When the membership process of Turkey to the European Union is mentioned, one of the first questions that come to mind is concerns Turkey's place in the history of Europe. If we try to answer the question from the perspective of Turkish immigrants in Europe, it may be asked whether Turkish immigrants have contributed to the European Memory or not, and if so, to what extent.
After Turkey's 17th general elections held on 12 June 2011, the first Turkish EU Ministry was established in Turkey. The former chief negotiator Egemen Bağış became the first Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator on the Establishment of the Ministry of EU Affairs. Since it is supposed to replace the Secretariat General for the EU Affairs, many EU experts and politicians, not only in Turkey but also in the EU, consider that it constitutes a significant institutional improvement.
July 2011 marked the beginning of the Polish presidency of the European Union. Strenghtening the CSDP is one of the targets put forward. However, already during its accession process to the EU, Poland has been keen on getting involved in the transformation of the European Security and Defence Policy and has continued to do so since it became a member. Nonetheless, one must not forget the weight NATO and the USA have in the Polish Army.
On 13 July 2011 VoteWatch.eu launched its new report on voting behaviour of MEPs, their political groups, and the national delegations within those groups. At a panel discussion in Brussels, MEPs from different political groups debated the report that was presented by Professor Simon Hix. This article looks at the findings of the report and tries to analyse them with an emphasis on certain national delegations.
Does our energy dependency make slaves out of us? Are we at the mercy of the energy producing countries? The question of Europe’s energy dependency led to an array of interviews with academics, journalists and those in the private sector in an attempt to discover the nature of this ‘dependency’ relationship.
Ivo Slosarcik is a professor of European and International law at the Charles University of Prague (Jean Monnet Center of Excellence). He also participated in founding the Institute for European policy EUROPEUM. During the Czech Presidency of the European Union, he was a member of the advisory committee of the Czech Vice-Prime minister, Alexander Vondra. In this interview, M. Slosarcik draws up his assessment of the Czech Presidency and his view on the future of the rotating Presidency.
On March 27th, under UN Resolution 1973, NATO became responsible for the whole military intervention in Libya. Despite Europeans' attempts to set up a Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), the Atlantic Alliance appears once again as the most credible military actor in Europe and in its neighbourhood. What does this mean for the relationship between NATO and ESDP and the issue of burden-sharing?
Are you under 30, have a university degree and live in a big European city? In that case, chances are you might be a ‘New European’. In April 2011 Eurobarometer published a special survey entitled ‘New Europeans’, examining indicators of European cohesion.
In the aftermath of the Orange Revolution of 2004 and following the Ukraine-Russia energy crises of 2005-09, the country’s ‘Western shift’ towards the EU appeared to be a mere question of time. Five years later, these expectations turned out to be too optimistic. How to explain the ‘enlargement fatigue’ on both sides of the frontier between Ukraine and the EU? And what influence can the UK have on the process?
The return of Roma from France to Romania and Bulgaria is not a new phenomenon. Europea Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) reported that France has been returning Roma to these countries under various schemes in significant numbers since at least 2007. What is new with expulsions of Roma that occurred in 2010 and why this issue never came into focus before? But before, passed the common picture and prejudice we have of them, what do we know about the European Romani population?