Today the Council of the European Union meets in Luxembourg to debate about the Commission proposals for an effort-sharing on LULUCF regulation, concerning land use, land use change and forestry.…
The 22nd of September, the College of Europe organised a conference titled “Between Cooperation and Competition: Major powers in Shared Neighbourhood – lessons for the EU”. This conference aimed to emphasise the nature of the interaction between different major powers across the world. The analysis of their interaction shed the light on challenges that can arise when major power decide whether to cooperate or to compete while dealing with their “shared neighbourhood”. The variety of speakers involved in the conference allowed spectators to understand from different perspectives the issues preventing the EU to deal with its neighbourhood in the most effective way. The morning session focused on EU’s neighbourhood policies with its Eastern and Southern neighbours, and how no balance between cooperation and competition had yet been found. The afternoon session focused on the way other major powers (Brazil, the US, India, China) deal with their shared neighbourhood, and what lessons the EU need to learn from their practises.
The British High Court declared on Thursday that May’s government has not legal authority to start the Brexit process without prior parliamentary approval. The Parliament is the only body empowered to…
On Wednesday the 12th of October the Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner, D. Avramopoulos, and the Security Union Commissioner, Sir J. King, reviewed and made public the monthly report on…
La numérisation grandissante de l’économie a fait des données personnelles l’un des outils les plus performants et les plus recherchés par les entreprises. Les plus importantes firmes digitales l’ont rapidement compris : cela explique en effet pourquoi Mark Zuckerberg, le CEO de Facebook, a déboursé 22 millions de dollars pour acquérir la messagerie instantanée en ligne WhatsApp. Dans la foulée, il a également décidé de rendre sa gratuité à l’application : dès lors, il est légitime de chercher l’intérêt de cette fusion-acquisition, cet intérêt se trouve précisément dans les données personnelles des utilisateurs de WhatsApp, créant par-là un géant de big data qui intéresse de près la Commissaire européenne de la concurrence Mme Margrethe Vestager. (suite…)
“More than ever, Europe is facing huge challenges. Especially in times of crisis, our citizens must be able to recognize the value and benefits of being EU members. It is important to be able to guarantee internal security. This also implies an obligation to fight both the real threats and international Islamic terrorism in Europe”. These words are part of the Franco-German text presented on August 23 at the European Commission, in order to face the external and internal threats. A few days later, on September 11, at the eve of the Bratislava summit, another text was sent to the High Representative (HR) Federica Mogherini containing proposals to implement the Global Strategy of the European Union. The Global Strategy was presented during the first meeting without the United Kingdom, on June 28 in Brussels. After the referendum, it was clear that many balances should have been changed; however, a lot of people already speak about the Franco-German alliance, ready to take a leading role inside the European security and defense policy (ESDP). Firstly, this article will explain the content of the Lisbon Treaty’s articles which define the European common security and defense policy. Secondly, the path of the European security policy after Brexit will be presented. Finally, the objective consequences of this evolution will be analysed, in order to understand the implications of the Franco-German proposition.
The Budgets Committee’s (BUDG) meeting to review the draft 2017 EU budget approved more funds to help young employment and to support economic growth. BUDG also debated migration and security…
This paper examines the progress made along the month of September on the refugee crisis affecting Europe. Despite the fact that 65 million people are displaced worldwide, of which…
At yesterday’s Eurogroup, ministers welcomed the implementation of Greece’s economic adjustment program. They also acknowledged future challenges Member States should meet regarding health care and long-term care as well as current…
The former socialist Prime Minister of Portugal, António Gutierres, was elected unanimously by the United Nations Security Council to replace Ban Ki-moon as secretary-general. The 15 ambassadors of the UN…