EU

EU parliament votes for dropped charges, asylum protection for Edward Snowden

October 30, 2015 by Nasheman

Resolution passed by European Parliament Thursday calls on member states to prevent whistleblower’s extradition, rendition

A sticker calling for asylum for Edward Snowden seen in Berlin. (Photo: Tony Webster/flickr/cc)

by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams

The European Parliament passed a resolution Thursday urging its nations to afford NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden protection.

Passed by a 285 to 281 vote, the resolution calls on EU member states to “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and international human rights defender.”

Snowden, who’s been residing in Russia since 2013, responded to the resolution on Twitter by calling it a “game-changer”:

Hearing reports EU just voted 285-281, overcoming huge pressure, to cancel all charges against me and prevent extradition. Game-changer.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 29, 2015

This is not a blow against the US Government, but an open hand extended by friends. It is a chance to move forward. pic.twitter.com/fBs5H32wyD

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 29, 2015

While the resolution is not binding, Wolfgang Kaleck, Snowden’s lawyer in Berlin, told the Daily Dot in an email, “It is an overdue step and we urge the member States to act now to implement the resolution.”

U.S.-based digital rights group Fight for the Future welcomed the news as well. Evan Greer, the organization’s campaign director, said, “We hope that this resolution leads to a binding agreement in the EU that allows Edward Snowden to move to whichever EU country he wants, and we hope he gets an epic party thrown in his honor when he arrives.”

“The battle over mass government surveillance is a decisive moment in the history of humanity, and it’s hard to think of anyone who has done more than Edward Snowden to educate the public about the grave risks that runaway spying programs pose to our basic human rights, the future of the Internet, and freedom of expression,” he added.

The World Wide Web Foundation, which advocates for an open Internet and was founded by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, called it a “landmark resolution.” It added in a statement, “We call on national leaders to publicly commit to respecting the will of the European people and offering Snowden asylum.”

Berners-Lee said in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session last year that Snowden “should be protected, and we should have ways of protecting people like him. Because we can try to design perfect systems of government, and they will never be perfect, and when they fail, then the whistleblower may be all that saves society.”

Greek banks running out of cash as EU leaders meet

July 7, 2015 by Nasheman

Cash reserves start to run dry as ECB tightens controls and Greek PM Tsipras meets with EU creditors.

Greek banks are starting to run out of cash, with the ECB raising charges on collateral the banks require to present for funds [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Greece’s banks are quickly running out of cash, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras takes his latest bailout proposal to the country’s eurozone creditors, days after Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected their latest bailout offer.

Officials on Monday announced that the banks would remain closed until Thursday, as the European Central Bank (ECB) slowly tightened a noose on its funding.

The daily withdrawal limits were to remain unchanged at 60 euros ($66) per account daily.

Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos, reporting from Athens, said Greek banks were now operating “under siege”, with one major Athens bank only able to keep its ATMs open on Monday after two major companies deposited their payrolls in cash.

“The banks are living day-to-day and hand-to-mouth,” Psaropoulos said.

“They believe they have enough to keep going until Wednesday, possibly Thursday, but only under the capital controls (withdrawal limits).”

The ECB has maintained its emergency liquidity lifeline for Greek banks, however it raised charges on collateral the banks require to present for funds, effectively devaluing the banks’ assets and making them less able to borrow against their collateral.

“The situation is becoming financially worse, not just more politically difficult,” our correspondent said.

Greece last week defaulted on a $1.8bn repayment to the International Monetary Fund, and on Sunday, in a referendum, the Greek people voted to say “no” to Europe’s bailout deal.

Rapid negotiations

Tsipras on Tuesday must persuade Europe’s other 18 leaders, many of whom are exasperated after five years of the Greek crisis, to open rapid negotiations for a major new loan to rescue his country.

He spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding the new proposals ahead of Tuesday’s hastily arranged emergency summit of the eurozone countries in Brussels.

Germany and France, whose economies together account for nearly half of the eurozone, on Monday asked Greece to make detailed proposals to revive bailout talks, a day after the referendum that decisively rejected creditors’ demands for further austerity.

