"European Union 'has become a fat midget'
Simon Tisdall says:
Turkey was not invited to Europe's big birthday bash on Sunday despite being an official candidate for European Union membership. Ankara expressed disappointment at a "missed opportunity". Media reaction to the perceived snub was sharper.......
Party's Over for EU: After Show of Unity, EU Rifts on Reform Re-Emerge
The ink on the 'Berlin Declaration' signed on Sunday was barely dry when the rift between the supporters and opponents of an EU constitution re-opened. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hosting the EU's 50th birthday party in Berlin, warned that failure to reform its outdated institutions would be a 'historic error.'".........
Dossier of Monday, March 26, 2007; Will the Berlin Declaration take the EU to 2009?
The 50th anniversary summit in Berlin ended with the signing of the Berlin Declaration. The document makes reference to a foundation treaty rather than a new constitution and in it the EU also commits to reform by 2009. But is the reform process really gaining momentum?.......
EU MISSING OPPORTUNITY TO USE TURKEY AS RELIABLE ENERGY CORRIDOR
John C.k. Daly:
Amid great fanfare, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev assembled in Athens on March 15 to initial an agreement on a $1.25 billion, 173-mile-long pipeline running from Bulgaria’s Black Sea Burgas port to Greece’s Adriatic port of Alexandropolis (Southeast European Times, March 19)....
Turkish Islam and Turkey's EU Membership by Sedat Laçiner
Language experts push multilingualism to promote 'identity'
A British Councilexternal seminar on multilingualism brought together policymakers, practitioners, academics and business managers from across Europe, to formulate a "clear and convincing case for multilingualism".
EurActiv Survey 2007: Relations key to trade associations
Specialised media and lawmakers are preceived as the most important factors for European federations, EurActiv's 2007 survey found.
Merkel vows to continue confidential EU constitution strategy; German leader Angela Merkel has said she will continue to apply her strategy of reviving the EU constitution by holding confidential talks with national officials, despite criticism that the strategy impedes democratic debate.
EU weakens own identity by ignoring Christianity, warned Pope Royal backed Turkey's EU membership EU needs more legitimacy, say young Europeans
Spain injects immigration into EU birthday text; The German EU presidency included a last-ditch line in its Berlin Declaration that the EU would combat illegal immigration after the request of Spain, which has experienced a vast wave of illegal immigration in the past year.
