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Re: EUEUEUEUEU to ban vacuum cleaners more powerful than 1,600 Watts

Posted by RockParkMan on Fri Aug 22 18:45:24 2014, in response to Re: EUEUEUEUEU to ban vacuum cleaners more powerful than 1,600 Watts, posted by AlM on Fri Aug 22 16:25:58 2014.

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EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany

Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Sep 2 03:06:02 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Under the German Whip (I)

2014/09/01

Strong criticism of German predominance in last weekend's new appointments to EU top positions is being raised in France. The EU's designated Juncker/Tusk/Mogherini triumvirate "undoubtedly" carries the German signature, according to a longtime renowned EU political observer.

After having imposed its austerity dictates on the EU over the past few years, Berlin has now actually taken over the designation of EU leadership personnel. This has not only become evident by the rebuff of French proposals for the posts of Commission President and the Council President and the prospect of a "German" successor to the French General Secretary of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

An unrivaled number of top posts in Brussels' institutions are held by Germans, including the posts of President of the European Investment Bank and that of the Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Germans also hold top posts in the European Parliament. Berlin is particularly using its influence for the posts important for its austerity dictate. Observers are not ruling out future protests and even serious upheavals.

Berlin's Signature

A French EU expert is expressing unusually sharp criticism of last weekend's new appointments to EU top positions. Jean Quatremer, a journalist for the left-liberal journal "Libération," is known to have a profound knowledge of the political scene in Brussels.

According to Quatremer, there is no doubt that the appointments of the EU's new triumvirate comprised of Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk and Federica Mogherini bear Berlin's signature. Quatremer also maintains that these current appointments in Brussels represent multiple serious setbacks to French interests. The new composition of the EU top personnel seems intended to consolidate German predominance over the EU.

Pro-German

Quatremer points to the fact that EU Commission President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker had also been able to win his nomination as leading candidate for the conservatives over his French rival, EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, with German support. This is an even greater defeat for Paris, because of Juncker's close affinity to Berlin. He prides himself in having been "raised to be pro-German" and is considered to have been Helmut Kohl's protégé. Already in 1988, Germany awarded him the "Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Sash." "You have more than lived up to the hopes placed in you in 1988," praised Chancellor Angela Merkel, November 8, 2013, as she awarded him her country's "Grand Cross of the Order of Merit." Back in the 1990s, Juncker had also been very helpful for imposing the German government's standpoint over that of France.

President of the EU Commission Juncker will employ Martin Selmayr, from Germany, to head his cabinet. Selmayr had come to the commission from the EU representation of the Bertelsmann AG. While heading the office of Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, he was often referred to as "the actual commissioner."

Consequences for Paris

In nominating Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to be the next President of the EU Council, Quatremer affirms, Berlin has successfully imposed its will. Paris would have preferred Denmark's social democratic Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, but had to give in to the German choice.

Quatremer mocks at the German allegation that one of the eastern EU member states' politicians should finally be given a top position, reminding that northern EU member states have never held such a post. Tusk will also preside over the special meetings of the 18 Euro-countries' heads of governments, even though Poland has not joined the eurozone. His neo-liberal course is considered advantageous for maintaining Germany's austerity dictate.

According to Quatremer, Federica Mogherini's nomination to be the EU's next foreign policy chief will have direct consequences for France. He writes that, in return for Berlin's support for her candidacy, Mogherini has agreed that a German will succeed the Frenchman, Pierre Vimont, in the post of the General Secretary of the European External Action Service, which is directly under her authority and considered very influential.

Helga Schmid, a German diplomat, who since the mid-90s had been employed in key posts in the German Foreign Ministry, before transferring to the foreign policy bureaucracy in Brussels, is a likely candidate for that position. She is currently the Deputy Secretary General for the External Action Service (EAS) handling important dossiers, for example, the policy toward Iran.

German Europeans

Quatremer points out that an above-average number of other key positions in the administration in Brussels are being held by Germans.

For example, Uwe Corsepius, former head of the Europe Section of the German Chancellery, is today the General Secretary of the Council of the European Union in Brussels, an apparatus with approx. 2,500 employees. The European Parliament's General Secretary is Klaus Welle, also a German, who has introduced far-reaching initiatives.

The head of the Euro Crisis Funds (the European Stability Mechanism or ESM), Klaus Regling, and the President of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer, are also from Germany. Hoyer had been the State Secretary in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1998 and from 2009 to 2011 and is as intimately familiar with Berlin's foreign policy projects and objectives as Corsepius.

Now that the German Social Democrat Martin Schulz has been elected President of the European Parliament, only 3 of the seven parliamentary groups are under German leadership: the European People's Party group, (Manfred Weber, CSU), the Greens (one of the co-chairs is Rebecca Harms of the German Greens) and the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) with Gabi Zimmer, (Die Linke). Schulz had to step down as chair of the Social Democratic group after his election as President of the Parliament.

Authority to Set Guidelines

At the beginning of 2011, the German foreign policy flagship periodical Internationale Politik described how "a German EU Chancellery was virtually evolving" with Angela Merkel as "EU Chancellor." According to the journal, Merkel has long since acquired the "authority to set guidelines" within the union. Berlin "nominates the men and women to the top posts of the Union" and "dictates their policies," writes the EU expert, Quatremer, and refers to the fact that Chancellor Merkel recently announced that next year, Luis de Guindos, of Spain, would be the successor of Jeroen Dijsselbloem from the Netherlands at the head of the Euro group. De Guindos, who had been the director of the Lehman Brothers Investment Bank in Spain until its collapse, has made himself a name by supporting a hard-line austerity policy along the lines of the German model.

In addition, Berlin has also sought recently to block Pierre Moscovici of France from becoming the EU's Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, which Paris had laid claim to, as a firewall to prevent a total success of the German austerity steamroller. According to the most recent reports, the German government seems to have been unsuccessful. However, Moscovici is supposed to be issued a "chaperone." It is said that EU Commission President-elect Juncker will designate a Vice President, who will supersede the Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner in authority. The former Finnish Prime Minister, Jyrki Katainen, is favored for this post. He is reputed to be a resolute advocate of a hardline austerity policy.

