The European Parliament (EP)’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded to a jailed Chinese human rights activist and political dissident, Hu Jia whose field of work ranges from environmental causes to HIV/AIDS advocacy and a prominent voice calling for an official enquiry into the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
The European Parliament every year since 1988 awards the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, in honour of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov. Individuals or global organisations are eligible if they have made a mark in the field of the fight for human rights or democracy.
Announced on October 23, on the eve of the 7th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting), hosted by Beijing on October 24-25, the award is an open snub to the Chinese officials who had warned that they would consider it an affront.
Hu Jia is in prison and is stated to be in poor health with stomach problems. “To present this type of prize to a criminal amounts to interference with China's judicial sovereignty, and also shows disrespect towards human rights,” spokesman Qin Gang of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was cited as saying before the award announcement was made in Strasbourg at the Plenary session of the European Parliament, the only directly elected European institution.
With the formal acceptance of six new members, Bulgaria, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Romania and the ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) Secretariat, the gathering is set to swell the membership to 45.
According to political pundits, the Summit will be more a testing ground for the new arrivals with agenda being overshadowed by ongoing global financial events.
Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Relations and Associate Director of the EU Centre based in Singapore warned, “we must not expect too much or we will be disappointed,” as ASEM is “not a venue for negotiations,” but “an ideal platform for testing new and evolving ideas.”
She was addressing a select gathering of diplomats, academics and journalists at a Brussels event titled, “Injecting new momentum into ASEM, an uphill struggle?” organised by Brussels based think-tank “European Policy Centre,” (EPC).
Addressing the audience Geoffrey Barret, senior advisor for Asia at the European Commission said, “ASEM is based entirely on political will,” and outlined four building blocks of the ASEM platform: Climate negotiations, Development co-operation on Millienuium Development Goals, Labour employment and social cohesion, Human rights.
With Hu Jia being bestowed with European prize, “human rights,” are set to be a thorny issue even if global financial crisis is supposed to hog the limelight.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
European Parliament approves new trade commissioner
The European parliament on Wednesday (Oct 22) overwhelmingly approved the appointment of British Baroness Catherine Ashton as the European Commissioner in charge of trade. In a plenary session in Strasbourg, 538 MEPs voted for the new Commissioner for European trade policies. There were 40 votes against her appointment and 63 abstentions.
Ashton was nominated earlier this month by the British government to succeed Peter Mandelson, following his appointment to the British government.
The President of the European Commission and the Council - the institution that regroups the Member states - having already given the green light for the appointment of the first woman commissioner for trade, it remained only for parliament to vote.
On Tuesday (Oct 21), Ashton had a three-hour hearing in parliament during which she was tested on trade. She is now a member of the European Commission in her own right till the European elections due in June 2009 when a new Commission will be appointed.
During the hearing in parliament, MEPs posed questions to the commissioner-designate and she showed good knowledge of her new trade portfolio. In particular, Ashton, who is an economist by training, was asked about the ongoing financial crisis, future of the Doha Round and its overtaking by the bilateral trade negotiations.
With a short time to prepare as a result of the fast-tracking of the approval process, the Commissioner got praise from the European law-makers. Spanish MEP Ignasi Guardans, vice-President of the parliament trade committee said, "in her responses to some tough and often highly politicised questioning, she demonstrated strong political skills and composure which is evidence of good negotiating skills."
“The committee had some natural concerns about her lack of direct experience of international commerce or foreign affairs but with such a short time to prepare, she persuaded the committee that she understood the link between trade and the impact on the European small and medium sized business sector and jobs,” Guardans added.
After the approval by the parliament, she said she would pay her first visit to WTO director general Pascal Lamy in Geneva later this week to assure him that pursuing a successful Doha Round remains absolutely central to Europe’s trade policy.
Responding to the confirmation of Ashton as new trade commissioner, Benedict Southworth, Director of the World Development Movement, said: “The European Commission needs to radically overhaul its trade policy and Baroness Ashton is now in a unique position to do so. The business-as-usual approach of wholesale deregulation and trade liberalisation is out of step with today’s climate of global financial, food and energy crises.”
“Instead, sustainable development and tackling poverty must be at the heart of European trade policy. Baroness Ashton now has an excellent opportunity to draw a line under the past and Commissioner Mandelson’s legacy of unfair trade deals that hit the poorest hardest,” Southworth added.
Ashton was nominated earlier this month by the British government to succeed Peter Mandelson, following his appointment to the British government.
The President of the European Commission and the Council - the institution that regroups the Member states - having already given the green light for the appointment of the first woman commissioner for trade, it remained only for parliament to vote.
On Tuesday (Oct 21), Ashton had a three-hour hearing in parliament during which she was tested on trade. She is now a member of the European Commission in her own right till the European elections due in June 2009 when a new Commission will be appointed.
During the hearing in parliament, MEPs posed questions to the commissioner-designate and she showed good knowledge of her new trade portfolio. In particular, Ashton, who is an economist by training, was asked about the ongoing financial crisis, future of the Doha Round and its overtaking by the bilateral trade negotiations.
With a short time to prepare as a result of the fast-tracking of the approval process, the Commissioner got praise from the European law-makers. Spanish MEP Ignasi Guardans, vice-President of the parliament trade committee said, "in her responses to some tough and often highly politicised questioning, she demonstrated strong political skills and composure which is evidence of good negotiating skills."
“The committee had some natural concerns about her lack of direct experience of international commerce or foreign affairs but with such a short time to prepare, she persuaded the committee that she understood the link between trade and the impact on the European small and medium sized business sector and jobs,” Guardans added.
After the approval by the parliament, she said she would pay her first visit to WTO director general Pascal Lamy in Geneva later this week to assure him that pursuing a successful Doha Round remains absolutely central to Europe’s trade policy.
Responding to the confirmation of Ashton as new trade commissioner, Benedict Southworth, Director of the World Development Movement, said: “The European Commission needs to radically overhaul its trade policy and Baroness Ashton is now in a unique position to do so. The business-as-usual approach of wholesale deregulation and trade liberalisation is out of step with today’s climate of global financial, food and energy crises.”
“Instead, sustainable development and tackling poverty must be at the heart of European trade policy. Baroness Ashton now has an excellent opportunity to draw a line under the past and Commissioner Mandelson’s legacy of unfair trade deals that hit the poorest hardest,” Southworth added.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
EU looks forward to taming Asian giants at ASEM Beijing Summit
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current holder of rotating EU Presidency on Tuesday (October 21) announced his intentions to bring China and India to the international negotiating table slated for next month to streamline global financial reforms aimed at international financial institutions including International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Addressing the Plenary Session of the European Parliament at its Strasbourg seat, Sarkozy said, “With (European Commission) President (Jose Manuel) Barroso, we are going to visit China, the aim being also to convince China and India to take part in this summit.”
Reiterating, “This is a global crisis so the response can only be global,’’ the EU Council President asked, “Who will take part in this summit?”
“There are a lot of different schools. I believe the most straightforward thing would be the G8, obviously with Russia. We need to add the G5 to that, obviously with China and India,’’ Sarkozy said answering his own question.
Beijing is hosting the 7th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) on October 24-25 and with the formal acceptance of six new members, Bulgaria, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Romania and the ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) Secretariat, the gathering is set to swell the membership to 45.
According to political pundits, with the presence of Asian economic heavy weights China and India along with arch-rivals Pakistan and India, the Summit will be more a testing ground for the new arrivals with agenda being overshadowed by ongoing global financial events.
Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Relations and Associate Director of the EU Centre in Singapore warned, “we must not expect too much or we will be disappointed,” as ASEM is “not a venue for negotiations,” but “an ideal platform for testing new and evolving ideas.”
Addressing a select gathering of diplomats, academics and journalists at an event titled, “Injecting new momentum into ASEM, an uphill struggle?” organised by Brussels based think-tank “European Policy Centre,” (EPC) on Monday (October 20), Lay Hwee pointed that there was no doubt that China will deliver “a superbly organised and executed meeting.”
Quoting the theme of the Summit, “Vision and Action --Towards a Win-Win Solution,” she said, “Taking ASEM for what it is, an informal dialogue form, one should be realistic and not expect anything beyond a talk fest, the outcome of which will be more declarations noting the challenges ahead and stating common positions on some of the issues.”
Going down the memory lane, Lay Hwee said, “Ten years ago, the EU agreed to help (Asian) member states affected by the Asian financial crisis and today we have another financial crisis.” Citing, “crisis brings opportunity,” she added, “ASEM, not to look irrelevant, must make an impact.”
“We expect to consolidate progress made at the Helsinki (Summit) in 2006,” hoped Geoffrey Barret, senior advisor for Asia at the European Commission. Addressing the audience Barret said, “ASEM is based entirely on political will,” and outlined four building blocks of the ASEM platform:
Climate negotiations, Development co-operation on Millienuium Development Goals, Labour employment and social cohesion, Human rights.
BURMA IN, NO NORTH KOREA
On the question of Burma, Lay Hwee said, “the EU changed attitude saying better to engage than to leave them alone.”
Professor Xing Hua, senior researcher and director, Centre for EU studies, CIIS, added, “If we are patient and skillful, we can help Burma to seek solutions to their internal problems.”
No speaker on the panel responded to the question of participation of North Korea in ASEM as China, the mentor of North Korea was holding the Summit.
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Moreover, Barret said he expected another declaration on international financial development adding that ASEM 7 will be the largest event ever hosted by the Chinese after the Olympic games representing 60 percent of the world population and 60 percent of global trade.
Founded in 1996, with 27 members, ASEM is going to be 45 members strong at Beijing and is looked at as the main multilateral channel for communication between Asia and Europe and six summits have taken place till date.
According to figures released on Monday (October 20) by the European Union’s statistics bureau Eurostat, the EU exports between 2000 and 2007, to the 16 Asian countries in ASEM rose from 146 billion Euro to 228 billion, while imports increased from 285 billion to 459 billion Euro.
The Asian countries accounted for more than a quarter of the EU's total external trade in goods in 2007. However, their trade with EU showed very different patterns between 2000 and 2007.
Among the 16 Asian countries, China was not only the leading destination for EU exports in 2007, accounting for 31 percent of the total, but also the leading source of EU imports, according to Eurostat.
Addressing the Plenary Session of the European Parliament at its Strasbourg seat, Sarkozy said, “With (European Commission) President (Jose Manuel) Barroso, we are going to visit China, the aim being also to convince China and India to take part in this summit.”
Reiterating, “This is a global crisis so the response can only be global,’’ the EU Council President asked, “Who will take part in this summit?”
“There are a lot of different schools. I believe the most straightforward thing would be the G8, obviously with Russia. We need to add the G5 to that, obviously with China and India,’’ Sarkozy said answering his own question.
Beijing is hosting the 7th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) on October 24-25 and with the formal acceptance of six new members, Bulgaria, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Romania and the ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) Secretariat, the gathering is set to swell the membership to 45.
According to political pundits, with the presence of Asian economic heavy weights China and India along with arch-rivals Pakistan and India, the Summit will be more a testing ground for the new arrivals with agenda being overshadowed by ongoing global financial events.
Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Relations and Associate Director of the EU Centre in Singapore warned, “we must not expect too much or we will be disappointed,” as ASEM is “not a venue for negotiations,” but “an ideal platform for testing new and evolving ideas.”
Addressing a select gathering of diplomats, academics and journalists at an event titled, “Injecting new momentum into ASEM, an uphill struggle?” organised by Brussels based think-tank “European Policy Centre,” (EPC) on Monday (October 20), Lay Hwee pointed that there was no doubt that China will deliver “a superbly organised and executed meeting.”
Quoting the theme of the Summit, “Vision and Action --Towards a Win-Win Solution,” she said, “Taking ASEM for what it is, an informal dialogue form, one should be realistic and not expect anything beyond a talk fest, the outcome of which will be more declarations noting the challenges ahead and stating common positions on some of the issues.”
Going down the memory lane, Lay Hwee said, “Ten years ago, the EU agreed to help (Asian) member states affected by the Asian financial crisis and today we have another financial crisis.” Citing, “crisis brings opportunity,” she added, “ASEM, not to look irrelevant, must make an impact.”
“We expect to consolidate progress made at the Helsinki (Summit) in 2006,” hoped Geoffrey Barret, senior advisor for Asia at the European Commission. Addressing the audience Barret said, “ASEM is based entirely on political will,” and outlined four building blocks of the ASEM platform:
Climate negotiations, Development co-operation on Millienuium Development Goals, Labour employment and social cohesion, Human rights.
