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Eurozone growing internal imbalances

Video by John Authers, FT.Com

Europe Needs to be More Assertive in Transatlantic Relations

by Wolfgang Ischinger

Climate Action - Energy for a changing world

This video catalogue represents a selection of the vast number of audiovisual products, news items and archives by the EU Commission - Audiovisual Productions

Irish 'No' triggers blame-game, finger-pointing in EU

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Europe is in perpetual motion! Today the European Union is overstreched and somewhat diluted. Paralysis on the one hand, dynamism on the other! Member States reluctantly voe for new ideas and vision. But the European Civil Society is gaining pace and influence in most decision making processes. New dynamics of European internal forces around pragmatic common projects is badly needed. In the enlarged EU new leadership can emerge applying an asymetric partnership strategy.  Increased collaboration implies new ideas and methods beyond the traditional sovereignity limits.  Unlocking the value in the long tail of the diverse EU stakeholders is probably the single most urgent task for the European leaders of today. Would the reformed Treaties be enough to meet the ever faster global challenges?
 
Europe Ahead is a users-developed, open , re-search , debate and information area. The Europe Ahead Platform integrates collaborative -  WikiBee - and community - Be-a-Bee -  applications.
 


Not quiet on the eastern front

How to lose friends and alienate people, from Economist.com
Had it been cooked up in the Kremlin's department of fiendishly clever geopolitical plots it could hardly be more damaging. First, America arm-twists some of its most loyal European allies to do dreadful things in great secrecy. Then it boasts about them. The result: America's tattered moral authority frays further, and the allies look stupid in the eyes of their voters and neighbours.

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A chance for Europe to face the New Truth

By John Vinocur, International Herald Tribune

AMSTERDAM: Welcome to the European Union's how-to era: how to save it, how to fix it, how to make its peoples love it - or, failing that, like it enough to care.

The reality is that they don't, unless the matter at hand directly concerns new benefits, unwanted obligations or the fear of reducing the multiple and already-pocketed individual advantages of EU membership.

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Steering Labour Migration to the EU - Perspectives
by Steffen Angenendt and Roderick Parkes for SWP
In July 2008, France will take on the EU Presidency. Insofar as the French government has made its goals for asylum and immigration policy known, the expectation is that it will concentrate on combating irregular immigration. This focus will likely fall short of the imperative set out by the European Union's heads of state and government for a "comprehensive and coherent" policy. The question of labour migration from outside the Union is in particular danger of being neglected. This topic is a hot potato for all Member States. Many governments are concerned that common European rules will entail a loss of political control over immigration. Yet, it is precisely in this area that Europe-wide approaches could play a most fruitful role. How can a coherent and comprehensive European policy be fashioned that offers all the advantages of common rules without sapping sovereignty?
  		 
Med Union and Eastern Partnership are Rivals in the EU-Vision Contest

Marek Swierczynski for Atlantic Community

Now the Lisbon Treaty is almost over and done with, the EU is encouraged to look south- and eastwards. Initiatives by France and a Polish-Swedish team aim at creating buffer-spaces between the EU and unstable regions, but could create tensions that challenge the bloc’s unity.

 

France comes to the helm of the EU with a clear plan to pacify the North-African terrorist threats with a lump of money and upgrade the international position of those states that are keen. But just weeks before the French presidency begins, a firm hold wieghs on Mr Sarkozy's neck - one that will turn his head to the East if he seriously wants to look to the South.

 

The Eastern Partnership, proposed by Poland and Sweden, was more than a move on behalf of northern countries that fear domination by the EU's southern direction in external dealings. It was meant to supplement a cohesive behind-border plan, should there be one. Spain and Portugal do it for Latin America, France for North Africa and the Middle East, Britain to a certain extent for the US, and the whole of the EU takes care of the Western Balkans as they make their way into the club. Poland felt that the Eastern, post-Soviet direction remained unattended, and saw that as a threat to its position.

 

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