European Union

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EU Ministers of Foreign and European Affairs meet in Brussels on 27 April 2017 to discuss the consequences of the triggering of Article 50 by the UK.

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Place:        European Convention Center Luxembourg
Chair:        Louis Grech, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Affairs of Malta

All times are approximate and subject to change

from 09.30
Arrivals (live streaming)

+/- 09.55
Doorstep by Deputy Prime Minister Grech

+/- 11.00
Beginning of Council meeting (roundtable)
Draft guidelines following the United Kingdom's notification under Article 50 TEU

+/- 13.00
Press conference (live streaming)

will take place on Wednesday 3 May, 15:00-18:30 and Thursday 4 May 2017, 9.00-12:00 in Brussels.

Organisations or interest groups who wish to apply for access to the European Parliament will find the relevant information below.

Further information
watch the meeting live
Access rights for interest group representatives
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

It is with more of a whimper than a bang that the first week of campaigning in the 2017 General Election begins. On the one side, a Prime Minister who feels herself to be in such a position of strength that she doesn’t need to explain herself or her plans. On the other, the other parties hurriedly trying to get their acts together, while smiling brightly and talking up their (meagre) chances.

At the heart of this is Brexit: the decision to call the vote most makes sense in the context of Theresa May having now submitted formal notification under Article 50 to withdraw and the opportunity to simultaneously strengthen her position in the Commons and run the entire Brexit process under a single administration.

Much of the discussion so far in the campaign has therefore been about the differing visions for that process, albeit in very different ways.

May is presenting Brexit as a fait accompli, in which the only question is who is best placed to provide ‘strong and stable leadership’ to see it through. There has not been, and will not be, any unpacking of specific negotiation points or preferences beyond the vagueness of the White Paper.

The Liberal Democrats are doubling-down on their profile as the party of the 48%, albeit now with a shift from opposing Brexit completely to opposing a hard Brexit. Buoyed by their by-election successes since last June, they see this as a viable political base on which to rebuild after the disaster of 2015.

For the SNP, Brexit and the General Election is an opportunity to nail down the message that May (and Westminster more generally) doesn’t care about Scotland, to help reinforce the momentum for a second independence referendum.

Which leaves Labour, riven and confused. Even as Keir Starmer presented his party’s more developed plans for Brexit on Tuesday, gaping holes were being picked in it from all sides, quite apart from it being different again from the various ideas that have been floated before. Most damningly, the policy looks like one that would have made much more sense to be used prior to the Parliamentary votes in March, where Labour appeared to cede the floor to the government in running negotiations.

Seen in the round, two observations are most striking.

The first is that there has been very little discussion about how Brexit fits into a bigger picture of the future of the country. Important as it is, leaving the EU is not the be-all and end-all of British politics, and it can be given shape and direction if there is broader conceptualisation of which kind of role in the world is foreseen and aimed for.

The second is that there has also been scant debate about the detail of what Brexit might entail.

The generous interpretation of this is that everyone has recognised that Article 50 is not a process in which the UK gets to have much of a say. Instead it will be the choices made by the EU27 and the European Parliament about what to offer that really matter. As David Allen Green is helpfully illustrating, the EU institutions have taken a very consistent and clear line since the day after the referendum on how things will proceed, driven by the legal requirements of Article 50 and the common interests of the remaining member states. Thus it makes little sense for parties to commit themselves to substantive positions that might have to be overturned as negotiations develop.

The slightly-less generous interpretation is that even if this power imbalance is noted, then the best response is to try to frame one’s statements so that it looks like the EU is coming around to one’s position, when it is actually the reverse. At times, Theresa May has looked close to this, as with her decisions to avoid an unwinnable clash over separating freedom of movement of people from the rest of the single market, or to accept that the Court of Justice will have to play a role in overseeing any final agreement. Indeed, there is no example of May to date advancing a position that the EU has subsequently moved towards.

If this seems a rather pessimistic take on matters, then it is as much a commentary on the long-run failure of British policy towards European integration. The fundamental problem has been that there has – almost without exception – been only one frame within which European-level decisions have been taken, namely that of domestic politics. This General Election is a case in point: the government will gain no material advantage in negotiations as a result, and has indeed further tried the patience of interlocutors as another delay in substantive negotiations is introduced.

However, things are as they are, so how best to proceed?

One area that remains particularly neglected to date has been the dynamic nature of the future relationship with the EU. While much attention has – rightly – been given to day-one issues, such as the rights of EU nationals in the UK or the potential introduction of border and customs controls, almost none has been devoted to all the days that follow.

The EU nationals issues provides a good illustration. These individuals fall into three categories. The first are those currently in the UK: do they retain their current rights and assess to public services? This has been the predominant question that politicians have discussed and not reached a conclusion on, even as they all claim that it deserves immediate resolution. But there are those individuals who currently reside in the UK, who might leave – for shorter or longer periods – and then return: do they retain the same position as those who remain, or is there some reset cut-off? And, most significantly, what about those EU nationals who are not currently in the UK, but who might want to move in future?

So too with market regulation. While the Great Repeal Bill makes much of incorporating the acquis into British law, so that there is no regulatory gap, this will only last as long as it takes the EU to produce a new piece of regulation, which it does on a daily basis.

Among the many flaws in the British debate has been this conceptualisation of Brexit as an event; a day on which we leave and that’s it, done and dusted, when ‘Europe’ will disappear as an issue and a problem.

Instead, it will be a long and drawn-out process. Yes, there will be a day when the UK ceases to be a member, but everything points towards an extended period of working towards a new stable relationship. Divorce is an unhelpful metaphor, but we might note that the day one gets the decree absolute is not the day that every aspect of one’s marriage is tied up.

The sooner that all parties recognise this, the more likely it is that sustainable solutions can be found.

 

This post originally appeared on the PSA’s Insight Plus blog.

The post The recurring Brexit problem appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Problems are piling up for president Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who faces a cascade of criticism over the country’s slide into authoritarianism after a narrow referendum win that granted him sweeping new powers.

Europe’s pre-eminent human rights body has put Ankara on watch, saying the referendum was contested on an “uneven playing field” and that measures adopted after a failed military coup last July have “gone far beyond what is necessary and proportionate”. In Strasbourg on Tuesday the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, a body separate to the EU, invoked its “full monitoring procedure” in a fresh bid to persuade Turkey to uphold the highest democratic and human rights standards.

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Plenary sessions : The labour market has drastically changed in recent years due in part to the digital economy, leading to more temporary jobs and more people being treated as independent contractors. However, the EU is preparing legislation to reinforce workers' rights as part of the European pillar of social rights initiative. The European Commission will present the plans to MEPs on Wednesday 26 April. We asked two MEPs about the best ways to create fair working conditions for employees.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : The labour market has drastically changed in recent years due in part to the digital economy, leading to more temporary jobs and more people being treated as independent contractors. However, the EU is preparing legislation to reinforce workers' rights as part of the European pillar of social rights initiative. The European Commission will present the plans to MEPs on Wednesday 26 April. We asked two MEPs about the best ways to create fair working conditions for employees.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The EU will help to develop water provision and agro-food projects in the Mediterranean region under a new Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA). 

Today's decision by the Coreper, the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives, follows an agreement reached by the Maltese presidency with the European Parliament on 11 April. 

The PRIMA initiative will pool the know-how and financial resources of the EU and participating states. The partnership currently involves eleven EU member states: Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia; and eight non-EU countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. 

The EU's participation will include a contribution of  €220 million from its Framework Programme for research and innovation, the "Horizon 2020" Programme. 

The participation to the PRIMA initiative will remain open to any other EU member state, as well as to third countries provided they fulfil the conditions for participating in PRIMA. 

"The PRIMA partnership will help improve the health and livelihoods of those living in the Mediterranean region. It is also expected to encourage economic growth and stability in the longer-term", said Chris Agius, the Maltese Parliamentary Secretary, on the day of the agreement.

The PRIMA initiative is expected to be operational in early 2018, after the formal adoption of the decision by the European Parliament and the Council in the coming months.

Stichting Brein
The sale of a multimedia player which enables films that are available illegally on the internet to be viewed easily and for free on a television screen could constitute an infringement of copyright

There has been conflict in Afghanistan for the past 38 years. The violation of human rights, and especially women’s rights, has continued under different regimes and has been common to every conflict. There has been no accountability, no justice; not even acknowledgement of victims’ suffering. Women in Afghanistan saw the killing and disappearance of their loved ones, the destruction and looting of their properties, the rape of their daughters, and various levels of violence. But we survived.

Under the Taliban, Afghan women were subjected to systematic discrimination and brutal and inhuman treatment by the government. Women were not allowed to go to work, receive an education or simply walk on the street unless they were accompanied by a Mahram (a close male relative). The situation was such that women were not treated as human beings. The Taliban turned Afghanistan into a vast jail imprisoning both men and women – but the treatment of women was much harsher.

But today Afghan women are striving for a better future. They can attend school, receive higher education, work and hold public office. They are politicians, representing people in provincial and national elected bodies. They serve as cabinet ministers, diplomats, and civil society and NGO leaders. They are artists and singers, and hold leading positions in the media and other industries. The unity government, for first time in our history, took the bold step of nominating a female judge, Anisa Rassouli, to be member of the Supreme Court – but due to the conservative mentality of some parliamentarians she was not able to win a vote of confidence.

“Extending freedoms to all women in Afghanistan requires a strong political will, but our country’s leaders currently lack the resolve to protect and promote women’s rights”

Our constitution and Women’s Bill of Rights guarantees equality between women and men for the first time. It obliges the state to respect, promote and protect human rights and to work for improvements in the situation of women and families. Afghanistan has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and our Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law criminalises acts of domestic violence against women. These are huge legal changes that have been complemented by gradual changes through policy and the implementation of social, political and cultural programmes.

