German liberal democratic basic order

21 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Reichstag in Berlin © Cezary Piwowarski/cc-by-sa-3.0

Reichstag in Berlin © Cezary Piwowarski/cc-by-sa-3.0

The liberal democratic basic order (German: freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung (FDGO)) is a fundamental term in German constitutional law. It determines the unalienable, invariable core structure of the German commonwealth. As such, it is the core substance of the German constitution. Building upon more general definitions of liberal democracy, the term has a specific legal meaning in Germany and is part of the German (originally West German) system of a Streitbare Demokratie (“fortified democracy”) that bans attempts to dismantle the liberal democratic basic order by what German authorities refer to as “enemies of the Constitution” or “extremists”.   read more…

The European Union: Common Fisheries Policy

24 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  14 minutes

© oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu

© oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fisheries policy of the European Union (EU). It sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishing industry by various market interventions. In 2004 it had a budget of €931 million, approximately 0.75% of the EU budget.   read more…

The European Union: Common Agricultural Policy

22 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  9 minutes

Flag_of_Europe The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the EEC budget cost (from 73% in 1985, to 37% in 2017) and consider rural development in its aims. It has however, been criticised on the grounds of its cost, its environmental, and humanitarian effects.   read more…

The European Union: European Sky Shield Initiative

12 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Flag_of_Europe European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is a project to build a ground-based integrated European air defense system which includes anti-ballistic missile capability. As of July 2023, nineteen European states participate in the initiative. ESSI is part of the Common Security and Defense Policy and as such is designed to complement and relieve the burden on NATO.   read more…

European Political Community (EPC)

3 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  7 minutes

European Political Community © EPCMoldova

European Political Community © EPCMoldova

The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe, established in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The group first met in October 2022 in Prague, with participants from 44 European countries, as well as the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission.   read more…

ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations

22 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  10 minutes

Flag_of_ASEAN ASEAN, officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration between its members and countries in the Asia-Pacific. The union has a total area of 4,522,518 km² (1,746,154 sq mi) and an estimated total population of about 668 million.   read more…

The European Union: European Neighbourhood Policy

8 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  11 minutes

Flag_of_Europe The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is a foreign relations instrument of the European Union (EU) which seeks to tie those countries to the east and south of the European territory of the EU to the Union. These countries, primarily developing countries, include some who seek to one day become either a member state of the European Union, or more closely integrated with the European Union. The ENP does not apply to neighbours of the EU’s outermost regions, specifically France‘s territories in South America, but only to those countries close to EU member states’ territories in mainland Europe.   read more…

The European Union and the European Political Community

9 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Flag of Europe

Flag of Europe

The European Political Community (EPC) is a platform for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe, established in 2022. The group first met in October 2022 in Prague, with participants from 44 European countries, as well as the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission.   read more…

The European Union: Europe Day

8 May 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  8 minutes

Europe Day 2009 in Strasbourg © flickr.com - Francois Schnell/cc-by-2.0

Europe Day 2009 in Strasbourg © flickr.com – Francois Schnell/cc-by-2.0

Europe Day is a day celebrating “peace and unity in Europe” celebrated on 5 May by the Council of Europe and on 9 May by the European Union. The first recognition of Europe Day was by the Council of Europe, introduced in 1964. The European Union later started to celebrate its own European Day in commemoration of the 1950 Schuman Declaration which first proposed the European Coal and Steel Community, leading it to be referred to by some as “Schuman Day” or “Day of the united Europe”. Both days are celebrated by displaying the Flag of Europe. The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949, and hence it chose that day for its celebrations when it established the holiday in 1964.   read more…

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