European Union's secret receipt for a sustainable environment, public health and food safety

by Edoardo de Stefani

European Union's secret receipt for a sustainable environment, public health and food safety is simple enough to be replied at home. Indeed, citizens are the most important ingredients for the success of the "circular economy". 

On 29 January 2015 the European Parliament (EP) acknowledged the need to include citizens in the policy making process for exploiting the benefits of the "circular economy", through the technology of social innovation. What is really necessary in Europe, as mentioned at the conference, is to change mentality and to make use of all our assets, including the young generation and the Erasmus one: “Young people are said to be less politicized, but at least they maintain a strong idealistic push that can sustain Europe as a symbol for everyone". 

Though, civic engagement is not only about idealism or an institutional practice to increase the social acceptance of EU. People can contribute to the correct functioning of the delicate clockwork, for instance by participating at the design of those projects that aim at delivering community services. The general idea is that established decision-making structures can be sustained in policy formation and projects implementation by active networks of civic stakeholders.

The Revision of the Non-Proliferation Treaty: Prospects and Issues

by Angelo Amante

On Thursday 29 January 2015, the sub-Committee on Security and Defence of the EP hosted a public hearing on the review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Every year, the nine nuclear states, with America and Russia leading the way, spend $100 billion for the maintenance of their nuclear armouries, demonstrating their unwillingness to renounce in the future to their nuclear might. The discussions were focused above all on the position to be assumed by the EU on the subject, stressing the responsibility of the EU in fostering the international control of nuclear arsenals. The ninth conference for the revision of the NPT will be held from 27 April to 22 May of this year, with an array of issues to be resolved. Among the most important themes to be dealt with during the forthcoming negotiations there is the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the nuclear agenda and the status of the so-called “deviant states”, that is North Korea and Iran. Moreover, the experts invited to take part in the public hearing also stressed the humanitarian aspect of nuclear disarmament, which will influence every future debate over non-proliferation.