The picture for women in Afghanistan today is very different, and much improved, from what it was fifteen years ago. But the majority of this improvement has happened in Kabul and few other major cities; women in rural areas have benefited little from the changes.

Many women still lack access to the same basic rights they were denied under the Taliban: education, healthcare, jobs. Although three million girls attend school, an equal number do not have access even to primary education. Higher education can be a ticket out of poverty, but only 22% of higher education students are female. Women’s access to healthcare is limited by a lack of facilities and a lack of female medical staff. Reproductive healthcare and contraception are unavailable to many, leaving women unable to limit the size of their families. Job shortages mean that women are often still economically dependent on male family members. Some families see child marriage or the forced marriage of adult women as a way to cope with economic hardship, and this problem is exacerbated when women are denied the opportunity to support themselves financially.

Extending freedoms to all women in Afghanistan requires a strong political will, but our country’s leaders currently lack the resolve to protect and promote women’s rights. This is partly due to the difficult security situation, where political leaders must deal with a small but powerful group of conservatives and fundamentalists who do not support women’s rights. A conservative patriarchal culture also dominates the judiciary, leading to a lack of female staff and restrictions on women’s access to justice. This, again, is particularly the case in rural areas.

“The promotion, protection and fulfilment of human rights are a shared responsibility”

With the absence of political will comes a lack of strategy: the Afghan government and their international partners have no long-term, coordinated and multidimensional strategy for female empowerment. Women are excluded from the important decision-making programmes within Afghanistan; even the international community has a tendency to relegate Afghan women’s rights to a side issue. At the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan in October 2016, for example, an event on women’s empowerment was held separately from the main event, a decision that failed to acknowledge that women’s rights are inextricably tied to Afghanistan’s security and economic wellbeing. The lack of good governance or the rule of law, and the existence of widespread corruption, are major causes of human rights violations, to which women are especially vulnerable.

By empowering Afghan women, we can unlock a great resource for solving these problems. Increased support for women, recognition of their experiences and their abilities, and greater inclusion in public life and high-level decision-making are the keys to sustainable peace and development.

Both women and men in Afghanistan face economic and security challenges, but women continue to fare worse. Decades-long gender-based discrimination and exclusion continues. While sustainable economic development is required to provide more healthcare facilities, schools and jobs, there is also a need for more force and ambition on the part of the government to defend women’s rights and encourage inclusivity.

But importantly, the promotion, protection and fulfilment of human rights are a shared responsibility. These are joint obligations of the international community, the Afghan government and the Afghan people. With a strong and honest partnership, we will be able to protect the dignity of women in Afghanistan and around the world.

IMAGE CREDIT: meunierd/Bigstock

The post Promoting Afghan women’s rights is a shared responsibility appeared first on Europe’s World.

The European Union is committed to supporting democracy and human rights worldwide, in accordance with its founding principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. As the only directly elected EU institution, the European Parliament is particularly committed to promoting democracy. The two Fact Sheets in this booklet present the EU’s role and engagement in promoting democracy.
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) and establishing the EFSD Guarantee and the EFSD Guarantee Fund
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development
Committee on Budgets
Eduard Kukan, Doru-Claudian Frunzulică, Eider Gardiazabal Rubial

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Children are at risk of coming across videos containing violence or hate speech when online. The culture committee proposed several measures to better protect them when it adopted its position on a proposed update of the audiovisual media services directives on 25 April. But do you know how much time children spend online or the best way to protect them from harmful content? Watch our video to find out.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Children are at risk of coming across videos containing violence or hate speech when online. The culture committee proposed several measures to better protect them when it adopted its position on a proposed update of the audiovisual media services directives on 25 April. But do you know how much time children spend online or the best way to protect them from harmful content? Watch our video to find out.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

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The presidency updates ministers on the state of play on a draft regulation simplifying the rules governing the European structural and investment funds - the so-called Omnibus regulation. Ministers discuss how cohesion policy can be brought closer to European citizens. They also adopts conclusions on making cohesion policy more effective, relevant and visible to citizens. The Council is also expected to adopt conclusions on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies.

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MEPs beefed up rules to ensure that buyers of goods or services from another EU country are treated like local customers in a committee vote on Tuesday.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

MEPs beefed up rules to ensure that buyers of goods or services from another EU country are treated like local customers in a committee vote on Tuesday.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Key products and services, like phones, e-book readers, operating systems and payment terminals, will have to be made more accessible to people with disabilities, under draft EU rules amended in committee on Tuesday.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Key products and services, like phones, e-book readers, operating systems and payment terminals, will have to be made more accessible to people with disabilities, under draft EU rules amended in committee on Tuesday.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP