Published Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 15:31
by
arktika 
in Debate (582 views and 0 comments)
As today’s headlines were dominated by news that the European Commission is to withdraw hundreds of millions of euros worth of EU funding to Bulgaria and to withhold their right to manage such funds, Ari Rusila asks how much of the misuse of EU funds is really down to corruption and organised crime?
Ari claims that perhaps the real crime is preoccupation with details and bureaucracy, and that EU officials are the culprits.
The European Commission is set to withdraw the
accreditation of two Bulgarian agencies and bar them from using
EU funds after details of a European Commission report on
Bulgaria’s fight against corruption and
organised crime will be officially issued on
July 23. Two agencies under the Ministry of Regional Development
and Public Works and the Finance Ministry will lose their permits
to operate with EU funding under the bloc’s
pre-accession programme PHARE. This
could deprive Sofia of about €600 million. Two other
agencies/programmes could meet the same fate.
The average reader may think that some clever crocks have
pocketed a nice sum because the report highlights corruption,
organized crime and economical fraud activities in Bulgaria.
Undoubtedly these kinds...
Published Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 14:31
by
yoan.abiven
in New Social Europe (771 views and 1 comments)
The hopes for a better European future are stalling.
In that context, what are the urgent matters that need dealing
with?
First and foremost, the European Union can measure its legitimacy by its usefulness. In order for Eurosceptics, starting with the French, to think of Europe as indispensable, Europe must become indispensable once again.
In the short term, if Europe wants to be 'desirable' again, it needs to tackle social insecurity. European citizens will renew their vows with the EU once the Union finds a coherent and effective answer to their present rightful claims to a protection of their way of life. This is not just a matter of communication or better explanation of its policies. The European construction suddenly stumbled precisely over the social dimension, at a time in which the century-old pillars of our social welfare were crumbling down in the apparent indifference of our political elites.
Today, in our search for a wide consensus over Europe, we should perhaps think that in order to deepen the Union, we should enlarge its mission to the social field as much as we should review its institutions.
This is all the more important that the European Union has a certain degree of legitimacy because it is such an example to others. The European Union is unique in its...
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