NEWEUROPE
19thYear of Publication | Number 983 | 22-28 April, 2012| € 3.50
www.neurope.eu
On Tuesday 24 April, MEPs in theIndustry Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament will launch the debate on the industrialand energy aspects of shale gas. Therehave been various estimates regardingthe existence of shale gas resources inEurope, while it has also become appar-ent that public attitudes to shale gasdevelopments differ from one MemberState to the other. On the one hand,countries such as Poland view shale gasas an opportunity for more energy diver-sity, as well as energy security - especial-ly in terms of reducing dependency onthird country gas imports. On the otherhand, we have the more environmentally conscious view that if we continue toburn fossil fuels at the same rate, thenthe EU will never achieve its goal forreducing green house gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050. The European Union, by and large,currently finds itself caught in the mid-dle of a fascinating geopolitical energy equation. From across the Atlantic, theshale gas boom in the USA has provedto have had a significant impact on thedynamics of the natural gas market andon prices. Within the next 20 years, itismestimated that natural gas will repre-sent around 50% of the USA's energy mix - giving the US the potential, frommass importer, to become a massexporter of natural gas.FEMEN, the woman's activist group,is on a crusade to protect women'srights throughout Ukraine, andEurope, while attempting to stop thesex industry and from vulnerable women being exploited. Their trademark? To protest toplessholding signs for their cause. The founder of the organisation,Anna Hutsol, told New Europe, “anaked woman is a free woman... and isuncontrolled by the patriarchate. Herunexpected appearance especially makes the patriarchy nervous”. The sex industry is where they see thefight. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, hasbecome notorious as a sex tourism meccain Europe. Many young women fromrural areas in Ukraine migrate to Kiev tofind a better life. But, because of the eco-nomic hardship and the difficulty of get-ting a job, many of them support them-selves by prostituting themselves. Infact, these type of women make up 90%of the prostitutes in Kiev.Prostitutes enjoy no form of civillaw protection in Ukraine. The policestill treat prostitutes violently, intimi-dating and blackmailing them. Sex workers remain extremely stigmatisedand excluded from society, and withthe upcoming UEFA Euro 2012 joint-ly-hosted by Ukraine, which is pro-ducing both positive reporting on amajor football event, but also negativenegative headlines linked to an antici-pated rise in prostitution and sextourism, this problem needs to beaddressed by politicians, law enforce-ment authorities, and society alike. This is the main reason why FEMEN was formed: to address thisissue, to bring it to the conscience of society, and to fight it while changingpeople's perception.But more importantly, FEMEN want to empower women to break freeof society's gender chains.Hutsol sat down with New Europeto discuss their strategy on how they will be achieving this, the hidden sideof the industry, and the upcomingUEFA Euro 2012.
Grassroots initiative for a right cause
Shale gas production inEurope on the road to 2050
INTERVIEW ANNA HUTSOL
·Page 6
Viva la revolución
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POVERTY
UN Under-Secretary-GeneralRebeca Grynspan has helpedfocus global attention on theneed to reduce inequality, buildsocial cohesion, empower women...
·Page 14·Page 7
ANTI-FRAUD
The European Anti-FraudOffice (OLAF) announcedthe recovery of €9 millionin customs duties after aninvestigation of companiesfraudulently...
·Page 3
PHARMA
The European Association of Pharmaceutical Full-line Wholesalers (GIRP) has pre-sented the findings of a study on the distribution sector in sixEuropean countries...
·Page 5
KASSANDRA
On May 6, the Greeks will vote for a new govern-ment. The political climateis very bad as the two, for-merly leading, politicalparties...
·Page 32
Anna Hutsol, founder, and other activists of the Ukrainian female rights organisation FEMEN.|
EPA/SANDRO CAMPARDO
The China-EU High Level People-to-People Dialogue (HPPD) Forum wasorganised on 18 of April by Madariaga– College of Europe Foundation,Friends of Europe, EuropeanUniversity Association and European Youth Forum with support from theChinese mission to the EU and theirembassy in Brussels, as well as theEuropean Commission.
