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Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Séance plénière : Trop peu a été fait pour préserver les droits fondamentaux des citoyens européens suite aux révélations d’Edward Snowden sur la surveillance de masse opérée par les États-Unis : c’est la conclusion des députés après que la Cour européenne de Justice ait invalidé l’accord « Safe Harbor » en octobre 2015. L’ensemble du Parlement débattra demain du bouclier vie privée, ou « Privacy Shield », nouvel accord sur les flux de données transatlantiques censé mieux protéger la vie privée des Européens.

Source : © Union européenne, 2016 - PE

1.           WELCOMES the publication of the Commission's country reports analysing the economic policies for each of the Member States, including the in-depth reviews (IDRs) in the context of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP), as well as the accompanying Communication summarising the main results of the IDRs. 

I - IN-DEPTH REVIEWS 

2.           CONSIDERS that the IDRs are well structured as a key part within the country reports and NOTES the importance of presenting a thorough analysis of the imbalances in each of the Member States under review as the basis for multilateral surveillance, enhanced domestic ownership of reforms and effective policy adjustment. RECOGNISES that the analysis covers possible spillover effects to other countries and the euro area where relevant, differentiates between the adjustments driven by cyclical factors and those resulting from structural changes, and takes country-specific circumstances into account. Relevant analytical tools are also applied in view of the specific challenges of each economy and complemented by qualitative analysis where needed. 

3.           WELCOMES the Commission's effort to improve the transparency of the MIP, including streamlining and stabilisation of the categories of macroeconomic imbalances, the publication of a compendium bringing together relevant information on the implementation of the MIP, and the inclusion of new summary tables in the IDRs (MIP assessment matrices). NOTES Commission's plans with regard to specific monitoring of recommendations by the Council to all Member States concerned by imbalances and excessive imbalances, to ensure enhanced surveillance of the policy response to the imbalances identified. INVITES the Commission to outline a proposal for the concrete timing and content of this monitoring, including plans to differentiate with respect to the severity of imbalances, as well as the articulation with other surveillance procedures, notably post programme surveillance for countries concerned to avoid duplication and in line with established practice. EMPHASISES the importance of efficiency, transparency and predictability in assessing macroeconomic imbalances in the MIP. In light of this, UNDERLINES the importance of presenting both the country analysis and the conclusions on the assessment of imbalances together in line with the European Semester Roadmap.  

4.           AGREES that 13 of the examined Member States (Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) are experiencing macroeconomic imbalances of various nature and magnitude. 

5.           AGREES with the view of the Commission that excessive imbalances exist in 6 Member States (Bulgaria, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, and Portugal). The Council will carefully assess the Commission's further review for Croatia and Portugal presented in late May, which should take into account the policy measures outlined in their National Reform Programmes to assess whether further steps are needed. UNDERLINES that the MIP procedure should be used to its full potential, with the corrective arm applied where appropriate.   

 6.           AGREES that 6 of the examined Member States (Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Austria, Romania and the UK) do not experience macroeconomic imbalances in the sense of the MIP. 

7.           UNDERLINES the continued need for policy action and strong commitment to structural reforms in all Member States, in particular when they face macroeconomic imbalances affecting the smooth functioning of EMU. Imbalances should be addressed in a durable manner focusing on key challenges, reducing risks, facilitating the rebalancing of the EU economies and creating conditions for sustainable growth and jobs. 

8.           RECOGNISES the continued progress achieved by Member States in correcting their external and internal imbalances, thus contributing to the rebalancing in the EU and within the euro area. However, UNDERLINES that there are still sizeable risks in certain Member States. While current account deficitis of the pre-crisis period have been considerably reduced or have moved to surplus, large stocks of external liabilities remain a vulnerability in some net debtor countries. ACKNOWLEDGES that cost competitiveness has generally improved in countries that exhibited large external deficits, with more limited evidence pointing to improvements in non-cost competitiveness. At the same time, elevated current account surpluses in some Member States with relatively low deleveraging needs persist and could under some circumstances indicate large savings and investment imbalances deserving progress on policy actions. 

9.           UNDERLINES that high levels of private and government debt remain an important challenge in a number of Member States in the context of low inflation and growth rates. Despite notable progress, further structural reforms are needed to enhance the growth potential and to tackle high unemployment, in particular among the youth and long-term unemployed. 

II - IMPLEMENTATION OF COUNTRY SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS (CSRs)

10.         WELCOMES progress made in addressing the 2015 CSRs. The streamlined set of 2015 CSRs allowed for greater focus on tackling pressing challenges and persistent macroeconomic imbalances. TAKES NOTE that reform implementation has been uneven across policy areas and countries and that in only a few cases has substantial progress been made in addressing the CSRs. STRESSES that reform implementation needs to be stepped up to address the policy challenges outlined below and RECALLS the importance of a timely assessment of the implementation of CSRs in the Council prior to the proposal of new CSRs, in order to draw conclusions, increase national awareness and implement reforms effectively in each country. 

