Government ministers from some European Union nations sought Thursday to reassure their partners in the Western Balkans during a meeting in Poland that their aspirations to join the EU have full backing in the club, despite symptoms of a loss of momentum.
German Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth, said Berlin stands firmly by the accession process of all Western Balkans nations “because for us the Western Balkans is not the backyard of the European Union, but the inner courtyard. We are all responsible for ensuring that the prospect of EU accession remains concrete.”
Speaking in the Polish city of Poznan, which is hosting the meeting, Roth urged much more effort in that direction and the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.
FILE – German Minister of State for European Affairs Michael Roth, right, speaks with the media as he arrives at the Europa building in Brussels, Dec. 11, 2018.
Foreign, interior and economy ministers from membership candidates Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania, as well as potential candidates Bosnia and Kosovo, are seeking such reassurance after some European leaders raised doubts about the EU’s openness to expanding.
French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated Monday that he thinks the EU has internal work to do that takes priority over taking in new members. He said he would “refuse any kind of enlargement before a deep reform of our institutional functioning.”
Speaking Thursday in Poland, Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic reacted to Macron’s comments by questioning the purpose of holding such meetings “especially when some of the top European leaders are saying there’s no chance of any enlargement.”
FILE – Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic attends a rally in Novi Sad, Serbia, March 18, 2017.
Roth said Thursday that “only a concrete perspective that is credible and that motivates the people locally, that involves civil society, will ultimately make the necessary reforms possible” and will pave the accession road.
He said the process will stimulate development in various walks of life in the region, but that above all “it is also about regional cooperation and reconciliation,” like in the case of difficult dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, whose relations are marked by bloodshed.
“There is still a great deal to be done,” Roth said.
Arguments for enlargement
Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ekaterina Sachariewa pointed to huge improvement in the strained relations her EU member country achieved with North Macedonia thanks to the accession efforts. That should serve as an inspiration and an example for overcoming other problems among Western Balkan nations.
Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said that including Western Balkans nations in the EU would increase regional stability and development and spread the EU’s values to more of Europe.
He pledged 500,000 euros from Poland for a fund developing investment in the region.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki plan to join the gathering Friday.
Poland is hosting the summit in Poznan because it currently presides over the so-called Berlin Process that brings the Western Balkan nations together with EU member states. Initiated by Germany, the process is meant to promote EU membership for the Western Balkans although there is no set time frame.
Eva Mozes Kor, a Romanian Holocaust survivor who spent four decades advocating forgiveness, has died at age 85 — during an annual trip to the site of the Nazi regime’s most notorious death camp.
Kor was sent to Auschwitz, in German-occupied Poland, in 1944 with her twin sister. Both girls survived the camp, but Kor’s sister died in 1993 of health problems blamed on the medical experiments they were forced to undergo while imprisoned.
Kor began lecturing about her experiences in the camp in 1978. Her advocacy of forgiveness — in her words, “forgiveness is the best revenge” — made her an enemy to some, who labeled her a traitor to her people. But her supporters praised her as a visionary.
Kor’s advocacy group, known as CANDLES, announced Thursday that she had died “peacefully” during her annual pilgrimage to Auschwitz.
CANDLES — a group for people who had suffered medical experiments in the death camps — said in a statement, “We hope Eva’s story continues to change the lives of those who hear it for many years to come.”
U.S. federal courts and states that challenged the Trump administration’s decision to include a citizenship question on the country’s 2020 census are asking for clarity after the Departments of Justice and Commerce suddenly reversed what had been an acceptance of finalizing the questionnaire without inquiring about citizenship status.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s reasoning for including the citizenship question did not meet standards for a clear explanation of why it should be asked during the count of people in the United States that takes place every 10 years.
The matter seemed further settled Tuesday when the DOJ and Commerce Department made public statements and comments in legal cases that the process of printing the census was going forward without a citizenship question in order to meet deadlines for carrying out the count on time.
The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.
But with a series of tweets, President Donald Trump injected uncertainty back into the process as he proclaimed, “We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.”
Friday hearing
U.S. District Judge George Hazel of Maryland has set a deadline of 2 p.m. Friday for the government to either say the citizenship question will not appear on the census, or to explain how the court should proceed with an unresolved challenge that the government violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
FILE – U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross speaks at the 11th Trade Winds Business Forum and Mission hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, in New Delhi, India, May 7, 2019.
So far, rulings have focused on the administrative process and whether Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted reasonably in pursuing his agencies goals. An examination of equal protection challenges would bring into the case whether the administration sought to suppress the count of minorities in the census.
Trump’s Democratic opponents have claimed that including the citizenship question is a Republican ploy to scare immigrants into not participating in the census out of fear that immigration officials might target them for deportation when they determine that they are in the country illegally. An undercount in Democrat-leaning areas with large immigrant and Latino populations could reduce congressional representation for such states and cut federal aid.
The attorneys general of California and New York have asked federal courts in those states to hold conferences Friday so that the Justice Department can make its positions clear after what has happened in the Maryland District Court and with the changing statements from the Trump administration.
What’s going on
In the conference call with the Maryland court Wednesday, Justice Department special counsel Joshua Gardner admitted that they were still sorting out how to respond to Trump’s statements.
“The tweet this morning was the first I had heard of the president’s position on this issue, just like the plaintiffs and your honor,” Gardner said. “I do not have a deeper understanding of what that means at this juncture, other than what the president has tweeted. But, obviously, as you can imagine, I am doing my absolute best to figure out what’s going on.”
However, Gardner added that the Census Bureau has not stopped its current process of printing the census without a citizenship question, as the government continues to weigh what options it may have.
The Census Bureau had previously set a target date of early July to begin printing the questionnaire in order to have it prepared for delivery to the American public by the April 1 deadline.
The census is important because it determines how many seats in the House of Representatives each state is allotted and how $800 billion in federal aid is disbursed.
After the Supreme Court heard arguments on the citizenship question but before it ruled, documents emerged from the files of a deceased Republican election districting expert showing that the citizenship question was aimed at helping Republicans gain an electoral edge over Democrats.
FILE – Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., counters arguments by Republicans on the House Rules Committee as they vote to authorize contempt cases, June 10, 2019.
Congressional hearing
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the House Oversight Committee announced Wednesday afternoon that the director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Steven Dillingham, will testify at a hearing July 24 on the status of planning and preparations for the 2020 Census.
“It is time for the Census Bureau to move beyond all the outside political agendas and distractions and devote its full attention to preparing for the 2020 Census,” Raskin, the Maryland Democrat, said. “This hearing will examine the current status of the Bureau’s readiness for the Census next year — especially in areas where the bureau may be falling behind such as IT, security and public education.”
The United Nations says at least 55 people were killed and more than 130 injured in the Tuesday night airstrike on a detention center holding illegal migrants in Libya’s capital. VOA’s Heather Murdock is on the scene in Tripoli and files this report.
An Australian student was released Thursday after a week in detention in North Korea and flew to Beijing, where he described his condition to reporters as “very good.”
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced to Parliament that Alek Sigley, 29, had been released hours earlier following intervention from Swedish diplomats Wednesday.
Sigley looked relaxed when he arrived at Beijing airport. He did not respond to reporters’ questions about what had happened in Pyongyang.
His father, Gary Sigley, said his son would soon be reunited with his Japanese wife Yuka Morinaga in Tokyo.
“He’s fine. He’s in very good spirits. He’s been treated well,” the father told reporters in his hometown of Perth.
Swedish diplomats had raised Sigley with North Korean authorities in Pyongyang where Australia does not have an embassy.
“Alex is safe and well. Swedish authorities advised the Australian government that they met with senior officials from the DPRK yesterday and raised the issue of Alex’s disappearance on Australia’s behalf,” Morrison said, using the official name for North Korea.
Morrison thanked Swedish authorities for “their invaluable assistance in securing Alek’s prompt release.”
“This outcome demonstrates the value of discrete behind-the-scenes work of officials in resolving complex and sensitive consular cases in close partnership with other governments,” Morrison said.
The Pyongyang university student and tour guide lost contact with family and friends in Japan and Australia last Tuesday.
Morrison’s announcement was the first confirmation that he had been detained.
