Past posts of the EU series have focused on the EU as such, its different political fields and institutions, and culinary aspects. In this post, the EU and its federal states can be experienced at first hand. The EU supports this by, among other things, the annual title of the European Capital of Culture (The Guardian, 5 March 2020: 10 smaller European Capitals of Culture you may not have heard of). The title creates a window in the cultural and social life of the respective city / region as well as the entire federal state, but no rule without exception: In the year 2000 Reykjavík in Iceland was the first city which country is EFTA member and not in the EU. In the year 2010 Istanbul in Turkey was the first city of a candidate for membership of the European Union. In addition there are cultural routes in the individual federal states and the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe. According to the World Economic Forum, 5 of the TOP10 destinations in the world are EU states. These are Spain (1), France (2), Germany (3), United Kingdom (5) and Italy (8). The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) also sees 5 of the top 10 destinations of the world in the EU, but in a different order: France (1), Spain (3), Italy (5), Germany (7) and United Kingdom (9). Today we are doing a small tour through the federal states, which might inspire you to experience the European Union on site. Enjoy! :-) read more…
(Latest update: 7 June 2022) Best of all first: The EU and the Eurozone today have greater approval among its citizens than it did in the past 35 years. This is not just any indicator, but a solid basis and a work order that has so far been adopted only in part to actually address ambitious, long overdue reforms and the necessary reorientation of the EU. A nicely written white paper by the European Commission, which presents possible scenarios until 2025, isn’t enough. What is needed is a “EU Vision 2030” plan with clear timetables and sub-goals, which are constantly being updated, especially as new sub-goals always emerge from ongoing processes, where everyone can find orientation about ongoing and future developments, as well as to participate or in marketing-speak “Europe need a common future and story!” This one is a bit longer and a summary of the current challenges and opportunities, while continuing the article The European Union: Blessing or curse? Past or future?. read more…
The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies 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…
(Latest update: 21 August 2022) Now it’s back to business: The European Commissioner for Budget and Human ResourcesGünther 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 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…
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 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…
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…
Past posts of the EU series have focused on the EU as such, its different political fields and institutions, and culinary aspects. In this post, the EU and its federal states can be experienced at first hand. The EU supports this by, among other things, the annual title of the European Capital of Culture (The Guardian, 5 March 2020: 10 smaller European Capitals of Culture you may not have heard of). The title creates a window in the cultural and social life of the respective city / region as well as the entire federal state, but no rule without exception: In the year 2000 Reykjavík in Iceland was the first city which country is EFTA member and not in the EU. In the year 2010 Istanbul in Turkey was the first city of a candidate for membership of the European Union. In addition there are cultural routes in the individual federal states and the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe. According to the World Economic Forum, 5 of the TOP10 destinations in the world are EU states. These are Spain (1), France (2), Germany (3), United Kingdom (5) and Italy (8). The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) also sees 5 of the top 10 destinations of the world in the EU, but in a different order: France (1), Spain (3), Italy (5), Germany (7) and United Kingdom (9). Today we are doing a small tour through the federal states, which might inspire you to experience the European Union on site. Enjoy! :-) read more…