Pose the Question

"In the long run, can the European countries continue to accept living under the German whip?" asks Quatremer. "To pose the question is to furnish the answer." In fact, observers are not ruling out anything from protests, all the way to serious upheavals in the near future. german-foreign-policy.com will report tomorrow.

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Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Tue Sep 2 03:16:30 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany, posted by Olog-hai on Tue Sep 2 03:06:02 2014.

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Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany

Posted by Fred G on Tue Sep 2 03:34:41 2014, in response to Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany, posted by SelkirkTMO on Tue Sep 2 03:16:30 2014.

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Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Tue Sep 2 03:42:10 2014, in response to Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany, posted by Fred G on Tue Sep 2 03:34:41 2014.

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Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany

Posted by Fred G on Tue Sep 2 07:53:05 2014, in response to Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany, posted by SelkirkTMO on Tue Sep 2 03:42:10 2014.

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Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany

Posted by bingbong on Tue Sep 2 09:18:22 2014, in response to Re: EUEUEUEUEU's top political positions dictated by Germany, posted by Fred G on Tue Sep 2 07:53:05 2014.

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(EUEUEUEUEU) Departing Maoist Barroso plays race card w/Euroskeptics, brags about expanded "powers"

Posted by Olog-hai on Fri Oct 17 06:47:25 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Barroso defends his EU legacy, criticizes 'anti-foreigner' euroskeptics

15.10.14 @ 10:32
By Honor Mahony

With two weeks to go until he is formally out of office and, as of yet, with no fixed onward job, Jose Manuel Barroso is a politician concerned with his legacy.

Having spent 10 years as the European Commission president, taking over just after the EU made its continent-changing expansion to the East and ending as it limps out of an equally transformative economic crisis, the 58-year old Portuguese is keen to put his stamp on a narrative that has cast him as lacking vision, weakening his institution and being too fond of austerity.

"I am sure that any rigorous historian will consider the historic context. I have been the president of the European Commission at its most difficult times ever since the beginning of European integration”, he told a group of journalists in Brussels on Tuesday (14 October).

"I am absolutely sure I have done the best during these ten years. And this my conscience tells me. And for me this is sufficient."

In his telling, the commission took more of a backseat role during the height of the financial crisis in order not to add to the "cacophony" at a time that saw save-the-euro policies made on the hoof, only to be called into question before the ink had dried.

"The commission was always ahead of the curve," he says, although others were "probably shouting louder".

Powers to be dreamed of

He argues the EU has emerged stronger from the crisis, equipped with around 40 new pieces of legislation dealing with financial supervision — and a whole lot more power for the European Commission.

"We have powers that our predecessors could not even dream of," he says, highlighting the commission's new right to "reject" draft national budgets.

Calling himself an "institutionalist", he says the commission is an "indispensable body, most prepared to deal with European questions" and should be "treasured".

On the charge that the commission — which together with the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank worked out the terms of loans for bailed-out euro countries — made struggling countries pay too high a social price by forcing them to slash public spending, he is half-apologetic.

He admits that sometimes the "pendulum" swung too much in one direction, but says that "by and large" the approach was the "correct one".

Referring to his fellow citizens from Portugal — which also underwent a harsh austerity programme in return for a loan — he said he "felt how my compatriots suffered".

But the path was nevertheless the right one.

"Would it have been better, for example, to have not asked for these sacrifices? Personally, I think it would have been worse."

The euro hesitants

With the commission under his watch often criticized for being reactive and timid in the face of the crisis, he suggests his role in every-day firefighting fell below the radar.

He notes that the "differences in Europe regarding financial matters are not only between Finland and Greece; they start between France and Germany."

Getting a common line from the latter two capitals meant working "discreetly" in the background. He spent "hours" telling some governments they had to be more "generous".

He also indicates that he was among a handful of people who really pushed for the euro to survive in the darkest days of the crisis.

Of a group of chief economists from top banks he called for a meeting in July 2012, only one thought that Greece — the original epicenter of the crisis — would remain in the eurozone.

"These were the people making the opinion in the markets — the so-called markets that we tend to think of as abstract things. I am very proud because many governments were not so clear about it [the future of the eurozone]. I had to make the argument in Berlin. In the end they took the right decision."

Anti-foreigner euroskeptics

As Barroso leaves the EU stage — he has indicated he will not take another political post — the 28-state union is in poor shape.

Its economy is stagnating, unemployment is at a record high, there is a wide gulf between the social and economic fortunes of northern and southern states, and EU citizens are disaffected, voting in ever lower percentages in European elections.

But Barroso prefers to look to the bigger picture. The EU emerged from the crisis "united, open [to trade] and stronger".

This situation is fragile, remaining so, in his eyes, because no one makes the case for the EU.

"What for me is really a problem is the lack of vision and courage of the pro-Europeans. We cannot take this project for granted."

Asked about the roots of euroskepticism — a stronger political phenomenon in recent years — he says anti-immigration is its biggest driver, on both the extreme left and right.

Being against a multi-cultural Europe is the "political agenda of the populists tendencies now on the far-right and the far-left. Some of them are hiding their policies and their instincts behind a more articulated anti-European force."

"But the great motive for them is not Brussels bureaucracy, the great motive is 'we don't want foreigners’,” he notes.

"Knowing the devils of our past, I think we should be very cautious about it."

Looking to the future, he has one piece of advice for Jean-Claude Juncker, his successor and "friend" — not to let the European Commission become partisan. It should be political but should not be politicized, risking the legitimacy of legal and technical decisions.

As for Barroso — aside from writing his memoirs — the immediate future is unclear, although there are rumours about various teaching posts.

But he knows how he would like to be remembered: As someone "who has shown determination and resilience".

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(EUEUEUEUEU) Ninth-graders in Landsberg, Germany create Hitler-worship WhatsApp club

Posted by Olog-hai on Thu Oct 30 00:38:56 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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German ninth graders create Hitler fan club on WhatsApp

Police investigate students from Leipzig who allegedly share Fascist slogans, pictures of Hitler salutes, in secret online group

By Michael Leidig
October 30, 2014, 12:55 am

Geerman police confirmed Wednesday they interrogated two boys from a town near Leipzig who were photographed making Hitler salutes, following claims that an entire class of German schoolchildren set up a secretive neo-Nazi fan club.

