Lavoro, Cappa: “Pronti a dare nostro contributo”

Roma – “La disoccupazione giovanile ha raggiunto il punto critico come emerso dai dati Istat pubblicati oggi. All’indomani della festa dei lavoratori, il numero degli under 25 senza occupazione lascia un profondo sconforto nella nostra generazione ma anche una voglia di mettersi in gioco, di non subire soltanto passivamente questa condizione. Siamo pronti a dare il nostro contributo al Governo che lucidamente ha tracciato la volontà di puntare sulla crescita” così dichiara Marco Cappa, Presidente dei Giovani Democratici Europei.

“Complessivamente, nell’Unione europea i giovani senza lavoro sono 5,516 milioni” – prosegue Cappa – “Schieriamo decisi la generazione Erasmus a supporto di un progetto che acceleri la formazione di un’Europa più coesa, con una svolta economica, che porterà come conseguenza più stabilità all’Euro, alle economie dei paesi membri e ai giovani. Confidiamo nella ‘vision’ del Ministro Fornero e del suo Vice Martone. Siamo pronti a presentare loro le nostre idee e contribuire alla costruzione di un futuro che possa essere sempre più a misura di giovani”.

 

Marco Cappa
Presidente Giovani Democratici Europei

 

Roma, 2 Maggio 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roma, 2 Maggio 2012

Jerusalem: A Global and Local Issue

Jerusalem is the holy city for the three major monotheistic religions that share the revelation of the Pentateuch; for Jews it’s the city of the Wailing Wall and of Temple Mount, for Christians the place of passion, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, for Muslims the set from which the Prophet is believed to have ascended to heaven and where today is the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Haram Ash-Sharif. In the popular imagination, therefore, “the city of Jerusalem” is the Old City, that is enclosed within its walls built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1538. In addition, it’s universally known that Jerusalem represents a kind of huge concentration of all issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the city, in fact, the historical and religious complexity is palpable even in social and economic relations and so, the region (land) inevitably becomes not only place but also subject of conflict. Within the walls of the Old City the control and management of places, considered sacred by different religions are reason of argument; while in the wider area of the municipality of Jerusalem there is a rather profound disagreement on rights of use and transit of the land, and also on administrative boundaries. This state of affairs is now even more complex because of the objective constraints imposed by the construction of Security Fence that envelops the city and saves only the western side. According to Israel, this physical barrier has been erected for the safety of the Jerusalemite people, threatened in particular after the Second Intifadah, according to the Palestinians it is a division both symbolic and tangible that seeks to impose a de facto situation on the ground; a way to create a path of no-return whereby Jerusalem, enlarged and enclosed, would be permanently attached to Israel, despite international law and the many pronouncements of the United Nations. The use and spatial planning represents one of the main causes of division. In this direction, together with the Security Wall, it is the construction of Israeli settlements in the north (Givat Zeev),South-West (Gush Etzion) and East (Maale Adumim, Kfar Adumimand) of the Old Town. This is, overall, a process of spatial fragmentation, linked to a re-territorialisation in progress since the first Arab-Israeli war.

This process, which began to provide “new” Jerusalem a different identity, is causing severe social changes and is exacerbating tensions. Which is Jerusalem? Where does it begin and end? Who and how many are its inhabitants? By analyzing different points of view and international law, it is very difficult to give a clear answer to these questions. What you can instead grasp is the key role that Jerusalem might take, as well as, conversely, the possible marginality. In a context of collaboration and mutual recognition between Israelis and Palestinians, the city may in fact perform a valuable “hinge” function , whether it goes in the direction of two different States which constitute the capital city, or whether it takes into account the hypothesis of a “special” city under international protection, or, again if the prospect of a single multiethnic State was to prevail. Among the two components of ethnic and religious practice there is a clear complementarily: the Palestinian Arab labor can be (in many cases is already) very important for Israel in many fields, such as construction, agriculture, industry and even services, Israelis technology and economic development could instead allow a rapid improvement of living conditions in the city as a whole, for the entire population. In this context, Jerusalem could become again the reference point for the economy of the Middle East and resume its historic role as a bridge between East and West. Jerusalem would again be open and integrated, even more than today, and be destination of large flows of international tourism, which would be an additional driving force for urban development. The city could, on the other hand, merely be an offshoot of the State of Israel, should it continue to remain closed because of the persisting Israeli-Palestinian conflict . The Security Wall, although statistics show a decline in terrorist attacks in the city, it does not seem

