Consultation archives :
Published Monday, October 29, 2007 at 14:06
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”Today Arena Europe has turned into a meeting place for world leaders. This makes it even more important for us as social democrats to have a policy that addresses the big questions,” said Inger Segelström during this weekend's ‘Palme Days’ in Karlstad, Sweden.
Inger Segelström is a member of the European Parliament and represents the Social Democratic Party of Sweden. In her speech at the Palme Days she invited all socialists and social democrats in Europe to take part in the debate about a common manifesto for the European elections in 2009.
Margot Wallström, vice president of the European Commission, also spoke at Palme Days. In the same spirit as other speakers she explained:
”Alone is not strong - social democrats have always built their peace efforts and their international commitment on collaboration. Now social democrats need to formulate political visions for Europe and the world - together with both members and voters”
According to Margot Wallström studies show that a great part of Europe’s citizens would like the EU to speak with one voice in the world, that the 27 member countries, the reunited Europe should be active in solving the... » read more ...
Tags: democracy, globalization, peace, solidarity
Published Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 11:34
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Tags: globalization, trade
Published Friday, October 12, 2007 at 10:22
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(1151 views and 3 comments)
The
United States plan to build an anti missile shield in Europe has
been at the centre of a heated debate ever since the defense
strategy was first proposed. The White House has invited Poland
and the Czech Republic to deploy a shield that will counter long
range missile threats from states with weapons of mass
destruction.
The defense system has sparked intense debate among the European Union, the United States and Russia. According to opponents, it creates division, destabilizes regional and international balances of power and weakens international efforts to disarm. An even bigger concern is that the missile shield could trigger a new arms race in Europe or create tensions with other nuclear powers.
The missile shield raises many issues in relation to European security. It will protect several EU states, but definitely not all. Right now the US is seeking to negotiate with Poland and the Czech Republic on a matter that concers the security of many other European countries. Who should have the ultimate say on this issue; the countries hosting the missile shield or all countries concerned by it? Should the defense programme be discussed within the EU - or in an even... » read more ...
Tags: defence, disarmement, security, USA
Published Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 10:32
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Almost 90 percent of Europeans want the European Union to play a bigger role globally, according to a recent poll by the US German Marshall Fund. euobserver.com repeat that citizens call for more money to developmental aid (84 %), the use of trade to influence other countries (74 %) and sending troops for peace-keeping missions (68 %).
Committing troops to combat missions is near the bottom of the list. Only 20 percent of Europeans thinks combat operations should be EU’s responsibility.
In contrast to the clear-cut conclusions on global responsibility
the question about collaboration with the US splits Europe in
two: a little more than half, 53 percent, feels that the EU
should cooperate closer with Washington in dealing with global
threats, whereas 43 percent prefers Europe to address threats
independently.
The survey included about 13.000 people of 12 nationalities:
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
Tags: aid, conflict, defence, development, globalization, human rights, peace, poverty, security
Published Friday, October 5, 2007 at 16:05
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We
Socialists are traditionally very interested in development –
supporting poorer and relatively newly independent countries to
become more prosperous, more sustainable, more democratic. But
genuinely good development polices are very hard to forge and
even harder to implement.
One problem is that it is very broad as a concept – and so many different policies come into play. Different EU countries have also had different approaches and interests so creating an EU framework for development has not been straightforward.
Today EU trade policy, agricultural policy, energy policies, the EU’s willingness to engage in peace missions, the EU’s decisions on debt cancellation, the extent it is willing to take action in support of democracy and human rights, its funding and support for AIDS, environmental sustainability, humanitarian relief, immigration policies all have an impact on development. All of these issues, and no doubt many more, should be covered in one EU development policy.
Everyone agrees that these policies should be ‘coherent’ – that one policy does not to contradict undermine the other, but instead should be ‘integrated’. In short we want the sum of different EU... » read more ...
Tags: aid, development, fair trade, human rights, solidarity
Published Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 10:43
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It is hardly controversial to point out that the UN Security Council is a post WWII construction that does not reflect today’s realities. But are we really ready for change? Can we accept one EU seat? That would be consistent with a Common Foreign and Security Policy, but it would also mean UK and France losing their own seats in the long run.
And it is not just a question of who sits on the Council. There is the veto which allows any one permanent member to stop any UN security or peace initiative. More importantly, could the UN play a bigger and more decisive military role in peace keeping – and resolving conflicts before they escalate into violence? The EU recognizes the UN’s primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security – so why not give it some teeth, some real powers?
Perhaps we should first push the EU to develop a real Foreign and Security policy before being overly ambitious about the UN? On the other hand why not recognize that UK and France, and all other European countries, are no longer world powers, and that the best hope for real European influence would be to press ahead simultaneously with the EU Foreign and Security Policy and a joint role in the UN Security Council?
Tags: conflict, crisis, globalization, multilateralism, UN
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