European Union

Poland has some of the worst air quality in the EU. But fighting smog is expensive. The Modernisation Fund set up as part of the Emissions Trading Scheme could help here, writes Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera.

Climate change has been described as one of the biggest global threats of the 21st century. Dimitris Dimitriadis explains what the European Union needs to do to improve its civil protection capacities.

We are a long way from 2015. That year, the world committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate - promising to end extreme poverty, address corrosive inequality, boost peace and prosperity, and stop climate change, write leaders of six European think tanks.

In a vote it called "historic", the Green Party ended the absolute majority of conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria on Sunday (14 October) and became the second strongest political force in a state election whose result will resonate in Berlin and beyond and further dent Chancellor Angela Merkel's position.

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

Weekly schedule of President Donald Tusk 15-21 October 2018

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

Cohesion Policy is one the most important but still insufficiently known tools for EU integration, stakeholders highlighted during a EURACTIV forum in Brussels on Wednesday (10 October), where they called for a better communication to counter Euroscepticism.

Contenders to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker are coming in thick-and-fast. There's been a marked difference between how each candidate has chosen to kick-off their presidency bids, so what can we learn from their different styles?

The patchwork of policies on work-life balance across the EU reflect differing levels of commitment to the EU's Social Pillar.

The International Monetary Fund has lowered its forecast for economic growth in the global economy as the trade conflict between the USA and China becomes a real threat. But the situation in Europe is not exactly rosy either. EURACTIV Germany’s media partner WirtschaftsWoche reports.

Black politicians and community leaders from across Europe have backed Italian MEP Cécile Kyenge, who faces a controversial defamation trial brought by Matteo Salvini, the far-right leader of the League party, for calling his party racist.

EU leaders hope to seal a UK exit deal at a summit this week. Migrants, chemical weapons, and fish quotas also on this week's agenda.

The EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has rallied the cause for an EU-wide digital tax to be rolled out in time for Christmas, amid a raft of opposition on the plans from member states, legal experts and industry associations.

EU member states and the European Commission are pressing ahead with plans to possibly use Morocco and Tunisia as countries to offload asylum seekers and migrants - part of larger bid to create a so-called "safe third country" list.

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

© denisismagilov / Fotolia

The heads of state or government of 51 countries will gather in Brussels on 18 and 19 October for the 12th Europe-Asia summit (ASEM) to discuss closer relations and global challenges. The meeting will focus in particular on trade and investment, connectivity, sustainable development, and climate and security challenges. The EU attaches growing importance to relations with Asian countries as the region’s economic and political weight increases and as US trade policy is increasingly unpredictable.

This note offers links to selected recent commentaries, studies and reports from major international think-tanks on EU-Asian relations, the situation in the region and some of its countries. The publication does not cover issues related to China, which were the topic of one of the previous editions in the series.

EU-Asia

How Asia and Europe should really be working together
Friends of Europe, October 2018

To counter extremism, Asia and Europe can empower women and increase their participation
Friends of Europe, October 2018

ASEM has a role to play in improved Asia-Europe cooperation on security
Friends of Europe, September 2018

Japan-EU EPA moving towards ratification: Its significance and prospects
Japan Institute of International Affairs, July 2018

European Union-Asia multilateral cooperation in financial services
Centre for European Policy Studies, June 2018

Prevention better than cure: The EU’s quiet diplomacy in Asia
European Union Institute for Security Studies, June 2018

Digital trade in Europe and Central Asia
Asian Development Bank Institute, June 2018

Reinvigorating market momentum and inclusive economies in Europe and Eurasia
German Marshall Fund, June 2018

The new EU strategy for Central Asia: A case for cultural diplomacy
Institute for European Studies, May 2018

Europe’s pivot to Central Asia
Royal United Services Institute, May 2018

Health diplomacy of the European Union and its member states in Central Asia
Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, April 2018

Europe and South-East Asia: An Exercise in diplomatic patience
European Centre for International Political Economy, April 2018

Budding ties? The impact of Brexit on Europe-Japan relations
Japan Institute of International Affairs, April 2018

Macron’s passage to India: A missed opportunity for Europe
European Council on Foreign Relations, March 2018

Assessing the effectiveness of the EU’s and Russia’s cultural diplomacy towards Central Asia
Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, February 2018

Reimagining Europe’s partnerships with India and Japan: A new trilateral?
Clingendael, Febraury 2018

Security and foreign relations

The future of the Quad is in Southeast Asia
International Institute for Strategic Studies, September 2018

Conflict zone Asia-Pacific
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, June 2018

France and Central Asia: Time for a new vision?
Centre international de formation européenne, June 2018

Reinvigorating market momentum and inclusive economies in Europe and Eurasia
German Marshall Fund, June 2018

Twenty years into nuclear South Asia: Pathways to stability
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, June 2018

The sun rises in the East: Asia’s increasing influence in Africa
Observer Research Foundation, May 2018

Uzbekistan: A new model for reform in the Muslim world?
Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, May 2018

2018 en Asie: La démocratie à l’épreuve
Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques, May 2018

Turkey: Towards a Eurasian shift?
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, April 2018

Cooperation in Eurasia: Linking identity, security, and development
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, April 2018

Ce que nous dit le Boao Forum sur les plans de la Chine pour l’Asie
Institut Thomas More, April 2018

Russian-Chinese relations in Eurasia: Harmonization or subordination?
Finnish Institute of International Affairs, April 2018

Getting out from “in-between”: Perspectives on the regional order in post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia
Rand Europe, March 2018

Regionalism à la ASEAN: Past achievements and current challenges
Finnish Institute of International Affairs, March 2018

Southeast Asia seeks new partners in the era of “America First”
Council on Foreign Relations, March 2018

Regards sur l’Eurasie : L’année politique 2017
Centre d’études et de recherches internationales, February 2018

Cooperation and competition: Russia and China in Central Asia, the Russian Far East, and the Arctic
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, February 2018 

Is Southeast Asia really in an arms race?
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, East Asia Forum, February 2018

Taiwan’s role in East Asian security: Overlooked actor in a pivotal position
Finnish Institute of International Affairs, February 2018

Taiwan als Demokratievorbild in Asien
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, February 2018 

India: The Modi factor
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, February 2018 

Abe’s diplomacy at a crucial moment
Japan Institute of International Affairs, February 2018

Global security challenges and Japan’s national security thinking: Room to cooperate with the EU?
Istituto Affari Internazionali, February 2018 

Indiens Antwort auf die chinesische Seidenstraßeninitiative
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, January 2018

Economy and trade

Strengthening maritime cooperation and security in the Indian Ocean
International Institute for Strategic Studies, September 2018

ASEAN as the architect for regional development cooperation
The Asia Foundation, September 2018

ASEM open and fair trade area: From vision to reality
Friends of Europe, September 2018

An Asia super grid would be a boon for clean energy, if it gets built
Council on Foreign Relations, September 2018

China-India-Japan in the Indo-Pacific: Ideas, interests and infrastructure
Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, September 2018

Financing and implementing the quality infrastructure agenda
Centre for Strategic and International Studies, September 2018

The roles of Japan and ASEAN in concluding RCEP negotiations
Japan Institute of International Affairs, August 2018

Asia leads the world’s response to protectionism
Peterson Institute for International Economics, July 2018

Could India become an economic superpower?
Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade, April 2018

The Asia–Africa growth corridor: Bringing together old partnerships and new initiatives
Observer Research Foundation, April 2018

Of streams of data, thought, and other things: Digitalisation, energy policy, and innovation capacity from an Asian perspective
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, April 2018

Along the road: Sri Lanka’s tale of two ports
European Union Institute for Security Studies, April 2018

Regulating for a digital economy: Understanding the importance of cross-border data flows in Asia
Brookings Institution, March 2018

Fostering green finance for sustainable development in Asia
Asian Development Bank Institute, March 2018

Introducing greening strategies in emerging economies
The Asia Foundation, February 2018

Connecting the dots: Eurasian transport in 2030
Friends of Europe, February 2018

The geopolitics of online taxation in Asia-Pacific: Digitalisation, corporate tax Base and the role of governments
European Centre for International Political Economy, January 2018

The EU should impose asset freezes and visa bans on people guilty of cyber attacks, a group of member states has urged.

An old-fashioned law of the Greek penal code dated back to 1950 prevents private actors from investing in projects where the public sector also has a share, thus blocking a potential investment boom the country badly needs.

Greece’s ruling Syriza lashed out at conservative opposition New Democracy party on Friday (12 October), after Alexander Stubb, a contender for the EPP Spitzenkandidat position, told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview there is no room for populism in the European centre-right family.

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