European Union

General : The finalists competing for the 2015 LUX Film Prize have been announced: Mediterranea, Mustang and Urok (in English: The Lesson). The three films deal with current social issues such as immigration, position of women and girls, education and economic problems in society.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

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The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and a deepening of political co-operation. Ukraine is a priority partner country within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).

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If current trends continue, the world will have 9.7 billion inhabitants in 2050, but population growth will be unevenly distributed. The 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development was a milestone that focused on the well-being of individuals, rather than numerical targets. There has been progress promoting human rights, education, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights, but rapid urbanisation and climate change represent new challenges. The international community has recognised the need to promote regular, safe and orderly international migration to harness the potential benefits of migration. Contrary to widespread views, emigration rates rise with economic development until countries reach an upper middle income status. The role migration plays in spurring development should be more widely recognised. Human mobility will be integrated in the post-2015 development agenda, and the Sustainable Development Goals will include migrationrelated targets. The EU is addressing the migration-development nexus in its Global Approach to Migration and Mobility, which is implemented through policy dialogues and cooperation projects in third countries. The European Parliament has insisted that the rights of migrants – particularly women – be part of the post-2015 agenda.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Thursday 27 August 2015
Justus Lipsius building - Brussels

from 12.30    Arrival of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko
                        Welcome by the President of the European Council Donald Tusk
                        (VIP entrance, level 02 - photo/TV opportunity)

+/- 14.00        Press statement (VIP entrance, level 02)

On 16 July 2015, the Lower House of Japan’s Diet (the House of Representatives) approved a controversial package significantly reducing barriers to the deployment of Japanese defence forces overseas. This is the most significant change to have been made to Japan’s security and defence policy since World War II. The reforms promoted by Prime Minister Abe represent a fundamental shift in Japan’s foreign and security policy since WWII. Abe’s reforms are the logical consequence of a process of revision started more than twenty years ago with the end of the Cold War and later fuelled by the need to contest and contain the rising of China as a regional and global power. These reforms, including the reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, have been undertaken in a context of constantly shifting regional balance in the Asia-Pacific region, where Japan has been increasingly threatened by both China and North Korea. This has prompted a significant upgrade in relations with the US and may pave the way for a new phase of Japanese foreign policy, but also has a negative impact on Japan’s already lukewarm relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Koreas.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

On 16 July 2015, the Lower House of Japan’s Diet (the House of Representatives) approved a controversial package significantly reducing barriers to the deployment of Japanese defence forces overseas. This is the most significant change to have been made to Japan’s security and defence policy since World War II. The reforms promoted by Prime Minister Abe represent a fundamental shift in Japan’s foreign and security policy since WWII. Abe’s reforms are the logical consequence of a process of revision started more than twenty years ago with the end of the Cold War and later fuelled by the need to contest and contain the rising of China as a regional and global power. These reforms, including the reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, have been undertaken in a context of constantly shifting regional balance in the Asia-Pacific region, where Japan has been increasingly threatened by both China and North Korea. This has prompted a significant upgrade in relations with the US and may pave the way for a new phase of Japanese foreign policy, but also has a negative impact on Japan’s already lukewarm relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Koreas.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

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Negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina to improve relations started on 8-9 March 2011. The European Union is the facilitator of this dialogue.

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Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Hill's new proposal on asset-backed securities is his first major piece of legislation

Having faced a flood of EU rules over the last six years intended to regulate “every corner” of the financial system, banks are in for something unusual next month when the European Commission will explicitly propose to dial back on one of the primary obligations they now face.

Jonathan Hill, the EU’s financial services chief, is set to propose a substantial reduction of capital requirements on banks’ holdings of securitised debt, in an effort to spur lending and growth. Similar plans are in the pipelines for insurers. We at Brussels Blog got our hands on the plans and have posted them here and here.

While his predecessor, France’s Michel Barnier, pledged during his mandate to tackle what he said were both structural and moral weaknesses in the financial system, Britain’s Hill has said that “today the biggest threat to financial stability is the lack of growth and jobs.”

The proposal on asset-backed securities (ABS) is the first major piece of legislation Hill has proposed since taking office in November. If approved by governments and the European Parliament, the new securitisation rules would amend one of Barnier’s signature legislative achievements: the EU’s new bank capital rulebook adopted in 2013.

But the change of approach from Barnier to Hill is not as neat (regulation-minded Frenchman to lax Anglo-Saxon) as it first appears. In his last year in office, Barnier had already steered the agenda towards how regulation can support long term financing of the economy, saying that the job of post-crisis re-regulation was largely complete. In addition, key parts of the current commission’s plans for a “capital markets union” draw on a Barnier-era policy paper.

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