European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture

3 August 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Design & Products, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

© europa.eu

© europa.eu

The European Union Prize for Contemporary ArchitectureMies van der Rohe Award is a Prize given biennially by the European Union and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, “to acknowledge and reward quality architectural production in Europe”.   read more…

Transatlantic relations

2 June 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  633 minutes

Transatlanticism symbol: a hybrid out of the Europa and Stars and Stripes © Patrikpluhar/cc-by-sa-3.0

Transatlantic symbol: A hybrid of the European flag and the Stars and Stripes © Patrikpluhar/cc-by-sa-3.0

(Latest update: 23 August 2022) Transatlantic relations refer to the historic, cultural, political, economic and social relations between countries on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes specifically those between the United States, Canada and the countries in Europe, although other meanings are possible. There are a number of issues over which the United States and Europe generally disagree. Some of these are cultural, such as the U.S. use of the death penalty, some are international issues such as the Middle East peace process where the United States is often seen as pro-Israel and where Europe is often seen as pro-Arab (Arab–Israeli conflict), and many others are trade related. The current U.S. policies are often described as being unilateral in nature, whereas the European Union and Canada are often said to take a more multilateral approach, relying more on the United Nations and other international institutions to help solve issues. There are many other issues upon which they agree. This article refers to the relations between the EU (Culture of Europe, Economy of the European Union, History of Europe, and Politics of the European Union) and the USA (Culture of the United States, Economy of the United States, History of the United States, and Politics of the United States).   read more…

The European Union: The Budget

6 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  40 minutes

(Latest update: 21 August 2022) Now it’s back to business: The European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Günther Oettinger has presented the draft of the new EU budget and as we already know: Money can end friendships. This is no different between EU member states than between companies and private persons. However, this is not just an annual plan, but a five-year plan, this time with significantly changed circumstances to the previous plans, so that the negotiations until the unanimous decision-making will be infinitely long.   read more…

Horizon 2020

31 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  12 minutes

Horizon 2020 is a funding programme created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the European Research Area (ERA). It is the eighth of the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development funding research, technological development, and innovation with the focus on innovation, delivering economic growth faster and delivering solutions to end users that are often governmental agencies. The programme’s name has been modified to “Framework Programme for Research and Innovation”. The framework programme is implemented by the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, either by various internal directorate general (DGs), such as the directorate general for research and innovation (DG RTD) or the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, or by executive agencies such as the Research Executive Agency (REA), the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), or the ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA). The framework programme’s objective is to complete the European Research Area (ERA) by coordinating national research policies and pooling research funding in some areas to avoid duplication. Horizon 2020 itself is seen as a policy instrument to implement other high-level policy initiatives of the European Union, such as Europe 2020 and Innovation Union. The programme runs from 2014–2020 and provides an estimated €80 billion of funding, an increase of 23 per cent on the previous phase. Horizon 2020 is also implementing the European environmental research and innovation policy, which is aimed at defining and turning into reality a transformative agenda for greening the economy and the society as a whole so as to achieve a truly sustainable development.   read more…

The European Union: Bon appétit!

8 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union, Bon appétit, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  86 minutes

While in the early part of the EU article series, the focus was on abstract, formal and sometimes somewhat dry topics, it now becomes cozy. Café d’Europe has already presented the most popular bakery products in the member states. This article is about what brings us all together: Food and drinks. As on all other topics, the member states are culinary very diverse (about 3,000 different varieties of bread, cheese, sausage, wine, beer each and a much, much higher number of different dishes). Therefore, let’s have a closer look at what is being eaten where. Bon appétit! :-)   read more…

The European Union: Institutions

8 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  30 minutes

The Politics of the European Union are different from other organisations and states due to the unique nature of the European Union (EU). The EU is similar to a confederation, where many policy areas are federalised into common institutions capable of making law; however the EU does not, unlike most states, control foreign policy, defence policy or the majority of direct taxation policies (the EU does limit the level of variation allowed for VAT). These areas are primarily under the control of the EU’s member states although a certain amount of structured co-operation and coordination takes place in these areas. For the EU to take substantial actions in these areas, all Member States must give their consent. EU laws that override national laws are more numerous than in historical confederations; however the EU is legally restricted from making law outside its remit or where it is no more appropriate to do so at a national or local level (subsidiarity) when acting outside its exclusive competencies. The principle of subsidiarity does not apply to areas of exclusive competence.   read more…

The European Union: Regional Policy

8 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  16 minutes

Regional policy of the European Union
The Regional policy of the European Union (EU), also referred as Cohesion Policy, is a policy with the stated aim of improving the economic well-being of regions in the EU (European Committee of the Regions) and also to avoid regional disparities. More than one third of the EU’s budget is devoted to this policy, which aims to remove economic, social and territorial disparities across the EU, restructure declining industrial areas and diversify rural areas which have declining agriculture. In doing so, EU regional policy is geared towards making regions more competitive, fostering economic growth and creating new jobs. The policy also has a role to play in wider challenges for the future, including climate change, energy supply and globalisation.   read more…

The European Union: Common Foreign, Security and Defence Policy

8 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  1155 minutes

European External Action Service

European External Action Service

(Latest update: 23 August 2022)
Foreign relations of the European Union
Although there has been a large degree of integration between European Union member states, foreign relations is still a largely intergovernmental matter, with the 28 members controlling their own relations to a large degree. However, with the Union holding more weight as a single bloc, there are attempts to speak with one voice, notably on trade and energy matters. The EU’s foreign relations are dealt with either through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, decided by the European Council or the economic trade negotiations handled by the European Commission. The leading EU diplomat in both areas is the High Representative Federica Mogherini. The number of delegates began to rise in the 1960s following the merging of the executive institutions of the three European Communities into a single Commission. Until recently some states had reservations accepting that EU delegations held the full status of a diplomatic mission. Article 20 of the Maastricht Treaty requires the Delegations and the Member States’ diplomatic missions to “co-operate in ensuring that the common positions and joint actions adopted by the Council are complied with and implemented”. As part of the process of establishment of the European External Action Service envisioned in the Lisbon Treaty, on 1 January 2010 all former European Commission delegations were renamed European Union delegations and till the end of the month 54 of the missions were transformed into embassy-type missions that employ greater powers than the regular delegations. These upgraded delegations have taken on the role previously carried out by the national embassies of the member state holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union and merged with the independent Council delegations around the world. Through this the EU delegations take on the role of co-ordinating national embassies and speaking for the EU as a whole, not just the Commission. The first delegation to be upgraded was the one in Washington D.C., the new joint ambassador was João Vale de Almeida who outlined his new powers as speaking for both the Commission and Council presidents, and member states. He would be in charge where there was a common position but otherwise, on bilateral matters, he would not take over from national ambassadors. All delegations are expected to be converted by the end of 2010. Some states may choose to operate through the new EU delegations and close down some of their smaller national embassies, however France has indicated that it will maintain its own network around the world for now. The EU sends its delegates generally only to the capitals of states outside the European Union and cities hosting multilateral bodies. The EU missions work separately from the work of the missions of its member states, however in some circumstances it may share resources and facilities. In Abuja is shares its premises with a number of member states. Additionally to the third-state delegations and offices the European Commission maintains representation in each of the member states.   read more…

The European Union: Common Trade and Economic Policy

8 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  47 minutes

Common and Economic Policy
The European Single Market is the single market of the European Union, which has officially existed under that name since 1 January 1993. Today, the European single market is the largest common market in the world. The four fundamental freedoms (free movement of goods, free movement of persons, freedom to provide services and free movement of capital and payments) form the basis of the internal market of the European Union. The creation of the European Single Market led to a new economic momentum in the EU in the 1990s, during a difficult global economic environment, as the Japanese bubble bursted, the stock market crash in the USA and the Eastern European countries, due to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, in a deep recession. In order for the single market as well as the foreign trade to develop within a framework, the economic policy of the European Union is divided into a number of fields. The five main areas are the agricultural policy of the European Union, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Union’s financial market policy, the European Union’s budgetary policy and the monetary policy of the European Union, which in turn can be subdivided into numerous other thematic complexes.   read more…

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