The EU budget for 2021-2027 for the first time includes a security and defence section. Although this signals an increased willingness to commit to joint EU defence initiatives, the potential of the budget remains limited (for now).
Continue reading
The EU needs a European infrastructure strategy. Traditional and modern infrastructures, whether real or digital, are the paths along which growth, jobs and prosperity for Europe’s citizens advance and are created. But not only that: infrastructures provide states and regions with security and structure, and citizens with educational opportunities and health protection. In the geostrategic conflicts of the 21st century, infrastructures are also targets of political disputes through direct attacks or economic takeovers.
The European Union must respond to these multiple challenges in a tailored manner. This includes – a central lesson of the Corona crisis – a modern health and disaster protection system that works together across borders. The establishment of joint stockpiles of critical medical devices and medicines is just as necessary as regular and effective training to avert dangerous situations. The Member States have a wealth of unique and high-quality experience and equipment in the field of health and civil protection. They must be carefully linked for the efficient and effective protection of the whole of Europe.
Continue reading
“Every citizen of the Union has the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States.” – what today constitutes the charter of fundamental rights of the EU began 35 years ago as a small-scale agreement: When the five founding states of the EU – Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – signed the Schengen Agreement on 14 June 1985, they probably did not yet foresee the far-reaching consequences this gradual abolition of border controls would have for the further course of the European integration process. The common Schengen area is “an expression of lived freedom and freedom of movement and one of the greatest achievements” in the history of Europe, according to Stephan Thomae, deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.
Time and again, the Schengen Agreement comes under pressure from daily political events: For instance, during the migration and refugee crisis in 2014 and 2015 as well as during the current Corona crisis. The retreat to national borders and reflexes shows how fragile our, so laboriously created, common space of freedoms is. Reason enough to consider the value of the agreement. There are at least three good reasons to revitalise the spirit of Schengen and to campaign for the maintenance of the four freedoms of goods, services, labour and capital: Continue reading
The ship has sailed. This sentence probably best describes the general interest in Brexit and the state of the British opposition. Yet the important decisions are being made only now.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won the landmark House of Commons elections last December and led his country out of the European Union on 31st January. Since then, the Brexit is no longer a spectre of political debate, but a fact.
The general interest in the UK’s withdrawal from the EU has waned noticeably on both sides of the English Channel. This is all the more true since the coronavirus pandemic has swept across Europe and its catastrophic consequences have overshadowed other events. Continue reading
Kindly register for this event by 24. May at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9JKtrxyBR1yLHi1w3KqJoQ * Continue reading
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation Europe,
in cooperation with the Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels,
is pleased to invite you to their online-webinar.
Kindly register for this event by 18. May at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vBXU4LlETvevynW6nztd0A *
