Europe Archive

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EU-LAC – GIGA Seminar, Hamburg, 17-18 September 2012

– 15 August 2012Posted in: Germany, Latin America

The EU-LAC Foundation and the GIGA (German Institute of Global and Area Studies) are organising an international seminar “New Grounds for the Relations between the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean – towards a Relevant Partnership” which is taking place in Hamburg on 17th and 18th September 2012.

The countries of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean launched the strategic partnership process more than a decade ago. Since then, the global context has changed significantly and the current worldwide economic crisis presents new challenges to the bi-regional partnership. Therefore, the seminar calls for a reflection on the grounds of the partnership between Latin America, Caribbean and the European Union, focussing on the opportunities that the new context provides for both regions and their populations.

Over 80 participants from both regions and various sectors (including academics, high-level officials, opinion makers and entrepreneurs) will discuss topics such as the emergence of new geopolitical poles, the economic and political boom of Latin America, as well as climate change. The seminar will be inaugurated with an opening act by invitation of the First Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz. Opening speakers include, amongst others, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, President of the EU-LAC Foundation, Detlef Nolte, Acting President of GIGA, and Leonel Fernández, former President of the Dominican Republic and current President of the EU-LAC Foundation’s Strategic Partner FUNGLODE.

Although participation in this seminar is by invitation only, the EU-LAC Foundation will provide public information on the Seminar as it unfolds, including through Twitter. The Foundation’s Twitter Account https://twitter.com/eulacfoundation will be working with full speed by the beginning of September. Please do follow by subscribing here: http://tinyurl.com/bp4h4ln

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New Challenges, New Beginnings – Next Steps in European Development Cooperation

– 14 January 2011Posted in: Africa, Development, Economy, MDGs

It is a coincidence that two things have happened simultaneously – and the coincidence will be a happy one if the two can be brought together.

On the one hand, Europe has emerged from eight years of introspection with new structures, a new leadership team and a new platform (the Lisbon Treaty) for more effective collective action.

On the other hand, the global financial crisis has provided a sobering wake-up call about the extent of mutual inter-dependence and the scale of the challenges the world must face. The global challenges will shape international development cooperation in coming years and have already led to new thinking and new approaches.

The financial crisis affected all countries and revealed new vulnerabilities. The most affected suffered a combination of falling export volumes and values, lower financial flows, lower remittances, and sometimes lower aid. Although global recovery has begun, it is uneven in scale and speed. Countries entered and will leave the recession very differently equipped to manage the next wave of challenges. There is likely to be greater differentiation among developing countries as a result. Climate change will be by far the biggest of the next wave, but developing countries must also deal with rapid urbanisation, demographic change, and a whole range of global risks, from disease pandemics to the risk of new food crises. Fragile states pose an especially demanding challenge, to their own populations but also to the global community. A new age of challenges requires a new approach.

via Europe’s World – The only Europe-wide Ideas Community – Partner Posts.

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Time to deliver: Challenges of the new EU Commissioner for Development

– 22 February 2010Posted in: Development

In a challenge ahead, Europe has two main contributions to make: development policy thinking and development aid delivery. Development policy is a key part of the ”Europe 2020” vision presented by president Barroso. In particular, as we look ahead to a ”global Europe”, it is in times of development challenges that the EU can become a champion of global governance – challenges which include world economic recovery, climate change, migration, food security and making progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. The Commission is already exploiting its expertise in development and strengthening the link between development policy, researchers, national authorities and civil society. To meet the Millennium Development Goals, the EU must implement its plans for greater coherence between policies in different sectors (”policy coherence for development”) and make aid more effective by coordinating the Commission (EuropAid) and 27 EU countries in one cogent effort to tackle poverty worldwide.

The EU is the biggest aid donor in the world, channelling some 60% of total official development assistance to Asia, Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Caribbean and Latin America ( €49bn in 2008, or €100 per European citizen). By improving aid predictability and achieving a better division of labour (the 2 main principles of efficient aid delivery), the EU could minimise the burden on recipient countries and free up resources worth €3-6bn a year (2009 aid-effectiveness study). Helping developing countries recover from the economic slowdown and beyond will be the top priority for the incoming development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. In times of economic crisis, sustaining financing for development is difficult but crucial for poor countries suffering even more than their developed counterparts. Source: European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/development/icenter/featured_20100209_en.cfm

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Migration in the EU: An opportunity and a challenge

– 3 July 2009Posted in: Africa, Migration

The European Union has historically attracted millions of immigrants. Most of them come legally, but there are some who do not. Immigration is both an opportunity and a challenge for Europe. Legal immigrants are needed to fill gaps in the EU labour force, as the EU’s own population grows older and its birth rate declines. However, the EU needs to curb illegal immigration and cooperate with other countries to arrange the return of irregular immigrants on a voluntary basis. The EU also has a duty to protect genuine asylum-seekers fleeing persecution or serious harm. The aim of European leaders is to devise a common strategy, to help each country cope with the challenges and benefit from the opportunities. This is why they have agreed on a European Pact on Migration and Asylum. Source: CTA, European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/publications/booklets/move/81/en.doc
CTA Briefing on migration: http://brusselsbriefings.net/past-briefings/december-11-2008/
CTA Reader on migration: http://brusselsbriefings.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/reader_migration_eng-v-2.pdf

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Standardisation should focus more on innovation

– 1 April 2008Posted in: Clusters, Standardisation, Technology

EU standardisation policy should focus more on product innovation and competitiveness, the European commission argued on Tuesday in a new policy paper. Standards and technical harmonisation can help speed-up the uptake of environmental technologies and liberalise trade in rapidly-growing markets, it said.

