Union européenne

Souvent citée par les différents candidats à l'élection présidentielle, l'Europe occupe une place particulière dans le débat. Chômage, demandeurs d'asile, travailleurs détachés, voici une sélection des principaux chiffres qui circulent sur l'Union européenne.

Samedi 20 mai se déroulera la 13ème édition de la Nuit européenne des musées. Cette manifestation, présente dans 30 pays de la "grande Europe", avait mobilisé en 2016 près de 3 000 musées.

La sortie de la France de la zone euro est l'un des principaux marqueurs politiques du Front national. Mais alors que les Français sont largement défavorables à cette idée, Marine Le Pen tâche désormais de revoir sa copie. En cas de victoire, l'objectif serait plutôt de revenir à l'ECU qui était, avant l'adoption de l'euro, un panier de monnaies par rapport auquel les monnaies nationales étaient fixées. Un système "complexe" et "instable", nous explique Jérôme Creel, directeur du département des études à l'Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (OFCE), et qui a justement incité le passage à l'euro.

Général : Que ce soit pour se déplacer, se loger ou trouver des financements, l’économie du partage fait désormais partie de notre quotidien : un Européen sur six a déjà utilisé une plateforme collaborative, et la France est l’État membre qui compte le pourcentage le plus élevé d’utilisateurs. Dans un rapport adopté ce 3 mai en commission du marché intérieur, les députés soulignent l’importance d’une stratégie européenne pour garantir le respect de la concurrence équitable et des droits du travail.

Source : © Union européenne, 2017 - PE

Last Saturday, on April 29th 2017, a Special European Council including the twenty-seven Member States met in Brussels to discuss the negotiation premises following the implementation of Article 50 TFEU by the United Kingdom on March 29th 2017.

Donald Tusk, as the President of the European Council, expressed himself on this special meeting and outlined the harmony between all Member States on the implementation of this exceptional procedure: “I want to underline the outstanding unity of all the 27 leaders on the guidelines for our negotiations with the UK. We now have unanimous support from all the 27 member states and the EU institutions, giving us a strong political mandate for these negotiations.” Michel Barnier, EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, explained that this unity between all Member States and the EU does not aim to become a common front against the UK but “it is also in its interest” to negotiate with the EU as a whole and “it would boost the chances of a deal”.

At this meeting, Member States leaders adopted guidelines which define the procedure to be followed with the United Kingdom and the EU‘s position on various areas to be dealt with during the negotiations to come. Indeed, the guidelines highlight objectives which will have to be preserved throughout the exit process such has “the interest of the European Union, those of its citizens, its business and its Member States”.

United in a common front, negotiations will be handle with “transparency and as a single package”. This means that negotiations will have to be conducted at a supranational level and as it was clearly expressed in the guidelines “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”. The European Union and its Member States want to give the impression that they are as ready as ever to engage negotiations and that they will not be compromising on the values and core principles upheld by the European Union.

As stated in the guidelines, the negotiations will be focused on several principles.

First and foremost, they will need to clarify the situation of the European citizens, which Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, underlined as “our priority number one”. The uncertainties of the Brexit made the fate of citizens a priority. As it was clarified later on by Donald Tusk, “we are talking about four and a half million people, Europeans residing in the UK, and Britons living on the continent”. All agreed on the fact that “we need real guarantees for our people to live, work and study in the UK, and the same goes for the Brits”.

The guidelines underlined a few other important matters such as the will for UK and the European Union to remain close partner and the integrity of the single market. Nonetheless, it was made crystal clear in the text that the UK will no longer be able to enjoy the same rights and benefits as it did as a Member State of the European Union.

Following this meeting, the negotiations will officially begin mid-June after the legislative elections in the UK take place. The guidelines might therefore evolve with regards to the evolution of the discussions and the political outcomes of the British as well as the French elections. Donald Tusk explained that, he and Members States leaders agree on the fact that, they “want to assure you that as soon as the UK offers real guarantees for our citizens, we will find a solution rapidly”.

   Alice Poidevin

Sources

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2017/04/29/

Guidelines adopted by the European Council on April 29th 2017 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/04/29-euco-brexit-guidelines/

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/29/eu-leaders-set-to-take-tough-stance-in-special-brexit-summi

Classé dans:Fact of the day

Général : « La démocratie s'arrête avec la fin de la liberté de la presse : l'histoire nous l'a déjà montré », explique le député démocrate-chrétien tchèque Jaromír Štětina à l’occasion de la journée mondiale de la liberté de la presse célébrée ce 3 mai. Ancien journaliste, Jaromír Štětina a perdu son emploi à la suite du Printemps de Prague en 1968. Voici son histoire.

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Le Danemark a publié mardi 2 mai une liste noire de six étrangers accusés de prêcher la haine qui sont donc interdits de territoire pour deux ans reconductibles. Il s'agit de 5 prédicateurs musulmans et un pasteur évangéliste islamophobe.  

A quelques jours du second tour de l'élection présidentielle française, retour en images sur la vision européenne des deux candidats.

Après le sommet européen de samedi qui a fixé les grands principes, la Commission européenne a adopté ce mercredi matin 3 mai les directives de la négociation du Brexit confiée à Michel Barnier, le négociateur en chef de la Commission européenne. La priorité est celle d’un arrangement sur le coût du Brexit, qui fait polémique à Londres, suite notamment à un article du Financial Times évoquant une facture réévaluée à 100 milliards d'euros...

L’UE devrait avoir pour objectif de récolter les bénéfices de l’économie "collaborative" tout en garantissant le respect d’une concurrence équitable, des droits du travail et des obligations fiscales.
Commission du marché intérieur et de la protection des consommateurs

Source : © Union européenne, 2017 - PE

Général : En cette journée mondiale de la liberté de la presse, le Parlement européen réaffirme son soutien à ce droit fondamental partout dans le monde et rend hommage à tous les journalistes décédés ou emprisonnés dans l’exercice de leur profession. À l’heure où près de la moitié des citoyens européens disent s’informer via les réseaux sociaux, découvrez nos conseils pour identifier et lutter contre les fausses informations en ligne.

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Les sociétés de sécurité privées doivent respecter des exigences minimales en matière de responsabilité, de contrôle du personnel et de dénonciation pour faute, tout en s’abstenant d’accomplir des tâches généralement réservées aux forces militaires ou policières, ont affirmé les députés mardi.
Sous-commission "sécurité et défense"
Commission des affaires étrangères

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Où sont passés les milliards d'euros injectés depuis deux ans par la Banque centrale européenne pour soutenir l'économie européenne ? Ils restent concentrés dans les cinq pays les plus riches de la zone euro. C'est ce que révèle une étude publiée par la BCE. L'une des raisons à cela : l'aversion au risque parmi des déposants.

Le négociateur en chef de l'UE pour le Brexit, Michel Barnier, a présenté mercredi 4 mai, les directives détaillées du camp européen pour mener à bien la première phase des négociations. Une annonce qui intervient alors que les tensions montent déjà entre Londres et Bruxelles.

Le renforcement de la coopération entre l'UE et l'OTAN pour lutter contre la traite des êtres humains en Méditerranée et renforcer les capacités de cyberdéfense a été salué par les députés de la commission des affaires étrangères et de la sous-commission "sécurité et défense", lors d'un débat avec le secrétaire-général de l'OTAN, Jens Stoltenberg, mercredi.
Sous-commission "sécurité et défense"
Commission des affaires étrangères

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In an increasingly digitalized world, democracy has to adapt to a new environment. In order to bridge the gap between citizens and governments, and to promote the citizens’ participation in the democratic process, EU member States have started exploring e-democracy tools to recover citizen trust.

The European Parliament has focused on this field at the request of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) Committee in order to find the best practices and e-democracy tools that could be implemented at the EU level.

Elisa Lironi, the Digital Democracy Manager at European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) answered our questions. ECAS’ missions are to empower citizens to exercise their rights, and to promote open and inclusive decision-making through the provision of high-quality advice, research and advocacy, as well as capacity building for civil society organisations. As the author of the study « Potential and challenges of e-participation in the European Union » she gave us her expert opinion on e-democracy.

Why do some countries across Europe have different approaches regarding e-democracy? 

Governments start implementing e-democracy mechanisms for different reasons and each case should be analyzed.

For example, in 2010 Iceland was recovering from a heavy financial crisis and as a result of deep crises in the legitimacy of its political and economic establishment, Iceland’s Parliament and Prime Minister (of the time) proposed a crowdsourcing experience to rewrite the Icelandic Constitution. So e-democracy was implemented as a way to regain trust of citizens in the Icelandic government.

Finland instead, is a very technologically advanced country, where hi-speed Internet access is a legal right so following this background, the government adopted the New Citizens Initiative Act and today there is an e-participation platform for this.

Do you think that cyberattacks are an obstacle for the evolution of e-democracy in some member States?

Yes sure because there are still many people who do not trust online services, tools because they are afraid, for example, that their data can be stolen or information can be held against them. Cyberattacks reinforce this sentiment and slows down the process of widespread e-participation.

What are the measures already in place about e-democracy at the EU level? 

On the institutional level, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) has a strong online component, so it can be considered an e-democracy tool at the EU level. Online EU public consultations are also part of these measures taken, but the questions are quite specific so there is mainly participation from experts in the field of the consultation and less from citizens.

As additional e-democracy measures at the EU level, we can include e-participation projects co-funded by the Commission and implemented by organizations (like ECAS), but these projects are usually short-term and rarely sustainable after the end of the project.

Some MEPs have also worked on their own initiatives by creating their own platforms to reach out to their constituents.

Do you think that the first concrete measures in this field must be taken at the national level or at the European level?

I think both. There are already a lot of e-democracy mechanisms being applied at local and national level and the EU level can definitely learn from these experiences. But the EU is also different so it should start experimenting with e-participation tools on its own to assess the potential and challenges of these tools.

Would the national measures be supported by the European Union or would their implementation depend on the Member States will?

I think national measures depend mostly on Member States’ will, although this does not exclude the fact that the EU could support them or be a role model by applying e-democracy mechanisms on its own.

Do you think that e-democracy would facilitate public consultations for citizens? Would it bridge the gap between the EU institutions and the people? Do you think that consultations would be binding?

Online public consultations are already a part of e-democracy. What should be the focus is how inclusive and representative these consultations are. A consultation is a way to consult and they don’t have to be binding but it is important to give feedback, to explain very clearly to participants how their contributions will be taken into consideration and what sort of impact will the consultation have on policy-making.  It is extremely important to meet the expectations of the participants.

Do you think it will allow a revival of the citizens’ interests in European policies? In your opinion, can we translate the ideal of e-democracy into useful tools for the EU?

You will always have people who are not interested or disengaged, but the point is to give the right tools to those who do want to participate. I think there is a strong potential for ICT (information and communications technologies) to contribute to a better democracy because e-participation tools could make democracy more efficient and widespread (you would just need the Internet and you could contribute to policy-making). Of course, online tools are always complementary to offline tools and shouldn’t replace them.

The EU should embrace these new online mechanisms to reach out to citizens and allow them to have a say in decision-making processes. Traditional politics, based on elections, is not enough for many people anymore. Many people (i.e. young people) are using technology to voice their opinions on specific issues they care about and prefer having more direct contact with their policy-makers.

The EU should do two things: first, exploit technology better in order to understand what citizens are voicing online and see how this can contribute to better EU policy-making and second, experiment much more with online e-participation platforms to allow citizens to have a say and impact on policy-making.

Margaux Etienne

Sabrina Terentjew

Pour en savoir plus: 

http://europeanmovement.eu/wpcontent/uploads/2016/12/EBD_16_PolicyPosition_EDemocracy_17_VIEW.pdf

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/556949/IPOL_STU(2016)556949_EN.pdf

Classé dans:E-democracy, Interviews, Uncategorized

Le 18 avril 2017, Theresa May a annoncé vouloir convoquer des élections législatives anticipées le 8 juin, afin d'obtenir une plus large majorité parlementaire avant d'entamer les négociations du Brexit avec l'Union européenne.

Le secrétaire général du Parti socialiste ouvrier espagnol sera élu le 21 mai. Sont en lice Pedro Sanchez, ex-secrétaire général du PSOE, Patxi Lopez, député aux Cortes Generales et Susana Diaz, présidente de la Junte d'Andalousie.

Les députés européens se retrouvent à Strasbourg pour voter des textes de loi du 15 au 18 mai.

Séance plénière : Un allégement de la dette grecque sera examiné lors de la prochaine réunion de l'Eurogroupe qui se tiendra le 22 mai, a annoncé son Président lors d'un débat au Parlement européen le 27 avril dernier. Jeroen Dijsselbloem a expliqué qu’il s’attendait à un accord sur le plan de sauvetage d’ici la fin du mois. Il s'est également excusé auprès des députés pour ses commentaires controversés sur les pays de l’Europe du sud.

Source : © Union européenne, 2017 - PE