Tag: German presidency

With climate change high on the agenda, the Portuguese Presidency will take a first stab at the Commission's package of legislative proposals on energy, scheduled for release in September.

A double-majority system with a safety clause could overcome Poland's request for a square root voting system in the Council, claim Daniel Gros, Sebastian Kurpas and Mika Widgren in a June 2007 paper for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

It should be possible to reach an agreement over the stalled Constitutional Treaty at the June Summit if two sets of conditions are satisfied, write Sebastian Kurpas and Stefano Micossi in a May 2007 paper for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).

Prime Minister Tony Blair believes that no referendum on the Constitutional Treaty would need to be held in the UK if, instead of attempting revive the original wide-ranging Treaty, the members states now simply agreed on a series of amendments, writes Brendan Donnelly of the Federal Union.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi have called on the 'naysayers' to drop their resistance to institutional reforms ahead of a decisive EU Summit on 21-22 June.

A solution to the EU's Constitutional crisis is within reach if leaders concentrate on a short treaty designed to make the Union work better, claims a Friends of Europe discussion paper, published in May 2007. A divided Europe is the risk of failure on the constitutional issue, the report declares.

At an informal EU meeting in Portugal, Prime Minister José Sócrates urged Germany to obtain a 'precise mandate' under its presidency in order to advance institutional changes for the enlarged EU.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso changed his plans to hold informal talks with a hand-picked group of key EU leaders on the stalled EU Constitution, after controversy broke out over the number of invitees.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso has called on EU leaders to follow an ambitious road map to put a new treaty in place by 2009 and has warned against reopening issues already agreed in the Constitutional Treaty.

The Berlin Declaration has set out a timeline for an institutional renewal of the EU by 2009. However, opinions differ as to what should be included in the new EU Treaty.

As European leaders get ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome in Berlin on 25 March 2007, last-minute disagreements have emerged over a declaration outlining the EU's major achievements and future perspectives.

Following a visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Warsaw on 16-17 March, Poland agreed to back the Berlin Declaration despite the absence of a mention of Christianity in the text, clearing the way for the Treaty of Rome's 50th anniversay celebrations to take place later this week.

In this article for think-tank Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP), German Economics and TechnologyMinister Michael Glos highlights the key elements of the German EU Presidency's energy policy.

At a dinner with EU leaders on 8 March 2007, German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented a first outline of the 'road map' for the EU Constitution.

Ministers are seeking an enriched text for the European Constitution, as the German Presidency seeks a compromise among member states.

Member states that have already adopted the EU Constitution want to see the current text completed, not cut down, and called for a 'daring proposal'.

Presenting the presidency programme to the Parliament, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also made clear that institutional change was necessary before further enlargement.

In this article in the periodical Integration, the German Minister of State for Europe, Günter Gloser, lists the energy priorities of the German Presidency during the first half of 2007.

Simplifying and improving the EU regulatory environment will be top of the German presidency’s agenda, in hopes of saving business billions of euro.

EU presidency holder Finland has sent out a positive signal for the European constitutional project by ratifying the treaty with an overwhelming majority.

At the Berlin Politikkongress, experts such as Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Alistair Campbell explained the mutual influence of the EU and Germany in a changing media landscape.

In a special cabinet meeting on Sunday 5 November, the German government has defined the priorities for its EU Presidency, starting on 1 January 2007.

European Socialists have endorsed plans to revive the EU Constitution and agreed to assign the German presidency to set out a road map.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso urged Poland to participate actively in the debate on the future of the EU. Meanwhile, the Polish government is still in political turmoil.