The group from the Landsberg School near Leipzig, a city in eastern Germany’s Saxony state, would secretly share their right-wing jokes and extremist propaganda in private among other members of the group using the mobile phone application WhatsApp, police said.

An investigation into the students’ activities was launched after it was revealed that the social media messages they shared included references to Hitler as a “fantastic person.”

Members began comments with each other with “Deutschland – Sieg Heil!” and shared off-color jokes. One example was a sign on the road leading to a mountain saying it was only possible to visit with a Fuhrer (German for guide). Underneath someone had scrawled, “Don’t forget to bring Mister Hitler.”

German officials expressed shock at the revelations, but neo-Nazis in Germany were among the first to go underground using online connections such as the Thule Network as a response to the country’s restrictive laws on far-right activity where they can face jail for glorifying the crimes of the Third Reich.

Making the Hitler salute or using Third Reich symbols like the swastika is illegal according to German law.

The fact that children aged 14-15 were behind setting up an extremist network, however, has caused widespread concern.

Teachers and parents of the 29 pupils in class 9A at the Landsberg School near Leipzig said they had no idea that the children had such extremist right-wing ideologies.

Even the parents of the one Jewish boy in the class said they were stunned when they read about the extent of the anti-Semitic incidents for the first time in their local newspaper. They said their son had never spoken to them about what was going on at school.

Eli Gampel, 54, whose son is the sole Jew in the class, said, “My boy told me that on the hood of his jacket someone had stuck a far-right NPD [National Democratic Party] sticker. It was well known, it seems, that he was Jewish.

“It was on this basis that I have made a formal complaint with police for an investigation, but on the other hand it would definitely be the wrong thing to simply accuse the entire class and tar them with the same brush.”

Gampel, the former head of the local Halle Jewish Community, added: “I thought it was a bad dream when I opened newspapers and read the article.”

He said, however, that it seemed a massive taboo had been imposed in the class, banning anybody including his son from talking about it.

“Even after I read about it, I found it difficult to get him to talk about what went on. It was only through a lengthy discussion that he admitted what was in the newspaper article was essentially true. Of course the content of what was being discussed made him sad and he felt discriminated against,” Gampel said.

Other parents also said they knew nothing about what was going on because the students had kept their activities hidden by communicating using WhatsApp.

Prosecutor Andreas Schieweck, 59, confirmed authorities were investigating allegations of glorifying the crimes of the Third Reich and the police had interviewed two students.

Because of the age of the pupils, school officials have confirmed that specially trained psychologists are meeting parents and the children who are still in the area and have not gone on holiday for the autumn break.

The school headmaster, Lutz Feudel, said the entire school had been shocked about the secret Nazi sympathizers, which he said were confined to one class. He added that getting to the bottom of how it happened was difficult, because the autumn break had already started. He said that the parents of two of the children had been invited to a discussion together with their children, but that a third who they wanted to speak to was on holiday in Spain with his parents.

And he added that he did not want to instantly accuse the children, saying: “Breaking taboos is part of young adulthood. I don’t believe that they wanted to actively promote neo-Nazi ideology.”

David Begrich, who works in Germany as part of the organization “Miteinander” (“With One Another”), which fights against right-wing extremism, said, “It is definitely the time now for education officials to get involved, and not prosecutors. There need to be very clear conversations with all those in the class, and they don’t need to be worried about the consequences in order for the truth to come out.”

“It is also true, however, that in Saxony in the recent past that have been cases in which schoolchildren have been taking part in Nazi demonstrations, and have been exposed as consumers of neo-Nazi music and through postings of anti-Semitic content. However, according to teaching staff at least, it was not noticeable in lessons or from the interaction with pupils,” Begrich added.

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(EUEUEUEUEU) Israel recalls ambassador to Sweden over recognition of "state" of "Palestine"

Posted by Olog-hai on Thu Oct 30 14:35:26 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Israel recalls ambassador to Sweden

By Karl Ritter
Oct 30, 2014 1:53 PM EDT

Sweden on Thursday became the biggest Western European country to recognize a Palestinian state, and Israel swiftly reacted by withdrawing its ambassador from Stockholm in protest.

Coming during increased tensions between Arabs and Jews over Israel's plans to build 1,000 housing units in east Jerusalem, the move by Sweden's new left-leaning government reflects growing international impatience with Israel's nearly half-century control of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said Sweden, fulfilling a promise it had made when the Social Democratic-led government took office earlier this month, believes the Palestinians have met the international law criteria required for such recognition.

"There is a territory, a people and government," she told reporters in Stockholm, adding that Sweden was the 135^th country in the world to recognize a Palestinian state.

It is the third Western European nation to do so, after Malta and Cyprus.

Israel was quick to condemn Sweden's announcement, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman describing it as "a miserable decision that strengthens the extremist elements and Palestinian rejectionism."

"It's a shame that the government of Sweden chose to take a declarative step that only causes harm," he added.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson said Israel's ambassador to Sweden was being recalled for consultations, but declined to say how long he would remain in Israel.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, welcomed the move by Sweden, a European Union member, as "a principled and courageous decision."

"It is our hope that other EU member states and countries worldwide will follow Sweden's lead and recognize Palestine before the chances for a two-state solution are destroyed indefinitely," Ashrawi said.

Israel says Palestinians can gain independence only through peace negotiations, and that recognition of Palestine at the U.N. or by individual countries undermines the negotiating process. Palestinians say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn't serious about the peace negotiations.

The latest round of U.S.-brokered talks collapsed in April. American officials have hinted that Israel's tough negotiating stance hurt the talks, and Netanyahu has continued to settle Israelis in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

More than 550,000 Israelis now live in the two areas, greatly complicating hopes of partitioning the area under a future peace deal. The two territories and the Gaza Strip are claimed by Palestinians for a future state.

While the U.S. and European powers have so far refrained from recognizing Palestinian independence, they have become increasingly critical of Israeli settlement construction. The 28-nation European Union has urged that negotiations to achieve a two-state solution resume as soon as possible.

In a symbolic move, British lawmakers earlier this month voted in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state.

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Associated Press writers Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki and Karin Laub in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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EUEUEUEUEU Central Bank threatened Ireland prior to 2010 "bailout" loans

Posted by Olog-hai on Mon Nov 10 01:45:29 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Letter shows ECB threat ahead of Ireland bailout

11.06.14 @ 16:26
By Honor Mahony

The European Central Bank on Thursday (6 November) formally made public a letter showing that the eurozone bank threatened to pull emergency bank funding if Ireland did not enter a bailout and undertake austerity measures in 2010.

The letter, signed by the then-ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, speaks of “great concern” about the solvency of Irish lenders — which had loaned heavily to the over-heated construction sector — and the extent to which the whole eurosystem was exposed.

It then says that the ECB would cut off emergency funding to Irish banks unless Ireland meets four conditions including getting a bailout and undertaking “fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and financial sector consolidation”.

The letter, sent 19 November 2010 and first published by the Irish Times early on Thursday morning, was part of an exchange of four between Trichet and the then Irish finance minister Brian Lenihan.

Other conditions laid out by the bank for the Dublin government was that it should put new capital into Irish banks and that the government was to underwrite the money already given to lenders and guarantee its repayment.

Commentators in Ireland have expressed surprise at the tone of the letter, particularly as it was clear that the country was heading towards a bailout.

Two days later, on 21 November, Ireland formally applied for a €67-billion loan funded by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“I think the letters speak for themselves,” says finance minister Michael Noonan when asked if Ireland was bullied into a bailout.

But others were more blunt.

“It’s about as threatening as can be,” Stephen Donnelly, an Independent member of Irish parliament, told state broadcaster RTE.

Donnelly said it was possible to “understand” the first request that Ireland take a bailout because a lot of money had been lent to Irish banks, but requiring Ireland to put in place austerity measures was of a different order.

“The second point very seriously exceeds the mandate of any central bank. The ECB is now directly interfering in the operation of a sovereign state.”

Dublin initiated a series of harsh reforms, raising taxes, cutting pay and slashing public spending to meet the terms of the loans. The latest move, to introduce water charges, has led thousands to take to the streets to protest in recent days.

The ECB, for its part, laid the blame squarely at the government's door.

"While it is fully understandable that Irish citizens feel acutely aggrieved by the legacy of the crisis, it was domestic policy-makers who were responsible for the inadequate polices relating to … banking supervision, public finances and the loss of competitiveness," the bank said in a statement.

ECB chief Mario Draghi on Thursday said "it is a very big mistake to look at past events with today's eyes" and noted that Ireland, which successfully completed its programme last December, is projected to have the fastest growing EU economy in 2015.

Asked whether his predecessor Trichet should appear at national banking enquiry, Draghi noted that the ECB is accountable to the European Parliament rather than national ones.

Meanwhile, some Irish politicians says the release of the letter should spur the government to ask for a debt writedown.

Independent MP Catherine Murphy said Ireland took on 43 percent of the European banking crisis, but the government “never even asked for that debt to be written down”.

“Will you ask them to write that debt off now?” she said, according to the Irish Times.

Irish national debt hit 123 percent of GDP in 2013 and is expected to stay above 100 percent of GDP until 2018.

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Germany and other EUEUEUEUEU states abstain from vote on UN resolution against glorifying Nazism

Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Dec 2 16:57:49 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Honoring Collaborators

2014/11/26

The Federal Republic of Germany has refused to vote in favor of a United Nations resolution condemning the glorification of National Socialism and Nazi collaboration. Last week, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly passed a resolution strongly criticizing the edification of memorials to Nazi functionaries and the stylization of Nazi collaborators as "freedom fighters." Germany and the other EU nations abstained, the USA, Canada, and Ukraine voted against the document, with 115 nations voting in favor. Berlin and Brussels use the excuse of not wanting to support a resolution initiated by Russia. In fact, a vote in favor of the document would have caused hefty disputes within the EU, and between the EU and important allies. With growing frequency, notorious Nazi collaborators are being publicly honored in such EU countries as Hungary or the Baltic countries and in Ukraine, in some cases by officials of the respective governments.

Deep Concern

The UN resolution expresses its "deep concern about the glorification, in any form, of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism, and former members of the Waffen SS organization." As examples the document names erecting monuments and memorials and holding public demonstrations in the name of the glorification of the Nazi past but also by "attempting to declare such members and those who fought against the anti-Hitler coalition and collaborated with the Nazi movement participants in national liberation movements." The resolution explicitly "emphasizes that any commemorative celebration of the Nazi regime, its allies and related organizations, whether official or unofficial" should be prohibited by UN member states. The resolution especially expresses its condemnation "of any denial or attempt to deny the Holocaust."¹

Nazi Glorification not rejected

Last Friday, when the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly put the resolution to a vote, the German Ambassador to the UN found himself unable to cast his vote in favor. All other EU nations also abstained, along with countries, dependent, in one way or the other, on the EU, such as Andorra, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Mali. Ukraine, the United States, and Canada voted point-blank against the resolution. The latter two countries are sheltering rather influential Ukrainian exile communities, characterized by former Nazi collaborators of the "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" (OUN). The reason generally given last Friday was that they did not want to support a resolution initiated by Russia. The Soviet Union — of which Russia had been its core — was the country accounting for the most casualties from Nazi terror, 27 million. However, had Germany and the other EU nations voted in favor of the resolution, it would have necessarily caused hefty disputes. Today, collaborators, who had joined the Nazis in the war against Moscow, are commemorated in several European countries.

In the Struggle against Russia

This is particularly true of Ukraine, where, since early 2012, German organizations have been working — and intensively so, since 2013 — to incorporate the Svoboda Party and its affiliated forces into an anti-Russian alliance of organizations.² Svoboda honors the OUN and particularly its commander Stepan Bandera, who is very popular throughout West Ukraine. In 1941, Bandera's militias actively supported Nazi Germany in its attack on the Soviet Union. Svoboda also honors the "Ukrainian Partisan Army" (UPA), which, in the wake of the German war of extermination, had participated in mass murders of European Jews.³ In the course of the Maidan protests, both this party and other fascist organizations, receiving vigorous support from Germany, were playing a growing role. Consequently, since the end of February, Svoboda has had several ministers in the Ukrainian putsch regime. Today, fascist battalions are among the most resolute combatants in East Ukraine's civil war. Some of their commanders have been elected to parliament in the Verchovna Rada on electoral tickets of the parties forming the future government. At the beginning of the month, an activist of the fascist "Right Sector" and deputy commander of the fascist "Asov Battalion," had been named police chief of the District of Kiev. In their struggle against Russia, Ukraine is uninhibitedly developing the traditions of its anti-Soviet Nazi collaboration — at the side of Germany.

Freedom Fighters

Nazi collaborators are also being honored in EU member countries, for example, in the Baltic nations. Regular commemoration honor parades for the Waffen SS, sponsored by their national Waffen SS veterans are organized in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In Latvia, one of the most recent marches was held last spring, with approx. 2,000 participants — which, in proportion to the size of the population, would correspond to a demonstration of 80,000 in Germany. Observers point out that in Riga's state-run Latvian "Occupation Museum" the Latvian Waffen SS militias are referred to as "freedom fighters" in the struggle against Moscow. Organizers of the Waffen SS memorial march are invited to schools to teach courses in "patriotism."⁴ The "All for Latvia" national alliance party, which has consistently been in the government since 2011, supports these memorial parades. The party recurringly raises the issue of the deportation ("repatriation") of the country's Russian-speaking minority. One of the party's leaders had once declared that the Russian minority — nearly one quarter of the population — are "occupiers" or "illegal colonialists." A critical appraisal of Nazi collaboration is not welcome in this country. As the historian Maris Ruks notes, Latvian scholars risk "setbacks in their careers, if they engage in too detailed research into the Holocaust."⁵ In the current confrontation with Russia, the Baltic countries are among the EU's most aggressive forces.

Hitler's Partner is being rehabilitated

Also in Hungary fascist traditions are becoming more prevalent. Showcase examples are the new memorials to the "Reich's Deputy" and Nazi collaborator Miklós Horthy, which have been inaugurated since 2012. After changing the name "Freedom Square" to "Horthy Square," in April 2012, in Gyömrö, near Budapest, a Horthy statue was erected in the village of Kereki in southern Hungary.⁶ A Horthy commemorative plaque was installed on its premises of the Calvinist College in Debrecen in May 2012. Other memorials have followed. For example, in June 2013 in the East Hungarian village of Hencida⁷ and in November of the same year right in Budapest. "Hitler's Hungarian partner is being rehabilitated," wrote German press organs back in 2012, attentively noting that, at Hitler's side, Horthy had led Hungary "into war against the Soviet Union."⁸ However, currently, Hungary is not one of those countries taking a particularly aggressive stand toward Russia. The rehabilitation of Nazi collaborators extends far beyond Horthy. Since the 1990s, there have been many commemorative plaques dedicated to the ethnic, anti-Semitic writer, Albert Wass, who had been a loyal follower of Horthy and the Nazi Reich. His writings have been as accepted into the country's curriculums as those of Jozsef Nyiro, who still in 1944 was active in the Nazi Arrow Cross Party.⁹ Hungary's "Jobbik" Party — which polled 20.5 percent in the April 6, 2014 elections, its greatest success ever — stands in the tradition of the Arrow Cross Party.

"Counter Insurgency"

This is hardly an exhaustive list of EU countries publicly honoring Nazi collaborators. In Croatia, for example, monuments to Nazi opponents were destroyed, while, streets were being named after Mile Budak, the fascist Ustasha's leading propagandist and, for awhile, Croatia's Foreign Minister during the period of Nazi collaboration. In Italy's Affile, to the east of Rome, a mausoleum to the fascist war criminal, Rodolfo Graziani was inaugurated in 2012. Graziani, who had initially been engaged in "counter insurgency" in Libya, ordered hostages shot and used poisoned gas in Ethiopia. Toward the end of the war, he was having Italians executed for refusing to collaborate with the Nazi puppet regime in Salò. Had Germany and the other EU countries not refused to vote in favor of last Friday's UN resolution, they would — had they taken the document seriously — be facing serious conflicts with one another and with their close allies, e.g. their partners in Ukraine.

1. United Nations General Assembly: Sixty-ninth session of the Third Committee. Agenda item 66 (a): Elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. A/C.3/69/L.56/Rev.1. 19.11.2014.
2. See A Broad-Based Anti-Russian Alliance, Termin beim Botschafter and Juschtschenkos Mythen.
3. See Zwischen Moskau und Berlin (IV).
4. See Tag der Kollaborateure and "Liberation Fighters" and "Occupier".
5. Frank Brendle: International gegen SS-Verherrlichung. www.neues-deutschland.de 17.03.2014.
6. György Dalos: Horthy im Hoch. www.nzz.ch 03.07.2012.
7. Jobbik und Neue Ungarische Garde weihen neues Horthy-Denkmal ein. pusztaranger.wordpress.com 23.06.2013.
8. Paul Jandl: Hitlers ungarischer Partner wird rehabilitiert. www.welt.de 05.06.2012.
9. See Ein positives Ungarn-Bild.

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Re: Germany and other EUEUEUEUEU states abstain from vote on UN resolution against glorifying Nazism

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EUEUEUEUEU to be utterly dominated by Germany if UK leaves, says ex-Commission prez Romano Prodi

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 6 16:57:17 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Britain’s EU retreat means German hegemony, warns Prodi

The EU is either a treaty club of democracies and equals, or it is nothing.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
5:37PM GMT 24 Nov 2014

Britain is already a lame duck within the EU’s internal governing structure and is losing influence “by the day” in Brussels, even before David Cameron holds a referendum on withdrawal.

