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/ 5 September 2006
Europe’s ”Christian values” should be enshrined in a new version of the European Union Constitution, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared last week after meeting the pope. In remarks that will reopen the debate on religion in the EU, Merkel threw her weight behind Pope Benedict’s campaign to recognise Europe’s Christian heritage.
Tourists and young couples ambling through the historic centre of Krakow on a warm spring afternoon were stopped in their tracks by a sight reminiscent of the era of martial law. As drinks flowed in the open-air cafes of Poland’s ancient royal capital, a phalanx of armed police in full riot gear inched its way slowly through the medieval city.
The government of Serbia was staggering towards collapse recently because of the continued liberty of General Ratko Mladic, Europe’s most-wanted man and genocide suspect. The European Union called off talks on Serbia’s integration with the EU after Belgrade reneged on its promise to arrest the fugitive former Bosnian war commander.
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/ 27 January 2006
Europe’s human-rights watchdog recently accused Washington of ”gangster tactics” by flying terrorist suspects to countries where they would face torture, and criticised European countries who appear to have done nothing to intervene. ”If a country resorts to the tactics of gangsters, I say no,” Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, said.
British Home Secretary Charles Clarke on Wednesday broadened Britain’s response to the 7/7 bombings in London with plans to allow him to exclude or deport from Britain Islamist militants whose inflammatory language or behaviour is judged to foment or provoke terrorism. His announcement immediately preceded another wave of attacks on London transport.
The British Conservative opposition leader Michael Howard on Tuesday paved the way for a bitter end to the general election campaign when his party launched a United Kingdom-wide poster campaign explicitly condemning Tony Blair as a liar. In an echo of the Conservatives’ notorious ”demon eyes” of 1997, the leadership unveiled a poster of a shifty-looking Blair standing next to a stark message.
The British political establishment last week embarked on its four-yearly quest for the support of 44-million voters in the 2005 general election in a mood of barely concealed anxiety about what the campaign may hold. Speaking in Downing Street, Prime Minister Tony Blair said: ”It is a big choice, a fundamental choice and there is a lot at stake.” Labour have pledged to ”fight for every seat and every vote.”
The Eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) vote looks set to become a permanent feature of the British political landscape but is likely to lead to a third-term Labour victory by default, according to a Guardian/ICM poll. The poll confirms that Ukip did the most damage to the Tory vote in the Euro elections.
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/ 31 October 2003
Michael Howard emerged as the man most likely to be the third leader of the British Conservative Party in six years this week, after Iain Duncan Smith lost his battle to retain the Tory leadership by 75 to 90 votes cast by his fellow Tory members of the United Kingdom Parliament.
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/ 1 September 2003
Geoff Hoon, the British Defence Secretary, last week appeared to undermine Downing Street’s carefully crafted defence for the Hutton inquiry when he insisted that key officials in No 10 were intimately involved in the ”naming strategy” that led to the unmasking of Dr David Kelly.