Europäische Union

Der Vorschlag der Europäischen Kommission für eine Kohlenstoff-Grenzsteuer hätte nur geringe Auswirkungen auf die französischen Haushalte, im Gegensatz zum eigenen Vorschlag des Landes, Energie zu besteuern, der die Entstehung der "Gelbwesten"-Bewegung auslöste. EURACTIV France berichtet.

Die Schaffung eines gerechten Übergangsfonds, der ärmeren EU-Regionen bei der Umstellung auf eine klimaneutrale Wirtschaft helfen soll, darf nicht auf Kosten der Kohäsionspolitik des Blocks gehen, fordert die EU-Kommissarin für Regionalpolitik.

Zwei neue Koalitionen in Europa

Nehmt am Europäischen Jugend-Event (EYE2020) in Straßburg teil und gestaltet die Zukunft Europas gemeinsam mit anderen jungen Europäern.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2020 - EP

Heute u.a. mit dabei: Portugal genehmigt den ersten Haushaltsüberschuss seit Demokratisierung, die illegalen Wahlkampfspenden der AfD, London will Erasmus-Austauschprogramm den Riegel vorschieben.

Die Bundesregierung verhandelt mit der Türkei über Schulen in Berlin, Köln und Frankfurt am Main. Sie will damit die eigenen Auslandsschulen absichern. EURACTIVs Medienpartner Der Tagesspiegel berichtet. 

Vor dem Sondertreffen mit seinen EU-Kollegen in Brüssel fordert Bundesaußenminister Heiko Maas (SPD) ein geschlossenes europäisches Auftreten im Konflikt zwischen dem Iran und den USA. Bei dem Sondertreffen solle vor allem ein gemeinsames Vorgehen vereinbart werden, "um uns vor Ort für einen Abbau der Spannungen und die Bewahrung der Stabilisierungserfolge einzusetzen".

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2019 - EP

Früher ein bunter Haufen, heute in der Mitte der Gesellschaft. Vor 40 Jahren wurden die Grünen gegründet. Alles in allem ist das eine Erfolgsgeschichte. EURACTIVs Medienpartner Deutsche Welle berichtet.

Moskau und Kiew haben am 30. Dezember 2019 nach monatelangen schwierigen Gesprächen - aber kurz vor der Frist am Neujahrstag - ein Fünfjahresabkommen über den Transit von russischem Gas nach Westeuropa durch die Ukraine unterzeichnet.

Kurz bevor in Deutschland die „grüne Woche“ startet, stößt eine CDU-Politikerin wieder das Thema einer Fleisch-Steuer an. Tierschützer fordern seit Jahren, die besonders niedrigen Steuern für Fleisch anzuheben. Doch besseres Tierwohl garantiert das nicht.

The EU issued a declaration on the latest developments on the National Assembly of Venezuela

At a press conference with Prime Minister Plenkovic in Zagreb, President Michel outlined the priorities of the European Union during the Croatian presidency with a specific focus on the EU budget, Brexit, enlargement and the EU's role on the global stage.

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

President Michel spoke to President Rouhani about the situation in the region and called for restraint.

This policy brief provides an overview of what the EU has done through its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations since 2003, and which achievements and challenges it faces at the end of EU High Representative/Vice-President (HR/VP) Federica Mogherini’s mandate. It evaluates how the overall political context and the EU’s approach have evolved over time, and how this has affected the launch and implementation of CSDP actions. It looks at a range of criteria for evaluating the success of missions and operations such as effectiveness, degree of match between mission launch and EU interests at stake, responsiveness, coherence with wider policy strategies, coherence with values and norms, and degree of democratic scrutiny and oversight. It assesses some of the achievements as well as shortcomings of previous and ongoing missions and operations against these objectives. The brief identifies three underlying and cross-cutting problems hampering performance: (i) incompatible attitudes among Member States towards the use of force; (ii) resource disincentives and barriers to timely European solidarity; and (iii) gaps between early warning and early action. It outlines some selected initiatives launched and options discussed to address these shortcomings and improve the EU’s performance in crisis management operations.
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

For several decades, European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Member States have worked closely to coordinate and, in some cases, jointly develop their military capabilities. Both NATO and the EU ask Member States to provide military capabilities to meet agreed force requirements. European states also cooperate increasingly closely over ways to increase efficiency and improve interoperability. Yet both EU and NATO force requirements suffer from longstanding capability shortfalls. Neither modest growth in defence spending nor deeper cooperation have yet been sufficient to fill these gaps. Spurred on, however, by the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and the recent deterioration in security in the east and to the south of Europe, EU Member States have sought to re-invigorate their approach to collaborating on the development of defence capabilities. They have overhauled existing measures and introduced new initiatives, notably the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) and Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). While it is too soon to judge the effectiveness of these initiatives, they do significantly extend the scope for action in this field. Success, however, will only be assured if EU Member States support the new ‘top-down’ initiatives while also delivering on their own ‘bottom-up’ commitments to funding and deeper levels of cooperation.
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The EU’s Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) has been a key focus of EU policy efforts in recent years, not just for security reasons, but also for economic ones. There have been a host of funds to strengthen and reinforce the EDTIB, and to ensure deeper cooperation, avoid duplication and underscore the interoperability of equipment. These funding streams have not been fully evaluated, but they are important symbols of the energy and commitment with which the EU has attempted to create an integrated pan-EU defence industry. There have, however, been challenges. The EU Member States remain predisposed to procuring weapons nationally or internationally, rather than regionally. There is a question as to whether these funds are great enough to be genuinely transformative, or whether in practice they are insufficient in relation to investment in the domestic defence industries. Finally, efforts to integrate the EDTIB also risk the EU being seen as protectionist, which may lead other major weapons suppliers such as the US to respond in kind.
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

This policy brief provides a short overview of recent initiatives and developments in the EU’s institutional defence architecture, with a particular focus on changes proposed and implemented since 2016. Specifically, it looks at the new Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework, the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), the European Defence Fund (EDF), the Military Planning and Conduct Capacity (MPCC), as well as proposals to establish a European Peace Facility (EPF) and to take more Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) decisions through qualified majority voting. It examines the institutional state of play at the end of Federica Mogherini’s mandate as EU High Representative and the implications of EU defence institutional innovation for existing governance structures, internal coherence and effective oversight. Finally, it identifies some of the challenges posed by the recent reforms and initiatives relating to the EU’s existing defence infrastructure, and briefly introduces proposals to address these challenges.
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

This policy brief provides an overview of what the EU has done through its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations since 2003, and which achievements and challenges it faces at the end of EU High Representative/Vice-President (HR/VP) Federica Mogherini’s mandate. It evaluates how the overall political context and the EU’s approach have evolved over time, and how this has affected the launch and implementation of CSDP actions. It looks at a range of criteria for evaluating the success of missions and operations such as effectiveness, degree of match between mission launch and EU interests at stake, responsiveness, coherence with wider policy strategies, coherence with values and norms, and degree of democratic scrutiny and oversight. It assesses some of the achievements as well as shortcomings of previous and ongoing missions and operations against these objectives. The brief identifies three underlying and cross-cutting problems hampering performance: (i) incompatible attitudes among Member States towards the use of force; (ii) resource disincentives and barriers to timely European solidarity; and (iii) gaps between early warning and early action. It outlines some selected initiatives launched and options discussed to address these shortcomings and improve the EU’s performance in crisis management operations.
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP