The EURCP -European Union Review & Call to Prayer- May 2007

Newsletter publishers: Hugh & Norma Davis [Not directed by any other ministry] http://www.euprayer.com/ WEB page now updated

Support 14 prayer walls in Europe  Emmanuel Duvieusart, Pasteur fondateur, “Sentinelles De Priere”   

email info@sentinelles.info  web http://ccea.sentinelles.free.fr/US/– [Monthly in five other languages]

Go to the prayer category numbers. Read the article*, and pray as God leads you.

1 PRAY for the prayer movements and nations of Europe*[articles below]

2 PRAY for governments and constitution of the EU*

3 PRAY for the enlargement policies of the EU*

4 PRAY for family policies of the EU*

5 PRAY for the Mideast policies of the EU*

6 PRAY for the immigration policies of the EU*

7 PRAY for effective EU policies on terrorism*`

 

2. No clear winner in French presidential TV debate

http://euobserver.com/9/23982/?rk=1

03.05.2007 - 09:19 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – With just three days to go until the most highly-anticipated French presidential election in years, the two candidates slugged it out in a passionate and at times aggressive TV debate on Wednesday (2 May) evening, which lasted over two hours but left no outright winner.

 

Both Nicolas Sarkozy on the right and his socialist challenger, Segolene Royal, tried to shrug off the political portraits that have emerged over the past few weeks – Sarkozy as aggressive and prone to outbursts and Royal as more hesitant, less passionate and a bit vague on policy.

 

From the start Ms Royal, 53, the daughter of a career army officer, went on the offensive, interrupting Mr Sarkozy several times, challenging him on facts and once accusing him of "political immorality."Fifty two-year old Mr Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, spoke in a deliberately moderate voice, kept his temper in check and maintained a strained politeness throughout.The debate – watched by around 20 million people - mainly focused on domestic issues. Subjects such as France's relations with the US and the situation in Iraq never came up, while Europe featured only briefly.[full article on noted web page]

 

2.‘Serious’ corruption sparks EU rift

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2d6aac60-f42a-11db-88aa-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=70662e7c-3027-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8.html

By George Parker and Sarah Laitner in Brussels and Kerin Hope and in Athens

Published: April 26 2007 23:14 | Last updated: April 26 2007 23:14

Britain and France have joined forces to demand that Brussels gets tough on ­Bulgaria and Romania over “serious” corruption, amid claims that the European Union’s two newest members are being let off the hook. Sweden and the Netherlands also voiced fears that the European Commission is not taking seriously its promise to maintain pressure on the two states to complete promised legal reforms, undermining the credibility of the EU’s enlargement process. full article on noted web page]

 

2. EU citizens voice concern at meddling eurocrats

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4939ff7a-d578-11db-a5c6-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=176e2654-91dc-11db-a945-0000779e2340.html

By George Parker in Brussels  Published: March 18 2007 20:14 | Last updated: March 18 2007 20:14

When Europe’s leaders gather in Berlin next Sunday to renew their vows to the European Union, there will be much lofty talk of peace, prosperity and human rights.

 

But a large number of its citizens associate the EU mostly with something else: bureaucracy. An FT/Harris poll found that apart from the single market that underpinned the original European Economic Community, bureaucracy is regarded as the feature citizens most associate with the 50-year-old project. In Britain and Germany bureaucracy was named as the main feature they linked to the EU, outscoring the bloc’s various achievements, not least securing 50 years of peace and helping to spread democracy and prosperity across the continent. When asked what came into their heads when they thought of the EU, 31 per cent named the single market, 20 per cent bureaucracy, 9 per cent democracy and 26 per cent other factors.There were big national variations; in the UK 38 per cent of people linked Europe with red tape, as did 33 per cent of Germans. [full article on noted web page]

 

2. Berlin Declaration - Full transcript

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d2489a9a-dac5-11db-ba4d-000b5df10621.html

Published: March 25 2007 13:22 | Last updated: March 25 2007 13:22

Below is a full text of the “Berlin Declaration” on European Union values, achievements and challenges, unveiled by the German EU presidency on the 50th anniversary of the founding Treaty of Rome.

 

For centuries Europe has been an idea, holding out hope of peace and understanding. That hope has been fulfilled. European unification has made peace and prosperity possible. It has brought about a sense of community and overcome differences. Each Member State has helped to unite Europe and to strengthen democracy and the rule of law. Thanks to the yearning for freedom of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe the unnatural division of Europe is now consigned to the past. European integration shows that we have learnt the painful lessons of a history marked by bloody conflict. Today we live together as was never possible before.

We, the citizens of the European Union, have united for the better:. [full article on noted web page]

 

2. Prague tempers hostility to EU treaty

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/582bc01e-f8f4-11db-a940-000b5df10621.html

By George Parker in Brussels

Published: May 2 2007 22:36 | Last updated: May 2 2007 22:36

Europe’s most eurosceptic government confirmed on Wednesday it is ready to rescue parts of the European Union’s constitutional treaty in the clearest sign yet that a deal is emerging ahead of a summit in June.

 

The Czech government set out a position which avoided extreme positions, stressing its wish “to preserve the success of EU unification for future generations”. Prague said the constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, should be the starting point for talks and it hoped the wrangling over a new treaty will be concluded by 2009. The tone is a departure for a government whose prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, described the constitution as a “pile of crap”; Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, opposed EU membership. It also suggests that months of quiet diplomacy and public schmoozing of the Czech leadership by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor and holder of the EU’s rotating presidency, is paying off.[ full article on noted web page]

 

3. The political crisis- Turkey's turmoil

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9100444&fsrc=nwl

May 1st 2007 | ANKARA

From Economist.com

An early election looks increasingly likely

Reuters

FIRING tear gas and wielding truncheons, police in Istanbul broke up the latest street protest in Turkey on Tuesday May 1st. On this occasion left-wingers wanted to mark the anniversary of the massacre of over 30 demonstrators in 1977. It grew into a large clash and given Turkey’s current political crisis, the police and others in authority are nervous that any gathering may get out of hand. Perhaps as many as 1m people took to the streets at the weekend to demand that Turkey preserve its secular character. More large protests are likely.

 

The real trouble started over the choice of a new president to replace the incumbent, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, whose seven-year term expires on May 16th. The president is chosen by parliament where the ruling AK Party has a big majority. At first it seemed that the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would take the job. But after the army, the opposition and Mr Sezer all objected, he instead nominated his foreign minister, Abdullah Gul. It was only after a first inconclusive vote in parliament on April 27th that the army intervened again, using language that seemed to some to threaten a military coup full article on noted web page]

.

3. Kosovo to Declare Independence by End of May

http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evv2csIfch45nI2

Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said he expected his disputed province to declare independence from Serbia by the end of May despite Serbia's and Russia's opposition. [full article on noted web page]

 

 

 

 

3. Croatia urged to reform as EU door remains shut[fr][de] 

http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/croatia-urged-reform-eu-door-remains-shut/article-163382

Published: Thursday 26 April 2007 | Updated: Friday 27 April 2007

MEPs have urged Croatia to make progress on EU accession criteria but at the same time said that full membership will not be considered before the EU reforms its own institutions.[ full article on noted web page]

 

4. Interactive chart: EU’s age demographics

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7be4ef34-d86b-11db-a759-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=176e2654-91dc-11db-a945-0000779e2340.html

By Simon Briscoe

Published: March 22 2007 12:11 | Last updated: March 22 2007 12:11

Europeans are richer, travel more, own and spend more, and live longer than they did fifty years ago. But instead of seeking to pass on their good fortune, the European Union’s citizens have shown a marked disinclination to have childen.

 

The most striking change to emerge in Europe’s statistics in the last fifty years is in its population. While the total population in all member states has drifted up only slowly, the age structure has changed beyond recognition. Europe has aged. It is almost as if the continent stopped having babies when the European Community, as it was then known, was formed. In 1960, the under fives was the most numerous age group, now it is the over forties - the same group, but older.

 

The number of people in each age group in the population pyramid reveals something of the EU’s history. The birth of the union in part reflected the desire of the era’s leaders to avoid a repeat of the disruption - the loss of life and missed births - resulting from two world wars. This is underscored by data for 1960 which show a clear drop in the number of 40 somethings and teenagers. The challenges facing Europe in the decades ahead - funding pensions and health care as today’s shortage of children diminishes the labour force in the future - are clear from the latest and increasingly top heavy population pyramid. The symbolism is clear too - the EU is no longer the young and hopeful alliance it was at its birth. [full article on noted web page]

 

5. Fatah working with European Union to eradicate Hamas

http://www.arabmonitor.info/printnews.php?idnews=18765

Ramallah, 30 April - Threatening to organize a new round of work stoppages, including another one-day “warning” strike on Wednesday, to demand full wages and back pay, government employees’ union chief Bassam Zakarneh, a staunch leader of Fatah, proposes to use the Western countries' embargo on the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation to force the Palestinian government to resign. He was backed by Palestinian deputy prime minister Azzam al-Ahmad, also a long-term Fatah leader, who encouraged Palestinian school teachers to strike over unpaid wages, as if the government withheld wages to maximize profits from capitalist enterprise, while the wages cannot be payed as long as the occupying power withholds tax and customs revenues from their lawful owners.

