CANNES, FRANCE – European Union leaders and the IMF, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Cannes 3 November, have given Greece an ultimatum, saying that its citizens must decide if the country will remain part of the eurozone: a vote against a recently negotiated bailout would be seen as a vote against Greek participation in the eurozone.
The threat follows what the Guardian describes as “a blunt warning from Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the eurogroup, that the sixth tranche of the original €110bn bailout was now in jeopardy.” At risk: €8 billion approved just two weeks ago.
An emergency cabinet meeting was scheduled for 11:00 Thursday morning in Greece. More members of the prime minister’s own party are defecting Thursday morning, saying they will not support him in a confidence vote scheduled for Friday night, with the resulting loss of his majority in parliament.
George Papandreou, prime minister, has called for a referendum next month on the EU bailout plan and, under pressure from EU leaders at a Wednesday night meeting, he agreed to hold it earlier, 4 December.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Guardian, Le Monde (Fr)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Europe’s politicians reacted with surprise and anger during the day Tuesday to the surprise announcement by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that he wants a referendum that will allow Greeks to vote on an EU bailout package. In Greece, there were calls Tuesday evening for the prime minister to resign.
The package was drawn up last week. Ireland also has a bailout package and the Globe and Mail, Canada, reports: “The summit last week was to deal with the uncertainty in the euro zone…and this grenade is thrown in just a few short days later,” European affairs minister Lucinda Creighton said. “‘Legitimately there is going to be a lot of annoyance about it.’” citing Reuters.
Le Monde in France underscores fears that Greece will drop out of the eurozone, triggering a broader crisis. Stock markets around Europe fell, the Paris newspaper notes: Madrid down 4.19 percent, Frankfort down 5 percent, Athens 6.9 percent and Milan 6.8 percent. Markets in London and Switzerland were calmer but nevertheless fell by 2.2 percent and 2.49 percent respectively.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Reuters
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Voters in Italy soundly rejected a three-part referendum in voting Sunday and Monday 12-13 June, handing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi a defeat that he acknowledged Sunday evening. The referendum asked Italians if they wanted to reject legislation covering three issues:
- a return to a nuclear energy programme
- privatization of water resources
- government officialls’ exemption from the obligation to appear in court if called to trial because of government duties.
Voter turnout was the largest in more than 15 years, 57 percent, despite Berlusconi’s appeal to citizens to boycott the opposition-sponsored referendum. The proposals were rejected by more than 90 percent.
Berlusconi himself currently faces three trials for corruption and one where he is charged with having sex with an under-age prostitute.
Links to other sites: CS Monitor, Deutsche Welle, Irish Times
Southern Sudanese lined up in their hundreds of thousands to vote on the chance to secede from Sudan 9 January, some standing in line since before day-break. The Abyei region which straddles the border between north and south Sudan was to have held a separate referendum to decide which side to join. That referendum has been postponed indefinitely amidst disagreement on who has the right to vote.
Clashes between the Misseriya, a northern tribe, and the southern Dinka 7 January have claimed three lives, as officials from both communities met over the weekend to try to calm tensions. Some reports say up to nine Dinka tribespeople may have died, according to Bloomberg.
Links to other sites: AllAfrica, Reuters
Source: NTVKenya
Voters in Turkey have overwhelmingly approved a set of constitutional changes in a referendum. In voting 12 September, 58-42 percent of voters backed the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) government’s proposed changes. Turnout was 78 percent.
The changes include a greater say by the government in nominating judges and prosecutors, trials of military personnel in civilian courts and the abolition of an article in the present constitution that grants immunity to military officers who led the country’s last coup in 1980. The present constitution was written by the military in 1982. The vote paves the way for its complete overhaul if, as expected, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan runs for a third term next year.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Washington Post
More electonic voting should make it easier for more Swiss abroad to have their say
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Five additional cantons will be able to offer electronic voting to their citizens in November 2010 federal elections, bringing the total number to 12 cantons, nearly half of the country. The Swiss federal electoral commission announced the decision 8 September. The November ballots take electronic voting, in which Switzerland is a world leader, a step further: this is the first time a popular initiative or citizens-created referendum item, will be voted on.
Some 190,000 voters abroad, or 4.1 percent of the voting population, will be able to vote electronically. Voting from abroad has long posed a problem for the nearly 700,00 (close to 10 percent of the total population) Swiss citizens abroad because ballots are mailed three weeks before votes, which in many cases does not allow enough time to forward the material and have the voter return it for the deadline.
The cantons with electronic voting options in November are:
Swiss parliament in session Photo®Swiss parliament
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The upper house of the Swiss parliament has said no to a popular referendum on the Swiss-US treaty covering 4,450 UBS bank accounts. A house commission voted 8-3 Wednesday morning 16 June against a motion to support the lower house’s option for a popular vote, and the commission’s minority agreed not to take the motion to the full upper house.
The option of a referendum now returns to the lower house, which is expected to vote on it Wednesday afternoon. If it votes yes, the measure must go to a reconciliation commission of the two houses.
Voters in 166 pro-independence towns and villages in Catalonia voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Spanish state Sunday 13 December, but only 27 percent of those who could vote actually did so. The organizers of the symbolic, non-binding vote played up the result in Spain’s wealthiest region, which boasts its own language, culture, and the city of Barcelona.
Participation fell far short of the 49.4 percent in the 2006 referendum on the statute governing relations between the central government and Catalonia, already largely autonomous.
Taoiseach (head of government) Brian Cowen Saturday 3 October announced the overwhelmingly positive response of Ireland in its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, with a 67 percent “yes” vote and a voter turnout of 58 percent. The second referendum is a turnabout: 54 percent of voters said no to the treaty in a first referendum in June 2008.
A group of llamas and goats from an Australian circus that were stolen from the pound where police put them has been the big news story in Ireland Friday and Saturday 2-3 October, although more than 50 percent of eligible voters did turn their attention to the referendum on the European Union long enough to vote. The votes are being counted at Dublin Castle Saturday morning with 516 accredited media organizations from around the world in attendance. Ireland is the only country to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Meanwhile, unaware perhaps of the key vote, a group of three goats and five llamas “ran wild” on the M50 motorway near Dublin Thursday noon after their gate at the Australian Circus Sydney, staying at Tallaght, was left open. Police took in the errant animals and put them in a pound, demanding €5,500 for their return. During the night hard-working thieves took the animals, reports the Irish Times: “The thieves traversed eight fields, opened up ditches and travelled two kilometres on foot to the shed where the animals were being kept.” The owner, who says he did not know where the animals were being kept by police, suspects animal rights activists. He says the tamed animals are worth at least €2,000 each, but are useless except to circuses.
Links to other sites: Irish votes live on Irish Times
The Irish goes to the polls today to vote on the Lisbon Treaty, the second referendum in 15 months called to approve the treaty. The first was voted down. The vote will have “far-reaching implications for the future of the European Union” notes the Irish Times. RTE reports that voting is delayed on Tory and Inishbofin islands because of bad weather; the islands vote ahead of the rest of the country to ensure their ballots can be returned, even if bad weather arrives. Some three million people have the right to cast a ballot in the referendum. RTE also provides a “consolidated text” of the treaty to make it accessible to voters. The Vatican jumped into the fray with a statement by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, urging the Irish to vote against the treaty, suggesting it does not allow European countries to maintain their own identities and cultures.
Links to other sites: Telegraph, UK, Turkish Weekly
We're not going anywhere
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The planned light rail line connecting Cornavin-Eaux Vives-Annemasse (Ceva) was delayed again by Switzerland’s administrative high court, in a decision made public 8 September. Two of the project’s partners, canton Geneva and CFF, Swiss federal railways, had asked the court to lift about 60 injunctions against the project, arguing that the delays were costing money. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument, stating that the project must address the 318 different objections to the plans before it can proceed.
WTO opens its doors
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Trade Organization (WTO) put on a grand show Sunday 6 September, with an assist from the excellent weather. The organization’s building, the Centre William Rappard, was open to the public, and offered guided tours that gave a feeling for the history of the building, which originally housed the International Labour Office, created after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
The artwork, much of it donated by foreign governments, is spectacular.
First floor of the WTO
Director-General's office
Several stands served food from the various member countries in the Parc Barton behind the building.
WTO, a very large open house. Photo courtesy ®Jez S at flickr
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Trade Organization (WTO) throws open its doors Sunday 6 September to allow the community, both local and international, to become more familiar with its work and its site. The open house has been organized in response to an impending referendum, 27 September, a city-wide vote to on a planned extension to the WTO building at the Centre William Rappard, along Lake Geneva’s shore.
The extension and, earlier, threats by the WTO to move if it could not expand, have been hotly debated by the public and local media for several years.
The WTO is the world’s advocate for liberalizing international trade and solving trade disputes between its 153 member countries. On Sunday, it hosts a series of events, including guided tours and children’s activities, to highlight its presence in Geneva for over 60 years.
The WTO, founded in 1995, is the successor organization to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Gatt.
Not long to wait
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Opponents to the planned light rail extension known as Ceva, which will link Geneva’s Cornavin and Eaux-Vives stations and Annemasse, handed in 12,700 signatures, almost 5,000 more than necessary, to force citizens in the canton to vote on it. Voters will decide on a supplementary credit of CHF 113 million towards the project that Geneva’s parliament voted for in June.
The referendum’s date has not yet been fixed.
A little more time on the beach, anyone?
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The weather was hot, the beaches beckoned and the Swiss Federal Chancellery announced the tempting news: nearly 108,000 people have signed a demand for a popular referendum that would give Swiss workers a minimum of six weeks of vacation, by law. The initiative will now go to the vote, with a date to be set later. The initiative was launched by Travail.Suisse, one of the country’s largest unions, which argues that more holidy time is needed due to increasing pressure on workers and a too-strong focus on productivity.
Planned extension to WTO building (photo: Wittfoht)
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – A referendum on a major extension to the lake-side Centre William Rappard, which houses the World Trade Organisation (WTO), will be put to the vote in Geneva 27 September 2009. The organizers of the referendum deposited 6,919 signatures with the city of Geneva 26 May. They oppose the planned building’s supposed encroachment on public land and claim that access to the lake will be restricted by a new security fence
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva’s efforts to ban smoking face another political fight, with opponents to the canton’s pending legislation to ban smoking getting the necessary 7,000 signatures to force a referendum.
Madagascar army troops took over presidential offices in Antananarivo, the capital, at 18:00 local time 16 March, under orders from the country’s opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. President Marc Ravalomanana offered to test support for the government through a referendum, but he was refused. The president was not in the palace at the time of the attack. According to the UK’s Guardian, he is reported to be in another palace on the island. CNN, AllAfrica
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - One of the sacred Swiss ideas linked to neutrality and a national militia could come tumbling down under the weight of contemporary safety concerns: enough signatures have been gathered to force a popular referendum that would force Swiss soldiers to leave their arms in the arsenal. Swiss men are required to serve in the national militia, generally doing annual military service stints for several years, and they keep their arms at home.
Lausanne, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The new fine arts museum in Lausanne appeared Tuesday to move ahead, with the Vaud cantonal council voting to approve new credits needed to finance the project. At the same time, however, opponents of the project announced that they are starting a public referendum that would call for a popular vote. Their argument is that the public would prefer to remodel the current home to the museum, the Palais de Rumine, and keep the musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in the city centre, instead of building a new and modern museum on the lakefront.
