Ce n’est pas son grand amour, mais son dernier ami que Lizzie a choisi de retrouver, pour toujours…

Ultime caprice de l’une des dernières légendes d’Hollywood. Pied-de-nez à son amant terrible, aux médias et au petit monde du showbiz.

, qui s’était convertie au judaïsme lors de son mariage avec le producteur Mike Todd, a été enterrée dans la plus stricte intimité, jeudi après-midi, au lendemain de sa mort.

La célébration s’est déroulée à l’abri des regards et à l’encontre des dernières volontés de Richard Burton, décédé en 1984. L’acteur avait réservé une concession pour «sa Liz» dans l’ancien cimetière de Céligny, enclave genevoise au bord du lac Léman. Mais la quiétude du petit village suisse ne sera jamais bouleversée. Cléopâtre a préféré demeurer auprès de Bambi, dans un sanctuaire bling-bling de la banlieue de Los Angeles, où reposent aussi de nombreuses célébrités telles que

,

, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn mais aussi Robert Altman, Nat King Cole, Bette Davis, Buster Keaton, Jean Harlow et Fritz Lang.

Les télévisions américaines ont montré un long cortège de limousines noires pénétrant dans le Forest Lawn Memorial Park, à Glendale. Mais ce sont les seules images que l’on a pu entrevoir de ces obsèques strictement confidentielles. Une trentaine de personnes, seulement, y assistait. Journalistes et photographes étaient tenus à bonne distance de l’entrée et une tente faisait écran pour empêcher quiconque d’entrevoir les invités.

Quelques détails sur la cérémonie ont cependant été révélés dans un communiqué. Le cercueil était couvert de gardénias, de violettes et de muguet. Colin Farrell – un ami intime – a récité un poème de Gerard Manley Hopkins et d’autres textes ont été lus par ses enfants et ses petits-enfants. Le petit fils d’Elisabeth Taylor Rhys Tivey a entonné un solo de trompette sur le célèbre air traditionnel d’Amazing Grace, tandis que le rabbin Jerry Cutler présidait un office multi-confessionnel.

Toujours selon son porte-parole, la brune aux yeux violets a fait preuve, jusqu’au bout, d’humour noir et d’ironie. «L’office était prévu à deux heures de l’après-midi, mais à la demande expresse d’Elizabeth, il a commencé plus de 15 minutes après», a expliqué l’agent. Diva dans l’âme, «elle avait souhaité être en retard à ses propres funérailles», a-t-il ajouté.

En hommage à ce diamant brut, à cette éternelle amoureuse et perle du grand écran, les lumières de Broadway s’éteindront, ce vendredi. A 20h00, pendant une minute, toutes les entrées des théâtres de la célèbre avenue new-yorkaise seront tamisées. Brève obscurité. Une nouvelle étoile brille, pour l’éternité.

J.B

Vendredi 25 mars 2011

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Commission and UK at odds over ‘benefits tourism’

Cameron calls for system to be changed.

A European Commission report on ‘benefits tourism’ in the European Union has provoked the anger of the British government, which says that the current system is not working and needs to be changed. Similar complaints have been made by the German government.

A study conducted on behalf of the Commission’s department for employment, social affairs and inclusion and published on Monday (14 October) found that non-active EU migrants account for between 0.7% and 1% of the EU’s total population. It said that they account for a very small proportion of recipients of benefits – less than 1% in six member states, and between 1% and 5% in five others, including Germany, France and the Netherlands.

Of the approximately 1.4 million people who claimed unemployment benefit in the UK in 2011, around 2.6% were from other EU member states, the study found.

Intra-EU migration is a big issue in the UK and in Germany, with complaints about a possible influx of Romanians and Bulgarians, many of them Roma. On 1 January, all restrictions on the movement of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens must end, giving urgency to appeals from German local authorities for federal aid.

László Andor, the European commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, told German media that the vast majority of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens in Germany are in employment and pay taxes.

Both the British and the German authorities have found it difficult to quantify the alleged abuse of benefits by EU migrants, prompting complaints from Andor. His spokesman said that the Commission had been asking the UK authorities for three years to produce figures, but with no result. The UK as a rule does not record the nationality of welfare recipients.

Time for a change?

A spokesman for David Cameron, the UK’s prime minister, said: “We don’t think the current system is working, that is why we are looking at changes across the board.”

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He said there was “widespread and understandable concern” in Britain about benefits tourism. He also said that the government was reviewing how much ‘health tourism’ was costing the National Health Service.

The spokesman said that the presence in the UK of more than 600,000 EU citizens classified in the report as “non-active” underscored the pull factor of Britain’s welfare system. But Andor’s spokesman slammed claims that all 600,000 were unemployed, describing such claims as “grossly inaccurate and irresponsible”.

The tensions come as fears increase of a surge in support for far-right parties in next year’s elections to the European Parliament.

An opinion poll published last week put support for France’s anti-immigrant Front National in next May’s elections to the Parliament at 24%, ahead of the main centre-right and centre-left parties.

MEPs back biofuel cap, but fail to secure a mandate for talks

Commission proposal wins narrow approval.

MEPs voted narrowly yesterday (11 September) to insert indirect land use change (ILUC) into EU biofuel legislation, but refused a mandate for negotiations to start.

The  Parliament in Strasbourg backed a European Commission proposal to limit the type of biofuel that can be used to meet EU renewable energy quotas. They went further than the Commission, aggreeing to add a  requirement for binding accounting for ILUC by just nine votes.

The result was too close to give rapporteur Corinne LePage a mandate to begin immediate negotiations with member states.  European People’s Party MEPs, who oppose including ILUC factors in the legislation, successfully proposed a second reading in the Parliament. The motion, denying LePage a negotiating mandate, passed by just one vote.

The result sparked concerns that questions over ILUC will persist – possibly for years. If no decision is taken in this parliamentary term, there will be “more uncertainty for the industry, especially the second generation biofuel industry,” said Nusa Urbancik of campaign group T&E. “Nobody will invest until they know what the final outcome will be.”

Offered three possible compromise options, MEPs supported a middle-road option crafted by LePage that would ease attaining the Commission’s proposed ‘cap’ on first-generation biofuel – thought to cause food shortages and increased emissions. But this also inserted ILUC issues into EU legislation for the first time – in the face of claims from the biofuel industry that the science around ILUC is too unclear for lawmaking.

The 2009 renewable energy directive dictates that 10% of transport fuel must come from renewable sources by 2020. The Commission proposed that only half of this (5%) could be met with traditional biofuel, with the other half coming from new second-generation biofuel that causes no ILUC. The Parliament’s position would raise this to 6%.

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MEPs also voted to make ILUC factors binding in the fuel quality directive from 2020, which will discourage fuel companies from producing fuel thought to displace food or cause more emissions. They also added non-binding ILUC factors to the renewable energy directive, for accounting purposes only. The Commission had proposed only non-binding factors and only in the fuel quality directive.

A sub-target inserted in the renewable energy law would require 2.5% of the total to come from second-generation biofuel. As a concession to industry concerns, MEPs also inserted a sub-target for ethanol. This was welcomed by Rob Vierhout of  bioethanol industry association ePure. But he criticised the cap and the inclusion of ILUC factors, saying the restriction would “significantly reduce the market for conventional biofuels in  Europe”.

Kåre Riis Nielsen, director  of European affairs for Novozymes, which makes second-generation biofuel, welcomed the 2.5% sub-target. “The report adopted by the European Parliament today is a complex package that reflects the lack of consensus on the ILUC issue,” he said. “Yet, it is a good compromise that promotes best-performing biofuel while addressing ILUC concerns in a practical manner. It should allow conventional ethanol to develop sustainably while incentivising further innovative advanced biofuel.”

Campaigners welcomed the inclusion of ILUC factors but deplored the raised cap. “A cap on biofuels of 6% is far above current levels of consumption,” said Marc Olivier Herman of Oxfam. “Whilst MEPs have avoided the worst-case scenario on the table, the European Parliament is still guilty of neglecting the needs of both the people and the planet.”

Denmark a step closer to referendum on EU opt-outs

Opposition leader’s support means Danes could vote on whether to scrap opt-outs on defence and justice.

Denmark is on course to put two of the country’s opt-outs from the European Union to a public vote after the leader of the main opposition party backed the idea in a speech today (12 August).

The governing Labour party has long planned holding such a referendum, and had even suggested asking the Danish people if they wanted to adopt the euro. However, Helle Thorning Schmidt, the prime minister, pushed the issue to one side last year after receiving only lukewarm support from opposition parties.

But in a speech in Norway today, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the leader of the Liberal party and a former Danish prime minister, said he supported a referendum and called for Denmark to scrap its opt-outs.

Over the weekend he told the Danish newspaper Politiken: “We must do away with these reservations.”

