Feed aggregator

Place: European Convention Centre Luxembourg (ECCL)
Chair: Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

All times are approximate and subject to change

from 08.00
Arrivals (live streaming)

+/- 09.20
Doorstep by High Representative Mogherini

+/- 09.30
Beginning of Foreign Affairs Council meeting (roundtable)
Adoption of the agenda
Adoption of A Items 

+/- 09.35
The Arctic
The Sahel
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia  

+/- 13.00
Working lunch on Middle East Peace Process 

+/- 15.00
Visa liberalisation in the context of EU-Georgia relations
AOB

+/- 16:30
Press conference (live streaming)

In the margins of the meeting - EU/Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Council

17.30
Beginning of the meeting (roundtable)

(tbc) 19.30
Press conference (live streaming)

 

It’s a cliché, but time really does fly when you’re having fun. I arrived in Brussels last September, one of nine hopeful (and nervous) undergraduates embarking on a ten-month internship at FleishmanHillard. It’s been a year full of new experiences, big and small – everything from attending COP21 in Paris to getting lost (a little too often) in the corridors of the European Parliament. I’ve worked with some great people and learnt a lot about EU policy, public affairs and what it‘s like to live and work in the heart of the European project, Brussels.

My fellow interns and I are almost at the end of our time in Brussels, but for anyone considering doing a similar internship, here are five insights into the “Brussels Bubble” and EU public affairs to help you on your way.

1. Don’t be shy – Break into the Brussels Bubble. Brussels is a small place and the EU quarter where decisions take place is miniscule. In fact, within the EU sphere everyone knows pretty much everyone. I once heard someone compare the city’s EU quarter to a university campus, which is not far from the truth. To make the most of your time here, both professionally and socially, networking is key. Whether it’s at a work event or over Thursday drinks at ‘Plux’ (Place du Luxembourg), don’t forget your business cards, push past the awkwardness of introducing yourself to a total stranger, and get talking about that latest POLITICO article or whatever is going on in the Bubble at the moment.
2. To tweet or not to tweet? The answer is easy – tweet. Social media like Twitter and LinkedIn are big in Brussels and can be very helpful, especially if you work in communications. They are good sources of information and an easy way to connect with people. So, create a Twitter account and update your LinkedIn profile now because you’re going to need it. Also, think about how you want to present yourself – do you want to keep it personal or profile yourself professionally? Many EU public affairs professionals use their social media platforms to discuss their chosen policy area. Whether or not you do the same, it’s always good to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your digital presence.
3. Stick your neck out. There’s a lot of room for initiative and creativity in EU public affairs. Don’t be afraid to find your niche and voice your ideas. Public affairs professionals in Brussels are an open and dynamic bunch, ready to embrace new ideas (even from newbie interns). Take this opportunity to get the most out of your internship and learn about your strengths and weaknesses in the work place.
4. Embrace your inner nerd. Working in Brussels is a great opportunity to get bogged down in a particular policy area (energy, financial services, food and health etc.) or the intricacies of European politics. It’s a city full of knowledgeable people, so don’t be afraid to ask questions and develop your particular area of interest (even if your friends may tire of hearing you drone on about the Energy Union, the Juncker Plan or the intricacies of the European Parliamentary groups…).
5. Learn by doing. Having studied European politics at university was a great help for me when I started my internship. However, you quickly realise that many of the ins and outs of EU politics are best understood by experiencing them first-hand as well. If you’re an EU geek like me, who loves the academic side of EU studies, an internship is a great way to get practical knowledge to complement your education. Brussels life puts everything you’ve theorised about into perspective. For example, there is nothing like following a legislative dossier for months through the different institutions to really appreciate the dynamics of how the European Commission, Parliament and Council interact with each other. Working in public affairs in particular is a unique experience, in that it gives you a birds-eye view of EU policymaking while allowing you to take an active part in the process yourself. So, make the most of this opportunity and learn by doing!

By: Louise Olander

 

Az európai szocialisták elnöksége számára a vallásszabadság vagy a plurális társadalomba vetett hit alapvető érték. A szocialisták azt várják Fico miniszterelnöktől, hogy megvilágítja és átértékeli az üggyel kapcsolatos álláspontját.

On 16 June, the European Parliament subcommittee on security and defence (SEDE) held an exchange of views on the EU-NATO capability development cooperation with Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, and General Denis Mercier, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. The NATO-EU Capability Group was established in May 2003 to address common capability shortfalls and to ensure the coherence and mutual reinforcement of NATO and EU capability development efforts.

Jorge Domecq highlighted in his speech the partnership between the EU and NATO, “Twenty two EU Members are Allies. We need to ensure that the differences in membership do not become more significant than the similarities. There is a need to continue our close dialogue to ensure complementarity of work. Due to our single set of forces, we cannot afford unnecessary duplication – especially in the field of programmes.” Mr Domecq furthermore stressed the significant strategic overlap between the two organisations, especially regarding crisis management, conflict prevention and peacekeeping. However, while complementarity was important, the EU needed sufficient freedom of action in defence. “That is why EU Member States should support initiatives in EDA to support the development of capabilities to face the whole spectrum of challenges we face in the changing security environment, including the protection of EU citizens.”  

General Mercier stressed in his intervention that cooperation between NATO and the EU was "no longer a question of choice, but a question of will", and continued, "I believe we have no other choice but to leverage the competencies of each organisation and make the most of limited resources." Regarding cooperation with the EDA, General Mercier noted that closer collaboration could bring tangible proposals: "I can assure you that ACT and EDA have already started working together and intend to deliver practical areas of cooperation in the coming months." General Mercier concluded his intervention considering "The collaboration of our two entities could also help synchronise national innovation efforts, including those developed in the United States, in order to keep the highest level of interoperability in the future."

 

More information:

• SEDE website
• EDA CE Intervention to SEDE - 16 June 2016

Le président de l’Assemblée nationale ivoirienne revient sur sa possible marginalisation par le président Ouattara, le mandat d’amener français et ses ambitions politiques.

Médecins sans frontières a décidé de se passer de plus de 62 millions d’euros qui provenaient des institutions et des pays européens.

La Cour de Justice de l’Union européenne vient de rappeler que la « directive retour », qualifiée au moment de son adoption de « directive de la honte », s’oppose à ce qu’un ressortissant d’un pays non UE puisse, avant d’être soumis à la procédure de retour, être mis en prison au seul motif de son entrée irrégulière sur le territoire d’un Etat membre via une frontière intérieure de l’espace Schengen. Il en va ainsi également lorsque ce ressortissant, qui se trouve en simple transit (cas de Selima Affum, objet de l’arrêt)  sur le territoire de l’Etat membre concerné, se fait intercepter lors de sa sortie de l’Espace Schengen et qu’il fait l’objet d’une procédure de réadmission vers l’Etat membre d’où il vient.

En effet il ne faut pas perdre de vue que la directive sur le retour des ressortissants des pays tiers en pays tiers en séjour irrégulier établit des normes et procédures applicables dans les Etats membres pour l’éloignement de leur territoire de ressortissants de pays non UE en séjour irrégulier. La directive prévoit qu’une décision de retour doit être adoptée à l’égard de tout ressortissant d’un pays non UE en séjour irrégulier. Cette décision ouvre, en principe, une période de retour volontaire suivie, si nécessaire, de mesures d’éloignement forcé ». En cas de défaut de départ volontaire, la directive impose aux Etats membres de procéder à l’éloignement forcé en employant les mesures les moins coercitives possible. Ce n’est que si l’éloignement risque d’être compromis que l’Etat membre peut procéder à la rétention de la personne concernée, rétention dont la durée ne peut dépasser en aucun cas 18 mois . Or la directive étant applicable à Selima Affum, celle-ci ne pouvait pas être mise en prison au seul motif de son entrée irrégulière sur le territoire français avant d’avoir été soumise à la procédure de retour. Or les autorités française souligne la Cour n’avaient même pas initié cette procédure.

Une peine de prison ne peut être prévue que si le migrant commet d’autres délits que ceux tenant à la seule circonstance d’une entrée irrégulière. La France va donc devoir modifier sa législation qui prévoit aujourd’hui qu’un migrant peut être puni d’une peine d’emprisonnement d’un an s’il entre irrégulièrement sur le territoire français.

La Directive retour au moment de son adoption avait été qualifiée de Directive de la honte, eulogos avait alors écrit qu’il lui semblé que cette directive était surtout un directive pour des juristes très avertis, tant le texte paraissait complexe. Au bout du compte cette directive protège, nous venons de le voir et permet de s’opposer aux Etats membres quand ils s’éloignent des dispositions de la Directive. Ce n’est pas la première fois, déjà la Cour de Justice a rendu un arrêt selon lequel on ne pouvait mettre en prison un migrant du seul fait qu’il était sans papiers. (Cf.infra, « pour en savoir plus ») .

Pour en savoir plus : principales sources de l’information

• Communiqué de presse de la Cour de Justice de l’UE

(FR)http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2016-06/cp160058fr.pdf

(EN) http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2016-06/cp160058en.pdf

• Arrêt de la Cour

(EN) http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d0f130d5de6e927edad545919c12ce352a7088b7.e34KaxiLc3eQc40LaxqMbN4OchyTe0?text=&docid=179662&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=497500

(FR) http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d0f130d5de6e927edad545919c12ce352a7088b7.e34KaxiLc3eQc40LaxqMbN4OchyTe0?text=&docid=179662&pageIndex=0&doclang=FR&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=497500

• Conclusions de l’avocat général

(EN) http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d0f130d5de6e927edad545919c12ce352a7088b7.e34KaxiLc3eQc40LaxqMbN4OchyTe0?text=&docid=174070&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=497500

(FR) http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d0f130d5de6e927edad545919c12ce352a7088b7.e34KaxiLc3eQc40LaxqMbN4OchyTe0?text=&docid=174070&pageIndex=0&doclang=FR&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=497500

• Dossier des articles Eulogos consacrés à la Directive Retour

http://www.eu-logos.org/eu-logos_nea-say.php?idr=4&idnl=3855&nea=174&lang=fra&arch=0&term=0

• Texte de la Directive Retour

(EN) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=URISERV:jl0014&from=FR

(FR) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/HTML/?uri=URISERV:jl0014&from=FR

Classé dans:Conditions d'accueil des migrants et réfugiés, Droit à la liberté et à la sûreté, DROITS FONDAMENTAUX, Liberté de circulation des personnes, MIGRATIONS ET ASILE, Présomption d'innocence et droits de la défense

Westminster is in mourning. Campaigning is on hold. The grief over the murder of Jo Cox MP is raw and palpable. The implications for Britain at this historic juncture are hard to predict. Six days out from the referendum, in the midst of an angry and shrill campaign, politics has suddenly taken a different hue. This was a dark moment for democracy in Britain and an unbearable tragedy for one young family. Start your reading with Alex Massie of the Spectator on a day of infamy.

Read more

Rolandnak hívják és 28 éves az a magyar állampolgár, aki tegnapelőtt betört egy pozsonypüspöki családi házba, bekajált a spájzban és a frigóban talált élelmiszerekből, aztán irány a toalett, zuhany, majd tiszta ruhát öltött a háziak gardróbjából és leült notebookozni. Csak az egyik kora délután hazaérkező lakó felszólítására távozott. A rendőrök csípték fülön. Meglehet, 1-től 5 évig terjedő vendégségre ítélik...

By Steve Paterno

In theory, the war in South Sudan ended with the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity. However, the recent deadly skirmishes, particularly in the towns of Kajo-Keji and Raja, will make one think otherwise.

There are several compounding reasons for such sad events, which often result into lost of lives, destruction of properties, and destabilization of the country.

First, Dr. Riek Machar, a militia leader, currently First Vice President, after committing mass murder, hyped his rebellion of two years old by over promising his supporters with most upper positions in government, since he believes he would be automatically the president through his tribal magician prediction of twentieth century.

Unfortunately, amidst the hype, he is being glorified by the international community, praised by his tribal loyalty, and overly misunderstood by the opportunists.

So, when the South Sudanese Compromised peace was signed, the reality began to show. The tribal rebellion of militant Dr. Riek Machar that was centred and was so confined and was on a verge of defeat in the so-called Greater Upper Nile is now popping up in Greater Bahr-el-Ghazel and Greater Equatoria.

Machar never fulfil the pledge he made to his opportunistic supporters. He is accused of being not just tribalistic, but practicing nepotism into the core; in a country that needs unity so much at the moment. In simple words, his opportunistic supporters are saying: he is running the militia outfit as a family affair. His Ex-wife, Angelina Teny, is the top adviser. The one called Gen. Taban Deng Gai, who is Angelina's cousin is top political leader, and he is the overall boss. It must be noted that the trio grew up in the same household of Angelina's father, who was a teacher and undertook Machar under his armed when Machar came from the village for studies.

Since, then, Machar has subjected the people of Nassar and the whole Nuer tribe for senseless war for his ascendancy to power. There is now ongoing serious talks among Nuer intellectuals who recognize the sovereignty of South Sudan to stop Machar antagonism and sense of betrayal.

Another issue that is needed to be underlined is that since Machar declared cantonment of his troops in Greater Bahr-el-Ghazel and Greater Equatoria, the sleeper cells ignited in these regions, but unfortunately for them, they have no positions or they actually lost the positions which Machar once promised them. Now they are continuing with the war, while peace is given a chance.

It is now the responsibility of the government to deal with such outlaw groups, for Machar to contain them, and then for the so proposed hybrid court to note their atrocities; under whose command they are operating, and take actions or there will never be justice and accountability or peace in the country.

South Sudan stability is within grasp of its people, but it is time to identify the spoilers, especially those with long track record and stem them out. And the South Sudanese people, with their determination will fulfil such a long-lived dream of freedom, equality and prosperity.

June 16, 2016 (KHARTOUM)- The Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir Thursday arrived in unannounced visit to Doha where he held talks on bilateral relations with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani .

Al-Bashir is accompanied in his two-day visit to Doha with a high-level delegation including the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance.

Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told the official news agency SUNA that al-Bashir and Tamim discussed the bilateral relations and regional issues, especially in the Arab region.

Ghandour further said the Sudanese ministers held bilateral meetings with their Qatari counterparts, where they tackled ways to improve bilateral relations.

Head of the Information Department at the Sudanese Presidency Obai Izz-al-Din said the visit of President al-Bashir to Doha during the month of Ramadan reflects the deeply-rooted ties between the two countries.

The visit is also recognition to the continuous Qatari efforts to support the peace process in Sudan, he added.

Qatar supported the peace process to end Darfur conflict and facilitated the two-year process with the armed groups that ended by the signing of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) with the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) in July 2011, and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)-Dabajo in April 2013.

Doha which chairs the International Follow-up Committee for DDPD Implementation continue to facilitate talks with the holdout groups and seeks to bring them to join the framework document.

However, Khartoum still seeks Doha financial support to its economy and hopes to see more Qatari investments in the east African country.

The spokesperson of the Sudanese presidency said the talks will review joint coordination on regional issues, peace process and the development in Sudan.

The Qatari Ambassador to Khartoum Rashid al-Nuaimi said the visit comes in the context of the distinguished relations between Sudan and Qatar.

Al-Nuaimi has referred to the Qatari efforts to support peace in Darfur through the committee of follow-up the implementation of the Doha Peace Document besides the efforts to persuade the non-signatory movements to join the peace process.

Al-Nuaimi has described the Sudanese-Qatari relations as distinguished and witnessing big progress in terms of bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, cultural, and humanitarian fields.

On his part, the Sudanese Ambassador to Qatar, Yasir khidir, said the Sudanese-Qatari relations will discuss pushing these ties ahead, promoting the joint cooperation and coordination on all regional and international arenas.

The talks reviewed the significant Qatari investments in Sudan in areas of agriculture, mining and infrastructure, Khidir said, adding that the parties will also review the signed agreements and Qatari investments in Sudan.

Last April, Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid met in Doha with Qatari investors and called to invest in agriculture, mining, oil and tourism sectors.

Also Qatar in the past pledged to invest up to $2 billion in Sudan, including purchase of government bonds issued by the African nation. But it only received one billion.

The Qatari investments in Sudan worth 1.7 billion dollars and include, real estates, agriculture and the banking.

(ST)

Im Zuge des Flüchtlingsdeals zwischen der Europäischen Union und der Türkei hat das griechische Parlament am Donnerstag einer schnelleren Abschiebung von Migranten in das Nachbarland den Weg gebahnt.

A Magyar Közös Képviselők Egyesülete (MAKKE) arra kéri a közös képviselőket, számvizsgáló bizottsági tagokat, tulajdonosokat, hogy tűzzék ki a magyar zászlót a társasházakra a foci-Eb ideje alatt. Akadnak házak, ahol még mindig megvannak a szociban a május 1-i zászlódíszhez felszerelt zászlórúdtartó rozsdás fémcsődarabok is...

With last than a week to go until the EU referendum, the campaigns on both sides are now in overdrive. Since late January, we have been following the social media campaigns, particularly on Twitter, to understand better the messages that different groups are making, the way in which they frame and the extent to which their followers have been picking these up. In this post, we want to bring together our weekly analyses, to give the bigger picture. With almost 28,000 tweets from ten different groups, we have been able to draw a number of basic conclusions.

Leave dominate online

Throughout this campaign, Leave groups have been both more visible and more popular than their Remain opponents. In terms of followers, this is true whether we look at the two lead groups – Vote Leave and Stronger In – or the Conservative and Labour pairs, or indeed the camps as a whole. The reasons have been rehearsed in our earlier posts, but reflect the much longer establishment of eurosceptics online, plus the more visceral nature of their campaigning. Indicative of this is the dominance of Leave.EU, which even without securing the official designation, has maintained a clear lead over any other group, with 1.5 times as many Twitter followers as all the Remain groups in our sample. The pattern is also found on Facebook.

If we consider volumes of output, then the disparity is smaller, although in only two weeks in our sample period have the Remain camp tweeted more than Leave. While the last two weeks have seen a massive increase in tweeting by the two official groups, this has still seen Leave produce more content.

 

The campaign has not obviously caught the public’s attention

For several months now, we have been awaiting the break-through moment of this campaign, when the man or woman on the street really gets into the debate. This would be reflected in a number of markers, including increased numbers of followers and improved rates of retweeting groups’ content. However, this has not happened so far. While Twitter follower growth has strengthened in recent weeks, it has not approached the rates seen around the time of Cameron’s European Council deal. This suggests that the majority of those who are deeply engaged with the issue have been so for a long time and the it remains a marginal issue for the large majority of voters. Clearly, this has implications for turnout, which looks set to be a key consideration in the outcome of the referendum.

Likewise, when we consider our standardised measure for audience engagement – the average number of retweets per tweet per follower – then there is no clear movement either for groups as a whole or for individual groups. If there has been any pattern then it is that the more focused groups have a generally better rate of engagement than the broader ones. Of course, this measure masks the generally larger effect of engagement by Leave, driven by the much larger follower base.

Looking at the engagement measure over time, if we compare the period before the official campaign began in mid-April with that since, then we see that rates for different type of framing generally are lower, with the partial exception of negative arguments, although this is not a significant difference.

 

Campaigns have become less positive over time

A long-standing discussion on this blog has concerned whether negative campaigning is as successful as it has been suggested for other elections. We discuss this below, but a more general observation is that both sides have become more negative in their framing over time. This has also been true of the three main groups: Stronger In , Vote Leave and Leave.EU.

As we noted last week, the advent of the TV debates has contributed to this very substantially, given the scope for immediate critiquing of opponents, but the trend long predates these events. Our analysis does not yet offer up a convincing explanation for why this occurs, but it will one of the avenues that we will explore in more depth in the coming months. One possibility is that there has been a shift from generic arguments to more specific reaction to events, which produces a similar type of effect to that found with the TV debates.

This shift has also resulted in a clear growth in the use of negative comments about other groups. All of the big three have seen this, again with the TV debates providing rich pickings.

Negative campaigning might work

If there has been a growth in negative framing, then it has not been an unambiguous benefit to groups. Taking our sample as a whole, we do not find that negative framings clearly out-perform positive ones on our engagement measure. Positive arguments and negative comments about other groups are neck and neck, while negative arguments and positive mentions of one’s own group trail a bit behind. Even when we break this up by weeks, there is still not a clear pattern: of particular note would be the last fortnight, which contained the TV debates, but does not show any improvement for negative frames.

The campaigns have been (mostly) consistent in their approach to twitter

Our analysis shows that there has been some notable consistency in the way the groups have used twitter throughout the course of the campaign. This is demonstrated in the 7 days snapshots of tweets for key time periods during the campaign, shown below.

In terms of issues, Leave EU’s message has been dominated by tweets about: 1) politics; 2) criticism of the EU; and 3) business, trade and the economy. We also see a drop off in the number of tweets related to their own campaign after the announcement of the designated groups on the 15th April.

Stronger In’s twitter campaign has been built primarily around business, trade and the economy, with spikes in other issues at certain times. For example, at the beginning of June there is a significant jump in the number of tweets related to domestic issues. Overall, the campaign has builts its message around a core message on business and the economy and the actions of the other campaign.

Vote Leave has conducted a very different social media campaign to Stronger In. It has used twitter to promote its own campaign efforts, rather than engaging the opposing campaign, or to focus on specific issues. Rather, the campaign has focused consistently on a range of issues – politics; domestic issues; immigration; business, trade and the economy; security – but none of these have come to dominate the campaign’s message on twitter. This is a contrast to Stronger In’s predominate focus on business, trade and the economy over other issues.

For this most recent week we have seen a jump in tweets about the opposing campaign from both the designated campaign groups. With Stronger In dedicating almost 30% of their tweets to the leave campaign, and Vote Leave just over 20%. This is in part, likely to reflect the nature of the TV debates in the last week, which formed a significant proportion of the tweets from the campaigns this week and accounts, in part, for the significant increase in the number of tweets generated (see discussion above). In contrast, the number of tweets dedicated to the other campaigns by Leave EU has been significantly lower, at around 2.5%.

 

The post What the EU referendum campaigns say on social media appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Nemrég üzemelte be Hargita Megye Tanácsa azt a honlapot, amely a Hargita megyei közintézmények direkt közbeszerzéseiről tájékoztatja a cégeket. Mivel sok vállalkozónak nincs ideje az országos elektronikus közbeszerzési rendszert böngészni, a megyei tanács által beindított oldal nagy segítséget jelent számukra. A megyei tanács által indított honlapon arra is lehetőség van, hogy azok, akik regisztrálnak, automatikusan értesítést kapjanak e-mailben minden újan közzétett közbeszerzésről. A weboldal a következő link alatt érhető el, cumpararidirecte.investinhargita.ro.

...sie fischen eifrig im Teich dieser Bevölkerungsgruppe. Die Rede ist von den Vertretern der Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), die - wie zuletzt im Fall Gauland zu sehen - von einem Fettnäpfchen ins andere stolpern.

Durant des décennies, des familles au désespoir de trouver un lieu adapté à la maladie mentale de leurs proches les ont envoyés « en détention » dans un mausolée, près de Marrakech.

Mindszenty József hercegprímás szobrát avatják fel vasárnap délelőtt Dél-Komáromban – adta hírül a Kemma.hu.