The Letter n°668

On 28th April a conference on Hungary will take place at the French National Assembly 25 years after the reunification of Europe. This conference organised by the József Antall Centre and in cooperation with the Embassy of Hungary in France, the France-Hungary friendship group at the National Assembly , the Jacques Delors Institute and the Robert Schuman Foundation, will be the occasion to highlight the importance of the diplomatic work undertaken by József Antall - particularly regarding France - to analyse the legacy of Antallian democratic tradition in Hungary today and also to review the membership of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe of the EU and their respective democratic transition... Read more

Whilst the 17th EU-Ukraine Summit took place on 27th April in Kyiv the Foundation has published a report of the meeting organised on 2nd April with Tetyana Ogarkova which looks into the nature of events in Ukraine and the issue of whether they are a challenge to Europe or a local conflict... Read more

On 29th April 2015 a conference will take place in Vienna called "Outlook for the European Union and its Foreign Policy". Organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna this conference will include a speech by Gunterh Krichbaum, President of the European Affairs Committee at the Bundestag. It will be moderated by former Austrian Defence Minister Werner Fasslabend... Read more

On 2nd May 2015 the European Parliament in Strasbourg will be holding its Open Doors Day. Organised for Europe Day this year's Open Doors will focus on the European Year for Development. Yearly Europe Day celebrates the declaration delivered by Robert Schuman on 9th May 1950, a declaration that constitutes the founding base of the European project. The European Parliament will open its doors allowing 20,000 visitors to see how this institution functions as well as giving them an opportunity to understand the issues debated by the MEPs within its walls. The Robert Schuman Foundation will be taking part in this event... Read more

On 24th and 25th April 2015 the 28 European Finance Ministers met in Riga and discussed the economic situation and financial stability in the European Union. They stressed the need to implement reform in order to guarantee long term stability and to create an attractive environment for investments. They highlighted the success of the first trilogue on the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Ministers spoke of the development of the Capital Markets Union and the structural reforms which this infers such as the promotion of investments, the reduction of the fragmentation of the financial markets, the fight to counter tax fraud (via the EU's action plan on the erosion of the tax base and the transfer of profits -BEPS) as well as cooperation between private and public investors and entrepreneurs... Read more

The euro zone's Finance Ministers met in Riga on 24th April. Since an agreement still has not been found Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup's President again called on Greece to provide a "complete and detailed" for the list of agreed reforms, if the country wanted to receive European funds. Mr Dijsselbloem believes that the length of the negotiations "lies in the hands of the Greek authorities". Banking Union, the full establishment of which is due to occur on 1st January 2016, was also addressed. Eurogroup finally lauded the budgetary progress made by Spain although the debt and unemployment are still high - likewise Cyprus, where free-circulation of capital was restored after the lifting of capital controls on 6th April last... Read more

The growth of private activity declined in April in the euro zone. The PMI composite index lay at 53.5 points against 54 last month indicated Markit. on 23rd April. "The April estimate flags a slowing in overall growth in the euro zone in comparison with an 11 month peak in March," stressed Markit. The slowing recorded in April is due to a decline in Germany and France's growth with French growth almost stagnating due to a swifter contraction in the manufacturing industry... Read more

The Prime Minister of Portugal, Pedro Passos Coelho announced on 24th April that he wanted his country to reimburse of the loans taken out with the IMF. In its stability programme given to the European Commission the Portuguese government explained that it wanted to pay back the IMF. Indeed the IMF lent 27 billion euro to Portugal in 2011 under the Economic and Financial Assistance Programme. The Prime Minister believes that it would be better to reimburse these debts earlier since the interest that Portugal has to pay is high and the sum to pay back is growing as time goes by. The Agency that manages the treasury and the government debt already paid back 6.6 billion euro between 13th and 18th March... Read more

The heads of State and government met on 23rd April for an extraordinary European summit and they decided to step up Europe's presence at sea by multiplying the financial means available to Triton and Poseidon by three. They also decided to counter traffickers by destroying their boats and by stepping up police cooperation with migrants' departure countries. Greater support to third countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Mali, Niger) has also been planned so that they can guarantee their land and maritime borders. Development programmes will also be financed (North Africa and the Horn of Africa). Finally a new return programme coordinated by Frontex will be introduced to enable the rapid return of migrants who do not succeed in gaining asylum... Read more

