The Newsletter n°704 — 22 févr. 2016
La Lettre
Anna Dolya
—
22 February 2016
In the present context of war in the East of Ukraine, the issue of Crimea has undoubtedly become secondary two years after its annexation by Russia. However the peninsula represents a unique case where in times of peace, a State has occupied and annexed a part of another State's territory, thereby breaching all existing international and intergovernmental agreements. This study lays out the mechanisms of annexation and the political systems used.
Foundation
Permanent Atlas of the European Union (3rd edition)
21 February 2016
The third edition of the Atlas of the European Union is a work of reference that presents the Union, its institutions, each of the 28 Member States and a new feature - their overseas territories - via their history, culture and their reality.
Conference on the Irish elections
22 February 2016
The Hanns Seidel Stiftung, the Wilfried Martens Centre and the Robert Schuman Foundation are organising a conference in Brussels on March 1st on the Irish elections. Enrolment free of charge but obligatory.
Crying wolf
22 February 2016
In an editorial published on his site Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Foundation encourages Europe's leaders to act rather than to cry wolf.
European Council
Conclusions of the European Council
21 February 2016
After long hours of negotiation an agreement was found between the 28 heads of State and government on 19th February regarding the requests for reform put forward by British Prime Minister, D. Cameron, for the upkeep of his country in the EU. On 18th February the Ministers discussed the migratory issue and decided on an EU-Turkey summit at the beginning of March.
Migration
European financial aid for the refugee crisis in Macedonia (FYRM)
21 February 2016
On 15th February the European Commission adopted an additional financial support programme of 10 million € for the refugee crisis in Macedonia (FYRM).
Visegrad Group Summit on the migratory issue
21 February 2016
On 15th February the Polish, Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian Prime Ministers met in Prague on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Visegrad Group to discuss the migratory issue.
Conclusions of the General Affairs Council
21 February 2016
On 16th February the 28 European Affairs Ministers discussed the national implementation of decisions prior to the refugee crisis.
Austria wants to stem the influx of asylum seekers
22 February 2016
The Austrian Minister for Home Affairs Johanne Mikl-Leitner announced on 16th February the introduction of controls on twelve border crossings with Slovenia (7), Hungary (2) and Italy (3) in order to limit access by asylum seekers. The government has set a ceiling at 37,500 requests.
Amnesty International launches an appeal for the migrants in Calais
22 February 2016
In a declaration published on 15th February, Amnesty International launched an appeal for cooperation between the French and British government for them to ensure, in virtue of the principle of family reunion, the transfer of migrants living in Calais and Dunkerque who have family living in the UK.
Bulgaria allows the deployment of the armed forces on its borders
22 February 2016
On 18th February the Bulgarian parliament authorised the deployment of the army on its border in response to the inflow of migrants in this country which has a 260 km land border with Turkey.
No exclusion of Greece from Schengen
22 February 2016
On 20th February Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, spoke to parliament of the migratory crisis and announced that Greece would not be excluded from the Schengen Area.
Financial Crisis
The OECD publishes its economic outlook
21 February 2016
In its report on the world economic outlook presented on 18th February the OECD indicated that "economic expansion in 2016 will not be stronger than in 2015, reaching its slowest rate in the last five years."
Greece adopts social measures
22 February 2016
The Greek Parliament adopted several social measures on 20th February notably in the area of healthcare, in a bid to palliate the effects of the crisis.
Euro zone: private sector growth continued to slow in February
22 February 2016
Private activity growth in the euro zone continued to slow in February with the composite PMI showing 52.7, its lowest level since January 2015, according to a first monthly estimation published on 22nd February by Markit.
Commission
On-line dispute settlement platform
21 February 2016
On 15th February the European Commission launched the on-line dispute settlement platform to solve disputes regarding purchases made on the web.
Proposals for energy security
21 February 2016
On 16th February the European Commission presented measures on energy security aiming to guarantee energy transition and to overcome possible disruptions in supply.
The fight to counter tax fraud
21 February 2016
On 17th February the European Commission announced the release of 14.5 million € to help Member States counter tax fraud, corruption and illegal activities.
Parliament
Jeroen Dijsselbloem wants to strengthen banking union
21 February 2016
During his speech to the Economic and Monetary Committee at the European Parliament on 18th February, the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem announced that he wanted to strengthen European banking union and to step up the fight to counter tax avoidance.
Diplomacy
Joint declaration on Libya
21 February 2016
In a joint declaration on 18th January the German, Spanish, American, French, Italian, British governments and that of the United Arab Emirates said they "were pleased with the announcement made by the Libyan Presidential Council on the 14th February of a government of national unity."
European Agencies
Agreement between Europol an the American Immigration and Customs Agency
21 February 2016
On 17th February Europol and the American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency signed an agreement on their joint fight to counter money laundering.
Ireland
Polls on the general elections in Ireland
22 February 2016
According to the most recent polls published by the information channel RTE on 20th February, Fine Gael led by Enda Kenny is due to win 28% of the vote during the election on 26th February. Labour has fallen back to 7%, Sinn Fein remains stable at 18% and Fianna Fail is due to win 20%.
