Czechs made good Friday on what was unimaginable under communist rule just 15 years ago -- choosing European Parliament representatives as sign of membership in the continent's club of democracy.
The vote was a mixed blessing for some Czechs -- an affirmation of arrival in Europe's rich and free nations tinged with worry that that very membership could reduce their nation's sovereignty.
The EU expanded to 25 nations and 450 million people when it took in the Czech Republic and seven other former Soviet bloc nations on May 1. Ireland also was voting Friday in a four-day process that will choose 732 representatives Europe-wide in four days of voting that began Thursday and running through today, with issues ranging from national sovereignty to the war on terrorism and Europe's role in Iraq.
PHOTO: AP
While the European Parliament still cannot introduce legislation -- that right is reserved for the European Commission -- its powers have steadily grown to the point that it now influences all EU laws, by voting on them and amending them. It can even ask the commission to revise EU legislation, which is binding on all member states.
In the Czech Republic, candidates included former Soviet-era cosmonaut Vladimir Remek and Nora Baumberger, a porn actress who goes by the screen name Dolly Buster. Voting was spread over Friday and yesterday. The state-run CTK news agency reported turnout at only 10 percent shortly before polls closed Friday.
Vaclav Havel, the communist-era dissident who went on to become his country's first post-communist president, cast his vote in silence in Prague. Other Czechs were more vocal -- though skeptical that their votes would make a large difference.
"I'll definitely go to vote. It's important to use the chance," said Lukas Kokes, 20, a Prague university student.
But Kokes said it was unlikely that the 24 Czech deputies would be able to do anything meaningful for their constituents back home. "They can hardly do anything unless they cooperate with others," he said.
Businesswoman Vendula Dvorakova, 40 said she figures "my vote will not mean much, but this is one of the few chances to influence public affairs, so I'll vote."
The Czech Republic shook off communism in the 1989 Velvet Revolution. It and Slovakia became independent states when Czechoslovakia broke up in 1993.
Irish voters were filling 13 seats in a contest widely seen as a referendum on the waning popularity of the Fianna Fail party.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS