Tens of thousands marched in Lisbon in the past week against the government’s austerity measures, with the leader of Portugal’s top union vowing to intensify resistance but stopping short of calling a strike. The rally was the first outpouring of popular discontent after the government announced additional austerity measures such as tax hikes, pay and spending cuts on May 13. But the peaceful rally was a far cry from the tense, at times violent, atmosphere at protests in other austerity-afflicted European Union states, especially Greece. Portugal seeks to cut its budget deficit to 7.3 percent of gross domestic product this year from 2009’s high of 9.4 percent, and then gradually to 2.8 percent by 2013. The banners displayed at the rally urged further action.
Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talked on integration mechanisms and increasing cooperation in the economy, politics and security. The EU-ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting concluded with the signing of the Madrid Declaration, establishing future targets for bilateral cooperation and reviewing progress on the Nuremberg Action Plan, signed by both blocs in 2007, and the Pnom Penh Meeting in Cambodia, held in May 2009. Founded in 1967, ASEAN is a regional cooperation group that now covers a total population of 576 million. The EU is an economic and political union of 27 member countries that have a population of nearly half a billion. The 18th EU-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Madrid focused on the financial and economic crisis as well as current disarmament efforts. The Europeans tried to outline the steps taken by the EU to stabilize the euro to their South-East Asian colleagues. This was now the eighteenth such meeting and the ministers convene every two years. ASEAN’s members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
Spain’s governing Socialists won approval for a 15 billion euro austerity package by just one vote. The bill was approved by 169 votes in favor to 168 against, with 13 abstentions. The bill was only saved when 10 deputies from the center-right abstained after criticizing the bill, saying they did not want Spain to be plunged into a Greek-style crisis. The government’s plan aims to save an additional 15 billion euros and includes wage cuts of 5 percent for civil servants this year. Last week, the International Monetary Fund warned that Spain’s economy needs comprehensive reforms of its labour market and banking sector if it was to make headway on its own large debt and deficit problems. Spain’s unemployment rate has soared to 20 percent since the collapse of a property bubble at the end of 2008. At the end of 2009, more than 25 percent of Spanish workers were on temporary contracts compared to an average of 14 percent for the 27-nation European Union in 2008.
Queen Elizabeth II opened Parliament in the week that passed with centuries-old tradition, laying out the new coalition government’s plans to reduce Britain’s ballooning deficit and restore growth. The speech outlined the plans for the first coalition government since World War II.
The speech confirmed that the new government will introduce fixed, five-year parliamentary sessions, hold a referendum on making Britain’s voting system more proportional, and change the House of Lords from an appointed to an elected chamber. No date has been confirmed for the referendum on Britain’s voting system. The new government, which is the result of a pact between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats after the May 6 election, has drawn up a program focused on reviving the economy and rolling back restrictions on personal freedoms. Prime Minister David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, have formed a coalition government in Britain.
A senior minister in Britain’s new coalition government resigned this week after admitting that he claimed tens of thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ money to pay rent to his long-term partner. David Laws said he would step down immediately as Chief Treasury Secretary, a role he had occupied for less than a month. He will be replaced by fellow Liberal Democrat Danny Alexander. It was the first major setback to Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government, which had promised to crack down on politicians’ abuse of expense claims. Hundreds of lawmakers in the previous Parliament had used taxpayers’ money to fund everything from glamorous second homes to horse fertilizer. Five lawmakers have been charged with false accounting, and scores of others were either forced to resign or decided not to run for office again.
Laws, whose job was to implement the new government’s deficit reduction plan, apologized and said he would immediately pay back the money, which it was said to total 40,000 pounds. Laws claimed up to 950 pounds a month in taxpayer money between 2004 and 2007 to rent a room in two properties owned by his partner, James Lundie.
Amnesty International has accused the EU being weak and failing to protect human rights, citing the bloc’s tolerance of the CIA’s rendition flights and secret detention programme. The group said several European countries had repeatedly violated rulings by the European Court of Human Rights against the return of terror suspects to countries where they are at risk of torture. The human rights group’s annual global report, released this week, also noted clear accountability gaps in the EU’s foreign policy. It also cited the bloc’s weak and incoherent response to a UN report which found that the Zionist regime of Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza in 2009. Amnesty also accused the EU and the US of using their influence with the UN Security Council to shield Israel from accountability in Gaza. Meantime, the human rights organization took the US to task for President Barack Obama’s failure, despite promises, to close its prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
In the week that passed, there appeared another sort of tension between Russia and the United States. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow expects an explanation on the deployment of US Patriot missiles near the Polish-Russian border. The statement came after the United States opened a temporary military base near the northern Polish town of Morag, 80 kilometers from the Russian border under the Supplemental Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed in December 2009. Addressing Polish colleagues and US partners, the Russian official said they did not understand completely what the need was in taking steps of a military-technical nature to create some military facilities, an infrastructure in close proximity to Russian borders. Earlier, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich welcomed the stationing of US Patriot complexes on Polish soil, describing it as an important step in strengthening Poland’s security. In September 2009, Obama postponed plans by the Bush administration to deploy missile-defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia has fiercely opposed the plans as a threat to its national security. US troops and Patriot missile batteries arrived in Poland this week, where they will be stationed in the northern town of Morag. The claimed training mission not only ties Poland more firmly to NATO, but also re-ignites Russian concerns over missile defense in the region.
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