 

Azzam al-Ahmad stabbed the recently formed government of national unity in the back by declaring that the Hamas-led government should be disbanded if it fails to convince the Western countries to lift their embargo on the Palestinian poeple. Fatah's move to organize strikes of Palestinian civil servants against the Hamas-led government comes at the sidelines of a meeting with a European Union delegation eager to cooperate with Israel and the USA and to uphold sanctions against the Palestinians, while equally eager to place the responsibility with Hamas.[ full article on noted web page]

 

5. Discord Reigns Ahead of German-Muslim Talks

http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evv2csIfch45nI1

Expectations will be low on Wednesday when German officials and leading Muslims meet for the second bi-annual Conference on Islam. Rows over who is qualified to speak for Germany's Muslims have soured the atmosphere.[ full article on noted web page]

 

6. How European migration is starting to recede

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6d2cafde-f811-11db-baa1-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=70662e7c-3027-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8.html

By Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah Published: May 1 2007 19:53 | Last updated: May 1 2007 19:53

In the three years since the European Union welcomed 10 new members, record numbers have moved from east to west. The scale of migration has cheered those eager to promote mobility within the EU and distressed those who fear the economic and social effects of un­controlled immigration. Yet both cheerleaders and detractors of Europe’s newfound mobility are getting worked up by a temporary phenomenon.

 

There is no denying that the scale of movement, especially to the UK and Ireland, has been staggering. More than half a million new member nationals have registered to work in the UK since 2004, not including the self-employed and those who do not need to register. Poles, who account for more than half of this inflow, were the single largest immigrant nationality arriving in the UK in 2005. In Ireland, some 330,000 new member nationals obtained personal public service numbers – required to work or claim benefits – between May 2004 and February 2007. More Poles than Irish applied for these numbers in 2006. New member nationals have also made their presence felt in other parts of the EU – the infamous Polish plumber, for example – as many existing member states start to ease restrictions on movement of workers from new member states.[ full article on noted web page]

 

7. Reporting on civil liberties in the European Union (updated 24.4.07) Editor: Tony Bunyan

http://www.statewatch.org/ [full article on noted web page]

 

7. Don't tell the voters

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9074389

Apr 26th 2007

From The Economist print edition

Why Tony, Angela and Nicolas are barking up the wrong tree in trying to avoid consulting the citizens

Peter Schrank

IN COMMON with bats, cats and some breeds of dog, European politicians must have powers of hearing superior to those of ordinary humans. How else to explain why, whatever the issue, the leaders of the European Union seem to hear the people calling for more European “action”? Even more impressively, the action they want is invariably the same: for the EU's politicians to go ahead with whatever it is that they are already planning.

 

So it is now, as the politicians get down to salvaging bits they like from the defunct EU constitution almost two years after it was killed by the resounding no votes of France and the Netherlands. As it happens, EU leaders are divided on the constitution's merits. But leaving these aside, consider instead the strange way in which the politicians are going about its resurrection.

 

Europe's leaders are united around two incompatible beliefs. The first is that their citizens want them to press ahead with reviving most or all of the constitution. The second is that it is wisest to avoid testing this thesis by asking those citizens directly in new referendums. For this contradiction, blame those exquisitely tuned political ears. EU bosses insist that they hear citizens demanding that the union be made more “effective”; and this, the politicians say, means salvaging bits of the constitution (even if they disagree over which bits). But to avoid putting this to the test, their efforts are bent on avoiding referendums (except for Ireland, whose law may make a referendum unavoidable). As one top Eurocrat puts it, the thought of further referendums inspires “absolute, sheer terror” in Brussels.[ full article on noted web page]

 

7. Political Islam and Europe 

http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/political-islam-europe/article-163211

Published: Tuesday 17 April 2007

Lack of EU engagement with democrats in the Middle East and North Africa could lead to distrust, argue two Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) working documents. 

 

In 'Political Islam and Europe – Views from the Arab Mediterranean states and Turkey' Robert Springborg argues that the social, political and economic power of moderate Middle East and North African Islamist movements has been growing for a generation or so. The question of how to deal with Islamists who reject violence, embrace democracy and outperform their competitors at the polls has therefore become a central concern not only of incumbent Middle East elites, but also of interested foreign actors such as the EU and US.

 

1.The Evangelical Alliance Flanders instigated, since 2004, the first Sunday in May (May 6th) the yearly day of prayer for the EU. For many Christians this “big subject” is not easy to grasp (which we can understand), but if we don’t mobilize ourselves to pray for the EU, others will surely exercise their influence! [See Prayer Poster]

 

 

PRAYER POSTER FOR YOUR GROUP OR CHURCH

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