As Hungary takes over the EU presidency for the first half of 2011, there remain a controversy over the country’s newly approved media law that will impose a rather strict government body control over both public and private media companies, as well as in theory also applying to the more informal modern forms of media outlets such as blogs. Exactly how this latter part would be feasible is on the other hand questionable. In any case such stringent overseeing by a government authority is bordering to state censorship and it is highly questionable if such a law is in correspondence with the European legal framework on the right to free speech.
The Swedish parliamentary election resulted in a new mandate for the sitting center-right coalition government. The coalition did however lose their majority in the parliament and will continue govern as a minority government.
Bronislaw Komorowski, currently acting president of Poland after the death of president Kaczynski in a tragic plane crash in May, has been elected as president after winning the second round of voting by getting 53 percent of the votes cast. his opponent, the twin brother of the deceased president and the current opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski got 47 percent of the votes.
Mr Komorowski was the candidate of the governing Civic Platform party and has been the parliament speaker.
The election to the British Parliament’s House of Commons ended with something for the UK so unusual as a parliament where no party got a majority of the seats – in British terminology a “hung parliament”. The Conservative party became the largest party but lacks an overall majority. This means that the party and their leader David Cameron in some form will be reliant on a second party – most likely the Liberal Democrats – to form a stable government.
It is however very likely that there will be a change of government from today’s Labour party government, seeing that the partyo no longer is the largest in the House of Commons.
The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano has in a very clear way showed both the weaknesses and strenghts in modern communications. The mass cancellations of flights in large parts of Europe and across the north Atlantic have undoubtedly meant great disturbances in the international transportation sectors both logistically and economically. But the interruptions have also shown the strenghts of other communication networks, both physical ones and telecommunications. Because with todays technology in reality the need for physical travel in order to conduct business is lower than it used to be. In many cases vide and voice conferences can replace the physical meeting, and in the cases it cannot, there are still in many cases alternatives in the form of high-speed trains. In the best case the temporary closure of the European airspace will put a renewed focus on the almost as fast and environmentally sounder ways of inter-European transportation that exist and should be expanded upon.
A Polish government aircraft carrying among others president Lech Kaczyński crashed earlier today during a landing attempt in bad weather at Smolensk in Russia on their way to attend the 70th anniversary cermonies for the victims of the Katyn Forest massacre. The plane carried between 88 and 130 persons – the numbers given vary this far – and no one survived the crash. Among other victims are the president’s wife, Ryszard Kaczorowski who was the last non-communist president in exile of Poland, the army chief of staff, and relatives to the massacre victims of 1940.
In accordance with the Polish constitution, the speaker of the sejm (second chamber of the parliament) becomes acting president in case of the death of the incumbent president. In this instance, that post is currently held by Bronisław Komorowski, who is also the official opposition candidate for the scheduled presidential election later in the autumn this year. It is now however likely that the presidential election will be moved forward.
As prognosed, the regional elections in France turned out to be a setback for the UMP who are governing on the national level. The socialists succeeded not only in keeping contol of all the regional governments they already had, but also taking new mandates. This success for the left is by many experts seen as a mistrust against president Nicholas Sarkozy and the UMP government.
The German election for the Bundestag (federal parliament) resulted in that the current chancellor Angela Merkel can continue in office, but with a change of coalition partner. Instead of the grand coalition between CDU/CSU and SDP, there will now be a more traditional coalition between the Christian democrats in CDU/CSU and the liberal FDP.
The elections to the European Parliament turned out to be a success for the smaller parties in many of the member states, not the least the green parties. Among the more unexpected outcomes was also the fact that the newly founded Pirate Party of Sweden got enough votes to get a seat in the parliament.
John Feeney has written on BBC World about the population problem, a problem that is just a little too hot for being a central part in the debates regarding a sustainable development in the future. In reality, the topic is the same as in the days of Thomas Malthus, but maybe the subject is more volatile today than it was back then?
When smaller farms are abandoned, the tropical forests get new space. These “secondary forests” have now started to be used as an argument in the debate on rainforest deforestation and the impact on climate change.
Nudist hikers in Harz, Germany, where hiking in the nude is allowed. Photo: DPA.
The Swiss cantonal government of Appenzell Innerrhoden wants a new law in place to cope with the rise in popularity of nudist mountain hiking.
I must admit that until I read this news, I hadn’t even reflected over the possibility that it was something that existed, and definitely not something that apparently has become so prevalent that the canton sees it as a problem. To be perfectly honest, I’m almost as surprised – if not more – to read that it apparently under current Swiss law is perfectly legal. As for the actual question at hand, I don’t know what to say.