This self-isolation has upset the European balance of power in profound ways, leading ineluctably to German hegemony and a unipolar system centred on Berlin. It is made worse by the near catatonic condition of France under François Hollande.

Smaller states no longer form clusters of alliances around a three-legged diplomatic edifice made up of Germany, France, and Britain. They are instead scrambling to adapt to a new European order where only one state now counts. So too is the EU’s permanent civil service and the institutional machinery in Brussels and Luxembourg.

Such is the verdict of Roman Prodi, the former Italian premier and ex-president of the European Commission.

I pass on his thoughts because the Brexit debate in the UK invariably dwells on what the consequences might or might not be for Britain, while taking it for granted that Europe itself would somehow sail on sedately as if nothing had changed. But everything would change, and we can already discern it.

“France is ever more disoriented, and Britain is losing power by the day in Brussels after its decision to hold a referendum on EU membership,” he said.

“All the countries that previously maintained an equilibrium between Germany, France, and Britain (from Poland, to the Baltic States, passing through Sweden and Portugal) are regrouping under the German umbrella,” he told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.

“Germany is exercising an almost solitary power. The new presidents of the Commission and the Council are men who rotate around Germany’s orbit, and above all there is a very strong (German) presence among the directors, heads of cabinet and their deputies. The bureaucracy is adapting to the new correlation of forces,” he said.

“Even the Americans are doing so. When there is a problem between Europe and the United States, President Obama telephones Mrs. Merkel, not the British prime minister. In short, Germany has become the referee of Europe. As is well known, the rules in football are enforced when the referee whistles, and right now Germany is issuing the yellow card to a lot of countries,” he said.

There is a good deal of federalist slapstick in these comments, but Mr. Prodi touches on a point that we tend to gloss over in the internal “Brit-Brit” debate on Europe. The Atlantic free trade deal between the EU and the US has stalled in great part because Britain no longer has the gravitational pull to forge a dominant alliance, while Germany is dragging its feet.

The new order was all too clear when Jean-Claude Juncker was picked to take over the Commission. Sweden’s Frederik Reinfeldt and Holland’s Mark Rutte both joined Mr. Cameron in opposing Mr. Juncker at first — calling for fresh blood — but left the British leader dangling alone once Chancellor Merkel began to apply the gentlest of pressure.

“Wherever you go in Europe, people want to be close to Berlin,” said Mats Persson from Open Europe. “You feel it in Madrid. The Czech government is obsessed with this. There is a lot of Merkel-hugging going on.”

The implicit argument is that by disengaging from Europe, Britain is bringing about the Europe it most fears: a more protectionist bloc, and one less amenable to our liberal view of the world.

You might argue that any benefits derived from stopping the Continent hurting itself are outweighed by the benefits of keeping well clear — and I would concur, chiefly for reasons of democratic accountability and sovereign self-government — but you cannot wish away these risks altogether.

Britain’s clout in Brussels was already waning before Mr. Cameron pledged an EU referendum. It stems from Maastricht. By staying out of monetary union — with all its implications — the UK effectively opted out of the EU's future even then. This was disguised in the early years of EMU. It became crystal clear once the crisis exposed the fundamental failings of an orphan currency with no economic government to back it up.

Mr. Cameron’s diplomatic loneliness was plainly visible at the December summit in 2011, when he felt forced to veto the Fiscal Compact. He was of course right on merits. The Fiscal Compact — pushed through outside the EU treaty structure — was and is an atrocious mix of pedantry and pre-modern economic illiteracy, with a delayed fuse that risks trapping the eurozone in depression for another decade.

Yet such was the zeal to push it through that he could not muster an alliance even from those countries — the majority — that knew it to be folly. They simply bent to power. In other words, he could not save the European political leaders from their own suicidal errors.

German hegemony is entirely unwelcome to Germany itself, and that is part of the problem. Frightened of its own historical shadows — “rearmament and dictatorship” as Mr. Prodi puts it rather harshly — Germany still tries to think and behave much of the time as a subordinate power, like a large Sweden. But it is not a large Sweden; it is the policy-maker for a bloc of over 500 million people.

It denies its own leadership, retreating into 3-percent deficit rules and formulaic austerity, with very destructive results when leveraged through the whole eurozone by the mechanisms of EMU.

If Mr. Prodi is broadly correct — and I suspect he is — British withdrawal from the EU will accelerate an unstable chain reaction and ultimately cause the whole project to unravel. It is simply unthinkable that the EU can survive as a reconstituted Holy Roman Empire governed from Berlin, yet without at least the charisma and sanctity bestowed on the medieval Hohenstaufen by Rome.

The EU is either a treaty club of democracies and equals, or it is nothing.

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Pooty-poot reaches out to EUEUEUEUEU "far-right" parties

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 13 11:15:53 2014, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Russia reaches out to Europe's far-right parties

By George Jahn and Elaine Ganley
Dec 13, 2014 5:25 AM EST

A Russian loan to France's National Front. Invitations to Moscow for leaders of Austria's Freedom Party. Praise for Vladimir Putin from the head of Britain's anti-European Union party.

As the diplomatic chill over Ukraine deepens, the Kremlin seems keener than ever to enlist Europe's far-right parties in its campaign for influence in the West, seeking new relationships based largely on shared concern over the growing clout of the EU.

Russia fears that the EU and NATO could spread to countries it considers part of its sphere of influence. And it has repeatedly served notice that it will not tolerate that scenario, most recently with its Ukraine campaign.

Europe's right-wing and populist parties, meanwhile, see a robust EU as contrary to their vision of Europe as a loose union of strong national states. And some regard the EU as a toady to America.

The fact that many of Moscow's allies are right to far-right reflects the Kremlin's full turn. Under communism, xenophobic nationalist parties were shunned.

Now they are embraced as partners who can help further Russia's interests and who share key views — advocacy of traditional family values, belief in authoritarian leadership, a distrust of the U.S. and support for strong law-and-order measures.

Statements by leading critics of the EU, or euroskeptics, reflect their admiration of the Kremlin.