11.         STRESSES that further structural reforms to services, product and labour markets, alongside responsible, sound fiscal policies are needed to strengthen and sustain the economic recovery, correct harmful imbalances, achieve fiscal sustainability, improve the conditions for investment, and reinforce the single market, unleashing the growth potential of Member States' economies.     

12.         RECOGNISES the progress made by Member States in implementing CSRs in the areas of improving the business environment and in fighting against tax avoidance and improving its administration. Member states concerned should continue their efforts.  STRESSES that more progress could be achieved in generating a business and employment friendly regulatory environment, increasing female labour force participation, cutting red tape, strengthening both administrative efficiency and regulatory quality, and reducing the number of restrictions in the service sector, particularly by making it significantly easier for service providers to operate across borders. Progress in addressing existing gaps and weaknesses in some national fiscal frameworks has been made but are still limited in some Member States, and efforts should focus on ensuring their effective functioning to support the conduct of responsible fiscal policies. National fiscal frameworks should be brought in line with EU requirements. 

13.         AGREES that there is an urgent need to improve investment conditions in order to attract increased private investment in the real economy and ensure high quality public investment and infrastructures. Reform progress has been slow in tackling problems regarding sector specific regulation and other impediments to investment and in reforming public administration, judicial systems, insolvency frameworks and the business environment, including access to finance. Despite some progress, barriers to investment persist in some key sectors in many Member States. This is particularly the case for services, network industries and construction. 

14.         WELCOMES progress in reforming labour markets, but notes that significant challenges and implementation gaps remain. There remains potential to broaden tax bases and reduce the tax burden on labour. The successful integration of migrants and refugees in some Member States requires particular attention. While progress has been made in bringing back to the labour market the unemployed, further structural reforms to support employment and active labour market policies are needed. 

Bosnie-Herzégovine : le bunker de Tito reconverti en galerie d'art
Ex-Yougoslavie : négociations sur la succession des propriétés de la Yougoslavie socialiste
Tourisme en Croatie : une saison 2015 record
Tourisme en Croatie : Unije, perle de l'Adriatique
Yougonostalgie : l'architecture balnéaire titiste, avant-garde méconnue
Yougonostalgie : le passé, eldorado d'un présent confisqué

/ Courrier des Balkans, Croatie, Culture et éducation

Bosnie-Herzégovine : le bunker de Tito reconverti en galerie d'art
Ex-Yougoslavie : négociations sur la succession des propriétés de la Yougoslavie socialiste
Tourisme en Croatie : une saison 2015 record
Tourisme en Croatie : Unije, perle de l'Adriatique
Yougonostalgie : l'architecture balnéaire titiste, avant-garde méconnue
Yougonostalgie : le passé, eldorado d'un présent confisqué

/ Courrier des Balkans, Croatie, Culture et éducation

United Russia deputy Maria Maksakova has claimed that party primaries in St. Petersburg were fraudulent, the Dozhd TV news channel reported Tuesday.

Ahead of the University of Edinburgh’s free online course Towards Brexit? The UK’s EU Referendum and one month before the referendum, here are five things you need to know about the Brexit debate:

European Flag, European Parliament, CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

1. We’ve been here before

In 1975, the UK held its first-ever nationwide referendum on whether to stay in the European Economic Community (the precursor to the EU). The result was a two-thirds majority in favour of remaining in the Common Market. That said, it’s very unusual for a country to hold a vote directly on the question of EU membership. Most past referendums on the EU in member states have been about ratifying new treaties.

2. The UK’s not so different

Over the years, the difficult relationship between the UK and the EU has become legendary. For instance, it has opt-outs from a number of European policies, like the euro or borderless travel (Schengen). This reputation can sometimes give the impression that the UK is particularly alone or different. However, that’s not really the case. In reality, every member has its own issues with the EU – some are just more obvious than others.

3. Global interest is high

Although the referendum will be decided by UK voters, many countries, along with companies and organisations around the world, have a substantial interest in the outcome. For this reason, a number have broken with the convention of not engaging in a country’s internal debates and have expressed their views on the UK’s EU membership. However, it’s not clear what impact these interventions actually have on public opinion.

4. The facts? It’s not as easy as that

The EU can be quite complicated and the referendum debate has featured topics such as the economy, migration, security and democracy. Many people will be looking for information before the vote. However, most of the questions around these issues come down to personal opinion, rather than factual answers. While facts and evidence do naturally exist, they can only inform. In the end, voters will have to make up their own minds on whether EU membership is worthwhile or not.