The commission’s policy paper outlines actions for a more market-led standardisation policy. Current standardisation models in Europe are ”called into question by challenges such as accelerated market cycles… and the trend towards global markets”, the paper says.

Standardisation is key to developing a European sustainable industrial policy and removing barriers to technological advances in ”lead markets” such as renewable energy, recycling, bio-based products and sustainable construction, the commission says. http://tinyurl.com/39gtas

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European Commission prepares Small Business Act

– 11 February 2008Posted in: Entrepreneurship

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the content of a European ”Small Business Act”. Its objective is to put small and medium sized enterprises at the forefront of decision-making in the EU and to introduce concrete measures to unlock the SMEs’ growth potential. It will include new initiatives to reduce regulatory burden on SMEs, facilitate access to Single Market/public procurement, help provide necessary financial/human resources for SME development and help SMEs face the challenge of globalization and climate change. The preparation of a ”Small Business Act” for Europe is one of the key measures announced in the Commission’s package for the next cycle of the Growth and Jobs Strategy adopted last December. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=1274

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EC Vice President Verheugen launches Enterprise Europe Network

– 11 February 2008Posted in: Clusters, Development, Directories, Entrepreneurship, Networks

European Commission Vice President Gunter Verheugen launched Enterprise Europe Network, a new and powerful European support network for enterprises. All major players of the business support community in Europe have united to offer a one-stop service to assist especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop their full potential and innovative capacity. With more than 500 contact points and almost 4,000 experienced staff, Enterprise Europe Network is the largest network in Europe providing expertise and services for business. These are available to companies of all sizes irrespective of whether they are in manufacturing or services, although they are primarily directed at small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise-europe-network

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EC proposes new options to reinforce development of micro-credit in Europe

– 25 November 2007Posted in: Uncategorized

Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner presented an initiative which seeks to improve access to finance for small businesses and for socially excluded people, also ethnic minorities, who want to become self-employed. This initiative, in line with the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, aims to make small loans, or micro-credit, more widely available in Europe to satisfy unmet demand. Micro-credit has been used very successfully in less developed countries, and there has already been some action in this field in the EU, both at Community and at national level. In the EU, demand for this type of finance – typically, loans averaging around €7,700 – is overwhelmingly from people setting up small companies in the service sector. Be it services to businesses, individuals or households, they range from personal computer wizards to window cleaners, gardeners, or carers for people or pets – micro-credit can help make a business of an individual’s skills and abilities.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1713&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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The Trade Knowledge Network

– 25 November 2007Posted in: Uncategorized

The Trade Knowledge Network (TKN) is the collaboration of research institutions in developed and developing countries located in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The Trade Knowledge Network is aimed at building long-term capacity to address issues of trade and sustainable development in developing country research institutions, non-governmental organizations and governments through increased awareness, knowledge and understanding of the issues. The TKN links network members and consolidates new and existing research on trade and sustainable development. http://www.tradeknowledgenetwork.net

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EU countries not delivering on aid promises

– 22 May 2007Posted in: Uncategorized

In 2002 and again in 2005 European Union governments committed to substantial increases in the amount of aid they give to poor countries. According to official figures most European countries are living up to their aid promises. But European citizens should hold their applause. European governments continue to make misleading claims about their aid figures: nearly one third of Europe’s reported Official Development Assistance (ODA) was not in fact genuine aid.

Eurodad authored and co-produced a report entitled ”Hold the applause! EU governments risk breaking aid promises”, launched in capitals across Europe on Friday. This report was produced under CONCORD the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development, representing over 1,600 European NGOs. The report shows that several European governments won’t keep their aid promises to poor countries by 2010 unless they radically increase their provision of genuine aid resources.

”We have seen scant change from last year’s inflated aid figures by key European governments as less real money is reaching the people who need it most,” said Lucy Hayes from Eurodad, the European Network on Debt and Development. ”It is time for European governments to come clean and deliver what they have promised”.

Many European governments are inflating their aid figures with debt cancellations, particularly to Iraq and Nigeria. They are also chalking up as aid their spending within Europe on refugees and foreign students’ education. In 2006 these non-aid items accounted for 13.5 billion Euro, almost one third of European Official Development Assistance (ODA). ”Poverty reduction does not always seem to be the main objective of European aid,” explained Justin Kilcullen, President of the European NGO confederation CONCORD. ”Security, geopolitical alliances and domestic interests often take precedence”.

European governments continue to make misleading claims about their aid figures with nearly one third of Europe’s reported ODA not in fact being used as genuine aid. Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain missed the individual minimum 2006 target outright. Once non-aid items are deducted, this report shows that France, Germany and Austria failed to reach the levels they originally promised.
http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/reports.aspx?id=1212
http://www.concordeurope.org/Public/Page.php?ID=3042

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