimes. And most other EU countries are the same. Somewhat unclear on what France does."A spokesman for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton noted that there was a "near consensus" in the room that the EU must make its decision on the Benghazi-based National Libyan Council in concert with the UN and the Arab League. In terms of multilateral action, it wants the UN to send a fact-finding mission to Libya to "collect evidence of atrocities" which can be used to prosecute Gaddafi in The Hague and to justify a UN mandate for military action.

[… closing sentences]…On the military side, it wants EU or EU and Nato warships to blockade Gaddafi seaports to make sure no illegal weapons get in and to act as a "deterrent" to further violence. In the second phase, it wants Nato to impose a no-fly zone. Mr Frattini also said he would help Ms Ashton's crisis-response chief Agostino Miozzo to make a second fact-finding mission to Benghazi following his visit to Tripoli on Sunday. EUobserver understands that Ms Ashton's people are not keen to go due to the volatile security situation in the region.  Pray for a new government for Libya

 

LIBYA

NATO MOVING WARSHIPS AND PLANES CLOSER TO LIBYA

http://euobserver.com/9/31963/?rk=1

ANDREW RETTMAN

10.03.2011 @ 17:22 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's surprise decision to formally recognise Libyan rebels in Benghazi as the legitimate government of Libya caused dismay at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday (10 March).German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle in an unusually candid press briefing said he was sitting next to French foreign minister Alain Juppe in the EU capital when the news broke, complaining that he had not been pre-notified and that Mr Sarkozy appears to have acted "on a whim". He added that the French position is "not the German position or the European position."Berlin believes the Sarkozy move is a public relations stunt following recent revelations that his prime minister and former foreign minister took gifts from dictators in Egypt and Tunisia shortly before the revolutions. It also believes the move is linked to the 2012 presidential elections in France, with the latest polls indicating that Mr Sarkozy will not make the second round.

 

[… closing sentences]…In terms of multilateral action, it wants the UN to send a fact-finding mission to Libya to "collect evidence of atrocities" which can be used to prosecute Gaddafi in The Hague and to justify a UN mandate for military action.On the military side, it wants EU or EU and Nato warships to blockade Gaddafi seaports to make sure no illegal weapons get in and to act as a "deterrent" to further violence. In the second phase, it wants Nato to impose a no-fly zone. Mr Frattini also said he would help Ms Ashton's crisis-response chief Agostino Miozzo to make a second fact-finding mission to Benghazi following his visit to Tripoli on Sunday. EUobserver understands that Ms Ashton's people are not keen to go due to the volatile security situation in the region. Pray for minimum casualty in military action

 

HUNGARY

HUNGARIAN MEDIA LAW NOT GOOD ENOUGH, MEPS SAY

http://euobserver.com/9/31965/?rk=1                

VALENTINA POP

Today @ 09:28 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament on Thursday (10 March) said the recent tweaks to the Hungarian media law do not go far enough and criticised the European Commission for not pressing for more changes, especially regarding the media council, whose members are appointed by the ruling party. The call for further changes - tabled by the Socialist, Liberal, Green and leftist groups - was voted by 316 votes in favour and 264 against, with 33 abstentions.

 

MEPs say the modifications to the media law adopted by the Hungarian Parliament on Monday are a positive development, but they still fail to restore the independence of media governance and to stop state interference with freedom of expression. "Over-regulation of media is counterproductive to the existence of an effective pluralism in the public sphere", MEPs said. The EU legislature also criticised the commission for its "limited targeting of only three points" in discussions with Hungarian authorities and urged it to further investigate compliance with EU law."When the commission doesn't defend basic rights, we will take up the fight," Austrian Socialist MEP Hannes Swoboda said on behalf of his group. Pray for fair legislation on media representation

 

FRANCE. LIBYA

FRANCE: LIBYA COULD BECOME A SECOND SOMALIA

http://euobserver.com/9/31970/?rk=1

ANDREW RETTMAN

11.03.2011 @ 13:14 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned that Libya could become a Somalia-type failed state unless the EU backs anti-Gaddafi rebels. Speaking in Brussels on Friday (11 March) on the doorstep of an EU summit Mr Sarkozy said the Union should: "Recognise the Libyan authorities as represented by the self-proclaimed Council of the Libyan opposition ... to avoid having a country that finds itself in the position of Somalia, at one time, with no one in charge and no one to represent it." French president Nicolas Sarkozy arriving at an EU summit on Friday   He added: "The question of legitimacy of this or that party can be left for another day."

