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Post by Ribaric on Mar 30, 2011 20:31:32 GMT 1
Roger Helmer is a member of the European parliament and has a specific interest in Croatia and, more specifically, Croatia's progress towards EU membership. In 2008 he said this...... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZARb4dm4z0QIn February of this year he said this..... www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fm7jmkHAxsHe has his own www presence here.... rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/roger-helmer-mep-on-croatia-february-2011/I understand that today (March 30th 2011) he published a letter which he calls an "open" letter which he has sent to Mrs Kosor, presumably in the expectation that she will respond. This is something he tends to do on a regular basis. I have not yet found a copy of this letter, probably due to my poor googling skills. So! Big mouth politician? Is he right? Wrong? Or something in between? |
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Post by peskafondo on Mar 30, 2011 20:50:29 GMT 1
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Post by Carol on Mar 30, 2011 21:15:33 GMT 1
I guess he has decided not to go for a career in diplomacy! Will Kosor respond, i wonder?
he is calling a spade a spade though (unfortunately as I wish he was exaggerating, but he isn't)
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Post by Ribaric on Mar 30, 2011 22:00:24 GMT 1
Thanks peskafondo
Google translate says.....
ROGER HELMER, europarlamentarac who has repeatedly criticized Croatia and saying we are not ready for membership in the European Union, today sent an afternoon open letter Kosor in which the Croatian Prime Minister calls it finally showdown with corruption and the necessity of introducing the rule of law in Croatia. HDZ's political elite Helmer called corruption and threatened with confiscation of EU funds. Helmerovo Kosoric open letter in its entirety.
Dear Madam Prime Minister,
During his years in the European Parliament I have closely watched the events in Croatia. Given the current state of the Croatian negotiations with the European Union, I must stress that Croatia has not fulfilled the necessary criteria for closing Chapter 23 - Judiciary and fundamental rights. Unfortunately, the Croatian political leadership mocks the rule of law and undermines the provisions of this chapter. Under these circumstances, taxpayers Member States and interested parties in Croatia would be damaged by closing the Chapter 23 and the rapid conclusion of negotiations in June 2011.
My office has received letters to concerned citizens and of Croatian businesses and regions, including European companies, the widespread abuse of private property rights in Croatia and in the absence of the rule of law. Judging by the numerous letters and queries I have received, those questions must be resolved before the closing chapters 23
Independent, impartial, honest and competent judiciary is the cornerstone for the protection of individual rights, protection of private property rights and the rule of law. Independent judiciary and rule of law are prerequisites for democracy and market economy that functions well. Our goals are clearly defined in Chapter 23, which states: "Member States need to effectively fight against corruption that is the biggest threat to the stability of democratic institutions and rule of law."
Politically organized most of the Croatian Parliament two decades of legal mechanisms used for non-transparent appointment of judges. The latest case dating back to January this year, when in such a manner appointed 57 judges. Continuous high-level corruption is just a consequence of the influence that the political majority has on the judiciary. The relevant laws are not enforced if you do not favor the "well-connected persons", court decisions are not made, a corruption laws remain in effect, uncontested.
Also, there is a huge concern that Croatia does not comply with international agreements signed and which shows an absolute disrespect for private property rights relating to all former Yugoslav republics.
We believe that the backlog of pending legal cases is far more than a million, how many are registered (in a country with 4.5 million people). A large number of cases remain unresolved for decades, threatening the fundamental human right to a trial within a reasonable time. The uncertainty of citizens and potential investors is clearly visible.
The study, which is 2010. published by the EU Directorate for Internal Affairs - Citizens' rights and Constitutional Affairs entitled "Problems with private ownership after the change of political regime in the former sot and communist countries," said the Croatian legislative framework for prosecuting claims of property in the restitution and compensation for property confiscated during the communist regime " inherently raises the state administration office of each county in the actual position of conflict of interest. "Furthermore, the report states that" the legislator wanted to ensure the protection of public or national interest when making decisions on claims "as" potentially violates the rights of citizens and other legitimate claimant " .
Based on the letter that I received, I must stress that Croatia must eliminate the possibility of real or perceived conflicts of interest, which is contrary to the rule of law.
There is a specific problem that leads to huge differences between the OTR and negligible compensation to original owners of confiscated dwellings. This issue is further complicated by legal and administrative bodies abused by both sides. The report also lists specific recommendations that require the following:
A) "... a thorough investigation of those individuals who have acquired the property without a valid occupancy rights or rights of return and compensation."