Late on Monday, a Greek government source said that Tsipras had spoken to ECB chief Mario Draghi in efforts to reopen banks with assistance from the Frankfurt-based lender.

Tsipras also spoke to IMF chief Christine Lagarde “on the need to find a viable solution dealing with the real problems of the Greek economy”, the source said.

Lagarde said the IMF was “ready to assist Greece if requested to do so”, despite the June 30 default.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday that while he did not want Greece to leave the eurozone, in a so-called Grexit, the Greek people had voted on a deal that “no longer existed”.

“We have to put a very large ego away and deal with the situation we face,” Juncker said.

Tsipras insists that instead of a Grexit, Greece’s creditors will now finally have to talk about restructuring the country’s massive 240 billion euro ($267bn) debt to them.

Greek banks remain shut amid debt crisis negotiations

June 29, 2015 by Nasheman

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expected to make new proposals in bid to end financial crisis.

Photo: EPA/SIMELA PANTZARTZI

by Al Jazeera

The president of the European Commission is expected to make new proposals to try to avoid a Greek default, the EU commissioner of economic affairs has said, adding that there was still room to negotiate an end to the crisis.

Jean-Claude Juncker “will indicate the route to follow”, Pierre Moscovici told French radio on Monday, adding there was still “room for negotiation” between Athens and its international creditors.

“I hope everyone will commit themselves to a way of compromise.”

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had earlier announced the temporary closure of banks, after the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would not increase additional emergency funding to the country.

In addition, Greece announced on Monday that the country’s stock market will remain closed until July 7.

In a television address on Sunday, Tsipras said that the government will also start imposing capital controls ahead of a looming deadline on Tuesday.

The country needs to make a $1.8bn payment to the International Monetary Fund by Tuesday or risk defaulting on its obligations.

The emergency measures were agreed at a cabinet meeting after a gathering of Greece’s systemic stability council, called after eurozone finance ministers refused to extend its bailout beyond Tuesday.

Greek government officials have confirmed that banks will remain closed until July 6 – a day after the planned referendum on bailout deal offered by international creditors.

However, officials said that ATMs will reopen on Monday afternoon, with daily withdrawal limit set at 60 euros ($66).

The leftist government, in a statement, also clarified that tourists staying in Greece and anyone with a credit card issued in a foreign country will not be affected by measures to limit bank withdrawals.

Japan stocks plunged more than two percent on Monday, with investor sentiment hit by fears of a Greek default. The Nikkei went down more than 500 points at one point during early trading.

The latest development came as the Greek parliament decided to back Tsipras’ call for a referendum on the country’s bailout deal with international creditors.

The referendum planned for July 5 was approved by at least 179 deputies out of a total of 300 politicians.

Tsipras’ leftist Syriza party and allied politicians voted in favour of the referendum that has angered its creditors who earlier rejected the debt-ridden country’s request for a bailout extension.

EU court orders Hamas removed from terror list

December 18, 2014 by Nasheman

Court delays implementing the ruling to allow appeals, drawing ire from Israeli PM Netanyahu and praise from Hamas as a ‘human rights’ victory.

by Barak Ravid, Haaretz

The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg accepted the petition by Hamas in which it sought to have itself removed from the EU’s list of terrorist organizations.

The court postponed implementing the ruling for three months to allow for the EU commission or one of the EU’s 28 member states to petition the decision, which drew praise from Hamas and condemnation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The hearing in the European court was technical and procedural, and did not stem from a change in the EU’s position regarding Hamas.

Although Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem played down the importance of the EU decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked it vociferously.

Netanyahu said Israel is not satisfied with EU explanations that removing Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations is solely a technical matter.

“The burden of proof is upon the European Union, and we expect them to immediately put Hamas back on the list, as anyone understand that it is an inseparable part of it,” said Netanyahu. “Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization, which states in its charter that its goal is to destroy Israel. We will continue to fight in with determination and strength so that it will never achieve its goal.”

A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, tweeted that the court decision is “a legal victory for Palestinian rights.” According to the Twitter post, the decision rights an injustice done to the Hamas movement, “which is a national liberation movement.”

The Palestinian terrorist group asserted in its petition that the decision to put it on the EU terror list was carried out without giving it an opportunity for a hearing and without sufficient evidence being presented. The European court accepted the petition based on the precedent of a similar case of the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.

The court ruled in its decision that most of the evidence used to put Hamas on the list of terrorist organizations were from open sources – mainly press publications. The court made it clear that the ruling does not say anything substantial about the status of Hamas or the character of the organization’s operations.

Likewise, the three-month postponement also means that Hamas assets within the EU will remain frozen as well as sanctions against its members. During this period EU institutions or member states will be able to appeal the ruling or make a new decision within the council of EU foreign ministers, which would define Hamas as a terror organization based on stronger evidence.

The EU ambassador in Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, met Wednesday with the director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, who expressed great disappointment from the EU court’s decision, and demanded the EU act swiftly to reclassify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The ambassador made it clear in the meeting that there is no change in EU policy regarding recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization, and that the EU intends to use all means to reinstate the group on the terrorist list. The ambassador also stressed that the court’s decision has no immediate validity, and that there will be no change regarding freezing Hamas funds in Europe.

The EU also issued a special statment in response to the court ruling.

“This legal ruling is clearly based on procedural grounds and it does not imply any assessment by the Court of the substantive reasons for the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation,” read the statement. “It is a legal ruling of a court, not a political decision taken by the EU governments. The EU continues to uphold the Quartet principles.”

The statement continued, “The EU institutions are studying carefully the ruling and will decide on the options open to them. They will, in due course, take appropriate remedial action, including any eventual appeal to the ruling. In case of an appeal the restrictive measures remain in place.”

Ireland recognizes Palestine as a state as EU vote looms

December 11, 2014 by Nasheman

A Palestinian protester holding her national flag faces Israeli soldiers during a demonstration on the highway between Jerusalem and Jericho on November 28, 2014, against the construction of Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley and against the plan to relocate Bedoiuns from the central West Bank area. AFP / Abbas Momani

by Al Akhbar

Irish lawmakers urged their government Wednesday to recognize Palestine as a state in a symbolic motion that sailed through parliament unopposed, the latest in a series of similar measures across Europe as the EU parliament holds a crucial vote on Palestine next week.

The Irish move came a day before the Danish parliament gears up to vote on Thursday to recognize Palestine as well.

The non-binding motion agreed by lawmakers in Dublin called on the government to “officially recognize the State of Palestine, on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital, as established in UN resolutions.”

This would be “a further positive contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” it added.

The government is not bound to follow the motion but Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said Ireland supported early recognition of a Palestinian state “in principle.”

“We have always supported a viable two-state solution and will continue to support that in any manner and by any means,” Flanagan told parliament.

Despite being proposed by the opposition Sinn Fein party, the motion had cross-party support, dispensing the need for a vote. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who was refused entry to Gaza by Israel during a visit to the region last week, said the motion was about inspiring hope.

“We must stand with the Palestinian and Israeli citizens who want peace – who are taking risks for peace. The passing of this motion is an important contribution to this,” Adams said.

The motion also called on the Irish government to do everything it could internationally to secure “an inclusive and viable peace process.”

European politicians have become more active in pushing for a sovereign Palestine since the collapse of US-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in April, and ensuing conflict in Gaza, where more than 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and on the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and six civilians were killed this summer.

“It’s been suggested that recognition now might help jump-start a stalemate process. This was the judgement made by Sweden and indeed it is the spirit of this evening’s motion,” Flanagan said.

The chairperson of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Martin O’Quigley, welcomed the move.

“It’s very important, but just as important is for the Irish government to make Israel accountable for what has happened and what is happening in Palestine,” he told AFP.

The Israeli embassy in Dublin said however the motion was premature.

“A vote in favor of this motion, therefore, is a vote for Ireland, a neutral country, to intervene in a foreign conflict in favour of one national movement at the expense of another,” the Embassy said in a statement.

“That is not how peace is brought about.”

Denmark to debate Palestine recognition

Meanwhile, the Danish parliament will debate a motion calling for the recognition of Palestine as a state on Thursday.

Danish MP Holger K. Nielsen, one of the main drivers behind the initiative in Denmark, told Ma’an news agency that the first reading will take place Thursday before a potential vote in the second reading, which could take place in early 2015.

The motion was introduced by the Red-Green Alliance, the Socialist People’s Party (SPP), and Greenland’s Inuit Ataqatigiit, three small left-wing parties. It calls on the government to recognize Palestine as a state within the 1967 borders

“I think there is strength now among European countries tired of Israel’s attitude to negotiations and it is therefore more important now to put pressure on Israel,” Nielsen, a member of the SPP, said.

Nielsen says it will be “difficult” to get a majority in the Danish parliament, which may even vote against it. But he thinks debates like these aim to raise public awareness and have notably changed national attitudes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Public opinion has changed (in Denmark) today compared to 10 years ago. Our aim is to change the situation so the Danish public understands the conflict.”

A former Danish adviser at the EU parliament told Ma’an that while the vote in Denmark won’t change the realities on the ground, it is a step in the right direction.

“The Danish vote is part of larger picture where a lot of Europeans are getting fed up with Israel’s rejectionism and continued settlement building. Parliaments in a lot of EU countries are reacting to this and putting Palestinian statehood to a vote out of concern for the two-state solution.”

According to PA estimations, around 135 countries have so far recognized the State of Palestine, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.

Ireland’s parliament is the fourth European assembly to call for the recognition of Palestinian statehood since October.

Sweden, who initiated the vote, has gone even further, officially recognizing Palestine as a state in a move that prompted Israel to recall its ambassador.

A week after Sweden’s decision, MPs in Britain voted 274 to 12 for a non-binding motion to “recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution.”

On November 18, Spanish MPs backed a motion to recognize Palestine as a state following a final-status agreement, while on December 2, French MPs voted 339 to 151 in favor of a motion that invites Paris to recognize the state of Palestine “as an instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict.”

Spain notably changed its wording on the day of the motion following an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue — from recognition as a way to encourage a “negotiated settlement” to recognition following an agreement.

Intense lobbying around EU vote

The Danish debate comes a week before the EU parliament is due to vote on recognizing Palestine as a state on December 17, a motion postponed on November4 27 following reportedly intense pressure by Israeli diplomats.

Spain’s significant rewording of its motion reflects the core split within the EU parliament: using unconditional recognition as a means to address the imbalance between both sides in the peace process, or recognition as a condition of the outcome of talks.

A staffer in the European parliament told Ma’an that the vote was extremely tight at the moment, with signs that there could be no majority for any text at all, a potentially damaging blow for the EU’s role as a serious global actor.

The PA has also notably been absent from lobbying parliament members on the vote, the staffer said, with Israeli civil society actors lobbying passionately in favor of recognition and Israeli diplomats and other actors lobbying intensely against parliamentarians recognizing Palestine.

Whatever the outcome of the vote next week, debate in the EU parliament has been extensive, the staffer added.

EU recognition of Palestine would do little to change the realities of occupation, the former Danish adviser told Ma’an, but it could be taken as a sign of future EU action if Israel continues to maintain the status quo.

New EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who took office in early November, has been extremely vocal on Palestine and made it a point of calling for a Palestinian state during a visit to Gaza, the first visit in her new position.

Mogherini’s statements together with real measures such as getting tougher on settlements, denying violent settlers access to the EU, and reviewing the extensive trade agreements with Israel could signal meaningful change if the EU recognition vote falls flat, the former adviser added.

Holger Nielsen, the Danish MP, agrees that the EU must use economic means and be stricter on trade policy to really influence the Israeli government’s position.

“It’s difficult, but you have to continue the discussion. Change is coming all the time. Maybe not tomorrow, but I’m sure the only way you can make things change is to maintain this kind of pressure.”

The roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict date back to 1917, when the British government, in the now-famous “Balfour Declaration,” called for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Zionist state – a move never recognized by the international community.

