Agrégateur de flux

Colin McCullough, OSCE Programme Office in Astana

The first in a series of four OSCE-supported training seminars on the practical aspects of implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for Preventing Torture and Ill-treatment in Kazakhstan began on 12 May 2015 in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.

Some 30 members of the NPM from non-governmental organizations, regional offices of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Interior, Education and Health Care Ministries will discuss the key challenges in fulfilling the NPM’s monitoring obligations in Kazakhstan and effective measures to be taken at multiple levels to ensure that national laws regarding the prevention of torture and ill-treatment are implemented.

Discussions will be led by a member of the UN Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture and national experts focused on the international and national legal frameworks, and the analysis of anti-torture standards and their implementation, including necessary mechanisms for conducting preventive visits to detention facilities and reporting on the findings.

Participants will be trained on monitoring methodology and how to prepare monitoring reports for preventive visits to police stations, mental health institutions, drug rehabilitation centres and juvenile justice establishments. Particular attention will be paid to the performance of the regional NPM groups and their co-operation and external communication with regional law-enforcement departments, prosecutors, prison administrations, healthcare institutions and media representatives.

The two-day capacity-building event for NPM members from across the country was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana in partnership with the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Kazakhstan, the Regional Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with support from the Penal Reform International Office in Central Asia. It will be followed by three training seminars in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan, Almaty, southern Kazakhstan, and Astana.

The series is part of the Office’s long-term efforts to establish the NPM and promote the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture in the host country.

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Dalli / Kommission
Institutionelles Recht
Le Tribunal rejette le recours de l’ancien commissaire John Dalli concernant sa démission prétendument exigée par le président Barroso

Dalli kontra Bizottság
Intézményi jog
The General Court dismisses the action of the former Commissioner John Dalli concerning the fact that President Barroso allegedly required him to resign

Dalli v Commission
Law governing the institutions
The General Court dismisses the action of the former Commissioner John Dalli concerning the fact that President Barroso allegedly required him to resign

Dalli / Commission
Droit institutionnel
Le Tribunal rejette le recours de l’ancien commissaire John Dalli concernant sa démission prétendument exigée par le président Barroso

La Commission européenne propose d'accorder plus de pouvoir au Conseil et au Parlement pour élaborer de nouvelles lois. En échange  de quoi les deux institutions suivraient la Commission dans son ambition de « mieux légiférer » pour alléger le poids administratif de l'UE, selon un accord divulgué à EurActiv. 

Tschechische Republik / Kommission
Landwirtschaft
Das Milchfett "pomazánkové máslo" kann nicht als garantiert traditionelle Spezialität eingetragen werden

Cseh Köztársaság kontra Bizottság
Mezőgazdaság
The dairy spread known as ‘pomazánkové máslo’ may not be registered as a traditional speciality guaranteed

Czech Republic v Commission
Agriculture and fisheries
The dairy spread known as ‘pomazánkové máslo’ may not be registered as a traditional speciality guaranteed

République tchèque / Commission
Agriculture
La matière grasse laitière dénommée « pomazánkové máslo » ne peut pas être enregistrée comme spécialité traditionnelle garantie

In a surprise to nearly everyone, the Conservatives have won the UK’s 2015 General Election with a (small) overall majority. Following his audience with the Queen after the election, David Cameron reiterated his commitment to holding an in/out referendum on Britain’s EU membership. It seems therefore that we can now expect several years of negotiation, campaigning and debate on the UK’s future in the European Union.

Maduarte, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Renegotiation

Central to the Prime Minister’s pledge is the promised renegotiation of Britain’s terms of membership in the Union. He has stated previously that he wants to be able to recommend a vote to stay in the EU. However, to date we’ve had only hints of what the government hopes to achieve from a renegotiation.

Opting the UK out of the aim of ‘ever closer union’ and increasing the length of transitional controls for new Member States (such as temporarily limiting free movement with those states) have come up as possible demands. We’ll need the details of what the Prime Minister aims to accomplish from these negotiations in order to judge whether they are a success. The absence of clarity of course brings with it greater room for manoeuvre should talks with EU partners prove more difficult than hoped.

Referendum

The proposed timeline is as yet unclear, but negotiations would have to start soon. It is now mid-2015 and the Prime Minister has pledged that the referendum will take place by the end of 2017, leaving at most a year and a half to successfully complete a renegotiation and hold a campaign and vote. David Cameron might also hold the referendum early to capitalise on his electoral success and to head off any demands from within his party, further limiting the window to negotiate with other Member States and the EU institutions.

The specific details of the referendum will also have to be decided. An EU referendum bill will need to go through Parliament and, while the PM has a thin majority in the Commons, he has no majority in the Lords, potentially making agreement on the bill more difficult. Parliamentary process aside, this EU plebiscite will be only the third nationwide referendum to take place in the UK (the others being the EC membership referendum in 1975 and the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011).

The Scotland independence referendum can undoubtedly provide insights into the mechanics of holding such a vote. However, in some key respects, an EU referendum will be completely different. In the Scotland debate, many organisations and individuals remained neutral on the vote – this would not be the case here. The vast majority of the political establishment, the business community and civil society is very likely to come out strongly in support of continued EU membership. In this sense, the official landscape will be very lopsided. At the same time, UK public opinion on the EU is mixed, but it’s also consistently higher under the hypothetical that the government is successful in its renegotiation (a seemingly rare moment of trust in political leaders).

If Britain votes to leave

Should the UK electorate choose to leave the EU, a process of negotiation will have to begin with the EU institutions on behalf of the remaining Member States to agree Britain’s future relationship with the rest of the EU. The EU treaties (Article 50 TEU) now set out a procedure for a Member State to withdraw from the Union, giving some clarity in this respect. Negotiations can last up to two years and must be approved by a qualified majority of EU members and by the European Parliament. Unless talks are extended, after time elapses the UK would leave automatically, even if no deal is reached.

A plethora of matters would have to be discussed, including the UK’s future participation in the single market, which of course incorporates the free movement of goods, services, capital and people. In the current political context, free movement of persons would likely be a particularly challenging issue, affecting the rights both of EU citizens in the UK and of UK citizens in the EU. Britain’s role in every other EU programme, such as Erasmus, would all need to be agreed.

Such negotiations would be time-consuming, difficult and costly and require a great deal of expertise. Interestingly, the UK is scheduled to hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU during the second half of 2017. Britain may find itself at the same time chairing part of an organisation it is debating or has decided to leave.

In these circumstances, the question arises of whether a second referendum would be held to approve the UK’s new relationship with the EU. Alternatively, a vote might be held in Parliament to endorse the negotiated terms for the UK’s EU exit and whatever relationship might replace it. A second referendum would provide an opportunity for the electorate to confirm their support for the proposed alternative to membership.

If Britain votes to stay

If UK voters decide to stay in the EU, Britain’s membership would apparently continue much as before. Any provisions secured as part of the renegotiation would presumably take effect, giving Britain additional opt-outs or other special arrangements or indeed changing how the EU itself works.

A renegotiation could range from modest to radical, depending on the appetite of the rest of the EU to compromise. If the result falls short of dramatic change, it is unlikely to be from a lack of desire on the part of the UK government. It would be extremely ambitious to expect full treaty change under the above timescale. A more likely scenario is an agreement on principles and a commitment to include them in future treaty reform where necessary (some points might be achievable within the current treaties).

Britain is not unused to confrontation on Europe. Nevertheless, this chapter in its relationship with the EU could prove particularly high stakes. Possible outcomes include a more sustainable EU membership, a more distanced relationship with the EU or a situation not dissimilar to the status quo. The EU referendum result could have constitutional implications as well, at a time when the UK’s constitutional future is the subject of ongoing debate.

The shape of Britain’s future relationship with the EU will have a profound impact on its economy and its place in the world. The consequences of this debate will be numerous, and many will only become apparent over time.

Please read the comments policy before commenting.

Shortened link: britainseurope.uk/20150512

How to cite this article:

Salamone, A (2015) ‘Britain’s EU membership: The debate and the referendum, Britain’s Europe (Ideas on Europe), 12 May 2015, britainseurope.uk/20150512

The post Britain’s EU membership: The debate and the referendum appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Unión de Almacenistas de Hierros de España / Kommission
Institutionelles Recht
Das Gericht der EU stellt fest, dass der Schriftwechsel zwischen der Kommission und einer nationalen Wettbewerbsbehörde im Rahmen eines Verfahrens wegen Zuwiderhandlung gegen die Wettbewerbsregeln grundsätzlich nicht der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich ist

Unión de Almacenistas de Hierros de España kontra Bizottság
Intézményi jog
The General Court finds that documents exchanged between the Commission and a national competition authority in proceedings concerning an infringement of the competition rules are not, in principle, accessible to the public

Unión de Almacenistas de Hierros de España v Commission
Law governing the institutions
The General Court finds that documents exchanged between the Commission and a national competition authority in proceedings concerning an infringement of the competition rules are not, in principle, accessible to the public

Unión de Almacenistas de Hierros de España / Commission
Droit institutionnel
Le Tribunal de l’UE juge que les documents échangés entre la Commission et une autorité nationale de la concurrence dans le cadre d’une procédure d’infraction aux règles de la concurrence ne sont, en principe, pas accessibles au public

Egy igazi különlegesség kerül kalapács alá hamarosan: egy olyan Spifire, amelyet a II. világháborúban lőttek le Dunkerque-nél. A gépet, melynek Peter Cazenove volt a pilótája, teljesen helyreállították és 2,5 millió fontért szándékoznak eladni. 

KYIV, 12 May – The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) will hold a presentation of its Thematic Report “Protection of Civilians and their Freedom of Movement in the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions” on Wednesday, 13 May.

Alexander Hug, Deputy Chief Monitor of the SMM along with Mission’s Human dimension experts will present the key finding of the thematic report.

Journalists are invited to attend the presentation on Wednesday, 13 May, at 13:00 (Kyiv time), in the SMM’s Head Office, at 26 Turhenevska street.

Journalists should request accreditation by sending an e-mail to tetiana.tesliuchenko@osce.org by 11.00 on 13 May, with the following information: name, media outlet, contact details (e-mail and phone number).

Any possible changes in timings and places will be communicated via social media (@OSCE_SMM, www.facebook.com/oscesmmu).

Live online streaming of the event will be available at http://ustre.am/1jT6S.

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Since Ryan Heath‘s been kind enough to mention all the work I do on this site on Brexit, it seems like a good opportunity to mention a new project I’ve been working on.

‘A Diet of Brussels‘ is a podcast about the referendum here in the UK on EU membership. In it, I want to try and explore the issues, to help inform debate and produce a more considered outcome. It’s not aimed at being ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but rather that raising the level of knowledge about the process and the key issues.

Each podcast is 5 minutes – for everyone’s sanity – and if you have a question to be addressed, then you can just send in a request and I’ll try my best.

I’ll happily admit my technical abilities might not yet be up to much, but it’ll improve over time, plus you all get to enjoy Berlaymonster’s excellent logo at regular opportunities.

So have a listen in: any feedback most welcome.

The post A Diet of Brussels appeared first on Ideas on Europe.