NEWEUROPE
19thYear of Publication | Number 991 | 17 - 23 June, 2012 | € 3.50
www.neurope.eu
Ahead of the 22nd Economic Forum, whichtakes place in Krynica, Poland, between 2and 4 September this year, New Europespoke with Zygmunt Berdychowski, Chairof the Economic Forum Council, aboutdevelopments in eastern Europe since theforum’s inception, and about how the currenteconomic crisis might affect relationsbetween the European Union and its imme-diate neighbours.Europe needs to verify and redesignthe general economic project of EU,says Berdychowski, who acknowledgesthe current difficulties in potentially restructuring the economic model of the European Union, and the desire tocreate something anew, balanced withthe equally strong willingness toadhere to what has worked in the past.“The crisis has proved that there are noeasy recipes, which could be applied in any given case”, he says. “It’s necessary to find anindividual approach to each country’s prob-lems. Thus, the crisis has forced us to look for new economic model for the countries indebt. Each company with a threat of bank-ruptcy looming on the horizon needs suchmodel, which would allow it to repay at leastpart of its debts. There are voices, that thiscould be achieved only after the most debt-ridden countries step out of the Eurozone,so that they could re-evaluate their currency and have a surplus. A different approachshould be chosen when it comes to coun-tries of the Eurozone than those with theirnational currencies”.Europe is at a critical juncture in itspolitical and financial development, withits leaders becoming increasingly franticover efforts to save the single currency and lift the EU out of its current fiscalproblems.Speaking in the European Parliamenton I3 June, MEP Guy Verhofstadt, for-mer Belgian prime minister and leaderof the Liberal group, said that EU lead-ers should “be locked in a room” untilthey can figure out a serious rescue pack-age for the Union. His thoughts wereechoed by other parliamentarians.In a fiercely contested debate, MEPsurged the European Commission andCouncil to agree to a banking and fiscalunion, and make significant progress onboth by the time EU leaders next gathertogether. With the next Council summitscheduled for 28 June, time wouldappear to be short.All this comes in the week that Spainfinally received a €100bn bailout for itsbanks, adding to the already strong fearsof a collapse of the single currency. WithGreece facing uncertain elections, thereis a real sense of urgency from Europeanleaders that concrete steps to solve thecrisis are needed.But it is not only Greece and Spainthat are giving a hard time to Europeandecision makers. The entire Eurozonebanking industry is in precarious situa-tion. A political dead end in Greece may trigger a bank run all over the south, thatmay touch even France and other EUcountries. EU member states in centralEurope, like Romania, the CzechRepublic and Hungary may also faceproblems, which could in their turndestabilise the Austrian banking systemand certain lenders in Germany. And allthis depends on the way the next Greek government will try to renegotiate theausterity terms which accompany the€130 billion second bailout package.In view of all that, the entire world willexercise pressure on Athens on Sunday night to at least form a government, and theEurogroup has already set a teleconferencefor that night night, after the results of the vote are known. But time is vital. AsVerhofstadt pointed out, MEPs already asked for a banking union two years ago;and in order to create one now, certainmechanisms will be need to be created suchas the a common supervisory authority, acommon resolution authority and a com-mon deposit guarantee fund. Is time onEurope’s side?
Spanish bailout adds to crisis fears
Time for change
· Page 4, 5
Time for action
BALKANS
“Measure twice, cut once”, very simple advice forreassessing EU policiestowards the Balkans, yetseemingly needed...
·Page 6·Page 9
KASSANDRA
There is no standard best or worse case scenarion forGreece. All depends from where you look at. Roughly forthe Greeks, there is no bestcase scenario...
·Page 32
ENVIRONMENT
This week (20-22 June), worldleaders gather for a momentousoccasion - the UN Conferenceon Sustainable Development inRio de Janeiro...
·Page 11
LAW
Kazakhstan’s lawmakershave brought in new lawsafter a series of blundersinvolving their nationalanthem...
