Blog update and ouch for Bulgaria

Flag of Bulgaria

So I’ve been quite busy lately to the detriment of updating the blog.  I apologize to the readers, but this may have to be the trend for the foreseeable future with deadlines upon deadlines rolling in.  This is where the “much-needed new month Extember” would be perfect (see Tyler Brûlé).

Meanwhile, the European Commission is clamping down on corruption in the EU.

The European Commission has stripped Bulgaria of 220m euros (£188m) in EU funding over its failure to tackle corruption and organised crime…As the economic crisis starts to bite, this unprecedented move is meant to show that the European Commission is not squandering taxpayers’ money, and to warn new and potential EU members that they have to crack down on entrenched corruption.

This should be a popular move before the upcoming elections.  Whether it will work is another question.  The ideal scenario is that in the next six months Bulgaria makes a handful of senior-level convictions and brings down the crime rate to some reasonable level with which to argue for EU funding restoration, even if partial.  If Sofia can do this, the Commission is wont to change its mind.

The more problematic issue seems to be the use of Transparency International CPI rankings to provide justification, in part, for cutting Bulgaria’s funds (i.e. Bulgaria is “described by Transparency International as the most corrupt country in the EU” therefore it deserves to have its funds cut).  What may happen is that countries nearest the bottom of the EU corruption scale, such as Romania, Lithuania, Poland, and Italy may wonder if they are next?  In effect, the Commission’s decision places the TI in a powerful position, because its ranking is now used to guide policy with real consequences.

A different take on the CoA report and EU accountability

Flag of EU

After the latest EU Court of Auditors report revealed graft and corruption across institutions of the European Union, the EU Observer published a commentary by Richard Corbett, which is in effect a reply to the eurosceptics.

I wanted to mention it here, because it offers the counterargument (i.e. that EU corruption is not as bad as they make it out to be).

For example, Corbett writes:

For starters, the CoA, for the first time, states that the EU’s accounts give a “fair representation …in all material respects” of its finances. In other words, the accounts themselves were signed off, but the CoA could not give a “statement of assurance” that all the actual financial transactions of EU money had been done in accordance with the rules.

He goes on to say that the EU circumstance is hardly unique.  The U.S. federal budget and the U.K.’s Department of Work and Pensions have not received the equivalent positive assurance for 10 and 15 years respectively.

Moreover argues Corbett:

It should also be borne in mind that the European CoA works to more stringent criteria than most…Sir John Bourn, former head of the UK National Audit Office, has said that if he had used the same system as the CoA, he would have had to disqualify the whole of UK government expenditure.

I suppose that’s comforting from the EU perspective, although I’m not sure this is something that the U.K. taxpayers would be happy to hear.  Anyway, read the whole thing if you care here.

Across Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine

After the Fall is a Worldfocus signature series exploring four post-communist countries two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  If you have a comment about any of these videos, be sure to leave it on the Worldfocus site.  The staff and correspondents of Worldfocus are very responsive and willing to engage with their viewers.  Check out, for example, this exchange under a video report about the Czech Republic.

Patria scandal in Slovenia

Patria - Armored Modular Vehicle (AMV)

When allegations of corruption surfaced weeks before Slovenia’s election, then Prime Minister Janez Jansa denied the charges and demanded that the Finnish TV broadcaster which broke the story apologize.  Now that Patria executives are under arrest for “industrial espionage, aggravated bribery and bribery in business operations” Jansa’s role is again under scrutiny.

An executive of the Finnish arms group Patria and its former CEO have been detained by police investigating bribes the Helsinki-based company allegedly paid to a leader of Slovenia, authorities said Friday.

Finnish media have reported that in 2006 then-Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, a center-right leader who governed his country for four years, took bribes to grant Patria a contract in Slovenia. Jansa has denied the allegation and threatened to sue Finnish broadcaster YLE for defamation…

…the bribery investigation involved a deal between the Finnish company and the former leader in Slovenia. The company said on its Web site that deal involved the sale of Patria vehicles.

It is still too early to tell with certainty what exactly happened and who committed what, but what we do know is that someone on the Finnish side bribed someone on the Slovenia’s side for a large contract of AMVs (see picture above).  With the electorate having spoken by ousting Jansa, it is now time for the justice system to work through the case.

Image credit:  Patria (cc-by)

They just might pull it off in 2012

Speaking this Wednesday in Sofia, Bulgaria, Michel Platini, UEFA president, made a very simple but direct point to governments in Warsaw and Kyiv:

Poland and Ukraine know that there is now a major condition (for their bid): that the stadiums in their capitals be ready on time,” Platini told a press conference.

If the stadiums in the capitals are not built, the Euro 2012 will go to neither country.  What’s amazing and to the host countries’ credit, the reaction was swift coming only two days later, and united making me wonder that Poland and Ukraine just might pull this off – to become the first former communist countries to host a Euro championship.

Senior Ukrainian, Polish and UEFA officials showed a united front on Friday, giving assurances that the two countries will successfully host the Euro 2012 soccer championship. Poland and Ukraine have been criticised for the slow progress of preparations since being awarded the tournament last year and European soccer’s governing body UEFA is subjecting both countries to close scrutiny after suggesting the event could be moved.

NATO-Ukraine consultations in Estonia

Flag of Ukraine

NATO and Ukraine are holding the Sixth Informal High Level consultations in Tallinn, Estonia.  This comes roughly a month before the next meeting of foreign ministers where the question of a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine will be discussed.

In Tallinn, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will reportedly push NATO allies to accelerate Ukraine’s application by approving the MAP in December.  This has been a priority for the Bush administration since at least the Bucharest Summit last spring.  But one wonders if after this, there should be any illusions about the viability of this foreign policy goal.

If the MAP for Ukraine, and for that matter for Georgia, is not possible any time soon, then perhaps energy should be focused elsewhere.  That is in fact the position put forth by Steven Pifer at The Brookings Institution (h/t Kyle Atwell at the Atlantic Review).

First, Pifers summarizes what happened at the summit in Bucharest, Romania and since then, like the Georgian-Russian war, etc.  He then makes a realistic observation that there is no consensus on the MAP issue within NATO.  Germany has essentially sided with Russia by explicitly opposing MAP before the December meeting even took place.  As a result, Pifer calls for an alternative plan.

Seeking MAPs in December, only to fall short, would not be good for Ukraine or Georgia or for their long-term NATO prospects. Likewise, it would not be good for the U.S. government to make a big diplomatic push to persuade allies to agree to MAPs – and fail again, as it did in Bucharest.

Washington thus needs a Plan B. The U.S. government should begin consulting now with Kyiv and Tbilisi on goals for December short of MAPs.

This Plan B is outlined in four bulletin points in the original article, but more or less comes down to remaining engaged with Ukraine and Georgia without going as far as a Membership Action Plan.

And judging by the discussion on NATO enlargement we had here, for example under this post Debunking the case against NATO enlargement: a reply to the WPR op-ed or this one, Pifer’s argument may attract quite a few supporters.  Whether it will affect the outgoing administration remains to be seen.

Kaj Larsen’s “Modern pirates” (25m)

Got an email from Current TV after they read Yet another ship an update post about Somalian pirates (see also, Arrrgh, Crazy pirates and corn). From the email:

We just debuted a new video about modern day pirates operating in the straits of Malacca. I thought you and your readers might enjoy it.

I checked out the video. Modern Day Pirates is a 25 minute documentary by Kaj Larsen; it explores modern piracy [talk about being redundant -ed.] Larsen starts his travels in London meeting the guy in charge of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), where Larsen learns that pirate attacks were on the decline since 2003, and only since 2007 was there an upturn.

Larsen then goes to “the heart of modern piracy” – the straights of Malacca, Indonesia. The film has high production quality (comparable to History or Discovery channels), and the topic is very current…[you would have never guessed -ed.]  The documentary would be a perfect supplement in a classroom or an extra feature in the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Collection.  If interested check it out, the link is above in bold.