On 22nd April the European Commission published a communication of objections against Gazprom for abuse of dominant position on the gas supply markets in central and eastern Europe. Some practices undertaken by the Russian company are said to be contrary to European competition rules: price deals, territorial restrictions in its supply agreements with wholesalers, abusive limitation of cross-border gas flows, gas deliveries subject to investments in a gas pipeline promoted by Gazprom. Eight Member States are said to be affected by this: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lituania, Poland and Slovakia. This communication comes prior to a final decision to be taken by the Commission and Gazprom now has 12 weeks to prepare its defence... Read more

On 22nd April the Commission presented the results of its re-assessment of the decision making process for the authorisation of GMOs in human and animal food. The Commission's studies confirm that public opinion supports this measure and that European States must be able to control the use of GMOs in their territory. Therefore the Commission put forward a proposal to modify existing legislation. On 24th April it gave the greenlight for the use of 17 GMOs designed for human or animal consumption as well as two genetically modified carnations. Seven of these GMOs were already in use and their authorisation has been renewed, whilst ten new GMOs will now be allowed in the EU. The GMOs allowed by the Commission have been approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) after a scientific assessment of their potential effects. These new permits will come in addition to the 58 GMOs allowed in the EU at present... Read more

The European Union has found a boost thanks to an agreement to use 21.1 billion € from unspent funds from the 2014 budget announced the European Commission on Wednesday 22nd April. The agreement was approved by the Member States and now has to get the greenlight from the European Parliament. "Normally the European funds that are not used up at the end of the period are "lost", explained the Commission. The agreement enables the spread of these 21.1 billion euro over three financial years: 16.5 billion in 2015, 4.5 billion in 2016 and 100 million in 2017. However the funds have to be used by the programmes to which they were allocated. The four main beneficiaries are Italy (4.1billion), Spain (3.4), Czech Republic (3.2), and France (1.4). Greece will be able to use 722 million euro over the three financial years to co-finance some programmes... Read more

Regulatory cooperation and standards were the focus of the 9th round of negotiations between the US and the EU. Meeting in New York until 24th April the negotiators advanced in these two areas in preparation of a high level meeting in the autumn said head EU negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero. The Americans complained of the proposal made by the Commission authorising GMOs, which in their opinion would be an impediment to transatlantic trade... Read more

On 21st April 2015 the 28 European Affairs Ministers agreed on a 1 billion € increase in early payments under the initiative for youth employment so that Member States can speed up the introduction of measures to counter youth unemployment. Moreover they approved the revision of the multiannual financial framework 2014-2020 to protect funds devoted to the promotion of growth and employment. They indicated that a stabilisation and association agreement with Bosnia-Herzegovina will enter into force on June 1st. Finally they confirmed the appointment of Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen as Secretary General of the Council for the next five years as of July 1st... Read more

On 22nd April 2015 the European Commission and the African Union met in Brussels. Discussions focused on issues like development, immigration, peace, security and democracy. Questions such as climate changes, immigration challenges, the contribution of women to growth and employment, support to inclusive growth factors, food security and sustainable agriculture were also addressed. Cooperation to counter violent extremism in Somalia, Sahel and Nigeria were discussed, likewise the promotion of peaceful democratic change via elections and the respect of the Constitutions... Read more

The European Central Bank (ECB) again raised the ceiling on its emergency financing to Greek banks on 22nd April, by a billion and a half euro, which has now risen to 75.5 billion euro. The ECB, which revises the amount allocated on a weekly basis, has been assisting Greek banks in this manner since the beginning of February. Given the sums unused to date there is now 2.9 billion euro available for the next week against four billion last week - which seems to show a growing use of the emergency fund. On 22nd April Benoît Coeuré, an ECB Board member gave an interview in the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini... Read more

