Margot Wallstrom, Vicepresedinte al Comisiei Europene si Comisar pentru relatii internationale si strategia comunicarii, a ales sa petreaca Revelionul integrarii in Romania. Printre alte subiecte, primul ei blog pe 2007 povesteste cate de mult i-au placut Romania si romanii, carnatii si tzuica de casa... ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." (Carlo Goldoni)
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix) latest entry [ Thursday January 11, 2007 - Category : General ] New <http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/blog_wallstrom/page/wallstrom?entry=new_year_new_ member_states> Year, new Member States I wish everybody a Happy New Year! For me personally, 2006 ended with a lot of both worries and joy. Worries for my mother who fell ill and was taken in and out of the hospital. Luckily she is now recovering from heart failure and pneumonia at home. Joy from celebrating Christmas with my family and partying at New Year's Eve in Romania. We spent a week in Transylvania with friends who once fled the Ceauscescu regime to Sweden. We celebrated Romania's EU membership together with thousands of people on the market square in Baia Mare. We enjoyed the hospitality and generosity of ordinary Romanians (involving a lot of home made sausages and palinka-schnaps...). We met with an impressive local Mayor who described the basic challenges of providing electricity and running water to all households to begin with. From the short trips we made, it became clear that this new EU Member State should use a lot of the new funding to deal with waste and other environmental problems. From a communication point of view it was the slaughtering of pigs that represented the biggest challenge because the Romanians think that from now on, because of the EU membership, they can no longer kill the household pig before Christmas according to old customs. I tried to explain that nothing prevents them from continuing with this tradition unless they want to export the pork. (As a matter of fact I think that Romania is a net importer of meat...) But I was a bit disappointed that Dracula was nowhere to be seen... (since I watched all the Dracula movies as a teenager I am sure I would have recognised him.). The two new Commissioners, Leonard Orban from Romania and Meglena Kuneva from Bulgaria, joined us in the Commission on the first activity of the year: a visit to Berlin where we met with Chancellor Merkel and her government. Climate Change, Energy issues and the Constitutional Treaty are on top of the political agenda for the German Presidency. The first Commission meeting adopted a whole <http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/focus/energy_en.htm> package of proposals for fighting climate change and an energy policy for the EU. There was broad agreement on the level of ambition and targets for renewable energy, reduction of green-house gasses and bio-fuels. There were different views on the use of nuclear energy and also on how to best regulate the energy market to ensure free and fair competition and consumer's choice. I am sure that we will see an even more lively debate in Members States on these issues. My own arguments against seeing nuclear energy as THE solution to our energy problems are the following; - nuclear energy is low carbon but not sustainable: we have not solved the waste issue and will have to leave it to children and grand children; - it is expensive and also needs state subsidies; - it is not a realistic option for developing countries; - it presents a major security challenge/risk - with its long planning cycle it does not offer a solution to the timetable and targets the EU has set itself. But I appreciated the open and honest discussion in the Commission and I respect the fact that the Member States have very different approaches. A great start for the Commission to address such an important issue for all citizens as climate change and energy! This is a clear illustration of the European value-added, providing guidance for consumers to move to a low-carbon economy! [ 9 <http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/blog_wallstrom/comments/wallstrom/Weblog/new_year _new_member_states#comments> comments ] [ add <http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/blog_wallstrom/comments/wallstrom/Weblog/new_year _new_member_states#addcomments> a new comment ] [ trackback <http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/blog_wallstrom/comments/wallstrom/Weblog/new_year _new_member_states#trackback> ] Trackback URL: http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/blog_wallstrom/trackback/wallstrom/Weblog/new_year _new_member_states
