Archive for European Union
Suzanne Hill interview at Bled Strategic Forum with Jeffrey Peel of Oxford Economics
Posted by: | CommentsListen to the interview of Suzanne Hill of Handel Export with Jeffrey Peel of Oxford Economics at the Bled Strategic Forum.
Bled Strategic Forum is a major global conference held in Slovenia every August, this year’s forum being the 5th such event. The conference was attended by leading policy makers from 40 countries from the European Union, the BRIC countries, Middle East and CIS.
If the international community needs to entirely and effectively face the numerous challenges and problems of the upcoming decade (financial and economic crisis, poverty, climate change, development questions, international terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, etc.), global cooperation needs to be strengthened, and the existing institutions need to either adapt to the new situations in the world, or new ones have to be created; was the key message of the main panel titled “The Global Outlook for the Next Decade” at this year’s Bled Strategic Forum. The speakers of the panel, moderated by the Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Samuel Žbogar, were H.E. Mr. Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium and the President of the Council of the EU, H.E. Mr. Amre Moussa, Secretary General of the League of the Arab States, H.E. Ms. Preenet Kaur, Minister of State for External Affairs of the Republic of India, and Ambassador Antonio Patriota, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Brazil.
Czech Prime Minister formally resigns
Posted by: | CommentsThe Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek resigned this week following a vote of no-confidence. His letter of resignation was formally given to the Czech President Vaclav Klaus. The Prime Minister was forced out due to criticism of his handling of the economic crisis, critics saying that he reacted too slowly in implementing a cash bailout.
His resignation is of particular concern as the Czech Republic currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU. This has led to some discussion over whether or not the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have sufficient political and economic stability to be capable of taking the presidency of the EU. What do you think? Should the countries of Central and Eastern Europe who joined the EU in 2004 be allowed to take the presidency of the EU or should this be left to the original 15 member states for the time being?
