Funferal » European Union

Definitions matter

Andrew Ó Baoill — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:19:05 +0000

EUObserver reports on internal EU Commission documents that seek to redefine palm oil plantations – “the source of one of the most destructive forms of biofuels” – as forest that “would not per se constitute a breach” of rules on sustainability. While forests are generally seen as desirable under such rules, because they are not a net contributor to global warming, and support diverse ecosystems, the definition of ‘forest’ has been tweaked in the draft rules, following intensive lobbying, in order to cover some of the activities that such rules are meant to discourage.

War declared! (kind of)

Andrew Ó Baoill — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:47:13 +0000

Well this could be awkward. (Are we expected to cut off all communications?) The EU is threatening a visa war with Canada, because of its withdrawal of visa waivers from visitors from the Czech Republic. That decision, in turn, had been prompted by a large number of applications for asylum by visiting members of the Czech Roma community, who face significant discrimination within that country.

The Canadian decision has been criticized by groups such as Amnesty, who point to that pattern of discrimination:

“Last year there was a big pogrom against Roma in the north of the Czech Republic in Janov. And the whole incident has still not completely been resolved and there are no conclusions yet,” Dasa van der Horst, the head of the Amnesty International branch in Prague, told Czech Radio.

And now – as expected for a while – the EU has weighed in. However, one hopes that apart from putting pressure on Canada to reinstate the visa waiver, member states (and the Commission) are taking the opportunity to put pressure on the Czech government, and push for greater action to combat discrimination and prejudice against the Roma community.

Postal services in Europe – have your say

Andrew Ó Baoill — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:36:36 +0000

This from the Comreg list:

ComReg was asked by ECORYS for help in identifying consumers who are willing to participate in a short web-survey on customer needs for postal services. This is part of a study that ECORYS is undertaking for the European Commission on The Main Developments in the Postal Sector (2006-2008). The initial deadline of 31 March 2008 has now been extended to 31 May 2008.

The request can be viewed at http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/CP46.pdfComReg wishes to thank those who have already participated in the survey and would urge other interested parties to participate prior to the extended deadline.