 [… closing sentences]…EU leaders sent early messages of support to Japan following a deadly earthquake and tsunami. Meanwhile, security forces are out in heavy numbers in Riyadh after a coalition of opposition groups called for mass pro-democracy protests after Friday prayers. Police injured three people on Thursday after firing live ammunition over the heads of demonstrators in the town of Qatif. Pray for the legitimate concerns of Libya's future.

 

NORTH AFRICA

[COMMENT] THREE LESSONS FROM NORTH AFRICA

http://euobserver.com/9/31932/?rk=1

GRAHAM WATSON

14.03.2011 @ 17:42 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - Three lessons can be learned from the popular democratic uprisings which should inform our policy from now on.

     The first is that it is no good preaching the values of democracy if we arm its enemies. Having armed Colonel Gaddafi and other autocrats we have a a logical case to be made for arming the protesters, particularly if we fail to live up to the 'duty to protect' laid down in the UN charter. But this policy should be pursued only in extremis.  Most important, however, is to stop arms sales to autocratic regimes wherever they are: democracy's appeal is not limited to north Africa, nor the temptation to beleaguered autocrats to use arms against their own people.

    Second, let us act now to devise a common EU foreign policy that denies the leaders of autocratic governments and their immediate families access to our countries for private purposes. They should not be allowed to launder their wealth through our banking systems or property markets, educate their children in our schools or take private holidays in our resorts. Neither of the above policies would cost us more than we can easily afford.

    Third, we should move rapidly to recognise transitional interim governments (or whatever victorious protesters call themselves) as legitimate (though not necessary the sole legitimate) representatives of their peoples as long as they remain committed to democracy. We should cease to recognise their oppressors. Poland's 'Solidarity' was recognised long before it had any legitimate democratic foundation. We should take active steps to make contact with the leaders of the north African popular uprisings and ensure that our diplomats keep in touch with prominent dissidents in undemocratic countries wherever they serve. These three steps would enhance respect for democracy, send a signal to those who do not respect its rules and put us on the right side of history.

The writer is a member of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of its delegation for relations with India  Pray for useful application of the three lessons

 

BALKANS

 [COMMENT] THE BALKAN POWDER KEG

http://euobserver.com/9/31935/?rk=1

NEMANJA TEPAVCEVIC

07.03.2011 @ 17:44 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The stereotypical image of the Balkans as Europe's lethal powder keg has been changing in the 21st century. Given the lack of grassroots movements, capable of pressuring the governments in the region to further democratise and guarantee freedom and security for all, it is the EU that plays the key role through its mechanism of political conditionality. The prospect of joining this exclusive entity, built on the ashes of the last pan-European interethnic conflict, is the driving force behind the progress made in the region of former Yugoslavia. Today, however, more than a decade after the last war was fought, the tensions are rising again, albeit latently.  Nationalist and religious fanaticism, combined with the powerfully crafted web of organised crime and corruption, keeps the citizens of these countries held hostages by fear.

 

Will the Balkans explode once again in a violent clash between various ethnic and religious fractions or will the region implode this time, country by country, inspired by the jasmine scent spreading from the other side of the Mediterranean?

[… closing sentences]…Now that statehood has been regained and almost securely consolidated, democracy is on the agenda - people are growing tired of unfulfilled promises by the ruling parties that have run the country uninterrupted since the fall of communism and of the lack of a credible alternative in the fragmented opposition. Opportunity lies in solidifying the civil sector and challenging the political elites via the few critical and professional media outlets such as the daily "Vijesti" and its TV branch, as well as the weekly "Monitor". The EU should keep an eye on its abandoned Southeast and invest more political and financial energy, conditional of course, in order to get things moving. Otherwise, we're all back to square one.The writer is MPhil student of European Politics and Society at the University of Oxford  Pray for a peaceful resolution to the Balkan struggles.

 

BELGIUM

 BELGIAN UNIONS PULL BACK FROM 'BLUFF' OF EU SUMMIT BLOCKADE

http://euobserver.com/9/31960/?rk=1

LEIGH PHILLIPS

10.03.2011 @ 17:26 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Unions across Europe are to engage in a week of disruptive actions in protest at EU 'competitiveness pact' and economic governance proposals, but Belgian unions have pulled back from a threat to blockade all access to the city during an EU summit at the end of the month. On Wednesday, the executive of the European Trades Union Congress, met in Brussels to discuss what form of industrial action, if any, to take in opposition to proposals that seek to enforce wage constraint, limit social spending and oversee national budget-making amongst other proposals to which unions are strongly opposed. Last week, as reported in the Belgian press, the country's FGTB threatened to shut down road, rail and air access to the European capital on the first day of the spring EU summit on 24 March, saying that a conventional march through the city would have no impact on leaders' thinking. The union looked to win endorsement for its plan at a meeting on Wednesday of the ETUC's executive board However, the executive instead has announced a week of mobilisation against EU plans during the week of the summit, but no blockades or civil disobedience are to take place..

[… closing sentences]…However, suggestions of taking more militant action met a critical response, with Spanish unions arguing that workers' organisations need to negotiate to be credible with European governments."The FGTB's gone from a blockade to some softer mobilisation, very much watered down," said a source close to the discussions. "It's gone from espresso to American coffee."On Thursday last week, Nico Cue, leader of the metalworkers' section of the FGTB, said that unions hoped to mount barricades on the motorways coming into the city, close the train stations, bring the metro and trams to a halt and even shut down Brussels airport."It was something like a bluff, but if you call a bluff of these dimensions, you have to see it through." Pray for a settlement of union action

 

UK

UK TORIES LOSE LEADERSHIP OF PARLIAMENT GROUP

http://euobserver.com/9/31949/?rk=1

LEIGH PHILLIPS

09.03.2011 @ 09:28 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A Czech climate sceptic, Jan Zahradil, has won the leadership of the UK Tories' political grouping in the European Parliament, defeating a moderate British Conservative.

The British centre-right has again lost out the chief position in their ideological vehicle, the European Conservatives and Reformists, that broke away from the main centre-right and Chrisitian-Democrat-dominated political family, the European People's Party, in 2009, out of frustration at its support for European federalism.

Mr Zahadril, an acolyte of eurosceptic Czech leader Vaclav Klaus, defeated MEP Timothy Kirkhope, an ally of British Prime Minister but a moderate on European integration. Mr Kirkhope, a former minister in the John Major government, and three times leader of the Tory group of MEPs, should have been a shoe-in for leader, given the Tories dominance of the ECR group.

[… closing sentences]…Tory MEP Dan Hannan, a climate sceptic and outspoken critic of European integration himself, cheered the result on his blog on Wednesday morning, calling Mr Zahradil a "a cerebral Czech conservative,.. a free-marketeer, a Eurosceptic, a libertarian, a flinty Czech patriot who is also a committed Anglophile and Atlanticist."

He also attacked the left for criticising his views on global warming: "So far, the best that his detractors have come up with is that he is a "climate change sceptic", by which they mean that he deviates in parts from the Rio-Kyoto-Copenhagen-Cancun agenda." Pray for the right eu relationships for the UK.

 

PERSECUTION

EUROPEAN ACTION ON THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

Subject: European Impact Direct

Date: 3/4/2011 6:23:09 A.M. Central Daylight Time

From: anca.bulica@careforeurope.org

Last week CARE reported that the EU Council of Foreign Ministers had released its conclusions on persecution on the basis of religion and belief and expressed its solidarity to the countries and individual victims of acts of persecution and discrimination as a result of their faith. The discussion on this topic and the resulting conclusions followed a series of attacks against churches and believers in different countries of the Middle East. It seems that the Council's stand on such issues did not come too soon as acts of violence against Christian minorities remain a constant reality.

 

This Wednesday the only Christian Government Minister in the Pakistan cabinet, Shabbaz Bhatti, was shot dead when his car was ambushed shortly after leaving his home in Islamabad to go to work. The Taliban have claimed responsibility citing his support for reform of the country's blasphemy laws. Members of the European Parliament have therefore decided to follow up their resolution on Religious Freedom in Pakistan adopted in May 2010 with a further debate next week in the plenary session at Strasbourg.

 Please pray that the EU institutions will continue to recognise the need for concerted action to address the persistent and violent persecution of believers across the world.

martin.kugler@kairos-pr.com

 

EU EDUCATION

BUDGET CUTS TO MAKE EUROPEAN SCHOOLS MORE DISCRIMINATORY

http://euobserver.com/9/31986/?rk=1

VALENTINA POP

Today @ 09:29 CET

- 15.03.2011 - 09:29

 

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU staff whose children do not speak English, French or German or who are in need of special assistance will be hit hardest by a €7 million budget cut in the European Schools linked to national austerity measures and a cap on the bloc's 2011 budget. Fifty eight years later, the picture is very different. Brandished as elitist and overly selective, the 15 European schools mainly designed for children of EU staff living in a foreign country are struggling to live up to their commitment of delivering mother tongue schooling for every EU nationality and providing special care for children with learning disabilities."They forced my son to take English as mother tongue, as there were not enough Irish kids to form a class in Irish," Gerard Hanney, an Irish translator from Luxembourg told this website.

[… closing sentences]…For her part, Helene Chraye from the parents association of the European School in Ixelles, Brussels, said that she is encouraging parents to file a court case with the European Court of Human Rights based on anti-discrimination. "We wanted an impact assessment of these cuts. First, there should be administrative cuts - pedagogy should be really a last resort. I hope some parents will have the courage and determination to go to court," she said. Pray for quality within the EU education budget

 

GREECE

PRESSURE GROWS FOR IN DEPENDENT AUDIT OF GREEK DEBT

http://euobserver.com/9/31930/?rk=1

LEIGH PHILLIPS

07.03.2011 @ 09:25 CET

 

EUOBSERVER / ATHENS - A group of some 200 academics, economists, MEPs and other notables have issued a call for an audit of Greek debt, a demand that may be raised in the Greek parliament in the coming days and which has also been quickly embraced by Irish trade unions and development NGOs regarding Dublin's public borrowing. The group, which includes former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday, and ten left-wing and Green MEPs, on Thursday (3 March) argued for the creation of an debt audit commission similar to that established in 2008 by the Ecuadorean government that ultimately led to a repudiation of 'illegitimate' debt.The concept has since been embraced by Irish campaign groups and organisers hope similar pressure to launch forensic investigations will also be mounted in Spain and Portugal and other heavily indebted European states.

[… closing sentences]…

Such a development could also precipitate a fresh revival of market contagion were it believed that international lenders could be forced to incur significant lossesInitially promoted by leftist groups in Greece, the concept is now steadily gaining a wider hearing as a growing number of voices in the country begin to make the argument that the cost of paying back 'illegitimate' debt should not be borne by the Greek people. Instead, they say, the burden should be shared by 'predatory lenders'.Echoing such sentiments, Eurodad's Oygunn Brynildsen said: "Failing to hold lenders to account for reckless behavior, combined with a lack of transparency, encourages bad lending and, ultimately, chronic and unjust debt.The Greek labour minister, Louka Katseli, is thought to be sympathetic to the idea and support is growing across the political spectrum, say drafters of the call for an audit commission, with MPs expected to raise the proposal in parliament in the coming days. Pray that Greece accepts constructive help.