European Union

DRAFT REPORT on the implementation of the EU association agreement with Georgia
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Andrejs Mamikins

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

DRAFT REPORT on the implementation of the EU association agreement with Moldova
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Petras Auštrevičius

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

  New article forthcoming (in 2018) in History of Humanities and posted to SSRN: Democracy and the Vernacular Imagination in Vico’s Plebian Philology

Abstract:

This essay examines Giambattista Vico’s philology as a contribution to democratic legitimacy. I outline three steps in Vico’s account of the historical and political development of philological knowledge. First, his merger of philosophy and philology, and the effects of that merge on the relative claims of reason and authority. Second, his use of antiquarian knowledge to supersede historicist accounts of change in time and to position the plebian social class as the true arbiters of language. Third, his understanding of philological knowledge as an instrument of political change, and a foundational element in the establishment of democracy. By treating the philological imagination as a tool for bringing about political change, Vico’s plebian philology is radically democratic, and a crucial instrument in the struggle against the elite, from antiquity to the present.

The post New article on Vico and Democracy appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Weekly schedule of President Donald Tusk 23-29 July 2018

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Bakhtadze, President Tusk confirmed the EU determination to further deepen the cooperation between EU and Georgia.

High Representative Federica Mogherini issued a declaration on behalf of the EU on President Omar Al-Bashir visit to Russia on 14 July 2018.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/880 of 18 June 2018 amending Decision 2014/386/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/901 of 25 June 2018 amending Decision (CFSP) 2017/2074 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Venezuela

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/900 of 25 June 2018 amending Decision 2013/184/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Myanmar/Burma

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/833 of 4 June 2018 amending Decision 2010/413/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Iran

On 18 July, EU ambassadors confirmed the agreement reached with the Parliament to increase the budget of the structural reform support programme by €80 million.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17

Following the second EU-CELAC ministerial meeting, participants adopted a declaration.

Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission and Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, met in Tokyo for the 25th Summit between the EU and Japan and issued the following statement.

During the press conference after the summit in Tokyo, President Donald Tusk highlighted the strong relations and partnership between the European Union and Japan.

At the press conference of the summit, held in Beijing, President Tusk presented the main topics the leaders discussed during their meeting.

The Berlin Wall, constructed in 1961 to separate East and West Berlin during the Cold War, is a cause and consequence of a plethora of historical events and processes. It is also a symbol for artificial separation of peoples and ideas behind artificially created borders. In this respect it can serve as a perfect proxy, which allows to draw parallels to the EU-Ukrainian boundaries and their surmounting.

The Berlin Wall serves as a popular motive for various notions, often contradictory, like much in human life, such as free will, its suppression, activism and passivity, opposition and unity, migration and border control. But it is also a symbol for the break with the whole epoch of the Cold War and global confrontation.

The Soviet Block portrayed the Wall as a protection from Western fascist elements who conspired to circumvent the “democratic will of the people”.  This strain of reasoning is clearly and logically manifested in the continuity of today´s Russia aggressive policy against Ukraine. Russia occupied and annexed Crimea and Eastern Ukraine in 2014, disguising it under the same false pretenses of “protection against fascism” – the democratic Ukraine and the West in this case.

 

A GDR-built Trabant car, produced almost unchanged from 1957 to 1990, is a popular mention of the Communist era, stifling not only creativity and innovation but any human desires. Graffiti on the wall of the East Side Gallery.

The line of the original wall, chipped away by hoards of tourists.

A picture of a preserved 70-metre section of the former border strip, photographed from the roof of the Berlin Wall Memorial, located at the historic site on the Bernauer Strasse.

Berlin Wall graffiti art: lifting of borders as an overarching theme.

The motifs are numerous, like that of a fleeing man.

The world-famous Checkpoint Charlie booth, the Berlin Wall crossing point, transferred from its original stand in 1990 to the Allied Museum, which was inaugurated in 1998.

The Berlin Wall is an integral part of the public exhibition at the Topography of Terror history museum, located  on the site of the former Main Security Office of the Nazi Germany.

A watchtower, one of the last relics from the GDR era, can be found north of central train station. It is named in memory of Günter Litfin, who was the first victim to be killed by East German border troops. A memorial, established in 1992 on the initiative of his younger brother, is located in the watchtower.

This notorious painting, called “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love”, was created in 1990. It depicts Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in a fraternal kiss, a mimicry of a photograph that captured the moment in 1979.

Division and unity, when put in a broader context. Another piece of graffiti art on the Berlin Wall.

 

Photos and copyright: Alexander Svetlov

 

 

 

 

 

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Berlin, as a site and a backdrop of many epochal events, used to play a central role during the East-West confrontations in the 20th century. Nowadays the city turned into coulisse for many historical events, commemorations and discourses. As the past conditions our present, Berlin as a spot is also seen pertinent to the generally and specifically “european” interactions with Ukraine. Common history, as surveyed bellow, connects Ukraine as geographic and socio-political entity with Western Europe, personified by Berlin.

Berlin city plan, as presented at the Berliner Stadt-Modelle (Mitte).

Diorama of the Siege of the Berlin Reichstag by the Soviet Army in 1945 at the Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst.

View from the Flak tower at Humbolthain.

Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam, south of Berlin. It is the last palace built by the House of Hohenzollern that ruled the German Empire until the end of World War I. In 1990 it became part of the UNESCO World Heritage. The palace was used for a summit by the G8 foreign ministers in May 2007.

But first it was the location of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, in which the leaders of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States made decisions affecting the  post World War II time. The red star was planted by the Soviets well in advance of the meeting to imply the dominating position.

Negotiation table of the Potsdam Conference.

The view from the second floor.

The Soviet War Memorial in Tiergarten, erected in 1945, within a few months of the capture of the city.

The memorial is a place of active commemoration and a popular tourist attraction.  It is a site of pilgrimage for war veterans from the countries of the former Soviet Union, whereby wreath-laying ceremonies are held at the memorial. The site and adjacent cemetery are maintained by the City of Berlin.

Soviet tanks are renowned, and these constitute an inevitable piece of every WWII commemorative scene.

T-34 model, as built after 1944, at the pedestal at the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, which is the historical venue of the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht on 8 May 1945.

Airplanes, like tanks, are also impressive artifacts. This Handley Page Hastings transport plane deployed by the Royal Air Force is placed at the Allied Museum  museum, which was inaugurated in 1998, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Berlin airlift.

The US Air Force Douglas C-47B “Raisin Bomber” on the roof of the German Museum of Technology.

Tempelhof was one of Europe’s first airports, and its 1 km long main building was once among the top 20 largest buildings on earth.  The whole complex was designed to resemble a flying eagle with semicircular hangars forming the bird’s spread wings. It acquired an iconic status as the centre of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. Tempelhof Airport closed all operations in 2008, and the airfield has been subsequently used as a recreational space known as “Tempelhofer Feld”.

First air jets of the early 1950-s, as displayed at the former Royal Air Force Station Gatow (now Bundeswehr Museum of Military History): a Soviet jet…

… and a “Western” jet.

A West-German NATO propagating poster “His comrades are our allies” (Bundeswehr Museum of Military History).

A Soviet officer training an East-German pilot – a monument of the GDR-times. A clear connotation for the younger brother relations within one family, subtly and cunningly propagated in the Communist Bloc. (Bundeswehr Museum of Military History).

One of the cipher machines from the exhibition over the history of espionage and secret services at the Spy Museum, opened in 2015.

The KGB Prison in Potsdam near Berlin, situated in the command quarters of the KGB for Germany, was a detention centre run by the Soviet counter-intelligence. Soviet soldiers,  accused of desertion, espionage or close contact with the population, were imprisoned here until the mid-1980s. Until 1955 Germans were also interned here. The memorial site was opened in 2009.

A ward´s peephole in the cell´s wall.

GDR Museum, the 11th most visited museum in Berlin, is located in the former governmental district of East Germany. Opened in 2006 as a private museum, its exhibition depicts life in the GDR in a direct “hands-on” manner, as it does not focus on every single individual exhibit (of which there are thousands), but rather on the overall atmosphere.

Jewish Museum, opened in 2001, is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. Its modern building is erected in deconstructivist style, which gives the impression of the fragmentation, unpredictability, absence of harmony or symmetry.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe consists of a 19,000 m2 site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs, arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field next to the Brandenburg Gate.

 

Photos and copyright: Alexander Svetlov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post The East-West history discourses in the Berlin´s context appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

A delegation of seven members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, led by Chairman David McAllister (EPP, DE), visited Algeria from 18 to 20 July 2018. MEPs met the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Interior, the Vice-President of the Council of the Nation, the President of the People’s National Assembly as well as the Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
During the visit they had fruitful discussions on the political, socio-economical situation of the country, but also on the security and stability of the region. The chair underlined that they came here to listen and observe to better understand Algeria and strengthen the parliamentary cooperation.

In this context, Mr. McAllister stated:

"Algeria plays an important stabilising role in the region and we should continue our cooperation on security as well as on fighting terrorism and radicalisation."

This visit follows the setting up of the EU-Algeria Joint Parliamentary Committee and shows the commitment of the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee to reinforce political dialogue with Algeria.

The delegation consisted of:

David McAllister (EPP, DE), Tokia Saïfi (EPP, FR), Francisco Millán Mon (EPP, ES), Jo Leinen (S&D, DE), Javi López (S&D, ES), Jakop Dalunde (Greens, SE), Dobromir Sośnierz (NI, PL)

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP