IPSC - International Week of Solidarity

Press Trust of India Distancing itself from the 'fatwa'

Sangita BakayaLucknow, Nov 8

(PTI) Distancing itself from the 'fatwa' against Muslims singing 'Vande Mataram', a section of the intelligentsia today said there was a need to educate the community about the actual meaning of the lone "objectionable" word 'vande' in order to remove doubts over its rendition.Last week, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind at its annual meet in Deoband opposed singing of the national song by Muslims.Vice President of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and eminent scholar Maulana Kalbe Sadiq called for a debate among Hindi litterateurs to define the word 'Vande' used in the song which forms the basis on which it has been termed been as being against their religion.Sadiq told PTI that he was ready to accept the contention of Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed that the National Song had been approved by Maulana Azad on whose suggestions some words were removed.

Czechs sign off on Lisbon, another one bites the dust

EU leaders are now focusing on filling the powerful posts created by the Lisbon Treaty - one of which is wanted by former Taoiseach John Bruton - after the Czech President finally signed the reform document yesterday.

But Taoiseach Brian Cowen won't be campaigning for Mr Bruton until he finds out if there is enough support for the former Fine Gael leader to become EU President.

Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus accepted defeat on his resistance to the Treaty after his country's constitutional court threw out a legal challenge.

The Czechs became the last of the 27 member states to ratify the Treaty, which is expected to come into effect from December 1.

The final signature even forced the Tory leadership to drop their plans to hold a referendum on the Treaty in Britain.

Obstacle

The Conservatives shadow foreign secretary William Hague said it was "no longer possible" to put the treaty to a popular vote after President Klaus removed the last obstacle to full ratification.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen is now on standby to travel to a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday week when debate will focus on who will take up the new post of President of the EU Council and High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

The positions of EU President and foreign policy chief are the plum jobs to arise from a ratification of Lisbon.

Mr Bruton is still an outside bet for the EU President's post.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked Mr Cowen what "direct contact" he intended to make on behalf of Mr Bruton's candidacy.

The Fine Gael leader said as a vice-president of the European People's Party, he would be happy to assist the Taoiseach and make contact with the 14 prime ministers in this group.

Mr Cowen again reiterated the Government will weigh in behind Mr Bruton if there is sufficient support for him emerging.

He said he was not asked by the former Taoiseach to put forward his name on behalf of theIrish Government and was not asked to conduct a campaign on his behalf.

The Swedish Government as holders of the EU Presidency will now conduct confidential conversation with each Government to find out what level of support exists for any candidate or sitting prime minister who might want the post.

"Until the Swedish Presidency does that and conveys to me its assessment of the situation, I do not believe anything can be done other than consider what is the position.

"If it is the case, as Mr Bruton has outlined, that no member of the Council is emerging as a prospective President, he is making himself available as a candidate.

"We must wait and see how the situation develops," he said.

The appointment of the EU President and foreign policy chief will then allow for the European Commissioners to be appointed

Former Fianna Fail minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn remains the favourite to become Ireland's next European Commissioner.

Ireland is still favoured in EU circles to take the agriculture portfolio, with Tanaiste Mary Coughlan the preferred choice of some countries. But Ms Geoghegan-Quinn is thought to be in line to become the Commissioner in charge of the EU Budget.

Miracles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxzOu_gD54U

European jobs

There has been a large element of self-absorption about the coverage here in Ireland of the race for the high-profile European posts being discussed on the fringes of this week’s Brussels summit.

Only the British news networks, with their Blair obsession, have been more parochial in their focus.

In thinking that we are in contention for one of the new Euro jobs, little old Ireland is again getting notions above its station. Recently reintegrated into the centre of European Union politics, Ireland needs to tread carefully, recognise its limitations and adjust its expectations.

The process of filling the posts of president of the European Council, high representative for Foreign Affairs and in the new European Commission is akin to solving a Rubik’s Cube. Developments in relation to one post have immediate implications for the others. Analysis of this process needs to have more regard to issues of timing, sequencing, and balance, and to the realities of EU politics.

Assuming the Czechs finally ratify the Lisbon Treaty in the next week or so, the Swedes, who currently hold the EU presidency, are anxious to have European Parliament ratification hearings for the new commission nominees in late November. They plan to have them ratified by December 17th and ready to take up office early in the New Year. It’s an ambitious timescale, not least because one of them might fall at the parliamentary fence.

The country which gets the job of high representative does not get a commissioner, so that job must be filled first. For reasons of politics, the foreign representative post and that of president of the council are likely to be filled simultaneously. If a country or European political grouping gets one of these jobs, they cannot get the other.

The right-of-centre European People’s Party is currently the largest group in EU politics. It has a relative majority of 265 seats in the European Parliament, and its member parties are in government in most of the 27 member states. The political reality therefore is that the European People’s Party has a claim on the top job. That’s why speculation about Tony Blair becoming president of the European Council, which was always overblown, has abated in the last 48 hours.

The other political reality is that, if at all possible, the European Council members will select one of their own as president of their council. They will want someone they know personally, who owes their appointment to them. If any of the current prime ministers from the European People’s Party gene pool wants the job, they will get it, leaving no need for the council to resuscitate the political career of some former member of the prime ministers’ club. There are two real current contenders in the ranks, namely Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker and the Netherlands’s Jan Peter Balkenende, the latter of whom is more likely to get the job.

One golden rule for EU jobs of this nature is that candidates must be proposed by their national governments. John Bruton’s decision to self-nominate for the presidency of the council therefore raised eyebrows. The Irish Government put on the green jersey for the cameras and expressed itself supportive of Bruton’s campaign. It was a costless endorsement, because Irish officials and Ministers know that Bruton, for all his talents, has no real prospect of getting the position.

That’s why remarks by Brian Cowen and Micheál Martin included qualifying clauses like “if he is there with a great chance”. They know he is not.

If, as expected, the European People’s Party gets the presidency of the Council, the high representative job will fall to be filled by a socialist. London is one of a handful of member states with a socialist party in power, leading to a focus on British foreign secretary David Miliband. Indeed, there is some talk of Tony Blair, humbled by failure to be selected as president of the council, as a more suitable candidate for the job.

Once the president and foreign representative are in place, attention will turn to the commission. There is a real concern that the next commission could be almost all-male, which has led José Barroso to write to Brian Cowen and other leaders asking for female nominees. In the current commission, women hold many of the key portfolios, including agriculture, foreign affairs, trade, consumer rights and regional development. Nominating a woman would springboard Ireland’s nominee into a key commissionership.

Fortunately, in Máire Geoghegan Quinn, we have a candidate who is qualified, willing and able, and whose appointment will not upset the Government’s delicate Dáil majority. Like all our previous commissioners, she has cabinet-level experience. In 1979 she made history by becoming our first woman minister since Countess Markievicz. She was one of the best ministers to serve in either Haughey’s or Reynolds’s governments. She proved her mettle in an economic department and in justice, and during her period as minister for European affairs during the 1990 presidency. Indeed, were it not for the circumstances of the collapse of the Reynolds government in 1994, she might have been our first woman taoiseach.

Since she left Irish politics, she has served nine years on the court responsible for oversight of the EU’s budget. When speculation and squabbling about the various European jobs is over, MGQ is likely to be the only Irish winner.