to be a long-term solution. It not only divides Israelis from Palestinian Arabs, but even among themselves. In West Bank, in fact, the track cuts the region into two parts and makes connections complex between North/South complicating the connections with other Palestinian centers (Jericho, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin, Hebron). For Israelis, the situation is not at the best because the Security Wall also makes it difficult for relations between those who are inside the path and those who were cut out. Through the land use resulting, the city has lost its traditional hinterland towards all points of the compass except the West, gaining instead preferential links with Israeli settlements within a radius of about ten kilometers from the administrative limits. In conclusion it is right to say that the geography of Jerusalem seems therefore crucial, as well as the city itself, for Palestine and throughout the Middle East, but even for the world as a whole. Although in recent years the general rule prevailed in considering the status of Jerusalem as a problem to be totally submitted to the agreements between the two parties in conflict, one gets the impression that a definition of this thorny issue can only be identified through the involvement of major geopolitical players worldwide, including Europe, since the fairness and stability of the solution rests not only on the balance of local or regional, but also on the credibility of the United Nations and the relations between the Muslim world on the one hand and the so-called “West” on the other.

Nicola Censini LLM

The Union for the Mediterranean: a project that never took off

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), established in Paris on July 13, 2008, willed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was intended as a tool to revitalize the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process) by strengthening and developing relations among the nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

The entire UfM resided within a “functionalist” approach, a sort of Mediterranean CECA. Pragmatically, it was concretized in six priority areas: de-pollution of the Mediterranean, maritime and land highways, civil protection, alternative energies (Mediterranean solar plan), higher education and research (Euro-Mediterranean University), and the Mediterranean business initiative. Structurally and organizationally, UfM included two co-presidents (one for the north shore and one for the south), a Deputy Secretary-General and 5 vice-presidents, including one Palestinian and one Israeli. The relaunch of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership was however deeply and critically flawed at its birth. In fact, Sarkozy launched the project without consulting the Slovenian Presidency of the EU, the Commission and the Member Countries.

In addition to these fundamental issues, relevant international events, especially in the Middle East, took place. The escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict caused a real deadlock in the negotiations concerning some UfM projects to integrate Israel in new economic and infrastructural projects. The Israeli raids against the Gaza Strip in December 2008 ended all projects and put the re-launching of the Union for the Middle East in great difficulty. It was now clear that all cooperation projects in the region could not disregard a normalization of relations between Tel Aviv and Ramallah.

2011 was a dreadful year for the Union. On the one hand, the crisis of the so-called PIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain), showed that not only the southern shore of the Mediterranean was unstable, but also the “north”, at least economically. If the economies of the countries bordering Europe should stimulate the growth of Arab countries with large-scale investments (the highways of the sea, for example) through the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), neither type of investment was made because all the European countries were committed to safeguarding Greece from collapse and consolidation measures approved to financially stabilize Lisbon and Madrid. On the other hand, from a political perspective, between December and January 2011, the Arab spring broke out and the Union for the Mediterranean has shown itself powerless in the face of these events, because most of the governments that should support Mediterranean revitalization and economic policy (Mubarak in Egypt, Bashar el Assad in Syria, Ben Ali in Tunisia, and Gaddafi in Libya) began to fall under the pressure of the grassroots movement. All the EU Mediterranean countries were much more interested in solving their economic and political problems than in analyzing and paying attention to the socio-political changes in North Africa.

It is clear that the UfM suffered a lack of consultation and an insufficient sharing initiative. The project, launched independently by Sarkozy with anachronistic grandeur, lost relevance with time and because of the difficulties mentioned above. Further impetus was lacking in idealism, courage, and innovation. The specter of failure of the Barcelona Process has paralyzed all partners involved. So, now, it has come to the current situation where the UfM is in agony, unable to even speak about the events that are affecting the region and even unable to fulfill its mandate, which took functionalist form in those six areas of action. This standstill has occurred despite the Commission having allocated 100 million euros in three years.

Nicola Censini LLM

Our President meets Dalai Lama

Dharamsala – Our President, Marco Cappa, took part to the Italian delegation led by Hon. Gianni Vernetti that participated last March 10th to the 53rd Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day. It was the occasion to have a private meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “It was an incredible emotion – declared Cappa – Being so close to a global and spiritual leader, receving a deep touch of humanity and wisdom.”
 
Cappa and the other members of the delegation agreed with the Prime Minister of the Tibetans in Exile, Lobsang Sangay, that 2012 should be the Tibet lobby year. They called together for more democracy and freedom in China. Other meetings were held with the members of the Government and Parliament. The Speaker of the Parliament, Penpa Tsering, blessed the help and solidarity offered by this delegation to the Tibetan cause. 

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