B) "... the political will to regulate and sanction corruption in the Croatian".
If not mistaken, the local independent media reports claim that is yourself, madam Kosor, you live in one of these flats from which they were evicted the original owners of Serbian nationality. Can you kindly show that this is not true?
Not only that Croatia had failed to implement the intent of its legislation to fully carry out proper restitution and compensation for property seized during communism, there are also new models of stolen property.
One of the most insidious of these thefts occurred in Zadar 2003rd year, and only recently surfaced in public. It is a typical example of an evident abuse of position and power, which leads to the surface and other similar cases are stalled in the judicial system for more than 20 years. This is a textbook example of a real lack of rule of law, violation of property rights, political corruption at the highest level of government and the judiciary susceptible to political influence.
Bozidar Kalmeta, the current transport minister in your cabinet and then the mayor of Zadar, with the help of two of its commissioners - Ana Lovrin that in 2004. became Minister of Justice and Zdravko Livakoviæ who later became Secretary of State - razvlastio is 15,000 square meters of land from 58 of the original owners.
I would like to refresh your memory regarding the shocking process of striping, which happened as follows:
1) The city of Zadar was named to the rightful owners can not be traced (unknown address), even though they were alive and well and living in the Zadar area
2) A local court appointed a lawyer you trust to represent "unknown owners"
3) During the hearing in a local court lawyer failed to appear, the judge granted the land the city of Zadar
4) The city sold the land to individuals for private purposes
5) The original owners have all this time still in court seeking justice.
The same pattern applied in the city of Rijeka, where the city for 20 years refused to pay the original owners of the expropriated land.
In light of this obvious abuse of power and political corruption, we as elected members of the European Parliament have a reasonable fiduciary responsibility on behalf of the taxpayers of the European Union to seek the abolition of all EU funds made available by the corrupt local governments.
Four months ago, the European Commission progress report Croatian in 2010. year is clearly mentioned, "In Croatia, it still does not understand the concept of conflict of interest enough, especially not at the local level. Supervision and monitoring of compliance and respect for the law is limited, and the sanctions that are available are not effective. "
I do not believe that we can expect that the Croatian government to respect and fulfill the provisions of Chapter 23 - Judiciary and Fundamental Human Rights. The same political structure held in the hands of the executive and legislative power and the elected members of the judiciary and put pressure on them. Because of these obvious shortcomings is not possible to resolve cases of political corruption and punish the culprits. It is obvious that there is no separation of powers within the present-day Croatian.
Before we allow the Croatian political structures to complete negotiations with the EU, I strongly recommend the introduction of a robust monitoring mechanism for Croatia and bringing judges from countries with a strong tradition of rule of law to expedite the resolution of cases related to property rights and resolution of political corruption cases from investigation to final decision .
If you do not, we risk introducing the corrupt practices of politicians and straight into the heart of the European Union. Furthermore, the EU can not give a stamp of approval that would loose some investors, as well as the Croatian citizens, to invest in property in Croatia.
Frankly,
Roger Helmer, a member of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom
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Post by Ribaric on Mar 30, 2011 22:08:08 GMT 1
Nothing on HRT1 vijesti tonight.
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Post by prkbrk on Mar 30, 2011 23:43:15 GMT 1
basically the guy talks through an orifice that was not intended for such purpose IMHO - he sits as an MEP- pot calling the kettle black i would say  But hey, he gets paid to talk and to traipse around Europe and as it seems more to his liking Asia...... so you Uk taxpayers fund him - maybe HR would be better off without his sort having some say in their world...... also interesting definition of his surname can be found by google searches |
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Post by Carol on Mar 31, 2011 10:39:04 GMT 1
yes it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black but the problem is that he speaking the truth (and yes it would be better if he did not say it)
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Post by prkbrk on Mar 31, 2011 11:57:43 GMT 1
yes it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black but the problem is that he speaking the truth (and yes it would be better if he did not say it) But then he should also turn his attention also to the other corrupt parts of the world that he tends to frequent on 'official business'- not denying that HR has its problems, but then again we have vast corruption in the UK, USA, Middle East and Asia, but hey maybe it is easy to pick on a small country. I dont think the people of Rutland et al elected him to focus on a part of the world most of its residents could not even find on a map. For me his picture on his website sums him up perfectly  |
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Post by Carol on Mar 31, 2011 12:21:04 GMT 1
I don't know about these other countries (although I suspect you are right about the middle east at least). However they are not trying to join the EU and he is a MEP so he should concern himself with EU matters over these other places.
As to Britain, the corruption is negligible compared to Croatia. I don't know anyone who knows anyone who has ever been asked for a bribe in the UK, although apparently it was common in the 1970s police.
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Post by Ribaric on Mar 31, 2011 15:43:47 GMT 1
Hi Carol, take yourself to any of the planning committee meetings at Ilford (Essex) authority and the corruption is there for all to see. Everyone can see it, everyone knows and nobody is overly concerned about it. You can build anything in Ilford if you have the right "veza" and nothing if you don't. I saw them turn down an application from a MacDonalds franchisee despite their own lawyer publicly telling them they would lose a court case and be fined if they continued to block it. Continue they did and paid loads of money from the public purse without a care in the world. I'm guessing this is not an isolated case.
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Post by prkbrk on Mar 31, 2011 16:08:38 GMT 1
I don't know about these other countries (although I suspect you are right about the middle east at least). However they are not trying to join the EU and he is a MEP so he should concern himself with EU matters over these other places. As to Britain, the corruption is negligible compared to Croatia. I don't know anyone who knows anyone who has ever been asked for a bribe in the UK, although apparently it was common in the 1970s police. Then I would say you would be very trustful (or naive) of the UK- i can assure you that corruption is rife in our home country and elsewhere - look at BAE and the Saudis, look at the way contracts are awarded for much of the public contracts to private companies, etc, etc. Go further afield and see how much a US secretary made from contracts in Iraq- the list is endless- and many of them dwarf anything that HR could have achieved- and what is the point- it is life- you scratch my back i scratch yours.....nothing different than is being done in HR |
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Post by Estelle on Mar 31, 2011 16:40:24 GMT 1
He tells some hard facts, which may or may not be faced up to. Pointing the finger at others, is avoiding the issues, and is wholly unhelpful.
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Post by crojoe on Mar 31, 2011 20:06:38 GMT 1
I don't know about these other countries (although I suspect you are right about the middle east at least). However they are not trying to join the EU and he is a MEP so he should concern himself with EU matters over these other places. As to Britain, the corruption is negligible compared to Croatia. I don't know anyone who knows anyone who has ever been asked for a bribe in the UK, although apparently it was common in the 1970s police. Then I would say you would be very trustful (or naive) of the UK- i can assure you that corruption is rife in our home country and elsewhere - look at BAE and the Saudis, look at the way contracts are awarded for much of the public contracts to private companies, etc, etc. Go further afield and see how much a US secretary made from contracts in Iraq- the list is endless- and many of them dwarf anything that HR could have achieved- and what is the point- it is life- you scratch my back i scratch yours.....nothing different than is being done in HR True, but corruption in UK is a whole other world, amongst a certain sector of society, not so much on the street level. But, I'm not really comparing Croatia to UK as the UK has had years to perfect themselves. While it may be reverting back to the Stone Age, at least they don't brag about it in their tourist video. The other factor is those UK MP’s who got busted had to pay back the money, loose their job or spend a bit of time behind bars. But corruption isn’t just about politicians; it reaches down into business here. All I want for life in Croatia is some satisfaction in service, be treated like a human being, not a criminal and guilty till proven innocent and a fear of inspectors hanging in the background. I want to pay less tax and feel good about working legally. Guess I just need too dream on for another 10 years. Other then that, you can keep the UK. |
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Post by mambo on Mar 31, 2011 22:54:48 GMT 1
I never understood what fingerpointing helps with regard to the corruption in Croatia. Does the corruption in Croatia become less when you point fingers to Italy, England etc ?
Helmer is completely right in his letter............there is only one problem..........he could fill a library with all the other corruption cases.
Corruption is well founded in Croatian society and the country is now going bankrupt because of it. I hope the EU will take action, but I fear they will not do anything, so next year the EU will find out we have to bail out Croatia with 50 billion euro.
.............which will be stolen even faster than the EU can transfer it.
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Post by Carol on Apr 1, 2011 10:36:28 GMT 1
what action could the EU take?
If you mean they should tell Kosor et al to "stop it or we'll not allow Croatia to join the EU" then what would be the point for HDZ in joining the EU unless they were to be able to personally enrich themselves with EU accession funds?
If they pressed for a new leader, who could they have that would be competent at runnign the country and not corrupt (I can't think of any party - can you?)
So, what could the EU do?
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