european union
It was a “public diplomacy disaster,” thinks Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi), a Berlin think-tank. “Germany is seen as the harsh, heartless hegemon of the euro zone, ready to bully small countries into submission.”
German leaders cannot allow their country to be seen as being disinterested in the debate or only wanting to push through its own objectives behind closed doors. Möller suggests that the Federal Government should approach opinion leaders in the media and EU think tanks to justify their positions during the financial crisis — and to also respond directly to any criticisms.
This new article by Marwa Fikry Abdel Samei, Assistant Professor of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University in Egypt, examines Facebook messages written and disseminated by the European Union to assesses the EU's perception of and position towards Egypt as the Arab Spring unfolded.
Big meals, to be sure, are an indispensable tool of diplomacy. People who have come a long way need to be welcomed and put at ease by their hosts. They are more relaxed and friendly with good food and drink inside them. They feel under a greater obligation to be polite and cooperative. But the EU is not a club of ambassadors, or even of politicians. It is, whether we like it or not, a form of government, a bloated version of a country. It has a commission, a court of justice, a parliament, a legal personality, a passport and a foreign service.
The European Forum Wachau is a European debate event and will be held this weekend at the Stift Göttweig in Lower Austria. The event was launched in 1995, the year of Austria's accession to the European Union. Participants of the conference titled “Has Europe reached its limits? Reflections on Europe’s future role on the global stage” will discuss topics such as, the EU as a security provider, the EU's new mode of regional cooperation and the EU and her neighbours.
European Union is to vote on labeling products manufactured in the Golan Heights and West Bank. Israel's Foreign Ministry has begun all-out diplomatic efforts to try to stop the European Union from labeling of good and products manufactured in the Golan Heights and Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Israeli daily Haartez reported Sunday.
The EU approach to science diplomacy, I wish to see, is simple. Investing in science and research for its ability to establish unity, as much as for its ability to stimulate intellectual and economic progress. Known in America for a long time, science diplomacy is an emerging term in the EU context, and a recent one at broader international level.