In this issue:

Zapatero Confirms: Spain's Troops Will Leave Iraq

British Conservatives Speak Out Against Iraq War

Some French Theaters Ban Gibson 'Passion'

Germany's Schroeder To Attend Memorial of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

German-Polish Talks Pave Way for Rapprochement

Schiller Institute Delegation Visits Poland

Bank of England Is Raising Interest Rates

Is Schroeder Waking Up to the Crisis?

German Gov't Announces Sharp Cuts in Infrastructure Investments

KFOR Commander: Kosovo Must Have Economic Development

From Volume 3, Issue Number 13 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Mar. 30, 2004

Western European News Digest

Zapatero Confirms: Spain's Troops Will Leave Iraq

Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero strongly reiterated his intention to withdraw Spain's troops from Iraq, in an interview with El Pais March 22. The Prime Minister emphasized that more stringent security measures would have to be taken to fight terrorism in Spain—which, however, under no circumstance should impinge on universal democratic rights—and made clear that his election marks the end of Donald Rumsfeld's effort to split Europe into "old" and "new" Europe.

Zapatero described his election as wholly "unexpected." The conclusion he drew from his victory is "that we must listen more to the citizens," and that the fight against terrorism must be based on "clear principles"—a grand cooperation among European countries and political unity. The fight against terrorism can only be pursued within the framework of the "rule of law," "international law," existing laws, and principles of the EU and UN, he asserted.

Zapatero referred to his speech in Parliament a year ago, when he opposed the Iraq war: "There was no reason to go to war. The occupation is turning out to be a disaster.... The situation in Iraq is ... neo-colonial," he stated.

As for Spanish troop withdrawal, he added, "We will administer this decision in dialogue with the occupying forces and their respective governments. They must listen to us, and they will listen since we have powerful arguments."

Zapatero underlined that he will foster strong relations with France and Germany based on unity of democratic values, European unity based on international law, the principles of the UN and multilateralism, as well as a dialogue of civilizations, social cohesion, and relations with the U.S., but with priority on unity among Europeans.

British Conservatives Speak Out Against Iraq War

On the first anniversary of the launch of the Iraq War, pressure is building within Britain's Conservative (Tory) Party to get leader Michael Howard to back down from his unqualified support for the war.

Most outspoken is former Conservative Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who called on the Tory leadership to find out whether "incompetence or deception" lay behind Prime Minister Tony Blair's claims about a vast Iraqi arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

In an interview with the March 22 London Times, Rifkind charged: "When the government said it had intelligence suggesting Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which could be launched within 45 minutes, which constituted a serious threat to the U.K., we were all misled, whether deliberately or unintentionally."

Rifkind said: "You can only go to war, if you believe there is a substantial net benefit to be achieved—that the world will be a better place, a safer place as a result. I think one of the great casualties of the Iraq war is ... the huge and ongoing damage to Western unity. The deep gulf that has emerged between the United States and most of Europe—that is not only bad in itself, but makes the global battle against terrorism that much more difficult."

Strong criticism has also come from former Tory Foreign Secretary Lord Hurd and from former Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke. Hurd charged Blair had deceived the country, and damaged British interests, by following the U.S. into war.

Some French Theaters Ban Gibson 'Passion'

The president of the French federation of movie distributors has denounced Mel Gibson's horror movie, The Passion of the Christ, as "fascist propaganda," and refuses to allow it to be shown in his chain of movie theaters when it opens in France on March 31. Marin Karmitz, who heads the M2K Group of movie theaters, declared, "I have always fought against fascism," and, on that basis, refuse to allow the film to be shown, the London Independent reported March 24.

Karmitz, who is Jewish, criticized U.S. Jewish groups for focussing on the issue of anti-Semitism in the film, as such. The real danger resides in the fact that Gibson is "turning violence and barbarity into a spectacle." Moreover, behind promotion of the film is "a whole international campaign of religious fundamentalism," he charged.

Gibson's snuff film is due to be shown in 600 movie theaters in France, when it opens.

Germany's Schroeder To Attend Memorial of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will attend the commemoration Aug. 1 of the 1944 Warsaw Ghetto uprising. In an important gesture of conciliation between Germany and Poland, Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller invited Schroeder to attend the event, which recalls the anti-Nazi uprising in 1944 of Warsaw's remaining Jews—those who had not already been sent to the death camp at Auschwitz.

Schroeder spoke with Miller March 23 in Warsaw, where he accepted the invitation, which he said he considers a "great honor." He will also attend a special ceremony for the unveiling of a statue symbolizing the 180,000 victims of the savage German counterattack against the uprising—a counterattack which also destroyed most of Warsaw.

German-Polish Talks Pave Way for Rapprochement

A meeting between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Poland's Prime Minister Leszek Miller, in Warsaw March 23, resulted in agreement to solve the conflict over the planned EU Constitution and related financial issues, along the lines of a new formula presented by the Irish Presidency of the European Union. The formula basically adopts the original proposal by France and Germany, which Poland had rejected in December, but makes minor concessions to Poland concerning voting rights and financial drawing rights on the EU budget.

Under very heavy domestic pressure over economic issues and the pro-Iraq war policy, Miller and his minority government came to realize that a foreign policy "success" would be most welcome at this precarious moment. Miller changed his mind when his main ally, Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, saw his party voted out of power March 14.

Schiller Institute Delegation Visits Poland

A Schiller Institute delegation had the occasion to address several seminars in Poland, where it presented the analysis of LaRouche's election campaign, the global financial collapse and the newly developing strategy of tension in Europe, and had the chance to participate in an international congress on "Europe of the Spirit" in the historic city of Gniezno. The conference heard presentations from Polish Primate Glemp, President Aleksander Kwasniewski, and from leading representatives of the Catholic Church, political layers, and Catholic lay organizations, from eastern and western Europe. Pope John Paul II also sent greetings.

The delegation found Poland at a turning point, with impossible austerity at home, and opposition to its role in the Iraq war. The country is due to enter the European Union on May 1, and a stalemate looms over Economics Minister Jerzy Hausner's budget austerity plan in the face of rising unemployment, especially among youth, and a poverty rate over 55%, and the threat that Poland might be targetted for a Madrid-style "strategy of tension" terrorist attack.

For the first time since the Madrid bombings, President Kwasniewski expressed doubts to European journalists about the Iraq war, saying "We have been misled by intelligence on the weapons of mass destruction." With 55% of the Polish population opposing the Polish troop presence in Iraq, Warsaw had hoped that Spain would soon take over command of the multinational force, giving Poland the chance to bow out of its Iraqi mission.

Bank of England Is Raising Interest Rates

At a speech in Newport, Wales, the Bank of England's Deputy Governor, Sir Andrew Large, said that he had voted for an increase of the British interest rate, five out of the last six months, due to a concern that consumers are taking on too much debt, making the economy vulnerable. Sir Andrew, who is in charge of financial stability, says that consumer borrowing, at 945 billion pounds last year, was an all-time record high, and banks' figures show that debt was primarily taken against the rising value of the borrower's home. British house prices rose about 15% last year and 25% in 2002, the biggest gains since 1989. The Bank of England has raised the interest rate two quarter points, from 3.5% to 4% in November and February, in an interesting contrast to the lunatic Greenspan policies.

Is Schroeder Waking Up to the Crisis?

Germany's economic and political situation is running out of control, and Schroeder is beginning to wake up. Two days in a row, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who until very recently would not even mention the term "patriotism," has been hammering on labor unions, managements and the elites in general, to show "more patriotism" faced with the challenge to fix the economy out and create jobs.

He refers to his Agenda 2010 budget-balancing reforms as the alleged way out of the economic and fiscal woes, when speaking of the "patriotic duty" to support the government, but Schroeder may also have other things in mind: his March 25 State of Germany address before the national parliament will tell more about it.

German Gov't Announces Sharp Cuts in Infrastructure Investments

A few months after the European Union approval of a very scaled-down Tremonti Plan, German Finance Minister Hans Eichel presented his mid-term 2004-08 fiscal plan. According to this plan, Berlin's annual investments into German transport infrastructure will be chopped, step by step, from 9.5 billion euros in 2003, to 7.7 billion euros in 2008. Total cuts in road, railway, and waterway infrastructure over 2004-08 amount to almost 8 billion euros. Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe is supposed to present on March 31 a list of transport projects, which will either be postponed by years or cancelled altogether.

Meanwhile, German municipalities, which account for two-thirds of Germany's infrastructure investments, are now more bankrupt than ever before. Unlike the Federal and state governments, they are not able to increase debt by issuing bonds. Most of their expenses are also fixed by law. There is only one alternative left for thousands of municipalities: cut infrastructure investments. In the last 10 years, German municipal investments into local roads, canalization, and energy have plunged by one-third.

KFOR Commander: Kosovo Must Have Economic Development

German Gen. Klaus Reinhardt (ret), commander of the KFOR troops in 1999, charged that in the past four to five years, there has been no economic progress in Kosovo, so that there is enormous frustration and despair among both the Albanian majority and the Serbian minority.

There has been no improvement in unemployment which remains at 70%, and in the Mitrovica region—the center of the most recent outburst of organized clashes between Serbs and Albanians—it is even at 85%.

Economic development alone is not the exclusive solution, Reinhardt conceded, but military measures are no solution either. At the time when he was commanding KFOR, the city of Orahovac was a center of daily Albanian-Serbian clashes and killings, but today, now that there is some economic, and also agricultural development, Serbs and Albanians live peacefully with each other—which proves that there is no "inborn" predilection toward "ethnic war."

All rights reserved © 2004 EIRNS