In November 1988, Palestinian leaders led by Yasser Arafat declared the existence of a state of Palestine inside the 1967 borders and the state’s belief “in the settlement of international and regional disputes by peaceful means in accordance with the charter and resolutions of the United Nations.”

Heralded as a “historic compromise,” the move implied that Palestinians would agree to accept only 22 percent of historic Palestine, in exchange for peace with Israel. It is now believed that only 17 percent of historic Palestine is under Palestinian control following the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) this year set November 2016 as the deadline for ending the Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and establishing a two-state solution.

It is worth noting that numerous pro-Palestine activists support a one-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians would be treated equally, arguing that the creation of a Palestinian state beside Israel would not be sustainable. They also believe that the two-state solution, which is the only option considered by international actors, won’t solve existing discrimination, nor erase economic and military tensions.

(AFP, Ma’an, Al-Akhbar)

Belgium may unilaterally recognize Palestine – report

December 4, 2014 by Nasheman

Photo: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

by RT

Four political parties that form Belgium’s government have reportedly agreed to recognize the Palestinian state, despite diplomatic pressure from Israel and its allies. The recognition will happen “at a moment deemed appropriate.”

Belgium could become the second European Union member to officially recognize the Palestinian state, reported Le Soir, French language daily Belgian newspaper.

Sweden was the first country to recognize the occupied state of Palestine this year.

Belgium’s coalition government allegedly drafted a motion regarding recognition of the Palestinian state earlier this week. The document that will be submitted to nation’s parliament for implementation bears no set date of recognition, though.

In late November Prime Minister Charles Michel favored Palestine recognition. “But the question is when is the right moment,” he added.

There should be a common position elaborated within the EU regarding the Palestinian state recognition, Michel stressed. Yet there is at least one European state – Germany – that has spoken against recognition of Palestine.

“From our point of view, a unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state would not move us forward on the way to a two-state solution,” Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said in November after meeting with Michel.

In October the British parliament voted in favor of a symbolic move to recognize Palestine as an official state, answering impassioned pleas by pro-Palestinian ministers and activists.

Irish lawmakers joined the initiative in November.

Spanish MPs have watered down outright calls for a Palestinian state after the ruling Socialist party passed a non-binding symbolic motion, though initial version urged the Madrid government to recognize Palestine.

The French parliament passed a symbolic motion on Palestine recognition on Tuesday, while the senate will vote on a similar non-binding motion on December 11. At the same time Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stressed that the government would only recognize Palestinian statehood after Palestine and Israel come to a solution in peace talks.

Israeli authorities have been warning other nations to withstand from recognizing Palestinian statehood in any way.

“Recognition of a Palestinian state by France would be a grave mistake,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in Jerusalem ahead of the French vote.

Simultaneously with the symbolic recognitions of the Palestinian state, Netanyahu’s cabinet voted in favor of anchoring in law the status of Israel as “the national homeland of the Jewish people,” which critics fear would discriminate the Arab population.

French MPs recognize Palestine as a state in non-binding vote

December 3, 2014 by Nasheman

A Palestinian man holds a poster as he calls for France to vote for the recognition of a Palestinian State outside a French and German language training center in the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 2, 2014. AFP / Abbas Momani

by Al Akhbar

French lawmakers voted on Tuesday in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state, a symbolic move that will not immediately affect France’s diplomatic stance but demonstrates growing European impatience with a stalled peace process.

The motion, which echoes similar votes in Britain, Spain and Ireland, received the backing of 339 lawmakers with 151 voting against.

While most developing countries recognize Palestine as a state, many Western European countries do not due to their ties with Israel and its main ally, the US.

But European countries have grown frustrated with Israel, which since the collapse of the latest US-sponsored talks in April has pressed on with building illegal settlements in annexed East Jerusalem and the West Bank, territory that is being considered for a Palestinian state under a two-state solution.

The seven-week Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip over the summer also elicited serious criticisms regarding the Zionist state’s use of force. More than 2,160 Palestinians were killed in the conflict, at least 70 percent of them civilians.

