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.  

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.

GSP+ treatment for the Philippines

(back in 2014)

by Seval Alpaslan

November 5-6, 2014 - The European Parliament (EP) has discussed the GSP+ demand of the Philippines, on November 5^th and 6^th, 2014. GSP+ stands for Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+), a scheme that allows developing countries to export products to the European Union (EU) at a zero or much reduced tariff. The Philippines expects to improve their share with EU’s fresh and processed tuna market with GSP+.

The Philippines mentioned in the conference that GSP+ is a serious issue and a centre matter for the developing countries to enter in the EU market with reduction tariff, since there will be fighting chance with its products and also with employment opportunities.