Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has officially received nearly 55 percent of the vote in recent elections, according to official tallies published Wednesday. The winner will nevertheless be declared officially only in several weeks. The European Union reacted sharply, saying that one-quarter of the votes could be fraudulent, a criticism Karzai angrily rejected. World leaders are divided over how to react to allegations of fraud from several quarters. Al Jazeera, BBC, Yahoo News/Reuters
Targeted sanctions on leading Zimbabwe government officials, in place since disputed presidential elections in 2002, will not be lifted soon, according to a high-level delegation from the European Union (EU) which ended a two-day mission to Zimbabwe 13 September.
After a meeting with President Robert Mugabe, Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden’s international development minister, said “The political agreement was an important step forward, but much needs to be done. The key to re-engagement is the full implementation of the political agreement“. Mugabe has called for a lifting of the EU sanctions, arguing “sanctions are serving no humanitarian purpose, they are causing lots of suffering among the people right at the bottom”.
The EU is Zimbabwe’s main donor and its aid budget is currently frozen at €90 million. A Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting 8 September called for Western sanctions to be lifted. Al-Jazeera, The Sunday Telegraph
US and EU, warming up to aircraft negotiations
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk with EC Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton, March 2009, at their first meeting
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A confidential interim WTO (World Trade Organization) report on European assistance to the aircraft industry, notably Airbus, was issued Friday, reports Frances Williams in the Financial Times, and a similar report on US assistance to Boeing is expected in the next few months.
The European Union reacted sharply Saturday 8 August to the trial in Iran of a French embassy and two British embassy employees, as well as a French student and teacher of French, saying that the Iranian government was acting against the EU itself, and it would respond accordingly. Twenty-four-year-old Clothilde Reiss apologized to the court and said she had been mistaken when she protested with others against the results of the recent Iranian election. She risks up to five years in prison. Hossein Rassam, a 44-year-old political analyst at the British Embassy, also reportedly apologized, in his case for inciting unrest, with the quotes coming from Iranian media, since international media were barred from the trial. Le Monde (Fre) and Times, UK
Swiss foreign trade, climbing down
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss foreign trade plummeted 16 percent in the first half of the year, according to figures published 21 July by the Swiss Federal Customs Administration (SFCA). Both import and export figures dropped to levels last seen in 2006, and the second quarter figures were much worse than those for the first quarter of the year. The fall in exports is the worst six month period decline recorded.
The balance of trade was CHF9 billion, down 10 percent over a year, a fall explained by an unusual, massive import of gold jewelry for remelting, from Vietnam.
The European Union’s external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said Monday 20 July that she was suspending EU aid of €65.5 million to the impoverished Central American nation of Honduras as a result of the political stand-off there. She said the decision was “difficult” . Hillary Clinton called Honduran Interim President Roberto Micheletti from New Delhi, India and warned of “harsh consequences” if the negotiations between the de facto government and ousted president Manuel Zelaya failed to reach an accord. The measures are seen as increasing pressure on the government in Honduras.(CNN).
Torsten Åkesson, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, et José Manuel Silva Rodriguez
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The European Research Area is significantly closer to becoming a working reality, with Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and the European Commission (EC) signing a memorandum of understanding Friday 17 July. The two have agreed to work more closely together in several areas, a key one being to facilitate implementation of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, which has been defined by Cern.
The EC and Cern say the memorandum will provide a framework to cooperate and share knowledge in several areas: research programming, training and mobility of researchers, science education, open publishing, technology transfer, innovation, building next generation infrastructures (including e-infrastructures) and global scientific cooperation.
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) – The European Union’s transport commissioner, Antonio Tajani, called for a worldwide blacklist of unsafe airlines, at a press conference in Brussels Tuesday morning 30 June, following the crash of a Yemeni airlines Airbus near the Comoros Islands.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in Prague for a China-European Union summit, told EU ministers that China is ready to send another buying mission to Europe, to boost European exports to his country. The EU is China’s largest trading partner. Bilateral trade in 2008 was to $425.6 billion, according to Xinhua, which notes that “In the past five years, EU exports to China have increased at an annual rate of over 20 percent, making China one of the most important export markets for the EU, said Wen.”
Zurich train station
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Switzerland’s weekend vote in favour of biometric passports is a positive sign in terms of the country’s closer relationship with the European Union (EU), but there are disquieting signs, too, says Jacques Barrot, EU vice-president. Barrot is interviewed at length in Le Temps about Switzerland the Schengen accord. Two areas for concern are the possibility that Swiss border guards’ patrols of Swiss trains could become routine and that the Swiss Federal Council could decide this week to exercise its option to reduce the number of foreigners allowed to work in the country.
Luxemburg (GenevaLunch) – Europe-wide growth declined 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the the last quarter of 2008, Eurostat figures released 15 May show. Eurostat is the European Union’s statistical office. Comparable figures for the United States show a 1.6 percent decline.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch), The Federal Council yesterday rejected calls to extend the carbon tax to gasoline and diesel fuel, but said it would commit to a 20 percent reduction of greenhouse gases over 1990 levels by the year 2020, in line with the European Union. The decision is part of the council’s recommendations to Parliament to revise Swiss energy laws.
Updated 22:20 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland went to the polls Sunday and voted an overwhelming yes to a federal initiative to extend indefinitely the country’s agreement with the European Union (EU) on the free movement of labour. In a vote that some media are calling a surprise (Le Temps, Fre), Zurich voters have abolished flat fee taxes for wealthy foreigners. According to swissinfo, 137 foreigners currently have agreements with the canton to pay a set fee instead of being taxed at normal rates.
Bern, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Three of the seven Swiss federal councilors went to Brussels for breakfast Monday, and taxes were at the top of the menu.
Britain and Ireland are not members of the Schengen Area.
St Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland officially becomes part of the Schengen Area today. To celebrate, and as a reminder that customs officers are still at the borders, GenevaLunch has revised its popular guide, How to make it happily through Swiss customs. (Ed. note: Details on Swiss customs and Schengen 2008, from the federal government). Media coverage in other countries of Switzerland’s membership has been heavy because the change means that people can move along Europe’s main north-south roads without halts for passports, in theory.
