There is an interesting article by Vesslein Zhelev in WAZ.EUobserver.com talking about the present state of Bulgarian democracy. It is probably one-sided, but asks important questions.
The European Commission has adopted a proposal to enable citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina to travel with biometric passports to the Schengen countries without needing a visa.
The European Council in December 2007 decided to establish a ‘reflection group’ of no more than nine people, selected from across the Union on the basis of merit, to identify the key issues which the European Union is likely to face in the future and how these might be addressed.
Now the group, led by Felipe González, has issued its report “PROJECT EUROPE 2030: Challenges and Opportunities” (via Ralph Grahn).
There are some concrete proposals that I find interesting:
Economy:
- Further developing the internal market, e.g. in the area of services;
- Social security rights should, once and for all, be readily transportable between Member States;
- Extension of the availability of e-infrastructure to houses, schools and businesses;
- Development of healthcare, well-being and age-related industries and services;
- Giving leadership for economic coordination to the European Council;
- Reinforcing procedures for supervision of national budgets to ensure transparency as well as the sustainability of public finances.
Education and Innovation:
- Developing flexible and open curricula capable of nurturing curiosity and creativity among children;
- Building a network of top-level higher education establishments able to rival the best in the world;
- Ensuring that universities have greater exposure to the real economy in Europe and the rest of the world;
- More funding is needed for applied research that would benefit SMEs.
Demographic Challenges:
- Family-friendly policies aimed at stabilising or increasing fertility levels should be put in place;
- Provide the conditions in which people, in particular women with young children, and older workers, can remain in the workforce;
- Removing the legal, administrative and cultural barriers to promote greater intra-EU labour mobility;
- Retirement should become an option for individuals rather than an obligation;
- A common immigration policy for the EU should set out a specific medium- to long-term strategy for targeting skilled immigrants;
- A common approach to irregular immigrants.
Energy Security and Climate Change:
- The headline target for energy efficiency should be raised to 50 per cent by 2030, from the currently agreed 20 per cent by 2020;
- Move away from oil as the primary source of fuel for transport by encouraging bio-fuel standards and electric and hybrid vehicles;
- Develop intelligent energy networks (smart grids);
- Recourse to nuclear energy;
- Develop unconventional energy sources such as tight gas and shale oil.
- Internal and External Security:
- Increasing the powers of existing agencies and instruments, such as Europol, Eurojust, the Situation Centre, Frontex and the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator;
- Create a European civil reserve team of specially trained units ready to be deployed at short notice;
- Develop a more integrated external border management system;
- Agree on a workable strategic concept for the EU defence.
Foreign Relations and Enlargement:
- Build a global economic strategy that takes into account the euro as the world’s second reserve currency;
- Stay open to potential new members from Europe;
- Develop an enhanced role in stabilising its immediate surroundings by building on the existing ‘European Neighbourhood Policy’, ‘Eastern Partnership’ and ‘Union for the Mediterranean’;
- Manage a strategic co-existence, modernisation and region-building policy with Russia;
- Pull the EU’s diplomatic, military, trade, and development policies together with the external dimensions of its common economic policies;
- Develop an EU approach to global governance reform.
The European Citizens:
- More transparency and accuracy in the way we communicate EU policy-making;
- Avoid rhetoric and explain in plain language how EU adds value to its citizens’ lives;
- Encouraging Member States to grant voting rights in national elections to nationals of other Member States after a certain period of residence and tax payments;
- “Europeanising” European Parliament elections through the introduction of cross-border lists;
- Create a specific administrative instrument that would provide proof of European citizenship for individuals to use on a voluntary basis in order to access residence, employment and social security rights;
- Establish a system for evaluating the impact of EU law.
Posted in Budget and Finance, Competition, Education, Science and Culture, Employment and Social Affairs, Energy, Enlargement, Enterprise, EU Reform, Foreign and Security Policy, Healthcare, Human Rights, Institutional Affairs, Internal Market, Justice and Internal Affairs, Regional Policy, Taxes and Duties, Telecommunications, Transport
Tagged 2030, Climate change, demographic challenges, economy, education, energy security, European citizens, European Union, foreign relations, future, Innovation, Reflection Group, report
A BBC poll among more than 29,000 adults, asked respondents to say whether they considered the influence of different countries in the world to be mostly positive or mostly negative.
The poll focuses a lot of its attention on the performance of the United States. However, I am much more interested in the relative performance of the European Union and separate Member States.
The most positive ratings in the whole survey went for Germany (an average of 59% positive). The United Kingdom (52% positive) and France (49% positive) were also high on the list. The European Union as a whole was viewed positively by 53% of the respondents worldwide.
Here’s the thing. Respondents from only one country rated quite negatively the EU (45% negative, 29% positive). That country was Turkey. Go figure.
The Commission has published its reports under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism on progress with judicial reform, the fight against corruption and, concerning Bulgaria, the fight against organized crime.
The report about Romania notes that the country has not been able to keep the momentum of reform it had established by mid-2009.
The report about Bulgaria says that the judiciary continued to produce only few results in cases involving high-level corruption and organised crime and a further street killing occurred in January 2010.
No progress has been reported with procedures to adopt the new draft Statutory Instruments Act which should introduce clear rules for transparency and public debate and codify the different stages of the legislative process.
Organised crime cases in court have generally shown little development since mid-2009 and no convictions have been reported in this period.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken a harsh position against undocumented Armenian workers in Turkey, threatening to expel thousands amid tensions over allegations that Armenians were victims of “genocide” during the last days of the Ottoman Empire.
This is unacceptable. Mr. Erdoğan should withdraw that statement.
In what has become a fashion, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has distanced himself from earlier comments by the minister for Bulgarians abroad, Bojidar Dimitrov. Dimitrov said that Bulgaria could block the accession negotiations with Turkey over the question for compensation of Bulgarian refugees from Eastern Thrace in the period 1912-1918.
The spokesman of the Council of Ministers who confirmed the Bulgarian option of vetoing the negotiations was fired.
Should I remind here that Bulgaria wanted to get the enlargement portfolio in the Barroso II Commission???
EUobserver reports that Bojidar Dimitrov, minister without portfolio who runs the country’s Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, has said that “one of the three conditions of Turkey’s full membership of the EU is solving the problem of the real estate of Thracian refugees”.
Additionally, Mr. Vesselin Ninov – spokesperson for the Bulgarian Council of Ministers, has said that Bulgaria has the option to block accession negotiations with Turkey over the issue.
The Serbian government will formally apply for EU membership on December, 22, 2009.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has demanded visa-free travel with the EU after the opening of the borders for Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
He also said this:
“It’s unacceptable that certain Balkan countries that are in the initial stages of the membership process and have not begun negotiations have been given the Schengen privilege, while Turkey, considering the level that Turkish-EU relations have reached, has not.”
Apparently Mr. Davutoglu does not understand that the Council and the Commission obviously do not follow this logic.
European Union Law 