Daily Archives: 24 December, 2014
Greece: Suspense Continues
The second round of voting for the election of a new president of Greece by the Greek parliament did not yield the necessary 200 votes. If the Parliament fails to elect a President in the third round, Greece will have general elections, with the left-wing Syriza party poised to obtain the majority of votes…
Art and culture should be at the forefront of European unification
- The Eblana Blog , Dialogue , Op-ed , Arts
…Apart from maintaining its single market, Europe must promote among others its cultural and historic wealth through the media, its educational system and through appropriate festivals and gatherings. The European identity, what unites us, needs to be stressed and take precedence over what divides us. This will serve everybody well in times of crisis, keeping the unity of the continent and benefiting from the accumulated strength of all EU nations. It will also help strengthen the sense of solidarity and promote equality in opportunities and living standards across the EU.
When climate changes fast but interests slowly
On Sunday, 14 December 2014, representatives of all UN member countries and the European Union managed to agree on the “Lima Call for Climate Action”. This was the most important result of two weeks of exhausting deliberations at the conference but also before. If one reads the three-and-a-half pages of this decision one will see many repetitions of code words that may not mean much to non-negotiators. The question easily arises: is all this diplomatic commotion of any use? How is it connected, if at all, to the real world of climate impacts and much-needed climate action?…
