European Union

The EU’s financial support for African peace and security policies “has had a poor effect and needs refocusing,” the European Court of Auditors said in a report published on Tuesday (18 September).

A leaked internal memo, obtained by EURACTIV, gives a rare glimpse into the communication strategy of Europe's main business lobby group ahead of the COP24 conference later this year, showing how it plans to “oppose” any increase in the EU's climate ambition for 2030.

The informal Salzburg summit will be an opportunity for Austria to breath some life into the bridge building catchphrase, and to act as honest broker to find common ground.

Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain and the European Union were nearing a divorce deal but called on the bloc to show "goodwill and determination" to avoid a disorderly Brexit and secure a close future partnership.

Greece's migration minister on Tuesday (18 September) pledged to improve living conditions for migrants in camps on islands in the Aegean Sea, where he said arrivals had doubled this summer.

The EU issued a financial tracking report on progress against the pledges made at the Brussels II conference on "Supporting the future of Syria and the region".

The Council endorsed the priorities of the UN-EU Strategic Partnership on peace operations and crisis management for the period 2019-2021.

The Council extended until 30 September 2020 the mandate of the mission EUCAP Sahel Niger.

The Council appointed Susanna Terstal as EU Special Representative for the Middle East peace process.

Written by Gisela Grieger and Roderick Harte,

© Itan1409 / Fotolia

Growing geopolitical rivalry, escalating trade tensions between the United States and China (both big players in Latin America and the Caribbean – LAC) and a US trade policy shifting away from a multilateral towards a bilateral approach based on ‘America First’, have created uncertainty in this part of the world. The ongoing commitment and shift of LAC countries towards multilateralism and free and fair trade provides the EU with a window of opportunity to strengthen its footprint in a region with which it maintains close cooperation and political dialogue on account of its historical, cultural and economic ties. Although the 33 countries forming the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) are together currently the EU’s fifth largest trading partner, the EU has in the past two decades lost market share to the USA and China.

Since the 1990s, the EU has pursued a strategy of promoting sub-regional integration initiatives within LAC and bi-regional integration between the EU and the then existing four sub-regional LAC groupings (the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), Cariforum, the Central America group, and Mercosur) as well as bilateral integration with Chile and Mexico. This has resulted in a number of agreements governing trade relations, including fully fledged agreements with two sub-regional groupings (Cariforum and Central America), a multiparty free trade agreement with three countries of the Andean Community (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Bolivia may join at a later stage) and bilateral agreements with Mexico and Chile. Since November 2017, a new agreement with Cuba, governing trade relations (the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA)), has also been provisionally applied (although it is not very comprehensive). In addition, the EU has an inter-regional framework agreement with Mercosur as well as bilateral framework agreements with its founding members (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay). Since 1999, the EU and Mercosur (excluding Venezuela) have been negotiating a fully fledged bi-regional agreement governing trade relations. Negotiations have gained momentum since 2016, with both parties aiming at a political agreement in 2018 (after earlier expectations for such an agreement by the end of 2017 were not met).

Alongside the ongoing EU-Mercosur negotiations, the EU is also in the process of modernising its 2000 Global Agreement with Mexico (negotiations are currently being concluded after an ‘agreement in principle’ was reached in April 2018) as well as its 2003 association agreement with Chile (for which negotiations are ongoing). The trade pillars of both of these existing agreements are less comprehensive and advanced in terms of liberalisation compared with recently negotiated trade agreements such as the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). They lack, among other things, specific provisions on sustainable development (which are covered in softer political dialogue frameworks) and have limited World Trade Organisation plus (WTO+) provisions on intellectual property rights (IPR), services, investment, public procurement and regulatory cooperation.

Overall, the EU’s agreements governing trade relations with Latin America and the Caribbean differ considerably in terms of coverage and methodology, depending on the time at which they were concluded and the context of the negotiations.

Read the complete in-depth analysis on “EU trade with Latin America and the Caribbean: Overview and figures“.

Click to view slideshow.

The European Commission on Tuesday (18 September) proposed sanctions on countries that commit “willful and repeated” obfuscation of their trade policies, as part of an effort to modernise the World Trade Organisation.

“Pole and Hungarian brothers be, good for fight and for glass” - that's the famous proverb at the heart of Poland and Hungary's friendship, which has connected the two countries for centuries. But is their venerable alliance coming to an end?

The world’s first hydrogen-powered train service began operating in Germany on Sunday (16 September), while EU ministers debated the future potential of the clean fuel at an informal summit in Austria this week.

The UK should end special access for EU citizens and introduce migration laws that focus on attracting skilled workers, the UK government’s advisory committee on migration recommended in a new report published Tuesday (18 September).

Commenting on the decision by Russia and Turkey to create a “demilitarised” zone in a rebel-held Syrian region, the EU called on Tuesday (18 September) on the “Astana guarantors”, Russia, Turkey and Iran, to respect civilians as a matter of priority.

EU council president Donald Tusk wants to discuss deepening relations with authoritarian Egypt, as a model of migrant reduction, with EU heads of state and government at a meeting in Salzburg, Austria on Wednesday.

Brexit, internal security and immigration: the items on the agenda of the informal European Council summit in Salzburg on Thursday (20 September) could lead to lively discussions. EURACTIV France reports.

Russia’s possible return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe would mean that even institutions created to defend European values are no longer able to do so, writes Volodymyr Yermolenko.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for a new Brexit referendum in an opinion piece for The Observer. The consequences for the British economy and living standards are too great for the people to be denied any more say on the issue, Khan argued. While some commentators pin their hopes on a new vote, others point to at least one catch.