Monthly Archives: January 2019

Commemorations marking the 74th anniversary of liberating the Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were held in Oświęcim, southern Poland, on Sunday.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a ceremony held at the site of the former camp: “It wasn’t the Nazis who perpetrated the Holocaust, it was Hitler’s Germany,” Poland’s PAP news agency reported.

Morawiecki was cited as saying: “Hitler’s Germany fed on fascist ideology…,” adding that “all the evil” came from Germany.

He added: “We shouldn’t forget that because otherwise a relativism of evil follows.”

“The Polish state is a guardian of the truth, which cannot in any way be relativised.”

Several dozen former prisoners and state representatives, took part in observances taking place at the site of the former camp.

The key commemorations saw survivors share their testimonies of horrors they experienced and witnessed at the camp.

One of them, Janina Iwańska, said: “I wish for young people, younger generations not to follow the path I was subjected to.” She was taken to Auschwitz at age 14.

The German Auschwitz Birkenau camp operated from 1940 until its liberation by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. The anniversary is commemorated across the globe as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

More than 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, as well as non-Jewish Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet POWs and people of many other nationalities, perished at Auschwitz during World War II.

(27. 1. 2019 via thenews.pl)

This week the parliament in Athens ratified the so-called “Prespa Agreement” ending Greece’s 27-year-long diplomatic confrontation with its northern neighbour, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). From now on, the latter’s official name will be “Republic of North Macedonia”. Athens has pledged to no longer veto Skopje’s NATO and EU membership bid, as repeatedly done since the former Yugoslav republic gained independence in 1991.

The widespread street protests against the agreement that have broken out in North Macedonia over the last two years have reminded the international community that the national identity of the former Yugoslav republic still lacks an inclusive and accepted definition. According to the last census, beside the majority of Macedonians (64.2%), Albanians make up a considerable minority (25.2%), together with the Roma (officially 2.7%, probably between 6.5 and 13 %), Turks (3.9%) and Serbs (1.8%). Small ethnic groups such as Aromenians, Bosnians and Bulgarians complete the fragmented demographic picture of this landlocked country that only recognises the Macedonian language as its official language.

Since its independence, North Macedonia has struggled to promote a clear-cut and recognised national identity. The most controversial attempt to establish this identity took place during former prime minister Nikola Gruevski’s two terms in power. In 2010 the conservative leader launched a project named “Skopje 2014” — popularly known as “antikvizacija” (antiquization, which refers to the identity politics based on the assumption that there is a direct link between today’s ethnic Macedonians and Ancient Macedonians). Dozens of statues of Greek heroes and philosophers popped up in the centre of the capital, including a towering horse statue of Alexander the Great. With this operation, which led the Guardian to award Skopje the title of “Europe’s new capital of kitsch,” the government argued that the famous warrior that conquered the Persian empire in the 4th century BC was their predecessor, despite Macedonians having Slavic origins tied to Bulgarian language and culture. The government’s identity politics exacerbated the conflict with Athens, pushing the solution to the “name issue” off the table during Gruevski’s mandate.

The current government coalition led by Zoran Zaev reversed the isolationist foreign policy pursued by his predecessor. Revamping Skopje’s Western ambitions has been at the core of Zaev’s diplomatic efforts since his appointment in May 2017. A few months later, he signed a Friendship Treaty with Bulgaria, boosting economic cooperation between the two Balkan countries. He also succeeded in captivating the heartfelt support of EU elites and improving Skopje’s image on the international stage.

Having secured the historical agreement with Athens, Zaev and his allies have now pledged to establish a working state system based on the rule of law and market economy, although critics claim the government lacks both the will and the means to push forward this ambitious overhaul. As for the national identity of Macedonians, not only has the new name proved unable to gather trans-national support to date, but it is also likely to trigger a backlash from hardcore nationalists, which may marginalise minorities even more. Today, North Macedonia’s religious and ethnic communities are like a patchwork, whose different pieces have yet to find a satisfactory way to stay together.

(28. 1. 2019 via euronews.com)

Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is backed by 39 percent of voters who say they would take part in parliamentary elections, according to a new survey.

The study by pollster CBOS found backing for the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, which governed Poland from 2007 to 2015, was at 22 percent, down 2 percentage points on December.

Support for PiS also fell 2 percentage points from last month, according to the poll.

The anti-establishment Kukiz’15 group was on 7 percent, according to the study.

The rural-based Polish People’s Party (PSL), on 6 percent, would also make it into parliament.

The poll found no other parties would clear the 5 percent support threshold needed to enter the Sejm, the lower house.

(19. 1. 2019 via thenews.pl)

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Saturday that he was ready to meet French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss steps to arrest and expatriate Italians living in France but wanted in their native country on charges of terrorism.

Salvini’s announcement came after Cesare Battisti, a former communist militant, was jailed following his arrest and extradition from Bolivia.

Battisti, 64, had been condemned to four life sentences in prison for the killings he carried out as a member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism in the 1970s. But he had fled first to France — where he spent 15 years — and then to Brazil.

Following his arrest in Bolivia earlier this month, Italy’s interior ministry said it had updated a list of 30 Italians — 27 of them leftists — wanted on terrorist offences and who are living abroad.

The ministry did not make the list public but 14 are believed to be in France. At least three of them were convicted for their role in the 1978 kidnapping and murder of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

“If needed I’m ready to leave for Paris to meet Macron, it it helps bring back to Italy these assassins,” Salvini said on Twitter.

Macron has not commented on the issue but the Justice Ministry said after the initial reports earlier this week that the country did not keep a detailed list of Italian fugitives living in the country.

“Extradition requests received by the Italian authorities in the coming days will be analysed in detail, on a case-by-case basis, as has been the case for the last 15 years or so,” the spokesman said.

Former French President Francois Mitterrand instituted what came to be known as the “Mitterrand doctrine” in the 1980s, a policy that shielded the militants from extradition because the French leader believed at the time that the Italian justice system was stacked against them. The doctrine was abandoned in the early 2000s.

But in 2008, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to extradite Marina Petrella, a former member of the Italian terrorist Red Brigades organisation, sentenced in 1992 for the killing of a police officer.

Sarkozy said his decision was take on “humanitarian grounds” but it is believed he was privately lobbied by his Italian-born wife, model Carla Bruni, who visited Petrella in hospital where she had gone on hunger strike.

(20. 1. 2019 via euronews.com)

Austria’s national post office found itself under fire on Tuesday for collecting and selling information about customers’ political allegiances in what privacy campaigners say bears similarities to the Facebook data-sharing scandal.
According to the investigative journalism website Addendum, the Austrian Post sold the names, addresses, age and gender of around three million customers to other companies for targeted marketing purposes.

It also makes assumptions about users’ likely political allegiances, compiling up to 2.2 million such profiles.

That information is sold on to political parties so that they can better target potential supporters in election campaigns, Addendum reported.

The privacy campaign group, Epicenter Works, argues that such a practice runs contrary to EU data protection rules.

It was a “scandal” that the Austrian Post was collecting and selling assumptions about customers’ party political allegiances without their knowledge and permission, said Wolfie Christl, a campaigner at Epicenter Works.

However, the Austrian Post sees nothing wrong in such a practice, insisting that it is allowed to use such data under Austrian law.

“The specified characteristics are collated in this way and are allowed to be used exclusively for marketing purposes. The use of such data is strictly limited to this purpose only,” it said in a statement.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, has been roiled by a series of scandals in several countries concerning data protection and privacy after user data were hijacked in the 2016 US election campaign.

The Austrian Post is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange but is majority-owned by the state.

(11. 1. 2019 vie thelocal.at)

The mayor of Gdańsk in northern Poland was stabbed and seriously injured during a charity event in the port city on Sunday, according to media reports.

Private broadcaster TVN24 cited Interior Minister Joachim Brudziński as saying that mayor Paweł Adamowicz, a well-known local politician, had to be resuscitated and was in a “serious” condition.

The attack, which took place during a high-profile, long-running fundraiser called the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, caused shock and disbelief in Poland.

TVN24 reported that Adamowicz was wounded by a knifeman who ran shouting onto a stage. It added that the mayor was taken to a local hospital, where he was undergoing an operation.

Brudziński said: “I can’t find the words, an explanation, for this kind of act. Especially since the finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity has for the last 27 years always been associated with good, with something joyful, positive.”

PM condemns attack

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the attack. He wrote on Twitter: “We are with Mayor Adamowicz in our thoughts and prayers.”

The attacker reportedly shouted that he had unfairly spent time in prison when the previous Civic Platform-led government was in power, according to TVN24. He claimed he had been “tortured” by the Civic Platform.

After the stabbing, the man made an apparent gesture of triumph and strutted around the stage, media reported.

The knifeman was disarmed at the scene, TVN24 said.

Public broadcaster Polish Radio reported that investigators were collecting evidence at the site.

Police said they had detained a 27-year-old local resident.

Messages of support

In an unusual display of unity in Poland, messages of support for Adamowicz flowed in from politicians from different ends of the political spectrum.

Earlier on Sunday, some 120,000 volunteers took to the streets across the country and in many locations abroad to raise funds during the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity drive’s finale, an event that draws huge support from the public and celebrities every year.

This year’s proceeds were to go towards medical equipment at children’s hospitals in Poland.

(13. 1. 2019 via thenews.pl)

It’s the hugely controversial and long-running dispute that has inflamed tensions between Greece and FYR Macedonia.

But now the feud — which for years has appeared to be an incurable problem — is heading towards a resolution.

So what is the wrangle over and why does it incite such strong reactions in both Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia?

What’s the dispute about?
FYR Macedonia is controversial for Greeks because it uses the same name as a neighbouring region in northern Greece.

Athens claims its territory of Macedonia — which is coloured yellow in the map above and lies just across the border from FYR Macedonia — has used the name since the times of Alexander the Great.

They think FYR Macedonia suggests Skopje has territorial claims on the Greek region of Macedonia.

How did the dispute come about?
The name dispute was an issue between Belgrade and Athens before the 1990s when the People’s Republic of Macedonia made up part of Yugoslavia.

But it really came to prominence in 1991 when FYR Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia.

The disagreement has seen Athens block multiple attempts by Skopje to join NATO and the European Union.

But, after years of stalemate, the election of pro-EU prime minister Zoran Zaev in 2017 has helped push the issue towards resolution.

Why are we talking about this issue now?
Greece and FYR Macedonia reached an agreement in June 2018 to rename the country the Republic of Northern Macedonia.

But while prime ministers of both countries were all smiles after signing the deal, they still faced opposition domestically, especially from nationalists.

A referendum was held last September — and while 94% backed the deal with Greece — it was ruled invalid because not enough of the electorate turned out.

The deal was then ratified by the Macedonian parliament on January 11, 2019. Greek MPs will now be asked to do the same.

Will the Greek MPs approve the name change?
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing difficulties over getting the name change approved by the Greek parliament.

“The big problem is the coalition partner of Tsipras’, the Independent Greeks, a far-right ultra-nationalist party,” Dr Angelos Chryssogelos, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Europe programme, told Euronews. “Their leader says he’s against the deal because it sells the [Greek] region to foreigners.”

This disagreement could see Tsipras’ ruling coalition crumble and trigger an early election that would cloak the name change in uncertainty.

But if a snap poll is averted, Chryssogelos believes MPs will approve the deal in the coming weeks.

“My hunch is that if the deal comes to the Greek parliament I would bet that it gets passed because it would need 151 MPs for it to pass and Tsipras has 145,” he said.

(11. 1. 2019 via euronews.com)