European Union

On 25 January, the SEDE committee invited Brigadier General Daniel Grammatico, Director Operations at the EU Military Staff and Niklas Novaky, visiting researcher at VUB Brussels, to discuss the future of EU battlegroups. In the light of the recent push for more cooperation in the field of European security and defence, these experts exchanged views with the members of the committee on what can be done to make the battlegroups more operational and their actual use more likely.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Presentation by Brigadier General Daniel Grammatico, Director Operations, EU Military Staff
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 26 January, Dirk Dubois, Head of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), Michael Swann, Chair of the ESDC Steering Committee and Antonio Missiroli, Head of the ESDC’s Academic Board met with the SEDE committee to discuss the contribution of the college to the EU's CSDP activities. The college's training activities prepare both policymakers and mission staff for the activities involved in the full life-cycle of CSDP missions and aim to create a European security culture.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Presentation by Dirk Dubois, Head of the European Security and Defence College
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Negotiated for nearly five years and four months, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada is now ready for the final vote by the European Parliament. If MEPs approve it during next week's plenary, the agreement could already provisionally applied from April. In 2015 EU-Canada trade accounted for more than €60 billion and Ceta is expected to boost this. Read on and watch our video to find out more about the difference the trade deal could make.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Negotiated for nearly five years and four months, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada is now ready for the final vote by the European Parliament. If MEPs approve it during next week's plenary, the agreement could already provisionally applied from April. In 2015 EU-Canada trade accounted for more than €60 billion and Ceta is expected to boost this. Read on and watch our video to find out more about the difference the trade deal could make.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Three weeks after Trump's inauguration a look at the opinion pieces shows that many European journalists believe Europe's reaction has been too weak. The EU must not tremble in anticipation of Trump's next move but reorganise itself, they say, preferably with Macron and Schulz at the helm.

55 percent of Europeans want immigration from Muslim countries to come to a halt, according to a study by the British Think Tank Chatham House. The conclusions of the study seem consistent with the recent attempts to tighten asylum law in Germany, Britain and other European states. Is Europe's criticism of Trump hypocritical?

A Russian airstrike in northern Syria left three Turkish soldiers dead and eleven wounded on Thursday. Moscow confirmed the soldiers' deaths as an "accidental" consequence of operations against the IS. Commentators speculate about the reasons behind the incident.

Israel's parliament passed a law at the start of the week legalising settlements on Palestinian territory. Representatives of the conservative Likud party and the right-wing pro-settlement party The Jewish Home see the move as a first step towards establishing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. Commentators fear that the two-state solution will be abandoned altogether.