On 22nd April the first projects and transactions earmarked to benefit from an EU budget guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) were approved by the Boards of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The EFSI which is due to mobilise 315 billion euro in investments will take on the risks inherent to the projects being supported in view of encouraging both private and public investments in Europe. Four projects have been selected. They involve research in the healthcare sector in Spain, the extension of the airport in Croatia, the building of 14 healthcare centres in Ireland and the support of industrial innovation in Italy. The President of the European Investment Bank announced that "these projects will provide positive spin-offs for innovation, healthcare, transport and industry.".. Read more

German economy and energy minister Sigmar Gabriel announced on 22nd April that German growth forecasts had been revised upwards since the GDP is due to rise to 1.8% in 2015 and 2016. He explained that this sustained growth is due to the vitality of the labour market, ie a context of rising wages and a strong rate of employment which are continuing to rise. This is leading to greater household consumption. The international context is also playing in favour of Germany since world growth is up, especially in the euro zone where growth forecasts are higher than previously announced. This is fostering German exports notably in a context of the depreciation of the euro... Read more

On Friday 24th April the President of the Republic of Finland ratified the association agreements concluded with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. These agreements will strengthen the political and economic cooperation by these countries with the EU, the aim also being to integrate these countries progressively into the single market by establishing free-trade zones. Finland signed these agreements in June 2014 with the other Member States of the European Union... Read more

More than 7 Greeks in ten want an agreement to be found with Greece's creditors, the EU and the IMF, deeming that there was a risk of exiting the euro zone due to the slowness of the negotiations revealed a survey published on 26th April. To the question "what would be the best solution for the country", 71.9% answer "an agreement with the creditors" against 23.2% who want "to break away" from Europe and 4.9% who do not know said the survey published in the Greek Sunday newspaper To Vima. Traditionally the Greeks are very much in favour of the euro in spite of their opposition to political austerity, which again was confirmed by this survey: 72.9% say they support the euro, against 20.3% who would like a return to the drachma, the old national currency. 68.8% of those interviewed believe that the country "may exit the euro" against 24.1% who believe there is no danger according to the survey undertaken by Kapa Research on 21st and 22nd April amongst 1007 people across the country... Read more

The EU has formally approved the PAKS II project to build two new nuclear reactors led by Hungary in partnership with Russia. This project that totals 12.5 billion euro will complete the nuclear power plant of Paks, the construction of which will start as of 2018 by the Russian group Rosatom, entering operation in 2023. A agreement was in fact signed in January 2014 between Hungary and Russia but this was sharply criticised by the nuclear agency Euratom. Then in March 2015, the latter asked for the supply of Russian fuel supplies to be limited to 10 years and not 20 as originally planned.. Read more

Poland wants to buy 50 European Caracal Airbus helicopters for an estimated total of 3.3 billion €. Negotiations are due to start in May and the contracts finalised when trials have been undertaken by the Polish army. It is also negotiating with the US for the purchase of an American Patriot anti-missile defence system - for a total 7 billion $. Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski argues that tension with Russia and the deployment of missiles to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, just on the northern Polish border justify these purchases. At present Poland does not have the military capacity to face arms like this and is planning to spend nearly 35 billion $ over the next eight years to strengthen its military arsenal (notably sub-marines and military personnel)... Read more

On Monday 20th April a third round of intergovernmental negotiations took place between the Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Polish leader Eva Kopacz together with their Defence, Home Affairs, Transport and Environment Ministers. The themes addressed focused on stepping up transport infrastructures between the two countries, environmental cooperation, energy security and the upcoming presidency of the Visegrad Group which includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. These consultations led to a joint declaration on bilateral relations in many areas and two agreements, one on water management and the other on the introduction of an interconnected natural gas system... Read more

On 24th April the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks in 1915 took place. A ceremony in Erevan was organised whilst the acknowledgement of this genocide is still being contested by Turkey. On 23rd April the Armenian church canonised the 1.5 million victims and Germany - represented by its president Joachim Gauck - acknowledged the genocide for the first time stressing the "co-responsibility and even potential German complicity" in this crime. The ceremonies of 24th April took place in the presence of French President François Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin, since their countries are amongst the 20 in the world which have acknowledged the genocide. Other eminent personalities also took part in the ceremony... Read more

On 24th April, on the side-lines of the commemorations of the Armenian genocide, the French President spoke with his Russian counterpart. Mr Hollande called on Mr Putin to move forward in terms of implementing the Minsk peace agreements whilst Mr Putin deplored that relations between Russia, France and the EU, were unfortunately "not at their best." Mr Hollande insisted on the fact that entente between Russia and France was necessary to settle a certain number of difficult situations as they discussed the Middle East, Syria and Iraq. Moreover the two presidents did not find any common ground regarding the issue of the delivery of the Mistral ships. Part of the interview was undertaken behind closed doors... Read more

On 22nd April French President François Hollande hosted his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko at the Elysée Palace. During this meeting François Hollande said that he "admired Mr Poroshenko's will to stand firmly" but also his good sense of compromise during the crisis in Ukraine. The two men addressed the issue of the delivery of the Mistral to Russia. The French President insisted that the delivery of these ships was "impossible in the present context." Mr. Hollande will make a State visit to Ukraine on the invitation of Mr Poroshenko who took advantage of this trip to meet the leader of the National Assembly, Claude Bartolone, to address the issue of the ratification of the EU/Ukraine association agreement... Read more

Some 300 American parachutists deployed in the west of Ukraine started training Ukrainian soldiers on 20th April in the presence of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. These manoeuvres near Yavoriv on the Polish border have come just as Ukraine is facing "an attack launched from abroad," declared Mr Poroshenko in reference to Russia... Read more

The Council of Europe published its activity report 2014 on 21st April. This publication reviews the work undertaken over 2014 by the different bodies and sectors of activity of the Council of Europe. It presents a selection of highlights and achievements made by the organisation. Amongst this year's achievements there is the creation of an internet platform to foster the protection of journalism and the security of journalists, the strengthening of the fight to counter terrorism with the definition of new threats (foreign combatant terrorists). Experts have started drafting a further protocol to the Convention for the Prevention of Terrorism which would criminalise the recruitment, training, preparation and travel undertaken for terrorist goals... Read more

The Spring Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) took place from 20th to 24th April in Strasbourg. During the inaugural ceremony Anne Brasseur, President of the PACE warned of the management of immigration in Europe and the Dublin System, recalling that human rights were universal. Ms Brasseur also spoke of the Ukrainian crisis encouraging dialogue in spite of the fragile cease-fire. PACE also looked into issues of massive surveillance and drones, sanctions against Russia and the humanitarian impact of the activities of the Islamic State... Read more

States are right - in the name of "public safety" - of depriving their police forces of their right to strike deemed the ECHR on 21st April after a case was brought to it by a Spanish police union. The fact that "stricter requirements" weighed on the police forces "resulting from their armed mandate and the need for a continuous service on their part, justifies the ban on the ability to strike in that public safety and the defence of law and order are at stake," deemed the European judges. In this sense the police are "different" from other civil servants which "justifies the limits placed on their freedom to strike," said the Court. The ECHR was referred to the by union ER.N.E., which mainly comprises policemen from the Spanish Basque country... Read more

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met on board the ship, the San Gusto, on 27th April off the Sicilian coast to discuss immigration in the Mediterranean and to set up a joint European action plan. At the same time the UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) has committed to supporting the EU in this challenge. It welcomed the measures taken last week to triple funding given to maritime operations and declared that collective European action was the only possible response to this transnational problem... Read more

In 2014 nearly half of the EU's regions registered a decrease in their unemployment rates of at least 0.5 percentage points in comparison with 2013 says Eurostat. However regional EU unemployment rates are still typified by significant disparity. Hence in Prague in the Czech Republic and Oberbayern in Germany unemployment rates were the lowest (2.5%). Conversely the Spanish regions of Andalusia (34.8%) and the Canaries (32.4%) had the highest unemployment figures. These disparities are notably visible amongst young people, lying at 21.9% on average in the EU. In this regard the German regions of Oberbayern (3.7%) and Stuttgart (4.7%) have the lowest rates whilst the regions of Ipeiros (69.8% in Greece and Ceuta (67,5%) Spain have the highest rates... Read more

According to a Eurostat study published on 27th April amongst the 44.1 million part time workers in the EU in 2014 9.8 million were underemployed, which means that they want to work more and were available to work more. This represented 22.2% of all part-time workers and 4.5% of the all jobs in the EU in 2014. Most part time workers who are underemployed in the EU were women (67%)... Read more