5. The referendum won’t end the debate

This June’s vote is just the latest landmark in the UK’s history with the European Union. Whatever the outcome on 23 June, the referendum won’t settle the issue. If the result is to leave, the negotiations that follow will focus on what kind of relationship the UK will have with the EU going forward. If the result is to remain, the debate on EU membership will continue and calls for a second referendum will likely materialise. Either way, the saga will carry on.

Find out more – join the free online course: 
Towards Brexit? The UK’s EU Referendum

This article was originally published on the FutureLearn blog.

Please read the comments policy before commenting.

Shortened link: britainseurope.uk/22

How to cite this article:

Salamone, A (2016) ‘Five Things You Need to Know About Brexit’, Britain’s Europe (Ideas on Europe), 24 May 2016, britainseurope.uk/22

The post Five Things You Need to Know About Brexit appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Celebrated Russian TV host Dmitry Kiselyov has called a disparaging French TV report into his program a "controversy between channels."

During his visit to Crimea, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was confronted by frustrated pensioners, the Meduza news website reported on Tuesday.

Le prix annuel Pierre Schwed, créé en 2015 en hommage au fondateur de l’Union-IHEDN née en 1975, est destiné à récompenser l’auteur (ou les auteurs) d’une étude ... 

en lire plus

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2016 - EP

C'est au terme d’un scrutin très serré qu'Alexander Van der Bellen a remporté la présidentielle autrichienne ce lundi. Avec 50,3% des suffrages, il dépasse le candidat d’extrême droite Norbert Hofer d'un peu plus de 31 000 voix. Un résultat qui, pour la presse européenne, n'offre qu'un court sursis avant les prochaines législatives, et ne peut qu'alerter le reste de l'Europe.

Ensuring swift and safe recovery of personnel isolated, missing, detained or captured in a hostile territory has become a high-priority component of all EU-led Crisis Management Operations. Through its dedicated “Project Team Personnel Recovery”, the European Defence Agency (EDA) actively supports its participating Member States to enhance Personnel Recovery capabilities and improve interoperability - with tangible results.

 

The article below appeared in the 10th edition of European Defence Matters, the EDA’s official magazine, which you can read by clicking here.

 

European Defence Matters, Magazine issue 10

Any Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) military operation or civilian mission carries the risk of deployed personnel being trapped, isolated, captured and/or maltreated by enemy forces. If it occurs, such an incident can have an adverse impact not only the operation’s security but also the troops’ morale as well as general public support. It is therefore imperative to ensure the effective and quick recovery and reintegration of isolated personnel. In this regard, all possible diplomatic, civil and military options should be combined and utilised. “Keeping personnel recovery high on the EU’s agenda conveys the right signal to our soldiers on the ground”, EDA’s Capability, Armament & Technology Director, Air Commodore Peter Round stressed. He further stated that “It is our responsibility to make sure that robust and effective personnel recovery capabilities and tools are in place and available, as an integral part of any deployment”.

Since 2007 EDA’s Project Team Personnel Recovery (PT PR) has been working in support of its participating Member States (pMS) in order to enhance their Personnel Recovery (PR) capabilities and to effectively address these challenges. Under the German chairmanship and with the active participation of its 14 pMS, the PT has delivered tangible results and valuable studies. In its activities the PT is also supported by the European External Action Service’s bodies; the European Union Military Staff and the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate as well as of the newly established European Personnel Recovery Centre (EPRC), a close partner of the Agency.

As CSDP Crisis Management Operations (CMO) involve many different Member States, Third States and other partner Organisations there is a growing need for ensuring common PR principles, practices, standards and capabilities that are interoperable. As Major Constantinos Hadjisavvas, EDA’s Project Officer on PR, underlines “developing a common personnel recovery culture supported by the relevant capabilities is vital in ensuring that an effective safety net is in place for those in need in the theatre of operations”.

 From conceptual framework to operational PR support

Personnel recovery is a complex process involving five main tasks: reporting, locating, supporting, recovering, and reintegrating. The first task, reporting, includes the recognition and notification that personnel have or may have become isolated. This information can be generated by an accountability mechanism, visual sightings, intelligence, and reconnaissance or even through direct contact with the isolated personnel themselves. The second step, the locating task, includes actions to find and geo-locate the isolated personnel, immediately followed by the supporting task aimed at providing them with mental, physical and emotional support. It is only once these essential preparatory steps have been taken that the core part of any PR mission, the actual physical recovery, can be launched. PR operations are finally concluded with the reintegrating task of the recovered personnel through medical assessments and debriefings before returning them back to duty and/or their families.

Situational awareness, information management, command and control aspects as well as appropriate capabilities are thus absolutely crucial for any successful PR operation. However, as Major Hadjisavvas stresses, “even with the most cutting-edge technology, personnel recovery cannot be successful unless you have trained and motivated personnel”. Working on four different but interrelated work strands (Concept, Command & Control, Equipment and Training), the PT aims at addressing the full spectrum of PR; from the cultural and conceptual context through training aspects to the development of advanced technologies.

 PR FAS ATD: an operational output of EDA

PR provides the capability to safely recover isolated personnel. However, it was identified that an operational technical solution to plan, launch and monitor personnel recovery missions was missing. To close this critical gap, EDA has developed a conceptual framework which led to the successful development of the Personnel Recovery Functional Area Service Advanced Technology Demonstrator (PR FAS ATD), one of the most important operational outputs of PT PR so far.

This ATD is an information management and Command & Control (C2) system designed to increase the efficiency of PR missions and operations. In fact, PR FAS ATD supports planners and controllers with numerous functionalities and a significantly improved situational awareness.

The system is portable and works on a ‘plug and play’ basis, so it can be used by directly connecting to a number of laptops or integrating into existing networks in command posts or headquarters. Significantly, the ATD does not need any additional client software due to access via internet browser. This minimises the rollout effort and increases Information Technology (IT) security.

The demonstrator was successfully evaluated and tested during multinational courses in 2015. In mid-2016, an important milestone was reached when PR FAS ATD was finally distributed to all pMS. They can now use the tool as a web based and stand-alone system during national or multinational trainings and exercises.

 Deployment Support, Training, New Projects

At this stage, the PR FAS ATD is still only a demonstrator, albeit an advanced demonstrator. In order to achieve operational capability additional organisational and technical measures have to be taken. Most important tasks include interfacing existing air command and control systems as well as the provision of service support. EDA is leading these tasks by providing deployment support to pMS, addressing the various aspects of the through-life management of the tool and ensuring its viability.

Furthermore, the Personnel Recovery Controller and Planner Courses (PRCPC), run by the six contributing Member States (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Sweden) as an EDA project ensures that trained personnel are available to support any future PR activities under CSDP. Seven editions of PRCPCs have taken place so far, the most recent in April at the EPRC in Poggio Renatico Air Base (Italy).

Additionally, by the end of 2016, pMS will also obtain a web-based e-learning tool for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE), based on the existing Swedish e-training tool. The SERE project aims to provide pMS with PR training for their military personnel before being deployed. Instead of developing a new tool, EDA was authorised by the Swedish Armed Forces to translate the Swedish tool into English and disseminate it to all pMS. “SERE is a model of how pooling & sharing of assets and best practices can save time, resources and money”, Major Hadjisavvas explains. This tool could also be useful for the personnel deployed in the context of CSDP civilian or other humanitarian missions.

Way Ahead

The need for enhancing interoperability of European Armed Forces’ PR capabilities will be further enhanced by the increasing multinational character of CSDP operations and the volatile environment that the EU is operating in. Topics currently under consideration in the EDA to further advance this important work includes among others, the contribution to the possible revision of the EU’s conceptual framework for PR in support of CSDP and enhancing the PR efficiency with the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) support.

Finally in November 2016 the Agency in cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) will organise a PR Conference in order to enhance awareness of the importance of PR in saving lives and protecting the EU’s reputation.

The average monthly Russian wage in U.S. Dollars was on par with salaries in Kazakhstan in 2015, the RBC news website reported Tuesday.

A Croatian newspaper published documents showing vice prime minister Tomislav Karamarko worked for a lobbyist for Hungarian energy company MOL, fuelling allegations of a conflict of interest.

Plenartagung : Infolge der Enthüllungen durch Edward Snowden über die Massenüberwachung elektronischer Kommunikation durch die USA und andere Nachrichtendienste sei zu wenig geschehen, um die Grundrechte der EU-Bürger zu schützen. So lautete das Urteil der Abgeordneten, nachdem der Europäische Gerichtshof das EU-US-Datenabkommen "Safe Harbor" im Oktober 2015 für ungültig erklärt hatte. Am Mittwoch (25.5.) geht das Plenum der Frage nach, ob der Nachfolger "Privacy Shield" ausreichend Schutz bietet.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2016 - EP

They're capricious, hard to please, and you never know what they will get up to next.

Des hommes armés ont attaqué une mosquée au Darfour, dimanche 22 mai 2016, tuant au moins huit fidèles en train de prier. Ces huit fidèles tués par balles sont membres d'une minorité ethnique. Par ailleurs, cinq autres fidèles ont été blessés. L'attaque a été perpétrée par des combattants tribaux arabes dans une mosquée à Arzini, dans le Darfour-Ouest. Un différend entre un Arabe et un homme Masalit à propos d'un paiement sur le marché local serait à l'origine de ce drame.

Le ministre de l'Intérieur vient d'en faire l'annonce : le tour de France sera protégé pendant toute la
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