ENP: Georgia is top of the class
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
Time to upgrade its action plan, argues Dick Leonard
Europe and Multilateralism
Articles
Enlargement Problems
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
No gridlock – so far. How the EU has adapted to enlargement.
Don't forget the citizen!
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
Constitutional debate must not be monopolized by governments, argues Ecas
Turkey - Train wreck ahead?
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
Anyone visiting Turkey after an interval of several years, as I did last week, cannot fail to be impressed by the visible evidence of the transformation of the Turkish economy. With its high annual growth rate (8 per cent in the past year), and its energetic, enterprising, and, above all, youthful workforce, it is catching up fast with the EU, and there can be little doubt that it will have overtaken the GDP per capita of several existing member states over the next decade.
The European Neighbourhood Policy – time for a revamp?
By Dick Leonard.
It is now nearly two years since the first action plans were approved under the European Neighbourhood Policy, and perhaps not too early to assess the results so far. The German presidency, which takes over in January, is anxious to raise the ENP's profile, and the Commission will be producing a report, with recommendations, next month.
A Special Relationship?
By Richard Gowan. Source: E-Sharp September-October 2006
Links between the EU and the UN have flourished under Kofi Annan. With his tenure about to expire, Richard Gowan looks at the implications for Europe of the search for his successor
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Blair failed in Europe, will Brown do better?
By Dick Leonard.
Exit Tony Blair, enter Gordon Brown: good news or bad for the European Union?
A new EU approach to China?
By Dick Leonard.
This year's EU-China summit, scheduled for 8-9 September, in Helsinki, may well see a determined effort from the EU side to put the relationship on a new footing. Both trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, and his external relations colleague, Benita Waldner-Ferrero, have been conducting fundamental policy reviews which are likely to lead to a proposal to replace the 1985 agreement, which has hitherto governed relations between the two sides.
France's Military Politics
By Richard Gowan. Source: The Globalist
26 June 2006
The run up to the 2007 elections in France are bound to be a bitter, hard-fought contest. Though France has no need for a mass conscription army, Richard Gowan writes that the military may become a central campaign issue. In fact, socialist candidate Ségolène Royal is recommending one in an effort to give the government a new option in dealing with civil unrest among its rebellious youth.
Whenever French youth take to the streets, as in March this year, it is not long before Anglo-Saxon commentators are citing "the legacy of 1789" and "the spirit of 1968."
These dates, they imply, demonstrate the anarchic underpinnings of France's politics. But recent Parisian political debate has echoed another tradition stretching back to the 18th century: the idea of the French citizen not as a revolutionary — but as a soldier.
Those who believe Europe has lost its taste for the armed forces may be surprised to see the run-up to next year's French presidential election take a distinctly martial turn.
ECJ steadily enlarging citizens' rights
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
When the European Constitutional treaty was effectively killed off by French and Dutch voters last year, it appeared to be a black day for the rights of EU citizens. Consigned to the rubbish bin were not only a whole raft of provisions designed to make the EU a more effective actor in the world, but also the Charter of Fundamental Rights which would have been incorporated into European law.
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Hard luck on Lithuania - Kept out on a technicality?
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
On May 16 the European Commission and the European Central Bank will meet to consider the applications of Slovenia and Lithuania to join the Eurozone on 1 January 2007. The hot tip is that Slovenia will be accepted, but Lithuania will not.
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Cyprus - a way out of the stalemate?
By Dick Leonard, Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
A rare chink of light in the gloomy Cyprus situation is the agreement, just reached, between Tassos Papadopoulos, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Mehmet Ali Talat to meet in Nicosia. Their talks will be confined to talks to discussing the fate of more than 2,000 Greek and Turkish Cypriots missing since the 1974 Greek Cypriot coup and the subsequent Turkish invasion.
Could this act as an ice-breaker to persuade both sides to resume meaningful negotiations on bringing an end to the division of the island? Hopes for this are not very high, and a new report by the International Crisis Group, entitled The Cyprus Stalemate: What Next? concludes that the short-term prospects of a constitutional settlement are not good.
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Swiss ponder 'quarter-way house' to EU membership
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
In June the Swiss government will be publishing a fundamental reappraisal of its relationship with the EU which could – but probably won't – lead to a reactivation of its membership application.
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Wanted: An EU Human Rights agency which works
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
In a recent meeting in Vienna with Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, Graham Watson, the leader of the Liberal and Democrat group (ALDE) in the European Parliament, set out three priority issues on which it hopes that progress will be made during the six-month Austrian presidency.
One of these was to ensure that the small Vienna-Based EU Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) should become a fully-fledged EU Fundamental Rights Agency. This had been agreed in principle at an EU summit in December 2003, but so far little has been done to bring it about.
Europe Isn't Working: how should it change?
By Chris Forster. Source: The Foreign Policy Centre
"Europe has broken down!" Our only hope seems either to call for repairs or ditch it by the side of the road and start walking. This is because some see the European Union as a complex machine. If regulations are pouring out of the European Parliament, if candidate countries are lining up to become members and if national governments are agreeing to budgets and treaties then it is running smoothly. When they are not it is broken and needs mending, or in some minds abandoning altogether.
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How many Polish plumbers?
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
How many 'Polish plumbers' have come to France and other EU15 countries, under-cutting the wages of native workers and boosting the unemployment figures? A great deal fewer than the public (and French and Dutch voters in particular) appear to believe, while the predicted massive increase of migrants from Eastern Europe, following EU enlargement in May 2004, has just not happened, according to a new report from the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS).
Written by Julianna Traser, and entitled Who's afraid of EU enlargement?, it reviews the situation a year after the entry of the eight countries concerned. Unfortunately, five of the EU15 states (Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal) failed to provide any statistical information, so the survey is restricted to the remaining ten 'old' members and the eight new ones.
Cyprus and Malta are also excluded, as their citizens were granted unrestricted access to EU labour markets from Day One of their membership. The other eight new members were made subject to transitional measures, running at the maximum until 2011, which the EU15 countries were permitted to apply. Only Sweden chose not to do so.
The consequence is that four different labour market regimes are now being applied in Western Europe;
- Restrictive, with would-be migrants being treated in the same way as non-EEA citizens (Belgium, Finland, Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg and Spain).
- Restrictive, with a quota system being applied (Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal).
- General labour access with limited welfare benefits (Ireland, UK).
- No restrictions (Sweden).
The report does indeed show that the three countries applying no restrictions received more immigrants than the others, but the flow was much less than anticipated, was confined mostly to 'hard to fill' jobs, and there was no evidence that it led to any increase in unemployment. Furthermore, the much touted 'benefit tourists' notably failed to put in an appearance. Sweden, for example, which received some 21,800 workers up to the end of December 2004, paid out only a total of €18,000 in social assistance.
Although Ireland, which suffers from serious labour shortages, was the most popular target country, in relation to its own population, it was the United Kingdom which received the largest number of migrant workers. The official estimate was 175,000, or 0.4 per cent of the labour force, though research by a German-based think-tank suggests that the real figure is far lower – around 50,000.
Of the migrants to Britain, 82 per cent were aged 18-34, 60 per cent were male, and only 5 per cent of the registered workers had dependents in their charge. Large numbers of Polish and Czech electricians, plasterers, bricklayers and carpenters were recruited for the construction industry, which suffers from severe labour shortages.
The British National Health Service also took advantage of the opportunity to recruit highly qualified staff for posts it was finding difficult to fill. Dentists and anaesthetists were particularly welcome, a development which has caused fears of a 'brain drain', especially in Hungary and Poland.
Many fewer job-seekers came to France, which issued only 9,994 work permits to nationals of the new member states between May and December 2004. Nor was this surprising, as, for example, only 3 per cent of Poles claim to speak French, while 21 per cent speak English and 16 per cent German. Nevertheless, the high unemployment rate stoked fears which were unjustified by the facts on the ground. There are, undoubtedly, some Polish plumbers in France, but not very many of them.
Another reason why relatively few East Europeans have come to work in France is the formidable bureaucratic barriers which they face, and which only the most motivated or desperate try to surmount. Yet the main reason why the flows of migrants has been so much lower than expected, to the EU as a whole and not only to France, is the booming economies of the new member states, whose growth rate is twice that of the EU15.
This appears to be repeating the earlier experience of Spanish and Portuguese membership, when severe transitional measures were imposed, and were later found to be unnecessary as both Spain and Portugal experienced enhanced growth, largely helped by the structural programmes of the EU. Both these countries now import as much labour as they export.
Under the terms of the membership agreements, the Commission is due to report in 2006 on the effect, so far, of the transitional measures. This should not be regarded as a routine matter. It is essential it conducts in-depth research, with the full co-operation of all 25 governments, before producing its recommendations. The ECAS report is a valuable indicator, but its lack of resources and imperfect access to national statistics, must to some extent limit its validity.
The Commission must also make a major effort to publicise the results of its own study in order to counter the widespread misconceptions thrown up by the referendum campaigns in France and the Netherlands, which undoubtedly exist in other member states as well. Unfortunately, however, it will probably only be when countries like France and Germany have taken the necessary painful steps to remedy their unemployment problems that the scapegoating of Eastern European workers will come to an end.
- Dick Leonard is the author of The Economist Guide to the European Union.
More bullets for the buck: Can EU members get better value for their defence efforts?
By Dick Leonard. Source: European Voice
EU countries collectively spend almost 180 billion EUR per year on defence; more than half the US total of 330 billion EUR, and have many more men under arms. Yet it became apparent during the Kosovo War – if not long before – that the EU's actual capacity is a great deal less than half that of the US.
Where battle will be joined in EU vote
By Richard Gowan. Source: E!Sharp, October 2004
What does a little Englander look like?
Ask most Europeans to visualise a typical British Eurosceptic and they will probably conjure up a young man with cropped hair, numerous tattoos and an unhelpful attitude towards foreign policemen. The reality is rather different.
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Why Tony needs help from a Tory
By Mark Leonard. Source: New Statesman, 9 September 2004
Each man kills the thing he loves - and so it could be with Tony Blair and Europe. For ten years the Prime Minister has promised to "settle" Britain's ambivalent relationship with the EU. But he must now admit that he could become a liability to the European cause - provoking otherwise neutral voters to vote against the constitution simply to spite him.
Europe's advocates need to make their case now
By Giles Radice. Source: The Financial Times, 6 September 2004
The significance of the referendum on the constitutional treaty for the European Union is clear. A majority Yes vote would not only help improve the efficient working of the European Union (to Britain's benefit as well as that of other members) but also greatly consolidate British membership and influence inside the EU. A No vote would be a famous victory for the Eurosceptics, strengthening the hand of those who want Britain to negotiate a weaker, more tenuous relationship with Europe or even leave the EU altogether.
California crosses the Atlantic; Observations on the European Constitution
By Jack Thurston. Source: New Statesman, 30 August 2004
Direct democracy was born in the ancient Athenian city state but soon fell into disuse, only to be revived 2,000 years later by the republican idealism (or mob rule, depending on your view) of the American frontier. Could it be about to come home?
Don't Despair
By Richard Gowan and Rob Blackhurst.
Pro-European's should not despair. UKIP's triumph was a perfect storm that won't be repeated.
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Don't Hold Your Breath
By Mark Leonard.
British pro-Europeans cannot wait for the Government to take a lead
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Speech by Jack Straw to the Foreign Policy Centre
Jack Straw delived a speech on Europe to the Foreign Policy Centre on 28 August 2003
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Why the Franco-German Plan would Institutionalise 'Cohabitation' for Europe
By Simon Hix and Gérard Roland.
With the Convention due to report soon, Simon Hix and Gerard Roland argue that the Chirac-Schroeder plan for electing the Commission President is tempting but flawed.
Democratising the EU
Read the full text of a speech given by Anna Lindh, Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs, at this seminar held by the FPC and the British Council in Stockholm on the 24th May.
Linking National Politics to Europe
Source: The Foreign Policy Centre
Simon Hix's policy brief was launched at the Centre with a lively debate.
Can Brussels Earn the Right to Act?
Source: Global Thinking, The FPC Newsletter
As the convention on the future of Europe holds its first meeting, Mark Leonard argues the case for the principle of subsidiarity.
Yes to Europe - because life's better there
By Mark Leonard. Source: Observer, 2 December 2001
If pro-Europeans want to win the public argument then they will need to move from abstract debates and history lessons to showing how the British can share the good life of our continental neighbours.