Europa

A draft commission report seen by the BBC gives - for the first time - a timetable for concluding accession talks with Croatia by the end of 2009. Provided it meets all the EU conditions, Croatia could join in 2011. The report, set to be adopted next Wednesday, also calls on Turkey to resume political reforms.

After a wave of mafia-style violence, including the killing of a prominent journalist, Croatia has to show it is cracking down on organised crime and corruption. Meanwhile, France and Germany say any talk of dates is an empty promise, unless the EU finds a way to revive the Lisbon reform treaty, meant to prepare the bloc for new members.

BBC News: Croatia set to get EU thumbs-up

Go into any high street bookshop in Britain and the European history section will groan under the weight of books about the Nazi era. Most of the time you will look in vain for something on Bismarck or Brandt. (If you are lucky there might be a copy of the excellent Iron Kingdom, by Christopher Clark, about the rise and fall of Prussia.)

Of course the Third Reich and World War II are an exceptionally important part of Germany’s past. But generations afterwards many British, whistling the theme from The Dambusters, seem happy to define their relationship to Europe’s biggest country solely through this prism. The Faulty Towers “don’t mention the war” episode was so brilliant because it was about a British, not a German, collective psychosis. But that I have written about elsewhere.

BBC News - Mark Mardell’s blog

European Union foreign ministers are set to decide whether to end the freeze on partnership talks with Russia, which were halted over the Georgian conflict.

France’s Bernard Kouchner will give counterparts in Luxembourg his views on Russia’s withdrawal from Georgia, after his visit there last week.

The EU last week welcomed Russia’s pull-out from buffer zones next to breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But Mr Kouchner says “problems remain” over Russia’s compliance with a truce.

There is still not agreement on whether Moscow has fully complied with the terms of an EU-mediated ceasefire.

Georgia says Russian troops are still in areas they did not occupy before hostilities broke out.

France, which holds the EU presidency, wants to unfreeze talks on a new partnership deal with Russia soon.

But Britain, Sweden and former Soviet satellites like Poland say Europe should not rush into such a politically sensitive move.

BBC News Europe

Top public health officials from the EU, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) gathered on 25-27 September 2007 for a workshop to review recent progress made on preparedness for influenza pandemics.

“All EU member states now have [preparedness] plans in place. As a result, the EU is far better equipped to handle a pandemic than two years ago. But it is still only ‘halftime’, and a second phase of preparedness must now begin,” said ECDCexternal Director Zsuzsanna Jakab.

According to her, the upcoming “second phase” should focus on making the plans more integrated and operational across all levels of society over the next two or three years.

Jakab highlighted in particular five areas where progress by both member states and the EU institutions is still needed:

* Integrated planning and preparedness across government departments as a pandemic will affect all sectors;
* interoperability of national plans and actions between and within countries;
* research into the basic parameters of influenza transmission and the effectiveness of interventions;
* better response to seasonal influenza, and;
* making plans operational down to the local level.

According to Jakab, making the preparedness plans operational at the local level “is probably the most difficult part as it means preparing individual doctors, hospitals, schools and even the local supermarket.”

Based on the workshop, the ECDC will produce a status report on the pandemic preparedness in October 2007.

The European Ombudsmanexternal , P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, asked Parliament on 27 September 2007 to accept a request for public access to details of EU payments received by MEPs. The requestexternal follows a complaint, made in August 2005, by a Maltese journalist to whom Parliament had refused access to data detailing the payments of five Maltese MEPs.

According to the Ombudsman, the arguments put forward by Parliament are unconvincing and therefore the refusal to grant access to requested documents “constitutes maladministration”.

Whereas the journalist argued that an MEP was a public person paid by the European taxpayers and therefore subject to public scrutiny, Parliament said that it is up to its Committee on Budgetary Control and the Court of Auditors to carry out this task. It also explained its refusal by the need to protect personal data concerning the names of MEPs’ assistants.

Regarding this issue, the Ombudsman consulted the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPSexternal ), Peter Hustinx, who said that “the blanking out of the assistants’ names would adequately protect their rights.”

“This case is important because it highlights the need to carefully balance the right to privacy with the public interest in openness when deciding whether the public has a right to access information of this kind,” said Nikiforos.

In 2005, Administrative Affairs and Anti-Fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas launched a Transparency Initiative aimed at increasing the financial accountability of EU funding, strengthening the independence of EU institutions and imposing stricter controls on lobbying. In this context, the Commission proposes strengthening ethical standards and accountability by establishing common ethical rules to be applied to all EU lawmakers.

MEPs have been criticised for alleged abuse of status by taking expense allowances granted by EU funds for personal profit, for example by making the Community reimburse the costs for a business class flight even if they flew economy class or low-fare. As of 2009, the expense arrangements of MEPs will be reformed and the members will only receive the price actually paid.

Regarding salaries, MEPs are currently paid the same amount as a member of their own national parliament, but starting from 2009, all MEPs will receive a basic monthly salary of €7,000.

Two of the defendants were sentenced for war crimes in the city of Vukovar in 1991 and the third was acquitted.

President Stipe Mesic called the verdicts “unacceptable”.

The three were tried over the massacre of nearly 200 Croatian paramilitaries captured during the siege of Vukovar by Yugoslav troops and Serb forces.

Mr Mesic, who has been known as a supporter of the UN tribunal in the Hague, issue a stern condemnation of the verdict.

“The verdict in the trial of the so-called Vukovar Three is absolutely unacceptable both in terms of the duration of the sentences and the explanation of the verdicts,” a presidential statement quoted by the Hina news agency says.

Anger in Vukovar

Former Yugoslav commander Mile Mrksic was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the 1991 massacre of 194 people taken from a Vukovar hospital.

Yugoslav troops beside a column of refugees in Vukovar, 1991
If you stole a car today you would get a harsher sentence than what they got for the biggest crime that was committed here in the past 50 years
Zarko Pavlovic, Vukovar paramedic

Profile: The Vukovar Three

His subordinate officer, Veselin Sljivancanin, was sentenced to five years in prison for aiding and abetting torture, while a third accused, Miroslav Radic, was acquitted in the absence of evidence that he was aware of the killings.

They were convicted of war crimes, the tribunal accepting the claim that those killed were members of the Croatian paramilitary and not civilians, whose killing is considered a crime against humanity and incurs a heavier penalty.

Croatia disputes this ruling, saying those killed were civilians.

Croatian Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, travelled to Vukovar on Thursday to appease a crowd angered by the verdicts.

“I am shocked by this ruling,” said Benazija Kolesar, a nurse who was on duty in Vukovar hospital at the time of the massacre.

“They were responsible, they knew the wounded were taken from the hospital. There is no sentence high enough for these people.” A paramedic in Vukovar hospital, Zarko Pavlovic, was equally upset.

“If you stole a car today you would get a harsher sentence than what they got for the biggest crime that was committed here in the past 50 years,” he said.

Some 1,000 of the town’s residents died during the fighting in November 1991 and another 5,000 were taken prisoner.

Croats regard the siege of Vukovar by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army as a key event in the war for independence.

However, the final agreement does not include a key Turkish proposal that its troops be allowed to pursue PKK fighters over the border into Iraq.

The proposal had been strongly opposed by the Kurdish officials in Iraq.

The Iraqi Kurds deny supporting the PKK but say they must be party to any agreements that affect them.

Turkey’s Interior Minister said this was a deal to prevent terrorist activity and primarily the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK.

But it falls far short of what Ankara was pushing for, BBC’s Sarah Rainsford reports from Istanbul.

The Co-operation Pact does not grant Turkish troops permission to cross the border in what is called hot pursuit of PKK fighters, she adds. The minister says talks on that issue will continue.

Turkey does not recognise the legitimacy of the administration in northern Iraq, but officials there are the most staunchly opposed to allowing Turkish troops onto their territory.

The agreement has been signed is broad ranging: a pledge to prevent finance, logistical support and propaganda for the PKK.

A co-ordination committee will meet every six months to review the agreement’s implementation.

Bloody conflict

Ankara has warned Baghdad to crack down on Kurdish rebels in Iraq or face a possible incursion by Turkish troops.

PKK members in northern Iraq. Photo: July 2007
PKK has fought a bloody war since the ’80s

Tens of thousands of people in Turkey have died in the insurgency, including at least 80 Turkish troops this year.

The rebels from the PKK have been fighting for autonomy in south-eastern Turkey since the 1980s.

Turkey says about 4,000 PKK fighters are in Iraq’s north.

In August, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on security, agreeing to “expend all efforts” to oust the fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan.

The PKK has been labelled a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU.

Experts said it was “highly probable” the remains found near Yekaterinburg in July were Alexei, the heir to the throne, and Maria, his elder sister.

They were missing when most of the family’s remains were found in 1991.

The tsar, his wife and five children were shot dead by a Bolshevik firing squad in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918.

In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonised the royal family, saying they had undergone suffering with gentleness, patience and humility.

Forensic tests

Citing preliminary forensic and DNA tests, the deputy forensic chief scientist in the Sverdlovsk region said the appearance, age and sex of the remains they found mean it was “highly probable” they belonged to Alexei and Maria.

“On the basis of the expert analysis, it is possible to conclude with a large degree of certainty that parts of the skeleton… belong to Tsarevich Alexei and his sister, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna Romanova”, he told Russian media.

The BBC’s James Rodgers in Moscow says the whereabouts of the missing Romanov children has been one of the great unsolved mysteries of Russia’s blood-soaked revolution.

After they were shot, the bodies of the tsar and the remainder of his family were burned, doused with acid and thrown into a pit.

They were exhumed in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Final identification of the rest of their family took years, and they were ceremonially buried at the St Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg in 1998.

Even since then, some members of the Russian Orthodox Church have continued to question the scientists’ conclusions, our correspondent says.

After having explained the functioning and political background of the ETS, the paper looks at development in energy-intensive industries - cement, steel and aluminium - since its implementation in January 2005.

The choice of allowance allocation affects the international mobility factor as well as the location of new companies, outlines the paper.

For the moment, the ETS is implemented inconsistently across the EU and has a narrow scope of influence regarding greenhouse gases and the sectors involved, the paper says. Moreover, it does not yet facilitate long-term innovation dynamics such as the transition to a hydrogen economy.

The authors therefore make a number of recommendations aiming at improving the current ETS system:

* More strategic cooperation is required between the different parts of the Commission – DG Environment, DG Research and DG Transport.
* Implement more focused action, for example to speed up the deployment of key sustainable technologies;
* Implement sectoral action plans with energy-intensive industries and their customers downstream, including binding roadmaps on sustainability, innovation and market development;
* Make use of break-even points: For example, calculations reveal that above the price of €23.4/t for CO2, it becomes profitable to shut down existing coal plants and replace them with new combined gas-cycle turbines;
* Financing innovation: If policymakers adopted auctioning as the preferred allocation method, one could use part of the revenue generated to finance a research fund.

With such improvements, the ETS has the potential to become a pillar of effective and efficient climate change policy that also provides incentives for investment in climate-friendly policies, concludes the paper.

* College of Europe: The Sustainability Impact of the EU Emissions Trading System on European Industryexternal (September 2007)

High levels of corruption persist in Bulgaria and Romania, after their EU accession earlier in 2007, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index published on 27 September. On the index, Bulgaria remains in 64th place, while Romania is 69th in the 180 countries rated, along with Ghana and Colombia. However, the report certifies “significant improvement” for Romania.

Bulgaria scores 4.1 points on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (not corrupt) along with EU accession candidates Croatia and Turkey, still ahead of Romania (3.7), but shortly behind Poland, which only gets a 4.2 grade. In contrast, Denmark (9.4), Finland (9.4) and Sweden (9.3) rank highest among European countries.

Nevertheless, Transparency International’s European Director Miklos Marschall says that, overall, enlargement has had a positive effect on new member states. “EU membership had its benefits through external pressure. That is what you can see in Slovenia, Estonia, but also in relatively corrupt countries like Bulgaria and Romania.”

The Commission’s reports on justice reform and the fight against corruption published in June had proven that little progress has been made in Bulgaria and Romania since the end of 2006 and concluded that “progress in the judicial treatment of high-level corruption is insufficient” (see EurActiv 27/06/07).

Commission Spokesperson Mark Gray told EurActiv that the EU executive had made no new assessment of the situation since June, but was awaiting action plans from the two governments to be presented in mid-October to address the shortcomings pointed out by the previous reports.

The corruption index is based on the perceptions of experts and business people, instead of hard facts. But Marschall argues: “While perceptions can be influenced by many things, overall they give you a realistic picture.”

The Commission is to give a detailed assessment of the two countries’ progress in in January 2009.

The Central Statistics Office said gross domestic product (GDP) climbed 6.7% in the six months to June, up from 5.2% in the first half of 2006.

The more favoured growth measurement, gross national product, which strips out foreign investment, rose 5.7%.

The figures are more than double the average across the 13-nation euro bloc.

Economists are predicting that full-year growth will be between 5% and 6%, with a drop in homebuilding being more than offset by a strong rise in commercial property construction and state-funded infrastructure.

At the same time, Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, is expected to grow by 2.3%, helped by stronger exports and higher retail spending.

Continued success

The transformation of the Irish economy over the past decade or so has been well documented.

The Republic was once known for its high unemployment, high emigration and high public debt.

But a key combination of government policies, support from the European Union and a young, well-educated English-speaking workforce has helped boost the country’s fortunes, earning it the nickname of the Celtic Tiger.

In recent years, the Irish Republic has seen an influx rather than an exodus of skilled people, as workers from newer EU member states such as Poland and Lithuania have arrived to seek jobs.

ith Portugal currently at the EU’s helm, the country’s Public Works, Transport and Communications Minister Mário Lino talks exclusively to EurActiv about achieving a compromise between all 27 member states on the sensitive issue of opening up national postal markets to competition, and describes the main elements of a deal that he believes will garner the backing of his 26 European counterparts.

To read a shortened version of this interview, please click here.

MEPs have voted in favour of delaying liberalisation until 2011. Do you agree that the 2009 deadline was too early?

During the negotiations, it became clear that the majority of the countries felt that this date was not achievable, despite the fact that some member states were prepared to go along with it.

As EU Presidency holders, especially after the vote in the European Parliament, it was our conclusion that no agreement was possible on the date proposed by the Commission. I’m sure that the Commission will draw the same conclusions from the intense debate we had on their proposal.

Some EU members have already opened up their postal markets or are in the process of doing so. Where does Portugal stand on postal liberalisation?

Portugal is ready for the total liberalisation in 2009, but it will be done in accordance with market conditions and what happens in the other countries of the EU.

Parliament also voted that some countries, including new member states Greece and Luxembourg, should be allowed even more time to open up their markets. Do you think this is necessary? Why?

We believe it is necessary, and our proposal reflects this conviction. So we share the view of the European Parliament that some member states should be provided with the option of a further delay of two years before opening up their markets.

This in fact only applies to Greece and Luxembourg, for the characteristics of their postal markets or their particular geographical situation, and to the countries that have joined the postal reform at a later stage.

Our hope is that, among these 14 countries, some of them will decide to implement the Directive at an earlier stage, or not profit at all from that possibility.

Could different dates for different groups of countries lead to distortions of competition among operators? Do you think that Parliament’s idea of a ‘reciprocity clause’ could provide a solution to this?

We should see the final date for the opening of the market in the context: postal services have, for centuries, been state monopolies.

We are now speaking of a maximum of two years to complete the process. In the timeline of the history of postal services this represents almost nothing.

The reciprocity clause, voted by the EP, is a tool to avoid possible distortions - if any arise - from the delay of two years. We also took it on board as a fair solution to that eventuality.

How important is this piece of legislation, both for European postal markets and, in broader terms, for the completion of the internal market and the EU’s Lisbon Strategy?

The final opening of the postal market will be a major step towards the completion of the internal market. New opportunities are created to have better services, better prices and more jobs.

Are you worried, as are a number of trade unions and national postal operators, that it may become difficult to maintain a high-quality universal service once the reserved area is abolished?

No, I’m confident that universal service will continue to be provided at the highest standards, and even improved. We foresaw and included all the possible safeguards in the legislative text.

Also, the independent national regulators will be closely monitoring the market. It was a common and major concern of all member states to guarantee a high-quality universal service to users in every point of our territories.

How close do you think the 27 EU members are to reaching an agreement on this dossier? Could an agreement be achieved on 1 October or will it be postponed until later?

In the Council, since the beginning of the negotiation, with our German friends, we worked patiently and thoroughly. All member states have shown a high degree of responsibility and a strong will to arrive at a positive outcome.

Negotiation means that every one has to make an effort. It was the Portuguese Presidency’s conviction that this agreement should reach a high degree of consensus – qualified majority, although possible, was not our objective.

This final step in the opening of the market must be taken with all countries. The proposal the presidency made at the beginning of September brought into the agreement a considerable number of more reluctant partners. All the signs we have received have been positive.

The remaining few questions, even if important, should not be obstacles. So my hope is that we will manage to achieve a large consensus and reach an agreement on 1 October.

The deal that was expected to be signed on Thursday was held up after Iraqi Kurdish groups objected to a key clause, Turkey’s NTV television says.

Officials from both sides have so far made no comment on the issue.

Ankara has warned Baghdad to crack down on Kurdish rebels in Iraq or face a possible incursion by Turkish troops.

Tens of thousands of people in Turkey have died in the insurgency, including at least 80 Turkish troops this year.

The rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been fighting for autonomy in south-eastern Turkey since the 1980s.

‘Hot pursuit’

The talks are taking place in the Turkish capital Ankara and involve senior Turkish and Iraqi officials.

“There are some differences. We are trying to work them out,” the Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey, Sabah Omran, told Turkey’s Anatolia news agency without giving any further details.

Turkish officials have not commented on the issue.

The talks resumed on Thursday after Kurdish groups in Iraq raised objections to the clause of the draft deal, known as “hot pursuit”, NTV said.

The provision would reportedly allow Turkish troops - with a prior authorisation by Baghdad - to chase Kurdish rebels across the Iraqi border.

The Iraqi delegation is also resisting Turkey’s demands to extradite senior PKK members wanted under international arrest warrants, according to NTV.

The talks are taking place despite an announcement on Wednesday that the deal was hammered out between Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bolani and his Turkish counterpart, Besir Atalay.

Turkey says about 4,000 PKK fighters are in Iraq’s north.

In August, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on security, agreeing to “expend all efforts” to oust the fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan.

The PKK has been labelled a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU.

It has been fighting for an ethnic homeland since 1984 in an area covering parts of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

The event was open to the public and saw a number of events take place in and around the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, including an exhibition of language projects, music and singing in different languages and multilingual games. 26 September has been designated European Day of Languages by the Council of Europe and the Commission since 2001’s Year of Languages.

The Commission set up a High Level Group on Multilingualism in 2005, which also presented its reportPdf external .
Issues:

The recommendation, from the report of High Level Group on Multilingualism, came as the EU executive used its special languages day to announce the launch of an online ‘Have Your Say’external corner and consultationexternal on multilingualism.

The launch represents the beginning of a new phase in the Commission’s consultation process in this area, with the focus switching from governments, experts and companies to other stakeholders, including the general public.

Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban said that the EU executive “has a clear role in promoting multilingualism”, adding that it has to know the needs and expectations of citizens, stakeholders, companies and member states in order to “define the best way forward”.

“Our aim is to give the Union a new generation of multilingual citizens,” he added.

The latest consultation process will run until 15 November 2007, with the results made available in early 2008. It will lead to a policy statement in the form of a Communication on Multilingualism in May 2008, Orban added.

Meanwhile, the High Level Group’s reportPdf external recommends:

* Launching information campaigns among parents, young people, educational and cultural organisations and decision-makers to raise awareness of language learning.
* Including language in sports and extra-curricular activities for young people as a way of increasing motivation to learn – as well as more television programmes encouraging language learning, particularly through subtitles.
* Creating pan-European benchmarks to professionalise the training of third-country languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Russian.
* Developing masters and higher education programmes in specialised areas of translation and interpretation such as the legal sphere.

Orban described the recommendations as “very valuable”.
Positions:

Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban, referring to the High Level Group’s report, said: “This report can inspire concrete projects, for instance, research into aspects of multilingualism where there are currently gaps in our knowledge.” He cited the promotion of language learning outside formal education settings, encouraging language learning at an older age and the integration of linguistic minorities as areas requiring more attention.”

He added: “My strong belief is that, in order to be effective, language learning should meet at least three criteria. It should be attractive, it should start at an early age, and it should continue during one’s whole life.”

An afternoon seminar presented members of the High Level Group with illustrations of how the media can play a role in encouraging people to learn foreign languages.

Steven Fawkes, former education officer at the BBC, said that the issue was “bigger than education”, as language learning goes beyond the classroom to become a key element in other social activities such as sport. He commended the BBC’s efforts to promote languages via multilingual programmes on TV, radio and the internet but noted that the issue of fees was always going to come back on the agenda. “Why pay the BBC fee if I don’t watch it?” is the recurring question in Britain, he said.

Claire Doutriaux, a producer at Arte TV, showed an episode of her Karambolage external flagship programme, which seeks to entertain viewers with Franco-German cultural subtleties. Like all other programmes at Arte, Karambolage is bilingual but the difficulty lies in finding a story-telling “drama” that works for both language versions. “We have to juggle with languages, images and translation to make it happen,” she explained.

Jaana Sormunen, executive producer at Finnish broadcasting company YLE, presented an educational and entertainment programme, La Casa en España, which, for the second year running, has attracted numerous viewers in Finland. The TV game saw competitors study Spanish at home for three months and then take speaking exams in the studio and during weekend trips to Spain. The show is part of YLE’s language-learning drive, which includes a virtual language school, The Language Gateexternal , in which users can practice languages with interactive exercises using audio, video and text.

Frédéric Simon, managing editor at EurActiv.com, presented EurActiv’s unique approach to EU political news coverage with the launch in 2004 of several partner websites in central and eastern Europe, each covering EU affairs in their own language. The CrossLingual Network, Simon said, aimed to meet demand for independent information on European policies in those countries where the democratic deficit with the EU elites in Brussels is made worse as a result of the language barrier. He then presented the two most recent additions to the network, with the launch of EurActiv Franceexternal in May and EurActiv Turkey in September.

Debate centred on the issue of TV subtitling versus dubbing, with one participant pointing out that subtitled programmes do not score high audience levels in France.

He was contradicted by Jaana Sormunen, who said that viewers in Finland massively protested when the American TV series The Bold and the Beautiful was presented in a dubbed version. Conference moderator Wim De Wielder, from the Dutch-speaking Belgian television channel VRT confirmed this, saying that Flemish viewers are accustomed to subtitling and have found it a useful way to learn English.
Latest & next steps:

* 25 Sept. 2007: Commission adopted report on the implementation of the Action Plan 2004-2006 Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity.
* 26 Sept. 2007: Commission held European Day of Languages and launched online ‘Have Your Say’ corner and consultation on multilingualism.
* 26 Sept. 2007: High Level Group on Multilingualism presented its report.
* 15 Nov. 2007: Latest Commission consultation process ends.
* Nov. 2007: Business Forum on Multilingualism in Lisbon.
* May 2008: Commission releases Communication on Multilingualism.

It comes two days after he alleged that the president had instructed him to kill a prominent businessman - claims dismissed by the government as untrue.

Mr Okruashvili, a former ally of the president, left the government in 2006.

Earlier this week, he launched his own opposition party, accusing President Mikhail Saakashvili of corruption.

Mr Okruashvili was detained at the headquarters of his new party, the Movement for a United Georgia.

His spokeswoman described the arrest as political retaliation and said Mr Okruashvili would deny all charges against him.

Huge scandal

In a dramatic return to politics on Tuesday, the former defence minister alleged President Saakashvili had asked him to kill several public figures, including a millionaire businessman who founded one of the country’s leading television stations.

He said the plan never materialised.

Mr Okruashvili also alleged that Mr Saakashvili’s high-profile campaign against corruption was a sham.

The BBC’s Matthew Collin in Tbilisi says this has caused a huge scandal in a country that is still struggling to recover from years of turmoil and civil war.

Mr Saakashvili has not responded personally so far, but senior figures in the Georgian government described the allegations as “baseless and untrue”.

Mr Okruashvili’s arrest comes after a series of officials who are believed to support the former defence minister were also detained on corruption charges.