In this issue:

German Chancellor Wishes Monday Rallies Were Dying Down

East German Rallies Honor the Historic 1989 Demonstrations

First Major Dutch Anti-Austerity Protests Launched

Swiss Gnomes Won't Escape Anti-Austerity Protests

Brits Jump Sinking Ship: Iraq Troop Pullout Pending

British Diplomat: Bush Is Al-Qaeda's Best Recruiter

German Public Transport Needs 35-Billion Euro Transfusion

British Railway Launches High-Speed Train Service

British Housing Bubble Springs a Leak

Iran Discusses Major Oil and Gas Projects with Spain

From Volume 3, Issue Number 39 of EIR Online, Published Sep. 28, 2004

Western European News Digest

German Chancellor Wishes Monday Rallies Were Dying Down

In a full-page interview with the Sept. 23 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that he thinks that protests against the government's "Hartz IV" austerity program are diminishing. More and more people are coming to realize that Monday rallies will not alter the government's policy in any way, he said, adding that he sees no alternative to the Hartz IV approach.

Unfortunately for Schroeder, the opposite is true. Even as this interview appeared on newsstands, citizens in five eastern German cities were taking to the streets.

Furthermore, Thomas Moeller, chairman of the DGB (Germany's labor federation) in the Prepomerania district, said in an interview with the Ostsee-Zeitung Sept. 23, that even if many are deserting the protest rallies these days, it is impossible to tell them to go home and stop protesting, after they have been mobilized. Neubrandenburg, where this daily is published, had its sixth Thursday rally on the very day these statements appeared in the press.

East German Rallies Honor the Historic 1989 Demonstrations

In many eastern German cities, the historic protest rallies of 1989, which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, are being celebrated and remembered in official, as well as non-official events.

In Saxony, for example, Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz, Plauen, and Zwickau will hold exhibits Oct. 7-9, with original pictures and reports from that autumn protest, 15 years ago, and all of that momentous history will refresh the Monday rallies for many, once again. Speeches, seminars, and interviews are on the agenda of these events in numerous eastern Germany cities and towns.

A related panel discussion took place in Schwerin, at the State Center of Political Education Sept. 22, with politicians, journalists and others who took part in Monday rallies in 1989.

First Major Dutch Anti-Austerity Protests Launched

The traditional "government speech," which Dutch Queen Juliana read in The Hague Sept. 22, is certain to provoke more protests by labor unions and citizens. The Christian-Liberal Dutch coalition government plans deep cuts in the labor market, welfare and health budgets, similar to the German Agenda 2010 policy. With that, the Dutch government hopes to reduce its budget in FY 2005 by three billion euros—to meet the Maastricht guidelines.

On Monday, about 50,000 citizens took to the streets of several cities. The port of Rotterdam was on strike for the entire day, and the Heineken firm did not produce any beer the entire day, either. More warning strikes were reported on Sept 21 and 22, and on Sept. 23, about 5,000 policemen protested in The Hague against budget cuts.

The Netherlands is in a precarious economic situation, with news headlines focusing on the deep trouble that banks and industrial firms are in. Dutch unemployment has doubled over the past three years, and poverty is spreading. Recent revelations have definitely ripped apart all the nonsensical talk about the "Dutch Model." Dutch Prime Minister Jan Balkenende gave a briefing on this austerity model just two weeks ago.

Swiss Gnomes Won't Escape Anti-Austerity Protests

Labor unions, and other nominally leftist organizations in Switzerland, with a total membership of more than 300,000 citizens, will stage a day of national protest against intensified austerity plans of their government, on Sept. 23.

Protests and warning strikes will be held in seven bigger cities: Basel, Berne, Lausanne, Geneva, Zuerich, Baden, and Chur. There is commitment to continue the protests, possibly on Thursdays, but there is also strong support for Monday rallies modelled on those in Germany.

Brits Jump Sinking Ship: Iraq Troop Pullout Pending

Contrary to reports in recent days of possible troop increases, the London Observer's chief reporter Jason Burke reported Sept. 19 that "the British Army is to start pulling troops out of Iraq next month despite the deteriorating security situation in much of the country." The main British combat force, about 5,000 strong (out of 8,000 total British troops), will be reduced by about one-third by the end of October, Burke reports. The reduction will be part of an otherwise routine rotation of troops in Basra over the next few weeks. Burke says the reports came from both military sources and Whitehall, and were confirmed by a military spokesman in Basra.

British Diplomat: Bush Is Al-Qaeda's Best Recruiter

"If anyone is ready to celebrate the eventual re-election of Bush, it's al-Qaeda," Britain's Ambassador to Italy Sir Ivor Roberts said, while attending a private Anglo-Italian event in Tuscany, Corriera della Sera reported Sept. 20. The British embassy in Rome declined to comment, saying that the meeting was covered by Chatham House rules (nothing said is to be accredited to a specific person).

German Public Transport Needs 35-Billion Euro Transfusion

A study, released on Sept. 17, by the Association of German Transport Corporations (VDV) states that 19 billion euros in investments will be needed between now and 2007, and another 16.4 billion euros over 2008-2012 just to maintain current operations. Some 40% of the total investment will be required to replace 18,500 over-aged buses, and 4,000 tram and subway cars. The other 60% is needed to upgrade thousands of bus, tram, and subway stations, and to repair or build more than 1,000 km of urban railway lines in German cities.

All these figures are quite conservative estimates, says the VDV study. VDV Vice President Dieter Ludwig warned that further cuts in public investment budgets would certainly lead to the "overall rotting" of Germany's once-excellent public transport infrastructure.

British Railway Launches High-Speed Train Service

Virgin Trains of Great Britain launched new high-speed service Sept. 20 on the West Coast main line, marking the completion of the first phase of a 7.6 billion pound upgrade to the line. This will allow Virgin's new "tilting trains" to travel at speeds up to 140 mph, cutting the 184-mile journey between London and Manchester by 30 minutes, a 22% reduction. "A workforce of 9,000 has spent a total of 24 million hours upgrading the line, Britain's busiest rail route, since May last year. More than 460 new sets of points, 600 miles of overhead wiring and more than 1 million tons of ballast have been put in place."

British Housing Bubble Springs a Leak

Interest rates in the UK have been raised three times within four months, leaving real estate agents' "confidence" at its lowest level in six years, the Times of London reported Sept. 21, while the number of loans for house purchases fell to 104,000 in August, down 20% from July. The value of loans was down 18%. The number of house sales contracts in August, fell to the lowest level since November 2000.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reported that the housing market had undergone a heavy slowdown since May, with potential buyers "knocked off balance" by rising rates and repeated warnings of a sharp downturn in prices. RICS national housing spokesman Ian Perry said, "Some speculation in the housing market is quite gloomy at the moment." But he claimed that there would not be a "prolonged" price fall.

Iran Discusses Major Oil and Gas Projects with Spain

The Foreign Ministers of Iran and Spain used their meetings at the General Assembly to pursue what Spain's Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos called "Tehran-Madrid ties in all fields," the key to which is a proposed partnership in a $4 billion venture between the National Iranian Oil Company with the Spanish-Argentine oil firm Repsol YPF and Anglo-Dutch Shell, for natural gas.

The companies would produce 7 million tons of natural gas and one million of liquefied gas. El Pais reported that the companies had taken advantage of the last OPEC summit in Vienna to negotiate the deal.

One of the two firms would be engaged in drilling and extraction, while the other would focus on downstream marketing, refining, and distribution, with total investment of $2.5 billion.

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