Let’s start with the big news over Berlusconi! Italy’s Constitutional Court decided that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should not have immunity from prosecution while in office. Yes, he can’t be above the law anymore, but he will continue to govern. Berlusconi has often complained of being a victim of “left-wing” magistrates. Moreover, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) already said he should resign if he lost his immunity. In fact, this is not going to be easy because the PD has no majority in Parliament and Mr Berlusconi continues to score quite well in opinion polls, with around 50 percent support.

Dinosaur prints

French fossil hunters have discovered huge dinosaur footprints at Plagne, in Eastern France. They said that it is among the biggest in the world. The footprints were made about 150 million years ago by sauropods. They are long-necked herbivores. The prints are about 1.50 m wide, like an animal that measured more than 25 m long and weighed about 30 tonnes. So, it could be sauropods. Moreover, the region was near a shallow, warm sea at the time the sauropods lived there. Nice discovery!

French minister in ‘boy sex’ row

Frederic Mitterrand, the French ministre of culture,  is facing intense pressure over a book he wrote four years ago. This book described paying for “young boys” in Thailand. In the book “The Bad Life”, he wrote: “I got into the habit of paying for boys”. He also wrote that all these things of the market for youths, the slave market excited him a lot and that immediately available young boys put him in a state of desire. Whatever floats your boat!

Solidarity with Iranian protesters have been shown in both the streets of Europe and in Parliaments. Last saturday, hundreds of persons have been arrested during major demonstrations in the streets of the capital Teheran. In several cities across Europe, thousands of people also took to the streets to denounce the Government’s handling of the demontrations. Political leaders such as Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy have called on the Iranian government to respect the freedom of expression and the freedom of press. The situation has widely been labeled as unacceptable. Definitely a story to follow closely.

 Got milk?

Did you by any chance enjoy a capuccino or a glass of milk this morning? Well you better enjoy it now that you can, because European dairy farmers are pissed off. They have been protesting outside the EU summit in Brusselsd for several days now. By invading the city with tractors and other agricultural tools, they are blocking traffic and creating chaos. Reason for the protest is two-fold: falling milk prices and the possible scrapping of the EU milk quotas system. They fear the latter would mean much lower prices for European milk. EU agriculture ministers are discussing the issue in Luxembourg this week.

Another Berluscandal

We’re big fans of Berlusconi here at Europocket. Obviously, with a character like him, you don’t need to search long in order to find tasty news. Silvio has a fine talent of escaping scandals. In fact, with every scandal, his popularity in Italy seemed to grow. However, this time, it looks like he’s overplayed his hand, as he’s drowning in stories involving ladies. Lot’s of ladies, in fact. And expensive ladies. Professional escort girl Patrizia d’Addario has confessed to have slept with the Italian leader. Another escort lady was allegedly paid 10.000 euro’s to attend private parties at Silvio’s villa in Sardeigna. People in Milan have now taken to the streets to call for his resignation as Italy’s Prime Minister.

Strasbourg week round-up 

Last week was Strasbourg week for the European Parliament. With a handful of adopted regulations AND speeches by the British and Czech Prime Ministers, the agenda was filled, to say the least. Amongst others, MEPs agreed on improved safety of cosmetics, lower roaming costs for phones, new safety rules for European aviation and more taxes on cigarettes. In his speech, Prime Minister Topolanek´s called the US recovery plan “a road to hell”, provided the icing on the Czech diplomatic cake. 

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/008-52262-082-03-13-901-20090320STO52243-2009-23-03-2009/default_en.htm 

Il Principe 

Self-proclaimed Jesus Christ and puppet master of Italian politics, Silvio Berlusconi, has done it again. Italy´s richest man and Prime Minister last week created a powerful new centre-right party called “People of freedom”. By merging with the post-fascist National Alliance, he intends to increase Italy´s weight in European and global politics. The xenophobic Lega Nord party remains the missing piece of puzzle in Berlusconi´s right-wing master plan. It wouldn´t surprise me, however, if he soon finds the strings to pull them in, though. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7967932.stm 

When the wind was green  

With the worsening of the economic situation, many feared that green research and development would be shelved. However, at the European Business Summit, held last week, business leaders reaffirmed their commitment to green investments. The European Commission called for more public-private partnerships to provide the necessary funds. It´s good to hear that, even in the midst of a crisis, the EU´s favourite colour remains green. 

http://euractiv.com/en/climate-change/green-tech-rd-remain-strong-spite-crisis/article-180761 

EU Paradise Beach 

Recently, the EU announced its plans to revamp the European Quarter in Brussels. The architecture competition, launched by the European Commission, was won by Jamaican architect Razhel Rastapowell. In line with the wishes of European bureaucrats, he designed a hyper futuristic tropical paradise! To counter the cold and rainy weather in Brussels, the Jamaican architect designed a glass dome to cover the entire city! Street heating, massive UV lamps, palm trees and artificial beaches should improve the working environment of 10´s of thousands of Eurocrats. 

Dancing queen 

And last, but certainly not least, a little cultural conclusion. From 5 to 28 June, the picturesque Spanish city of Ribarroja del Turia, close to Valencia, is hosting the 8th International Dancing Days. During this three week festival, you can enjoy shows and workshops by famous professionals of both classic and contemporary Spanish dance. So, put on your dancing shoes and book your flight to sensual and sunny Spain now. 

http://www.ayto-ribarroja.es/contenidos.item.action?id=5121071&menuId=4115951

A matter of innovation

We dug, we dug and we finally came up with something that’s not about crisis or political mishaps just a little something to make us Europeans feel better about our innovative potential. The European Commission published a “EU innovation scorecard” last week. In terms of human resources for example –we do produce a lot of high skilled people- or in terms of broadband access, all in all we got better.But as always we’re not anywhere close to catching up with the US or Japan who heavily invest in Information n Technology and Research n Development…

Little Green men wanted

Last one for today : a competition for little green men. 
I’ll explain myself : young people from anywhere in the world, between 18 and 25, willing to cash in up to 3000 dollars and spend a few days in Seoul to be congratulated for your work, express yourself on climate change.You can submit an essay, video or photo on the essaycompetition.org website by the 22 of february. It can be done in french, english or spanish.Once again, this is about about how climate change affects you and how to tackle it through youth led solutions… so get your pen and ignite your imagination!

http://www.essaycompetition.org/index_1