Austria/EU

On the weekend of May 7-9, the European Union gazed into the abyss of historical failure. The fate of the euro was at stake and with it European unification as a whole. Not since before the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 had Europe been in such grave political danger. On the surface, the matter at hand was the financial stabilization of Greece and of the Europe’s common currency, but the real title of the play was “Saving the Banks, Part II.”

The first round of parliamentary elections has concluded in the Czech Republic with the social democrats, led by Jiri Paroubek, narrowly taking the lead. They received 22.1 percent of the vote, while the Civic Democrats, the leading center-right party, trailed closely with 20.2 percent. While this can be seen as a good sign to social democrats throughout Europe, the marginality of the first round victory is still a cause for concern, both on ideological and practical levels.

Sometimes the inner voice of conscience can drive offenders insane. Not so, the Greeks, it seems. The country’s misrepresentation of its fiscal readiness to enter the European Monetary Union has damaged the bonds of trust among the EU member states.

In a time of no uniform European policy on the use of atomic energy, Bulgaria needs to choose between the Russian-encouraged construction of a new nuclear power plant, and the withdrawal from the project that many claim slows down the country’s economic progress. In its inability to reach a decision on its own, the country currently awaits feedback from Brussels that would pinpoint a plan for the future development.

A freshly surfaced fitness trail follows the Vardar River on its course through Macedonia’s capital, hugging riverbanks dotted with new office buildings, swanky shops and bustling cafes.

Did you find a job? Great. Do you have all the necessary papers to apply? Wonderful. Are you an Austrian? No? Oh, see now you went a step too far, sorry. The remnants of the former Iron Curtain seem to linger in central Europe. While the rest of the European Union has eliminated its labor restrictions, Austria, one of only two remaining nations, has chosen instead to extend them.

This is a story that continues to be told by those coming from the former Eastern Bloc. The search for a job has been greatly hindered by the extension of labor restrictions in Austria, which require eastern EU nationals to apply for work permits.

In the course of WWII, Austrian nationals of Jewish faith saw themselves forced to leave Austria for racist and political reasons. They became citizens of another country, and had to give up their Austrian citizenship.

Those who returned have in most cases regained this right. Current Austrian law foresees that people who had to flee Austria prior to May 9, 1945, because they were persecuted or feared to be persecuted by the NSDAP or the authorities of the Third Reich, may regain Austrian citizenship by declaration, provided that they were Austrian citizens at the time when they were forced to leave.

But what about their children? Do they retain a right to Austrian citizenship?

It appears that 2010 will be a decisive year for the war in Afghanistan. After an auspicious beginning in 2001, the Afghan War stagnated as the U.S. focused its efforts and resources on the war in Iraq. Now, it seems that the U.S.

History has made the fall of communism in Europe over the autumn and winter of 1989 seem inevitable. But that’s not how it felt to the courageous Czechoslovak students, who, just days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, took advantage of an officially-sanctioned International Student Day to push for democratic reform in the capital Prague. The march of the Nov. 17 was met on the central thoroughfare Narodni by truncheon-wielding state security officers who injured 600 of the protestors.

It was a day that the visionary Vaclav Havel would say “set history in motion.”