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Tag: sarkozy

  • France pays Roma to go home

    France pays Roma to go home

    Anti Roma French
    France pays Roma to go home

    France has expelled nearly 100 Roma gypsies to their native Romania.

    The resettlement came as part of a very public effort by conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy to dismantle Roma camps and sweep them out of the country.

    In the southeastern town of Saint-Martin d’Heres, near Grenoble, about 150 riot police removed about 100 Roma adults and 45 children Thursday. Another 25 Roma were taken from their camp near Lille early on Thursday.

    Mr Sarkozy has linked Roma to crime, calling their camps sources of trafficking, exploitation of children and prostitution.

    On July 28, he pledged that illegal Roma camps would be “systematically evacuated”. Some 50 camps have been emptied since then.

    Those repatriated on Thursday left “on a voluntary basis” and were given small sums of money – 300 euros for each adult and 100 euros for children – to help them get back on their feet in their home country.

    Roma advocates countered that the repatriations were hardly voluntary, claiming that those who refused the deal would end up in holding centres and eventually be sent home without funds.

    , 19 August 2010

  • BNP wins two seats in Europe

    BNP wins two seats in Europe

    [1]

    LONDON (AFP) — The British National Party on Monday won its first seats in the European Parliament, in a major breakthrough for a party reviled by mainstream politicians for its anti-immigration stance.

    Party chairman Nick Griffin was elected an MEP in the northwest of England region with eight percent of the vote, hours after Andrew Brons won the BNP’s first ever European seat in the nearby Yorkshire and the Humber region.

    Griffin had earlier hailed Brons’ win — with almost 10 percent of the vote — as “a huge breakthrough” for his party, and used the victory to reiterate his party’s anti-immigration and anti-Islam stance.

    He denied his party was racist, but said: “We do say this country is full up. The key thing is to shut the door.”

    Griffin told Sky News television: “This is a Christian country and Islam is not welcome, because Islam and Christianity, Islam and democracy, Islam and women’s rights do not mix.

    “That’s a simple fact that the elites of Europe are going to have to get their heads round and deal with over the next few years.”

    The result is a vindication of efforts by Griffin, who was educated at the prestigious Cambridge University, to recast the party since taking over in 1999, emphasising its grassroots activism over extreme-right ideology.

    Amid concerns about soaring unemployment and a deep recession and in particular the demise of the country’s manufacturing base, the BNP has pledged British jobs for British workers.

    It is opposed to European integration and wants to pull Britain out of the European Union and halt all immigration to the country.

    In recent weeks it has also capitalised on public anger over the row over lawmakers’ expenses, which has severely damaged the reputation of parliament and the mainstream Labour and Conservative parties.

    Health minister Andrew Burnham described the BNP’s first MEP victory as a “sad moment“, and following Griffin’s success in the northwest, local Labour MP Tony Lloyd said he was ashamed at how some people had voted.

    “I am genuinely not just disappointed, I think it is a matter of shame, this country has a deserved reputation for a tolerant society,” said Lloyd, the Labour MP for Manchester Central.

    “Their (the BNP) vision for Britain is a nightmare for Britain. I think many people will wake up with some sense of shame.”

    Government ministers and the Conservative party had sought to remind voters of the BNP’s policies, which include calls for the immediate halt to all immigration to Britain and the “voluntary resettlement” of all immigrants.

    Source: www.google.com, 08.06.2009

    [2]

    Sarkozy: “Islamization is Inevitable”

    From the desk of Tiberge on Sat, 2009-06-06 18:36

    There is nothing new here. We knew what Sarkozy’s vision of the future was: an “Islam of France”, “métissage” between races and ethnic groups, dissolution of nationalist, regional, and ethnic identities, subjugation to Brussels, openness to socialism, and a Turkey as closely aligned with Europe as possible, etc…

    But it’s always sobering to hear it again, from one who knows Sarkozy personally. Philippe de Villiers was interviewed by the weekly Famille Chrétienne. The Catholic blogLe Salon Beige relates part of the interview:

    – Why are you so focused on the theme of Turkey and Islamization?

