Events of 2002

Global Europe, Competitive Europe
09/12/2002
What could be the global impact of farm reform?
The common Agricultural policy has for around half a century given financial support to European farmers, but often at the expense of farmers in the developing world who have been unable to compete with Europe’s subsidised food exports. Now, with CAP reform firmly on the political agenda thanks to the added pressures of the upcoming WTO Round, what are the likely implications for non-EU farmers, especialy those of Africa, Asia and Latin America?
Competitive Europe
02/12/2002
Must EU competition rules be adapted to meet industrial policy priorities?
Both the practice and the legality of the EU competition rules as applied by the European Commission have been coming under fire. What are the policy objectives that the promised overhaul of the competition rules should aim to meet, and to what extent will the drive to sharpen EU enterprise policies influence the process?
The Future of Europe
27/11/2002
My Vision of Europe in 2020
Friends of Europe's most prestigious Networking Cocktail and Debate, occuring together with the Centenary Celebration of the Bibliothèque Solvay.
Life Quality Europe, Competitive Europe
25/11/2002
What is an optimal level of industrial consolidation in Europe?
Differences of opinion in EU member states over mergers and takeovers have produced an uneven patchwork of consolidations in various key sectors. Now that the euro is pushing us towards a single EU economy, how soon will we see a new consensus on the right levels of industrial consolidation?
The Future of Europe
04/11/2002
Public opinion and the debate on the future of the EU
A full-day conference in Madrid, organised jointly by Friends of Europe, Real Elcano de Estudios Internacionales y Estratégicos and the Association of European Journalists.
Life Quality Europe, Competitive Europe
28/10/2002
Energy liberalisation: will consumers be left out in the cold?
The EU’s Spring 2002 Barcelona Summit agrees a 2004 deadline for the long-awaited competition of the gas and electricity markets, although to business users only. What major obstacles need to be tackled now to meet the Barcelona deadline, and what are the prospects for eventual full liberalisation of Europe’s energy markets to include private consumers?
Life Quality Europe
14/10/2002
Will the controversy over EU farm subsidies for candidate countries accelerate or torpedo the CAP reform?
Angry voices have already been raised by politicians in some accession states over the EU's plans to set farm support levels for them at a lower level than in the present Member States. Leaving aside the arguments over relative living standards and the candidate countries' ability to absorb higher subsidy levels, what will be the impact of enlargement on CAP reform?
Greening Europe, Global Europe
07/10/2002
The Johannesburg Global Summit: were hopes being raised too high?
There is now an impressive head of steam behind the concept of sustainable development, among both political and business leaders. The outlook for the Johannesburg Global Summit therefore seems much more encouraging today than a year ago. But with the lessons in mind of Rio a decade ago, and more recently of Kyoto, what expectations can we realistically have for the follow-up of the Summit?
Life Quality Europe
30/09/2002
Corporate Social Responsibility: What should the EU guidelines look like?
The speed and enthusiasm with which Europe’s major employers have embraced the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a very positive phenomenon. But it has coincided with rising doubts about corporate ethics and corporate governance in the context of the globalisation debate. What contribution could EU guidelines make to the further growth of CSR practices and what is the thinking behind the Commission’s new role as creator of the EU multi-stakeholder forum on CSR?
Life Quality Europe
16/09/2002
Is Europe’s Cultural integration being speeded by the ‘Information Age’?
Cultural Policy was a relative latecomer to the EU, dating only from 1991 and the Maastricht Treaty. But its arrival has coincided with the accelerating technological revolution that is turning upside down the business environments of creative industries ranging from music to broadcasting and publishing to education and training.
Life Quality Europe, The Future of Europe
24/06/2002
Spain’s European Agenda: Priorities and Achievements of the Spanish EU Presidency
This prestigious event was held in La Maison de l’Europe at la Bibliothèque Solvay close to the European Parliament, and started with a VIP lunch. Three short and interactive sessions during the course of the afternoon touched upon the main aspects of the Spanish Presidency.
International Development
17/06/2002
Can Europe be proud of its aid policies?
At the recent Monterrey conference, the EU’s progressive stance on development aid contrasted very favourably with that of the US. Yet criticisms abound of the way that EU aid is allocated and administered, and there are fresh doubts about the value of the Cotonou Agreement that replaces the longstanding Lome aid-and-trade pacts with developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Has the Commission’s overhauling of aid to create EuropeAid yet yielded any concrete benefits?
Life Quality Europe, The Future of Europe
03/06/2002
How real are the business opportunities of enlargement?
The investment and trade effects of the EU’s ambitious enlargement strategy have so far been patchy. But with a “Big Bang” enlargement of the EU and its Single Market to 25 member states now in sight, what are the prospects for a surge of new business opportunities in sectors like banking, financial services and energy and in advanced technologies like ITC and bio-sciences?
Life Quality Europe
06/05/2002
What future for the EU’s Committee of the Regions?
Just as EU institutional reform is likely to confirm the trend towards the regions having a greater say in European-level decisionmaking, so wil EU enlargement probably fuel the tensions between the regions over structural funding. Will the Committee of the Regions emerge the stronger or the weaker? Indeed, will it survive at all in its present shape?
Competitive Europe
29/04/2002
Is e-Europe still a distant dream?
The Barcelona Summit’s re-affirmation of the EU’s two-year old Lisbon Agenda was an important political signal, but where in practical terms does the e-Europe strategy now stand? How can Europe’s governments and EU policymakers kick-start both investment and demand from interactive communications and e-Commerce?
Life Quality Europe
25/03/2002
Europe's unsung Visionary
As the bicentennial of Victor Hugo's birth is celebrated here in Brussels, a panel of pundits will advance the cause of three writers who can each claim to be a great European Visionary.
The Future of Europe, Competitive Europe
18/03/2002
How realistic are the Winter Group's proposals for EU-wide Takeover Rules?
The search for a set of EU-wide rules to govern takeover bids has run up against a thicket of obstacles. Europe’s different national business cultures make it hard enough to construct the promised ‘level playing field’, and the need to find an EU-US model presents a further problem. What is the outlook for the Takeover bids Directive as proposed by the Winter Group?
Life Quality Europe
04/03/2002
What should be the role of NGOs in the political process?
NGOs today play a much greater role in the EU affairs than ever. How should they be seen by policymakers?
Global Europe
25/02/2002
“What I want from the Doha round”
A debate on the key issues that should dominate the agenda of the next round of WTO talks on trade and development matters.
Life Quality Europe
12/02/2002
Europe's Cultural Policy Challenges
The conference addressed three key questions.
- Europe’s cultural and audio-visual policies: The balance sheet to date
- The International Arena: Cultural Policy and Globalisation
- What should a European cultural policy look like?
Life Quality Europe
29/01/2002
How can the Barcelona Process be Reinvigorated?
Featuring Miguel Angel Moratinos, Special Representative of the European Union for the Middle East Peace Process, Issam El-Zaim, Syrian Minister of Industry, Aischa Belarbi, Ambassador of Morocco to the EU, Pascal Charlat, Head of the Task Force for Mediterranean/Barcelona, Middle East/Africa of the Council of the European Union, Soliman Awaad, Ambassador of Egypt to the EU.
The Future of Europe
21/01/2002
How will the Irish Referendum 'No' affect the Convention?
Speaking in Brussels on Monday at a meeting organised by Friends of Europe, former Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) John Bruton said that Ireland's rejection of the Nice Treaty should be looked at a second time. He rejected the argument that holding a second referendum was undemocratic. "It seems to me that it is much more democratic to vote twice on Nice than to try and find a way round enlargement," said Mr Bruton.