[Readers' Letters]
19.11.2002 - 14:58 CET
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Benefits of EU visa agreement with Albania are small
12.03.2008 - 19:05 CET
The EU has signed visa facilitation agreements with all Western Balkans countries under which Albanians and other citizens of the region will continue to benefit from a reduced visa handling fee of €35 instead of €60. One may expect that an Albanian citizen should be happy because now a Schengen visa would not cost one third but only one sixth of an average monthly salary. I am really not thrilled by such an "advantage". Moreover, even if today's list of requirements to get a Schengen visa is shorter than before, it still varies from one embassy to the other. Also, in order to be granted a multi-entry Schengen visa, one needs to provide a bank certificate of financial resources available. So, a third year student for instance, who comes from an average family with €350 or less monthly income, has to show evidence of financial resources in order to get a multiple-entry Schengen visa that would allow him/her to share and learn new experiences in events that could be fully funded by the organisers. Finally, the rigid visa regime so far has not prevented organised crime. On the contrary, it has provided this "business" with an additional market – illegal trafficking and smuggling. It has also increased corruption. Gjergji VURMO, Programme Director at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), Tirana.
A matter of respect
12.03.2008 - 16:53 CET
There has been some interesting Eurosceptic criticism lately of the European Parliament's vote against an amendment "to respect the outcome of the referendum in Ireland" on the Lisbon treaty. The European Parliament is elected directly by the people of Europe to represent their views as a whole. The idea that the parliament should be constrained by national political deliberations is absurd. Why should British, French and Germans voters be denied a voice in Europe because of an outstanding ratification? The European Union is a multi-level system: national political decisions matter intensely, but alongside European political decisions and not instead of them. It is also interesting that the Eurosceptic demand related only to the Irish ratification and not to the ratifications in any other countries. The European Parliament shouldn't be asked to respect the outcomes of votes elsewhere: it should be expected to express its own opinions directly itself. Richard Laming, Director of Federal Union, UK
18.02.2008 - 17:29 CET
I refer to your article of 13th February on the social effects of palm oil production in Indonesia. The article was balanced and point of view of the commission was reflected. However after reading it, I think that some considerations are important to be taken into account to better know the point of view of the commission in this important issue.
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Article on press freedom in Slovenia is not objective
08.01.2008 - 15:56 CET
As a regular reader of your paper I was suprised to read that your article on freedom of press of Slovenia does not portray all sides of conundrum of freedom of press of Slovenia. Please check your sources when you publish subjective articles about freedom of media in Slovenia as your article is full of factual untruths and mistakes. The Slovenian government does not own any major newspaper in Slovenia, or any TV stations. The so-called petition of some Slovenian journalists is an attempt to use journalists for political disputes in Slovenia. If you read the petition, you can observe that the petition does not mention any concrete examples of the government's involvement in limiting the freedom of the media in Slovenia. Jernej Letnar Cernic
Law Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia