Newsletter no. 23 - November 2010 pdf

Interview

Gabriela DRĂGAN - Director General of the European Institute of Romania
A while back you were speaking about repositioning and redefining EIR’s institutional identity. We have indeed seen that after the accession, EIR has reoriented itself towards the new priorities resulting from Romania’s status as EU Member State. Could you tell us some thoughts regarding this aspect of EIR’s institutional life?
Happy coincidence, the first seven years of the Institute were also the years during which Romania underwent an accelerated process of Europeanization. In these years, the accession negotiations were started and finalised and, naturally, as a recognition of all these efforts, the Treaty of Accession to the EU was signed. Thus, 2007 was a point of inflection for both Romania, as a whole, and, particularly for EIR, the Institute being obviously part of the Romanian institutional setting ... For the full text of the interview please see the pdf file

Event

New Architecture of the European Union Cohesion Policy: Smart, Sustainable, Inclusive Growth
On 10 November 2010, the European Commission published the fifth Report on economic, social and territorial cohesion. On the occasion of the report submission, the EU Regional Policy Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, states: The findings from this report and the consultation to follow will help us prepare a cohesion policy that is better adapted to the economic situation of today ... For the full text of the article please see page 3.

Evaluating structural and cohesion funds
A video-seminar regarding the Official Report for Evaluating Structural and Cohesion funds 2007-2013 took place on 3 November 2010. The event hosted by Hotnews.ro benefited from the presence of the representatives of the Ministry of Finance, of the European Institute in Romania, of the consultants and NGOs and it involved debating the conclusions and recommendations of the report ... For the full text of the article please see page 4.

Round Table at EIR „NATO’s New strategic concept – Perspectives and opportunities”, 29 October 2010
On 29 October 2010, the European Institute of Romania organised a round table on NATO’s New strategic concept Perspectives and opportunities, an event intended for the debate on the Working Paper NATO’s New strategic concept – A test for the transatlantic relationships, drawn up under the auspices of EIR in 2010. The debate brought together representatives of the relevant institutions, of the academia, nongovernmental organisations and other specialists who approached a series of themes which are important for the evolution of NATO, not long before the high level reunion of the Member States of the
Alliance, between 19 – 20 November in Lisbon, on which occasion the NATO’s new strategic document will be adopted ... For the full text of the article please see page 4.

How do the Romanian MEPs represent us in Europe
On 1 November 2010 EIR hosted a conference entitled “The Romanian Members of the European Parliament: how do they represent us in Europe?”. The event organised in partnership with the European Institute of Romania gave the opportunity for the launching of a study undertaken by the European Institute for Participative Democracy – Qvorum, a report on the activity of Romania’s representatives in the European legislator ... For the full text of the article please see page 5.

Market Integration of Young People: to be or not to be … employed?
On 19 November 2010, EIR, in partnership with the Foundation for Education and Socio-Economic Development – IRECSON, organised the public debate on the Labour-market integration of young people: to be or not to be …. employed?
The initiative comes as a follow-up to the research conducted by the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) in May 2010, as part of the project “Strengthening the capacity of the civil society to promote social inclusion initiatives”. The research used both a qualitative approach (72 focus groups of young people) and a quantitative one (questionnaire-based research) ... For the full text of the article please see page 6.

Publication

December issue of RJEA in 2010
In the December issue of RJEA various researchers analyse themes of utmost interest for the EU Affairs specialists such as the regional cooperation framework, the position towards EU of Turkish political parties, the conditionality within the ENP, the Europeanization of the Romanian foreign policy, the European system of weapons’ acquisition, the relationship between political knowledge and trust in the EU among the Romanian citizens and the interconnection of Romanian critical infrastructures with the European ones ... For the full text of the article please see page 6.

Analysis | Opinion

EU’s Energy Strategy - Is Europe ready to face the energy challenges of the next decade?
The communication adopted on 10 November, entitled “A strategy for competitive, sustainable and secure energy1”, emphasizes that the energy issue is one of the greatest challenges to be tackled by Europe. The tasks which must be addressed are not at all simple, in an economic and financial context which is unfavourable to the implementation of the energy investments needed in the next decade. Another element which needs to be taken into consideration is the fact that the energy-related emissions account for almost 80% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. In order to counter
these developments, energy investments of around € 1 trillion are needed in order to diversify current energy resources. The EU’s energy policy has started from the objective to ensure continuous energy products and services to European private and industrial consumers alike, at affordable prices. As stated in the Lisbon Treaty2, Europe basically wants to achieve the following objectives in terms of energy policy: security of supply, competitiveness and sustainability ... For the full text of the article please see page 8

The new European Trade Strategy
To grow Europe and its global role
In November, the Commission launched a new strategy in line with the EU 2020 Strategy and aiming to lead Europe towards economic recovery, boost growth and create jobs.
The Communication entitled Trade, Growth and World Affairs presents the trade policy as a core component of the EU’s 2020 Strategy ... For the full text of the article please see page 9

The Common Agricultural Policy is Awaiting the Adoption of the EU Budget
The article 39 (ex Article 33 TEC) of the consolidated version of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union reproduces the text from the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community of 1957:
“The objectives of the common agricultural policy shall be:
(a) to increase agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress and by ensuring the rational development of agricultural production and the optimum utilisation of the production factors, in particular labour ... For the full text of the article please see page 10

European Commission Work Programme for 2011
The chairman of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, within the Speech on the State of the Union, publicly asserted on 7 September 2010, submitted the main political and economic objectives of the European Union for the next year. After a series of debates within the European institutions, these proposals took the shape of a series of concrete actions submitted at the end of October 2010 within the Commission Work Programme for 2011 ... For the full text of the article please see page 11

Promo 

Working Paper no. 27 Towards a dynamic model of terrorist radicalization
Working Paper no. 28 Initiatives of the European Union in the Mediterranean region
Working Paper no. 29 Idea of Europe in inter-war Romania 
For more details please see page 12 

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 *The texts published in this Newsletter express the authors’ opinion and do not represent the official position of the European Institute of Romania or of the editors.

 ISSN 2065 - 457X

Editor-in-Chief: Mădălina - Paula Magnusson
Editors: Alina Arhire, Mariana Bara, Agnes Nicolescu, Mihai Sebe
Graphics: Monica Dumitrescu
English version: Loredana Licuţa, Anca Mihalache, Mihaela Papa, Diana Popa, Mona Răuş

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© European Institute of Romania, 2010