In 1989 the Soviet empire collapsed and over the next eighteen years the EU got hold of a large chunk of it.
In the mindset of the Kremlin, in 2012, it’s the EU that is about to collapse and Russia should have its retribution. And unlike Brussels, one should expect Moscow to act quickly.

The big prey today is Greece, an Orthodox country in an Orthodox neigbouhood. Russia is already trying to buy its energy company and pipelines.
Greece was not part of the Soviet empire, although the Stalinist KKE has always been strong in Greece. But Russians get along well with New Democracy, a centre-right party affiliated to EPP.
Bulgaria is historically friendly to Russia, as it is grateful for the sacrifice of tens of thousands of Russians during the 1877-78 Russian-Turkish war. In Bulgaria, Russia’s friends are the Socialists.
Serbia is even more pro-Russian. Unlike Bulgaria, it has been its traditional ally in the successive wars in first half of the 20th century. Serbia will hold the second round of presidential elections on 20 May and the possible victory of nationalist Tomislav Nikolic will not be to the distaste of the Kremlin.
That’s why letting Greece “leave the club”, as Mr. Barroso lightly admitted the possibility, is not an option. Such a development could see the whole geopolitical card castle fall apart.
In 1989 democracy took Eastern Europe out of the Soviet Empire. Trouble is, today democracy is taking Greece out of the eurozone and probably out of the EU as well. Greeks invented democracy, Now they suffer from it. Tomorrow they may miss it.

The French voters are probably the political avant-garde of Europe, through thick and thin. They were in the lead on the occasion of the 2005 European Constitution referendum. This time they put François Hollande in charge of leading France – and largely Europe – across the crisis storms, hopefully to safe havens. Probably the biggest game changer since the crisis broke in 2008.

Being an addict to French politics, I basically don’t mind that the French would play such a strategic role, as long as their country upholds its relatively high standards of democracy and such great journalism.
Yesterday, I even wished I was French just for the day – just to cast my vote as well.
I discovered there was no need – the French voted my way. But actually, I should be overwhelmed.
I’m Bulgarian and as it is common knowledge, my impoverished country puts a lot of hope in the EU for solving its problems. But these days no EU country has any serious potential, under the austerity pact, to invest in growth. And suddenly France, and I’m sure many others, now realise the only hope is the EU budget and policies. A very different situation compared to less than a year ago, when governments wanted to freeze the EU budget. And the Commission basically agreed – no matter what they say today.
I don’t necessarily insist that Europe is turning Bulgarian. But across Europe, we have more common nervous system than we suspect.

Friends told me they were confused about an advertisement on Dutch TV, mixing Euro 2012, beer and sex. I don’t watch Dutch television, but I easily found the video on YouTube, with key words “Keep him home”.

“Keep him home” is he message of the advertisement, by the energy company, Nederlandse Energie Maatschappij, which offers for free a beer cooling machine against the signature of a long-term contract.
The video suggests Dutch women should use this machine to prevent their male partner from going to Ukraine to watch Euro 2012… A Google page is displayed with zillions of half-naked Ukrainian women. Many of the Euro 2012 cup football matches will be played in Ukraine very soon, from 8 June to 1 July. Ukraine co-hosts the football cup with Poland.
I would suggest watching those 26 seconds.
Ok. Now I will provide a minimum of guidance. The male individual, which I never saw before, is a famous Dutch journalist, Henk Spaan, whom his lady wife (presumably, we don’t see her), apparently prevents from going to Ukraine, thanks to this miraculous machine.
The ad is fueling controversy in Ukraine, but happily enough, also in the Netherlands. Many Ukrainians see it as an attempt to discredit the championship they are so proud of hosting, and also at promoting the stereotype that what Ukrainian women want is sex with foreigners. Many Dutch see it as sexist and xenophobic.

What do you think?

On Fools day, EurActiv published a spoof titled “Belgians submit Citizens’ Initative to make ‘frites’ their own“. It was EurActiv Publisher Christophe Leclercq’s idea to highlight by an April spoof the European Citizen Initiative, officially launched on the same day 1 April.
The story was realistically written by my distinguished colleague Frédéric Simon.

Too realistically maybe…
Much to our surprise, it became serious news in many countries. In my country Bulgaria, it was quoted by bTV, the biggest public TV station, as real news, and the respected website Novinite.com carried the story, quoting bTV. Maybe as a follow up of the Schengen disputes, a special emphasis was brought to the reported possible blockade of the Belgian border by angry French farmers…
In Russia, the high profile RIA Novosti carried the news, and even their Brussels correspondent Alexander Shishlo signed the story. Probably as a consequence, many websites took up the story, in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Some are very professional and highly specialised, like the website “The Food Monitor“. But my personal favourite among them is a Ukrainian one called “Centre for Investigative Journalism“.
 http://focus.ua/foreign/225847/

 http://delo.ua/world/belgija-otstaivaet-…

 http://telegraf.by/2012/04/ispanskie-uch…

 http://world.comments.ua/2012/04/02/3313…

 http://allretail.com.ua/news/29788

 http://www.agro.bg/news/article34859.htm…

(Thank you, Supertramp.) The Commission is already closed and the restaurants in the European quarter are empty.
But not because of the crisis, as there is no crisis for Commission officials. It’s because almost everyone is on holidays.
And everything was quiet over the last three weeks. Nobody speaks of the eurozone crisis, as if it had suddenly disappeared.

Something similar happened just before Christmas, when the ECB gave a thousand billion euro to the banks to recapitalise, almost without interest.
So the civil servants bought themselves quiet holidays. ECB repeats the experience since.
But there is one more reason for everything being so quiet – it’s the French elections. The Commission is basically doing nothing until 6 May.
Something similar happened before the Irish Lisbon Treaty referendum. Back then, the Commission was picking up on “safe” subjects, such as the endangered habitat of hamsters in Alsace.
Now the boldest thing they did was a proposal on EU-wide rules for car registration.
Happy Easter!

I’m amazed that the mainstream press ignored the important statements made by Jacques Delors, the long-serving Commission President, seen by many as one of the “Fathers of Europe”.
Delors said that EU leaders were “killing Europe”, replacing the community method by inter-governmental solutions and nationalism, with the complicity of the Union’s institutions. He named Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Herman Van Rompuy, Olli Rehn.

As someone commented under the article I wrote, probably the reason that the mainstream press pretended the event never took place is that ‘Delors dérange’.
Under Communism, when a dissident made an important statement, the establishment pretended nothing happened. But back then, people would circulate an apocryphal publication to the wider audience.
Political correctness rules the Brussels bubble. And it looks like the free press is a more effective opinion killer than censorship.

Apparently, Nicolas Sarkozy wants Greece out of Schengen. And then Bulgaria and Romania would not join, simply because it would be more pragmatic that the border-free EU area would stop at the Hungarian border with Romania.

In his high-profile speech at Villepinte yesterday (11 March), candidate for re-election Sarkozy said a country that has difficulties controlling its borders should be excluded from Schengen. Obviously, this was a stab on Greece, where reportedly up to 200 illegal immigrants cross its border from Turkey, at a place named Orestiada.
Sarkozy also said he wanted the Schengen rules changed so that decisions are made by nations and not “technocrats and courts”.
Furthermore, he went so far as to suggest that France should leave Schengen, if changes he wants are not implemented within a year.

Look at the map. If Greece is excluded from Schengen, the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, which was seen as a way to fill mission pieces from the map, looks like more of a burden than an advantage. It is not difficult to imagine that Sarkozy would find enough support among Schengen members for such a deception. By pushing for Greece out of Schengen, Sarkozy would kill three birds with one stone. And I suspect he will be quick with his move, to cash in on his right-wing electorate.

Take my word for it. The way things are going, the Anonymous, representing a nebula fighting for their rights in internet, could become the largest political group in the European Parliament in 2014.

Forget the French elections, where the Anonymous play no role. France is as democratic as Russia, in terms of having only the “approved” candidates running. But in terms of shape of things to come, most EU countries the Anonymous, in the form of Pirate parties or in some other way, could make a stash.
I don’t necessarily see this as bad news, although for many, this made sound like the Cultural Revolution of Chairman Mao. Never mind. As traditional political groups are down, somebody else will take the upper hand. The Anonymous are not extremists, they are a bit like you and me. They only need to take the mask down, and play the political game.

Speaking to journalists at the end of the 1-2 March EU summit, Romanian president Traian Băsescu hit back at Dutch arguments, used to block his country from joining the Schengen area.
He said the port that is best known for drug smuggling in Europe is Rotterdam and not the Romanian Constanţa port. The Dutch suspect the Romanian customs to be corrupt and unreliable.

Băsescu’s knowledge of shipping comes from first hand. He is a former sea captain, including of Romania’s largest ship at that time, the oil tanker Biruinţa. In 1989 he was appointed the head of the Romania ship agency Navrom in Antwerp, a job normally assigned to senior officers of the secret service Securitate. Antwerp is not far from Rotterdam.
Under Communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, Securitate was one of the most brutal secret police forces in the world. I have some memories of those times myself, as I made my university studies in Bucharest in the late seventies.
Băsescu denies any links to Securitate. Documents quoted in a Wikileaks file certify that he has been a Securitate collaborator since 1973, and that his Securitate dossier has been destroyed.
I don’t know what the affiliation of Băsescu to secret services was, but he is reacting in a style, which reminds me a Communist-times joke. Each time the USA was criticizing the USSR on human rights, Moscow was responding: “And you, why do you beat the niggers?”

P.S. I read in the Romanian press that opposition leader Victor Ponta commented that Băsescu had become “beyond the pale” with his Rotterdam remark, and also with his threats to block Serbia from obtaining EU candidate status.
Trucks carrying Dutch goods were held at the customs as a form of “stupid reprisal”, while in the meantime cars stolen in the EU were getting Romanian number plates without any problem, Ponta said. He added that all the 231 policemen and customs officers arrested in Romania in an effort to make a good impression on the EU Commission were now free.
That much for the effort to impress on progress in reforming Romania’s law enforcement system…

Apparently, a solution has been found today to unlock Serbia’s EU bid, and also make sure that Kosovo participates in regional forums normally. (Until now agreements have been signed by UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo).
“Kosovo*” will be the only denomination to be used, and a footnote attached to the asterisk will read “this designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Adding signs could be the solution also to the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia. Greece rejects the name of Macedonia, because this is how its southernmost province is called.
So how about Macedonia*, Macedonia^, or even Macedonia!
By the way, the Prime Minister of Macedonia is expected to discuss this issue with his Greek colleague over the summit on 1-2 March.
Macedonia! would add flavour to headlines. Instead of the unexciting “Barroso meets the Prime Minister of Macedonia”, we would be thrilled to read “Barroso meets the Prime Minister of Macedonia!” Such a honour for Barroso!
And if the government in Skopje wants to discuss with me the copyright for an advertisement campaign “Surprising Macedonia!”, they can just write a comment under this blogpost.