UN war crimes trial of Karadžić to start later this month after appeal rejection

The genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić before the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the 1990s Balkan conflicts will start on 26 October at the latest after the rejection of his appeal that he enjoys immunity through an earlier deal with United States officials.

Governance tops UN-backed talks between Cypriot leaders

Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders met today to continue discussions on governance, focusing on the executive, as part of ongoing United Nations-backed talks to unify the Mediterranean island, the world body said today.

Nearly five million children in Horn of Africa now hungry, UNICEF says

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sounded the alarm on the worsening humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa today, noting that nearly five million children under the age of five in the region are now hungry.

Former Rwandan intelligence chief pleads not guilty in UN war crimes court

A former Rwandan intelligence chief who was caught recently after being on the run for nine years entered a plea of not guilty today as he made his first appearance in front of the United Nations tribunal which indicted him for his role in the country’s 1994 genocide.

A popular Europe, or a politician’s Europe?

Open Europe organised an event at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester last week, entitled “What priorities for a Conservative government in Europe?” You can read a summary of the event here or, for the really keen, listen to a recording.

A couple of days later, on Friday last week, the Centre for European Reform organised a conference entitled, “What future for the EU?” Keynote speeches came from Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, and Giuliano Amato, the former Italian Prime Minister and Vice President of the Convention on the future of Europe (which drew up the EU Constitution).

The various speakers largely addressed their comments based on the (increasingly likely) scenario that the Lisbon Treaty is done and dusted, and likely to be in force before long.

In particular, there was a great deal of discussion about what shape the new Lisbon Treaty institutions of Foreign Minister and permanent President might look like - perhaps worth summarising here.

The conference reinforced the fact that there are two different visions of what the permanent President should actually look like. One of those is the consensus builder, devoting their time to creating harmony within the European Council and speeding up progress toward ever-closer union, and the other being a figure for the global stage, a big name to represent the EU externally. No prizes for guessing which category a Tony Blair presidency would come under.

Giuliano Amato favoured an EU President more in line with the first description, saying that when they (delegates at the Convention on the Future of Europe) were drawing up the Treaty, “we thought of the President of the Council not as a world leader, but as a consensus builder in the Council”, later adding “We did not want a European Obama.”

Lord Kerr, a member of the House of Lords’ EU Select Committee and a former diplomat and Ambassador, agreed , saying that for the President, “the first task is cohesion and coherence”, rather than external representation.

However, the Economist’s Europe Editor John Peet said that whatever the language of the Treaty, the rest of the world would look to the President as a “symbol and spokesman of the EU,” adding: “this choice is going to say something about how seriously the EU sees itself as a world power”.

Lord Kerr said, “I think the European Council next week should do nothing about the President, because they don’t have a Treaty base”, but added that a new EU High Representative for Foreign Policy (currently Javier Solana), should be appointed immediately, taking on the EU Foreign Minister role as soon as the Treaty comes into force.

It was argued that they could get around the pesky provisions in the Nice Treaty to reduce the size of the Commission by telling whichever country takes the Foreign Minister job they would be without a Commissioner until a new one was formed under Lisbon.

Lord Kerr summed up the mood in the room, saying, “most people here reflect the general European boredom with institutional fatigue.”

However, David Heathcoat-Amory, MP for Wells, and also a former member of the European Convention which drew up the Lisbon Treaty, pointed out that “the public don’t want to move on from institutional questions”, because they still want to be consulted about the Treaty, on which they were promised a referendum. He said that despite this, “the EU will try to leave these institutional questions behind… I think they will rely on the self-amending parts of the Treaty, such as the passarelle clause, so you won’t have to ask the people again [in a referendum]”.

Indeed David was the only speaker at the conference who recognised that there is still a strong public appetite for some kind of overdue consultation on the Treaty, saying “we’re trying to make a popular Europe, not a politician’s Europe”.

Well said.

