European Union

Pešková and Peška
Transport
A collision between an aircraft and a bird is an extraordinary circumstance which may exempt the air carrier from its obligation to pay compensation in the event that a flight is delayed significantly

Erzberger
DISC
According to Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe, the German law on employee participation is compatible with EU law

Erzberger
DISC
According to Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe, the German law on employee participation is compatible with EU law

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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, 2017 - EP

Length of video : 97'
You may manually download this video in WMV (1Gb) format

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, 2017 - EP

Length of video : 62'
You may manually download this video in WMV (645Mb) format

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, 2017 - EP

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The Ministerial Conference on Strengthening Euro-Mediterranean cooperation through Research and Innovation, takes place on 4 April 2017, in Valletta, Malta.

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Fifty-two years ago ‘Mary Poppins’ won five Oscars. Singapore, Maldives and Gambia became independent countries. West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations. The Vietnam War raged. Malcolm X was assassinated. It’s stuff for history books.

According to the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report, it will take another 52 years for the world to reach gender parity in parliaments and confine inequality in political representation to history – if the past trajectory, measured by the WEF since 2006, remains at its current speed, that is. But the last three years have seen a significant roll-back; the number of years to the time that women and men have the same rights and opportunities is increasing, not decreasing. My daughter’s grandchildren might not live to see the day when it’s as likely for a girl to become President of a country as it is for a boy.

Despite some positive dynamics in the last years, having just one woman for every four men in parliaments is a clear sign of how bad societies are at tapping into the potential talent of more than 50% of the population. There are, of course, important variations: Nordic countries are the most gender equal, and the world champion for female participation in politics is Rwanda. At the other end of the scale are Arab and Gulf countries.

As in business and academia, the greater the seniority, the lower the number of women. A 2016 report by UN Women says that men make up 77% of parliamentarians, 82% of government ministers, 93% of heads of government and 94% of heads of state. Every time a woman makes it to the top, it makes global headlines. You can name all current female leaders of countries in less than 30 seconds.

“Today women need three things to accelerate their political careers: communication, connection and community”

There’s good reason to care about this imbalance. Gender equality in political participation has both intrinsic value and instrumental value. Women in political office make it a priority to advance rights, promoting equality and opportunity for women and girls (to the benefit of all society) in a way and to a degree that men in power overwhelmingly do not. It’s a matter of human rights. It’s a matter of good governance. The composition of executives and legislatures affects the quality of laws and influences the extent of their application. Women leaders are also more likely to be responsive to public needs and tend to cooperate across party lines.

A range of barriers – official and unofficial, formal and informal – limit women’s political participation. The Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL), the Gender and Development Unit of the World Bank, and Yale University (with support from EY) conducted a study on ‘The Female Political Career’. It analyses survey responses from 617 politicians, female and male, from 84 countries. It is designed to understand the non-legal barriers that women face in different phases of the political lifecycle.

The findings tell the same old story – one that applies globally. Women politicians tend to start their careers later, have fewer children, spend more time caring for their families, and arrange their lives to have shorter commuting times than their male counterparts. It appears that only females with supportive families run for office, whereas men are more likely to run without consulting with their families. Family commitments still constitute a major source of concern for women. “Gender equality begins in our homes,” says Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chair of the African Union (2010-2016) and a member of the WPL advisory board. Another said “three Ms stand in the way of women: money, media and men”.

Women and men have systematically different levels and types of political support networks. On average female politicians receive fewer private donations than their male counterparts. They rely more heavily on party sponsorship and support. Media portrayal and voter perceptions of ‘a woman’s place’ seem to cast a longer shadow over female politicians’ decisions about whether to run for office and their decisions to pursue higher office.  While both men and women express concern about the many pitfalls of political campaigning, females are more worried overall, particularly about stereotypical discrimination, the difficulty of fundraising, negative advertising, the loss of privacy and not being taken seriously.

“Every time a woman makes it to the top, it still makes global headlines”

So what can be done to address these problems? In politics, networks are key. Today women need three things to accelerate their political careers: communication, connection and community. WPL aims to increase both the number and the influence of women in political leadership positions, optimising the power of communication and connection to build new communities of knowledge for women political leaders everywhere. Progress happens by convening women political leaders who have the drive and the influence to create positive change.

And not just women. In a flagship campaign, WPL asked male presidents and prime ministers to complete the sentence “We need more women in Parliaments and as political leaders because …”. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, was among the almost seventy respondents to date. He said: “Future generations are not going to ask whether you were a man or a woman politician, because this is simply irrelevant. What they are going to ask is, ‘what did you do when you were in a position to do anything of worth?’”

Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said: “When women engage in the political process, societies thrive and prosper.” Werner Faymann, a former Austrian chancellor, said: “Gender equality improves the quality of our democracies. Gender diversity among political decision makers is key to good governance.” And former European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, said: “We need more women as political leaders because we are for justice.”

But the glass ceiling remains. There may be some cracks and openings, but there is still a lot to do. As Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile, rightly puts it: “When one woman is a leader, it changes her. When more women are leaders, it changes politics and policies.”

IMAGE CREDIT: palinchak/Bigstock

The post A woman’s place is in politics appeared first on Europe’s World.

As part of the EU institutions' open day, the headquarters of the European Council and the Council of the European Union, the two institutions representing the member states of the EU, are opening their doors from 10.00 to 18.00 on Saturday 6 May, offering guided tours, activities and information stands.

Guided tours of the new Europa building

Accompanied by members of staff, visitors will be able to discover the new Europa building, which has been used for meetings of European ministers and heads of state since January 2017. Tours will take place from 10.00 to 17.00 in French, Dutch, German and English.

Film on the history of the European Council

Visitors will find out how the European Council, originally conceived as an informal ‘fireside chat’ between presidents and prime ministers, has turned into a key EU institution.

Member states' stand

The 28 member states will be represented at a joint stand, where visitors can learn how each country participates in the Union's work, and discover their cultures and scenery. Some member states, such as Cyprus, Ireland and Hungary, will also put on traditional dance and/or music sessions. For the full list of events on offer, see the open day website (link at the bottom of the page).

Area for children and young people: youngsters will be able to have fun learning more about Europe and the European Union, including during guided tours.

Council online: visitors will be encouraged to take part in interactive games, discover surprising facts about Europe, take photos and share their impressions of the Council with their friends on social media.

Practical information

The open day will be held in the Council’s two main buildings. Entry will be via the Justus Lipsius building, 175 rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, Brussels.

Owing to the alert level currently in place in Belgium, additional security checks will be set up around the institutions. To facilitate these checks, visitors are encouraged not to bring luggage or other bulky objects.

Visitors are also encouraged to use public transport. There will also be a small train running all day between the institutions in the European quarter.

Press access

To arrange easier access, media wishing to access the Council on the open day are asked to contact the press office.

To receive the Brussels Briefing in your inbox every morning, register for a free FT account here and then sign up here.

Standing in front of 10 Downing Street, the prime minister thundered that Britain had been “misrepresented” by a perfidious foreign press and that “threats against Britain have been issued by European politicians and officials”.

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The EU should have an autonomous process for judging whether countries are at high-risk of money laundering, say committee MEPs after rejecting for a second time, by 61 votes to 7 with 32 abstentions, a blacklist of countries drawn up by the EU Commission.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The EU should have an autonomous process for judging whether countries are at high-risk of money laundering, say committee MEPs after rejecting for a second time, by 61 votes to 7 with 32 abstentions, a blacklist of countries drawn up by the EU Commission.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

EU citizens could pay less for e-books after plans to allow member states to reduce VAT on e-publications were backed in committee on Wednesday.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

EU citizens could pay less for e-books after plans to allow member states to reduce VAT on e-publications were backed in committee on Wednesday.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 3 May, Members of AFET and SEDE will hold an exchange of views with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The debate will primarily focus on the strategic cooperation between the EU and NATO-EU, including the implementation of the 2016 Joint Declaration, and on how the two organisations can jointly face complex security threats emerging globally and in our neighbourhood.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Extracts from the debate
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 3 May 2017, EU ambassadors approved the Council's position on a new, country-neutral methodology for assessing market distortions in third countries. They asked the presidency to open  negotiations with the European Parliament. 

The main objective is to detect and redress distortions to the market resulting from state intervention in other countries. The new methodology for calculating dumping is based on rules  established by the WTO anti-dumping agreement.

Today we gave our support to a new, non-discriminatory anti-dumping methodology that will help ensure that imported products are sold at a fair and equitable price in the EU, no matter where they come from.This will strengthen Europe's trade defence instruments and will help protect jobs and enhance competitiveness."

 Christian Cardona, the minister for the economy, investment and small business of Malta

The Council's position adopted today reflects to a large extent the main principles put forward by the Commission in its proposal presented in November 2016. It establishes a non-exhaustive list of examples which are used to identify significant market distortions, such as: 

• state policies and influence,
• widespread presence of state-owned enterprises,
• discrimination in favour of domestic companies,
• lack of independence of the financial sector,
• inadequate enforcement of bankruptcy, corporate or property laws.

When a significant distortion is recognised in an exporting country, the Commission will be able to correct it. It will set a price for the product by referring either to the costs of production and sale prices in a country with similar levels of economic development or to appropriate undistorted international costs and prices. 

The Commission will also draft specific reports on countries or sectors describing distortions. In line with current practice, it will be for EU firms to file complaints, but they will be able to use the Commission's reports to support their case. 

Timeline and next steps 

The new anti-dumping methodology runs in parallel with  a separate  negotiating process on the broader revision of the EU's trade defence instruments which was proposed in 2013. Following the European Council's call in October 2016 for unfair trade practices to be tackled in an efficient and robust way, the Council has worked on both files as a matter of priority by establishing its position in order to bring about a rapid conclusion to the negotiations.

As the proposal is subject to an ordinary legislative procedure, the Council and the European Parliament need to reach agreement on a final text. The Council will be able to begin "trilogue" discussions with the European Parliament on the basis of today's agreement  as soon as the Parliament determines its own negotiating position.

 

Written by Naja Bentzen, Velina Lilyanova, Philippe Perchoc, Martin Russell, with Clare Ferguson

Each year, on 3 May, UNESCO reminds the world of the importance of press freedom to creating peaceful societies which value justice and human rights. This year’s World Press Freedom Day takes the theme of ‘Critical Minds for Critical Times’, underlining the growing role of misinformation campaigns and ‘fake news’ in today’s global political landscape. While UNESCO highlights the fundamental principles of press freedom around the world, and the challenge to democracy posed by attacks on the media and journalists themselves, the EU also acts to support media freedom, particularly in its Eastern neighbourhood.

See also our topical digest on:
‘Truth, the media and the public sphere‘

Following the failed military coup of July 2016, media freedom in Turkey has deteriorated dramatically. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union and the Council of Europe have all raised concerns regarding the number of media workers imprisoned. The European Parliament condemns the rising number of arrests of journalists, and is concerned by the ‘backsliding in democratic reforms, and in particular the government’s diminishing tolerance of public protest and critical media’. Of the 130 journalists, media workers and writers arrested following the coup, only 64 have been released. Calling for the immediate release of journalists held without proof of criminal activity, Parliament also notes that journalists are detained in deplorable conditions, and that the closure of many media outlets leaves many out of work. The Turkish government’s repressive measures have led Parliament to request that ‘the Commission and the Member States … initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing [EU] accession negotiations with Turkey’.

How to spot when news is fake

Media freedom is a core EU value and a cornerstone of democracy, and thus a priority reform area in the Western Balkans’ EU accession agenda. Nevertheless, in spite of a certain level of preparedness and a broadly developed legal framework, media freedom in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo continues to face systemic shortcomings that require long-term sustained efforts. These efforts have stalled in recent years. Transition to media freedom in the region remains incomplete and ‘no progress’ has been made in improving the overall environment. Intimidation of journalists continues, and the political grip on public broadcasting is matched by the opacity of funding in private media. As media freedom is an enlargement priority, Parliament is increasingly concerned by the lack of progress on media freedom in the Western Balkans.

Media freedom also has high priority in the EU’s political dialogue with the six Eastern Partnership countries. Since the 2015 Eastern Partnership Media Conference, media freedom has seen limited changes in these countries. While Ukraine has made progress, for example, Moldova has slipped in the international media freedom rankings – and the Kremlin’s increasing information activities present a difficult challenge to media freedom policies. The EU East StratCom Task Force publishes a weekly newsletter exposing disinformation published in Russia and elsewhere by pro-Kremlin media. The task force also produces a Russian-language website with information and infographics on the EU targeted at readers in Russia and neighbouring countries.

In Russia itself, the state controls strategic media (such as national TV) and restricts independent media and the internet through increasingly repressive legislation. However, scope for media pluralism remains, with a few outlets openly criticising the authorities. Current tensions between the EU and Russia make direct EU support for Russian media difficult. Recent financial support within Russia has been limited to two projects, funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. The EU also provides regular seminars for Russian journalists explaining the priorities of each new Council presidency. Some EU funding for independent media is also channelled through the European Endowment for Democracy.

Sustainable changes in media freedom do not happen overnight. But beneath the surface, EU-funded projects and programmes are contributing to changing media landscapes. The European Parliament consistently promotes and supporting freedom of the press and freedom of expression in its Eastern neighbourhood.

EPRS Publications

• Media freedom trends 2017: the Western Balkans
• Media freedom trends 2017 The Eastern Partnership countries
• Media freedom trends 2017: Turkey
• Media freedom trends 2017: Russia
• ‘Fake news’ and the EU’s response
• Truth, the media and the public sphere

Filed under: BLOG Tagged: Clare Ferguson, freedom of expression, Martin Russell, media, Naja Bentzen, Philippe Perchoc, press freedom

General : Private companies are increasingly used by European countries and the EU to provide security and military services in missions abroad. However, military tasks and the protection of civilians are heavy responsibilities and if something goes wrong it can have fatal consequences. Parliament's foreign affairs committee has drafted rules to increase the accountability of private security firms and prevent them from taking on military combat tasks. MEPs will vote on the report during the June plenary.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : Private companies are increasingly used by European countries and the EU to provide security and military services in missions abroad. However, military tasks and the protection of civilians are heavy responsibilities and if something goes wrong it can have fatal consequences. Parliament's foreign affairs committee has drafted rules to increase the accountability of private security firms and prevent them from taking on military combat tasks. MEPs will vote on the report during the June plenary.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : Online platforms such as Uber, Airbnb and Deliveroo that match providers of goods and services with consumers have become household names in just a few years. The total transactions' value for the four main sectors involved in the so-called collaborative economy already reached €28 billion in the EU in 2015, nearly double that of 2014. However, this new business model also comes with challenges and opportunities, which are dealt with in a report adopted by the internal market committee on 3 May.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP