Athens ''frappebabel''

'What do they laugh about in Germany? How does the british humour translate on paper? Which nation hosts the darkest satire? Does the climate of a country play any role in the satire produced? How does the cartoon function as a national mirror?" According to the Greek Cartoonists Association all these questions will be hopefully resolved in the exhibition which takes place in Zappeion during 13-25 october. An initiative which belongs to the Greek Cartoonists Association and really worths to visit for those of you that you are actually in Athens. I will add the link directly to the catalogue. http://www.parliament.gr/ektheseis/... for it can not be life without laughter!!

All these days we see a marathon of the greek government to achieve an agreement between herself and the Forme Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the name of this country. Both sides are willing to finish with the issue for different issues. While FYROM wants to be invited to join the NATO and so it has to find a solution in order to avoid a greek veto, Greece wants to close an issue that provoked so many problems to her foreign policy. Even though from both sides many extremistes were declaring that Macedonia is Greek or Macedonia is Macedonian I believe that tha majority of the people in both sides clearly understand that the issue of the name is too trivial to cause such great problems. For Greece this story is like a greek tragedy while after so many years of indifference over the issue she faced a non convinient for her reality after the declaration of Macedonia as an indipendant state - even though all these years before, Greece recognized the Republic of Macedonia within the Yugoslavian Federation. I dont want to present the history of the dispute between the two countries. What is important now at this very moment of negotiation is not the name of FYROM. Greece finally understood that she hasnt a monopoly of the name Macedonia because of the ancient legacy. Nobody who knows history in this planet believes that the inhabitants of FYROM are connected to Alexander's kingdom. What we have to understand is that Macedonia is not something that belongs only to one people. Macedonia is rich of multinational coexistance and culture during the Byzantine and Ottoman era, where Serbians, Slavmacedonians, Bulgarians, Jews, Albanians, Greek and Turks lived together. So the name Macedonia means a lot of things to all of these people. So, FYROM has to accept a solution which of course involve the term Macedonia but with a remark that they are not the only Macedonians in the region. Every people in this planet has the right to self -determination so the Macedonians of FYROM. But this right must not insult other nations in order to co-exist in harmony. As a result in order to become a member of NATO and the EU, FYROM has to renounce any possible territorial claim over her neighbours (Greece and Bulgaria) something which is vital for the stability in the region.

Hello dear friends,

I am doing my Erasmus in Liege,Belgium and I found it compelling enough to share with you my current experience of studying in another university and also some thoughts over education in our continent.. University of Liege is one of the best universities of Belgium with a high percentage of foreign students (almost 40%). Before the classes begun we took the bus from the city after paying 1.30 euros - an enormous amount for the greek standards and after finding out that there where no discount for students..You can imagine that it was a big shock because in Greece the student ticket for a single route is 0.25 euro!!! After that we went to the campus to find the residence where we would stay these 6 wonderful months to come...but the price is 270 euros for one month while the price for a residence in Greece is 350 euros for a year...!!! The local students informed me also that they have to pay almost 1000 euros per year for the University and they also had to buy the books something we will have to do too just because we are Erasmus...This conversation happened in the restaurant of the university where we payed from 4 to 6 euros to eat.. while in Greece it is 3 euros per year!!! Some Spanish students from Barcelona told me that they also pay the same amount as in Liege...all these for their public university!!! So is this a public university? No I dont think so..it is public only for those who have at least 1000 euros per year to spend for their studies...And where is the acquis for public education which is a duty of the state to its citizens? A right which is supposed to be common for all its citizens? I dont care if the greek university does not recognize ECTS points, the Bologna process or if the political parties play significant role in its function...I really dont care...because I dont have to pay registration each year or to buy my books...Neither to pay for my residence or my food...I dont want to present my country as an example..greek universities have a lot of problems, serious problems...but at least they are public..This should be the demand of all European students...really public universities in the EU..attending a public university without paying is not a luxury, its a right...

This is an artcile made by user Daskalos over Turkey's accesion in the EU

Many of us have attended a number of discussions over one of the most controversial topics in European thought and politics, especially when we consider issues such as democracy, human rights, the enlargement of the European Union and perhaps even Islam.

'Should Turkey join the European Union'? 'Isn't Europe a Christian club'? 'Isn't Turkey a backward, Muslim nation bordering the Middle East'? 'Turkey does not respect fundamental human rights!' These are some of the statements often made by politicians, academics, journalists, philosophers, religious authorities and ordinary people all over Europe, from Ireland to Poland and from Portugal to Greece.

On the 3rd of December 2007, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that her Christian Democratic Union Party opposes Turkey's bid to join the European Union as a full member. This was the first time she officially opposed Turkish EU accession: "We are, have been and will remain in favour of a privileged partnership with Turkey, but we're against full membership in the European Union," said Merkel in a speech to the Christian Democrats' annual convention in Hanover.

Does this statement reflect well-thought of democratic principles, or is this statement an outright expression of bias? Why is Turkey not worth a European Union membership - have they done something wrong? If Turkey have done something wrong, should they not be given a second chance (after all, wasn't Germany given one)?

When reffering to Macedonia is very difficult to define of what are you talking about : is Macedonia a georgaphical term, is it a nation and why for eons all these Balkan people fight for this piece of land? Lets split the timeline in three periods..The first one is the ancient era, where Macedonia means an indipendent state ruled by Phillip II and after him Alexander the Great. This state consider of itself to be a part of the greek world. Macedonia shares the same language,culture, religion and joins every pan-hellenic event as for example the Olympic Games. This state under the rule of Alexander united almost all the greek city states and declared war to the Persian Empire. The second period begins from the Roman times and continues to the Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire) and her succesor in the area the Ottoman Empire. All this time which is almost 19 centuries Macedonia is called the geographical region of the ancient kingdom which now was a province of all these empires. After Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia became indipendent they all wanted to gain the region of Macedonia because of her strategical and economical importance and because they all had people of the same nation who inhabited Macedonia. During the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 the united Balkan allies captured Macedonia and with the Bucharest Treaty of 1913 the Ottoman Empire was forced to cede the region to the allies. Greece and Serbia controlled almost the 95 % of the former ottoman region but Greece had the biggest part which also included the capital of the region Thessalonica. The decades following the creation of Yugoslavia under the king Alexander III Karageorgevitc the region of Serbian Macedonia was named Vardaska which means the land of the Vardar river. After Tito came to power and made Yugoslavia a federal stated he changed the name and made it Peoples republic of Macedonia while he cultivated a Macedonian national identity. After the collapse of Yugoslavia the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia declared it's independance and changed her name into Macedonia. This goes to the third period...Macedonia tried to convince the globe that they were the same nation as ancient Macedonia and of course they claimed that Alexander was also a Macedonian. Following that they used the royal emblem of Alexander as their flag and in their school books they claimed that Macedonia was under Greek and Bulgarian occupation. After Greece outrageously rejected all these, there was a negotiation process where F.Y.R.O.M. accepted to join the UN under the name former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and was forced to changed her flag and every territorial claim over the Greek region of Macedonia. All this history is needed to understand why Greeks have emotional reasons of not accepting Macedonia as the name of this country. If we take in mind that much of the greek nationalism is based on Alexander's Macedonia and that nowadays Greece owes almost the 90% of the ancient Macedonia and a huge part of the Ottoman Macedonia then we can understand the sensitivity of the issue. However, the Greeks dont have the exclusivity to the term which is geographical and is vital for FYROM's stability in the interior.Of course this doesn't mean that FYROM or any other country have the right to exclusively use the name of a region - and especially Macedonia which is important for all Balkan people. Personally, I would like in the name of the neighbouring country to be defined that this country is not the whole of Macedonia -which is after all a georgaphical term- but a part of it f.e. Nothern Macedonia, or Slavian Macedonia et.c. Furthermore FYROM must stop fabricating historical facts over ancient Macedonia. In conclusion, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of FYROM when interviewed said : Of course we have no relation with Ancient Macedonia, but when in Balkans in order to proof a different national existance you have to present history we were forced by you (the Greeks) to fabricate our history.....

The first greek blog is here !

The greek proposal of the -strongest- european cofee ever and the Athens local group! This blog aims to become a ground for european debate over an issue strongly related to the western thought : democracy and ways to make it deeper - Is it possible to make democracy more direct using our modern technology ? We want you to share with us your thoughts, your ideas and your proposes ! Also, every topic related to Greece and Europe is strongly recommended! You can send it in english or greek and see it available in each language translated ! Welcome- kalos irthate !