Van Rompuy scorns direct election of Commission president [fr]

http://www.euractiv.com/eu-elections-2014/van-rompuy-underlines-objections-news-531049

Having public candidates for the Commission presidency during the next EU elections is not the panacea for Europe’s credibility woes, says European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

While European parties look for figureheads for their EU election campaigns, the president of the European Council feels this will not resolve Europe’s democratic deficit.
“You don’t have to look for solutions to things that aren’t a problem. To go and look for ‘faces’ to guide the EU: that’s not a solution,” Van Rompuy said at a debate last Thursday (10 October).
The Belgian politician was debating the future of the European Union at an event in Brussels. Joining him in the debate were former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González and former President of the European Commission Jacques Delors.
“Our problems are not institutional; we can do plenty within [the remit of] the existing treaties,” he said.
The Lisbon Treaty, that went into force in 2009, stipulates that the next European Commission president will be chosen “taking into account the results of the European elections”.
Several European parties are in the process of designating candidates to lead their EU election campaigns and thus run for the Commission presidency. Putting ‘faces’ on EU politics is aimed at stoking public interest in the upcoming elections, the first to be held since the 2009 Lisbon Treaty.
The idea could also tackle the EU’s another European election issue;  turnout has been falling since the first direct elections of the European Parliament in 1979. In a recent poll, 55% of Europeans said they would be more inclined to vote if they had a say in who would become the next Commission head.
Van Rompuy has dismissed this initiative in the past, saying that politicising European elections in this way would “organise the disappointment in advance”. He feels the whole effort is doomed to fail unless the Commission was given more powers over the member states: “If this is not going hand in hand with large powers for the Commission, then forget it.”
Facing election euroscepticism
Giving his predictions for the upcoming May 2014 elections at the conference, Van Rompuy warned of a surge in eurosceptic votes.
“There will always be a grand majority in Parliament to move Europe forwards, but they will face a much more difficult time than before,” the European Council president said.
Pro-European politicians should stick their necks out, he said. “We don’t defend the results of the European Union anymore. If the people campaigning [for EU Parliament seats] are really the people who want to fight for the European Union, then it will work. If not, I’m scared of the outcome,” he said.
Analysts have debated the possible impact of rising euroscepticism on the next Parliament’s make-up. “We have seen such eurosceptic pressures popping up in past European election campaigns as well – and they never quite met the expectations,” Isabell Hoffmann of the Bertelsmann Stiftung said in an earlier interview with EurActiv.
“The European Parliament will be able to continue their work with a higher number of eurosceptic MEPs,” Janis Emanouilidis of the European Policy Centre (EPC) said. “They probably won’t form a coherent group in Parliament.”
Anti-European themes are likely to be a feature of the upcoming election campaigns, with trust in the European Union is at an all time low, according to a eurobarometer survey from July

Europe shines bright under a dark sky

14 October 2013 Dilema Veche Bucharest

NASA

Life in the European Union appears better than in many other parts of the world. Yet, this well-being is undermined by the euro crisis combined with a loss of confidence by citizens in their institutions. This trend will be one of the major issues in the upcoming EU ballot.

Ovidiu Nahoi

It is very interesting to look at photos of Europe, taken at night via satellite. White, shiny splotches clearly indicate the most developed areas – the Benelux countries, the Paris area, the Ruhr region and the Rhine Valley. The Po River plain sparkles too as do Rome, its suburbs and the Gulf of Naples.
Great Britain, Madrid, Barcelona and the Portuguese coast are bathed in light. In central Europe, the brightest spot is Silesia. Prague can be seen as well as Budapest, Warsaw and Gdansk. Athens and Belgrade also shimmer. A belt of light lines the Bosporus and fabulous Istanbul. In Romania, Bucharest – the most lit up zone – is linked to Ploieşti [56km north] and further away, a pale line cuts through the Carpathian Mountains all the way to Braşov. Further east, there are a few white dots (Kiev, Minsk) all the way to Moscow, which is an island of white lost in the vastness of Russia.
The EU Parliament has decided to make this photo the poster for the elections, scheduled for next spring, with the slogan "Act. React. Impact." A picture is worth a thousand words.

Europe's glow dims

On the photo, hundreds of thousands of light spots trace the outline of the EU which is much more lit up, on the whole, than are eastern Europe or North Africa. Despite its problems the EU remains a better place than many others on Earth or so seem to imply those who designed the poster. Yet, upon closer inspection, the European glow tends to dim a bit.

The euro crisis, austerity – and its inherent social problems – as well as questions on the durability of the European social model have weakened the credibility of all European institutions

The euro crisis, austerity – and its inherent social problems – as well as questions on the durability of the European social model have weakened the credibility of all European institutions. In fact, they question the credibility of the European project as a whole.
According to the latest Eurobarometer published in July 2013, the number of Europeans who no longer trust the EU is higher than 60 per cent. That is double what it was in 2007, before the crisis began. In the June 2009 EU elections, the participation rate was barely over 43 per cent, much lower than the 60 to 70 per cent participation rate in national elections current in advanced democracies. Although the EU Parliament's powers were reinforced under the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, a lower participation rate than the one in 2009 would seriously question its legitimacy.
For the first time, EU citizens will have the opportunity to vote for a parliament which will have the chance to vote on who becomes the next EU Commission President for the next five years. The EU Council will propose a candidate for the post, in accordance with the results of the EU Parliamentary elections. Candidates for the EU presidency will thus have to seek support within member states, as do local politicians during national elections. This should stimulate debate and make citizens better aware of European issues.

European parliament is always involved

But the European parliament has already been involved in crucial decisions for the citizens of the EU: the drive to rein in budgetary misconduct, the response to the sovereign debt crisis, the breaking of the link between both of these and public debt. And that is not to mention the role played by the European Parliament in the adoption of the EU budget. Parliament has also given a green light to the new Common Agricultural Policy and the future governance of the Schengen Area.

The biggest challenge for the next mandate will depend on the orientation of the post-crisis EU parliament

In recent years, European institutions have responded to certain political challenges posed by the misconduct of some member states with regard to standards of democracy and the rule of law. And on this point, Hungary and Romania have been on top of the list, even though the former state was the only one to become the subject of a resolution of the European Parliament. The biggest challenge for the next mandate will depend on the orientation of the post-crisis EU parliament. Will we have a more united European Union that is closer to a "United States of Europe"? Will we have a more or less integrated union of states? Or on the contrary will we see a dissolution of the Union? This amounts to a major challenge in our rather troubled times.
In reality, extremism is gaining ground — and this not only a matter of growing support for "marginal" groups. Traditional parties are borrowing the language of extremists in a desperate attempt to stop a haemorrhage of votes. Some have succeeded to a certain extent, others have not. But one thing is certain: more national elections are won by campaigns that oppose the EU rather than those that support it.

Extremism in the dark places of nation states

In Austria, the "grand coalition" between socialists and Christian democrats succeeded in conserving a fragile majority in the wake of elections. But the Freedom Party (FPÖ), which was founded by Jörg Haider, was the only movement to register any gains (21.4 per cent — an increase of more than 3 per cent when compared with previous elections). And let’s not forget this is Austria, a country that can take pride in the lowest rate of unemployment in the EU, and one which has survived the crisis without too much damage, precisely because of the enlargement of the EU!
And what about Greece? A country where political crime has emerged on the streets, and where the arrest of the leaders of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party, has only served to boost the group's “popularity”. In France, the launch of campaigns for municipal elections in March has demonstrated the eagerness with which the centre-right UMP and the Socialist Party will draw on the propaganda arsenal of the Front National.
The patches of light on the promotional poster for the European elections speak volumes, but the question is to what extent will the sombre political realities of the continent overshadow their message.

Problem-plagued New Jersey Senate campaign mars Booker's political ascent

By Holly Bailey, Yahoo News CLIFFSIDE PARK, N.J. — Cory Booker’s bid for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat had been considered an easy steppingstone to the national political stage, another ambitious step in what has been his stratospheric rise into the upper echelon of the Democratic Party. But a race that was supposed to be a cakewalk for the 44-year-old Newark mayor has been anything but — hijacked by strange tales including Booker’s Twitter messaging with a vegan stripper and his possible invention of a drug dealer friend named T-Bone often cited in his stump speech. Also damaging were stories about how he’d personally profited off being one of the most famous mayors in America — including more than $1 million in speaking fees that he had not previously disclosed. Republican opponent Steve Lonegan has seized on Booker's missteps to portray him as a political opportunist who is more concerned with his own ambition than in New Jersey residents. He argues that Newark has not improved under Booker's tenure — pointing to, among other things, an uptick in crime in recent months. "Under Cory Booker, about a month ago, 14-year-old Ali Henderson was shot to death in the streets of Newark while he was on the Jimmy Fallon show telling people what a great job he was doing," Lonegan declared in the race's final debate on Wednesday night. Booker is in no serious danger of losing his bid for Senate — polls show him with at least a 10-point lead over Lonegan in the closing days before the Oct. 16 special election to replace Democratic Sen Frank Lautenberg, who died in June. But Booker's problematic campaign has left a blemish on Booker’s once enviable reputation as a rising star with the oratorical chops of President Barack Obama and digital savvy unmatched by any elected official of his generation. The race has raised also questions about whether Booker is merely guilty of rookie mistakes in his first national campaign or if he’s simply not the promising newcomer national Democrats once believed him to be. Booker’s missteps have prompted concern among allies who thought the race was a sure thing. Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a $1 million ad campaign to help shore up the Democratic hopeful in the final days before the election. While Booker's aides insist concern about his campaign is overblown, the candidate has made a major course correction in recent days. After weeks of maintaining a light campaign schedule and largely ignoring Lonegan, Booker has stepped up his appearances and gone on the attack against Lonegan, launching a television ad attacking his opponent as a tea party extremist. It’s a message that Booker has echoed on the stump in recent days, though the Newark mayor has been noticeably off his game. On Tuesday, Booker held an event outside a Head Start facility in Cliffside Park — just across the Hudson River from New York City — where he attacked Lonegan for supporting the government shutdown. But that particular Head Start facility had not yet been affected by the shutdown, and just before he spoke, parents continued to arrive at the facility with their kids. Booker also seemed to stumble at times over attack lines against Lonegan, and noticeably lacked the energy and charisma of past speeches that have often electrified the party faithful. He also seemed unprepared for questions about what he would do to end the shutdown if he were in Washington — delivering a rambling response that included vague promises of working with Republicans as he has with Gov. Chris Christie in New Jersey. “But what exactly would you do?” a reporter pressed. “I am not going to negotiate with myself right now for this purposes of this press conference … but I will be going down there to partner with people to find a way to end the shutdown,” Booker replied. “But who would you work with?” another reporter asked. Booker seemed exasperated. “I don’t say there’s an inability to work with anybody down there,” he replied. While Booker remains the hands-down favorite in the race, the fact that he’s not leading by a bigger margin has mystified many Democrats — many of whom declined to be interviewed on the record about Booker or his campaign. They criticized Booker for not campaigning more vigorously after winning the Democratic nomination in mid-August and for allowing Lonegan's attacks to go unanswered for weeks. Perhaps most of all, they were irritated that Booker had even allowed Lonegan to become a factor in the race — something that has puzzled political observers as well. “Booker had the chance to blow this open early by drawing distinctions between himself and Steve Lonegan. New Jersey voters tend to turn away from Republicans who are too far to the right on social issues,” said Patrick Murray, a political scientist at Monmouth University. “The problem is, Cory Booker didn't even mention his opponent until just over a week ago. That allowed Lonegan to attack Booker's record and the veracity of his personal story without it being defended. It didn't help that Booker was making unforced errors at the same time.” A former mayor of Bogota, N.J., Lonegan is a self-described tea party “radical” who has taken strongly conservative views at odds with New Jersey’s heavily Democratic voting electorate. Among other things, he has campaigned in favor of the federal shutdown and opposes legal abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. Lonegan recently campaigned with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will appear with Lonegan in New Jersey on Saturday. But Lonegan has continued to move up in the polls, despite the overall weakness of his candidacy and with virtually no help from national Republicans, who have ignored the New Jersey race. At a campaign stop on Tuesday, Lonegan spent nearly 15 minutes going through the meticulous history of tax policy in New Jersey, dating back to the state’s role in the 13 original U.S. colonies. He also claimed momentum in the race and predicted a victory that would “shock Democrats in Washington.” Lonegan has accused Booker of “underestimating” his candidacy — a charge that Booker literally laughed off when asked for a response. “That’s not the case,” Booker told Yahoo News. “In politics in New Jersey, you take every election seriously. You are talking to a guy who has come through some pretty tough races over my years.” But Booker has given Lonegan an opening several times in the race. First, in an interview with the Washington Post, he encouraged speculation about his sexuality — telling the paper that he enjoyed it when people question whether he is gay. A few days later, a historian told National Review Booker had confessed to him that a story he frequently told on the stump about meeting a drug dealer named T-Bone was made up — forcing the candidate back on the defensive. In the most salacious campaign development, BuzzFeed reported that Booker had been exchanging flirty private Twitter messages with a Portland, Ore., vegan stripper named Lynsie Lee. Booker spokesman Kevin Griffis defended his boss, insisting Booker has communicated with “people from all walks of life on Twitter.” Indeed, Booker’s political rise has stemmed from his unabashed embrace of social media — he has about 1.4 million Twitter followers and has been known to respond directly to many who send him messages. He has personally responded to pothole complaints and made diaper runs for constituents stranded by a blizzard. During Superstorm Sandy last year, Booker took in a group of displaced Newark residents he met online, allowing them to bunk at his condo and watch his sci-fi movie collection. But Lonegan has accused Booker of being more flash than substance — pointing to a dramatic increase in crime in Newark in recent months and suggesting the long troubled city has not improved under Booker’s leadership. He's also attacked Booker for his frequent travel out of state and for hanging out with celebrities like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who recently hosted a fundraiser for Booker’s campaign in Los Angeles. "What New Jersey needs, sir, is a leader, not a tweeter," Lonegan told Booker during a recent debate. "We need somebody who's going to be there to govern, who's going to be there to do the job — not be running around the country on speaking tours and getting speaking fees." But Booker insisted his travels around the country have included efforts to get private support for Newark — including a highly publicized $100 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to improve Newark public schools. Lonegan’s attacks have taken a toll on Booker. A recent Monmouth University poll found a plurality of voters — 45 percent — believe he is in the race to raise his national profile, compared with 35 percent who say he is running to improve New Jersey. And while 54 percent of likely New Jersey voters view Booker favorably, that number is down 7 points from June when he and Christie were among the most popular politicians in the state, thanks to strong support from independent swing voters. Christie has been able to transform his own popularity into a major lead in his race for re-election. A Quinnipiac University poll found Christie leading his Democratic challenger, Barbara Buono, 62 percent to 33 percent — thanks largely to his popularity among independents. By comparison, Booker has lost ground with independent voters, who now favor Lonegan in the race 50 percent to 44 percent according to Quinnipiac. Two weeks ago, the voting bloc was split between Booker (47 percent) and Lonegan (44 percent). Booker’s quest in the final days of the campaign isn’t just about winning the race. He is aiming to win by a significant margin in hopes that it might undo some of the damage to his reputation not just as an elected official but as a skilled campaigner. Further complicating matters, his campaign announced Thursday Booker would suspend his campaign schedule for the day. Cary Booker, his 76-year-old father who recently suffered a stroke, had passed away in Las Vegas.

By Anton Troianovski | WSJ

BERLIN—Sunday's election rattled Germany's political landscape, kicking a bastion of the conservative establishment out of parliament for the first time since 1949 and catapulting an upstart anti-euro party to national prominence.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is set kept her post for four more years, with her Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party drawing a remarkable 41.5% of the vote. But while it cemented Ms. Merkel's dominance, the election left the rest of German politics in disarray.

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John Macdougal/AFP/Getty Images

Supporters of the Christian Democratic Union celebrate as exit polls were broadcast on television in Berlin on Sunday, after the German general elections.

The business-oriented Free Democratic Party, Ms. Merkel's junior partner in her center-right government since 2009, suffered a historic defeat with just 4.8% of the vote, a preliminary count from all election districts. The result put the FDP, a party that served as a junior partner in government for 46 of the last 64 years, below the 5% of the vote needed for seats in parliament for the first time in German postwar history.
FDP supporters chalked up their collapse in part to the rise of an anti-euro party founded just months ago, the Alternative for Germany, known by its German initials AfD. The party drew about 4.7% of the vote, just short of parliament but better than what polls showed during much of the campaign.

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Associated Press

Ms. Merkel celebrates Sunday at the Christian Democratic Union's headquarters in Berlin. She looks set to keep her post for four more years.

The left-of-center also appeared rudderless. The Social Democrats, the main opposition party, had its second-worst election result in history with just over 25% of the vote and struggled with an uninspiring candidate, former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück. The environmentalist Greens, who lost ownership of a core issue after Ms. Merkel agreed to wean Germany off of nuclear power in 2011, dropped to 8.4%.
Ms. Merkel's alacrity in adopting rival policies made it hard for the opposition to attack her. She has often justified her ideological flexibility by saying that the CDU is a big tent, not a narrowly conservative movement.

German Election Interactive

View the parties, see the history, build your own coalition.

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"She takes the wind from everybody's sails," said Cem Özdemir, co-chairman of the Greens, whose lackluster support partly reflected the fact that Ms. Merkel copied their popular stance against nuclear energy. "She becomes Green when it helps her and becomes a Social Democrat when that's beneficial, too," Mr. Özdemir said in an interview.

More on the German Election

• Merkel Wins Big in German Election
• Germany's Liberals Suffer Historic Collapse
• Fate of Smaller Parties to Determine Outcome
• German Business Demands New Energy Policy
• Heard on the Street: Europe's Long To-Do List
• Opinion: Germany's Election About Nothing
• Election Updates

Wall Street Journal reporters capture the reactions to the first exit polls in the German election. Look out for the stunned silence at the Free Democrats’ headquarters as they find out that they are unlikely to have any representation in parliament.

Smaller parties were squeezed by the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats as the German electorate opted for stability, says John C. Kornblum, the former U.S. ambassador to Germany.

As a result of the FDP's exit and the Greens' weakness, the third-strongest force in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, may be the radical Left party when the legislature reconvenes.
The Left, which received about 8.6% of the vote, emphasizes social justice and pacifism but is a political pariah in much of Germany because of its East German Communist roots. As a result, the Greens and Social Democrats aren't expected to try to form a coalition with the Left, even though such a grouping would have a hair's width majority over Ms. Merkel's party.
Instead, the next weeks in Berlin will likely turn into a period of gamesmanship as Ms. Merkel tries to form a stable governing coalition. Sunday night's vote count shows Ms. Merkel's Christian Democrats will need to find a partner to stay in government.
Her only options with the left out of the picture are the Greens and the Social Democrats. Commentators in Berlin saw the latter as the more likely option Sunday night. The Social Democrats governed with Ms. Merkel in her first term from 2005 to 2009, and polls show that many Germans would be happy with such an outcome, known as a "grand coalition" because it would unite the country's two largest political parties. Such a government would also have a majority in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, offering support for Ms. Merkel throughout the legislature.

Outside parliament, however, German politics is entering an uncertain stage.
The FDP will be reevaluating its message and its leadership as it seeks to rebuild. For decades, the party has counted as a stronghold of business-friendly conservative values and as a political kingmaker.
Philipp Rösler, Germany's economics minister and the party head, called it the "most bitter and saddest" night in party history. Guido Westerwelle, the foreign minister and one of the FDP's most prominent politicians, grimaced onstage alongside Mr. Rösler, at times appearing to fight back tears. In the sullen crowd of FDP supporters gathered for an election-watching celebration Sunday night, many said the party had to sharpen its message and perhaps take a harder line on European bailouts.

Political Speeches - link

http://www.politicalspeeches.net

Anatomy of a Stump Speech

By Patterson Clark and Larry Nista - The Washington Post - February 26, 2008

 

Sen. Barack Obama's stump speech is a 45-minute, ever-evolving set piece that he has given as often as three or four times a day for months and months, from tiny county fairgrounds in Iowa last summer to packed basketball arenas in big cities around the country in recent weeks. The speech, delivered without notes, includes some building blocks that have girded it for a year and sections that have been dropped or added in over time. Many of the additions are riffs that he's created in response to criticisms made against him, lines of attack that he absorbs and tries to turn against the opposition. Following is a partial transcript of a representative speech given in Boise, Idaho, on Feb. 2 to a crowd of about 14,000 in the Boise State basketball arena.

How conservatives won Australia's election

By Joan Koka The conservative party won national elections in Australia this week. The coalition led by Tony Abbott unseated the Labor party, which held power for 6 years. Victory in Australia’s elections hinged on key issues involving the economy, immigration and environment. These issues constituted the battleground where the National-Liberal coalition and its leader Tony Abbott challenged the 6-year reigning Labor Party and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Although both parties prioritized sustainable growth for Australia’s economy, identifying the right approach to achieve this goal proved to be a source of great divide. Economy Contrary to other countries, Australia was one of the few developed nations that escaped the financial downturn — in part due to an economic boom within the mining industry. But as growth is starting to dwindle with an increase in unemployment, Australians seek a plan that would sustain development. The newly elected coalition has proposed a Direct Action plan, which addresses the management of public expenditures, among other things. Abbott promised to abolish the unpopular carbon tax, which he and his coalition account for the loss of jobs and rise in electricity prices,the BBC reported. Their plan would reward farmers and businesses for reducing carbon emissions through tax credits. Rudd also voted to eliminate the carbon tax in favor of an “emissions trading scheme” where the fixed price on carbon will transition to a floating figure. The proposal models the European Union emissions trading scheme that helped to drive down carbon price, The Courier-Mail reported. The scheme was supposed to reduce the overall price of carbon, lowering the cost that burdens on businesses and exporters. Both parties want to reduce the country’s carbon emissions by at least 5 percent before 2020. Abbott also wants to cut taxes and foreign aid to save a minimum of AUS$5 billions, the UK newspaper The Independent reported. According to the BBC, the Labor Party campaign was centered on reviving manufacturing, agriculture as well as construction and tourism jobs — with the promise of a budget surplus by 2016. Not to be outpaced, the National-Liberal coalition said it would achieve the same objective within a shorter period of time. Immigration Policy When it came to foreign policy, both parties found common ground — close Australia’s borders to asylum seekers. According to the BBC, the Labor Party looked to their neighbor Papua New Guinea to deflect the flow of migrants into their country. In exchange, Australia would create more detention centers in Papua New Guinea. Negotiations between the nations began before the election but have since been suspended, according to a report from The Australian. The National-Liberal coalition presented a more direct approach to dealing with asylum seekers — send them right back across Indonesian waters. They also seek to cease providing permanent visas to migrant populations. Climate Change On the topic of clean energy, Abbott’s party is less inclined to invest. Within their Direct Action plan, the conservative coalitions sought to cut a significant portion of funding to renewable energy programs and streamline the functions of various clean energy departments down to their main bodies, The Australian reported.