European Politics Thread.

[Jezz 0]

Quote[/b] ]And Plaid Cymru and the SNP? Those dozy swine haven't a leg to stand on. All Scotland does is farm poor land and isn't heavily industrialised. All Wales does is bitch in Welsh and not much else. Seeing as nothing but disaster would ever come of a dissolution of the Act of Union of 1801, all the SNP and Plaid Cymru are doing is industrial BSing and time-wasting.

Yes, we really put the Scots down didn't we. The Scots made Glasgow the center of the industrial world, built half the Empire and financed the rest. Then some dozy Welshman helped destroy it all...

oh and i voted snp during the election personnely i anit a big fan of united kingdom generally as scotland tends to get screwed pretty often poll tax and genrally being used as gueine pigs for the rest of britain, but thats another discussion. personnely when it comes to europe im not really bothered as it doesnt really effect me well ive yet to notice anything effect over the past 19 years anyway, so alot of the time im just wondering what all the fuss is about. only real thing is that i would perfer to keep the pound not really for any other reason than im used it i and as old saying goes if aint broke dont fix it but then again if we do jump on the band wagon life goes on

[Bordoy 0]

Don't mention the food!  

While this isn't exactly very diplomatic it's now blown out of proportion. Come on, it's a joke.  

If he was joking to the press, then ok. But he thought his mic was off and he was talking to the Italian PM and the German guy.

Was all over the papers and news yesterday, "Don't Talk Crepe"

Gary Rhodes has invited Chirac to come and cook with Rhodes and make British food, lol.

Does this mean that Chirac is bringing a packed lunch with him or is he going to eat the British food at a British hotel cooked by a British Chef. Don't see why we should be wasting money on food for someone who doesn't want it or like it (well he says that)

[Thunderbird 0]

Quote[/b] ]Does this mean that Chirac is bringing a packed lunch with him or is he going to eat the British food at a British hotel cooked by a British Chef. Don't see why we should be wasting money on food for someone who doesn't want it or like it (well he says that)

Heh , nah british food is becoming very famous , especially these years , I think that he said that only in "a funny context"

[denoir 0]

Quote[/b] ]Does this mean that Chirac is bringing a packed lunch with him or is he going to eat the British food at a British hotel cooked by a British Chef. Don't see why we should be wasting money on food for someone who doesn't want it or like it (well he says that)

Aw come on, he was paying you a compliment. He said that you have a cuisine, which is probably a grand overstatement

Anyway, congratulations to London for the 2012 Olympics. I can imagine that the French won't be in a very good mood for the next few days. It couldn't have been a worse timing for a London/Paris showdown.

[SPQR 0]

I can imagine that the French won't be in a very good mood for the next few days. It couldn't have been a worse timing for a London/Paris showdown.

Go, Go, Go London.... YeeeeeeeAAAAAA

Me, a traitor ??  

About the food, Chirac got pretty funny when you know he got used to eat for more than 150 euros per day per personn (or 600 ? don't remember)  

It's like when he told to new european countries about the lost opportunity to shut it up about Iraq (especially when those countries proposed later to decrease their own budget part)...

I don't know finnish food but I liked norvegian's, and english (made by the common people) also. I never found the latter so "disgusting" as being told by so many frenchs...

On the other side, I don't like fat liver, seafood, oysters, champagne,...

Am I really french ?  

European surely

[Akira 0]

I don't understand what's so bad about English cooking? I love Yorkshire pudding (fat with fat sauce), sheperds pie, fish and chips, bangers and squeak, etc etc. Had my best pot pie ever outside of RAF Alconbury.

[Bordoy 0]

Quote[/b] ]Does this mean that Chirac is bringing a packed lunch with him or is he going to eat the British food at a British hotel cooked by a British Chef. Don't see why we should be wasting money on food for someone who doesn't want it or like it (well he says that)

Aw come on, he was paying you a compliment. He said that you have a cuisine, which is probably a grand overstatement

Anyway, congratulations to London for the 2012 Olympics. I can imagine that the French won't be in a very good mood for the next few days. It couldn't have been a worse timing for a London/Paris showdown.

At least we are better then Finland's food

[EiZei 0]

Quote[/b] ]Does this mean that Chirac is bringing a packed lunch with him or is he going to eat the British food at a British hotel cooked by a British Chef. Don't see why we should be wasting money on food for someone who doesn't want it or like it (well he says that)

Aw come on, he was paying you a compliment. He said that you have a cuisine, which is probably a grand overstatement

Anyway, congratulations to London for the 2012 Olympics. I can imagine that the French won't be in a very good mood for the next few days. It couldn't have been a worse timing for a London/Paris showdown.

At least we are better then Finland's food

How dare you make such claims?

[Bordoy 0]

Quote[/b] ]Does this mean that Chirac is bringing a packed lunch with him or is he going to eat the British food at a British hotel cooked by a British Chef. Don't see why we should be wasting money on food for someone who doesn't want it or like it (well he says that)

Aw come on, he was paying you a compliment. He said that you have a cuisine, which is probably a grand overstatement

Anyway, congratulations to London for the 2012 Olympics. I can imagine that the French won't be in a very good mood for the next few days. It couldn't have been a worse timing for a London/Paris showdown.

At least we are better then Finland's food  

It wasn't me, it was Chirac. He said we have cusine only better then Finland, lol

[iNeo 0]

Hey that memma stuff tastes great so don't be sarcasitc

[kavoven 4]

Appeared just on www.welt.de

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

Zentrum von Birmingham evakuiert

Die Räumung erfolgte nach Geheimdienstinformationen über eine Bedrohung der Stadt. Zur Art der Bedrohung machte die Polizei zunächst keine Angaben mehr

English

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

Centre of Birmingham evacuated

The evacuation is because of Intelligence informations concerning a threat to the city. Police didn't give any information about what kind of threat

Ok, not the best translation....

[denoir 0]

Europe Coping with extreme weather

Quote[/b] ]

VIENNA, Austria -- With floods in Austria, soaring temperatures in France, gales in Croatia, and Portugal's worst drought in more than a century, this summer's weather is taking its toll on Europe.

As of Tuesday, dozens of deaths had been attributed to weather that over the past few weeks has ranged from scorchingly hot and dry to chilly with days of prolonged rain.

As emergency crews evacuated a flooded hospital in western Austria, the association of private hospitals in France announced they had opened 8,000 beds for potential heat and drought victims.

Forest fires sparked by record high temperatures and lack of moisture raged in Sweden, while Italians who just days ago suffered through dog-day heat dug out their sweaters and umbrellas.

Italy appeared to be the battlefield of the two clashing weather fronts.

Lightning killed an 18-year-old shepherd in the northwestern Valle d'Aosta region as thunderstorms swept the region after a prolonged hot spell that claimed at least 21 lives, most of them elderly. Hail pummeled crops in northern Italy, damaging fruit trees and vineyards across the region.

While southern Germany reported rivers and floods receding after days of heavy rains Tuesday, parts of Austria continued battling the threat of inundation.

"There is no sign of relief," said regional government spokesman Franz Michel as emergency crews brought supplies to higher ground from the hospital in Mittersil, Austria, about 50 miles south of Salzburg. Local fire chief Georg Scharler told the Austria Press Agency that "you could open a diving school" in the hospital basement.

Near Melk, about 50 miles west of Vienna, firefighters pumped out basements and answered fire calls after lightning struck several homes, Elsewhere, flooding and resulting mud slides forced the closing of some highway and railway sections.

In Croatia, gale force winds and heavy rains flooded Dubrovnik's old town, forcing tourists and residents to roll up their trousers as they waded through historic squares. Guests of the five-star Excelsior hotel were regaled with an impromptu waterfall in the lobby after pounding rain punctured the roof.

To the east, authorities declared "critical" situations for 11 Bulgarian communities hit by more than a week or heavy rain that left at least five people dead, large parts of the north and east flooded and forced the evacuations of hundreds of people. Meteorologists forecast at least another week of flash storms.

In Romania, a 10-year-old girl died after she was struck by lightning. Flooding hit 11 counties in western, central and eastern Romania, a government statement said.

Much of the hot and dry spell was confined to the southwest of the continent, while rains and cool temperatures were generally restricted to the east. But there were exceptions.

Large areas of southern Sweden appeared gripped by the same arid heat wave plaguing residents of Spain, Portugal and France. Military helicopters dumped water on flames consuming tens of thousands of acres of woodland.

Weather experts in Portugal called the arid spell gripping 97 percent of the country the worst in more than a century. In southern Portugal, some 22,000 people were being supplied daily by water trucks.

Francisco Palma, president of the farmers association of the southern provinces of Alentejo complained: "Things have never been as bad."

Farmers also were groaning in neighboring Spain, where the driest winter and spring in more than 60 years had already left reservoirs in some regions 80 percent empty.

A four-tiered weather warning system was introduced last year following a heat weave in 2003 that killed nearly 15,000 people.

OK, not really politics, but I need to complain a bit. It's absolutely unbearable here in Stockholm,. Right now it's 1:30 (night) and it's 23 degrees (centigrade) outside, and 27 degrees inside my apartment. During the day the temperatures go above 30 degrees. It's impossible to sleep. Opening the windows doesn't help. And as this kind of heat is unique here, we really don't have lots of air conditioning.

[iNeo 0]

I've got 28-29 in my room right now. Window open 24/7, but I think it only makes it worse heh.

[ran 0]

there's no weather anymore, just a succession of quick changes between extreme climatic situations in Europe, I just hate it.

I thought I was going to die in my office two years ago with temperatures reaching 45 to 50°C as the air conditioners were broken and my work office was then situtated in the last floor of a 10 story high building with my only window oriented full south.

It seems like it's going to get quite hot this year too but I don't have to stay in an overheated office in a suit. I don't mind heat as long as I got enough water and wear adequate clothes.

I'm thinking about doing some trekking on the Alps glaciers this summer

I don't want to imagine what a heatwave such as the one experienced in France two years ago would look like in Scandinavian countries...

[kavoven 4]

Just saw it in TV:

The german "Bundestag" (Federal parliament I guess in english) is dissolved by the german federal president.

This means we will have new votes perhaps in september.

(Damn, i month before I become 18...)

[Bordoy 0]

The weather a week or 2 ago was un-bearable. I have never felt anything like it before in my life................apart from when i burnt myself on the oven

In the daily mail a few days ago, it had two pages with pictures from one week to next in Europe. One minute in Germany this river has dried up, then the next there's floods. It's getting out of hand TBH.

[denoir 0]

This is sort of interesting, Ken Clarke has entered the race for Tory leadership. At least my first impression is that he would indeed be a good choice for future PM - sure as hell better than the other conservative candidates or Gordon Brown.

I think in fact that we might be looking at a new era in European politics. Schröder is on the way out, so is Chirac - and by that chances are good that the Franco-German mutual loyalty will be weakened. If UK then gets a pro-European PM, like Clarke, a whole new balance could be created, with a new level of cooperation between the three EU big ones. Besides his pro-EU stance, Clarke seems to be far more in touch with reality compared to the other Tory candidates.

He was for instance against the Iraq war and still is of the opinion that the war was started without justification and he has repeatedly stated that the action just helped the terrorists. More importantly, he seems to realize that a modern conservative party has to move to the centre of the political spectrum. Most other conservatives in Britain live in the past, thinking that the days of Maggie will return. The world has changed since then, and the old school left/right ideals are outdated. Blair understood that in 1997, but apparently it took another decade for the Tories to get it.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Denoir, I fully agree with your post and again you steal away any reason for me to post a comment here.(in a little less sophisticated manner).

It is getting boring!

[denoir 0]

Well, you know, great minds think alike and all that

Anyway, that was a fairly naive-optimistic portrayal of what could happen. The only quality that Merkel seems to have is not being Schröder, which isn't saying much. Nicolas Sarkozy seems to me like cheap populist with few original ideas. And in the UK, EU-hater Gordon Brown will probably be the next PM. So we'll most likely see an even more disruptive UK, and incompetent and weak Germany and France.

What Europe badly needs today is visionaries that can construct a positive common perception of the development of the EU. I can't see that happening with the current leaders or their probable successors.

[Necromancer- 0]

Oh great...

Another Turkey/EU/Cyprus dispute...

Turkey: "One more demand and it's over!"

I hope Turkey doesn't become an EU-member..

I simply don't trust the Turkish militaristic (yet democratic) government system.

[Bordoy 0]

This is sort of interesting, Ken Clarke has entered the race for Tory leadership. At least my first impression is that he would indeed be a good choice for future PM - sure as hell better than the other conservative candidates or Gordon Brown.

I think in fact that we might be looking at a new era in European politics. Schröder is on the way out, so is Chirac - and by that chances are good that the Franco-German mutual loyalty will be weakened. If UK then gets a pro-European PM, like Clarke, a whole new balance could be created, with a new level of cooperation between the three EU big ones. Besides his pro-EU stance, Clarke seems to be far more in touch with reality compared to the other Tory candidates.

He was for instance against the Iraq war and still is of the opinion that the war was started without justification and he has repeatedly stated that the action just helped the terrorists. More importantly, he seems to realize that a modern conservative party has to move to the centre of the political spectrum. Most other conservatives in Britain live in the past, thinking that the days of Maggie will return. The world has changed since then, and the old school left/right ideals are outdated. Blair understood that in 1997, but apparently it took another decade for the Tories to get it.

Kenneth Clarke has stated that the UK will not join the Euro currency for at least 10 years.

I would like to see David Cameron become the leader of the party.

[denoir 0]

Kenneth Clarke has stated that the UK will not join the Euro currency for at least 10 years.

That's fairly realistic. In addition you have to realize that he lost two elections in a row because of his overt pro-EU position. It's unlikely that he'll repeat that.

Quote[/b] ]I would like to see David Cameron become the leader of the party.

If David Cameron is elected, the Tories won't get to power in the next 12 years. He like many of the other candidates are basically Thathcherists whose vision of Britain is completely out of touch with reality. The Tories need to move more to the center or they won't get elected. Old-school right-wing conservatism doesn't work anymore in Europe, including the UK. The same goes for old-school left-wing socialism - a trend that Labour understood nearly a decade ago and transformed accordingly.

[Garcia 0]

I don't like EU...to me it seems like a way of copying USA, though in Europe

[denoir 0]

I don't like EU...to me it seems like a way of copying USA, though in Europe

Why USA, and not UK, or Germany, or Switzerland or any number of other federation type constructs?

America and Europe have quite different ideas of what they are and should be. The only similiarity is the elementary idea that free trade benefits all involved and that harmonizing laws and regulations makes life easier. It's not very controversial to say that working together gives better results at a lower cost.

[Bordoy 0]

I don't like EU...to me it seems like a way of copying USA, though in Europe

Why USA, and not UK, or Germany, or Switzerland or any number of other federation type constructs?

America and Europe have quite different ideas of what they are and should be. The only similiarity is the elementary idea that free trade benefits all involved and that harmonizing laws and regulations makes life easier. It's not very controversial to say that working together gives better results at a lower cost.

i think what he's trying to say is the running of the countries in the EU would be more centralized, which is the wrong way to go about it, i think.

How does the EU leadership know about any problems my local authority have with the local area? Fortunatley, my local authorities is doing a very good job in governing the city of Nottingham and the Nottinghamshire County. But could laws and regulations introduced by the EU affect my area?

I can no longer take vitamin and mineral supplements because of the EU, or if its not introduced yet, it will be. I know that is not a governance of local area thing, but its something brought in that will effect people all over.