BURMA IN, NO NORTH KOREA
On the question of Burma, Lay Hwee said, “the EU changed attitude saying better to engage than to leave them alone.”
Professor Xing Hua, senior researcher and director, Centre for EU studies, CIIS, added, “If we are patient and skillful, we can help Burma to seek solutions to their internal problems.”
No speaker on the panel responded to the question of participation of North Korea in ASEM as China, the mentor of North Korea was holding the Summit.
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Moreover, Barret said he expected another declaration on international financial development adding that ASEM 7 will be the largest event ever hosted by the Chinese after the Olympic games representing 60 percent of the world population and 60 percent of global trade.
Founded in 1996, with 27 members, ASEM is going to be 45 members strong at Beijing and is looked at as the main multilateral channel for communication between Asia and Europe and six summits have taken place till date.
According to figures released on Monday (October 20) by the European Union’s statistics bureau Eurostat, the EU exports between 2000 and 2007, to the 16 Asian countries in ASEM rose from 146 billion Euro to 228 billion, while imports increased from 285 billion to 459 billion Euro.
The Asian countries accounted for more than a quarter of the EU's total external trade in goods in 2007. However, their trade with EU showed very different patterns between 2000 and 2007.
Among the 16 Asian countries, China was not only the leading destination for EU exports in 2007, accounting for 31 percent of the total, but also the leading source of EU imports, according to Eurostat.
Indian diplomatic presence in Brussels needs boost
The European Union and India at the recently concluded EU-India Summit (September 29) in Marseille, France failed to finalise the ongoing trade negotiations over Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the two sides remaining at loggerheads on key issues in the Doha talks on liberalising world trade. Political ties can not go far without financial bonds and a look at the trade figures from recent past show that its time to inject much needed momentum into an uninspiring trade relationship.
Reiterating the importance of trade and economic ties, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told journalists at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso: “We have agreed to achieve an annual bilateral trade turnover of 100 billion Euro within the next five years and to work towards the conclusion of the India- EU Broad- Based Trade and Investment Agreement by end-2009.” The 27-nation bloc’s trade with India amounted to just less than 56 billion Euro last year. Earlier, the trade statistics showed a jump from a meagre less than five billion Euro in 1980 to a respectable more than 45 billion Euro in 2006. Although trade with the EU is 20 percent of India’s import-export business, making the EU India’s largest trading partner in 2006, India’s share is only 1.8 percent of total EU trade. In the context of the ongoing negotiations in the EU-India Free Trade Agreement, there are some stumbling blocks that need to be addressed on both sides. According to reliable sources, the major hurdle is in the fields of agriculture which is a protected sector in the EU which earmarks 40 percent of its total budget to this sector where there are subsidies galore.
NO TIME TABLE
In May, Peter Power, spokesperson for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had told journalists in Brussels: “I can confirm that we have received the document from India. I can confirm that it is certainly a useful and worthwhile opening bid for negotiations will have to go further and deeper,” lamenting that the time-frame for the talks to conclude is “not solely in our hands.” “We would like to see this particular negotiation making progress as rapidly as possible. I think the opening bid is not bad, but a lot of work remains to be done to have an agreement that would be worthy of support by both sides,” he noted.
“I think at this stage it would be unwise of me to put a timetable, but certainly we should hope to see substantial movement in the next year to 18 months,” added Power. India formally launched negotiations in June 2007 with the EU for a comprehensive FTA aimed at removing barriers across all sectors including investment and services.
The EU has, in recent times, accepted the fact that Indian import tariffs have been substantially reduced but it complains they are still high by international standards. The EU calls it a “complex and non-transparent” system as it points at additional duties, taxes, and charges that are levied on top of the basic customs duties. Pointing to the “non-tariff” barriers, the EU lists quantitative restrictions, mandatory testing, import licensing, certification for a large number of products and a complicated procedural modus operandi as the major speed breakers for a smooth trade relationship.
SLUGGISH INDIAN MISSION
With Indians finding the EU institutions bewildering and complex, India has its own set of complaints, foremost being in recent times the frequent use of anti-dumping duties on its exports including footwear. This is the arena where the diplomatic mission in Brussels is failing Delhi in the Indian government’s renewed efforts to shift into higher gears cooperation in different fields with the European Union. India’s outgoing ambassador to the European Union, Dipak Chatterjee, last month was cited by EuAsiaNews as saying, “I don’t think India has fully woken up to the fact that the EU is more than an economic and trading partner. The EU is trying to build a political identity for itself. I think it will take some time for India to come to understand that.” “But India is realising that the EU is a force to reckon with. There is interest on both sides to develop relations,” he had added.
Reiterating the importance of trade and economic ties, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told journalists at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso: “We have agreed to achieve an annual bilateral trade turnover of 100 billion Euro within the next five years and to work towards the conclusion of the India- EU Broad- Based Trade and Investment Agreement by end-2009.” The 27-nation bloc’s trade with India amounted to just less than 56 billion Euro last year. Earlier, the trade statistics showed a jump from a meagre less than five billion Euro in 1980 to a respectable more than 45 billion Euro in 2006. Although trade with the EU is 20 percent of India’s import-export business, making the EU India’s largest trading partner in 2006, India’s share is only 1.8 percent of total EU trade. In the context of the ongoing negotiations in the EU-India Free Trade Agreement, there are some stumbling blocks that need to be addressed on both sides. According to reliable sources, the major hurdle is in the fields of agriculture which is a protected sector in the EU which earmarks 40 percent of its total budget to this sector where there are subsidies galore.
NO TIME TABLE
In May, Peter Power, spokesperson for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had told journalists in Brussels: “I can confirm that we have received the document from India. I can confirm that it is certainly a useful and worthwhile opening bid for negotiations will have to go further and deeper,” lamenting that the time-frame for the talks to conclude is “not solely in our hands.” “We would like to see this particular negotiation making progress as rapidly as possible. I think the opening bid is not bad, but a lot of work remains to be done to have an agreement that would be worthy of support by both sides,” he noted.
“I think at this stage it would be unwise of me to put a timetable, but certainly we should hope to see substantial movement in the next year to 18 months,” added Power. India formally launched negotiations in June 2007 with the EU for a comprehensive FTA aimed at removing barriers across all sectors including investment and services.
The EU has, in recent times, accepted the fact that Indian import tariffs have been substantially reduced but it complains they are still high by international standards. The EU calls it a “complex and non-transparent” system as it points at additional duties, taxes, and charges that are levied on top of the basic customs duties. Pointing to the “non-tariff” barriers, the EU lists quantitative restrictions, mandatory testing, import licensing, certification for a large number of products and a complicated procedural modus operandi as the major speed breakers for a smooth trade relationship.
SLUGGISH INDIAN MISSION
With Indians finding the EU institutions bewildering and complex, India has its own set of complaints, foremost being in recent times the frequent use of anti-dumping duties on its exports including footwear. This is the arena where the diplomatic mission in Brussels is failing Delhi in the Indian government’s renewed efforts to shift into higher gears cooperation in different fields with the European Union. India’s outgoing ambassador to the European Union, Dipak Chatterjee, last month was cited by EuAsiaNews as saying, “I don’t think India has fully woken up to the fact that the EU is more than an economic and trading partner. The EU is trying to build a political identity for itself. I think it will take some time for India to come to understand that.” “But India is realising that the EU is a force to reckon with. There is interest on both sides to develop relations,” he had added.
All the European journalists attending the Marseille Summit agreed that there was a complete lack of information from the Indian mission in Brussels where the EU is seated.
European journalists pointed to “no press release,” “no media briefing,” “no pertinent information on the Embassy website,” nor a “call back to provide information from the Indian Ambassador’s office in Brussels.”
European journalists pointed to “no press release,” “no media briefing,” “no pertinent information on the Embassy website,” nor a “call back to provide information from the Indian Ambassador’s office in Brussels.”
Add to the fact that with more than a month of arrival in Brussels, the new ambassador is yet to let the Brussels press corps know of his presence through either a press release or otherwise. According to political pundits here, its time for Delhi to rethink the Brussels diplomatic strategy to pump in a new impetus into EU-India relationship.
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