Inside Europe: The inside take on European affairs 05.12.09

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DATE : Sat, 5 Dec 2009 07:05:00 GMT
Entered in Database : 2009-12-03 00:00:00
length : 26518963
Link to the Show / Show Notes

On today's programme: Copenhagen prepares for a make-or-break climate summit - The Lisbon Treaty finally comes into effect - Is Scotland poised to vote on independence? - Will Serbia be forced to change its stance over Kosovo?- Technology reveals an ancient Turkish treasure - Retracing Hannibal’s footsteps - A lack of diners in Irish restaurants- Can British food appeal to refined Italian palates?
The Lisbon Treaty finally comes into effect

The European Union has got its long-awaited 'makeover' as a new set of rules begin to fall into place.

The bloc's Lisbon Treaty finally came into effect this week and is meant to give the EU greater clout on the world stage, after years of internal bickering over key policy decisions. Nina-Maria Potts has more details.

Coinciding with St Andrew’s Day, the Scottish National Party this week announced plans for a referendum on independence from the rest of Britain.

The party has long made breaking with Britain the focus of its political agenda, but even after winning control of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 2007, it has so far lacked the votes needed to make its plan for a referendum a reality. Now though, Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP has launched a white paper setting out the case for a referendum on independence. Earlier, Rob Turner spoke to Professor Christopher Harvie, an SNP member of the Scottish parliament, and asked him if Scots were ready and willing to press for independence?

It's almost two years since the territory of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Recognised by 63 countries in the world, Serbia has vowed never to accept an independent Kosovo.

On Tuesday, the International Court of Justice began examining the legality of the move – the first case of secession ever brought before the court. Mark Lowen has been speaking to Serbia's President Boris Tadic in Belgrade and sent this report.

Last Sunday, in a surprise result, voters in Switzerland approved a nationwide ban on minarets.

The proposal had been brought by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which gathered the necessary 100,000 signatures for the referendum claiming allowing minarets would be a sign of the Islamisation of Switzerland. The fall out from the vote continues amid a storm of international criticism, and in this postcard Imogen Foulkes wonders where it leaves Switzerland.

The family of the Greek schoolboy shot dead by a policeman last year has appealed for calm as the anniversary of his alleged murder approaches.

Greek police are bracing themselves for angry demonstrations, a year after the eruption of the country’s worst riots in thirty-five years. Here’s our Athens correspondent, Malcolm Brabant.

A modern engineering project to build a tunnel under Istanbul's Bosphorus waterway has unearthed an ancient monument to travel and transport.

The massive venture, called the Marmaray Project, aims to connect Asia and Europe by rail - and revitalize Istanbul's transport system. But, history seems to be getting in the way of progress as workers surveying the site discovered the remains of what was once a Byzantine port. From Istanbul, Dorian Jones reports.

Our former Madrid correspondent Danny Wood has been tracing the steps of ancient civilisations.

Danny, along with his brothers Ben and Sam Wood have spent the past month following in the footsteps of three ancient Carthaginian brothers Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago. They are cycling from Cartagena, Spain to Zama, Tunisia - the route that Hannibal and his army took over 2200 years ago. Along the way they were filming a documentary and are now back safe and sound in London to start editing. Earlier, Rob Turner caught up with Danny Wood and asked him if it was a relief to be back?

One in three restaurants in Ireland face closure in the next six months. That's according to the Restaurant Association of Ireland, which says more than twenty thousand jobs in the sector are at risk unless major reforms are made to the industry.

It's calling for a number of changes including a cut in the VAT rate on alcohol in restaurants and a reduction in the minimum wage. From Dublin, Anne-Marie McNerney reports.

It may sound a little crazy to tempt the food-loving Italians to swap their world famous cuisine for fish and chips or such like, but that’s exactly what one man has been attempting.

Born in southern Italy, but brought up in England, Vito Cataffo runs a successful chain of Italian restaurants in the UK. But two and a half years ago, the Anglo-Italian restaurateur embarked on a new venture – he decided he wanted to do the same in reverse: taking British food to the Italians. Earlier this year, Vito finally found a location under the porticoes of central Bologna where he opened Passion: Bologna’s first British restaurant. Dany Mitzman went along to meet the city’s bravest new entrepreneur, 3 months after he opened the restaurant’s doors to the highly critical Bolognese public.

It's been billed as the make or break summit to halt global warming and secure a binding treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol.

The 2-week Copenhagen summit kicks off on Monday, when representatives from 192 countries meet to hammer out a new global treaty on climate change. So what can the world really expect from Copenhagen? Lars Bevanger reports.

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