So, by now all us Europeans are living in a different European entity. Because, even if some of our Head Honchos will be jittery about calling a spade a spade, we now have a European president. Woo- hoo, break out the champagne, throw huge, lavish parties with people madly dancing, drinking and fornicating in the streets into the night for a fortnight. Or should we?

Because, my fellow Europeans, we didn’t get no Obama as EU president. While there is a cautious ‘yes we can’ (if we stick together) attitude, my country’s now ex- Prime Minister and your EU Prez, Herman (not Herbert, you foolish English tabloids) Van Rompuy isn’t particularly know for his talent to rally people for the cause like his American counterpart still can, even with some lost feathers near the end of his term’s first year.

The new EU Prez (source)

No, good old Herman is the greyest mouse you could possibly have for the job and expresses himself in haiku (this is the first and last time I will refer to that, and don’t expect me to write one on his behalf, thankyouverymuch). If you’ve been following the European news for the last couple of days, you will have heard several terms come back about Herman. ‘Aloof’, ‘boring’, ‘consensus builder’ and so on… You will get my own take on Hermie, but let’s just start at the beginning, which was roughly two weeks ago. Being a Belgian native, I witnessed firsthand how this Union got its Belgian Prez.

With the election of the seat about three weeks away, there were rumours – I had to find out through the BBC’s excellent comedy panel show ‘Have I Got News For You’ – about a number of people who were named as candidates : Dr. Fil’s second home native EU bobo Jacques Santer, Holland’s very own adult Harry Potter clone and PM Jan-Peter Balkenende and The Man Who Is President Of So Many Foundations And Institutions He Hardly Knows Which Ones, Only That He’s Filthy Rich Because Of It, the UK’s former Labour PM, Tony Blair.

I admit, the latter’s a rather lengthy moniker, but it is all too true. Blair even prides himself in being the spokesperson for British supermarket chain ASDA in… Palestine! Anyway, to cut a long, money grabbing story short : all of this was sufficient reason for many a EU country to veto Blair’s candidacy, no matter how much Gordon ‘I think the whole UK wants to lynch me’ Brown put his foot down and backed the guy he shoehorned out of Downing St. No. 10 against all odds. (Cue Phil Collins song) Brown would eventually drop Blair’s candidacy in exchange for the EU socialists getting a British Foreign Affairs Minister in Cathernie Ashton. All’s well that ends well…

Anyway, there they were; all major candidates in a row. Oh yeah, there were some others too and almost as an afterthought, Van Rompuy’s name was mentioned as one of them. Cut to a week later and our local journos (on Flemish TV, that is, since I live in The North) came out with the news that their well informed sources within the EU Parliament had told them Hermie was a strong candidate, opposed by no one. When asked, our PM said nothing at first and a week later only that he wasn’t asked and that he didn’t intend to run. But IF asked, he would.

However, this ‘no opposition’ claim wasn’t really all that true. Aside from other ‘informed sources’ who contradicted that there was consensus about Van Rompuy, there was clear opposition… from the UK tabloid press. And the further in the week and the stronger the rumours about our PM’s impending leap up the political ladder, the fiercer the rumours got. The conservative Daily Telegraph, not particularly known for getting their facts straight but rather for their, eh, conservative stance at all cost, even named him ‘Herbert’. All rather silly and all rather out of proportion, unless you know that almost all UK news media is siding with the Tories in the UK right now and they are already campaigning for next year’s national elections. The Tories are fierce – pointy teeth and all – Eurosceptics (anti- European more like it). Then again, political Britain just wants the EU’s benefits and none of the responsibilities and the difference between Labour and the Tories is as thick as a teen’s pubic hair.

Meanwhile, last week, when PM Van Rompuy’s candidacy rumours were getting beyond the point of ignoring, a new problem surfaced in the media : if Herman – the guy who managed to build a consensus between politicians from both North and South on a national level and got a – albeit flimsy – grip on Belgium’s economic crisis – was going to run Europe, who would be running the country? One name popped up : Mr. ‘800.000 Votes Can’t Be Wrong’, Yves Leterme. And the mere mention of the man prompted francophone newspaper Le Soir to literally impose its veto on Leterme as Belgium’s PM, merely because they don’t like his style and they, or rather, editor in chief Béatrice Delvaux (who managed to utter the ‘faux pas’ “I believe that Leterme” before correcting ‘I’ into ‘the paper’ on national TV, thereby exposing her private agenda as well as the fact she used her newspaper for it) came out, guns blazing and knives sharpened. Even the francophone politicians felt that this was a bridge too far. ‘We use the media for our agenda, not the other way around’ was the message when a francophone politician said that ‘Le Soir is not making policy in this country’. As it stands and as I’m writing this, a mere few hours after Van Rompuy’s acceptance speech, this issue is only now starting to become the hot potato which could land this country in another crisis, at a time it needs it the least.

One last fait divers about Hermie’s run up to the presidency : those pesky British tabloids, in their usual fashion – tits on Page3, filth and smut in the rest of the paper – ran increasingly negative stories about Van Rompuy. His sister – a very red socialist (ex- communist party PvdA) politician of her own – allegedly said he was a clown, hadn’t spoken to him in over a year, and so on. Which wasn’t true. The red nose was a campaign stunt of PvdA, and they had spoken just a week ago, she countered only hours ago on a talk show. So where did the British press get all this misinformation from? You’ll never believe it : a BELGIAN lobby firm, represented by a nephew of ex- PM and former EU Chairman hopeful Guy Verhofstadt. While Verhofstadt himself was probably not behind this vicious attack, his nephew had no qualms about feeding these stories, even when untrue, to the British public ‘because that’s what the media wants to run’. Can I come out and say in no uncertain terms that such morally challenged ratbags (I’ll keep it civilised) like these should be sentenced to a life of forced labour without the possibility of parole, while being prison bitch to a 300 pound serial rapist with severe halitosis (sorry, couldn’t help myself in the end)?

So, my EU friends, now he’s been elected unanimously, what can you expect of your president, Herman Van Rompuy? Well, he IS a consensus builder, and when it’s being said that ‘if he can hold a country like Belgium together, he’ll certainly be able to do the same with the 27 EU countries’, you should take that seriously, because he will do his darndest to put all the noses in the same direction. It’s also said he’s an EU nobody, politically speaking. Do NOT make the mistake to think Van Rompuy won’t know what he wants and he’ll be a harmless puppet to the likes of Angela ‘I was in the sauna on the other side of the Wall’ Merkel and Nicholas ‘I singlehandedly tore down the Berlin Wall’ Sarkozy. Some EU bobos will undoubtedly have felt this way when casting their votes and they will be sadly mistaken. Yes, he IS aloof and he only speaks when he feels it matters. No flamboyance there, but do not mistake him for a sock puppet.

What else? Well, he is a catholic and a conservative. Not necessarily negative treats, even though that makes him my political opposite. However, he’s also an intellectual who several times spoke out against what he calls ‘direct democracy’; aka the will of the people via binding referenda. His reasoning was that constituents could not be trusted with this power, hence they needed elected representatives like him, who would decide what was best for them. This was many years ago, but it stayed with me because it incensed me to no end. If people do not know how to wield democracy, it is, in my opinion, not the task of the elected representatives to make up their minds for them, but to teach them how to wield that power effectively. Not so for Van Rompuy, and I was sorely disappointed when not a single journalist drove this issue home when he was about to take over as PM from Leterme. The fact that he was a consensus builder and didn’t really want the job took precedence over that.

In closing : no matter what his qualities may be, Herman Van Rompuy is very much a politician’s politician, and that, too, will have been a reason why he was elected by his peers (!) as EU Council president for the next two and a half years. The only hope I have for this presidency is that Herman Van Rompuy will learn as much about direct democracy as he will be teaching us about intereuropean consensus. Time will tell…

– dr. Arf

Something completely unrelated to football… just to give you a break

All images courtesy The Firm™, photos from Maribor by rollo tomassi

But in the end, it will all be about football. Slovenia has already qualified to Euro 2000 finals and World Cup 2002 in Japan and Korea. Facilitating this were some of the most amazing goals ever seen. Goals, which for a moment made people think that God really exists. And that she roots for Slovenia.

“David Beckham, where are you now?!” (Eurosport comentator during Slovenia v. Ukraine qualifier)

(source)

After the code was drafted, it was submitted to public debate, which did precious little to either calm the fears of those who oppose the new law, or to let those who support it be heard. It was as if everybody just threw away their ponchos and turned out to be armed to their teeth. The opponents’ arguments remained basically the same: family is a union of a man and a woman with one or more children, having it any other way means hurting the kids. The supporters, however, claim that expanding the definition of a family (including but not limited to homosexual couples) will be beneficial to children.

Admittedly, the debate on this 266-pages-long document (font-size 11, Slovene only) was overshadowed by the debate on Pahor-Kosor agreement, which might have something to do with the fact that both camps dug in and are holding fast. But fact of the matter is that the debate went sour predictably fast and that although there seems to have been some initial goodwill on behalf on proponents of the legislation on actually hearing the other side, it dwindled before you can say “adoption by same-sex couples”.

This basically leaves the project in the hands of the coalition, which will probably have to resort to its majority in the parliament and give up hope on reaching at least partial some sort of consensus with the opposition. The latter would probably say that it would support the new code if the same-sex provision were stricken, whereupon the coalition would have probably responded by saying that those provisions are the whole point of the legislation, which would bring us back to square one.

Needless to say that the right wing parties (specifically, NSi and SLS) are threatening to call a referendum on the issue, but it is probably safe to assume, that the Constitutional Court would ban the referendum on the grounds that its result could discriminate against rights of same-sex couples, just as it did when it deliberated on the law on registering same-sex unions. Should a petition to hold a referendum be submitted, the court is widely expected to say that a majority cannot curb rights of a minority.

And a good thing too. According to Dnevnik daily, as much as 2/3 of Slovenes oppose the right of same-sex couples to adopt children. Go figure

And all you wanted was a cappuccino, right?

Real or fake? Do you care?

Some ten days ago the government chose its new logo and design. Created by Gigodesign, the design is rational, simple and technically universal. It establishes a clear and recognisable system of visual communication. It allows for easier management of public administration’s comprehensive graphic identity, saves time and optimises costs. At least, that’s what the government press release says.

pengovsky says the new design is slick, likeable and provides ample opportunity to make fun of. Case in point being the images below, which landed in my mailbox this morning via the good doctor

Ministry of defence. Love the reference to the Liberation Front

Ministry of transport

Ministry of finance. How very true…

Guess which department…

EDIT: as noted below by abaris, the first image was made by him, while the other three are by Stalker. Good work, guys!

Debate on yesterday’s Odmevi programme on RTVSLO (source)

In all honesty, “struck back” might be overstating it a bit. Rather than a proper Chuck-Norris-style-roundhouse-kick in the head, the government delivered more of a half-botched pussy-punch, the sort one aims at his enemy’s plexus, but which invariably lands on their upper thigh. Or something like that. Namely, in what was apparently a Monday all-nighter, coalition parties decided to call a consultative referendum on Pahor Kosor deal. Which would be all fine and dandy, hadn’t there been one slight detail - while consecutive referendum is legally binding, a consultative referendum (as the name implies) is not.

Had all things been equal, this would have been a sound decision - get the voters’ opinion, possibly obey it, but keep the door open if a sudden opportunity to capitalise on the deal arises. However, things are not equal. Opposition was screaming for a referendum as it was and by calling it themselves, coalition members gave the impression of buckling under pressure. The reality is that the referendum move takes the wind out of opposition sails. Especially after some polls showed that a majority of votes are actually in favour of the referendum (rebuking Janša’s earlier threats about the referendum result being a foregone conclusion). However, by closing one flank, the government opened up on another and immediately drew fire on why did it sign the deal in the first place if it felt it would have to ask the people about it.

Things were not helped by the fact that the draft of the referendum question is incomprehensible to say the least. Recapping basic points of the deal, it does its best to confuse anyone who is not familiar with specific stipulations of the agreement. It is now emerging that the actual question will probably be a lot simpler, but the damage had been done. And to top it all, PM Pahor complicated everything even further, by saying that he’d been willing to withdraw the referendum bid if the opposition would withdraw its bid. So, no matter how you look at it, a lot of people will have a lot of ’splainin’ to do…

Not that everything is ticking like clockwork on the opposition side. Pengovsky’s suspicions that Janša’s SDS has not completely rejected the Pahor Kosor deal grew even stronger yesterday after watching a debate on state television, where president of SLS Radovan Žerjav went into full attack mode, while SDS’ Zvonko Černač (the Big Kahuna himself was curiously missing) somewhat unexpectedly harshly criticised the government for splitting the people into proponents and critics of the agreement, rather than striving to reach a consensus on the issue. On the other hand his criticism of the specific stipulations was much more muted. SDS’ main objection yesterday read more like “why weren’t we part of the deal” than anything else.

Which could imply that the largest opposition party is reconsidering its position on the issue, at least for the time being.

Rupel’s video clip on Berlin Wall for his party website. Contrary to his text this is almost unproblematic

However, after skewing the history a bit (failing to mention reform communists and ZSMS - the socialist youth organisation as key players in democratic changes in Slovenia, while overstating the role of Slovene dissident groups had in that same enterprise, making up a direct link between them and the fall of Berlin Wall), Rupel changes the subject completely and goes on a rampage against the current government, specifically its prime and foreign minister. Even more specifically, he went after the Pahor-Kosor agreement. But it is noteworthy that - staying true to his enumeration style - he should first point out the fact that the new government rescinded nominations of some key ambassadors, prepared under the previous government (where Rupel last served as FM). These nominations included the posting of Slovenian ambassador to Vienna. Those with at least average memories will remember that Rupel nominated himself to the post and was promptly rejected by President Danilo Türk with whom the power of ambassadorial nominations ultimately lies.

But that’s just an appetiser. Having failed to become Ambassador to Austria, after the elections and Janša’s loss of power Rupel was - to astonishment of many - first made special advisor on general matters to the newly minted PM Borut Pahor, but was soon ditched to become “just” a senior government official on the Ministry of Foreign affairs. This made Samuel Žbogar (the new foreign minister who was Slovenian ambassador to the US while Rupel was FM) his direct superior, and yet this did not stop Rupel from taking a dirty swipe against his boss, accusing him of trying to sabotage US/EU policy on recognition of Kosovo back in 2008. The fact that the fuck-up over a leaked memo was as much Žbogar’s as it was Rupel’s apparently don’t count no more.

However, refuting claims that the US was pressuring Slovenia on Kosovo, Rupel goes on to say that Obamaland pressured Slovenia over agreement with Croatia and that Slovenia succumbed to that pressure against its best interests. This is a piece of intellectual bravado few but Rupel can cook up. There is absolutely no evidence that the US is involved in solving the dispute other than continuous Croatian claims that the US has their backs. The US was not a party to signature of the agreement and has constrained itself to sending muted positive signals on reaching the deal. But this does not prevent Rupel from going all out on supposed Slovene subjugation to the US.

Dimitrij Rupel was Slovene foreign minister for a huge chunk of the last 18 years. He was the main proponent of Slovene signature of the Villnius declaration, making this country a member of the “coalition of the willing”. If there ever was a person in this country who made sure US interests in Slovenia were looked after, it was him. He has absolutely no right to lecture others on how to run an independent foreign policy. Furthermore, if during his tenure as Foreign Minister he bought every Croatian bluff the way he bought this last one, it is no wonder that the border dispute could not be solved while he was in office.

Rupel’s antics were funny if they weren’t tragic. (Ab)Using the anniversary of bringing down the Berlin wall to attack the very government he works for is of course perfectly legitimate, but it is also bad sport and utterly pathetic. If he has a problem with the way Slovenian foreign policy works, he should resign his post immediately. But he is unlikely to do that. Years ago, when he was Slovenian ambassador to the US he publicly went head-to-head with then-FM Boris Frlec (as in: was writing articles against his boss) and in the end forced Frlec to resign, while he (again) became foreign minister. Not that he will remember it that way, of course, but as pengovsky has shown some time ago, Rupel is prone to adjusting history to the need of the moment, so it should not come as a surprise if ten years from now he claims that he personally brought down the Berlin Wall

So, if Rupel won’t resign, what is to be done? In my opinion this lashing out against a government he works for is enough to simply cut him loose. But you know what they say. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.