National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen told The Associated Press this month that France and Russia "have a communality of interest." Daughter Marine Le Pen, party president and a strong contender for the French presidency in 2017, envisions a Europe stretching "from the Atlantic to the Urals" — a "pan-European union" that includes Russia and is supported by other right-wing parties.

Nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban perceives prevailing winds as "blowing from the East" and sees in Russia an ideal political model for his concept of an "illiberal state." The head of Britain's euroskeptic Independence Party, Nigel Farage, has said Putin is the world leader he most admires — "as an operator, but not as a human being."

Russia offers friendship with a world power. Le Pen and other party officials visit Moscow repeatedly, and Russian guests at the party's congress this month included Andrei Isayev, a deputy speaker of the Russian parliament's lower house.

Among other Moscow regulars from euroskeptic parties across Europe are members of Hungary's anti-Semitic Jobbik and Austria's Freedom Party.

Jobbik parliamentarian Bela Kovacs — his detractors call him "KGBela" — is under investigation in Hungary for allegedly spying for Russia. While in Moscow recently, Freedom Party firebrand Johann Gudenus accused the European Union of kowtowing to "NATO and America" and denounced the spreading influence of the "homosexual lobby" in Europe.

Shunned at home by the establishment, many on the political fringes are eager for the chance to hobnob with Russian powerbrokers, gain air time on RT television, Russia's international answer to CNN, or to act as monitors when Moscow seeks a fig leaf to legitimize elections in recently annexed Crimea.

For them, "the benefit is that they can receive diplomatic support from a very high level from a superpower," says Peter Kreko of Hungary's Political Capital research institute.

Financial rewards are also incentives. Orban just signed a nuclear-reactor deal with Moscow. France is abuzz over the National Front's recent €9 million loan from a Russian bank owned by a reputed Putin confidant.

Marine Le Pen describes it as "a perfectly legal loan that we will reimburse perfectly legally," saying the party turned to Russia after being rejected by Western banks. But the transaction has galvanized fears among the National Front's opponents of increased Kremlin influence, with the Socialists calling for an inquiry.

Links between Russia and the right predate the Ukraine conflict. A 2005 U.S. diplomatic cable made public by Wikileaks noted close ties between Bulgaria's extreme-right Ataka party and the Russian Embassy in Sofia. And Jörg Haider, the late leader of Austria's Freedom Party, helped powerful Russian businessmen with residency permits more than a decade ago in exchange for what Austrian authorities now suspect were close to €1 million worth of bribes.

Nor was Moscow's search for allies in Europe always restricted to anti-EU figures. Shekhovtsov sees Putin's friendships with German ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Italy's former Premier Silvio Berlusconi as useful for the Kremlin before foreign policy differences that culminated in the Ukraine crisis made the Russian leader unwelcome in most European capitals.

Now the diplomatic gloom is settling in, and Moscow may have few alternatives to courting Europe's EU malcontents in hopes that their strong domestic and EU election showings this year will help further its own interests.

Of the 24 right-wing populist parties that took about a quarter of the European Parliament's seats in May elections, Political Capital lists 15 as "committed" to Russia.

Many owe their popularity to voter perceptions that EU-friendly parties in power are to blame for the continent's economic woes — a view that could grow if the downturn persists.

"What Russia is saying is, 'It's fine for you to be the way you are,'" says analyst Melik Kaylan, in a study for the Institute of Modern Russia. "'You're authoritarian. We're authoritarian. Let's work together against the West.'"

Ganley reported from Paris. Associated Press writers John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels, Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, also contributed to this report.

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Re: Pooty-poot reaches out to EUEUEUEUEU ''far-right'' parties

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Re: Neo Soviet thug Pooty-poot reaches out to Anti EU far-right parties

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Even Paul Krugman blames Germany for EUEUEUEUEU economic crisis

Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Jan 6 11:49:25 2015, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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Being Bad Europeans

By Paul Krugman
Nov. 30, 2014

The U.S. economy finally seems to be climbing out of the deep hole it entered during the global financial crisis. Unfortunately, Europe, the other epicenter of crisis, can’t say the same. Unemployment in the euro area is stalled at almost twice the U.S. level, while inflation is far below both the official target and outright deflation has become a looming risk.

Investors have taken notice: European interest rates have plunged, with German long-term bonds yielding just 0.7 percent. That’s the kind of yield we used to associate with Japanese deflation, and markets are indeed signaling that they expect Europe to experience its own lost decade.

Why is Europe in such dire straits? The conventional wisdom among European policy makers is that we’re looking at the price of irresponsibility: Some governments have failed to behave with the prudence a shared currency requires, choosing instead to pander to misguided voters and cling to failed economic doctrines. And if you ask me (and a number of other economists who have looked hard at the issue), this analysis is essentially right, except for one thing: They’ve got the identity of the bad actors wrong.

For the bad behavior at the core of Europe’s slow-motion disaster isn’t coming from Greece, or Italy, or France. It’s coming from Germany.

I’m not denying that the Greek government behaved irresponsibly before the crisis, or that Italy has a big problem with stagnating productivity. But Greece is a small country whose fiscal mess is unique, while Italy’s long-run problems aren’t the source of Europe’s deflationary downdraft. If you try to identify countries whose policies were way out of line before the crisis and have hurt Europe since the crisis, and that refuse to learn from experience, everything points to Germany as the worst actor.

Consider, in particular, the comparison between Germany and France.

France gets a lot of bad press, with much talk in particular about its supposed loss in competitiveness. Such talk greatly exaggerates the reality; you’d never know from most media reports that France runs only a small trade deficit. Still, to the extent that there is an issue here, where does it come from? Has French competitiveness been eroded by excessive growth in costs and prices?

No, not at all. Since the euro came into existence in 1999, France’s G.D.P. deflator (the average price of French-produced goods and services) has risen 1.7 percent per year, while its unit labor costs have risen 1.9 percent annually. Both numbers are right in line with the European Central Bank’s target of slightly under 2 percent inflation, and similar to what has happened in the United States. Germany, on the other hand, is way out of line, with price and labor-cost growth of 1 and 0.5 percent, respectively.

And it’s not just France whose costs are just about where they ought to be. Spain saw rising costs and prices during the housing bubble, but at this point all the excess has been eliminated through years of crushing unemployment and wage restraint. Italian cost growth has arguably been a bit too high, but it’s not nearly as far out of line as Germany is on the low side.

In other words, to the extent that there’s anything like a competitiveness problem in Europe, it’s overwhelmingly caused by Germany’s beggar-thy-neighbor policies, which are in effect exporting deflation to its neighbors.

But what about debt? Isn’t non-German Europe paying the price for past fiscal irresponsibility? Actually, that’s a story about Greece and nobody else. And it’s especially wrong in the case of France, which isn’t facing a fiscal crisis at all; France can currently borrow long-term at a record low interest rate of less than 1 percent, only slightly above the German rate.

Yet European policy makers seem determined to blame the wrong countries and the wrong policies for their plight. True, the European Commission has floated a plan to stimulate the economy with public investment — but the public outlay is so tiny compared with the problem that the plan is almost a joke. And meanwhile, the commission is warning France, which has the lowest borrowing costs in its history, that it may face fines for not cutting its budget deficit enough.

What about resolving the problem of too little inflation in Germany? Very aggressive monetary policy might do the trick (although I wouldn’t count on it), but German monetary officials are warning against such policies because they might let debtors off the hook.

What we’re seeing, then, is the immensely destructive power of bad ideas. It’s not entirely Germany’s fault — Germany is a big player in Europe, but it’s only able to impose deflationary policies because so much of the European elite has bought into the same false narrative. And you have to wonder what will cause reality to break in.

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Re: Even Paul Krugman blames Germany for EUEUEUEUEU economic crisis

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New EUEUEUEUEU regulation could wreck organic farming

Posted by Olog-hai on Tue Jan 13 15:11:38 2015, in response to EUEUEUEUEU Olog, posted by RockParkMan on Sat Nov 12 14:58:17 2011.

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New EU regulation could curb organic farming

By Nicole Sagener | Translated from German by Erika Körner
Published: 13/01/2015 – 07:21 | Updated: 13/01/2015 – 08:12

As demand for organic products continues to grow among Europeans, the supply of sustainably manufactured and animal-friendly foods is struggling to keep up, experts indicate, warning that a new EU amendment could widen this gap. EurActiv Germany reports.

For several years, the market for organic food products has been booming and not only in Germany, the pioneer of organic farming. Europe has seen the market quadruple in size over the past decade.

According to EU numbers, around 5.5% of total farmland within the bloc is used for organic cultivation. But in recent years, the supply of organic products has not been able to satisfy growing demand.

Organic farming is associated with a greater cost than conventional agriculture techniques and at the same time yields are lower and subject to more fluctuation.

And these paradoxes could become more severe, critics warn. Several even predict a declining trend in organic agriculture due to stricter EU regulations. Shortly after the Jean-Claude Juncker Commission took office in Brussels, incoming Agriculture Minister Phil Hogan announced his intention to rework the EU’s Council Regulation on Organic Agriculture.

In March 2014, the European Commission adopted legislative proposals for a new Regulation. The measure, which is expected to take effect in 2017, contains stricter rules for the production and import of organic products. As a result, it is likely to make it more difficult for conventional farmers to shift to organic agriculture practices, or even cause many organic producers to switch back to conventional farming.

More research instead of stricter regulation

In Germany, displeasure over the new guidelines is considerable. Already in October of last year, all party factions in the Bundestag’s Committee on Food and Agriculture expressed clear opposition to a complete overhaul of the EU Regulation.

Organic agriculture in Europe has already been progressing far too slowly, critics complained, saying chances for development should not be hindered by excessive legal barriers.

But the last word has not yet been spoken, as the EU’s Council of Ministers and European Parliament still have yet to deliberate over the new legislation.

“The Council of Ministers has already tabled amendment recommendations,” said Felix Bloch from the DG Agriculture in the European Commission. And Hogan also understands that some of the Commission’s demands were too high, he indicated.

The new proposal promises to create clearer requirements for organic products by means of lifting certain special regulations and exceptions, the ban on growing organic and conventional crops side-by-side, and stronger controls on imported organic products.

The measures are meant to restore the trust of consumers, who are unsettled by fraud scandals and the flood of organic labels.

“There is real competition between ever-newer organic labels and sustainable indications,” said Urs Niggli from the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FIBL). At the same time he warned of an impending phase of stagnation for organic agriculture.

To increase the amount of yield, which is currently at 50-90% of conventional cultivation, more innovation is needed to develop better fertilization techniques and breeding of robust species, the agriculture researcher said.

Hardly any investments in an ambitious goal

According to the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), 6.4% of Germany’s total farmland was managed according to the principles of organic cultivation in 2013.

Nevertheless, the Federal Government hopes to increase this amount to meet a target set by former Agriculture Minister Renate Künast. The goal is for organic farming to cover 20% of all agricultural land.

But the target’s existence is hardly noticeable. Germany invests less than 1% of its research funding to research on solutions for organic cultivation, Niggli said. The Bundestag, Germany’s lower house, recently criticized the German Government for publicly announcing its desire to support organic agriculture but then including no additional measures for strengthening organic agriculture in the 2015 budget.

“There is no way the 20% target can be reached by 2012, if it remains unclear what the EU amendment looks like,” said Clemens Neumann from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The farmers, he argued, need planning security and more incentives for switching to organic farming.

Organic products should not be premium goods

Martin Häusling is an agriculture specialist of the Green political group in the European Parliament and one of the leading politicians in charge of the Parliament’s overhaul of the new organic agriculture Regulation. “The Commission’s proposal would make organic farming an elite project. But the crucial question is how the organic sector can come out of that niche,” Häusling explained. Instead, organic products are imported from far away, making it difficult to screen their organic quality, he said.

Still, precise control of domestic German as well as imported products should remain in place, Häusling advised.

Nevertheless, he said he is hesitant towards repeated calls for a Brussels-based agency to investigate fraud cases. “To do this, Brussels would have to have its own team of experts for inspecting organics,” Häusling contended, “without real experts it would only result in inspection of inspection.”

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