“The negative effects of, in particular, the justice opt-out is so urgent that it would be irresponsible to continue to push it ahead,” he said. “The prerequisite is that you have broad support [in the Danish parliament], and this is exactly what I am now offering.”

Denmark negotiated four opt-outs to the 1992 Maastricht treaty, which transformed the European Community into the European Union. The opt-outs were negotiated after a the country narrowly rejected the treaty in a referendum. They exempt Denmark from having to adopt the euro, participating in EU matters relating to defence and justice, and from having EU citizenship replace or be equal to national citizenship. The fourth opt-out later became irrelevant when the same language on citizenship was adopted for all member states in the 1997 Amsterdam treaty.

Given the problems in the eurozone, analysts say it is unlikely that euro membership would be put to a vote. That leaves the opt-outs on justice and defence.

The justice opt-out is causing problems for Denmark because it is preventing the country from participating in the European Public Prosecutor’s office that is to be set up by the European Commission. There are also issues around the common European patent. The defence opt-out is preventing Denmark from having access to a pan-European criminal database and operations such as the European Rapid Reaction Force.

It is not known if a referendum would be scheduled to coincide with the European Parliament elections in May next year. There is concern within the government that doing so would mobilise Eurosceptic voters, according to Danish media.

Commission reduces some 2013 fishing quotas

The European Commission announced today (8 August) annual fishing quota deductions for member states that exceeded their quotas in 2012.   

The largest deductions for 2013 are for hake in Spain, herring in Poland and the UK, haddock in Ireland, horse mackerel in Lithuania, and saith, haddock and redfish in Portugal. The purpose is immediately to address the damage done to these stocks through overfishing in 2012. The deductions are lower than in 2012.   

“I note the reduction in the total amount of overfishing as compared to last year and aim at ensuring a longer term trend in this respect,” said Maria Damanaki, European commissioner for fisheries. “This will form part of our continued focus on enforcing control provisions, which is crucial to stopping overfishing and achieving the long-term sustainability of our stocks.”     

If the member states have no quota available from which to deduct the overfishing, the quantities will be deducted from an alternative stock in the same geographical area.

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MEPs to discuss EU division of labour ahead of 2014 elections

Vote on report by budgets committee chairman.

The European Parliament is expected next week to outline its views on the process for appointing the next college of European commissioners and the Commission president. MEPs are scheduled on Wednesday (11 December) to vote in plenary on a report by Alain Lamassoure (pictured below), a centre-right French MEP, on relations between the European Parliament and the member states.

The report has no legislative effect, but expresses the Parliament’s position on the proper division of labour between the EU’s institutions ahead of elections to the European Parliament next May. Lamassoure, who chairs the Parliament’s budgets committee, calls on the European Council to outline “how it intends to respect the choice of European citizens in the appointment of the President of the Commission”.

It also calls on national governments to “announce in advance how they intend to respect the vote of their fellow citizens when proposing one or more candidates for the post of commissioner from their country”.

Expressing views

The report says that – based on the experience of the four years since the Lisbon treaty took effect – relations between the European Council and the Parliament should be formalised in an agreement or joint statement, to ensure that MEPs are given the chance to express their views on matters under consideration by the Council.

The report, which was adopted by the Parliament’s constitutional-affairs committee on 14 October, criticises the Council for grabbing powers that go beyond those outlined in the Lisbon treaty. “Under the pressure of the [eurozone] crisis, the European Council has considerably aggrandised its role, increasing the number of extraordinary meetings and raising to European Council level matters normally dealt with at Council of Ministers level,” the report says. “In this respect the European Council has gone beyond the crucial Treaty injunction that it has no legislative functions.”

Sexual and reproductive health

A controversial report on sexual and reproductive health and rights will be on the plenary’s agenda for the second time in as many months, after centre-right and far-right MEPs thwarted its adoption on 22 October and sent it back to committee.

Social conservatives object to calls in the report for sex education at an early age, and for the legalisation of abortion; they also oppose its view that member states should regulate the conditions under which medical staff can refuse to undertake abortions on grounds of conscience.

The plenary vote is scheduled for Tuesday (10 December), after the 35-member committee on women’s rights and gender equality adopted a slightly modified draft on 25 November, with 19 votes in favour and 15 against.

The report was first adopted by the committee in September with 17 votes in favour, seven against and seven abstentions.

The report, drafted by Edite Estrela, a centre-left Portuguese MEP, has no legal effect. Estrela accused opponents of the report of using “all the procedural tricks possible”.

Basic bank account

MEPs are scheduled on Tuesday (10 December) to debate draft legislation enshrining the right of every legal resident of the EU to a basic bank account with a debit card (there will be a vote on Wednesday). More than half of all Romanians and almost one-third of Italians do not have a bank account.

The draft directive, proposed by the European Commission in May, is also intended to promote competition among retail banks by requiring greater transparency about fees and easier switching of accounts to another bank.

The Parliament’s version of the new rules was drafted by Jürgen Klute, a left-wing German MEP. It was adopted by the economic and monetary affairs committee on 18 November. The legislation will require the backing of member states in order to take effect.

Other issues

On Tuesday morning (10 December), MEPs are scheduled to debate the European Commission’s funding of justice, rights and citizenship programmes in 2014-20. On Wednesday (11 December), the plenary will vote on five nominees for the European Court of Auditors, all of whom have been approved by the budgetary-control committee.

On Thursday (12 December), the plenary is scheduled to vote on a non- binding resolution calling for a measurable and binding commitment against tax evasion and tax avoidance in the EU. MEPs will discuss the European Central Bank’s annual report for 2012 with Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president.

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Canada strikes trade deal with EU

Annual boost to trade is put at €25 billion; Canada ends visas for Czechs.

The European Union and Canada today reached agreement on a free trade deal that removes almost all tariffs, opens up the market for government contracts and eases migration for professionals.

The deal, which was announced in Brussels by Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, is expected to add billions of euros to the value of trade between the partners.

Harper described the agreement as “an historic win for Canada” and predicted “thousands of new jobs” as a result of the deal with Canada’s second-largest export market.

The agreement comes at the point when negotiations between the EU and the United States are about to enter a more serious phase. Today’s deal removes the prospect of parallel trade negotiations and the possibility of consequent complications. It will also free EU negotiators to focus on the US talks and also on negotiations to liberalise trade with Japan.

The EU-Canada agreement includes a clause that if either side strikes better terms with other countries in other trade agreements, the benefits would be felt by the other party to the EU-Canada deal.

The announcement was accompanied by a statement by Harper that Canada will lift visa requirements for Czechs, an issue that has been a thorn in relations for the past four years. Canada imposed visas in 2009 in response to the arrival of Czech Roma in relatively large numbers.

The result

A 2008 report still cited as a point of reference by the European Commission projects that the trade agreement will add €25.7 billion, or 22.9%, to bilateral trade. The Commission puts the benefit to the EU as €11.6 billion annually.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is the most ambitious yet struck by Canada. The sectors that should gain range from agriculture to mining, car production and the service economy, which may provide about half of the overall benefits for the EU. The negotiations included chapters on duties, on technical barriers to trade (such as standards) and included an investment agreement. The European Commission has been able since 2009 to negotiate investment protection for all EU member states.

The agreement does not give free movement to workers. However, it increases recognition of professional qualifications gained on either side of the Atlantic, making it easier to find work. It will also be easier for Canada’s provinces and the EU’s member states to agree on rules on migration for work.

The stumbling blocks

Diplomatic and technical preparations for the agreement began in 2007, with negotiations officially starting in May 2009. The process has proved complicated as well as protracted, with the final issues delaying the deal significantly. In early December last year, the European Commission said it was confident of a deal by the end of the year. Hopes of a breakthrough rose again in June, when Harper visited Europe to attend a G8 summit.

During the final phases of the talks, many issues came to the fore and were linked by the negotiators. For the EU, one of the major sticking points during the course of the negotiations related to intellectual property and particularly the length of patents for European drugs. For Canada, agreement on opening up their market for public contracts was complicated by the federal structure of the country.

However, the final issues were over agricultural trade, including beef, pork and cheese. In the end, quotas for all three were raised, to satisfy Canadian beef and pig farmers and European cheese-makers. Quotas for European cheese nearly tripled, more than tripled for Canadian beef and increased 12-fold for Canadian pork.

Both sides will now need to go through a complex process of ratification. Canada’s provinces need to give their agreement, as does parliament. On the EU’s side, the European Parliament and the EU’s members states must give their blessing. The process could take up to two years.

Gardner confirmed as US ambassador to the EU

Anthony Luzzatto Gardner confirmed by US Senate, will take office in the coming weeks.

Anthony Luzzatto Gardner, Barack Obama’s nominee for the post of US ambassador to the European Union, was confirmed last night (12 February) by the United States Senate.

Gardner, who replaces William Kennard, is no stranger to EU relations, having served as the director for European affairs in the National Security Council for 14 months in 1994-95, under Anthony Lake, where his responsibilities included relations with the EU institutions. 

He did an internship with the European Commission in Brussels in 1990-91, he spent a further 18 months in the Brussels offices of Coudert Brothers, a law firm, in 1992-94, before going to the National Security Council, then returned to Brussels for 18 months from January 1996, as a senior associate at the law firm Hogan & Hartson. In total, he spent eight years practising law in Europe.

He has also written widely on EU issues, including a book A New Era in US-EU Relations The Clinton Administration and the New Transatlantic Agenda.

Gardner has spent most of the past decade in investment finance, latterly as managing director of the London-based private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners. Aged 50, Gardner is married, with two children. His father, Richard Gardner, was the US ambassador to Italy in 1977-81 and to Spain in 1993-97. His Italian mother, Danielle Luzzatto, who died in 2008, was a journalist.

The New York Times ranked Gardner 148th among the top fundraisers for US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in an article last September. As of September 2012, he had channelled $470,160 (€356,993) to the campaign.

Gardner is expected to take office in the next weeks. His will be coming to Brussels at a sensitive time for US-EU relations. Not only will he have to deal with the fallout from revelations about US spying on European citizens and leaders, he will also have to oversee delicate negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement.

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Court backs free-to-air football

FIFA and UEFA lose appeal against laws protecting top sporting events from pay-TV.

The European Court of Justice today ruled against FIFA, football’s world governing body, by saying that governments can insist that international tournaments are shown on free-to-air television.

FIFA and UEFA, the European governing body, argued that they should be allowed to grant broadcast rights for the World Cup and European Championship to the highest bidder, even if that meant that viewers had to pay to watch.

The two governing bodies were appealing against an earlier court judgment stemming from a European Commission decision from 2007 permitting the British government to restrict World Cup and European Championship rights to free-to-air television. Belgium had introduced similar rules.

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Football’s regulators said that the decision breached their right to control their property and the freedom of competition.

However, the Europe’s top court today said that it dismissed the appeals “in their entirety”.  It said that governments were justified in safeguarding some sporting events for free-to-air television by “the objective of protecting the right to information and ensuring wide public access to television coverage of those events”.

As part of the ruling, governments will have to explain to the Commission their reasons for restricting broadcast rights for events of “major importance”.

However, the Court did say distinctions could be drawn between matches such as the final and semi-final and those featuring the national team and less important earlier-round matches in tournaments.

It said that tournaments could be divided up between broadcasters so that only the most important matches were reserved for free-to-air channels.

The ruling added that this did not affect the UK or Belgium cases however, where “those tournaments, in their entirety, have always been very popular among the general public and not only viewers who generally follow football matches on television”.

The Rossoneri have parted ways with their former attacking midfielder after an internal dispute between him and the former Arsenal executive

AC Milan have confirmed that they have sacked Chief Football Officer Zvonimir Boban following a falling-out between the Croatian and CEO Ivan Gazidis.

Former attacking midfielder Boban, 51, had been working alongside technical director and club legend Paolo Maldini and the pair were responsible for the appointment – and subsequent sacking – of head coach Marco Giampaolo, with Stefano Pioli replacing him in the dugout.

However, it has been widely reported that, despite the Rossoneri’s upturn in form under Pioli, Gazidis has elected to sign former RB Leipzig head coach Ralf Rangnick to take over the reins from the beginning of next season without consulting Boban or Maldini.

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The Croatian aired his frustrations in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport recently, saying: “Until a few days ago, I didn’t think it were true that there were two souls within Milan, albeit taking into account all the thousand initial difficulties, cultural differences and very different passions for the Rossoneri cause.

“The fact we’re having to talk about this is not good for anyone. The worst part is that this destabilising event is happening during a moment when the team is improving and you can see Stefano Pioli’s hard work.

“Not even warning us was disrespectful and inelegant. It was not the Milan style. At least not what we remembered the Milan style as being.

“We’ve already talked to Gazidis. For the good of Milan, it is certainly necessary that a meeting with the ownership happens as soon as possible.”

After just nine months in his role, Boban has now been relieved of his duties, with AC Milan CEO Gazidis saying in a statement on the club’s official website: “We thank [Zvonimir Boban] for his efforts over the past nine months and wish him well in his future endeavours.

“We must now turn our attention to football and the important games to come. Stefano Pioli and his staff are doing an exceptional job growing the performances of the team every week and will have our full support as they continue this work, in what is a difficult time for the country”.