Palestinian leaders say negotiations have failed and they have no choice but to pursue independence unilaterally.

In October, Sweden became the biggest Western European country to recognize Palestine, and parliaments in Spain, Britain and Ireland have since held votes in which they backed non-binding resolutions in favor of recognition.

In an interview in Les Echos daily on Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven defended the move.

“What is working so well in the current plan?” Lofven asked. “It’s time to do something different. We wanted to make the balance less uneven between the two parties.”

Israel has strongly opposed all such moves and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the French vote a “grave mistake.”

The motion, proposed by the ruling Socialists and backed by left-wing parties and some conservatives, asked the government to “use the recognition of a Palestinian state with the aim of resolving the conflict definitively.”

Speaking to parliament ahead of the vote, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the government would not be bound by the vote. However, he said the status quo was unacceptable and France would recognize an independent Palestine without a negotiated settlement if a final diplomatic push failed.

He backed a two-year timeframe to relaunch and conclude negotiations. Paris is working with Britain and Germany on a text that could be accelerated if a separate resolution drafted by Palestinians is put forward.

“If this final effort to reach a negotiated solution fails, then France will have to do what it takes by recognizing without delay the Palestinian state,” Fabius said.

The vote in Paris has raised domestic political pressure on the French government to be more active on the issue. A recent poll showed more than 60 percent of French people supported a Palestinian state.

France has the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in Europe and flare-ups in the Middle East aggravate tensions between the two communities.

Right-wing lawmakers have criticised the Socialist majority for backing Palestine recognition to win back support from Muslim voters after President Francois Hollande’s apparent support for Israel’s intervention in Gaza.

According to PA estimations, 134 countries have so far recognized the State of Palestine, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

Danish parliament to vote on Palestine recognition

November 25, 2014 by Nasheman

by Andrew Rettman, EUobserver

Brussels: Danish MPs are to vote on a resolution instructing the government to recognise Palestine, but Denmark’s foreign minister says the time is not right.

The motion was introduced by deputies from three small left-wing parties: the Red-Green Alliance; the Socialist People’s Party; and Greenland’s Inuit Ataqatigiit.

“The parliament directs the government to recognise Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within pre-1967 borders and, by extension, [to] provide the state of Palestine with full diplomatic rights”, the draft text says.

The Danish assembly is to hold a first debate on 11 December and to vote on a final text in early January.

Holger K. Nielsen, one of the MPs behind the initiative, doesn’t fancy its chances.

“I don’t think we’ll get a majority, but at least we’ll have a good discussion”, he told EUobserver on Monday (24 November).

He noted that if it does get through, the government is not legally obliged to comply but would find it “impossible” to say No in political terms.

Nielsen, a former foreign minister, said he was “inspired” by Sweden’s recent decision to recognise Palestine.

He added that EU recognitions could be “a tool” to help restart peace talks: “It would give the Palestinians a better position in the negotiations, or, at least, a less unequal position”.

But Denmark’s current foreign minister, Martin Lidegaard, disagrees.

“The positions of member states [on Palestine recogntion] are evolving. This, in my view, makes sense as the peace process is not showing any progress”, he told this website.

“Denmark will also come to recognise Palestine, but the timing has to be right”.

He urged the EU to take joint steps against Israeli settlements instead.

“Israel continues to, unacceptably, expand the illegal settlements and thus de facto undermines the possibilities for a two-state solution”, he said.

“The chances of bringing together the EU and actually influencing the conflict would be greater if we consider further action against the settlements”.

For its part, Israel says settlements are “not a hurdle” to peace.

It also says European recognitions harm the peace process.

Michal Weiler-Tal, a spokeswoman for Israel’s EU embassy, told EUobserver: “Recognition at this stage without direct talks between the two sides only pushes them further apart … it [sends] the wrong message – that negotiations are futile”.

“This damages the EU image in Israeli public opinion”.

The Danish resolution comes amid a series of similar votes in Europe.

The British, Irish, and Spanish parliaments recently urged their governments to recognise Palestine.

The European Parliament will vote on Thursday, while French MPs are to vote on Friday or next Tuesday (2 December).

Echoing Lidegaard, one EU diplomat told this website that even if other EU governments follow Sweden it is unlikely to have much impact.

“There was a lot of excitement back in the 1980s when [the late Palestinian leader] Arafat was threatening to proclaim a unilateral declaration of independence [UDI]”, the diplomat said.

“More than 130 countries have now recognised Palestine. But little has changed on the ground, and the whole UDI issue has lost significance”.

Russia to lose $40bn due to Western sanctions: Russian Finance Minister

November 25, 2014 by Nasheman

Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov

by Press TV

Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov says Moscow will be losing around USD 40 billion (32 billion euros) per annum due to the Western sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.

“We are losing around $40 billion per year due to geopolitical sanctions,” Anton Siluanov said on Monday.

The Russian minister also said that his country is “losing some $90 to $100 billion per year due to oil prices falling 30 percent.”

On Sunday, Russian President Valdimir Putin criticized the United States and the European Union (EU) for imposing sanctions against Russia and certain people close to him, calling the move a “systemic mistake.”

“The Americans made a systemic mistake by believing that I have personal business interests because of ties to people they put on their sanctions list,” Putin said.

Also on Saturday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of seeking a “regime change” in Russia through its sanctions against Moscow.

The United States and the European Union (EU) have imposed a series of sanctions against Russian figures in recent months as they accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine. Moscow, however, rejects the accusation, saying it is concerned about Kiev’s violent attacks on the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine.

YH/HJL/HRE

Spain to cast symbolic vote in recognition of Palestinian state

November 19, 2014 by Nasheman

by Al-Akhbar

Spanish lawmakers were set to vote on Tuesday in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state, parliamentary sources said, in a symbolic move intended to promote a “two-state solution.”

The non-binding vote was brought forward by the opposition Socialist party but has the support of the ruling People’s Party (PP) and other groups in the lower house of parliament, sources from the two parties said.

“It (the vote) is not binding, it does not set a timeline for the recognition, it gives the government the margin to proceed with the recognition when it feels it will be opportune,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

“If we want to be effective this recognition must be done in coordination with the European Union,” he added.

The motion calls on the Spanish government to “recognize Palestine as a state,” according to a draft text presented by the Socialists, and urges Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy “to promote in coordination with the European Union the recognition of the Palestinian state as sovereign, contiguous, democratic and independent which lives in peace and security with the state of Israel.”

It echoes similar moves in other European countries intended to increase pressure for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Britain and Ireland approved similar non-binding motions last month that call on their governments to recognize Palestine. Neither government has heeded that call.

France is also eyeing a similar non-binding resolution for November 28 after Sweden’s center-left government took the lead by officially recognizing the state of Palestine within days of taking office last month.

The EU’s new foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said the bloc’s 28 foreign ministers discussed at a meeting in Brussels on Monday how they could start “a positive process with the Israelis and Palestinians to re-launch a peace process.”

The moves reflect mounting frustration in the European Union at Israel’s illegal settlement plans on land the Palestinians who support a two-state solution want for a state following the collapse of US-sponsored peace talks.

The roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict date back to 1917, when the British government, in the now-famous Balfour Declaration, called for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

Israel then occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Zionist state – a move never recognized by the international community.

In November 1988, Palestinian leaders led by Arafat declared the existence of a State of Palestine inside the 1967 borders and the state’s belief “in the settlement of international and regional disputes by peaceful means in accordance with the charter and resolutions of the United Nations.”

The Palestinian Authority this year set November 2016 as the deadline for ending the Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and establishing a two-state solution.

It is worth noting that numerous pro-Palestine activists support a one-state solution, arguing that the creation of a Palestinian state beside Israel would not be sustainable.

They also believe that the two-state solution, which is the only option considered by international actors, won’t solve existing discrimination, nor erase economic and military tensions.

The Palestinian Authority estimates that 134 countries have now recognized Palestine as a state, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.

An AFP count puts the number of states that recognize Palestine at 112.

(AFP, Reuters, Al-Akhbar)