Establishing its very first links with the European Union via the TACIS programme, Azerbaijan strived for even more cooperation. The then on-going political issues in Azerbaijan prolonged this deepening of cooperation by the late 90s. The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which was signed in April 22, 1996, had not been ratified until July 1, 1999. This agreement was the first official agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan, which established an appropriate framework for the political dialogue between the EU member countries and Azerbaijan by allowing the development of political relations and helping Azerbaijan transition to a market economy. The agreement also promoted trade, investment, and mutually beneficial economic relations between the EU and Azerbaijan. This, in turn, will foster sustainable economic development in Azerbaijan. Lastly, the agreement aimed to provide a basis for cooperation with Azerbaijan on financial, economic, social, legislative, scientific, technological and cultural affairs. The agreement has a predetermined termination date of 99/99/9999, signifying indefinite, continuous cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Full Article is available here.

The post EU-Azerbaijan Relations: Current Challenges And Prospects For Growth first appeared on PAS OS.

In principle, Turkey would not want the UK to exit the EU. Its continuing membership is a guarantee that the EU will move forward in the direction of a pro-market community. The UK’s presence is also important from the standpoint of helping the EU acquire and consolidate a more strategic vision in the area of a common foreign and security policy.

A possible UK exit would seriously weaken the EU and handicap its aspirations to become a more influential global player. At a time when the rise of non-western actors and illiberal regimes is affecting the global balance of power, with consequences also for regional disputes such as the Syria crisis, Turkey wants to see a more robust western alliance underpinned not only by NATO but also by a more effective EU.

Yet despite this initial observation, there may be a non-negligible silver lining to a possible Brexit from the Turkish viewpoint. If the UK were to leave, it would need to establish a new form of association that could possibly become a blueprint for Turkey’s own relationship with the EU. Moreover this new model relationship would need to be different than the existing typology of EU partnerships.

It is often claimed that the UK would need to join the European Economic Area (EEA) in the case of a Brexit. But the EEA represents a more extreme type of the policy dependency that would have led in the first place to the decision to leave the EU. EEA states are bound by the policy decisions of Brussels without having the ability to genuinely shape decisions. This type of almost total policy dependence, with its many implications for the nature of democracy at home, is unlikely to be acceptable to a large country like the UK.

At the other extreme of the partnership spectrum lies the “Strategic Partnership” model. This is the approach used for relationships with large and important countries like the US, Russia and China. But “Strategic Partners” do not aspire to any economic or political integration with the EU. As such the proposed structure of cooperation goes little beyond institutionalised dialogue, with mostly uncertain outcomes regarding any possible convergence of viewpoints or policies.

Even if it were to leave the EU, the UK would want to remain part of the Single Market but, as stated, without necessarily having to take on the commitments of EEA membership. Brussels and London would then need to create a new form of association that, on the one hand, would ensure with some exceptions the UK’s participation in the Single Market and on the other gives London some decision shaping ability in Brussels. There is no such model of association at present that arguably can be considered almost as a “virtual membership”. But that is exactly the structure that will need to be devised to retain a British anchor in Europe.

If London and Brussels can indeed devise such a new partnership model, this can very possibly be used also to anchor Turkey in the EU. It could be used to deflect existing scepticism on both sides. EU sceptics of Turkey’s membership would be led to understand that this formula pre-empts an eventual Turkish membership, while Turkish sceptics of the EU would be more content with a less accentuated form of the sharing of sovereignty that this new partnership would incorporate.

In many ways, therefore, the debate on the future of the UK’s relationship with the EU matters to Turkey. And even more so if in the wake of a possible Brexit, some creative thinking can lead to a new form of virtual membership.

The post Turkey: Brexit Could Pave the Way for a New Eu-Turkey Relationship first appeared on PAS OS.

“In Ukraine, a British exit from the EU would become a significant gift to the political forces which, in harmony with Russian propaganda, have spent years trying to discredit the EU in the eyes of Ukrainians and have been inspiring people to hate everything European,” according to Getmanchuk, who wrote the article for  the London School of Economics’ EUROPP website.

“If the British vote for a withdrawal, they will take away from Ukraine one of the most important arguments for the EU: that there are lots of countries queuing to enter, while there is no country that wants to leave.”

Getmanchuck’s commentary was included as part of a survey of experts on the impact of the United Kingdom possibly leaving the EU, and in light of British demands that the country’s status in the union be renegotiated and plans on holding a referendum on membership.

The full article can be read online here.

The post Ukraine: Brexit Would Damage Ukrainian Hopes for a European Future first appeared on PAS OS.

“COP21 proved to be a platform for further developments towards a greener future by forcing countries to actively and collectively propose commitments to climate change mitigation. Moreover, civil society, from the wealthiest philanthropists to the smallest organizations, is becoming more and more actively engaged,” the analysts say.

“There are limits to what negotiators at COP21 can accomplish on their own. However, they have at least sent a clear signal that the future belongs to those who can free themselves from fossil fuels, which is a positive step forward.”

Read the full article at the EUROPEUM website here.

The post COP21: A Glimmer of Hope Amidst the Gloom? first appeared on PAS OS.

“Given both Italy’s and the (European) Commission’s concerned comments, such Austrian measures could worsen both the situation on the heavily crossed border and the economic and political relations between the two sides of the Alps,” the analysis states.

The full article can be read here.

The post Austrian Border Plan Damaging Symbolic Brenner Pass first appeared on PAS OS.

It’s a telling piece of propaganda in many ways, its patronizing and insulting attitudes aside. What is most striking about it is that it unwittingly undermines its own arguments about the value of the EU. The message the poster is attempting to communicate is that the EU is an organization that welcomes countries that are burdened with corruption, weak economies, unresolved ethnic and religious conflicts, and poor governance into its ranks, at the expense of more developed countries that will be forced to subsidize these inferior members.

But the truth is that the poster could very well serve as an advertisement about why European unity, in the form of the EU, is needed more than ever.

PASOS and its partners in six Western Balkans countries have, for three years, been measuring the levels of trust citizens of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia have in public institutions. According to the latest survey results, that level of trust generally dropped in 2015, with the most drastic declines seen in scandal-plagued Macedonia.

Overall, the polling showed that political parties fared the worst among domestic institutions in the third annual polling conducted for Advocacy for Open Government, an EU-supported project which seeks to encourage governments in the six countries to become more transparent.

In Macedonia, respondents identified political parties and the government’s anti-corruption office as particularly untrustworthy. Only 10 percent said they had trust in the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, giving it the fewest number of people who said they had some level of trust in the institution. Meanwhile, political parties got the highest percentage of people who explicitly said they mistrust the institution.

“This relates mainly with the current political crisis in the country,” says Qendresa Sulejmani, an analyst with the Skopje-based Center for Research and Policy Making, which oversaw the project polling in Macedonia.

“In 2015, the opposition party released many wiretapped tapes of top government officials showing the criminal activities that government officials have engaged in and the politicization of institutions, such as the courts and the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, among others.”

Other countries in the region saw similar, albeit less dramatic, declines in public trust in other institutions, especially those touched by scandals. Other poll findings showed that:

• The percentage of Montenegrins who have trust in political parties dropped to 25 percent, a drop of nine points compared to an earlier poll on the question.
• The percentage of Serbians who say they trust the country’s president dropped from 54 percent in 2014 to 44 percent in 2015. Serbians also expressed the lowest level of confidence in NGOs among the six countries: only 28 percent said they had some level of trust in those organizations.
•  NATO and the European Union continue to be highly trusted institutions in Albania, far outranking the levels of trust Albanians have in their domestic institutions.

Scandals and other examples of poor governance in the Western Balkans are to blame for the low trust citizens have for institutions that should be serving the public interest. And they also precisely show why the EU has flatly said that no new countries will be joining the union in the next five years, at a minimum.

Instead, it is the prospect of EU membership that provides the clearest roadpath for Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia to reform their institutions. EU membership conditions, indeed, offer what is perhaps the strongest incentive for these countries to rid themselves of corrupt practices, adopt principles of good governance, become more transparent, and increase public participation in policymaking.

So if and when the day finally comes that the poster’s language becomes reality and “Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey are joining the EU,” it will be because the EU provided the means for these countries to better their societies and prove their worthiness to join the union.

And the addition of such societies to the European project can only strengthen the union and demonstrate the power of its values. “Seriously.”

This article was originally published in the blog of the MTA–DE Public Service Research Group, a project implemented by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the University of Debrecen

The post A Crisis In Confidence first appeared on PAS OS.

“I’ve cut down on complaining,” Michelot writes. “If you’re thinking, “OK, that sounds normal,” you’d be right.

“However, when you are born in a country like France, where the right to complain (or strike) is engraved in the constitution, and when you live in a country like the Czech Republic, where the innocent act of asking “how are you doing?” is followed by ujde to (“it could be worse”) and a litany of complaints about political parties and how bad the food is compared to German, it’s hard to escape the negativity.”

The article is part of a series written by people who have left their native countries to live abroad: “Personal stories of people with different passports on what drove their journey, what enabled it and what they got and gave along the way.”

Read the full article here.

The post How Complaining Doesn’t Explain the World first appeared on PAS OS.