European Union

Plenary sessions : Managing global migration flows, trade relations between the EU and Latin American countries, and between both regions and China, plus the setting-up of an EU-CELAC Common Research Area, will be key agenda items at the ninth plenary session of the Euro-Latin American parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat) next week in Montevideo (Uruguay).

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : Managing global migration flows, trade relations between the EU and Latin American countries, and between both regions and China, plus the setting-up of an EU-CELAC Common Research Area, will be key agenda items at the ninth plenary session of the Euro-Latin American parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat) next week in Montevideo (Uruguay).

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The debate on the state of the European Union with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker dominated the plenary session in Strasbourg taking place on 12-15 September. MEPs also exchanged views with Tibetan leader Dalai Lama and supported the Commission’s decision to order Ireland to recover €13 billion in illegal tax benefits from Apple.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The debate on the state of the European Union with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker dominated the plenary session in Strasbourg taking place on 12-15 September. MEPs also exchanged views with Tibetan leader Dalai Lama and supported the Commission’s decision to order Ireland to recover €13 billion in illegal tax benefits from Apple.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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Chaos. That’s the word to watch at today’s summit of European leaders in Bratislava. It is just one rhetorical flourish in the draft post-summit media statement, a promise that Europe will avoid the migration “chaos” of last year. But the dispute over it offers a glimpse into the dynamics of that summit room, and Angela Merkel’s considerable but waning clout in this EU club.

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AMENDMENTS 1 - 307 - Draft report on the European Defence Union
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply and repealing Regulation (EU) No 994/2010
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

What links the US, China, Canada and Japan? No, it isn’t their membership of the G20, it’s their inclusion in an EU document that is in no way, shape, or form a draft of the EU’s new tax havens blacklist.

On Wednesday, the Commission published a “scoreboard” looking at aspects of non-EU countries’ tax systems. It makes for interesting reading:

The idea is that the information can help governments whittle down which countries might be included in a blacklist of “non-cooperative jurisdictions” that the EU is planning to draw up next year.

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General : Journalist Can Dündar and fellow defenders of freedom of thought and expression in Turkey, the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev, the Yazidi survivors and public advocates Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar as well as Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti are this year's nominees for the Sakharov Prize. The Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize every year to honour exceptional individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. The laureate is selected in late October.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Journalist Can Dündar and fellow defenders of freedom of thought and expression in Turkey, the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev, the Yazidi survivors and public advocates Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar as well as Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti are this year's nominees for the Sakharov Prize. The Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize every year to honour exceptional individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. The laureate is selected in late October.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Klyuyev v Council
External relations
The General Court of the EU confirms the freezing of funds of three Ukrainians, one being Viktor Yanukovych, former President of Ukraine, for the period from 6 March 2015 until 6 March 2016

We haven't come to Bratislava to comfort each other. Or even worse, to deny the real challenges we face. In this particular moment in the history of our community, after the vote in the UK, the only thing that makes sense is to have a sober and brutally honest assessment of the situation.

What we need today is an optimistic scenario for the future, no doubts. But it requires a realistic diagnosis of the causes of Brexit, and its political consequences for all Europe. One thing must be absolutely clear here in Bratislava: that we can't start our discussions tomorrow with this kind of blissful conviction that nothing is wrong, that everything was and is okay.

I am absolutely sure that we have to assure, here in Bratislava and also after our meeting, our citizens that we have learned the lessons from Brexit, and that we are able to bring back stability and a sense of security and effective protection. I hope that the so-called "Bratislava Roadmap" I will present tomorrow will be a first step in this direction.

It is true that Europe has recently been shaken by all kinds of crises but as the same time it is my feeling that the best motto for the Bratislava meeting is that we must not let these crises go to waste.

After my consultations with the leaders, as you may know I have talked to all of them in the last two weeks, I am absolutely sure that no-one thinks otherwise.

Written by Suzana Elena Anghel,

koya979 / Shutterstock.com

At three recent European Councils (December 2012, December 2013 and June 2015), the Heads of State or government have called for a deepening of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) namely by strengthening its crisis management dimension and further developing civilian and military capabilities. The June 2016 European Council reverted to security and defence policy with particular attention to the strengthening of the relationship with NATO, including on the development of complementary and interoperable defence capabilities.

But what are the achievements? Is there a way of measuring progress made over the past years? Is there a gap between intentions/declarations and deeds? What are the challenges and how to address them?

The European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) will address these questions at a roundtable discussion on ‘The European Council and CSDP: success or failure?’ on 27 September 2016, 13h30-15h00, in the European Parliament’s Library main reading room in Brussels. Participants at this roundtable debate are: Elmar Brok MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, General Jean-Paul Perruche, Former Director-General of the European Union Military Staff, Professor Alexander Mattelaer, Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), and Elena Lazarou, Policy Analyst, EPRS.

Registration
If you do not have an access badge to the European Parliament and are interested in attending the event, it is essential to register by Friday 23 September, using this link.

At the event the EPRS study on ‘The European Council and CSDP: Orientation and Implementation in the field of Crisis Management’ will be presented and discussed. This study assesses the planning, command and control of civilian and military CSDP missions and operations, progress made in developing civilian and military capabilities, particularly rapid response capabilities in the form of the EU Battlegroups, as well as challenges encountered during the force generation process, areas in which the European Council repeatedly called for further progress to be made.

 

Filed under: BLOG, Events, Policy Cycle Tagged: Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), CSDP, EPRS Events, European Council, events, security and defence, Study, Suzana Elena Anghel Gavrilescu

https://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/Untitled_thumb_169_1473695583_1473695583_129_97shar_c1.jpg

The heads of state or government of the 27 member states meet on 16 September 2016 in Bratislava to continue their reflection on how to give impetus to further reform and to the development of an EU with 27 member states. The meeting includes two working sessions and an informal lunch.

Download this video here.

Plenary sessions : EU countries must honour their pledges to accept refugees relocated from Greece and Italy, to relieve migratory pressure on these two “frontline” countries, and at the same time discourage irregular entries by opening up legal and safe routes to the EU, MEPs said on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU countries must honour their pledges to accept refugees relocated from Greece and Italy, to relieve migratory pressure on these two “frontline” countries, and at the same time discourage irregular entries by opening up legal and safe routes to the EU, MEPs said on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : As wildlife trafficking is now the fourth largest black market and endangers many species, the EU should help curb demand, inter alia with an EU-wide ban on trade in ivory, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. This sets out MEPs’ priorities for the 17th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, Johannesburg, 24 September–5 October), which the EU will attend for the first time as a party to the convention.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : As wildlife trafficking is now the fourth largest black market and endangers many species, the EU should help curb demand, inter alia with an EU-wide ban on trade in ivory, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. This sets out MEPs’ priorities for the 17th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, Johannesburg, 24 September–5 October), which the EU will attend for the first time as a party to the convention.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The European Parliament endorsed the candidature of Sir Julian King as Commissioner for the Security Union. He was nominated by the UK government after Lord Jonathan Hill resigned in the wake of the Brexit vote in June.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP