Expectation and reality
"It is time for Europe to get more involved on the world stage," demanded EU Commission President Juncker recently at the annual EU Ambassadors' Conference in Brussels. The demand is not new and is made by politicians - not only from Europe - on a regular basis, but to little effect. And that will remain the case since the expectation, currently at least, is again being directed at an EU that is generally considered to be in rather poor shape. Yet again, Italy is struggling to form a new government, Spain’s can only call itself as a caretaker and even the Grand Coalition in Berlin was put in fear for its continued existence by the elections in two East German states. Even if the latter danger seems to have been averted, at least until the SPD party conference in December, the main trouble looming over everyone emanates from London. Like the United Kingdom, the entire EU is having to prepare (with emergency plans, etc.) for a disorderly Brexit. Against such a backdrop, the expectation of more European commitment on the world stage is already an ambitious one. But Juncker apparently wants to be remembered as a President with vision.
Harald Händel
Head of Communications cep |
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| Ethics Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence |
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This year, both the EU and the OECD have presented their own ethics guidelines for the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). A cepInput compares the two guidelines.
...read more |
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EU gas supply rules have been comprehensively reformed over the last three years. The cep has assessed the reform in an input.
...read more |
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"A no deal scenario will only be the UK decision, not the EU decision."
EU-Commission President Claude Juncker |
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"The fake news media are doing everything they can to crash the economy."
US-President Donald Trump |
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"We should not fall into actionism or pessimism."
Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann on the state of the German economy |
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"Close cooperation between Germany and France on climate protection offers great opportunities."
Dr. Götz Reichert, Head of Division cep |
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Men still dominate European politics
The number of women in decision-making posts has grown in recent years, but they are still out-numbered by men in EU, national, and local politics, figures show. Representation of women in national parliaments rose to 30 percent in 2019 from 24 percent the year before.
Spain, where 47 percent of MPs were women, Sweden (46 percent), France (40 percent), and Finland (42 percent) led the way on gender balance, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), a Swedish-based organisation.
The number of women in the National Assembly jumped to 39 percent from 26 percent after French president Emmanuel Macron's party, La Republique en Marche, burst onto the scene in 2017.
Latvia, Hungary, and Malta scored the worst, with fewer than 20 percent. Croatia, Cyprus, and Greece scored almost as badly despite using voluntary party quotas and, in Croatia and Greece, legal quotas.
Quotas, which exist in 19 out of the 28 EU countries, normally require parties to nominate a certain proportion of women in elections.
(Source: euobserver.com / The International Institute for Democracy & Electoral Assistance: Gender Quotas Database)
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And once again... #Brexit! New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has the choice between "America first" and "The old western Europe"!
https://twitter.com/cicero_online/status/1165917922734288896/photo/1
Cicero Magazine, "Cartoon of the day", 16 July 2019 |
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