Over 100,000 Iraqis uprooted by collapse of ancient water system - UNESCO

The collapse of ancient underground aqueducts, triggering severe water shortages, has driven over 100,000 people in northern Iraq from their homes in recent years, according to a new study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Israel, Palestinians must refrain from increasing tensions - top UN official

Worrying developments on the ground have increased tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past month and it is vital that both sides refrain from provocative actions, the top United Nations political official said today. | Live webcast

Irony alert

In the corridors of the European Parliament today Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies climbed onto a chair and announced his bid to apply for the prestigious new role of EU President, should the Lisbon Treaty come into force.

Challenging the idea that the role should go to an ex-Prime Minister or President, as outlined in a recent paper circulated to EU capitals by the Benelux countries, Davies said: “This is a job that should be open to anyone to apply for. And if that means there are millions of applicants to sift through, then it will be worth it in the interests of democracy.”

According to PA:

Mr Davies has written to all EU leaders insisting his qualifications for the job are as good as the other candidates suggested so far - including Tony Blair and former Irish president Mary Robinson.

In a dig at Mr Blair, Mr Davies points out that he has never deceived a parliament or been responsible for the illegal invasion of another country. Mr Davies said the “circle of individuals” who could be considered was too small, adding: “The backroom manoeuvrings now taking place are a very poor substitute for an open selection process. We have millions of talented people in Europe, and more than half of them are women, so why is the recruitment net not being cast wider?

“European citizens should be told whether this is just a beauty contest for middle aged males or a professional recruitment exercise intended to select the best person for the job, someone with ideas about how to shape Europe’s future.”

Mr Davies’ letter to EU leaders says: “I am a man in my 50s, with a Cambridge University education and 30 years of political experience, I believe I possess qualifications similar to those of other potential candidates named in the media.

“To my credit I can claim that, unlike some of my rivals, I have never deceived either of the two parliaments to which I have belonged, and I bear no responsibility for the illegal invasion of another country that led to the death of many thousands of innocent people. I hope these facts will not prejudice my application.”

The letter adds: “Although the position has not yet been advertised, and the criteria for selection has not been determined, I have no doubt that the Council (of EU leaders) will want to follow good employment practice and to select the best person for the job.”

Now, here at Open Europe we rather like Chris Davies - he is a dedicated transparency campaigner and did well on these issues in our ranking of all MEPs earlier in the year.

And he’s quite right about the lack of democracy in this EU President post - he or she will be nominated by a qualified majority of 27 heads of state meeting in the EU Council, with no input from national parliaments, let alone the people. (Compare that with the 70 million-strong mandate Barack Obama has).

And the idea that it must be an ex-Prime Minister or President underlines this lack of democracy even further - it basically means we are very likely to end up with someone who has fallen from grace and/or failed to get re-elected in their own country. (Compare that to the current situation, where the democratically-elected heads of state, who have a current mandate from the people, take it in turns to be EU President for 6 months at a time).

All that said, however, it is pretty hypocritical for a Lib Dem politician, of all people, to be complaining about this now. It’s a bit late, Chris. Why didn’t you raise any of these objections when the Treaty was still being negotiated? Why didn’t ANY of the Lib Dems’ representatives in either the European Parliament, the Commons or the House of Lords want to discuss all this stuff when they had the opportunity, when the Treaty was going through the Houses of Parliament last year?

Why, instead, have the Lib Dems pushed this Treaty and argued it’s the best thing since sliced bread? And when Tory MPs and peers tried in Parliament for the promised referendum to be given to the British people, did the Lib Dems go back on their word and block the motions?

Davies says he doesn’t want Tony Blair to become EU President, and neither do a majority of delegates attending the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth earlier this month. But, as we’ve said before, it is precisely thanks to these so-called ‘Liberal Democrats’ that this job has been created in the first place. And even if the British government decided it didn’t want Tony, that would be tough luck if the a majority of the other EU leaders did.

Welcome to the post-Lisbon Treaty reality.

First UN human rights office in European Union opens in Brussels

The first United Nations human rights office in the European Union opened today in Brussels, marking what the world body’s top rights official hopes will be a new era of cooperation with countries in the region.

Cancer can spread from mother to fetus - rarely

A mother who is suffering from cancer can pass on the disease to her unborn child only in extremely rare cases, says Nora Schultz