By Daniel Korski - 26 Jan 12 - It is too early to write off Egypt's revolution. Unlike in the past, politics is now a live issue across the country, and that popular force is a difficult one to control or stop, and even the steps that have been taken now seemed impossible just over a year ago.
Karel de Gucht speech, 23 January 2012
Belgrade resident Jelena Stankovic, 33, works in an international creative marketing agency, surviving cut after cut in both staffing and salary.
In response to the Arab Spring the European Commission has proposed to create a new European Neighbourhood Instrument, based on the European Union’s reviewed approach to cooperation with its neighbours in North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
No diplomatic meeting has personified the rise of the BRICS as much as the recent EU-Summit. Fresh from rigging an election, Russia’s president turned up in Brussels for the regular powwow - not to be lectured by EU leaders on the importance of free and fair elections, but to be begged for money.
The EU decided on Friday (December 30th) to renew trade preferences for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo until 2015. The preferences, which expired at the end of December 2010, will allow duty-free access of nearly all products from the region to the bloc. All exporters will be able to claim compensation for the duties they paid in 2011.
20-12-2011 - The European Union has recently disbursed €26.22 million to the Georgian Treasury in support of measures in two key sectors, internally displaced people and education, according to a press release from the EU Delegation in Tbilisi.
16 December - Since the first demonstrations in Tunisia in December 2010, a wave of popular discontent has shaken the Arab world, with people calling for dignity, democracy, and social justice. Despite the unexpected magnitude of these uprisings, the EU has been quick to recognise the challenges of the political and economic transition faced by the region as a whole. It has also recognised the need to adopt a new approach to relations with its Southern neighbours.
14 December - Summits are usually staged-managed to look as if they bring together cheerful leaders that have plenty of things to talk about. Before the financial crisis broke out both Russia and the EU shared a certain optimism about their future prospects
CRIN, 28 November 2011 - The deteriorating situation in the Syrian Arab Republic prompted the Human Rights Council to establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations of human rights since March 2011.
The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was developed in 2004 with the aim “to avoid drawing new dividing lines in Europe and to promote stability and prosperity within and beyond the new borders of the Union”.
It provides the framework for closer cooperation with the neighbouring countries of the newly enlarged European Union, namely Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Russia, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine.
The ENP has developed very quickly since it was launched by the European Commission with a Communication on Wider Europe(March 2003), a Strategy Paper on the European Neighbourhood Policy(May 2004), a Communication on strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy(December 2006) and a Communication on a strong European Neighbourhood Policy (December 2007).
The ENP builds upon existing agreements between the EU and the partner country (Partnership and Cooperation Agreements, or Association Agreements in the framework of the EuroMediterranean Partnership).
A central element of the ENP is the bilateral ENP Action Plans with individual partner countries. Each Action plan constitutes a contract between the EU and an individual country. It includes commitments from both the EU and the partner country on six major issues:
Negotiations on Action Plans have not been opened with the EU's other neighbours - Algeria, Belarus, Libya and Syria - because Association Agreements, the first step to ENP partnership, have not yet been signed. The EU agreed to sign an Association Agreement with Syria in 2009, but Syria's signature is still pending (the EU Parliament and all member states must then also confirm the Agreement). Whilst Algeria signed an Association Agreement with the EU in 2002, but it has not yet negotiated an Action Plan.
