European Union

EU and Japanese leaders hailed their agreement on free trade as a rejection of protectionist trends. The two sides still need to agree on investment courts for the deal to be concluded.

The EU Brexit negotiator warned that a customs union between the UK and EU will not be possible if the UK doesn't want to respect single market rules, and "no deal" would send the UK back to "a distant past".

More deaths due to unsafe rubber dinghies after EU naval operation destroyed wooden boats, Amnesty International has said.

Sanctions imposed on Russia are a "covert form" of protectionism, president Vladimir Putin wrote in the German daily Handelsblatt on Thursday, ahead of the G20 summit. Putin argued that protectionism was becoming widespread. "Unilaterally imposed and politically motivated sanctions on investment, trade and, in particular, technology transfer become its covert form," Putin wrote. He went on to state that sanctions have "no perspective" and contradict G20 principles.

British prime minister Theresa May will hold a bilateral meeting with US president Donald Trump at the G20 summit on Friday in Hamburg, a British official told Reuters on Wednesday. The two will discuss the potential missile crisis in North Korea, and May will tell Trump that the Paris climate accord does not need to be renegotiated. Trump will hold another bilateral meeting that day with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

MEPs gave the green light on Wednesday to start talks with member states on new anti-dumping trade rules. Talks will begin on 12 July. The new rules, on the method of calculating import duties for all World Trade Organization (WTO) members, were proposed by the European Commission last May as a way of circumventing China's claim for market economy status and its possible unfair trade practices.

Russia and China bond over anti-Western rhetoric and the shared interest of keeping the US at bay, but beyond that, there is little that binds Moscow and Beijing together.

Air show with an A350 XWB, an A400M, an Eurofighter Typhoon and an H160 helicopter.

Tag: Airbus

The fourth in a series of five meetings of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS) was held in Lisbon on 16 – 18 May 2017. 

The conference was opened by General Henrique Castanheira Macedo – Deputy Director General from the Portuguese Ministry of Defence, Mrs Claudia Canaveri – Deputy Head of Energy Efficiency at DG Energy, and Mr Rini Goos – Deputy Chief Executive at the European Defence Agency. It was closed by Mr Denis Roger – Director European Synergies and Innovation at the European Defence Agency. 

“Whatever we do on international defence cooperation and collaboration, it must ultimately be about maintaining our strategic defence objectives, and developing and delivering enhanced military capability, increasing readiness and effectiveness,” EDA Deputy Chief Executive Rini Goos said during his opening address. “We need to ensure that our infrastructure – the backbone of the military – is future-proofed and efficient in its operation so that we can support ultimately, the front line. This is why the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector is so important – it provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to work together to make a real change in the provision of defence capability and one which can have an enduring legacy, setting a benchmark for the rest of the defence sector.”

Maintaining the momentum of the first, second and third events held in Brussels, Dublin, and Rome in 2016, the third conference was attended by around 100 experts from government administrations representing the majority of EDA Member States, as well as industry, academia, NATO representatives and the European Commission.

In closing the conference, Director European Synergies and Innovation Denis Roger set out, “At this event, it has been useful to take stock of what we have learnt so far to ensure that we keep a focus on defence outputs.  We must also not lose sight of where the challenges and opportunities lie; and to start to develop thoughts on how to move forward, but in a way which supports capability development objectives”. Encouraging a sense of urgency, Mr Roger concluded, “We need to become more implementation focused in future, finding solutions to overcoming barriers.  We need to start developing and agreeing plans for action, and we need to do it now.”

 

Background 

The Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector is a European Commission initiative managed by the European Defence Agency. It brings together experts from the defence and energy sectors to share information and best practice on improving energy management, energy efficiency, and the use of renewable energy. The Consultation Forum takes place in a series of five plenary meetings over 24 months, concluding in October 2017.

The work is carried out in three parallel working groups each with a particular focus: (1) Energy Management, (2) Energy Efficiency & 3) Renewable Energy. 

The 33rd plenary session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) will take place in St. Julian’s, Malta, from 19 to 21 June 2017.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : This year's Charlemagne Youth Prize has been awarded to the Erasmus Evening radio show from Poland. The ceremony took place in Aachen, Germany, on 23 May.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : From a debate on Brexit negotiations to refugee relocation and the situation in Hungary: read our overview of this week's plenary session.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On June 8 the new European Tactical Airlift Centre (ETAC) will be officially opened by Head of the EDA, High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini and Minister of Defence of Spain Dolores de Cospedal. ETAC represents one of the largest transfers of a project, created and developed by the EDA, to one of its Member States on a permanent basis. 

Zaragoza will officially become the home of the European Air Transport Fleet (EAFT) Programme on June 8th in a ceremony marking the transfer of this project from the EDA to Spain. Created in 2011 by EDA, and signed by 20 participating nations, the EATF partnership aims to increase the EU’s airlift capabilities by addressing shortages and increasing interoperability. The establishment of a permanent multinational airlift training centre (ETAC) marks a major step forward in European defence collaboration in the critical capability domain of tactical airlift. 
 

An EDA first: Joint Deployment of EAATTC 17-3 and 3D Printing Lab 

The third European Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Course for 2017 (EAATTC 17-3), hosted by the Spanish Airforce at Zaragoza airbase will run from 28 May to 9 June 2017. This edition of EAATTC gathers five aircraft from four different countries (Belgium: C130; Germany: C160; Poland C130 and Spain: C295 and C130). This training aims to provide air transport crews with a robust airlift tactics training syllabus in order to enhance interoperability between European air forces. The graduation ceremony for participating aircrew will take place as part of the opening of the ETAC on June 8 2017.

As part of EDA’s approach to explore new avenues for defence cooperation and enabling technologies, its innovative project on 3D printing in defence will be deployed as part of EAATTC 17-3. The project, officially titled “Additive Manufacturing Feasibility Study & Technology Demonstration”, aims to assess the areas where Additive Manufacturing (AM) (3D printing)  can have a positive impact on defence capabilities and to demonstrate its feasibility. 

The second work strand of this project is a technology demonstration of AM in a simulated deployment scenario. Its aim is to demonstrate the feasibility and operational utility of deploying these technologies in support of a military operation. The deployment of the 3D printing lab represents a significant step in bridging the data gap on 3D printer performance in deployed conditions and will demonstrate the operational utility of these technologies. 

First of all the lab will be deployed on a test flight to examine its feasibility to be deployed by air. During the exercise the lab technicians will interact with the officials deployed at EAATTC 17-3, presenting the possibilities offered by the equipment, and identifying in a close dialogue with them what are the main needs in an operation that could be fulfilled with an AM facility. Together, the technicians the officials will select a number of different test parts to be produced on site and on demand, with different grades of complexity. 

The project represents a clear example of how cross-fertilization of ideas from different domains, from R&T to operations, will enhance defence capabilities, especially when supporting deployed missions. The overall study has the objective of raising awareness in the defence community and of promoting a better understanding of the potential held by these technologies, thereby stimulating their implementation in defence specific areas.
 

Media Day – June 8
Members of the media can avail of a special one day media flight from Brussels to Zaragoza airbase (kindly provided by the Belgian Ministry of Defence) for the opening of ETAC. All details can be found here.

On June 8 EDA will be live from Zaragoza airbase for special coverage of the opening of ETAC. 

Throughout the day we will be bringing you live updates on twitter of the opening ceremony, graduation of aircrews, interviews and visits to the 3D printing lab. Visit our twitter page (@EUDefenceAgency) and get involved using #EUdefence.
 

More information:

• EDA consultation to identify impact of 3D-printing technologies in defence
• EDA letter - support to Additive Manufacturing feasibility study & technology demonstration
• EDA news on the AM kick-off meeting (December 2016)

   

Plenary sessions : Only a political process led by the different Syrian groups and supported by the UN could end a war in Syria and the EU should take a more active role.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU countries must fulfil their obligations to take in asylum-seekers from Greece and Italy, giving priority to unaccompanied minors, said Parliament on Thursday.

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Plenary sessions : Chechen authorities must end the persecution of gay men and an investigation must be held as a matter of urgency, MEPs said on Thursday.

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Plenary sessions : The construction and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank must stop to allow prospects for a viable two-state solution, urge MEPs.

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Plenary sessions : Parliament has given the Culture committee a mandate to begin talks with the Council on a new directive on audiovisual media, which will include online platforms.

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Plenary sessions : EU citizens with subscriptions for online films and TV will soon be able to access their content while temporarily in another EU country.

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Plenary sessions : Financial solidarity contributions by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to the European Economic Area and fisheries trade deals with Norway and Iceland were backed by MEPs on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP