EU PRESIDENT GLORIFYING KARL MARX

   Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will next week deliver a speech at an exhibition commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx. The gesture is likely to provide some ammunition to lovers of controversy.
   The German city of Trier, Marx’s birthplace, will celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth on 5 May with a series of events, including the unveiling of a 5.5 metre-tall statue, a present from the People’s Republic of China.
   The monument has fuelled controversy in the Trier community and in the wider German context in recent months. Overall, glorifying Karl Marx is a controversial thing, especially in countries that have lived under communism.

   Andreeva said that Juncker is “very well aware of the historical facts and sensitivity” and added that “whatever peoples’ views on Karl Marx are, nobody can deny that Karl Marx is a figure who shaped history in one way of the other”.