European Union

OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2014, Section III - Commission and executive agencies
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Cristian Dan Preda

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2014, Section X - European External Action Service
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Cristian Dan Preda

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

National Front's Nanterre offices during Wednesday morning's police raid

Workers in the National Front’s Nanterre headquarters had a poor start to the day on Wednesday. Their office was raided by a bunch of gendarmes.

But this wasn’t any run-of-the-mill raid. The French police acted as part of a European parliament investigation into Marine Le Pen’s far-right party for alleged expense fiddling by its MEPs.

The party – which is now consistently running first or second in polling for next year’s French presidential race and remains the largest French party in the European parliament itself – were accused by EU authorities last year of fraudulently claiming €7.5m to cover the pay of 20 MEP assistants who worked only on national matters – which is against EU rules.

As expected, FN are not happy it. They hit back, in typically bombastic style, labelling the investigation “a political operation directly led by François Hollande and Manuel Valls with the goal of obstructing, monitoring and intimidating the patriotic opposition”.

Read more

Length of video : 193'
You may manually download this video in WMV (1.7Gb) format

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The nuclear agreement with Iran marked the end of a long period of sanctions and gave a new impetus to Iran-EU relations. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif appeared before Parliament's foreign affairs committee to discuss the future of EU-Iran relations as well as the situation in the Middle East. “Iran is open to work with Europe to reduce the concerns and tensions in the region,” he said, but added: “We both need to gain each other’s trust."
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The nuclear agreement with Iran marked the end of a long period of sanctions and gave a new impetus to Iran-EU relations. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif appeared before Parliament's foreign affairs committee to discuss the future of EU-Iran relations as well as the situation in the Middle East. “Iran is open to work with Europe to reduce the concerns and tensions in the region,” he said, but added: “We both need to gain each other’s trust."
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The nuclear agreement with Iran marked the end of a long period of sanctions and gave a new impetus to Iran-EU relations. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif appeared before Parliament's foreign affairs committee to discuss the future of EU-Iran relations as well as the situation in the Middle East. “Iran is open to work with Europe to reduce the concerns and tensions in the region,” he said, but added: “We both need to gain each other’s trust."
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/1d080392-d5b0-11e5-bfbf-bc764e08d9b2_182.92_thumb_169_1455741242_1455741243_129_97shar_c1.jpg

Leaders of Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia, and Serbia join President TUSK and President JUNCKER to discuss the latest developments in the region.

Download this video here.

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/2c195c3a-cb21-11e5-a103-bc764e084e2e_1.08_thumb_169_1456136519_1456136519_129_97shar_c1.jpg

Two years ago, Ukrainians stood on Maidan demanding their right to determine the future of their country. People of Maidan is a 12 part series produced by the EU that tells the story of the Maidan revolution through the eyes of the people who were there and their hopes for Ukraine in the future. The series consists of 12 video portraits spoken in Russian, Ukrainian and English.

Download this video here.

The publication of the UK’s draft EU settlement marks another milestone in the refashioning of its relationship with the EU. The proposals – which remain to be agreed in the European Council and thus could change – are noteworthy for their comprehensive and exacting nature. They represent a new mode of engagement between a Member State and the EU.

As I have written previously, this is the first time a Member State has unilaterally sought a renegotiation of its own terms of membership. This draft deal is not a means of accommodating a country trying to ratify an EU treaty (like Denmark with Maastricht or Ireland with Lisbon). Nor is it inherently in response to a particular policy change at European level. It is the product of national politics and the implementation of a manifesto pledge.

The ramifications for the EU of this unilateral approach remain unclear. How long before the novelty wears off and other countries seek their own individual settlements? Some will suggest that such a prospect is unlikely and that the UK is a special case. However, other Member States have opt-outs, protocols and reservations in their favour – having opt-outs does not in itself make a Member State unique.

It is true that the likelihood of another state (particularly a less influential one) succeeding in winning its own EU settlement is marginal. Nevertheless, the argument could be made, and refusal to accept it might damage the EU’s legitimacy. More to the point, how could Britain seriously stand in the way of another country following in its footsteps?

The draft deal would make a number of substantive changes to the EU’s architecture. If agreed, the potential qualifications of the free movement of workers would be ground-breaking. Over time, the implications of such a move could certainly be wider than the drafters ever intended.

Other measures are important but less radical, such ‘taking account’ of opposition by national parliaments to EU legislative proposals on grounds of subsidiarity. Agreement to eventually attach a protocol to the EU treaties clarifying that ‘ever closer union’ does not equate to obligatory political integration for the UK is less substantive.

Regardless of the meaning of creating ‘an ever closer union of the peoples of Europe’, the UK would have always had a say in any treaty change, and if it did not want to take part a significant new EU initiative, it would surely have received an opt-out, as it has always had before.

More importantly, the eventual settlement will carry a strong symbolic value. It attempts to codify the UK’s EU membership, listing all the opt-outs it already holds, such as on Economic and Monetary Union, the Schengen acquis and parts of police and judicial cooperation. It singles out specific elements of one country’s relationship with the EU – a sort of bespoke terms and conditions of membership. This kind of agreement runs counter to how the EU has always worked before.

Moreover, such differentiation would set the UK apart from the other Member States. The UK will not help Eurozone countries in financial crisis (who presumably will not be lining up to help the UK if it ever needed it). It will not treat EU workers equally under certain circumstances. In short, it will not participate in much of what the EU is meant to be about.

This arrangement would likely sap much of the goodwill from the UK’s EU membership. It is understood, and accepted, that the UK will not partake in particular elements of European integration. However, coldly stating the fact, codifying it and adding on to it are unlikely to endear Britain to the rest of the EU. It moves in the direction of reducing the UK’s membership to a transactional relationship between it and the other EU Member States.

The EU has always been about more than transactions, even for countries largely averse to political integration. Presuming the deal is agreed, it will have broader implications for the UK’s place in the EU. It has the potential to generate sizeable ill-will from the other Member States, which will have compromised much for the UK. It could also damage the UK’s long-term influence in the EU. If countries perceive the UK as semi-detached from the Union, they may not take it and its views as seriously as they would have otherwise.

All of this is of course predicated on the settlement being agreed and the UK subsequently voting to remain in the EU. Should Britain instead vote to leave, it will perhaps not be off to the best start in the withdrawal negotiations, having just wasted the other Member States’ time in reaching a now void settlement that concedes much of what is important to them about the EU.

This article was originally published (under a different title) on the LSE BrexitVote Blog.

Please read the comments policy before commenting.

Shortened link: britainseurope.uk

How to cite this article:

Salamone, A (2016) ‘Britain’s New Settlement Could Remove the Goodwill from its EU Membership’, Britain’s Europe (Ideas on Europe), 17 Feb 2016, britainseurope.uk

The post Britain’s New Settlement Could Remove the Goodwill from its EU Membership appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Length of video : 191'
You may manually download this video in WMV (2.1Gb) format

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of our new Brussels Briefing. To receive it every morning in your email in-box, sign up here.

Ukraine's Arseniy Yatseniuk speaks during last night's "no confidence" debate in parliament

Amidst the ongoing refugee crisis, and the more recent fever over Britain’s efforts to renegotiate its relationship with the EU and avoid Brexit, the crisis that once dominated the European agenda and threatened to plunge the continent into another Cold War disappeared from the headlines. But mounting accusations of rampant corruption in Kiev have thrust Ukraine back into the spotlight, culminating with yesterday’s call by President Petro Poroshenko for the resignation of his erstwhile ally, prime minister Arseniy Yatseniuk.

Last night, the Ukrainian parliament failed to comply, coming up 32 votes short of the 226 needed to pass a no-confidence motion that would have left the country in a state of suspended animation, stuck between choosing a new technocratic government or early elections. Despite that failure, the fallout from the split between Mr Poroshenko and Mr Yatseniuk – who head the legislature’s two largest parties, which are both part of the governing coalition – is likely to make an already unstable situation even shakier.

The current crisis was sparked by the resignation earlier this month of Aivaras Abromavicius, the government’s reform-minded economy minister who stepped down after accusing the government of condoning corruption and cronyism akin to the disgraced regime of Viktor Yanukovich, the onetime president topped in the 2014 Maidan revolution. The International Monetary Fund, which is still leading a $40bn Western bailout of Kiev after the Russian-instigated civil war plunged the Ukrainian economy into an abyss, piled on with chief Christine Lagarde warning the programme could not continue without a “substantial new effort” to invigorate reforms.

Read more

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_c96321.r21.cf3.rackcdn.com/15369_169_full_129_97shar_c1.jpg

Bilateral relations between the Kyrgyz Republic and the EU have been governed by a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) since 1999. Technical and financial support to the Kyrgyz Republic is provided through the EU's Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI). 

Download this video here.

Good afternoon. Let me begin by thanking you, Prime Minister, for your warm welcome here in Prague. Also in your capacity as the Visegrad Group (V4) Presidency. Thank you for your constructive attitude and approach, which is helpful for V4 and for all of Europe.

Our meeting today is part of my final round of consultations in the run up to the European Council in only two days' time. It will be a summit dealing with two main challenges: The United Kingdom's future membership of the European Union and the migration crisis. On both topics, the Czech Republic and the Visegrad Group hold strong views.

First on Britain: At stake is the United Kingdom as member of the EU. A question which ultimately only the British people will decide. But the answer will affect us all. At stake are also changes to the functioning of the European Union, where we will all have to decide together, and where we cannot and will not compromise on our freedoms and values. It is in this spirit that I drafted my proposal for a new settlement for the UK in the EU.

There are still unsolved problems such as future treaty change, an emergency brake for non-euro area countries, a safeguard mechanism on access to in-work benefits, and finally the notion of ever closer union. We need to find solutions to all those issues.

In the Czech Republic as well as in other Visegrad countries, the issue of access to social benefits continues to be among the most sensitive. I believe that the proposal I have put on the table is fair and balanced; for all. It protects the freedom of movement, while helping the UK to address all its concerns when it comes to their specific system of in-work benefits. The safeguard mechanism on access to in-work benefits is not designed to apply to EU citizens currently working in the UK. We will now have to sort out the remaining issues in a constructive spirit of trust and cooperation. The position of V4 is very clear. In view of that I have no doubts: There is an extra mile we will have to walk to reach an agreement.

Let me add a remark on migration, which we will also discuss on Thursday. I hope the bilateral support you have offered to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to protect its borders can make a difference, especially when it comes to the humanitarian situation in the Western Balkans. Still, we must not forget about our fellow EU Member States most affected by this crisis, such as Greece. They need our continued and even increased assistance to cope with the flows. We need to help them protect their borders and to receive the migrants in a proper way. This is what I discussed with Prime Minister Tsipras earlier today in Athens. We all need to show solidarity. And that also means respecting and implementing all our common decisions and rules. From protecting our borders to relocating refugees. Let me be very clear: Only when united can we solve this crisis.

Let me conclude by thanking you once again for receiving me here in Prague, Prime Minister. Děkuji moc.

Length of video : 215'
You may manually download this video in WMV (2.4Gb) format

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP