European Union

Weeks of extreme heat and very little rain are threatening the existence of Northern Europe's farmers. Drought conditions have been reported in Latvia and in Sweden and Denmark meat farmers have had to slaughter their livestock for lack of feed. What can be done to help the farmers?

The fate and rescue of twelve boys and their 25-year-old football coach who were trapped for two and a half weeks in a flooded cave in Thailand has been followed closed by media across the globe. Observers see the fact that the rescue operation was conducted by an international team with the help of many unpaid volunteers as a hopeful sign in these difficult times.

The latest European Defence Matters magazine (issue N°15) is now available with a special focus on the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). 

DID YOU KNOW? The magazine is now also available ONLINE in a user-friendly, state of the art responsive lay-out and accessible via all your devices: smartphone, tablet or desktop! Check it out HERE 

Were there an ‘EU Acronym of the Year’ contest, PESCO would be well-positioned to grab the prize.  The Permanent Structured Cooperation established last December has become a familiar term beyond the military community, standing for a new determination to enhance European defence and reinvigorate EU integration as a whole. 

In the new issue (N°15) of European Defence Matters, we look at PESCO from various angles through inspiring contributions from key actors from the academic, defence-political and military-operational domains.  Among others, we give the floor to the Defence Political Directors of various Member States, to the EU Military Committee, as well as to the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EU Military Staff (EUMS) who, together with EDA, form the PESCO Secretariat. Focusing on the Military Mobility project, we also talk to the Netherland’s Chief of Defence, Admiral Rob Bauer. 

Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, is our guest at the ‘Industry Talk’ where he shares his views on topics such as the European defence industry, the recent EU defence initiatives and defence research. We also sit down with Krasimir Karakachanov, Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, to talk about the EU defence initiatives, EU-NATO cooperation and more. 

A meeting with Irish Lt Col Ray Lane, a (now retired) expert in Improvised Explosive Device Disposal, gives an insight into the C-IED domain where cooperation spearheaded by EDA produced remarkable results over the past 10 years. The Preparatory Action on Defence Research, helicopter exercise HOT BLADE 2018 and EDA’s Airworthiness, Standardisation & Certification Unit are other topics covered in the following pages. 
 

Go ONLINE and get MORE! 

The new ONLINE format of European Defence Matters makes your reading experience even more comfortable:

• in addition to the print version, the online version occasionally offers expanded articles and supplementary pictures
• articles and pictures can be shared instantly via Twitter, LinkedIn and Email
• the magazine’s ‘Explore’ section allows you to easily access the European Defence Matters archive and revisit articles of previous editions
• by joining us via www.eda.europa.eu/webzine, you will have access to the latest issue and the possibility to navigate through the previous editions by using the ‘Explore’ function.
   

More information:

• European Defence Matters 15 (webzine)

 

US President Donald Trump launched a strong verbal attack on Germany on Wednesday (11 July) for its support to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, aimed at bringing more Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

An estimated 512.6 million people lived in the European Union on 1 January 2018, which is 1.1 million more than the year before, according to Eurostat. More deaths (5.3m) than births (5.1m) were recorded in the EU in the period, meaning the population grew due to net migration. With 82.9 million, Germany remained the largest country followed by France (67.2m) and the UK (66.2m).

House prices in the European Union on average climbed 11 percent between 2010 and 2017, but with a huge difference from country to country, Eurostat figures out on Tuesday showed. The highest increases were recorded in Estonia (+73 percent), Sweden (+56 percent), Austria (+49 percent), Latvia (+47 percent) and Luxembourg (+40 percent), while the largest decreases were recorded in Spain (-17 percent), Italy (-15 percent) and Cyprus (-9 percent).