
How EU leaders should deal with Chinese government repression
If the EU can map out a strategy to "de-risk" economic and trade relations with Beijing, it can do so on human rights.
Sunday
4th Jun 2023
If the EU can map out a strategy to "de-risk" economic and trade relations with Beijing, it can do so on human rights.
After the war ends Ukraine should work to make Russia a safe place, which respects independent and sovereign neighbours as well as Nato.
The EU's ambition to be a digital superpower stands in stark contrast to the US — but the bigger problem is that it remains far better at regulation than innovation, despite decades of hand-wringing over Europe's technology gap.
European governments are phasing out fossil fuels at home, but continuing their financial support for fossil mega-projects abroad. This is despite the EU agreeing last year to decarbonise export credits — insurance on risky non-EU projects provided with public money.
The UK has always been a huge navy power, Ukraine has 10 years of combat experience, and Poland is a major power in Europe.
In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.
The EU could be a global leader in marine sustainability and significantly reduce forced migration, if only it would challenge those who profit from ransacking African resources.
Calls for developed countries to prepare for the arrival of "climate refugees" and to expand the UN Refugee Convention accordingly are uninformed and, worse, counter-productive.
The EU led support for the waste management crisis in Lebanon, spending around €89m between 2004-2017, with at least €30m spent on 16 solid-waste management facilities. However, it failed to deliver.
Six months after Qatargate, as institutional inertia and parliamentary privileges weigh in, the sense of gravity and collective resolve have all but disappeared. MEPs show little enthusiasm for reform of the rules that today allow them significant outside paid activities.
What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.
Half of the world's work is unpaid, and women carry out most of it. According to estimates, activities like cooking, cleaning, collecting food or caring for children and the elderly may be valued at up to 60 percent of GDP.
With the significant influence it can have on EU legislation, it is disturbing that the Regulatory Scrutiny Board is allowed to operate largely in secret. EU citizens and even MEPs have no insight into how the RSB reaches its decisions.
We, the undersigned academics and civil society organisations, see the geopolitical crisis as an opportunity to disengage from the socially and ecologically harmful growth competition and instead embrace a wellbeing cooperation.
It is problematic that many EU countries have rules that basically exclude men who have sex with men from the possibility to be blood donors. These bars are not evidence based.
GDP is an unreliable indicator of economies' capacity to thrive in times of change. And the over-reliance on GDP won't get our economies on track to meet environmental and social goals when crises hit.
Forget about Poland and Hungary, Bulgaria's democratic backsliding is accelerating.
The search for an elusive "partnership of equals" between African states and the European Union remains a slow, unsteady and increasingly challenging work in progress.
An EU that renounces the economic growth dogma could more easily reduce its dependence on energy and materials from Russia and China, thus gaining resilience. Reducing its security dependence on the US, however, is a tougher nut to crack.
The European Commission has long experience in regulating and policing complex industries, such as artificial intelligence. Even the big EU member states do not have such capacities and skills anymore.
This Sunday the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia will resume peace talks in Brussels. Some say even it might even lead to peace treaty.
Western Balkan governments have announced a series of new gas pipelines, terminals and power plants, supposedly to steer the region away from Russia. If implemented they will hamper the region's transition to renewables, and aggravate economic and security risks.
European institutions should warn Erdoğan that there will be serious consequences if votes are rigged and the legitimacy of upcoming elections put in question.
EU lawmakers intend to cede responsibility for "high risk" AI technology to two little-known technical standards organisations.
Acts of sabotage on wind farms or the underwater electricity grid are likely to be carried out as 'grey zone tactics', state-sponsored sabotage may be disguised as a civilian accident, or carried out from a leisure yacht or fishing boat.
On 15 May, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will elect its next leader. Just like five years ago, the contest is not without controversy, with member states divided over prospective candidates.
The EU Commission has outsourced its merger policy to a consultancy which counts Google as its best friend. And it's not the first time the Commission has hired consultants with a vested interest for policy advice.
Where now for Germany? A hybrid of the best parts of the Dutch and Spanish systems seems a likely forward, since both have been proven to work without incurring the wrath of other Europe member states
In the Czech Republic, the extravagant promises of Chinese investment never materialised and the former president Miloš Zeman's sycophancy toward Xi Jinping provoked a wide revulsion. In contrast, Slovakia has avoided a real debate about its relationship with China.
The ability to use different foreign policy discourses is the EU's biggest asset. It keeps a systemic rival like China on its toes, while signalling to the US that Europe has its own interests.
Our muslim youth organisation FEMYSO has been mercilessly defamed over years. We never knew who the perpetrator was, until a New Yorker investigation revealed the absurdly unlikely story behind the campaign.
The narrative now is all about how clueless African, Asian and Latin American leaders can still be brought back to the right path — and out of China's embrace — with the right amount of tough pressure and sweet persuasion.
Curiously, it is not easy to ascertain exactly why Sweden could not enter the alliance on the same day as Finland, given the submission of parallel bids, writes former Swedish ambassador to Ankara, Michael Sahlin, and Kjell Engelbrekt.