Continental view - Europe
Vladimir Putin remains as uncompromising as ever
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Thursday, 19, Jul 2007 10:55
A selection of the top news stories making the headlines in Europe in the last two months.
"Substantially equivalent"?
The ongoing row about the extent to which the EU reform treaty is a reworking of the abandoned 'constitutional' concept has rumbled on.
In British politics the government has insisted that the treaty is "different in essence" to the constitution, with foreign secretary David Miliband predicting on August 28th that "as parliament gets to grip" with the reform treaty it will begin to realise how "very different" it is.
When the Commons' European scrutiny committee reported on the issue, however, it described the two as being "substantially equivalent" and said the new treaty "produces an effect" similar to the abandoned constitution.
The committee's report also stoked concerns about the expanding sovereignty of European Union bureaucrats, saying the timetable for drafting the final treaty "could not have been better designed" to marginalise the role of national parliaments.
A deal was finally reached on October 19th at a summit in Lisbon, when leaders agreed that their individual needs had been met. The heads of state of Poland and Italy said their concerns about being outvoted by major members had been addressed, with both leaders saying their problems with their representation in the bloc had been solved.
Prime minister Gordon Brown told reporters: "The UK's red lines are secured", adding that the country's national interests had "been protected".
The treaty will be signed in Lisbon on December 13th and is expected to come into force in 2009.
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Baiting the bear
As usual, Russia has been causing a bit of a headache for those whose job it is to worry about the country's growing threat. Revealing what the military has described as "the father of all bombs" on September 12th and forcing the RAF to scramble to head off advancing bombers a week earlier is par for the course for the Kremlin's aggressive outward stance this year. Despite these incidents, interest has concentrated on the country's internal political issues in the past two months.
These are inevitably dominated by concerns surrounding the suspected over-centralisation of power in the Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin confirmed on October 1st his interest in becoming the country's prime minister when his final term in office draws to a close next year.
With the United Russia (UR) party expected to reclaim a two-thirds majority in the Duma in December polls, Mr Putin would feasibly have the power to rewrite Russia's constitution to limit the power of the presidential office during his theoretical term as prime minister.
On the same day UR's main opponents, a disparate coalition referred to as Other Russia, selected former world chess champion Garry Kasparov as their presidential candidate. His travails have already attracted significant attention; Mr Kasparov was accused of forging his own airline ticket in May this year - the incident later found to be a plot designed to prevent Mr Kasparov from travelling to an EU summit.
Many leaders criticised Mr Putin for the case, most notably German chancellor Angela Merkel, and it was not unsurprising that US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice took up the mantle on her recent visit to the country.
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Shades of Orange
Ukraine's much-anticipated general elections took place on September 30th.
The country's prime minister, Viktor Yanukovych, looks likely to lose his job in their aftermath as his political rivals, who brought him down from power in the 2004 Orange Revolution, appear to have united in a coalition government to oust him yet again.
Yulia Tymoshenko is set to take over thanks to an alliance with president Viktor Yuschenko's party, which did not poll as well as hers. Together they are sufficient to overcome Mr Yanukovych's leading Party of Regions, which did not secure a complete majority.
As a result his pro-Russian stance looks likely to take a back seat - a shift towards Europe the EU is doing everything it can to encourage.
"Ukraine has important challenges ahead as it continues to work towards greater constitutional stability," EU commissioner for consumer protection Meglena Kuneva said in a speech in Yalta.
"Greater stability will allow Ukraine to focus fully on the challenging reforms that lie ahead. Let me reassure you that the European Union stands with Ukraine every step of the way as it continues down the path of reform."
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Fighting the fires
Costas Karamanlis scraped home for a second term as prime minister of Greece in elections held on Sunday 16th, having desperately fought against criticisms that he had managed the country's spate of forest fires badly.
The blazes, which left over 60 dead and destroyed hundreds of acres of countryside, led to stern opposition from the opposition as Mr Karamanlis declared an emergency and appealed for aid to the EU.
His strong campaign left enough voters wavering, however, giving his New Democracy party 41.9 per cent - and 152 of the 300 seats in Greece's parliament.
Observers say the reduced majority will make Mr Karamanlis' planned reforms much more difficult, but he remained confident that he could push through the changes he believes are best for the Mediterranean country.
"The people gave a clear mandate to continue changes and reforms the country's needs," he said.
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Other major developments
September 6th: Death of a tenor. Legendary singer Luciano Pavarotti died aged 71 after losing a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Modena, northern Italy, two days later.
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September 22nd: Man charged in Politkovskaya murder. Failed Chechen presidential candidate Shamil Burayev was charged with the murder of anti-Putin journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The first anniversary of her violent murder, which enraged many in Russia, took place on October 7th.
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October 18th: Off the rails. Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency suffered its first major setback in a bad week for France. Knocked out of the Rugby World Cup, crippling transport strikes - and confirmation that he and his wife Cecilia have separated by "mutual consent".