Post-Communism: the objections of the Council of Europe to Albania The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis voiced the Council’s concern over the ongoing “lustration” – with the twofold meaning of “purification” and “purge” – in Albania, CoE member country. “For decades Albanians suffered the consequences of one of Europe’s harshest and cruellest Communist regimes”, Davis claimed a few days ago. “I therefore comprehend all efforts aimed at establishing the truth and punishing those who violated human rights during that period”. However, he added, “any action to this regard ought to comply with Council of Europe regulations as relates to democracy, human rights and the rule of the law. In this framework, the lustration bill adopted December 22 by the Albanian Parliament doesn’t appear to respect the above-mentioned criteria”. In particular, the Palais de l’Europe criticizes the bill’s “extensive range of public officials who could be negatively affected by the bill”, underlining procedure equity and sanctions’ severity. Davis claimed that the Bill “largely diverges from the Resolution on the dismantlement of the heritage of old Communist totalitarian regimes, adopted by the CoE Parliamentary Assembly in 1996. In fact, the latter clearly states that any individual lustration measure shouldn’t last more than five years, the lustration process shouldn’t extend beyond December 31 1999 and that the lustration shouldn’t be applied to election candidates. None of these guidelines was envisaged in the lustration bill” enforced in the Country of the Eagles.Europe in the web: 3 million “.eu” domainsThere are over 3 million “.eu” web domains. The figures were released by the European Commission that informs, “the 3millionth .eu domain was registered January 11 by a German citizen”. After two and a half years since its creation, .eu “confirms is success”, since it ranks fourth among the most widespread web domains at European level and ninth at world level, along with .com or .net and .org. According to the Executive, “by promoting a specifically European identity on-line, this domain helps citizens and enterprises fully exploit single market opportunities. Multinationals, small and middle enterprises, non-governmental organizations along with single citizens, have adopted the .eu domain for their presence on the web”. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information and the Media, remarked: “Three million European domains reflect internauts’ confidence in .eu. This shows that it gained public confidence: an increasing number of users thus grasp the occasion to express their European personality on-line. In particular, I’m glad to see that it has been adopted by an increasing number of small and medium enterprises as an integrating element of their social identity and I hope that the upward trend continues”. Most domains were registered in EU Countries “with the highest number of citizens and internet users.” Germany ranks first with 30% followed by The Netherlands (14%), the United Kingdom (12%), France (8%) and Poland (6%).A table game to learn more about the EU”It’s a game for children and adults that enables players to learn more about Europe”. Chantal Laroche, a French entrepreneur and Sorbonne University graduate, is touring the Old Continent to spread information on “Euro-culture”, a table game similar to Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit, that she wishes will “spread the culture, history, politics and literature of Europe”. Last week she was received in Strasbourg by Euro-Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, while for the next weeks she’s expected at the InfEuropa Schuman in Brussels. The game consists in throwing dice, proceeding along the different boxes and answering various questions (500 have already been put together) “regarding the history of Community integration, EU institutions and the Union’s presence in the world…” Laroche told SIR. “Primary attention is given to single Member States, in view of intercultural learning”. The idea was born following an exhibition on the Euro set up by Ms. Laroche that is touring a number of cities on the tenth anniversary of the single currency. The game – that is likely to be promoted in schools by the EU – is described on the website www.euro-culture.fr.