UK
Referendum on the European Union on 23rd June
22 February 2016
On 20th February the British Prime Minister David Cameron set the date for the referendum on the European Union for 23rd June 2016. Mr Cameron will campaign for the "in vote" but some of his ministers and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson will campaign for the "out vote".
Montenegro
Montenegro starts negoations to join NATO
21 February 2016
On 15th February negotiations for Montenegro's membership of NATO started in Brussels. Discussions focused on accession details, notably the political, military and legal aspects.
Ukraine
Ukraine: extremely weakened government coalition
22 February 2016
The government coalition in Ukraine is on the brink of collapse. The Samopomich Party which has 26 seats, announced on 18th February that it was leaving the coalition after a similar decision was taken on 17th February by Batkivshchina, the party of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko (19 seats).
Vatican
Pope Francis supports the reform of Europe
22 February 2016
On 18th February Pope Francis spoke in support of the reform of Europe. In his opinion, "the old continent has a strength, a culture, history that cannot be wasted."
Council of Europe
Sweden: anti-torture report by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture
21 February 2016
On 17th February the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) of the Council of Europe presented its report in which it demands Sweden "to relax the restrictions set on people placed on remand."
Condemnation of Belarus by the Council of Europe
21 February 2016
On 17th February,Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe condemned the death sentence delivered in Belarus.
IMF
Christine Lagarde officially re-appointed as head of the IMF for five years
21 February 2016
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), French woman Christine Lagarde, was officially re-appointed by the Executive Board on 19th February for a five year mandate.
Eurostat
Statistics of Agriculture in the EU
21 February 2016
According to a press release by Eurostat on 18th February within the European Union the Member States having contributed most to the value of agricultural production were France (18%), followed by Germany (14%), Italy (13%), Spain (10%), UK (8%), Netherlands (7%) and Poland (5%). Together these 7 States represent around three quarters of the EU's total agricultural production.
18% of European job seekers have found work
21 February 2016
On 19th February Eurostat published a press release according to which 62.7% of job seekers in the second quarter of 2015 were in the same position in the third, whilst 17.9% of them had found work and that 19.4% had become economically inactive.
Studies/Reports
Report on the financing of European security
21 February 2016
Fabienne Keller, French Senator, presented an information report on the financing of the fight to counter terrorism and the protection of external borders on behalf of the French Senate's European Affairs Committee.
Budgetary Union for the Euro Zone?
21 February 2016
The French Economic Analysis Council published a paper by Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Xavier Ragot and Guntram Wolff on 18th February, entitled "Quelle union budgétaire pour la zone euro?"
2015 Financial statements of the ECB
22 February 2016
On 18th February the European Central Bank published its financial statements for 2015. The results show that the ECB made a net profit of 1,082 million € in 2015, in comparison with 989 million € in 2014.
Culture
Matisse Exhibition in Turin
22 February 2016
The Palazzo Chiablese is running an exhibition until 15th May "Mattisse e il suo tempo": 50 of the artist's works and 47 pictures by modern artists are on show representing the poetry of the "grand master of colours" and his influence over the artistic world.
World Press Photo: a photo on the migrant crisis wins the first prize
21 February 2016
On 18th February the World Press Photo awarded Australian Warren Richardson and his photograph entitled "Hope of a new life" featuring a man and his child as they passed over the Serbo-Hungarian border.
Hieronymus Bosch – Visions of Genius
22 February 2016
The Noordbrabants Museum of 's-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands) is running a retrospective event until 19th May of the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of his death.
Exhibition on realism at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
22 February 2016
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is running an exhibition until 22nd May on the realism in the work by the painters and sculptors who have lived and worked in Madrid.
Gérard Fromanger Exhibition at the Pompidou Centre
22 February 2016
The Pompidou Centre is running an exhibition until 16th May on Gérard Fromanger's work from 1975 to 2015.
Ceci n'est pas l'Europe - This is not Europe
22 February 2016
The Mons Memorial Museum is running an exhibition until 26th June "Ceci n'est pas l'Europe" organised together with Cartooning for Peace. It presents diverse views of Europe and draws a picture of European society.
Agenda
24th February
Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council (Brussels)
25th February
Justice and Home Affairs Council (Brussels)
les 25th-27th February
Meeting of Finance Ministers and governors of the central banks of the G20 countries (Shanghai)
26th February
General Elections (Ireland)
29th February
Competitiveness Council (Brussels)
Newsletter Archives
The Italian economy and its European outlook
The challenges facing European agriculture: Crisis or opportunity for transformation?
European support to the defence industry - Mid-term review of the European Defence Fund
Greenland:a geostrategic challenge for the European Union in the age of Trump 2.0
Polish Presidency of the Council - A paradigm shift in Poland's European policy
The Editors of the Newsletter :
Charles de Marcilly, Helen Levy ,Rodolphe Baron, Angéline Garde, Emma Giraud,Morgane Mounier, Joséphine Staron, Laura Zani
N°ISSN : 2729-6482
Editor-in-Chief :
Eric Maurice
Director of Publication :
Pascale Joannin
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