EU leaders at eastern summit meeting
28 May 2015
This week EU leaders convened in Riga for the eastern partnership summit. They met with officials from the six eastern partners. Latvian foreign affairs minister Edgars Rinkevics hoped it would be ‘an opportunity to look at the challenges the EU faces along its eastern borders’ (namely ongoing tensions with Russia and peace in Ukraine hanging by a thread). During the summit a rally congregated outside urging the EU to grant Georgia and Ukraine visa free regimes and recognise their European future. One of the rally's organisers said the main demand for Georgia and Ukraine to be promised a ‘European perspective’ was not achieved at the summit.
Russia: Increased fines for ‘extremist’ texts
21 May 2015
Russian people and religious organisations charged with distributing banned ‘extremist’ texts face sharply increased fines after changes to the law this month. Confiscations of religious texts from all religions, mostly during raids or detentions, frequently result in prosecutions of people. Convictions have led to liquidation, or threats of liquidation of ministries. The possession of allegedly ‘extremist’ texts is not the only obstacle to exercising freedom of religion or belief. Communities face barriers to holding public events. Baptist pastor Pavel Pilipchuk was imprisoned for five days in mid-April for refusing to pay a fine for allegedly organising an open-air meeting for worship without informing the city administration beforehand. The increases are part of a number of legal changes proposed by the Communications Ministry in December 2014, which introduce specific charges for media outlets accused of inciting "extremism’ and harsher existing punishments for related offences. There have been 19 prosecutions so far in 2015.
On Sunday four Irish bishops simultaneously published statements urging Catholics to vote ‘no’ in Ireland's referendum on gay marriage. They defend marriage between a man and a woman as the natural order and argue that a vote against same-sex marriage is a vote for the common good. Bishop of Killala John Fleming admits that during the past fifty years there has been a great change in the home environment in Ireland. It must be acknowledged that single parents and, in recent years, same-sex parents provide children with a loving home environment. However, this does not take away from the fact that it’s the firm belief of the bishops that the traditional family environment of a father, mother and children is in fact the best environment in which to raise children, despite the fact that family life as we know it is not without its problems and difficulties.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will visit Ireland and Northern Ireland next week, and security is being stepped up. Concerns have been raised that Irish Islamic extremists may try to target the visit. In addition to the risk from dissident republicans, Gardai (Irish police) are monitoring a number of radicalised individuals who they fear may attempt to disrupt the trip. Among suspects under surveillance is Irishman Khalid Kelly, who converted to Islam in 2000 while imprisoned in Saudi Arabia and is thought to have recently worked as a nurse in Syria before returning to Ireland. Mr Kelly knew Michael Adebolajo, the man who brutally killed British soldier Lee Rigby. Speaking at a mosque in Cavan, Mr Kelly said that Gardai were monitoring him ahead of Prince Charles’s visit.
Macedonia: a country on the brink?
13 May 2015
Eight policemen and 14 gunmen were killed following a day-long gun battle in the Republic of Macedonia. Native Albanians from Kosovo are believed to be behind the violence, but on Wednesday the opposition claimed that the government orchestrated Saturday’s shootout. Many believe that ethnic tensions could destabilise the country. Macedonia now appears to be grappling with its deepest political crisis since gaining independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991. The tensions have been exacerbated by a number of factors. In 2001 the Albanian National Liberation Army demanded greater rights and autonomy for the Albanian minority. Since then, the country has been governed in a delicate power-sharing arrangement between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, followed by a rising ethnic Macedonian nationalism. Last month EU envoys accused the government of leading the country towards disaster and urged those in power and the opposition to agree to a roadmap which would steer it away from ‘exploding.’ See also:
For about a year, Pope Francis has been meeting with scientists and policy experts to get their advice on addressing the environmental degradation caused by climate change. This process will culminate in June or July, when he will deliver a highly anticipated papal encyclical on the environment. An encyclical is the highest teaching issued by a pope. It is essentially a church policy paper, meant to offer guidance on specific issues for the bishops, priests and faithful who make up the family of about 1.2 billion Roman Catholics worldwide. The pope finished writing his ‘eco-encyclical’ in late April. It will be the first time a Catholic leader has dedicated an entire encyclical to environmental issues. The Vatican’s speaker on climate change said Pope Francis will frame the issue of climate change in moral terms regarding the accelerating burning of fossil fuels that power our economic engine and disrupt the earth’s delicate ecological balance on an almost unfathomable scale. See also article 4 in Prayer-Alert British Isles section.
Germany: ‘March for Life’
06 May 2015
Seventy years ago the Nazi regime was falling to the invading allied armies, and Nazi SS officers attempted to prevent foreign soldiers from seeing the horrifying conditions in concentration camps. They gave orders for the emaciated Jews, Russians, Poles, Gypsies and other slave workers to leave the camps on ‘Death Marches’ towards the areas where the German army still had control. Many died from the cold and exhaustion or were simply shot for not being able to walk or refusing to obey orders. In 2015, in many German cities, a ‘March of Life’ has been or is being organised by Christian groups, in cooperation with Jewish communities and survivors of the Holocaust, to ask for forgiveness, promote reconciliation and bring new life to their cities and communities that had experienced the curse of death.
A fire broke out on a ferry off Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of 156 passengers and crew in lifeboats and injuring three crew members, officials said. The ferry operated by Trasmediterranea was travelling from Palma de Mallorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands, to the eastern Spanish port of Valencia when the blaze broke out in its garage for still unknown reasons, the company said in a statement. ‘Everyone has been evacuated,’ a company spokeswoman told AFP. Passengers and crew abandoned the Sorrento ferry in lifeboats after it became clear that the fire could not be brought under control with the means on board, Spain’s coastguard said in a statement. Three crew members who were rescued by helicopter suffered smoke inhalation, the Mallorca port authority said. It had initially said there were about 170 passengers on board the ferry.