    – Quite simply because we will see the first transformations of churches into mosques in the coming three years. At any rate, that is what Nicolas Sarkozy told me.

    – When?

    – I had an in depth discussion with him at Elysée at the end of last year. He said to me: “You have intuition, I have the figures. And your intuition is confirmed by my figures. The Islamization of Europe is inevitable.” Careful: it’s a process that will not occur overnight, but will take decades.

    – Why does this issue appear to be of central importance to you?

    – Most politicians have a comforting ignorance of what Islam is and propose transforming Europe into a supermarket of competing religions. Unaware that Islam is not only a religion since, by melding the temporal and the spiritual, it imposes a law. But behind this comforting ignorance of politicians, there are those who know. (…) The reality is that we are headed for a criss-cross [chassé-croisé] with, on one side, Europe and its en masse abortions, its promotion of gay marriage, and on the other, immigration en masse (…)

    “Chassé-croisé” is virtually impossible to translate. Originally a choreographic term, it usually refers to a crowded movement in one direction that passes but never encounters a crowded movement in another direction. Sometimes it is just kept as is in English.

    – Aren’t you exaggerating the dimensions of the phenomenon?

    – No. The crux of the issue is simple: Europe is refusing its own demographic future. And it is working with a fearsome weapon towards this end, written into the Charter of fundamental rights appended to the treaty of Lisbon: the promotion of gay marriage. This in turn is accomplished through the principle of non-discrimination and the disassociation of marriage from the sex of the spouses (which appears in article 7 of the Charter of fundamental rights). In reality, there are two weapons being used by European leaders to kill Europe demographically: the promotion of gay marriage and en masse abortions. And a third: the recourse to immigration that is 80% Islamic in order to replace the people who are no longer there (…)

    As usual there are LSB readers who question Villiers’ sincerity and motives. But this time, there are also many who applaud his courage. He is certainly putting more muscle into his words on the eve of the election.

    A spokesman for Elysée protested saying: “Philippe de Villiers is not the spokesman for Elysée. He makes multiple declarations on this topic, declarations that obviously need to be regarded with caution.”

    Source: www.brusselsjournal.com, 06-06-2009

  • Obama, Sarkozy disagree Turkey’s entry to EU

    Obama, Sarkozy disagree Turkey’s entry to EU

    AP foreign

    CAEN, France (AP) – €” President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy don’t see eye to eye on whether Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union.

    Obama supports EU membership for the largely Muslim country. Sarkozy (sahr-koh-ZEE’) opposes it.

    Obama says Turkey is an important NATO ally is helping with the war in Afghanistan. He says Turkey’s economy is growing and that the country wants closer relations with Europe — something Obama says he encourages.

    Sarkozy says he supports Turkey’s integration into Europe, but that he and Obama disagree on how to achieve it.

    The two leaders spoke at a news conference Saturday before D-Day celebrations in Normandy, France.

    Source: www.guardian.co.uk, June 7 2009

  • Merkel and Sarkozy Call for Privileged Partnership Angers Turkey

    Merkel and Sarkozy Call for Privileged Partnership Angers Turkey

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 92
    May 13, 2009
    By: Saban Kardas

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy reignited the debate on Turkey’s place within Europe by questioning the wisdom of Turkey seeking full membership of the European Union. Attending a meeting in Berlin, the two leaders emphasized their objection to the EU’s enlargement to include Turkey, arguing that any misguided expansion might endanger its operational effectiveness, and that it should stop making empty promises to Turkey. They instead reiterated their support for “privileged partnership” as an alternative framework to regulate Turkish-EU relations (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, May 10).

    Sarkozy is known for his frequent objections to Turkey’s membership. Before his election in 2007, he spoke against the country’s accession and instead proposed an alternative partnership through his Mediterranean Union project. Due to objections from Turkey and other EU member states most notably the UK, Sarkozy dropped the idea, which enabled the creation of the Mediterranean Union as a separate organization -which Turkey also joined (EDM, July 15, 2008).

    Although he has since softened his rhetoric and avoided blocking Turkish-EU accession negotiations during the French presidency of the European Union, Sarkozy has remained Turkey’s most vocal opponent. For instance, when President Obama tried to promote Turkish-EU accession talks during his recent European trip, Sarkozy immediately dismissed these comments as an unwarranted intervention in European affairs, and led other likeminded states to mobilize resistance against Turkey (Hurriyet, April 7).

    Merkel shares similar views on Turkish-EU relations. Nonetheless, her policies have been tempered by the coalition partnership with the Social Democrats, who hold more positive views on the issue. However, Merkel uses electoral considerations and her conservative grassroots’ discomfort with Turkey to justify her objections. Referring to the upcoming European elections in June, Merkel said: “It is right that we say to people [during the campaign]… our common position is: a privileged partnership for Turkey, but no full membership” (Hurriyet Daily News, May 11).

    Sarkozy does not hide the role electoral politics play in shaping his position on Turkey. Indeed, he has accelerated his objections to Turkish accession ahead of the European election campaign. He is advocating that the EU considers the creation of a common platform with Turkey, perhaps including Russia, to regulate economic and security relations (Hurriyet Daily News, May 6).

    Inside the EU, the Franco-German position is countered by the member states more sympathetic to Turkey and the representatives of the EU institutions. Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva, while currently visiting Turkey reiterated his country’s support for Turkish accession, noting the many benefits it would bring to the EU (Anadolu Ajansi, May 12). Last week, Finland’s Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, also ruled out a privileged partnership, and reaffirmed Helsinki’s commitment to bring Turkey into the EU as a full member (Cihan Haber Ajansi, May 8). A statement from the office of the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, responded swiftly to the statements by Sarkozy and Merkel, saying that the decisive factor from the commission’s perspective was Turkey’s fulfilment of the membership criteria (ANKA, May 11).

    Although Merkel and Sarkozy’s views on Turkey were well known, their recent statements surprised many within Turkish domestic politics. Some Turkish dailies labeled this development, particularly Merkel’s remarks, as “shocking” (Milliyet, May 11). Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition party, called their statements “rude, harsh and negative” and argued that since they were made during the ongoing membership talks, they should be taken as a sign of disrespect toward Turkey. Baykal also criticized the government’s failure to take action to protest more forcefully against this development (Anadolu Ajansi, May 12).

    In reacting to calls to downgrade the Turkish-EU relationship, officials in Ankara have highlighted three points. They have restated Turkey’s position that privileged partnership is unacceptable, and maintain that since the EU has initiated membership talks, it must honor this commitment. Shortly after assuming his post last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stressed this argument. Noting that he would revitalize the stalled membership process, Davutoglu expressed his discomfort over speculation on privileged partnership. Offering Turkey other alternatives short of full membership would betray Turkey and also undermine the EU’s own values, Davutoglu contended (Yeni Safak, May 9). In his reaction to the Merkel-Sarkozy statement, President Abdullah Gul also echoed Davutoglu, arguing that European leaders had agreed on membership negotiations with a unanimous decision, which still legally binds all member states (www.cnnturk.com, May 12).

    Turkish officials maintain that European politicians are using the debate about its future membership as a tool calculated to achieve domestic political gains. Gul suggested that the Merkel-Sarkozy remarks reflected “short-term thinking,” caused by a lack of strategic vision on the part of some European leaders (Cihan Haber Ajansi, May 12).

    Turkish leaders emphasize their commitment to the membership process, and say they will do more to conclude the negotiations successfully. Following a cabinet meeting, the state minister and government spokesman Cemil Cicek, told reporters that the government will take further steps to implement domestic reforms. This will involve preparing a new constitutional amendment package in consultation with the opposition. Cicek added that the government will shortly forward a draft law to parliament, which will reorganize the under-secretariat for the European Union in order to streamline reforms (www.cnnturk.com, May 12).

    The Turkish government seeks to counteract objections to membership by reminding the EU of its commitments to the accession process, and by downplaying those objections -attributing them to short-term calculations. The government implicitly believes that if the discussions on Turkey are conducted on the basis of the contractual framework of the accession process, it may de-legitimize European objections to Turkey. However, it fails to appreciate that its track record on domestic reforms is far from satisfactory. Despite promises to revitalize the membership process in 2009, little has been accomplished (EDM, January 12, 20). Although it might be justified in calling on its EU partners to fulfil their promises, the Turkish government must acknowledge that it is time to deliver on domestic reforms.

    https://jamestown.org/program/merkel-and-sarkozy-call-for-privileged-partnership-angers-turkey/

  • Syria arrests two Kurdish leaders

    Syria arrests two Kurdish leaders

    Syrian authorities have arrested two Kurdish leaders and charged one with a capital offence, as part of a campaign to crush political dissidents that has triggered international protests.

    The two men were arrested ahead of a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the Syrian capital on Wednesday.

    Sarkozy has been trying to convince President Bashar al-Assad to release leading political prisoners who have been campaigning for minority rights and a democratic constitution as an alternative to four decades of Baath Party rule.

    Talal Mohammad of the banned Wifaq party, an offshoot of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which is also active in Turkey and Iraq, was arrested without warrant in northeastern Syria last week and not heard from since, according to the National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria.

    Authorities earlier arrested Mashaal Tammo, an official in Future Movement, which like all opposition parties in Syria is banned.

    Future Movement advocates democracy and equal rights for Syria’s one million Kurdish minority.

    The Kurdish language is not allowed to be taught in schools and tens of thousands of Kurds were denied citizenship after a 1960s census.

    Tammo had said before his arrest that Syrian policy toward the Kurds risked a repeat of riots that killed 30 people in Syria in 2004. The riots started in a Kurdish region.

    Tammo was charged on August 27 with committing aggression and arming Syrians to start civil war, an accusation that carries the death penalty and is rarely directed against well-known political activists.

    Other charges regularly used against dissidents were also levelled at Tammo, including belonging to an organisation that aims to change the basis of society and causing racial and sectarian tension.

    Denies charges

    Tammo has denied the charges and human rights lawyer Mohannad al-Hassani said it would require a great deal of evidence to prove that Tammo, who renounces violence, had wanted to start civil war.

    “The authorities cannot resort to such fearsome charges just because they disagree with someone’s opinions,” he said.

    The U.S. State Department denounced Tammo’s arrest, saying he was held incommunicado for 15 days before he was charged.

    “We condemn the detention of Tammo and other Syrian prisoners of conscience and call for their immediate release,” State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.

    “We encourage the international community to join us in calling on the Syrian government to stop its policy of arresting critics of the regime and to comply with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

    Syria, which has been controlled by the Baath Party since it took power in a 1963 coup and imposed emergency law, has thousands of political prisoners, human rights lawyers say.

    Assad said during a visit to Paris last month authorities only arrest those suspected of violating the constitution and that criticism of his rule was permitted.

    Under Turkish pressure, Syria has cracked down on the PKK, which it once backed.

    A security court handed several PKK members long sentences in 2006 in trials branded illegitimate by international human rights groups.

    “What is this? You armed us and now you imprison us,” one defendant shouted at the judges before he was sentenced to seven years in jail.

    Source: tvnz.co.nz, 1 September 2008

  • Sarkozy’s Club Med Experiment Is Sure to Fail: Michael R. Sesit

    Sarkozy’s Club Med Experiment Is Sure to Fail: Michael R. Sesit

    Commentary by Michael R. Sesit

    Aug. 1 (Bloomberg)

    Beware of French presidents seeking grand projects.

    Amid great fanfare, Nicolas Sarkozy last month unveiled the Mediterranean Union of 43 countries, consisting of the European Union’s 27 members, 14 non-EU member countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, as well as Jordan and Mauritania.

    The ostensible goal is to improve the economic lot of Europe’s poorer neighbors, curb terrorism, stem illegal immigration, clean up the polluted Mediterranean, prevent the proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, improve maritime and land transport and promote human rights.

    The experiment — Sarkozy’s attempt to establish a legacy for his presidency — is doomed to fail, not the least because it attempts to accomplish too much, with too few resources among too disparate a group of countries. The project is also rife with hidden agendas, including the promotion of French national interests, while ignoring some of the biggest dangers in the former European colonies in the Middle East and Africa.

    The founding of the Mediterranean Union three weeks ago was accompanied by grandiose language saluting human rights, praising democratic principles and condemning terrorism. “We must surmount all the hatreds to make space for a great dream of peace and civilization,” Sarkozy said. France’s real motive, though, is to establish a French southern sphere of influence to counter Germany’s dominant position in central and eastern Europe.

    German Resistance

    The Germans caught on quick. Not wanting to see the EU divided, nor German funds used to finance contracts awarded to French companies, Chancellor Angela Merkel objected. Sarkozy retreated and agreed to include the entire EU, instead of just the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It was also agreed to frame the effort somewhat as a successor to the ill-fated Barcelona process, a 1995 plan to promote economic development and conflict resolution among Mediterranean states.

    Still, even in a watered-down version, French companies are well positioned. The union’s initial projects in energy, water systems and transport all play to French industrial strengths.

    Any doubts that the Mediterranean Union isn’t a venture dedicated to the greater glory of France should be dispelled by the date chosen for its launch, July 13 — the eve of Bastille Day, France’s national holiday. That way, the assembled heads of state and other senior dignitaries could be treated to a parade that a Wall Street Journal editorial once called the most ostentatious display of military might west of Moscow.

    French Armory

    Replete with everything from a marching unit of the French Foreign Legion — which for decades was France’s instrument of repression of its North African colonies — to armored tanks and a flyover by fighter jets spewing out the tricolor in smoky trails, the celebrations seemed to be a cross between a photo opportunity and an armaments bazaar.

    At the political level, Turkey sees the union as a consolation prize for its eventual denial of EU membership. “It would send a very bad message to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims,” Egeman Bagis, chief foreign-policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the New York Times. Sarkozy has said that Turkey doesn’t belong in the EU.

    Meanwhile, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade on July 17 said that Europe wants Algerian and Libyan oil-and-gas reserves and accused the EU of deliberately choosing to isolate Africa through the new union. Libyan strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi denounced the project.

    Hodgepodge of States

    Alain Leroy, the French diplomat who was overseeing the Mediterranean effort, said today’s EU began as the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. The comparison is a weak one. The ECSC had only six members, all European, all true democracies. None was a theocracy, nor was any infected by terrorism.

    By contrast, the Mediterranean region is a hodgepodge of European, Arab and African states consisting of democratic regimes, monarchies and dictatorships — some with a strong religious orientation — and made up of Christians, Muslims and Jews, most of whom don’t get along.

    The region is mired in strife between Israel and the Arab world generally and Israel and the Palestinians specifically. Israel and Syria remain technically at war. Syria doesn’t recognize Lebanon. At odds over the Western Sahara, Algeria and Morocco have had closed borders for more than 13 years. Cyprus remains divided; the Balkans lack stability; and Turkey and Greece have disputes that date back to the successors of Alexander the Great.

    Iran’s Ambitions

    What’s more, the experiment ignores the majority of the African continent, and the presumed debt Europe’s one-time colonial masters owe it. Although North Africa’s former French colonies seek freer access to Europe’s food markets, France, eager to protect its farmers, opposes granting it.

    By restricting itself to the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, the project also ignores the area’s most dangerous problem: Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

    Should Sarkozy’s efforts bring peace to the Middle East, succeed in cleaning up the Mediterranean Sea, persuade the region’s populations to abandon terrorism and help boost living standards from Algiers to Amman, he and his union will have earned their place in history.

    But don’t bet on it.

    (Michael R. Sesit is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

    To contact the writer of this column: Michael R. Sesit in Paris at at msesit@bloomberg.net
    Last Updated: July 31, 2008 20:01 EDT

    Source: Bloomberg.com, Aug. 1, 2008