'European Union' - tagged features

More and more European leaders have sharpened their tone over Tibet this week. Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders, said he would not rule out a boycott if the situation in Tibet worsens. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy did the same. Meanwhile the head of the European Parliament invited the Dalai Lama to address EU lawmakers on the situation in Tibet. And, he also raised the option of boycotting the opening ceremony. But what would a boycott achieve? Marco Cappato is an Italian liberal democrat member of the European Parliament. 

The European Union is the biggest donor of development aid in the world. Projects range from training silk weavers in Cambodia, to helping small businesses in Peru find exports markets, and providing technical assistance to Egypt to eradicate a pest which threatened its vital potato exports. The EU funding amounts to some 48 billion euros annually – but this assistance hasn‘t been free of criticism. Critics argue that the EU gives with one hand and takes with the other. Radio Sweden’s Azariah Kiros explains. 

The focus this week in the European Union was on Slovenia, the country that took over the rotating presidency of the Union last week. All 27 commissioners gathered in the country’s capital Ljubljana, this week for its first meeting with the new presidency. Kosovo is top of the EU’s agenda; the Serbian province may well soon declare unilateral independence. But our Brussels correspondent says that Slovenia doesn’t seem to see eye to eye with the Union. He says they don’t seem to have consulted much with their European colleagues on the issue. The message, he says, was muddled. 

As you may know, the European Union, striving for a “perfect” democracy, has a rotating presidency. Every 6 months one member state takes over, and this January 1, it’s Solvenia’s turn. It’s a small country, just south of Austria and it’s the first from the crop of new member states to take over the post. And the pressure is on for the country to prove itself capable. This is a big year for the union, with a range of major issues on the agenda including Kosovo. Does the European Union support its independence from Serbia or not? To help us figure this all out, who better to talk to than Radio Slovenia International’s Michael Manske. He says Slovenes are very proud of taking over the presidency. 

The Slovenian agenda’s certainly a hectic one: they’ll be looking at the other Balkan states wanting to join the European Union—like Croatia and Bosnia. Then there’s what to do about climate change. Plus, since 2008 is the European year of intercultural dialogue. Some in Brussels are worried that the former Yugoslav country may have too much on its plate. RFI’s Brussels correspondent, Quentin Dickenson, explains. 

From the many ways of dignifying death around Europe we now turn to one of the least dignified ways to die – state execution, or the death penalty. This week the European Union was abuzz with fresh plans to persuade the United Nations General Assembly to adopt a resolution condemning the use of the death penalty in its member states around the world. Many key states still use it, including the US, Japan, and China. But, it’s banned across the whole of the EU. Portugal holds the EU’s rotating presidency at the moment and it’s been spearheading the drive to get the UN resolution passed, as you’d imagine with no small degree of opposition. Vanessa Mock is Brussels correspondent for Radio Netherlands Worldwide and explains in this week’s Brussels Briefing that as a first step the Portuguese are calling for a suspension to executions in all UN member states. 

Meanwhile, European businesses in China often complain that they're the victims of unfair competition with local companies. They accuse Chinese judges of bias when arbitrating disputes and say competitors receive concealed subsidies from Beijing. And patent rights are also a problem - European companies claim their Chinese rivals make no bones about stealing their ideas. Well the European Commissioner for Competition Nelie Smit-Kroes is in China this week to discuss the problems. Radio Netherland's Beijing correspondent Karen Meirik asked Ms Kroes if the Chinese see her as an ally in getting their goods to the European market. 

Celebrity gossip, big brash headlines, paparazzi pictures and lots of nudes, those are all trademarks of British tabloids. But another recurring topic the tabloids love to hate is the European Union - or the so-called Euromyths. You might say Brussels bunkum if you're British. Anthony Gooch is the Head of Media at the Representation of the European Commission in London and his mission is to fight these so-called Euromyths. 

Last week's heads of Government Summit in Brussels to hammer out the content of a new European Treaty was characterised as always by some very tough bargaining - But a tacit understanding on what can be used as a bargaining ploy in European negotiations was challenged when Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski cited his country's war dead at the hands of Nazi Germany as a reason why he the opposed German chancellor, Angela Merkel’s proposed new system of majority voting within the Union. In the end the compromise solution was found - but since the summit, commentators around have been trying to get their heads around what the comment's mean for Poland and the EU. 

The piece of paper that got Europe started, the Treaty of Rome, is about to turn 50. Germany currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU and so Berlin's hosting a big birthday celebration. It will also see the signing of a grand new piece of paper called the Berlin Declaration. Network Europe's Brussels correspondant Stephen Castle told us the German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to mark this date in style.