quand l’idée de faire porter le voile à leurs femmes faisait
éclater de rire des musulmans.
éclater de rire des musulmans.
terça-feira, 30 de agosto de 2016
Burkinis? Here's why we should fight them on the beaches / Burkini : le monde à l’envers / “Não usem saias”, pede ministro indiano às turistas estrangeiras
Burkinis?
Here's why we should fight them on the beaches
Allison Pearson
30 August 2016 •
1:42pm
On a bathing
platform in Turkey, I found myself sunbathing next to a Muslim
family. The father strutted about in a pair of teeny red trunks, just
visible beneath the landslide of his vast belly. The mother wore a
black and orange burkini, which left only her face, hands and feet
exposed. She looked like a broiling penguin, clearly suffering in the
intense heat. Their lovely children – two girls and a boy –
jumped into the water again and again, as lithe and playful as
porpoises.
"It’s not
what the burkini is, but the poisonous ideology it represents"
I found myself
gazing at the little girls and wondering how long. How long before
they had to put away their pretty bikinis and their Caramac tummies,
how long before they would never know the bliss of sun and sea on
their skin again? I gave them about two years, poor mites. No such
loss of freedom or pleasure would trouble their brother.
As the battle of the
burkini rages in France, some commentators have claimed that at least
this ludicrous garment affords Muslim women the opportunity to go
swimming, when they might otherwise be locked away. I find that
argument gives me the same sinking feeling as a sign on the gate to a
meadow saying, “Dogs Must Be Kept on a Lead”. What appals is the
way that Western women protested outside the French embassy waving a
sign saying: “Non Islamophobia. Oui aux burkinis.” How dim and
deluded can you be? France’s objection to the burkini, and its ugly
sister the burka, arises from a love of women, not a hatred of
Muslims.
On Radio 4’s Any
Questions, the Labour MP Cat Smith said: “It is absolutely
offensive in the 21st century… when men with guns start policing
what women should and shouldn’t wear.” Ms Smith was referring to
cops on the beach in Nice who had been trying to enforce a ban on the
burkini. It genuinely didn’t seem to occur to her that the men who
are most keenly policing what women should and shouldn’t wear in
the 21st century are the ones who belong to a repressive,
misogynistic culture which denies females agency over their own
bodies. Now, that’s what I call offensive.
Sorry to break this
to you, Cat, but Islamists aren’t actually in the 21st century;
they’ve barely made it into the 20th and, unless they’re stopped,
they fully intend to turn the clock back to the 14th, when girls were
for breeding purposes only.
It’s much more
comfortable for outraged liberals to attack their own culture for
trying, however clumsily, to protect its values than it is to address
the vexed question of what you do about a fanatical religious
minority which despises our freedoms. As one scathing wit put it on
Twitter: “This burkini ban is ridiculous. It’s 2016 and we live
in a liberal, tolerant society. People should be free to enslave
whomever they choose.”
After a murderous
summer, in which toddlers were mown down by a truck in Nice and an
85-year-old priest had his throat cut before his own altar, France is
setting out what a modern, equal society can and cannot tolerate. She
deserves our sympathy. Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls is
surely right to call the burkini “a symbol of the enslavement of
women”. If it isn’t, then why aren’t Muslim men wearing them,
eh?
And I’m afraid the
fact that a woman may “choose” to wear a burkini doesn’t mean
that her “choice” must always be respected. Not if it ends up
intimidating other Muslim women into feeling ashamed for exposing
their own flesh, making integration even harder. It’s not what the
burkini is, but the poisonous ideology it represents.
The key question is
where does authority lie if too much is conceded to minorities?
Consider a small clash of cultures right here in the UK. At a
graduation ceremony for one college in the University of London,
proud parents look on as their offspring queue up to receive a
handshake from the Principal. The audience includes my friend Jackie.
It should be a joyful occasion, but there is unease in the room. The
female Muslim students put on gloves to shake hands with the
Principal or they hold out their programmes to signal they do not
wish to make physical contact with him.
"I admire
Nicolas Sarkozy for saying this week that the French republic will
never ever accept segregated bathing. He knows it’s the thin end of
the wedge"
Many people feel
uncomfortable, but no one dares object. Jackie says: “You think how
weird is it that a university, of all places, is pandering to a
minority instead of saying, 'I’m sorry, but this is how we do
things here’? Actually, we don’t think it’s wrong for a man and
a woman to shake hands. We think it’s nice and polite, so deal with
it."
Is this
multiculturalism in action, or is it cowardly pandering to a sexist
custom the majority of Britons find alien? How long before the
university decides to dispense with handshakes at its graduation
ceremony lest it cause offence to those who won’t participate?
Compare and contrast
with the German response. In June, Hamburg teachers staged a walk-out
during an end-of-term ceremony for students after a Muslim pupil
refused to shake the hand of his female class teacher. “No
offence,” he said, “my religion won’t let me do that.”
Fellow teachers did
take offence, however. They insisted that the boy be sent home. When
the headmaster refused, members of staff walked out.
On the surface, this
may seem like a minor discourtesy that can easily be overlooked to
keep the peace. Live and let live, eh? But where do you draw the
line, and, more importantly, who gets to draw it?
Segregated sessions
for Muslim women at a public swimming baths look harmless enough,
less so a segregated political meeting involving senior Labour MPs,
with the women banished to an adjacent room. I admire Nicolas Sarkozy
for saying this week that the French republic will never ever accept
segregated bathing. He knows it’s the thin end of the wedge.
"Slowly and
insidiously, Islamic laws and practices are allowed to take root and
it then falls to the host country to challenge them"
When she was Home
Secretary, Theresa May launched an independent inquiry into the state
of Sharia law in the UK to examine whether Islamic courts “are
being used to support forced marriage and issue unfair divorces”.
Again, it sounds unobjectionable, doesn’t it? But why is a parallel
legal system, one that weighs a woman’s evidence as worth half that
of a man, allowed to exist in our country in the first place?
The Iranian and
Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation says it wants all women to have
the protection of the mainstream British legal system. Yet, slowly
and insidiously, Islamic laws and practices are allowed to take root
and it then falls to the host country to challenge them. It ends up
making us look intolerant, when what we are guilty of is being too
tolerant by half.
We don’t need an
inquiry into how well or how badly Sharia courts are discriminating
against women. We simply need a ban so discrimination isn’t even a
possibility.
And please spare me
the howls of concern for the rights of women to dress as they please
when there is zero anger about the rights of women forced into ugly,
repressive garments by a bunch of medieval misogynists. Just look at
the wonderful smiles of those women in Syria the other week who cast
off their burkas as soon as Isil had departed.
Burkinis? We shall
fight them on the beaches. We shall defend our bikinis. We shall
never surrender the rights men and women died for.
–-----------------------------------------
At
a glance | Where burqas are banned
Full burqa and niqab
ban
France, since
2004
Belgium, since
2011
Chad, since 2015
Cameroon, in
five provinces, since 2015
Diffa, Niger,
since 2015
Brazzaville,
Congo, since 2015
Tessin,
Switzerland, since 2016
Burkini ban
Around 30 French
coastal towns had issued bans, but France's highest court ruled
against them on 26th August, meaning that burkini bans are now
illegal
Partial burqa and
niqab ban
The Netherlands:
women cannot have their faces covered in schools, hospital and on
public transport
The Italian town
of Novara: women were told to stop wearing a full veil in 2010, but
there is no established fines system
Parts of
Catalonia, Spain: The country's Supreme Court ruled against a ban in
some areas in 2013, however those areas which brought their cases to
the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have continued with the ban
- supported by an ECHR ruling in their favour in 2014
Turkey: a full
ban was abandoned in 2013. Now, women are only barred if they work in
the judiciary, military and police
Burkini
: le monde à l’envers
Richard Martineau
Lundi, 22 août 2016
05:00 MISE à JOUR Lundi, 22 août 2016 05:00
Décidément, le
débat sur le burkini est surréaliste. Prenez Agnès Gruda, de La
Presse.
«Le burkini
n’emprisonne pas les musulmanes, il les libère», a-t-elle écrit
il y a quelques jours.
Pourquoi?
Parce que si le
burkini n’existait pas, les femmes musulmanes ne pourraient pas
aller à la plage ou à la piscine.
Donc, vive le
burkini!
UNE LOGIQUE TORDUE
C’est comme si je
félicitais les Américains racistes des années 1960 d’avoir créé
des «places pour Noirs» à l’arrière des autobus.
«Wow, c’est cool
de permettre aux Noirs de voyager à l’arrière des autobus. Comme
ça, ça leur permet de se promener, d’aller travailler, au lieu de
rester chez eux... Finalement, la ségrégation dans les autobus
n’emprisonne pas les Noirs, au contraire: ça les libère!»
Duh!
Vous imaginez les
réactions si une journaliste osait écrire ce genre de choses à
propos de la loi qui interdisait aux Noirs de s’asseoir à l’avant
des autobus?
Elle se ferait
traiter d’imbécile et de raciste! Mais dans le cas du burkini, on
n’éprouve aucun problème à tenir le même genre de propos!
Le burkini, vêtement
libérateur...
Mais par quelle
logique tordue peut-on arriver à une conclusion aussi absurde?
Des religieux
ultramisogynes obligent les femmes à se couvrir de la tête aux
pieds parce que leur corps est sale et on trouve ça libérateur?
L’Occident est
vraiment tombé sur la tête!
Bientôt, si ça
continue, on va féliciter les islamistes qui fouettent leurs
victimes parce que c’est moins grave que de leur couper la tête.
«Wow, le fouet,
quel progrès! On a beau dire, c’est quand même plus humain que la
décapitation, non? Décidément, l’État islamique s’en va dans
le bon chemin...»
AFFRONT AUX VRAIES
FÉMINISTES
On est rendu là.
Au lieu de
pourfendre une idéologie arriérée qui étouffe les femmes, la
go-gauche et le mouvement féministe vantent les vertus du voile et
du burkini!
Heureusement que
Simone de Beauvoir n’est pas en vie, ce débat la tuerait.
Jamais les militants
de la go-gauche et les féministes ne tiendraient ce genre de propos
si c’était des extrémistes catholiques qui obligeaient les femmes
à se couvrir pour aller se baigner.
Ces gens
descendraient dans la rue et condamneraient la misogynie du pape.
Mais parce que c’est
une religion «exotique» et «orientale» qui contraint la moitié
de l’humanité à porter un burkini à la plage, on trouve ça cool
et «libérateur».
Il fut un temps où
le mouvement féministe défendait les femmes. Aujourd’hui, le
mouvement féministe défend une idéologie.
Ce n’est pas du
tout la même chose.
VIVE L’INTERDICTION
DE CONDUIRE !
La haine de
l’Occident est en train d’aveugler la gauche.
Les féministes
devraient condamner d’une seule et unique voix la misogynie
islamiste. Au lieu de ça, elles dépensent temps et énergie pour
justifier l’injustifiable, sous prétexte que la misogynie
orientale (qui est «culturelle») est plus acceptable que la
misogynie occidentale (qui, elle, est «politique»).
Aujourd’hui, on
dit que le burkini libère.
Que dira-t-on
demain?
Que l’interdiction
de conduire pour les Saoudiennes les protège des accidents?
Índia
“Não
usem saias”, pede ministro indiano às turistas estrangeiras
30/8/2016,
OBSERVADOR
Mahesh
Sharma, ministro do Turismo da Índia, aconselhou as mulheres
estrangeiras a não utilizar saias nem sair à noite quando visitarem
o país, "por questões de segurança".
João Francisco
Gomes
O ministro do
Turismo da Índia aconselhou as mulheres que visitam o país a não
utilizar saias e a não sair à noite sozinhas. “Para a sua
segurança, as mulheres estrangeiras não devem usar vestidos curtos
nem saias. A cultura indiana é diferente da ocidental”, disse
Mahesh Sharma este fim de semana, numa conferência em que apresentou
um kit e um panfleto que será distribuído aos turistas, à chegada
à Índia, escreve o The Times of India. Sharma tornou a insistir no
assunto, ao falar do kit a distribuir aos visitantes: “Há um
cartão com a lista do que fazer e não fazer. Coisas básicas como
não sair à noite ou não usar saias”, disse o ministro.
A recomendação não
caiu bem e levou o ministro a recuar nas declarações, tentando
esclarecer o que tinha dito. “Não demos instruções específicas
em relação ao que devem ou não vestir. Apenas estamos a pedir-lhes
que tenham cautela ao sair à noite. Não estamos a tentar mudar as
preferências de ninguém”, explicou o ministro. Sharma tentou
ainda justificar com a sua própria família: “Sou pai de duas
raparigas. Nunca diria às mulheres o que elas devem ou não vestir“,
disse o governante, que classificou uma possível proibição das
saias como “inimaginável”. “Mas não é crime ser cauteloso“,
concluiu o ministro.
Sharma já tinha
estado envolvido numa polémica no ano passado, depois de ter dito
que as raparigas não deviam sair de casa à noite. “As raparigas
quererem uma noite fora de casa até pode ser correto no resto do
mundo, mas não faz parte da cultura indiana“, disse o ministro do
Turismo no ano passado. O país tem sido alvo de duras críticas por
não dar resposta aos repetidos casos de violação de mulheres,
chegando a colocar as culpas nas próprias vítimas por não se
cobrirem ou por andarem na rua à noite.
Os casos mais
recentes na Índia têm merecido comentários dos principais líderes
políticos do país. “O número de crimes contra as mulheres
depende de quão vestidas elas estão e de quão regularmente visitam
os templos”, defendeu Babulal Gaur, um importante líder do BJP (o
maior partido político da Índia), que afirmou ainda que a “violação
é um crime que depende do homem e da mulher. Às vezes é correto e
outras vezes é errado“. Om Prakash Chautala, o líder do INLD
(outro partido político indiano), defendeu no ano passado que “o
casamento infantil é uma solução para a violação e outras
atrocidades contra as mulheres”.
France’s summer stars face a tough fall / Emmanuel Macron to resign from French government: source
 |
Emmanuel
Macron to resign from French government: source
Economy
minister is preparing a presidential bid.
By
Pierre Briançon and
Nicholas Vinocur
8/30/16, 1:57 PM CET
PARIS — Emmanuel
Macron was preparing on Tuesday to offer his resignation to French
President François Hollande, according to a source close to France’s
economy minister who confirmed an earlier report in business daily
Les Echos.
The resignation,
which has been rumored for months, will allow Macron to focus on a
possible presidential bid after he launched his own political
movement, En Marche (“Forward”) in April.
Macron had
considered leaving the government then, on the advice of several of
his associates, but finally delayed in order to get a clearer idea of
how the presidential field would look in the fall, an aide explained
at the time.
Le Monde daily,
citing a source close to the minister, reported that Macron would
offer Hollande his resignation in the afternoon at a meeting not
written into the president’s official schedule.
Macron’s
spokeswoman and other members of his staff were not immediately
available to comment.
No longer serving as
a minister would free Macron to devote himself more fully to his En
Marche campaign, which lost some momentum over the summer after a
terrorist attack in Nice refocused national attention on security,
not an obvious strong point for an economy-focused minister.
A former investment
banker with Rothschilds, Macron, 38, joined Hollande’s team as an
adviser, where he was credited with engineering the Socialist
president’s abrupt shift to supply-side economic policies in 2014.
As economy minister,
Macron focused on defending French interests in trade disputes and
promoting startup culture. But exposure also brought criticism from
Socialist colleagues in government, including Prime Minister Manuel
Valls, who complained in private and at times in public that Macron —
who describes himself as being sympathetic to the Left although not a
member of the Socialist Party — was too self-promoting and stepped
outside the limits of his cabinet post.
Authors:
Pierre Briançon
and
Nicholas Vinocur
|
France’s
summer stars face a tough fall
As
presidential campaign season gets serious, media darlings Alain Juppé
and Emmanuel Macron will come under fire.
By PIERRE BRIANÇON
8/29/16, 5:30 AM CET
PARIS — The spring
and summer darlings of the French political scene may struggle in the
fall.
Alain Juppé and
Emmanuel Macron became France’s two most popular politicians over
the last few months as voters, tired of both sitting President
François Hollande and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, are looking
for new leaders whom they consider more able to deal with the tough
period France is going through.
True, the French
seem to like both men for different reasons — Juppé because he has
experience, Macron because he doesn’t. The former is 71 and was
prime minister under conservative president Jacques Chirac more than
20 years ago. The latter is 38 and has only been economy minister —
a relatively minor job in the French government — for the last two
years.
But so far both men
remain high in the electorate’s esteem. Juppé is still the most
popular politician, according to the latest IPSOS poll, after
spending most of the year in town meetings and honing his message,
promising a shock-and-awe push for reform in his mandate’s first
six months. And Macron seems to have benefited from his increasing
political assertiveness, launching a political movement and promising
his followers that he would “lead [them] to victory” next year.
It’s worth noting
that part of their appeal is relative, and that they only stand out
in contrast to the deep mistrust in which the French hold most other
politicians.
Macron’s main
problem is that he is mostly popular with conservative voters, and
not that much within his own camp.
But both men will
face similar challenges to translate into actual votes what IPSOS
pollster Mathieu Gallard calls their “paper popularity.” Juppé
is running in the conservative Les Républicains party’s primary,
to be held in November. Macron is mulling leaving the Socialist
government in September or October to be free to run as an
independent candidate in the presidential election in May 2017 — a
decision he hasn’t made yet, according to an aide.
Juppé’s main
rival for now is Sarkozy, who didn’t surprise anyone last week when
he officially confirmed he would run. Macron’s main problem is that
he is mostly popular with conservative voters, and not that much
within his own camp.
Bubble deflation
Several factors may
soon challenge both men’s standing in the polls, advisers from
within their own camps acknowledge. The first is that the Nice terror
attacks in July have put an increased emphasis on security concerns.
On the Right, that plays into the tough law-and-order campaign
Sarkozy is preparing. On the Left it favors the experience of a
sitting president to deal with threats both domestic and foreign.
The second reason
why “the bubble may be deflating,” in the words of a top Juppé
adviser, is that as France gets nearer to the primaries and the
general election, both Juppé and Macron will increasingly become
targets for political attacks — first from within their own camps,
then from their traditional adversaries.
It has already
begun. Sarkozy has spent months alluding not-so-subtly to Juppé’s
age, even though he’s only 10 years younger than his rival. And
Macron’s proclamations that the Socialist government he belongs to
has failed has turned Prime Minister Manuel Valls, his former ally,
into an arch-enemy.
“It’s high time
for all of this to stop,” a visibly irate Valls said on the eve of
Macron’s first big public rally in July.
Valls, meanwhile, is
entertaining presidential ambitions of his own in case Hollande bows
out, and the prime minister would then be likely to run on a
law-and-order platform remarkably similar to that of Sarkozy.
So far the attacks
against Juppé and Macron are only skirmishes compared to what awaits
the duo once the campaigns start in earnest. Then the candidates’
specific ideas or proposals, which the French tend to forget when
polled for popularity ratings, will come under attack.
In that respect
Macron may have the most to lose if people start to really pay
attention to what he is saying. “There’s a paradox that he
remains highly popular with his resolutely liberal agenda — both on
the economy and on social matters — in a country that is not that
liberal at all,” Gallard said.
As economy minister,
Macron has defended reforms that were always far more popular on the
Right than on the Left — such as scrapping the 35-hour week, or
liberalizing labor markets.
And ever since the
November 2015 terror attacks in Paris, he has advocated a response
“that would not be all about security” but would include dealing
with the derelict banlieues, home to a high proportion of French
Muslims. There is “too much urgency and emotion” in the current
debates, he recently said.
Simple solutions
All this might make
Macron look like a man running against the times, one of his own
advisers admits. “Trying to be open and reasonable when politicians
are competing on closed borders and demagogy is a fine line to
tread,” the adviser said.
But speaking at the
first rally of his official campaign on Saturday, Juppé didn’t
seem to consider that a losing battle. Without naming Sarkozy, he
seemed on the contrary intent on emphasizing the difference with his
rival. “My campaign will not be based on fear,” he insisted.
The “three
challenges” France must take on, Juppé said, were equality between
men and women, the ecology and technological change.
“I will not accept
a French-style Guantanamo in which thousands of people would be
detained without trial on mere suspicion” — Alain Juppé
In the current
context, that might be enough to make Juppé look like candidate
Moonbeam.
The former PM
however knows he has to talk about terrorism, which seems the only
theme Sarkozy intends to run on. But he thinks French voters also
want to hear what candidates have to say about the economy, education
and even — he and Macron being the only two politicians to even
mention the theme — Europe.
His problem is to
find a way to appear firm and resolute without emulating Sarkozy’s
fierce law-and-order rhetoric — which his aide called “Le
Pen-light.” In the book the former president published last week
announcing his candidacy, Sarkozy casually brushed off the concerns
of “finicky lawyers” concerning proposals that would raise
serious constitutional questions — for example on the detention of
people suspected of terrorist sympathies.
“I will not accept
a French-style Guantanamo in which thousands of people would be
detained without trial on mere suspicion,” Juppé said Saturday in
a direct answer to Sarkozy’s proposal.
“He’s not the
kind to go for the simple solutions people sometimes demand in times
like these,” his aide noted.
But the unspoken
fear among candidates eager to appear reasonable and measured is that
new terror attacks in the next few months might push French voters
further towards simplicity.
Merkel urges Turks not to bring conflicts to Germany
Merkel
urges Turks not to bring conflicts to Germany
Chancellor
Angela Merkel on Sunday urged people of Turkish origin living in
Germany to take part in German society and not to bring conflicts
taking place back in Turkey to Germany.
Sun
Aug 28, 2016 12:36pm EDT
Relations between
Berlin and Ankara, a key partner for the European Union in stemming
the flow of migrants to Europe, are already tense after Germany's
parliament branded the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces
as genocide and a leaked government report alleged Turkey was a hub
for Islamist groups.
Germany is home to
about 3 million people of Turkish origin.
"I keep saying
that I'm their chancellor too and I think it's important to profess
that and it's good if that is reciprocated by commitment to our
country and not by bringing conflicts from Turkey to Germany,"
Merkel said in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
Since a failed
military coup in Turkey on July 15, tensions have mounted in
Germany's Turkish community between supporters of Turkish President
Tayyip Erdogan and those of a U.S.-based cleric that he blames for
the coup.
Erdogan backers have
demonstrated in several German cities since the thwarted coup, shops
have been boycotted by rival sides and hate mail has been sent to
anti-Erdogan politicians.
Merkel drew
criticism for an interview published in Passauer Neue Presse
newspaper on Tuesday, in which she said: "We expect those with a
Turkish background who have lived in Germany for a long time to
develop a high degree of loyalty to our country."
Some politicians
said it was unnecessarily divisive at a time of tense relations
between Germany and Turkey.
Asked in the ARD
interview about the loyalty comment, Merkel said her main aim was not
to allow conflicts in Turkey to play out in Germany.
"But rather,
those who have been living here for years and perhaps also have
German citizenship, take part in the development of our country and
if they want to they are very welcome to do so," she said,
adding that she could not force them to do so however.
(Reporting by
Michelle Martin and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Adrian
Croft)
French minister calls for halt to TTIP talks
French
minister calls for halt to TTIP talks
There
is ‘no more political support’ in France for EU-US trade pact,
foreign trade secretary says.
By
Joshua Posaner
8/30/16, 9:48 AM CET
France wants to stop
negotiations on a transatlantic trade pact between the EU and the
U.S., the country’s secretary of state for foreign trade said
Tuesday.
Matthias Fekl said
“there is no more political support in France for these
negotiations,” adding that “France calls for an end to these
negotiations,” according to AFP.
Fekl also echoed
that sentiment on social media, tweeting: “France demands the
cessation of negotiations” for the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP).
A motion to halt the
talks will be proposed at a meeting of EU foreign trade ministers in
Bratislava next month.
Fekl said on RMC
radio that TTIP talks are weighted in favor of the U.S.
“We need a clear
and definitive halt to these negotiations in order to restart on a
good foundation,” Fekl said.
If signed, TTIP
would create the world’s largest free trade area, but opposition to
the pact has grown over recent months, notably in France and Germany.
Germany’s Economy
Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday in an interview with German
public broadcaster ZDF that TTIP talks had failed despite 14 rounds
of talks between EU and U.S. negotiators.
Activists hold
banners during a protest against the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership in front of the EU Commission in July, 2016
Since Thilo Bode
entered the fray in 2014, support for TTIP in Germany has plummeted
from 55 percent to 17 percent
“Negotiations with
the United States have de facto failed, because we, as Europeans,
must not bow to American demands,” Gabriel said.
The Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative said Monday that TTIP talks were making
“steady progress.” An EU spokesperson also said Monday that talks
would continue.
This article has
been corrected to clarify that Sigmar Gabriel spoke about TTIP in an
interview on Sunday.
Authors:
Joshua Posaner
Portugal’s clean-power problem
Portugal’s
clean-power problem
Lisbon
was once a renewable energy champion, but now it has fallen off the
map.
By
Sara Stefanini
8/22/16, 3:59 PM CET
Energy generated by
Portugal’s abundant wind, water and sunshine could fuel the
country’s much-needed economic recovery — if the government
becomes more enthused about tying its energy market to the rest of
the world.
Portugal’s
Socialist government isn’t doing much to foster investment, critics
say, as it scales back subsidies, and plans to build a power link
from the Iberian Peninsula to France sputter. The French connection
in particular was a priority for the previous Social Democratic
administration, which was replaced last November.
The European
Commission could help. Later this fall it is expected to propose two
key pieces of its project to build an open-border, interconnected
energy union. Those are the new rules for meeting the EU’s
renewable energy target of 27 percent by 2030, and an overhaul of the
bloc’s electricity market.
But Portugal has to
indicate it wants the help.
“There’s a
whole renewable discussion to be done and Portugal is nowhere to be
seen” — EU source
So far Socialist
Prime Minister António Costa has done little to lobby on his
country’s behalf, according to an EU source familiar with
Portugal’s energy sector and policies.
“Portugal went
from being a small country that was really ambitious and fantastic in
renewables — with policy proposals that the Germans were calling
‘the Portuguese option’ — to being a desert,” said the
source, who asked not to be named. “There’s a whole renewable
discussion to be done and Portugal is nowhere to be seen.”
Lisbon agreed in
2012 to roll back generous investment perks to the renewables
industry as part of a broad bailout plan to cut spending and keep the
country out of bankruptcy. Portugal’s then-burgeoning renewable
sector took a hit. Now it risks facing penalties as other EU
countries race to meet their binding targets for adding renewable
energy by 2020.