·Page 14
A man hits a frying pan during a protest against the request of financial support from the European Unionby the Spanish government in front of a Bank of Spain building on 11 June in Barcelona .|
AFPPHOTO/JOSEPLAGO
Europe has singularly failed to develop itsfull export potential, which is continuingto add to the problems of the financial cri-sis, one senior figure form the world of finance has told New Europe.Speaking at the Wroc
ŀ
ław Global Forumin Poland, Tzvetan Vassilev, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the CorporateCommercial Bank said that the EUshould “try to encourage an export-ori-ented” economy as a way of the financialcrisis. So far, he says, Europe has beenuneven in how it aims to get the best fromits economic potential.
Exports needed
·Page 8
Who is behind the'Flame' malware?
Page 15
TECHNOLOGY INTERVIEW | ZYGMUNT BERDYCHOWSKI
ANALYSIS
Page 2 | New Europe
NEW EUROPE
17 - 23 June, 2012
NE
15 YEARS AGO
The Turkish Prime Ministersays he is preparing to engage the EU in a robust dialogue over their stalledaccession bid |
AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN
TheShootingGallery
Towards the end of the 1990s it became apparent that eight central European countries were to become full members of the European Union. The EU had managed in the past to incorporate more than one member state at a time, but now it was eight plus the two Mediterranean island - states. A lot of people in the 'old' EU countries had to feel the cost and pri-marily the agricultural sector. The huge subsidies that the EU farmers had been receiving had to be slashed in order thatthe newcomers would get something. Naturally EU farmers said 'no'. On top of that there was strong internal resistance within the newcomers, against this pan-European project. At the end however, history had its course.
Closing borders behindclosed doors
The European Union is on the edge of collapse; the singlecurrency is about to fragment once more, and politicalleadership at the top is in stalemate, petrified and ineffec-tual while the new opposition circles. Detractors get loud-er while defenders are quivering and meek. Or, at least,that’s how some would like to see it. That the EU is facing a crisis – or series of crises – a finan-cial and banking crisis, a debt crisis, a political crisis, ishardly under dispute, even the staunchest advocates of theUnion have conceded that, while those that preach the endare rubbing their hands with glee; the battle lines aredrawn. It’s a fun time to be a polemicist. The standard response to current happenings in the EU isthat ‘more Europe’ is needed if we are to extricate ourselvesfrom our present situation, a concept that raises the angerof the Eurosceptics, who rant and rave about the course of mistakes and mishaps that have led Europe to this point.Instead of more Europe, they say, it is time, not just to rollback on commitments, but to abandon the idea of theUnion altogether.At the last Strasbourg plenary, MEPs were more than a lit-tle agitated. The financial, banking and debt crises need tobe resolved now, too much time has been wasted. TheEuropean Commission and Council have not heeded the warnings of the EU’s elected officials. Greece, Spain, andother teetering economies have been let to rot by the slow-ness of decision-making and by the complex, inner politi-cal workings of the institutions. Of course, those that scoff at the concept of more Europe argue that this simply equates to more labyrinthine bureaucracy and politicalgridlock. Those that take the opposite view, for instance,the forceful, impassioned reasoning of Guy Verhofstadt,argue that more Europe is a kind of philosophy, a return tothe spirit of solidarity that led to the creation of a unitedEurope in the first place. This is not a sentimental point,though; in times of crisis, solidarity is always preferable toabandonment.Aside form the financial crisis, the immediacy of whichhas magnified the more Europe debate, the EuropeanParliament is also up in arms about Schengen, the free-movement agreement. National governments have shutMEPs out of the co-legislative procedure, meaning thatmember states can effectively apply or disengage from theagreement, even countries that are not a part of it, such asthe UK, will be able to take part in debates and discussionsgoverning the agreement’s future, elected members of theEuropean Parliament will not.As much as the internal market, free movement of peopleis a fundamental right of EU citizens. Taking it away fromthe main democratic institution of the European Union isnot only a slap in the face of European democracy, but alsoa puts a central principle of the EU in the hands of elec-tioneering governments and politicians keen to exploitimmigration and xenophobia for political gain.More Europe, and commitment to European solidarity,is not necessarily the extension of powers to a centralisedbureaucracy; sometimes it is about standing-up for therights we already have, and making sure that we keepthem.
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.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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Signed Contributions express solely theviews of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of thenewspaper.
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© 2012
New Europe
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ISSN number: 1106-8299
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