Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad, fram till 1946 Königsberg, stad i en mellan Polen och Litauen existerande exklav tillhörande Ryska federationen; 406 000 inv. (1990).
Orten växte från 1255 fram i skydd av en fästning, anlagd av Tyska orden, och fick 1286 stadsrättigheter. Vid mitten av 1300-talet blev den en stödjepunkt för Hansan, 1457 residensstad för Tyska ordens högmästare och 1525 för de preussiska hertigarna. Det ledde till att den ostpreussiska staden helt kom att präglas av tyskt borgerskap och tysk feodaladel.
Genom universitetet, grundat 1544, blev Königsberg ett andligt centrum; här verkade Immanuel Kant 1755-96. Den tyska dominansen bibehölls ända fram till andra världskriget, då den gamla staden blev nästan helt förstörd.
http://www.ne.se/jsp/search/article.jsp?i_art_id=219715
Nationalencyklopedin 2000-12-15
Die Bürger und
Freunde der Stadt Königsberg haben sich im Bewußtsein ihrer
historischen Verantwortung für Deutschland zusammen-geschlossen, die
Tradition der Stadt Königsberg zu wahren und fortzuentwickeln
(Präambel der Satzung).
Consider Kaliningrad, an isolated exclave of Russia on the Baltic Sea.
Since last year, they have been surrounded by the EU, in the form of Poland and Lithuania.
What might be a showcase for co-operation has often been rancorous, not productive.
The Economist 12/5 2005
Julen står för dörren. Då passar det att höja blicken till ett 2000-årsperspektiv.
Det hände sig vid den tiden att det från kejsar Augustus utgick ett påbud om att hela världen skulle skattskrivas. Med hela världen avsågs Romarriket, som när det var som störst gick från England i väster till Turkiet i öster.
Detta väldiga rike hölls samman av Roms Legioner, den första Europaarmén.
Rolf Englund i Nya Wermlands-Tidningen 2000-12-23
From The Economist Nov 24th 2004
Russia has backed the eastward-looking Mr Yanukovich because it fears losing Ukraine as a key ally, having already lost it as a Soviet sibling. As Lilia Shevtsova, a Russia analyst, put it in an interview with the Financial Times: “Russia still feels a phantom pain for the loss of Ukraine…like a patient whose leg has been amputated.”
EU kritiserar Israel för byggandet av den långa barriären mot palestinierna men hjälper samtidigt de nya medlemsländerna att bygga en liknande barriär
Ekot 6/9 2004
Jaroslaw Sokovich, från polska gränsbevakningen, betonar att Polen bara ser över infrastrukturen längs östgränsen och inför såväl elektronisk som helikopterövervakning.
Det stängsel som onekligen håller på att sättas upp, och som hittills har en sträckning av 60 kilometer, sätts upp i Litauen av litauer. Det går längs den vitryska gränsens vanligaste smuggelvägar. Det två meter höga stålstängslet med betongfästen finansieras av EU:s fond för regional utveckling.
Russia strikes deal with EU over WTO
entry
By Andrew Jack in Moscow Published: May 21 2004 13:27
Russia made an important step forward in its 11-year campaign to join the World Trade Organisation on Friday, by agreeing membership terms with the European Union. Under a compromise that hinges on reforms to the energy market, Russia will double its domestic gas prices to industrial consumers by 2010, while the EU will drop its challenge to the export monopoly held by Gazprom, the state-backed gas group.
The deal, which paves the way for WTO entry by the largest economy still outside the organisation, was signed at the latest twice-yearly EU-Russia summit.
Lithuania adds strain to Kaliningrad talks
EU Observer
2002-10-02
Lithuania on Tuesday rejected the possibility of allowing visa-free transit via Lithuania before the country joins the EU. This statement, set to upset Russia who wants visa-free travelling between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad, will put further strain on the EU-Russia talks, and the hope of finding a solution before the 11 November summit in Copenhagen.... more
Kaliningrad wounding EU-Russia relations
EU Observer
2002-10-02
Russia expressed its regrets on Tuesday that the EU did not shift on the key question of the visa-free train and bus transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia through Lithuania. A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Facilitated Transit Document proposed by the EU, is actually a "visa surrogate," issued only for a limited period of time and only to a certain category of Russians. This issue, which is troubling the EU due to the approaching enlargement, is also endangering the next EU-Russia summit in November.
Kaliningrad, the small Russian enclave, will be surrounded by EU territory, once Lithuania and Poland join the EU, probably in 2004. Although the borders between the new member states and present member states will not be lifted immediately after accession, but more likely after 2006, visas will still be introduced in Poland and Lithuania next year..... more
Europe's crucial Northern Dimension
Chris Patten and Anna
Lindh
Financial Times, December 20 2000
Chris Patten is EU commissioner
for external relations. Anna Lindh is foreign minister of Sweden
One of the biggest challenge is Kaliningrad, a Russian territory about half the size of Belgium on the shores of the Baltic Sea. When Lithuania and Poland join the EU, Kaliningrad will become a Russian enclave within the union. That will pose practical questions such as transport links, visas and border controls. We need to work closely with Russia and the accession countries concerned to find solutions. To that end, the Commission will present a communication next month and we will make a joint visit to the region in February.
Kaliningrad suffers from organised crime, environmental pollution and extensive drug and health problems. Not only are such problems mirrored elsewhere in the region, but they have obvious trans-border implications. That is why we are already involved in many projects in the region. These include the modernisation of the main border crossings with Lithuania and Poland, institutional support to the Kaliningrad regional development agency, waste and water management and reform of the health system.
Sweden urges action over Kaliningrad
Financial Times;
Dec 14, 2000
Sweden is to urge its European partners to draw up a programme to help alleviate the severe problems facing Kaliningrad, the polluted Russian enclave bordering the Baltic Sea. Goran Persson, the Swedish prime minister, said the EU had to act because once Poland and Lithuania joined the union, as part of the enlargement process, Kaliningrad would be completely surrounded by EU countries and the Baltic Sea.
Speaking to the FT before Sweden took the rotating presidency of the EU, Mr Persson said life was bleak for the 1m inhabitants of the enclave, which has been ravaged by corruption, organised crime, prostitution and disease.
”It is heavily polluted, it has diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, and there is nuclear waste. Almost every problem you can find you have there,” he said.
During Soviet times, Kaliningrad - the former German territory of East Prussia - was best known as a military base and closed to western visitors. More recently its problems have been studied by Brussels and the European Commission is expected to produce a report on the city in the next few weeks.
However, treatment of the enclave is likely to be sensitive, with Russians wary of interference and questions over whether one part of the country should receive special treatment.
”It’s possible for us to do something, always remembering that it’s part of Russia,” said Mr Persson.
Areas under consideration are how the EU can encourage western investment in the city, improve infrastructure, boost transit trade via Lithuania, and deal with practical issues such as visas, which will be required for Russians travelling through Lithuania and Poland once these countries are EU members.
Tack gode Allah för Europeiska Unionen
EU börjar närma sig sina yttersta gränser, vilket spetsar till frågan om vår europeiska identitet.
Ukraina hör hemma i Europeiska unionen.
Signerat Niklas Ekdahl, pol red DN 6/12 2004
Vad som i dag kallas Ukraina är i allt väsentligt resultatet av de habsburgska och romanovska husens sammanbrott i första världskrigets slutskede.
Richard Swartz SvD 1/12 2004
På deras ruiner fick vi sedan stater med svag eller ingen historisk förankring som Tjeckoslovakien, Jugoslavien och just Ukraina. De två första blev inte långlivade. Båda är numera bortglömda. Att det Ukraina som fortfarande finns förenar kanske större inneboende motsättningar än Tjeckoslovakien och Jugoslavien gjorde, glömmer vi lätt bort eftersom alla kallar sig ukrainare i stället för tjecker och slovaker eller serber och kroater. Emellanåt verkar ukrainarna själva glömma bort detta och därför sakna en hel del av den självbevarelsedrift utan vilken nu en katastrof hotar dem.
Ukrainarna är ett folk på nästan femtio miljoner som är på jakt efter en nation. Visserligen är alla ukrainare, men under denna etikett döljer sig dramatiska skillnader av språklig, religiös, historisk och numera också politisk karaktär.
