Europa

Ein Deutscher soll es richten: Der Spitzendiplomat Wolfgang Ischinger ist als EU-Vertreter für die Kosovo-Verhandlungen im Gespräch. Der ehemalige Staatssekretär unter Außenminister Fischer gilt als ausgewiesener Balkan-Experte. [Spiegel]

Technorati Tags: Kosovo, Serbia, Serbien, EU, Europaeische Union, European Union, Diplomat, Union européenne, Staatssekretär, Balkan, Albania, Albanien

The EU and the United States agreed on 26 July 2007 on the use of a common GPS-Galileo signal after a joint EU-US compatibility and interoperability working group overcame technical challenges to design an interoperable GPS-Galileo civil signal.

The optimised signal is said to allow the users to receive GPS and/or Galileo signals with higher accuracy around the world and to contribute to “protect common security interests”.

Greater signal availability is also expected to enhance commercial opportunities for the development of new Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) products and services with manufacturers said to “have the benefit of adequate lead time to ensure products developed will meet the needs of users around the world”. [EurActiv]

Technorati Tags: Europa, Europe, US, United States, EU, eu, European Union, Europäische Union, Union européenne, Unione europea, Unión Europea, satellite, navigation, GNSS, GPS, Global Navigation Satellite System, EU-US, GPS-Galileo, Galileo, security, communication

Wer hat das letzte Wort in der EU? Der Europäische Gerichtshof in Luxemburg oder - für den Geltungsbereich des Grundgesetzes - das Bundesverfassungsgericht? Zu einem offenen Konflikt ist es bisher nicht gekommen, doch nimmt die Kritik am Europäischen Gerichtshof zu: Er hatte zuletzt in einem Fall angeblicher Altersdiskriminierung in Deutschland großzügig Rechtsgrundlagen selbst geschaffen.

Über diesen Fall, der auch von einem Generalanwalt beim Europäischen Gerichtshof für Unmut sorgte, wird derzeit im Zweiten Senat des Bundesverfassungsgerichts beraten. Mit dem Präsidenten des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, dem Vorsitzenden des Ersten Senats Hans-Jürgen Papier, sprach Reinhard Müller in Karlsruhe über die europäische Integration. [FAZ]

Technorati Tags: Europa, Europe, Europaeische Union, European Union, EU, eu, Union européenne, Unione europea, Unión Europea, Grundgesetz, Staat

European diplomacy regarding the ongoing conflict over Iran’s nuclear programme has evolved over the last five years, although it still lacks several important features necessary for success, writes Marco Overhaus in a July 2007 paper for Deutsche Außenpolitik.

Overhaus claims that through the ‘EU-3′ of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the Union displays a distinctly unified position that “starkly contrasts” the “disunity” in Europe in the build-up to the US war in Iraq in 2003.

Overhaus believes that European diplomats have “learned a lesson” from the Iraq situation – namely that international unity, and particularly Western unity, is a high value in itself. [EurActiv]

Technorati Tags: Europe, Europa, European Union, EU, Union européenne, Unión Europea, Unione europea, Iran, nuclear programme, nuclear, nuclear program, European diplomacy, European policy, EU policy, EU diplomacy, diplomacy, international, Western, Iraq, Overhaus, diplomat, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Union

As reported by EurActiv, Commissioner Leonard Orban visited France recently to lay the groundwork for establishing co-operation on multilingualism ahead of the country’s stint at the EU’s helm in 2008.

In a recent visit to France, Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban took the opportunity to present his political diary for the year to come and declare his intention to strengthen the co-operation with the country, ahead of the French EU Presidency, which begins in June 2008.

Promoting the European Commission’s mandate on multilingualism, launched in 2007, Orban visited Paris on 19-20 July.

“It is necessary to establish multilingual co-operation with France,” he declared to an audience of key political leaders, including French Higher Education and Research Minister Valerie Pecresse and Mouvement des Enterprises de France (MEDEF)external President Laurence Parisot.

Commissioner Orban pointed highlighted three key policy areas for 2007-2008, namely to support competitiveness, growth and employment with multilingualism. According to a recent study by the UK’s National Centre for Languagesexternal , 11% of European exporting SMEs lose markets because of a linguistic abilities deficit.

To find solutions to this problem, the Commission, in co-operation with employers’ organisations from across Europe, will organise a conference on the topic ‘Languages make our deals’ on 21 September 2007 in Brussels, to promote foreign-language education in the EU so that each European citizen speaks at least two languages apart from his or her mother tongue - at present, some 56% of Europeans speak only one language.

“It should be noted that the multilingualism objective is horizontal in nature,” Orban told a press conference.

“It interacts with other European Union policies, such as culture, education, communication, social policy, employment, justice, freedom and security.”

With 2008 already designated as Europan Year Intercultural Dialogue, Orban also said that he was aware of France’s dissatisfaction with the “growing prevalence of English as an official working language, to the detriment of French”. [EurActiv]

Technorati Tags: Europe, Europa, European Union, Union européene, language, langue, multilingualism, Orban, EU, linguistic policy

Le ministre délégué aux affaires étrangères allemand, Gernot Erler, a critiqué le protocole d’accord franco-libyen sur le nucléaire, mettant en garde contre le risque de prolifération, dans un entretien au quotidien Handelsblatt, à paraître vendredi 27 juillet. “Politiquement, cette affaire est problématique”, a déclaré le ministre social-démocrate. Il a précisé qu’”en outre, le risque de prolifération augmente avec chaque pays qui utilise l’énergie nucléaire”.

Gernot Erler a aussi reproché au gouvernement français d’agir contre les intérêts allemands, dans la mesure où “l’Allemagne avait déjà fait des propositions” à la Libye pour y développer le secteur des énergies renouvelables, des propositions “auxquelles elle n’a pas réagi”. Le Monde

Technorati Tags: Europe, Europa, European Union, Union européenne, France, Lybie, franco-libyen, allemand, français, France, énergie, renouvelable, Gernot Erler, gouvernement, Berlin, Washington, prolifération, Allemagne

On 23 July, the EU launched an Intergovernmental Conference to provide a legal basis for the June Summit’s political agreement, and prepare a text to revise the current treaties. Jean-Dominique Giuliani of the Robert Schuman Foundation outlines the new perspectives that will potentially become European policy following this turning point. [EurActiv]

Technorati Tags: EU, Europe, Europa, European Union, European, Union, treaty, constitution, European Constitution, summit, Robert Schuman, policy, Intergovernmental Conference, Reform Treaty, Brussels