China-EU High LevelPeople-to-People Dialogue
·Pages 10-11
ANALYSIS
Page 2 | New Europe
NEW EUROPE
22-28 April, 2012
NE
15 YEARS AGO
The Americans were asked about President Karzai's achievements...|
EPA
TheShootingGallery
During the 1990s, all over Central Europe consecutive governments could not find a way to effectively solve the tran-sition problems, from the centrally planned economies of the communist era to market led structures. The obvioustarget was to create new or modernise the old productive apparatus. However those things are not at all straight for- ward and the time factor is crucial. The issue was to convince foreign investors that those newly emerging marketeconomies, were to be trusted. In the mean time working or unemployed people had grave everyday problems secur-ing for their families even the mere necessities. Those problems led at times to explosive political and social con-frontations. The usual solution to crisis was early elections. Whenever there was no bread...democracy was a goodsubstitute.
The home front
So, is Europe under attack? The far right seem to think it is;,that Europe is under attack from a conspiratorial alliance of left-wing politicians and foreign extremists; a modern-day Trojan Horse stuffed with underhand, malevolent predators. That is certainly what Anders Breivik thinks. The 33 year-old, would-be member of the Knights Templar, who last July yearkilled 77 members of the Labour youth wing on the Norwegianisland of Utoeya, believes that fortress Europe is under threatfrom this sort of combination of perfidious politicians andmarauding foreign-types. At his trial, currently ongoing inOslo, he claimed that he was ready to behead the country’s for-mer Labour prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, as a grue-some warning against the apparent Islamisation of Europe. Healso claimed to be basically a nice guy.His trial, during which he is giving his evidence in a chillingmatter-of-fact manner, is taking place against the rise of right- wing extremism in Europe, partly inflamed by the economiccrisis, and the political responses to it. One such band of extremists is the so-called counter-jihad movement, which, asNick Lowles says in these pages, contains an combination of neo-Conservatives, Christian evangelicals, hardline racists,football hooligans, nationalists, right wing populists and evensome former leftists. It is a relatively new phenomenon, in thatits members are united in their common opposition to Islam,emotively utilising the concept of jihad for its own ends.But more and more, we see the far right infiltrating mainstreampolitics, including the European Parliament, which has founditself housing various strays from that side of the political spec-trum. In France, currently about to elect a new president, the farright has, once more, gained some exposure during campaign-ing, with Marine Le Pen, daughter of former MEP Jean-MarieLe Pen who faced Jacques Chirac in a second round run-off inthe 2002 campaign, leading the charge for the Front National.Le Pen may not get to the second round like her father, but she will undoubtedly use this campaign as a springboard for June’slegislative elections. But the mainstream parties are taking note,too. In an attempt to keep from losing votes, president NicholasSarkozy has openly courted a more hardline, right-wing agen-da, ranging from a basic kind of conservative Euroscepticism toa more aggressively tough stance on immigration, and reform of the European Court of Human Rights.In the last part, he has support from the UK, which currently hold the presidency of the Council of Europe, has has used itsterm of office to plead for reform of the court, with theConservative government apparently upset that so many cases,including the deportation trial of Islamist cleric Abu Quatada,being referred to Strasbourg. Human rights is not a good sellright now. With all this, Europe needs to be strong against extremism, andthe European Union has a good track record in this regard.Now, the European parliament has called for the creation of ahuman rights czar, who will take a lead in shaping the Union’shuman right policy. UK MEP, Richard Howitt says that any EU special representative for human rights must be a big-hit-ter on the international stage, someone who can commandaction in places like Egypt, Libya and Syria. He is absolutely right, but it is sad that this initiative comes at a time when cer-tain European leaders and politicians are willing to treat thedomestic human right agenda as expendable for the sake of political expediency.
EDITOR
Cillian Donnellycdonnelly@neurope.eu
SENIOR EDITORIAL TEAM
Kostis Geropoulos (Energy & Russian Affairs)kgeropoulos@neurope.eu Andy Carling (EU Affairs)acarling@neurope.euIvan Delibasic (EU Affairs)idelibasic@neurope.eu Ariti Alamanou (Legal Affairs)aalamanou@neurope.euStratis Camatsos (EU Affairs)scamatsos@neurope.euLouise Kissa (Fashion)lkissa@neurope.eu Alexandra Coronakis (Columnist)acoronaki@neurope.eu
DIRECTOR
Alexandros Koronakisakoronakis@neurope.eu
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
Panos Katsampanispkatsampanis@neurope.eu
EXECUTIVE LAYOUT PRODUCER
Suman Haquesuman@neurope.eu
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ISSN number: 1106-8299
The European AntiFraud Office (OLAF)announced the recovery of €9 nine millionin customs duties after an investigation on anetwork of companies fraudulently importing Chinese tube and pipe fittings via several countries in South East Asia to evadehigh EU customs duties.An antidumping duty rate of 58.6% oncertain Chinese tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel was imposed in 1996 and wassubsequently extended to include importsfrom Taiwan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and thePhilippines as a result of circumventionpractices identified. The initiative was carried out by OLAF andauthorities in several EU Member States, while the cooperation of Indian and Tai wanese customs was key. The EU countriesinvolved in this case were Belgium, Germany,Spain, Italy, The Netherlands and UK.“This investigation is a good example of theresults that OLAF and EU Member Statescan achieve when cooperating at workinglevel. It is important that fraud is not only investigated but also prosecuted. Investigations confirming allegations must lead toprosecution and court rulings in the Member States,” said OLAF DirectorGeneralGiovanni Kessler. OLAF cooperates at themoment with 64 countries The first information’s about the case camefrom Commission services, the EU industry concerned and the customs authorities inseveral EU Member States. The Investigation started in July 2008 when a Germanimporter attracted the attention of the Belgian Customs Investigation because thefreight was actually loaded in the port of Dalian in China and then routed via Japanto the EU. Then to avoid problems with theongoing investigation, they imported thegoods into Belgium, the Netherlands,France and other member states. Close cooperation between German, Belgian andDutch customs quickly led to the detectionof further fraudulent imports into the EUfrom India and Taiwan with false commercial documentation of origin.Evidence collected by a team of investigators from the EU authorities and OLAF, inclose cooperation with authorities fromseveral South East Asian countries, demonstrated finally that the goods supposedly originating from these countries were in factof Chinese origin.As result of this action, a German entrepreneur and two directors of two UKbasedcompanies were convicted in national criminal proceedings. The two UK offenders were sentenced to a 12months' suspendedsentence and two years’ imprisonment respectively. A third director of a Germansubsidiary company faced an administrativefinancial penalty of £190,000. While thefounder and owner of the German company faces a twoyear suspended sentence, and apenalty of €450 000.Mr. David Murphy, head of unit in the in vestigation & Operation II section, toldNew Europe “there are still 4 criminal in vestigations; one in the Netherlands andthree in Italy, two concerning the trafficfrom India and one from Taiwan but wecan’t predict the verdict. Always about Italy I learned yesterday from the investigatorduring one in investigation in one of thecompanies they discovered a subscriptionfraud of the same product and they couldcollect another €500,000. Smugglers sometimes are not so worried about penalties andthe are ready to pay the price but it’s different if we talk about imprisonment. Aboutthe money recovered, the process can continue for ten years and we are confident togo further the €9 million”. The Taiwanese exporting producer whoshipped the Chinese product to the EU willalso face consequences. The supposedly semifinished product, imported for furtherprocessing into Taiwan from China, was infact tube and pipe fittings which were subsequently reexported to the EU. The Tai wanese authorities took a strong positionand requested from the company the payment of around €1.8 million to cover theimport duties and a fine for related breachesof the customs legislation. The OLAF investigation was triggered by information from European Commissionservices, the EU industry concerned and thecustoms authorities in several EU MemberStates. They had noticed changes in thetrade pattern, namely away from the primary sources of tube and pipe fittings in thePeople’s Republic of China to unknownsuppliers in countries not commonly knownas producers of that product.
ANALYSIS
New Europe |Page 3
NEW EUROPE
2228 April, 2012
By Federico Grandesso
ANTI-FRAUD
OLAF recovers €9m fromfraudulent imports
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