Editor’s note: A look at the veracity of claims by political figures
WASHINGTON — In his Fourth of July remarks, President Donald Trump will be celebrating the armed forces and showcasing what he’s done for them. But in recent days, he has falsified his record on military matters on several fronts.
He’s claimed, for example, that he came up with the “genius idea” of giving veterans private health care so they don’t have to wait for Veterans Affairs appointments, only to find out that others had thought of it but failed to get it done.
President Barack Obama signed the law getting it done in 2014.
Trump also made the flatly false statement that he won troops their first raise in a decade, suggested he’s made progress reducing veteran suicides that is not backed up by the numbers, and contradicted the record in claiming that North Korea is cooperating on the return of the remains of U.S. troops.
A look at his statements on military matters and personnel, some of which may be heard from the stage Thursday or in tweets:
FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump take a selfie with U.S. troops at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, Dec. 27, 2018.
Military pay
Trump, addressing military members: “You also got very nice pay raises for the last couple of years. Congratulations. Oh, you care about that. They care about that. I didn’t think you noticed. Yeah, you were entitled. You know, it was close to 10 years before you had an increase. Ten years. And we said, ‘It’s time.’ And you got a couple of good ones, big ones, nice ones.” — remarks Sunday at Osan Air Base, South Korea.
The facts: He’s been spreading this falsehood for more than a year, soaking up cheers from crowds for something he didn’t do. In May 2018, for example, he declared to graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy: “We just got you a big pay raise. First time in 10 years.”
U.S. military members have received a pay raise every year for decades.
Trump also boasts about the size of the military pay raises under his administration, but there’s nothing extraordinary about them.
Several raises in the last decade have been larger than service members are getting under Trump — 2.6% this year, 2.4% last year, 2.1% in 2017.
Raises in 2008, 2009 and 2010, for example, were all 3.4% or more.
Pay increases shrank after that because of congressionally mandated budget caps. Trump and Congress did break a trend that began in 2011 of pay raises that hovered between 1% and 2%.
Veterans’ suicide
Trump: “On average, 20 veterans and members take their own lives every day. … We’re working very, very hard on that. In fact, the first time I heard the number was 23, and now it’s down somewhat. But it’s such an unacceptable number.” — call on June 25 with military veterans.
The facts: Trump incorrectly suggests that he helped reduce veterans’ suicide, noting that his administration was working “very, very hard” on the problem and that in fact the figure had come down. But no decline has been registered during his administration. There was a drop during the Obama administration, but that might be because of the way veterans’ suicides are counted.
The Veterans Affairs Department estimated in 2013 that 22 veterans were taking their lives each day on average (not 23, as Trump put it). The estimate was based on data submitted from fewer than half of the states. In 2016, VA released an estimate of 20 suicides per day, based on 2014 data from all 50 states as well as the Pentagon.
The estimated average has not budged since.
Trump has pledged additional money for suicide prevention and created in March a Cabinet-level task force that will seek to develop a national roadmap for suicide prevention, part of a campaign pledge to improve health care for veterans.
Still, a report by the Government Accountability Office in December found the VA had left millions of dollars unspent that were available for suicide prevention efforts. The report said VA had spent just $57,000 out of $6.2 million available for paid media, such as social-media postings, thanks in part to leadership turmoil at the agency.
FILE – U.S. General Vincent Brooks, commander of the U.N. Command, U.S. Forces Korea and Combined Forces Command, speaks during a repatriation ceremony for the remains of U.S. soldiers who were killed in the Korean War and collected in North Korea.
North Korea
Trump, on North Korea’s help in returning the remains of U.S. troops from the Korean War: “The remains are coming back as they get them, as they find them. The remains of our great heroes from the war. And we really appreciate that.” — remarks Sunday to Korean business leaders in Seoul.
Trump: “We’re very happy about the remains having come back. And they’re bringing back — in fact, we were notified they have additional remains of our great heroes from many years ago.” — remarks June 28 in Japan.
The facts: His account is at odds with developments.
No remains of U.S. service members have been returned since last summer and the U.S. suspended efforts in May to get negotiations on the remains back on track in time to have more repatriated this year. It hopes more remains may be brought home next year.
The Pentagon’s Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency, which is the outfit responsible for recovering U.S. war remains and returning them to families, “has not received any new information from (North Korean) officials regarding the turn over or recovery of remains,” spokesman Charles Prichard said Wednesday.
Prichard said his agency is “still working to communicate” with the North Korean army “as it is our intent to find common ground on resuming recovery missions” in 2020.
Last summer, in line with the first summit between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un that June, the North turned over 55 boxes of what it said were the remains of an undetermined number of U.S service members killed in the North during the 1950-53 war. So far, six Americans have been identified from the 55 boxes.
U.S. officials have said the North has suggested in recent years that it holds perhaps 200 sets of American war remains. Thousands more are unrecovered from battlefields and former POW camps.
The Pentagon estimates that 5,300 Americans were lost in North Korea.
Health care
Trump, on approving private-sector health care for veterans: “I actually came up with the idea. I said, ‘Why don’t we just have the veterans go out and see a private doctor and we’ll pay the cost of the doctor and that will solve the problem?’ Because some veterans were waiting for 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, they couldn’t get any service at all. I said, ‘We’ll just send them out.’ And I thought it was a genius idea, brilliant idea. And then I came back and met with the board and a lot of the people that handled the VA. … They said, ‘Actually, sir, we’ve been trying to get that passed for 40 years, and we haven’t been able to get it.’ … I’m good at getting things done. … It’s really cut down big on the waits.” — call on June 25 with military veterans.
Trump: “We passed VA Choice and VA Accountability to give our veterans the care that they deserve and they have been trying to pass these things for 45 years.” — Montoursville, Pennsylvania, rally May 20.
The facts: Trump did not invent the idea of giving veterans the option to see private doctors outside the Department of Veterans Affairs medical system at government expense. Nor is he the first president in 40 years to pass the program.
Congress approved the private-sector Veterans Choice health program in 2014 and Obama signed it into law. Trump expanded it.
Under the expansion, which took effect last month, veterans still may have to wait weeks to see a doctor. The program allows veterans to see a private doctor if their VA wait is 20 days (28 for specialty care) or their drive is only 30 minutes.
Indeed, the VA says it does not expect a major increase in veterans seeking care outside the VA under Trump’s expanded program, partly because waiting times in the private sector are typically longer than at VA.
“The care in the private sector, nine times out of 10, is probably not as good as care in VA,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie told Congress in March.
A tornado swept through the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning Wednesday, killing six and injuring 190, the state broadcaster said, amid a series of “extreme” weather events that government forecasters have linked to climate change.
The tornado damaged nearly 3,600 homes and affected more than 9,900 residents in Kaiyuan, a city of around a half-million people, according to China Central Television.
Footage posted by CCTV on its official Weibo account shows dozens of flattened buildings in an economic development zone in Kaiyuan.
China’s Global Times newspaper said that tornadoes were rarely seen in the area.
The country’s weather bureau Tuesday said climate change could cause more extreme weather events, following floods, drought and extreme high temperatures in some regions this year.
It said rainfall had broken records in some areas and that as many as 40 weather stations had this year registered their hottest temperatures ever.
The northern Chinese province of Hebei issued an extreme heat “red alert” Thursday, with temperatures set to soar beyond 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in its major cities and putting the area’s corn crop at risk, the local government said.
The government of Hebei said on its official website that the cities of Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Hengshui, Cangzhou, Xingtai and Handan were all expected to see temperatures above 40C Thursday.
The local weather bureau also warned that the extreme heat and drought in the province were likely to affect its corn crop.
Hebei, which surrounds the capital Beijing, is among China’s biggest producers of the grain.
Rainfall in the province has declined 23.9% compared to the average in the second quarter of 2019, the local Hebei Daily reported.
Cities in Hebei have been deploying sprinklers mounted on trucks to try to keep temperatures down, putting further pressure on water supplies.
The heat wave that has swept across northern China, including the capital Beijing, is expected to last until next week, the Hebei Daily said, citing the local weather bureau.
In a joint statement with France and the United Nations released Saturday, China promised to show the “highest possible ambition” when it comes to fighting global warming, with higher targets to cut carbon emissions expected next year.
