If painting things over walls leads to crime, what does drawing things by cleaning walls lead to? In 1996, US scholars Kelling and Cole published a book that explored the relation between low-level disorder ('broken windows') and crime, concluding that not fixing small problems led to higher levels of anti-social behaviour, crime and 'respectable' neighbours leaving a particular area. Since then, the 'Broken Windows Theory' has been used all over the world to justify the criminalization of and clampdown on activities that are seen as the early signs of disorder and vandalism, such as graffiti. If all the literature produced in the last few years problematizing the simplifying link of causality established by Kelling and Coles between disorder and crime hasn't yet convinced us all...

It still came as a surprise. Minsk was expected to look forward to getting an invitation from neighbouring Lithuania to join the celebration of the 20th anniversary of its declaration of independence on March 11. Having received it, Minsk sent its regrets, Lukashenka didn't go. Lithuania announced that the decision (to invite or not to invite its awkward neighbour) would be based on how Belarusian authorities react to requests to question General Uskhopchyk over his role in Soviet troops' violent actions in Vilnius in January 1991. Minsk didn't hurry to react but finally questioned the notorious general. As soon as Vilnius got the documents, Lukashenka received the invitation. The decision of the Belarusian ruler not to go might not be as unexpected as it seems. BY rejecting the i...

“It seems (..) an interesting contribution.” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso didn’t exactly shrug when asked about Germany’s suggestion to set up a European Monetary Fund. But the words rather did. The proposal was put forward by the minister for finance of Germany and lacked “any details,” he noted. In all, a supremely understated response. And clearly not of the order liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt was looking for. But there was more. Lest, it would seem, the casual observer may be led to think that the commission was no longer in control of the loud discussion started by “the minister for finance of Germany.” There will be a draft directive on derivatives before the summer; a market abuse directive before the end of the year; and a communication on reinforced ec...

...by Connie Hedegaard. Her pronouncements in the European Parliament this afternoon (9 March) mark an abrupt change of direction for European Union climate policy on a number of points. First, she wants to reverse the EU position on the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol. Before December's disastrous Copenhagen climate conference, the Commission was saying that Kyoto should be scrapped and replaced by a new treaty. This played up to what the US wanted but was a total obstruction when it came to dealing with developing countries. Now, Hedegaard says the US should come up with an acceptable alternative if it refuses to countenance Kyoto. This is a big change. Second, she has put deeper emission cuts by the EU back on the agenda, saying the Commission will prepare an analysis of the op...

These days, inter-generational war seems to be all the rage. ‘It’s all the fault of the baby boomers’---those born in the decade after the war---is the new conservative rallying cry. The Pinch Not that the cry is new. In France before the last presidential election, politicians pinned our troubled times on the lax moral standards and antipatriotic slogans of ‘les soixante huitards’. Before the German elections last year, the Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck railed against raising Keynesian-style public borrowing on the grounds that it would saddle the our children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt for which they would never forgive us. The same theme is being peddled strongly in Britain where conservatives argue that the profligacy of the baby boomers has robbed the curre...

The euro will not grow to be old or at least it will lose member states on the way to maturity, has been and still is the feeling among many economists and non-economists. Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund predicted a few years ago that Italy and Portugal were the two countries that would leave the euro-ship because they would get seasick. Others added Spain and Greece to the list. Then there were economists like the American Martin Feldstein who predicted civil wars in Europe due to the euro and the break-up of the euro area. According to some sources, even Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve has said that the euro will not last. Current events with the deep fiscal troubles in Greece must be a field day for the anti-euro...

Last week, the EU issued its first authorisation for cultivation of a genetically modified plant (GMO) in 12 years. BASF's Amflora potato variety quickly became the most famous spud since Toy Story's Mr Potato Head. The potato, engineered for enhanced starch content and antibiotic resistance, now joins an insecticide-emitting maize variety (MON810) on the lonely list of genetically modified crops which EU farmers are licensed to grow. Simultaneously, Health Commissioner John Dalli unveiled an interlinking development with much broader consequences. The Commission will come forward with plans for devolving decision-making on GMO cultivation back to member states by this summer. While rubber-stamping the GMO potato with one hand, Brussels is using its other to hold out the promi...

The media have been interested in the Greek finances as if a small state like Greece is holding the key to the global financial stability. Greeks have been characterised by the media as thieves, crooks and charlatans with the German media being extremely inventive on the issue. Personally, I have not met the millions of crooks that part of the German media portrays. However, I do know hard-working families that struggle to make ends meet, the youth which survives with an average wage of 700 Euros and Greek scientists that work and thrive in universities all over the world. The degrading terms which were used by the German media to describe the Greeks bring back a colonial discourse which is reminiscent of the way European states formerly characterised African tribes. It is sad to see th...

Wir warnen auf "Europa-Transparent" und im "EUobserver-Blog" schon seit Monaten vor der stillschweigenden Vorbereitung einer Art "Stunde Null" für Staaten und Währungen. Und siehe da: die Krise Griechenlands bringt es endlich an den Tag. "Planinsolvenz für Krisenländer gefordert" - so titelt heute "eur.activ". Der online-newsletter notiert  - wie der Rest des Brüsseler Pressekorps - jeden Tag brav, was ihm die EU-Machteliten in den Block diktieren. Verantwortlich, bloß nicht die Leser beunruhigen. So, in staatspolitischer Verantwortung verraten die Medien nicht nur das Interesse ihrer Leser nach Information und Orientierung. Sie tragen damit auch noch selbst bei, überflüssig zu werden. Wie ist die Lage? Es scheint so: erst rettet der Staat den Kasinokapitalismus und dann geht er - auch ...

It’s interesting to see how the tables have turned. Until now it was the eurozone putting all the pressure on Greece. Eurozone bigwigs wagged their fingers at the spendthrift state, shocked by its massive budget deficit and fiddling of the statistics. European Commission and ECB officials as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel (upon whom the other side of this saga rests) demanded austerity measures. And then more of them. “Greece must understand that taxpayers in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands are not prepared to correct Greek fiscal policy mistakes,” said eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker at one point. The game of promised, but not yet given, support appears to have paid off. The Greek austerity plan unveiled on Wednesday went further than had been expected (although s...