The new Syriza-led government in Greece and its alliance struggles in the EU

by Davide Covelli

Picture from http://www.cgw.gr/

On 26 January 2015 Alexis Tsipras, leader of the major anti-austerity party coalition in Greece, assumed the lead of the Greek government. With his manifesto he sought to refuse explicitly and totally the general principles on which the entire political economy of the EU has been based until now. Tsipras’s victory speech, stating “the verdict of the Greek people annuls today in an indisputable fashion the bailout agreements of austerity and disaster”, provoked the German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble to immediately reply, highlighting that “there's no question of a debt haircut”. What clearly looms from this exchange of words is that there is an internal struggle within the EU,  exposing both ideological and national interests.

The European institutions are designed on the principle of balancing the different member states. The struggle for power in the EU has always been based on a concerted form of agenda setting and on a definition of the role of member states within a common institutional and normative framework. This framework is an achievement that was reached through the endorsement of multilateral treaties.

International Women's Day 2015. Empowering women and girls through education and mobilization.

by Sabrina Cocuzza 

Today, all the world celebrates the International Women’s Day, reminding the many achievements that women have sucessfully accomplished since 1995, when the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which represents the historic roadmap for women rights was signed by 189 governments.  Year by year, women's rights have been increasingly protected, but there is still much to do for accelerating this progress with a greater mobilization of the International Community. "When we unleash the power of women, we can secure the future for all," says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in his message for International Women’s Day 2015. Although this statement, we are still compelled to recognize the gap that hold back any pushes to gender-equality. I think of girls used as weapons by violent extremists, subject to female genital mutilation, child marriage, exploitation and discriminatory social norms. Some of this facts are no far from the EU and western countries where too many girls and women of every racial, ethnic, gender, age and socioeconomic group are still targets of domestic abuses, sexual assault, stalking, discrimination.  Furthermore, in times of recession and greater unemployment, the violence is known to increase, especially when community shelters and government assistance programs have fewer resources. 

Why Mogherini was Not in Belarus: Powers and Weaknesses of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

by Angelo Amante

Image from www.neurope.eu

The absence of Mrs Mogherini at the Minsk summit on Ukraine did not pass unnoticed, reopening the debate on the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. In Belarus, Europe was not represented by Mogherini, but by Angela Merkel and François Hollande. This fact reveals that the Franco-German axis still dominates the EU’s geopolitical relations. Since the early 1950s, the balance of power between France and Germany constitutes the core of a united Europe. Politically speaking, therefore, the role of France and Germany in Minsk is far from unexpected.

From a legal point of view, however, the question is more complex. What follows underlines some problems with how the Lisbon Treaty delineates the figure of the High Representative. The Lisbon Treaty establishes that the High Representative shall preside the Foreign Affairs Council, leading the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The High Representative is also one of the Vice-Presidents of the Commission and functions as the head of the European External Action Service. In theory, the competences and powers of the High Representative are thus quite relevant. In practice, however, the particular policy field to which the responsibilities and activities of the European Foreign Affairs Minister are ascribed is rather abstract, posing a number of obstacles. 

A Digital Single Market and e(U)-Governance

by Fabienne Zwagemakers

From: ec.europa.eu

It is no surprise that the European Union’s digital agenda is a pivotal priority of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the European Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker.  The EU has gone digital and e-governance increasingly permeates EU governance. With ICT developments rapidly progressing and online consumerism taking over the internal market, e-governance seems unavoidable to boost economic growth and competitiveness in the EU. As part of a strategy towards enhanced economic growth, the main objectives of pursuing a fully-fledged digital single market encompass increased revenues, employment opportunities, and the realization of a knowledge-based society. Digital priorities moreover support the EU’s It endeavors to assert regional and global leadership.  

The EU’s single market ensures the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital. In a similar vein, the EU’s digital single market aims to ensure these four freedoms online. Paramount to a safe and smooth functioning of the digital single market are tailored regulations and directives, pertaining to especially fair competition, cyber safety, and consumer protection. In addition, the EU needs to invest in new mechanisms to strengthen the interoperability of online services, networks, data storage, and devices. However, adjacent to the apparent need for technological ingenuity, new standards, intelligence and pan-European internet access and digital literacy, there is one greater challenge the EU is bound to tackle: building trust among consumers, businesses and other actors moving around on the digital single market.