Texas A&M University - About the European Union Center of Excellence

January-February 2008

GUEST COLUMNS

Dr. Gerhard Sabathil
Head of Commission's Representation in Germany

Amber H. Moss Jr. The European elections take place in June 2009 when the Barroso Commission's term of office is nearing its end. All initiatives and legislative proposals planned by the current Commission must therefore be launched for adoption by the European Parliament and the Council before the end of this year. The Commission has taken on a great deal: making globalisation an opportunity for its citizens, promoting growth and jobs, reducing administrative burdens, ensuring better regulation and controlling climate change. In its Legislative and Work Programme for 2008 the EU Commission remains committed to the overall goal of providing added value to Europe's citizens. Following the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU is back on track. The European Commission's work programme for 2008 should also be seen in the political context of the ratification of the reform treaty by all Member States

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John F.B. Wilson
European Union Fellow 2008

Terrorism is a grave threat to the security of the European Union. Not only does it put lives at risk, but also it can undermine the free movement of people, ideas and products which are the foundations of the Union and test the openness and tolerance of European society. It can threaten vital social functions and impose huge costs. While the Union had started to develop measures against serious crime in the years before 2001, as its responsibilities were extended to judicial and police cooperation, 9/11 was the wake-up call, as it was in the United States. The adoption of an action plan to help the pursuit and prosecution of suspects and legislation on the protection of transport rapidly followed.

Fighting terrorism within the European Union presents some particular challenges. On the one hand, national borders are losing their functions. For example, people can move freely between twenty-two of the twenty-seven Member States without having to show their passports, so control of the outer frontiers becomes crucial.

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FACULTY COLUMN

Dr. Guy D. Whitten
EUCE Interim Director

An observer of current European politics may almost automatically assume that the regional integration process in Europe has resulted in the weakening of national identities and the pacifying of potential identity-related conflicts in the area. A closer look, however, reveals that the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) in particular are still being caught in various security dilemmas ranging from the traditional military-related spheres to more subtle yet similarly destructive ‘societal’ security issues with the potential to produce ethnic conflicts, even civil wars. The explanatory theoretical framework behind ‘societal security’ is fairly new and thus, often underestimated in these regions; yet, it presents a particular challenge to the multiethnic and fragile democracies there. Here, I compare the major international organizations responsible for these issues, the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and examine what kind of institutional mechanisms and responses these organizations developed.

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STUDENT COLUMN

José de Jesús Marroquín

The economies of the United States, Europe, and Japan comprise 50% of world gross domestic product, and these three economic areas utilize 50% of the world’s energy. Controlling such a large percentage of total world economic output, as well as utilizing a similar percentage of the world’s energy, these three economic areas are vital to the well being of the world economy. Yet, despite the large utilization of energy, these three areas do not have a coordinated energy strategy. As examples in the past decade, these regions have disagreed on energy issues ranging from renewable energy supplies, to climate change, to most notably the invasion of Iraq. Those differences have crystallized to a political and public opinion rift between the United States and the European Union. Understandably, specific geographic and demographic considerations force the European Union to deal with global terrorism, the Middle East, and Russia differently than the United States. While the political rift between the United States and Europe has somewhat closed since 2003, global popular approval for the United States remains at an all time low. As we venture into an ever more complex world, these combined differences and lack of concerted direction threaten the economic vitality of the United States, Europe, and Japan, and this in turn threatens the world economy.