In 2014 the EU drew close to the goals that it had set in the Europe 2020 strategy in terms of education said Eurostat. The aim of the strategy is that at least 40% of people aged 30 to 34 have a higher education diploma and that the rate of school dropout falls to below 10% in the EU by 2020. Hence the share of 30-34 year olds with a higher education diploma totalled 37.9% in 2014, whilst it lay at 23.6% in 2002. The rate of school dropout has decreased sharply to total 11.1% in 2014 against 17% in 2002. Regarding these two indicators women achieve better results than men... Read more

A report published on 24th April by the European Commission reviews the reform of the social protection systems in the Member States. The "Social Investments" Package adopted in 2013 invited Member States to modernise their social protection systems to enable a more effective use of social budgets. According to the report Member States are stepping up their support for children as well as the handicapped. They are also lending greater importance to adequate aid for those excluded from the labour market. Work must continue however and the "Commission will continue to support reform in the Member States," said the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs Marianne Thyssen... Read more

Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe presented his Annual Activity Report 2014 on 23rd April. He deplored the situation of migrants in the Mediterranean in their bid to reach Europe and the humanitarian crisis caused by events in Ukraine. The Commissioner also spoke of a worsening human rights situation in Azerbaijan where human rights defenders are being persecuted and imprisoned. Finally he denounced the fact that in many States that are members of the Council of Europe NGO activists and journalists are the target of attacks and intimidation... Read more

On 20th April the Commission published a report in which it suggests that SMEs would benefit significantly from the transatlantic partnership - the TTIP - with the USA. A survey was undertaken on SMEs and the problems they face in their trade with the USA. The report notes that SME exports to the USA represent 28% of all of Europe's exports to the other side of the Atlantic. These SMEs are established in different sectors: food, agriculture, clothing, textiles, leather and chemical products. The TTIP would help these exports by removing customs and regulatory issues faced by SMEs at present... Read more

An exit of the EU by the UK would cost the country and also its partners like Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium which have more to lose than others, said a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation published on 27th April. The UK would be the worst affected on the horizon of 2030 with a GDP differential per capita that could rise to 14% in the worst scenario than if it remained in the EU. The savings that the UK might make by no longer contributing to the European budget would not be profitable warn the authors of the study. A study by the think-tank Open Europe shows that a Brexit would have major effect on Ireland which might experience a 1.1% reduction in its GDP - rising at worst to 3.1% by 2030... Read more

The Europe Prize is attributed yearly by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to a town that has most actively promoted the European ideal. This year the prize has been awarded to Dresden (Germany) that is twinned with 13 towns including 10 in Europe and which is actively fighting anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia. The prize also goes to Vara (Sweden) twinned with 7 towns including 6 in Europe and which organises exchanges in trade, the environment, culture and social insurance, public health, administration and human resources. School exchanges and European and international cooperation are the important parts of the Europe Prize 2015... Read more

The Universal Exhibition Milano 2015 will start on 1st May and go on to 31st October 2015. With over 130 participating countries this event aims to be an inclusive process to involve many players in a project that focuses on a vital theme: "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life". This event embodies a new concept in the history of the Universal Exhibition: focus on a theme, which is either sustainable or technological, and on the visitor. The exhibition will be inaugurated on 30th April with a concert by exhibition ambassador Andrea Bocelli... Read more

The Neues Schloss Ingolstadt will be running an exhibition as of 30th April on Napoleon 1st (1769-1821). Entitled "Napoleon and Bavaria", this exhibition is part of the 200 years of the Battle of Waterloo. A symbol passed down through history, Napoleon's famous tricorne hat, the centre piece of this exhibition, will be on show alongside a collection of 350 pieces of clothing, jewellery and other objects from the Napoleonic imperial era. Bavaria, a region with which Napoleon 1st had strong ties, is devoting this exhibition to the French Emperor until 31st October 2015... Read more

The Paris town hall (Hôtel de Ville) is running an exhibition from 29th April to 4th July 2015 "Armenia 1915: Centenary of the Genocide". This is the result of the exceptional loans of 350 photographs and 150 pieces of work from the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide and the Nubar Library of Paris... Read more