European Union

The Global Strategy for the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy presented by High Representative Federica Mogherini on 28 June 2016 sets out a ‘Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe’, in response to the Member States’ request for a new framework in which the EU can tackle the challenges and key changes to the EU’s environment identified in a strategic assessment carried out in 2015. Many expectations were raised ahead of its publication but it soon became clear that defence would be a central element of the Global Strategy. A number of defence priorities emerged from the exchanges between the main stakeholders: a central role for the common security and defence policy (CSDP); a clear level of ambition with tools to match; emphasis on EU-NATO cooperation; and concrete follow-up measures such as a ‘White Book’ on European defence. Seen in this light, the Global Strategy captures the urgent need to face the challenges of today’s environment and it may prove to be a major turning point in EU foreign policy and security thinking. It emphasizes the value of hard power — including via a strong partnership with NATO — along with soft power. It will not be easy for the Member States to match the level of ambition set in the Global Strategy and its success will be judged in terms of the follow-up and the measures taken to implement it. Could the first step be a White Book on European Defence?
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The Global Strategy for the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy presented by High Representative Federica Mogherini on 28 June 2016 sets out a ‘Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe’, in response to the Member States’ request for a new framework in which the EU can tackle the challenges and key changes to the EU’s environment identified in a strategic assessment carried out in 2015. Many expectations were raised ahead of its publication but it soon became clear that defence would be a central element of the Global Strategy. A number of defence priorities emerged from the exchanges between the main stakeholders: a central role for the common security and defence policy (CSDP); a clear level of ambition with tools to match; emphasis on EU-NATO cooperation; and concrete follow-up measures such as a ‘White Book’ on European defence. Seen in this light, the Global Strategy captures the urgent need to face the challenges of today’s environment and it may prove to be a major turning point in EU foreign policy and security thinking. It emphasizes the value of hard power — including via a strong partnership with NATO — along with soft power. It will not be easy for the Member States to match the level of ambition set in the Global Strategy and its success will be judged in terms of the follow-up and the measures taken to implement it. Could the first step be a White Book on European Defence?
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plans to grant citizens of Kosovo and Georgia the right to travel to the Schengen area without a visa were backed by Civil Liberties Committee MEPs on Monday.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plans to grant citizens of Kosovo and Georgia the right to travel to the Schengen area without a visa were backed by Civil Liberties Committee MEPs on Monday.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

A conference with national parliaments on the Future Financing of the European Union will take place in the European Parliament premises in Brussels on 7-8 September 2016. The Conference will be an important milestone in the work of the High Level Group on Own Resources, providing the forum for an in-depth discussion with national parliaments on how the EU should be financed in the future.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

A conference with national parliaments on the Future Financing of the European Union will take place in the European Parliament premises in Brussels on 7-8 September 2016. The Conference will be an important milestone in the work of the High Level Group on Own Resources, providing the forum for an in-depth discussion with national parliaments on how the EU should be financed in the future.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Former commissioners Janez Potočnik and Antonio Tajani are questioned this week by a parliamentary inquiry committee looking into car emissions testing. In addition MEPs discuss the future of EU financing with members of national parliaments. Political groups also prepare for next week's plenary session, including the annual state of the EU debate with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Former commissioners Janez Potočnik and Antonio Tajani are questioned this week by a parliamentary inquiry committee looking into car emissions testing. In addition MEPs discuss the future of EU financing with members of national parliaments. Political groups also prepare for next week's plenary session, including the annual state of the EU debate with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

At their meeting in Hangzhou, China, on 4-5 September 2016, G20 leaders adopted a communique focusing on:  

• strengthening the G20 growth agenda
• pursuing innovative growth concepts and policies
• building an open world economy
• ensuring that economic growth benefits all countries and people

The communique also covers the migration and refugee crisis, the fight against terrorism and climate change.

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BiH is a potential candidate country for EU accession following the Thessaloniki European Council, June 2003. On 16 June 2008, the Parties signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.

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It is Angela Merkel’s home state. There aren’t even many refugees there (23,000 in 2015 to be precise). But on Sunday rural Mecklenburg-Vorpommern earned a small footnote in post-war history, becoming the first state where the CDU has ever been outflanked by a party of the right. Just three years old, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany upstart is steadily gaining electoral ground. It may be far from seizing power, even at local level. But the warning to Ms Merkel is clear. The AfD vote patterns in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern reflect a classic protest vote. It secured 20.8 per cent and drew support from all parties – from far left, to centre to far right. Most importantly, it mobilised abstainers and helped boost turnout. There was only one subject to rally around: disenchantment with Germany’s refugee policy. That seems unlikely to diminish as we head towards federal elections in 2017.

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Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The summer of 2016, between the French Euro and the Brazilian Olympics has demonstrated once more to what extent sport has become an important showcase for contemporary nation-states. Not only for the hosts, but also for the participants (ask the Portuguese or the Icelanders, the British or the Jamaicans). The historians of nationalism have well shown that already at the end of the 19th century, governments of all kinds quickly understood the benefits in terms of prestige and recognition that they could reap from this popular activity which gave centre stage to individuals or teams supposed to represent the national body.

The benefit was (and is) twofold, as sport has always served two major purposes: highlight the competitiveness and performance of the nation, as well as consolidate, with the help of sport’s emotional power, its collective identity.

This political use of sport has hardly changed over time. The vocabulary, however, has. The intangible resources of cultural influence or internal cohesion that may be accumulated thanks to the different levers of ‘sport diplomacy’ are now often referred to by the term ‘soft power’, which has made its way from political science to mainstream media.

The high-level group at work in the Berlaymont.

If virtually every more or less developed nation-state has a ‘sport diplomacy’, should the European Union have one, too? The question was put on the table by the Lisbon Treaty which gives the European Union competence in sporting matters. It is thus not surprising that over the last academic year Commissioner Tibor Navracsics set up a high-level expert group to discuss the matter in a series of meetings between October 2015 and June 2016 and submit a report with their conclusions and recommendations.

I am relieved to testify that the objective of a European sport diplomacy, if ever there will be one, will NOT be to challenge nation-states on their favourite playing field: sentiments, flags and sporting performance.

It is true that in the mid-80’s the ‘Ad-hoc Committee on a People’s Europe’ (whose final document is also known as the ‘Adonnino report’) suggested to the European Community to seize sport’s potential to move people and bring them together. Among other things, it proposed the ‘organisation of European community events’ for certain sports, the ‘creation of Community teams’, or the invitation to ‘sporting teams to wear the Community emblem in addition to their national colour’.

Today, such propositions sound somewhat naïve at best, outright counter-productive at worst.

They were based on a conceptual mistake. As we all never tire of telling our students, the European Union is a ‘sui generis’ entity: it is not, and has no ambition to become a large nation-state, and it has no interest whatsoever to take inspiration from the mechanisms of classical ‘nation-building’.

It is of course legitimate for any enthusiastic promoter of European integration to have the desire to see Europe ‘loved’ by its citizens, and it is true that without citizens’ support for a common project there will be no sustainable solidarity among them.

But the EU would be well-advised to avoid falling into the ‘identity trap’ and resist the ever-present temptation to instrumentalise sport in order to ‘build a European identity’ or ‘provoke feelings of belonging to Europe’. Its identity will derive from the legitimacy that citizens are willing to grant it, and this legitimacy will be based on a strong credibility with regard to the values it wants to embody.

A smart European sports policy would not copy or imitate what is already done by the nation-states, but provide a tangible added value to international sport. The Union definitely has the potential for it, precisely because it is not a nation-state pursuing interests of national prestige. On the contrary: it can become a respected actor, patiently defending high ethical standards and the fundamental, universal values of sport.

The report of the high-level group on sport diplomacy was handed over to the Commissioner this summer. It contains quite a few recommendations on how the EU could intelligently integrate sport in its external relations. It can be downloaded under the following address:  http://www.essca.fr/EU-Asia/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/07/Final-REPORT-HLG-SD.pdf

Albrecht Sonntag,
ESSCA School of Management, Angers

The post Does Europe need a sport diplomacy? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Ever heard of ‘L’Arlésienne’, a short story written by French novelist Alphonse Daudet in 1869 and included in his famous ‘Letters from my Windmill’? The title refers to a lady from the city of Arles, who is central to the plot, but never appears on the stage. No one ever sees her, and yet everyone talks about her. Over the years, the term ‘l’Arlésienne’ has become a household expression for someone or something that everyone seems concerned about and talking about, but which is simply not there.

It seems to me that before Brexit eventually jumps on the stage (in 2019? 2020? later?), it will remain a genuine ‘Arlésienne’ for quite a while!

In the meantime, keen Brexiters will have gone through a learning process, realizing that the EU had more advantages than disadvantages for Britain, and that after all, being part of the EU as the least committed member state, negotiating all sorts of exemptions, blocking many decisions it disliked, offered both a comfortable position and a convenient shelter. At that stage it will however be too late to revert to these good old days of bottom line commitment.

Some form of ‘soft Brexit’ is likely to materialize in a few years’ time to keep loud-barking Brexiters quiet and the Remain camp not too disenchanted. But in the process, a lot of feathers, even teeth, will have been lost completely unnecessarily.

Jean-Marc Trouille is Jean Monnet Chair
in European Economic Integration
at Bradford University School of Management, UK.

The post Brexit, the new ‘Arlésienne’? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Good morning, Zǎoshang hǎo,

Fully supporting  President Juncker's comments and assesments, I want to briefly touch upon three additional topics that the European Union will address during this G20 summit.

First, the migration and refugee crisis, which is a global challenge that requires global solutions based on order, responsibility and solidarity. In light of an unprecedented number of 65 million displaced people all over the world, the G20 community needs to scale up its share of responsibility. Only global efforts supporting refugees and their host communities will be able to bear fruit. That is why we want to encourage our partners to increase humanitarian and development aid, as well as refugee resettlement. We need to address the root causes that force millions of people to leave their homes and seek shelter elsewhere. The G20 has the expertise to make practical contributions through trade, development cooperation and refugees' access to education and labour market, and it must make use of it. We will urge the G20 to seize the opportunity of the forthcoming summits on refugees and migrants hosted by the UN and President Obama to increase aid and resettlements by countries outside Europe. It is even more important in view of the fact that the practical capabilities of Europe to host new waves of refugees, not to mention irregular economic migrants, are close to the limits.

Second, terrorism. Terrorist attacks are a threat to all our countries. A comprehensive approach against terrorism must involve actions to counter extremism and radicalization. This also includes a financial dimension. The G20 has already taken important steps to tackle terrorism-financing networks and to improve cooperation on the exchanges of information, freezing assets and on criminalization of terrorism-financing. We need to advance our work at G20 further in order to address this challenge that no country can handle on its own.

Third, climate change. The G20 has an important role to play in this global struggle. With major emitters around the table we need to make sure that our common priority is to implement the Paris agreement early and in a robust manner. The EU is fully committed to this goal and we want to encourage all G20 members to do the same. We are also happy that the United States and China, the two biggest global emitters, ratified the agreement. Before Paris, Europe was rather alone with our climate change policy. The ratification by the US and China is for us a hope that we will no longer be alone. Europe has had a comprehensive climate change policy in place already for years. Right now we are developing the laws which will allow us to deliver our ambitious target for 2030. We expect the challenge of climate change to be dealt with in all seriousness by the G20 partners. In the meantime, the ratification process is under way in the EU and will be completed as soon as possible.

Finally, let me say that there could not be a more dynamic place in the whole of China than Hangzhou to inspire our discussion on how to reinforce global cooperation. The European Union welcomes China's Presidency of the G20 this year and we look forward to having a successful summit in Hangzhou. Thank you.

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G20 leaders meet in Hangzhou, China, on 4-5 September 2016. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, represent the EU at the summit.

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Sunday 4 September 2016
G20 summit -Hangzhou, China
(local time)
12.00 Press briefing by President Donald Tusk and President Jean-Claude Juncker
14.30 Meeting with Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau
15.00 Official welcome by President Xi Jinping
15.15 Family photo
15.30 Opening ceremony
15.40 Working session I
18:30 Official greeting by President Xi and his spouse
18:50 Family photo - leaders and spouses

Monday 5 September 2016
G20 summit -Hangzhou, China
(local time)
10.00 Working sessions
15.35 Intervention at session V
17.05 Closing ceremony
18.00 Meeting with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Tuesday 6 September
Phone calls with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis

Wednesday 7 September 2016
Dublin (local time)
12.30 Meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny followed by press statements

Thursday 8 September 2016
London (local time)
09.00 Meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May
Riga (local time)
16.15 Meeting and press statements with Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis

Friday 9 September 2016
Vilnius (local time)
10.00 Meeting with President Dalia Grybauskaitė
Tallinn (local time)
13.45 Meeting with Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas followed by press statements
Stockholm
16.10 Meeting and press statements with Prime Minister Stefan Löfven

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Donald TUSK, President of the European Council, meets EU Leaders.

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Parliament will evaluate Commissioner-designate Sir Julian King for the portfolio of the Security Union during its plenary session in Strasbourg. The Civil Liberties Committee will first hold a public hearing with the candidate on Monday 12 September in the evening. The full House will take a vote on Thursday.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Parliament will evaluate Commissioner-designate Sir Julian King for the portfolio of the Security Union during its plenary session in Strasbourg. The Civil Liberties Committee will first hold a public hearing with the candidate on Monday 12 September in the evening. The full House will take a vote on Thursday.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP