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French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Thursday to keep dismantling illegal immigrant camps and vigorously defended his government against EU criticism that France is unfairly targeting Gypsies.
A war of words over France's actions overshadowed an EU summit in Brussels and hijacked its main goal of forging a common EU front on the global stage.
Sarkozy insisted France's expulsions of Gypsies, or Roma, are a matter of security. He called more than 100 Roma camps dismantled in France in recent weeks havens of crime and undignified living conditions.
"We will continue to dismantle the illegal camps, whoever is there," Sarkozy said. "Europe cannot close its eyes to illegal camps." French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, speaks with Romania's President Traian Basescu during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. A summit of government leaders seeking to mold a united European Union front on the global stage opened in disarray over France's expulsion of Gypsies and comparisons with World War II deportations.
Sarkozy had what participants called a heated exchange with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso over the expulsions, and later lashed out at EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding for comparing the expulsions to deportations during World War II.
"I am head of state. I cannot let my nation be insulted," he told a news conference afterward.
"Reding has apologized for her deeply offensive remarks," he said. "But the totality of the heads of state and government said it was profoundly shocking that one would speak in this way, with historical references that were deeply hurtful to the entirety of our compatriots."
Reding's office has said she expressed regret over the wartime comparison, but maintained her threat to take France to court for targeting an ethnic group in the expulsions. France deported some 76,000 Jews from France to Nazi concentration camps, and interned thousands of Gypsies in camps in France during the war.
The issue dominated the summit though it wasn't officially on the agenda, and made the other European leaders uneasy.
"You should, of course have the right to remove people from your country is they are there illegally but it should never be done on the basis of an ethnic group," British Prime Minister David Cameron said after the meetings. But he added, "Members of the commission have to chose their language carefully."
Sarkozy said the European Commission should come up with some Europe-wide solutions French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, walks behind Romania's President Traian Basescu, left, prior to a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. A summit of government leaders seeking to mold a united European Union front on the global stage opened in disarray over France's expulsion of Gypsies and comparisons with World War II deportations.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, puts her hand between European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, left, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. A summit of government leaders seeking to mold a united European Union front on the global stage opened in disarray over France's expulsion of Gypsies and comparisons with World War II deportations.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, second left, walks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. A summit of government leaders seeking to mold a united European Union front on the global stage opened in disarray over France's expulsion of Gypsies and comparisons with World War II deportations.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, speaks with Romania's President Traian Basescu during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. A summit of government leaders seeking to mold a united European Union front on the global stage opened in disarray over France's expulsion of Gypsies and comparisons with World War II deportations.
A United Nations human rights body rebuked France on Friday for its crackdown on Roma and urged the government to try to integrate members of the EU's biggest ethnic minority as part of a Europe-wide solution.
The 18 independent experts voiced concern that some of the hundreds of Roma flown to Romania in recent weeks under what France calls a voluntary repatriation programme had not been fully informed of their rights or had not freely consented to returning to their homeland."We understand that a state has a right and a responsibility to deal with security issues and issues of illegal immigration. But our view is when you are doing so, it should not be on a collective basis, you should not be targeting a group as a whole," said Pierre-Richard Prosper, vice-chairman of the U.N. Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
"There is an appearance of discrimination," Prosper, an American, told a news briefing.
BRUSSELS — The European Union reached agreement Thursday on a package of sanctions against Iran which targets Tehran's energy sector over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work, an EU diplomat said.
A general view shows the Bushehr nuclear power plant
Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states met in Brussels to endorse the sanctions, which include measures against the oil and gas industry and must be approved at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday to come into force.
"The text on the restrictive measures against Iran have been adopted," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
The UN Security Council imposed a fourth set of sanctions on Tehran in early June, but EU leaders and the United States decided shortly after to impose their own penalties against the Iranian energy sector.
The sanctions are part of a twin-track approach with EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton seeking to revive moribund talks between Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
Western powers have demanded that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment programme, fearing that Tehran would use the material to build a nuclear bomb. Tehran says that its atomic programme is a peaceful drive to produce energy.
EU leaders agreed at a June 17 summit to impose a ban on new investment, technical assistance and technology transfers to Iran's huge gas and oil industry, particularly for refining and liquefied natural gas.
Iran is the world's fourth largest producer of crude oil but it imports 40 percent of its fuel needs because it lacks enough refining capabilities to meet demand.
The US and EU sanctions, seen as much tougher than UN sanctions, were "expected to have a material impact on the country's energy industry," the International Energy Agency said.
The IEA noted that it was "significant" that China and Russia had agreed to back the UN sanctions but that those did not include specific measures aimed at Iran's energy sector.
The US and EU sanctions were harder, and "longer term, development of the country's oil and gas industry will clearly be adversely impacted", the IEA said. "Iran's growing gas and natural gas liquids projects are expected to be hardest hit."
The EU measures also target the Islamic republic's transportation, banking and insurance sectors, and slap new visa bans and asset freezes on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"These sanctions are suprisingly strong," said Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the nonproliferation programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "They go much further than the UN sanctions."
Fitzpatrick added: "For the first time Iran will face biting sanctions that will significantly impact its economy."
The sanctions "could nevertheless give reasons to Iran to go back to the negotiating table," he said.
"In the past, Iran has always moved once it was under pressure of the international community."
EU foreign ministers, during their meeting on Monday, will urge Iran to set a date for new talks, according to draft conclusions obtained by AFP.
The last high-level talks between Iran and the six world powers were held in Geneva in October 2009 when the two sides agreed a nuclear fuel swap that has since stalled.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said last week that talks could begin in September after Ashton reached out to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in a letter in June.
According to the draft conclusions, EU foreign ministers will call on "Iran to seize this opportunity to allay the concerns of the international community about its nuclear programme and agree on a concrete date for talks with the EU High Representative, together with the six countries."
Concerns: Google was told by EU privacy regulators to warn cities where its Street View cameras would be taking pictures
Protest: Two men can be seen sitting quietly wearing scuba gear before spotting the Street View car and chasing after it in Bergen, Norway
Google has been told to warn people before it sends cameras out to take pictures for its controversial Street View maps.
The EU privacy regulators say refusal to give adequate notice could lead to legal action.
And the internet giant must shorten the time it keeps the original photographs from one year to six months.
The regulators also said it should avoid taking pictures ‘of a sensitive nature and those containing intimate details not normally observable by a passer-by’.
The crackdown follows numerous complaints that Street View is an invasion of privacy. It provoked a storm of controversy after it launched a year ago.
It remains to be seen what actions residents might take once they have been warned by Google that it plans to photograph their street.
But they may follow the example of residents in the Buckinghamshire village of Broughton who in April formed a human chain to stop a camera van.
They complained Google had no right to take pictures of their houses, calling it an ‘invasion of privacy’ and an ‘invitation for burglars to strike’.
Britain’s privacy watchdog has rejected calls to shut down the free online service, saying it carried a ‘small risk’ of privacy invasion but that removing Street View would be disproportionate. Officials said Google had to erase raw footage of faces, house numbers, licence plates and individuals who have told authorities they do not want their information used in the service.
Earlier this month, two enraged Norwegians in scuba gear chased after the Street View vehicle as it took pictures in Bergen.
The company, based in Mountain View, U.S., must now give advance notice in the local or national press before it takes pictures, the EU said. The current policy of putting alerts on its website was not enough.
And its practice of keeping original unblurred pictures for a year in case of complaints was ‘disproportionate’, regulators said.
The system today indicated its vehicles would be in Nantes, France, as well as other nearby cities.
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Europe had ‘high standards for data protection’ and she expected that ‘all companies play according to the rules of the game’.
In a statement, Google said its need to retain Street View images for one year was 'legitimate and justified'.
Street View launched in the U.S. in 2007 and now adds photos of real-life street scenes to Google's maps of around 100 cities worldwide.
To placate privacy concerns, it uses special software to blur pictures of faces and car licence plates.
Google has been slow to expand the service in Europe after governments raised concerns that taking pictures of people in public places could break EU rules on personal privacy.
The data privacy warning comes a day after an Italian court convicted three Google executives - including privacy director Peter Fleischer - of privacy violations because they did not act quickly enough to remove an online video that showed sadistic teen bullies mocking and hitting an autistic boy.
Google said it would appeal the case, claiming it attacked freedom of speech on the internet.
It also faces an EU probe into allegations that it demotes rival sites in its search rankings.
Passengers wait at St Pancras Station in London after delays to the Eurostar train services, Saturday Dec. 19, 2009. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
A member of Eurostar staff, left, comforts a passenger as she waits at St Pancras Station in London after delays to the Eurostar train services, Saturday Dec. 19, 2009. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
Stationary traffic, heading for the Channel Tunnel, seen on the M20 near Folkestone, Kent, Saturday Dec. 19, 2009. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
Empty tracks seen at the Eurotunnel site, in Folkestone, Kent, Saturday Dec. 19 2009, as travel across the Channel was suspended. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
The only rail link between Britain and France was closed for testing Sunday, after a series of breakdowns trapped thousands in a tunnel for hours in claustrophobic conditions, train company Eurostar said.
The breakdowns of four trains in the Channel Tunnel on Friday evening and ensuing cancellations through the weekend were expected to affect some 50,000 people during the busy holiday travel season.
Passengers were stranded in the dark without food, water or air conditioning for more than 12 hours after the breakdowns, which were initially blamed on severe weather.
The company is running special trains through the tunnels in a bid to pinpoint the problem, press officer Anelle Mouhaddib said Sunday. She declined to say whether any trains had successfully made it through the tunnel, but a series of trains dispatched from London and Paris on Saturday evening were either canceled or broke down.
In addition to the 2,000 people trapped in the tunnel Friday night, a further 31,000 had had their trips canceled Saturday, and 26,000 more were expected to be affected Sunday, Mouhaddib said.
Eurostar's executives have offered apologies, refunds, free travel and more.
Officials have said that the quick transition from the icy cold of France, which is suffering some of its worst winter weather in years, to the relative warmth of the tunnel could have interfered with the trains' electrical systems. But the company's chief operating officer, Nicolas Petrovic, said the exact cause remains unclear.
"It's all a bit of a mystery and the company, and indeed a lot of people, appear baffled by it," said Nigel Harris, the managing editor of Rail magazine.
"What is really puzzling about this is the fact that it is happening now, even though the trains have been exposed to cold weather over the last few years, he said.
Comparable trains in France have "been going even longer than Eurostar without experiencing any of these cold-weather problems," he said.
Eurostar was making no promises to passengers trying to make it to their destinations before Christmas.
Service will be resumed "as soon as possible," Mouhaddib said.
The EU's new foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton smiles as she addresses the media at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. The EU leaders agreed on trade commissioner Catherine Ashton of Britain as the EU's new foreign policy chief and Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as its president, diplomats said.
Newly appointed European Council President-elect Herman Van Rompuy sits in his car as he leaves the Belgian Parliament in Brussels, Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. The European Union's new president is a soft-spoken figure with a penchant for haiku poetry who spent most of his career in the background of Belgian politics.
Various Belgian newspapers show the newly appointed European Council President-elect Herman Van Rompuy, on their front pages in Brussels, published Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. EU leaders have opted for little-known compromise candidate Belgian Premier Herman Van Rompuy to become the bloc's first full-time president.
Catherine Ashton: International woman of mystery.
Ashton is Europe's new foreign policy chief, the international representative of half a billion people, with a euro7 billion ($10.5 billion) budget and a salary of more than $300,000 a year — but in her homeland, it's hard to find many who have heard of her.
The former anti-nuclear activist turned career Eurocrat is the European Union's new high representative for foreign affairs — and it's almost as much of a surprise to her as it is to her fellow Britons.
Ashton told the BBC Friday that she only found out she was a front-runner for the post in the last few days. She acknowledged her low profile, but promised that "over the next few months and years I aim to show that I am the best person for the job."
Critics slammed the EU for a lack of ambition in choosing her and Belgium's technocratic premier, Herman van Rompuy, who becomes the first EU president. Ashton's new job combines two existing ones, giving her more powers than current foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
"The EU member states have talked themselves into choosing two very competent, able, and — frankly — rather boring choices for these two new roles," said Richard Whitman, a Europe expert at London's Chatham House think tank.
The 27-nation EU created the new posts of president and foreign minister as part of a reform treaty that takes effect Dec. 1.
For weeks rumors swirled that the jobs would go to high-profile candidates like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and current Foreign Secretary David Miliband, politicians who could give the EU greater diplomatic clout on issues such as climate change, terrorism and trade.
Instead, European leaders on Thursday chose Ashton and van Rompuy, an unassuming man nicknamed "Rompuy-pumpy" by British tabloids. He is best known for penning Flemish-language haikus, which he publishes on a blog.
"Three waves. Roll into port together. The trio is home," ran one effort on the subject of Belgian-Spanish-Hungrian cooperation, which van Rompuy read out at a press conference last month.
The EU presidency was initially seen as the bigger job of the two — especially when Blair was being promoted as a candidate — but that view has shifted.
The treaty is vague on what the president is supposed to do, other than encourage more European integration. Van Rompuy, 62, did little to raise expectations, pledging to be "discreet" in his new job.
As foreign minister, Ashton gets a say over the EU's annual euro7 billion ($10.5 billion) foreign aid budget, will head a new 5,000-strong EU diplomatic corps and travel the globe to represent the EU's interests.
On the streets of London, only one in 10 people stopped at random recognized a picture of the 53-year-old bureaucrat, who has never been elected to public office.
"I've absolutely never heard of her before I watched the news this morning, " said London businessman Leonard Finch, 40. But, he added, "I think we should give her a chance to prove herself."
Trained as an economist, Ashton worked in the 1970s for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Now, she must lead Europe's efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program.
A longtime member of Britain's governing Labour Party, she worked for several charities dealing with equality issues and for a local health authority in England before she was anointed Baroness Ashton of Upholland and made a member of the House of Lords in 1999. She served as a junior government minister and Labour's leader in the Lords.
She has spent the past year as EU Trade Commissioner, a role in which she has barely caused a ripple. She signed a trade pact with South Korea, worked to revive the stalled global negotiations at the World Trade Organization and defrost trade relations with the United States after President George W. Bush left office.
Ashton insisted she was not restricted by her lack of a popular mandate.
"Twenty-seven elected representative heads of state have had a say, and they all decided on me," she told the BBC.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said she was a good choice, and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, her Washington counterpart while she was trade commissioner, said Ashton was a woman of "formidable intelligence, vision, compassion, and charm."
But Euroskeptics said it was wrong to give an unelected bureaucrat so much power.
"Everything about this process rubs our noses in how undemocratic the EU is," said Conservative European lawmaker Daniel Hannan.
"For 300 years, Europeans fought to establish the principle that their leaders should be answerable to everyone else. Now, they are reversing that principle."
However, many politicians opposed to a stronger role for Europe privately prefer obscure Brussels bureaucrats to Blair, whose charisma and international reputation would have given the EU a big boost. Blair's candidacy was doomed when France and Germany, the EU's biggest powers, did not support him.
An official close to Blair, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the former British leader's reaction, said the ex-prime minister had suspected for some time that Europe wanted to keep the post low-profile.
Thursday's decision was "hardly a surprise; the direction of travel has been clear for some time," the official said. European leaders were clear they wanted a "chair, not president."
The EU's first permanent president, Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy, is a camera-shy man who has been catapulted from relative obscurity.
After his selection at a Brussels summit, he stressed his credentials as a consensus politician and made it clear he would fulfil the role of a chairman rather than a globe-trotting statesman.
His tasks include liaising with EU leaders and arranging the bloc's annual summits. He says tackling climate change and lowering EU unemployment rates are among his priorities.
The centre-right leader has a reputation as a good negotiator with a self-deprecating sense of humour, which helped him to hold together a fractious coalition government at home.
Shortly after his presidential appointment was announced, the 62-year-old drily remarked on previous US complaints about the EU lacking a central go-to figure. "I'm anxiously awaiting the first phone call," he said.
But his appointment may be bad news for Belgium's troubled coalition of Dutch- and French-speaking parties, which could fall apart without his careful stewardship.
In linguistically divided Belgium, he is seen as a unifying force, taking an even-handed approach to resolving conflicts - a skill that is expected to serve him well in Europe's top job.
Mr Van Rompuy has pledged to be discreet in his new role. He is little known outside Belgium and has attended only two European summits.
With such a limited international reputation, critics say he will struggle to command attention when he travels on behalf of Europe.
But his modest demeanour belies outspoken political beliefs. An avowed federalist, he has called for national symbols within the EU to be replaced by European symbols.
He has also called for a tax on financial transactions within the bloc to fund the EU.
A veteran politician from Belgium's Flemish Christian Democrat party, he has been outspoken in the past in opposition to Turkey joining the EU. He warned it could dilute Europe's Christian heritage.
"Turkey is not a part of Europe and will never be part of Europe," he said as an opposition politician five years ago.
"The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigour with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey."
Mr Van Rompuy was originally reluctant to take on the post of Belgian prime minister at the end of 2008. He replaced Yves Leterme, who resigned amid a financial scandal last December after just nine months in the job.
Riven by post-election squabbling, Belgium had already been through two prime ministers in 12 months and seemed in danger of splitting apart, due to the arguments over devolution plans between the Dutch- and French-speaking parties.
Something of a moderate in Belgium's increasingly polarised politics, Mr Van Rompuy was eventually persuaded to take on the job by Belgian King Albert II.
He was appointed prime minister, having held the position of president of the lower house of parliament since July 2007.
The trained economist inherited a fragile government coalition and a nation facing a global economic crisis that had crippled Belgian banking giant Fortis.
He had previously served as budget minister in the Christian Democrat-led government from 1993 to 1999, during which time he took a tough stance on balancing the books, drastically reducing the country's public debt.
Before that, Mr Van Rompuy was leader of the Flemish Christian Democrats between 1988 and 1993.
He has penned several books - mainly on social and political issues - and is also an avid blogger and haiku writer.
He is said to sometimes compose the 17-syllable Japanese-style poems during political meetings and has been known to read out his compositions at such gatherings.
One offering on Mr Van Rompuy's website is called EU Trio-presidency, but any message therein about his political ambitions is well concealed:
Before his appointment, people on the streets of Brussels voiced mixed emotions about the prospect of their prime minister becoming Europe's figurehead.
A sense of national pride was countered by one of foreboding about how Belgium's government would cope without him.
A poll by Euronews found respondents in the capital reluctant to lose a peace-maker "indispensable in keeping the peace between the different communities".
"It would be a pity," said one resident. "It would mean political instability in Belgium. A good thing for Europe a bad thing for Belgium!"
Before entering politics, Mr Van Rompuy worked at the Belgian central bank from 1972 to 1975.
One of a family of politicians, his younger brother, Eric Van Rompuy, is also a politician for the CD&V, while his sister, Christine Van Rompuy, is a member of the Workers Party of Belgium.
