La Vigie, lettre d'analyse stratégique publiée par Jean Dufourcq et Olivier Kempf et paraissant tous les deux mercredis, vous propose son quatorzième numéro. Vous trouverez dans ce numéro daté du 15 Avril 2015 un texte intitulé Du déclin britannique, un autre sur l'Utilité stratégique de la Chine, une Lorgnette sur D'ici le 30 juin (au Donbass)
Du déclin britannique
Les élections approchent au Royaume Uni puisque le dénouement aura lieu le 7 mai. Il indiquera où en sont Tories, LibDems, UKIP, Labour et autres indépendantistes écossais. Il n’est pas besoin de rappeler que le mode de scrutin (uninominal à un tour) rend aléatoire toutes les prévisions issues de sondages. On ne sait donc quelle sera la nature de la coalition qui sortira des urnes. On sait en revanche que quel que soit son équilibre, elle prolongera le déclin stratégique de la « perfide » voisine. (…)
Utilité stratégique de la Chine
Il y a ceux qui sont concernés par la Syrie, la Tunisie, Daech et le terrorisme, ceux que l’Ukraine, Poutine et la guerre obsèdent, le Nigéria inquiète et, aussi prosaïquement, ceux qu’indisposent le budget de la Défense, ses effectifs et ses impasses. C’est donc le moment d’évoquer un sujet tout aussi crucial mais moins contingent : la Chine et le rôle qu’elle tient dans nos calculs et représentations stratégiques. Car la Chine est en fond de tableau de tous nos travaux, tant la nature de sa puissance et la réalité de ses ambitions déterminent la hiérarchie du monde. (…)
So we now have most of the major manifestos for the General Election. None of them – possibly bar the LibDems - give me much cause to change my mind about the continuing failure of British politicians to talk about the detail of European integration.
UKIP’s effort - released today - is a case in point. On one hand, it’s very clear that it thinks the UK should leave the EU, but on the other – as noted by FleetStreetFox - they want to retain a whole pile of policy areas that they think are beneficial. Such a position is very much that of Boris Johnson on cake.
But the more interesting point that I’ve taken from the manifesto is the continuing evolution of UKIP as a party.
I’ve been interested in the party almost as long as it’s been in existence: I seem to recall writing about them for my Masters dissertation back in the mid-1990s. As such, I’ve witnessed quite closely how things have changed. And change they have.
My interest comes from their euroscepticism: in the early days that meant I was interesting in everything that the party did, since it did nothing but oppose the EU. It’s one original policy was to contest European elections, then not take those seats, but instead to provoke a constitutional crisis that would in turn cause the UK to leave. Not a sensible plan, but a simple one.
This only lasted until the departure/ejection of the party’s founder, Alan Sked – a man you’ll be hearing from over the next few weeks as he tells you why you shouldn’t vote UKIP – whereupon the policy switched to taking up EP seats, and using them to secure funds, gain inside information and use it to forment further euroscepticism (I paraphrase slightly).
It was only in the early 2000s that the party really began to develop other policies. Immigration – which has become the central policy plank – started as an issue in the wake of the 2004 EU enlargement.
But even five years ago, the party wasn’t really about policies, but about disgruntlement: recall the Nigel Farage disowned the 2010 manifesto last year as ‘drivel’. It was indeed a poorly conceived and articulated document, with stuff thrown in willy-nilly (I paraphrase even more slightly than before) and no-one really cared about it.
Today we have a real contrast. A much more profession document - pace some photoshopping - with independent costings and a lot more focus on constructive policies. Strikingly, UKIP policy on the EU is withdrawal after a referendum, i.e. even the election of a UKIP government wouldn’t necessarily secure exit from the EU. This reads very much as a gambit for a party that it looking to join a coalition (hence also the softening of Farage’s line on Cameron as Tory party leader).
In short, UKIP now looks much more like a normal political party.
And that’s a problem, for two reasons.
Firstly, a key part of the party’s appeal has been its heterodox approach: ‘common sense politics’, ‘not like the others’, etc. Farage is the consummate non-politician, despite being a classic politician in so many ways. Becoming more normal thus comes with a clear potential of costing the party some of its vote, especially those who are disaffected with politics.
Secondly, it further exposes the lack of ideological consistency within the party. Common sense is all well and good, but what basis does the party decide its policies? Again, the tension between the libertarians (essentially Carswell and Reckless, with Farage and a few others leaning that way) and the non-libertarians (coming from across the political spectrum) remains. Regardless of whether Farage is able to retain the leadership, this will be a critical debate post-election for the party. That Reckless has been almost invisible in the party campaign to date suggests that the personality politics also remain a problem/challenge.
Some commentators have talked about the election as a staging post for UKIP: using a strong showing to build for 2020. However, for that to work, the party will have to continue to evolve, in rather significant ways. A year ago, I doubted if that was possible. UKIP has struggled with leadership challenges before, but never under quite the spotlight that it has been so successful in courting.
The post Fings ain’t what they used to be: Changing UKIP appeared first on Ideas on Europe.
EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq met with Miloš Bizjak, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, to exchange views ahead of the June 2015 European Council and to discuss Slovenia’s participation in EDA projects.
Slovenia sees a central role of EDA in coordinating, supporting and promoting cooperative defence projects, and expects added value in better implementing proposals to enhance capability development. Priority should be on development of capabilities, including niche capabilities, in accordance with the operational requirements at the national, EU and NATO levels.
“Slovenia appreciates the efforts of the EDA and welcomes the discussions ahead of the next 2015 European Council on defence. It is of vital importance that smaller industries and entities have better access to the European defence market. Inclusion of small and medium-sized enterprises in the market will help reduce fragmentation, increase competitiveness and provide opportunities for joint access and performance on the market”, said State Secretary Miloš Bizjak.
“The current security environment requires Europe to send strong signals confirming its commitment to defence. What European defence needs today is political will and a strong, innovative and competitive defence industry to secure our strategic autonomy. The further development of the defence industry requires among others common capability programmes and investment in research and technology.
In this respect, the European Defence Agency remains a strong instrument at the disposal of Member States. One way we can support Slovenia, its defence industry and especially small and medium sized enterprises is for example in facilitating access to markets in Europe through EU funding and market information The discussions by Heads of States and Government in June should give an important boost and top-level guidance”, said Jorge Domecq during his visit in Ljubljana.
The visit included meetings with other high-level officials of the Slovenian Ministry of Defence as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia. It is part of a series of visits by Mr. Domecq to all EDA Member States following his appointment as EDA Chief Executive and ahead of the Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2015. So far, Mr. Domecq visited Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic.
Copyright picture: Ministry of Defence, Slovenia
More information:
A „Komplex vállalati technológiafejlesztés mikro-, kis- és középvállalkozások számára” című konstrukció keretében 116,67 millió forint vissza nem térítendő uniós támogatást nyert el a STRULIK Zrt. A vállalat a közel 291,68 millió forint összköltségű projektje során az újonnan épült porfestő üzeméhez szükséges berendezésekkel bővítette eszközparkját.
A Strulik Zrt. tevékenysége három területre osztható: a légtechnikai tűzgátló szerkezetekre, melyek szinte egyedülállóak országunk légtechnikai kínálatában, a szellőzéstechnikai termékekre, amelyek teljes körűen kiegészítik a szellőző-csővezetékekhez szükséges szerelvények piaci igényeit, valamint a zománcozott kályhacsövekre.
A cég a légtechnikai termékeket Németországba és Franciaországba exportálja, a zománcozott termékeket a hazai piacon, Szlovákiában és Romániában értékesíti. A vállalkozás anyacége a Strulik GmbH, mely jelentős résztvevő a légtechnikai-, „hangtalan” légtechnika és a tűzvédelem légtechnikai piacokon. A hódmezővásárhelyi gyártóbázis jó minőségben és magyar hozzáadott értékkel valósítja meg a német, magas műszaki tartalmú fejlesztéseket.
Tekintettel arra, hogy a vállalkozás folyamatos fejlődés alatt áll, a mostani fejlesztés is egy másik projekthez, a telephely-fejlesztési pályázat keretében megépült új csarnok építéséhez kapcsolódott. Az új csarnokra egyrészt a korábbi zsúfoltság megszüntetése miatt, másrészt egy új porfestő üzem létrehozása miatt volt szükség. A porfestő üzemhez szükséges berendezések jelen projekt keretében kerültek beszerzésre. A Strulik Zrt. célja a beruházással az volt, hogy saját keretein belül tudja megoldani termékeinek porfestését, így ezzel költséget takarítson meg.
A felületkezelés másik oldalát, a KTL technológiát azért kívánták alkalmazni, mivel ebből kapacitáshiány mutatkozott, és a saját termékeik felületkezelésén felül korszerű és környezetkímélő kapacitást tudnak ezzel biztosítani a környékbeli üzemeknek. A kapacitások kiépítésével exportpiaci lehetőségeiket bővítették, valamint szakképzett munkaerőt is alkalmaznak az új berendezésekhez, továbbá új számítógépeket és szoftvereket vásároltak, különös tekintettel a CAD gépészeti tervező szoftverre.
A 116 671 191 forintos támogatást elnyert, 291 677 978 forint összköltségvetésű fejlesztés 2013. március 18-án indult és 2015. március 15-én zárult.