2011/05/25
UE investe em propaganda nos EUA
Sally McNamara, da Heritage Foundation, publicou um interessante artigo - a vários níveis - dando conta das avultadas somas (USD 1,23 mil milhões), provenientes de dinheiro de contribuintes europeus, que a UE tem injectado em instituições americanas (think tanks, universidades, institutos, ONG's), aparentemente com a finalidade de colocar assuntos do interesse da UE na agenda política americana de modo a influenciar a política americana e alinhá-la com os interesses da UE, ou seja provocar um desvio externo na política americana.
Que quer a UE convencer os EUA? Dos temas em questão os que mais arrepiam são as alterações climáticas, o Tribunal Penal Internacional e agendas socialistas radicais.
Dirão os críticos: então, não fizeram, e não fazem, os americanos o mesmo na Europa e noutros países, em favor das suas visões e interesses políticos? Seguramente que o fizeram, talvez mais do que o fazem actualmente. Mas não provavelmente com dinheiro dos contribuintes. Além do mais o terreno não é igual dos dois lados. De um lado temos liberdade e clareza quanto aos limites do poder do Estado e dos detentores de cargos públicos. Do outro temos um superestado tendencialmente totalitário, que se julga dono do direito e dos direitos, de comissários nomeados pelo regime, não eleitos, com todos os tiques que já aqui descrevemos. A diferença é só esta.
Deixamos, para melhor compreensão do problema, o abstract e a introdução ao extenso artigo, que fica à distância de um clic na íntegra
Abstract: The European Union is pouring enormous amounts of money into the United States. Regular multimillion-dollar payments to individuals and organizations in the U.S. raise important questions over Brussels’ interference in U.S. political and social debates—including climate change, the death penalty, and membership of the International Criminal Court. It is also not possible to justify EU human rights budgets being spent in one of the world’s freest nations. The EU budget has become synonymous with profligacy, waste, fraud, and mismanagement. It is beyond time for EU member state governments and European parliamentarians to take action. And it is Congress’s duty to ascertain whether these expenditures are in compliance with U.S. laws, and to ensure that American interests are protected.
Que quer a UE convencer os EUA? Dos temas em questão os que mais arrepiam são as alterações climáticas, o Tribunal Penal Internacional e agendas socialistas radicais.
Dirão os críticos: então, não fizeram, e não fazem, os americanos o mesmo na Europa e noutros países, em favor das suas visões e interesses políticos? Seguramente que o fizeram, talvez mais do que o fazem actualmente. Mas não provavelmente com dinheiro dos contribuintes. Além do mais o terreno não é igual dos dois lados. De um lado temos liberdade e clareza quanto aos limites do poder do Estado e dos detentores de cargos públicos. Do outro temos um superestado tendencialmente totalitário, que se julga dono do direito e dos direitos, de comissários nomeados pelo regime, não eleitos, com todos os tiques que já aqui descrevemos. A diferença é só esta.
Deixamos, para melhor compreensão do problema, o abstract e a introdução ao extenso artigo, que fica à distância de um clic na íntegra
Abstract: The European Union is pouring enormous amounts of money into the United States. Regular multimillion-dollar payments to individuals and organizations in the U.S. raise important questions over Brussels’ interference in U.S. political and social debates—including climate change, the death penalty, and membership of the International Criminal Court. It is also not possible to justify EU human rights budgets being spent in one of the world’s freest nations. The EU budget has become synonymous with profligacy, waste, fraud, and mismanagement. It is beyond time for EU member state governments and European parliamentarians to take action. And it is Congress’s duty to ascertain whether these expenditures are in compliance with U.S. laws, and to ensure that American interests are protected.
Introduction
From 2007 through 2009, the European Union spent $1.23 billion in the United States. A large part of this money funded projects in other foreign nations that were administered by the U.S.-based World Bank and United Nations.[1] However, according to the European Union’s financial records posted online, large amounts of European taxpayer money were spent directly inside the United States and served to give the European Union greater influence, and advance the EU’s favored political causes, in America. Some of America’s wealthiest academic institutions have received millions of dollars in research grants and other contracts to promote a positive view of European integration. U.S. non-governmental groups received large sums of money from the EU’s human rights budget to advance a social agenda that many Americans would consider radical. A number of multimillion-dollar confidential payments were also made inside the U.S. to unidentified “natural persons” (individuals, not corporations) from an array of EU budget lines, including the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The United States and most European countries have much in common politically and culturally, and EU public diplomacy expenditures inside the U.S. should be minimal compared to spending in countries that do not share the core Euro–Atlantic values of democratic governance, the rule of law, and human rights.
How any foreign entity is spending money inside the U.S. should be of concern to Americans and their elected representatives on Capitol Hill. Congress has a duty to ensure that U.S. laws, sovereignty, and interests are not being undermined from within. Congressional oversight is needed to identify exactly how and where the EU is intervening inside the U.S.
Governments of EU member states and European parliamentarians should also thoroughly investigate EU spending in the United States and determine its appropriateness. The EU’s spending inside the U.S. comes after the EU Court of Auditors refused to sign off on the accounts of the European Union for the 16th consecutive year.
The EU budget was increased by 2.9 percent in 2011, during a time of severe austerity cuts in many EU countries, including cuts to education budgets. The European Commission has requested a budget increase of 4.9 percent for 2012. Governments and parliamentarians should ensure that the European Commission’s existing expenditures are both necessary and prudent before contemplating any increases for 2012.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/05/Swaying-American-Opinions-Congress-Should-Investigate-EU-Advocacy-in-the-United-States
http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2011/pdf/sr0092.pdf
manuelbras@portugalmail.pt
Etiquetas: União Europeia