Portugal is now a
dead market for an industry eager to piggyback on the EU’s targets
to boost renewable energy generation.
“They are killing
the business,” António Sá da Costa, managing director of the
Portuguese renewable energy association APREN, said of the austerity
measures. “Portugal, sooner or later, will come to a stall.”
Hydro, wind, solar
and other renewables produced an average 52 percent of Portugal’s
electricity as of 2015, which is just 8 percentage points shy of the
country’s target of 60 percent by 2020. Renewables also accounted
for 25 percent of Portugal’s total energy use (including transport,
heating and cooling) — the goal is 31 percent.
Despite its strong
start, the changed incentives mean Portugal may fall short of its
2020 targets, warned Sá da Costa. “Maybe, on this track, we can
reach a 54-55 percent share of renewable electricity by 2020,” he
said.
The government says
it continues to support investment in renewable energy by focusing on
emerging technologies, such as concentrated solar and photovoltaic or
wave energy.
Even after the end
of some subsidies, “there is interest on investments in solar
projects in Portugal,” the economy ministry said.
Not everyone is as
critical of the government’s decision to gradually end renewable
energy subsidies and expose the projects to the free market. Mature
technologies such as onshore wind need to be able to stand on their
own. Onshore wind received €628 million out of the €978 million
in incentives in 2013, according to the International Energy Agency.
The broader Portugal
2020 plan Lisbon and Brussels agreed on to stimulate jobs and
economic development, in exchange for €25 billion from the EU,
includes €130 million in funding for new types of renewable energy.
Under the program, the government announced a competition in late
July for €25 million in funding for emerging technologies.
“We have to
separate the mature renewable technologies such as wind energy, which
is no longer in need of public support because it is already financed
by the market,” Secretary of State for Energy Jorge Seguro Sanches
said in June. “We must have support for the test phase of pilot
projects.”
In another show of
support, the government is looking into an underwater power line to
Morocco and the two governments agreed in June to spend €400
million on a feasibility study. The Commission is happy for EU states
to link up with countries outside the bloc, but says connections
between members remains the priority.
Stranded Portuguese
Without
interconnectors, Portugal remains an energy island tied only to
Spain.
“Imagine a BMW
factory in Germany that produces a lot of very nice, very good cars,
but then doesn’t have the roads it needs to sell the cars to other
countries,” Sá da Costa said. “It’s a bottleneck.”
Portugal, Spain,
and the European Commission have long pushed the French link as an
integral part of the EU’s energy union.
That means the
generation of renewable energy is restricted by what Portugal and the
small interconnectors to Spain can handle. Too much rain, wind or sun
causes a surge in power output that drags down prices and overloads
the grid; not enough causes price spikes and supply shortages.
The favorite option
has been in talks for years: a line across the Pyrenees into France,
which is already connected to the U.K., Belgium, Germany,
Switzerland, Italy and Spain. Another plan, calling for a cable from
Portugal under the Bay of Biscay to Britain, would be too expensive.
Portugal, Spain, and
the European Commission have long pushed the French link as an
integral part of the EU’s energy union.
France is more
cautious, pointing to the high cost and construction challenges —
an argument that echoes its position on a proposed gas pipeline from
Spain to France. Portugal and Spain say France’s resistance is more
about protecting its fleet of 58 nuclear power stations from
renewable energy competition.
“The lack of
interconnection capacity is just between France and Spain, which is
clearly insufficient given the capacity of the Iberian Peninsula to
provide renewable electricity to Europe,” the Portuguese ministry
said, noting delays and “small steps,” despite commitments from
Portugal, Spain and the Commission.
Lisbon strong-armed
Paris into agreeing on the need for more cross-border interconnectors
in 2014, in the run up to last year’s COP21 Paris climate summit.
Portugal threatened to veto the EU’s climate and energy targets for
2030 unless countries agreed to also set a goal for connecting
national electricity grids.
“Energy is not
the Portuguese government’s main concern nowadays” — António
Sá da Costa, renewable energy association
“Portugal said ‘We
are not Poland, because we actually want the 2030 goals to be
achieved,’” the EU source said. “Because without the 2030
goals, France could not have a successful COP21.”
The blackmail worked
— for a time. The EU set a goal of linking 10 percent of its
electricity production capacity across national borders by 2020, and
France, Portugal and Spain agreed to look into the power line
project, as well as the gas pipeline.
But momentum has
since stalled, and time is running out to build the line by 2020.
“Energy is not the
Portuguese government’s main concern nowadays,” Sá da Costa
said. “I hope the European Commission will help. But are my hopes
nowadays very high? No they are not.”
This article has
been corrected to note that the comment about renewable technologies
was made by Secretary of State for Energy Jorge Seguro Sanches, not
Secretary of State for Environment and Energy Jorge Moreira da Silva.
Authors:
Sara Stefanini
Terra entrou numa nova era, o Antropoceno
Terra
entrou numa nova era, o Antropoceno
29.08.2016 20h44
O impacto humano
sobre a química e o clima da Terra abreviou a época geológica de
11.700 anos conhecida como Holoceno e apressou a entrada numa nova
era, o Antropoceno, anunciou esta segunda-feira um grupo de
cientistas.
O início do
Antropoceno, ou "nova idade do Homem", será fixado em
meados do século XX se a recomendação que os investigadores hoje
apresentaram no Congresso Geológico Internacional, na Cidade do
Cabo, África do Sul, for adotada.
É provável que o
processo de aprovação leve pelo menos dois anos e requeira
ratificação de mais três equipas de académicos.
O próprio grupo de
trabalho que apresentou a recomendação, composto por 35 elementos,
levou sete anos de deliberação até reconhecer por unanimidade o
Antropoceno como uma realidade e aprovou com 30 votos a favor, três
contra e duas abstenções a decisão de que a transição deverá
ser oficialmente registada.
"Segundo o
nosso modelo de trabalho, o limite ideal é em meados do século XX",
disse Jan Zalasiewicz, um geólogo da Universidade de Leicester.
"Se for adotado
- e estamos muito longe disso -, o Holoceno termina e considerar-se-á
formalmente que o Antropoceno já começou", acrescentou.
Os cientistas
referem-se ao período a partir de 1950 como a "Grande
Aceleração", e uma olhadela a gráficos que acompanham as
numerosas alterações químicas e socioeconómicas torna óbvio
porquê.
Concentrações no
ar de dióxido de carbono, metano e ozono estratosférico;
temperaturas à superfície, acidificação dos oceanos, esgotamento
dos recursos da pesca marítima e perda de florestas tropicais;
crescimento da população, construção de grandes barragens,
turismo internacional -- todos disparam a partir de meados do século
XX.
Um dos principais
culpados é o aquecimento global provocado pela queima de
combustíveis fósseis.
Uma sintomática
onda de disseminação de espécies animais e vegetais invasivas é
também um legado da nossa espécie.
Mas o grupo de
trabalho não está autorizado a ter qualquer destes fatores em
consideração a menos que eles apareçam em algum registo geológico.
Se não pode ser
medido em rochas, sedimentos lacustres, calotas de gelo ou outras
formações que tais -- os critérios usados para identificar dezenas
de eras, períodos e épocas que remontam a quatro mil milhões de
anos -, então, não conta.
Isto, contudo, não
é um problema quando se trata do Antropoceno, indicou Zalasiewicz.
"Temos muito
por onde escolher: há todo um manancial de potenciais sinais por
aí", disse à agência de notícias francesa AFP.
Os micro plásticos,
por exemplo - uma substância sintética, feita pelo homem - "são
agora componentes do sedimento existente em todo o mundo, tanto na
terra como no mar", apontou.
E o aumento do
dióxido de carbono atmosférico está patente em calotas de gelo com
dezenas de milhares de anos.
Mudanças passadas
na biosfera - o reino dos seres vivos - ficam registadas em
sedimentos e rochas, especialmente indícios de extinções em massa,
quando até 95% de todas as formas de vida desapareceram num piscar
de olhos geológico.
O desaparecimento
dos dinossauros sem asas, no final do período Cretáceo é um desses
marcos, embora longe de ser o mais dramático.
O termo
"Antropoceno" - pela primeira vez proposto em 2002 pelo
prémio Nobel da Química Paul Crutzen - tem sido adotado por
ambientalistas como palavra de ordem nos protestos contra a expansão
do setor petrolífero e é visto por alguns conservadores como um
pretexto para o que consideram serem políticas agressivas de asfixia
económica para combater as alterações climáticas.
Em relação à
forma que tomarão as provas da existência desta nova idade
geológica do planeta Terra, Zalasiewicz disse que ainda é muito
cedo para saber, embora acrescentando que "o coral de
crescimento rápido forma um arquivo em camadas que captura bem a
química".
Para definir o
início do Holoceno, os cientistas escolheram uma amostra retirada de
uma calota de gelo, em 2003, do lençol de gelo do centro da
Gronelândia, com as coordenadas 75,1 graus Norte/42,32 graus Oeste.
O pedaço de gelo
está arquivado num armário frigorífico na Universidade de
Copenhaga.
Lusa
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