Armada europeia, muito barulho para nada?

Depois do referendo britânico, as conversações de François Hollande com os seus homólogos europeus concentraram-se na solidariedade europeia em matéria de defesa, um assunto por muito tempo bloqueado por Londres. Por: Adéla Denková, Aline Robert, Georgi Gotev, Jakub Šimkovic, Krzysztof Kokoszczynski Fonte: EurActiv

Armée européenne: beaucoup de bruit pour rien ?

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[The European Union]

Avec le Brexit, la création d’une « armée européenne » est de plus en plus évoquée. Mais malgré les déclarations solennelles, les analystes n’y croient pas. Un article du réseauEurActiv.

Depuis le référendum britannique, les échanges de François Hollande avec ses homologues européens se sont concentrés sur la solidarité européenne en matière de défense, un sujet longtemps bloqué par Londres.

>> Lire : Hollande entame une tournée pour relancer l’Europe de la défense

Les responsables français estiment en effet que la coopération en matière de défense au niveau européen pourrait être facilitée par la décision des Britanniques de quitter l’UE. Une victoire de Donald Trump aux présidentielles américaines pourrait également donner du poids à cette idée, étant donné le scepticisme du candidat vis-à-vis de l’OTAN.

Les dirigeants européens se rencontreront à 27 à Bratislava pour décider de l’avenir de l’UE. Avant ce sommet informel, le président français a déclaré que l’UE devait « insister sur les aspects de défense et de sécurité ».

Europa após o Brexit: Uma proposta para uma parceria continental

Europa após o Brexit: Uma proposta para uma parceria continental Após a decisão britânica de deixar a UE, a trajetória da Europa, e mesmo o seu destino, tornou-se novamente uma questão de escolha. Propomos uma nova forma de colaboração, uma parceria continental. A parceria continental proposta consistirá numa participação de bens, serviços, mobilidade de capital e alguma mobilidade no trabalho temporário, bem como num novo sistema de tomada de decisões inter-governamentais e na execução de regras comuns para proteger a homogeneidade do mercado integrado. Isto resulta numa Europa com um círculo interno, a UE, com uma integração profunda e política, e um círculo exterior com menos integração. A longo prazo, poderá também servir como uma visão para estruturar as relações com a Turquia, a Ucrânia e outros países. Por: Jean Pisani-Ferry, Norbert Rottgen, André Sapir, Paul Tucker e Guntram B. Wolff Fonte: Bruegel Ver também: O Medef está preocupado com as consequências do Brexit O impacto do Brexit preocupa os representantes do patronato francês. Que temem que esta travagem no projeto europeu faça cair o relançamento económico da UE. «De tanto andarmos em círculos dobre o futuro da Europa, vamos acabar por ser ultrapassados pemas grandes potencias emergentes» disse o PDG da Airbus, Fabrice Bréguer. (...) Por: Cécile Barbière Fonte: EurActiv O Reino-Unido não vai manter «um pé» na UE A primeira ministra britânica Theresa May declarou que a possibilidade de um segundo referendo ou qualquer outra tentativa para «manter um pé na UE» foi descartada. (...) Por: Matthew Tempest Fonte: EurActiv

China dirige-se para Oeste: a nova Rota da Seda de Pequim para a Europa

A China está a construir novas estradas, ferrovias e oleodutos da Ásia Central para a Europa, num esforço para implementar novas conexões com o resto do mundo. Os resultados podem ser bons para os chineses - mas nem tanto para os outros países envolvidos. Por: Erich Follath Fonte: Spiegel On line

 China Heads West: Beijing's New Silk Road to Europe

China is building new roads, railroads and pipelines from Central Asia to Europe in an effort to build new connections to the rest of the world. The results may be good for the Chinese -- but less so for the other countries involved.

In Kashgar, on the western edge of the Peoples' Republic of China, the view is reminiscent of the Bible and the days when the ancient Silk Road began to take shape here in the 1st century B.C. Today, the government plans to use Kashgar as the starting point for a new, global trade route -- but at this point, there is still little evidence of it.

"Posh, Posh," the men shout on their horse-drawn carts, as they make their way to the meadow where drivers are selling camels. Potential buyers expertly reach into the animals' mouths to examine their health. The air is dusty and filed with the sounds of animals neighing, braying and bleating, as if the horses, donkeys and goats know that they won't stay tied up for long. Women, only a few of them wearing veils, walk through the chaos carrying sacks of apricots and raisins.

Brexit, Europa, Mediterrâneo: para um novo tratado fundador

E em política estrangeira, e particularmente a respeito dos nossos «vizinhos do Sul» mediterrâneo, os 28 Estados da União reproduziram os mesmos erros que em matéria de integração e de coordenação das políticas económicas e fiscais. E a política europeia de vizinhança não parece produzir reais progressos. O tempo da refundação chegou, estima Henry Marty-Gauquié. Para o diretor honorário do Banco europeu de investimento (BEI) e membro do Grupo de analise JFC Conseil, este novo começo deve apoiar-se na «única instituição que representa os povos: o Parlamento europeu». Por: Henry Marty-Gauquié; Fonte: La Tribune

Draghi pede um corta-fogo público para a banca

O conselho de governo do Banco Central Europeu (BCE) não produziu surpresas e decidiu manter intactos as taxas de juro no mínimo histórico de 0%. Junto com o brexit, e a análise das suas consequências, um dos temas que chamou a atenção durante a ronda de imprensa foram as declarações efetuadas sobre a saúde do sistema bancário. Perguntado sobre o efeito da consulta britânica na banca, Mario Draghi reconheceu o impacto negativo que teve nos bancos ¿Os bancos mais prejudicados foram aqueles que tinham maior quantidade de empréstimos não bancários¿, assinalou. As palavras de Draghi de que o sector bancário pode necessitar de um apoio governamental para os empréstimos duvidosos provocou a forte subida da banca. Fonte: Cinco Dias

If You Can’t Say What Your Meeting Will Accomplish, You Shouldn’t Have It

• by Bob Frisch and 
• Cary Greene in HBR

APRIL 18, 2016

How many times have you walked out of a theoretically important meeting—a leadership offsite, a C-suite pow-wow, a sit-down with the board—thinking, That was a great discussion, but I’m not sure we really accomplished anything? More often than not, the problem lies not in what did or didn’t happen at the meeting itself. You didn’t get anything done because the goals for the meeting were never firmly established in the first place.

We see this happen all the time when clients hire us to help manage offsites. Often, they start by handing us a pretty well developed (and usually packed) agenda, full of already-booked speakers, and a finalized list of confirmed attendees. Beyond logistics, the actual substance of the offsite is nearly set. But then we always ask the meeting owner—the most senior executive hosting it—the same two questions:
What do you want to have debated, decided, or discovered at the end of this session that you and the team haven’t already debated, decided, or discovered?
What do you want attendees to say when their team members ask, “What happened at the big meeting?”

In almost every case, the response is the same: “That’s a good question—I hadn’t actually thought about those things.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s an eight-person board meeting, a 15-person executive team meeting, or a 150-person leadership conference—your first step when planning an important one-off or non-routine get-together should be to draft an initial set of goals based on the answers to the two questions above. In the words of Stephen Covey, “Begin with the end in mind.” These objectives are not the activities you will be engaged in or the time slots on the agenda. They are more high level: your desired outcomes for the offsite.

The list needn’t be very long or complicated. As a starting point, three-to-five short bullets or sentences that articulate what you want to accomplish is more than enough.

But this process may take some time. The meeting owner might go through two to three iterations before he or she has a straw-model set of objectives ready to be tested with other key meeting stakeholders, who should then be asked to review the list and identify any missing or unnecessary goals. Once everyone is aligned, agree and communicate to all other attendees that these objectives are locked in. This helps keep the agenda focused and gives the meeting owner cover if someone asks to add an unrelated presentation or discussion at the last minute.

Here are some example objectives from different types of meetings we’ve run recently:

Board meeting:
Provide Board input as Management formulates the new five-year strategy
Agree on how much runway remains on the current core strategy
Identify new strategies to potentially pursue

Finalize the operating model for strategic governance
Annual strategic planning process
Long-term (five+ year) strategic oversight
Agree on the topics and timing for additional Board input into the current planning cycle

Executive team meeting:
Develop a list of growth opportunities for the team to further assess
Begin to define select growth opportunities, including the future state description for each and potential measures of success
Confirm the accountable executive and team leader for each opportunity
Understand the timeline and activities over the next three months

Leadership conference:
Establish the purpose and positioning of the Extended Leadership Team
Impart a meaningful understanding of the company’s vision, mission, and strategy, including top priorities for the next three years
Understand priority issues surfaced by attendees and develop potential solutions
Align around next steps

Your list of objectives must also drive important decisions about aspects of the meeting:

Agenda. Draft an agenda and map each activity to your stated goals. Do all of them help you achieve one or more of your objectives? Are there any objectives that can’t be achieved through what you have planned?

Attendees. The number and identity of attendees should be based on the scope and objectives of the meeting. For example, if you need to make decisions, we recommend a smaller group. If your aim is to generate ideas or achieve broad organizational buy-in for an initiative, you should invite a larger group.

Pre-reads. Don’t overload people with voluminous meeting pre-reads full of assorted plans, reports and studies that aren’t directly related to your objectives. Instead use your list to organize, filter and focus the content you send in advance.

Location. The location of your meeting should reflect its objectives too. For example, if your goals focus on a specific region, go there. If an explicit objective is for participants to get to know each other better, make sure you pick a venue designed for socializing.

When you set out and share your objectives in this way, it ensures that everyone is “coming to the same meeting.” Attendees will be energized and ready to accomplish those goals.

Merkel grants May until new year to trigger Article 50

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave her opposite number Theresa May breathing space to come up with a Brexit negotiation position on Wednesday (20 July), concurring with the new British PM that London will not trigger Article 50 until the New Year.

At a evening dinner in Berlin – May’s first foreign trip since becoming prime minister seven days ago – May stressed that she needed until the end of the year to come up with a UK position – even if that upset some EU member states.

Merkel, at a joint press conference of the two women at the Chancellery in Berlin, agreed, but warned “No one wants things to be up in the air – neither Britain nor the member states of the EU.”

Technically, the UK must give legal notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty of its desir

By Matthew Tempest | EurActiv.com

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave her opposite number Theresa May breathing space to come up with a Brexit negotiation position on Wednesday (20 July), concurring with the new British PM that London will not trigger Article 50 until the New Year.

At a evening dinner in Berlin – May’s first foreign trip since becoming prime minister seven days ago – May stressed that she needed until the end of the year to come up with a UK position – even if that upset some EU member states.

Merkel, at a joint press conference of the two women at the Chancellery in Berlin, agreed, but warned “No one wants things to be up in the air – neither Britain nor the member states of the EU.”

Technically, the UK must give legal notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty of its desire to quit the 28-member bloc, following June’s shock referendum result.

However, Article 50 makes no mention of a time frame, beyond the two-years of negotiation that will then follow.

Although May became PM unexpectedly quickly, following David Cameron’s resignation, few member states are likely to have much patience beyond the start of 2017  – and with it, the French and German election cycles.

“Everybody has an interest that these things are prepared carefully, that the positions are clear – and I think it’s fully understandable that a certain amount of time is needed for that,” Merkel said.

With a UK parliament report today condemning the Cameron government for having no Brexit contingency planning, Merkel told reporters that Britain needed a “well-defined position” before starting the two-year talks

May admitted such a timescale pushing notification beyond the end of 2016 “would not please everyone.”

She said, “All of us will need time to prepare for these negotiations and the United Kingdom will not invoke Article 50 until our objectives are clear. That is why I have said already that this will not happen before the end of this year.

“I understand this timescale will not please everyone but I think it is important to provide clarity on that now. We should strive for a solution which respects the decision of British voters, but also respects the interests of our European partners.”

May said her priority was a “sensible and orderly departure.”

Although May – who herself campaigned for a Remain vote in the referendum – has repeatedly said ‘Brexit means Brexit’ since entering Number 10, it has become clear that few on the Leave side agree what form of relationship, or membership of the European Economic Area, could now apply.

No praise for Boris

Under critical questioning from German reporters over the appointment of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, May pointedly refused to defend him by name, merely praising “the team” she had appointed to deal with Brexit.

Merkel also pointed out that ‘informal’ negotiations on Brexit could not take place until Article 50 is notified.

MAY WARNS AGAINST SCOTTISH EU HOPES AHEAD OF MERKEL TALKS Theresa May warned on Wednesday (20 July) that Scottish plans to somehow remain in the EU despite the UK’s Leave vote were “impracticable”. EurActiv.com

“I’ve been clear that Brexit means Brexit and the UK is going to make a success of it,” May said, but stressed that Britain was “not walking away from our European friends”.

“It’s in that constructive spirit I’ve come here today to lay the foundation for a strong relationship in the months and years to come,” she said.

But Merkel made clear the negotiations – to be conducted on the British side by former Europe minister under John Major, David David – could get sticky.

“It’s not as if the British prime minister will in future sit at the EU table,” Merkel said. “We will certainly stick up for our interests just as Britain does for its own citizens.”

The UK already announced today it was giving up its rotating presidency of the EU Council, set for the end of 2017, to Estonia.

UK 'TOO BUSY' WITH BREXIT TO HOLD EU PRESIDENCY, CLAIMS MAY Britain will no longer take on the rotating EU presidency as planned next year, surrendering the role in the wake of the Brexit vote, Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said Wednesday (20 July). EurActiv.com

May reiterated her promise to reduce UK immigration to a “sustainable” level of tens of thousands a year – although again, without putting a deadline on it.

Asked by the BBC about the UK and German both now being represented by female leaders, May joked, ““We have two women here who have got on and had a very constructive discussion.”

“Two women who, if I may say so, get on with the job.”