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Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday that Turkeys goal is still to join the European Union (EU), nearly four years after negotiations were suspended.

Turkey has been in often-contentious negotiations to join the EU for decades. The European Parliament and European Council voted to freeze the talks after mass purges by the Turkish government in 2016.

European-Turkish tensions have risen even more in recent months over Turkish foreign policy and the migration crisis. Akar told the Turkish Heritage Organization by video conference that Turkey is still interested in becoming a European state despite the strained relationship.

Membership in the EU remains our political objective, the defense minister said. Turkeys EU relationships are deep-rooted, multidimensional, and crucial, not only for Turkey and the EU, but also for the whole region.

He said that Turkish membership would be the best investment for the European Union, citing extensive economic relations with the EU.

Akar also defended the purges that led to the end of EU accession negotiations.

The Turkish government rightfully took the necessary and proportionate measures to suppress and defeat [a coup attempt] and bring its perpetrators to justice, he said.

Turkey faced a military mutiny in July 2016, which authorities blamed on Pennsylvania-based Islamic televangelist Fethullah Glen.

The government fired hundreds of thousands and jailed thousands of suspected Glen supporters. Human rights critics have described the purge as a crackdown on political dissent, but Akar said that it was necessary to cleanse the state of terrorists.

Akar also emphasized Turkeys role in defending Europe as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

NATO is central to Turkeys security, and Turkey is central to NATO, he said. Our commitment to NATO is solid, and we will continue to shoulder our fair share of the burden.

The defense minister pointed out that Turkey has contributed the fifth-most troops and seventh-most money to NATO operations, calling these contributions essential to Euro-Atlantic security.

Turkey has recently attempted to mend its relationship with the United States and other NATO allies as the Turkish military confronts Russian-backed forces in Syria and Libya.

Nevertheless, Europe might not be so interested in rebuilding the alliance.

European leaders responded forcefully after Turkey attempted to push refugees into Greece amid a round of fighting in Syria, and an EU anti-smuggling naval task force has actually attempted to reduce Turkeys involvement in Libya.

France has led the charge to push back against Turkish foreign policy, supporting Greece and Cyprus in their maritime disputes with Turkey.

It is unacceptable that the maritime space of [EU] member states be violated and threatened, French president Emmanuel Macron told reporters last week. Those who are doing that must be sanctioned.

Matthew Petti is a national security reporter at the National Interest. Follow him on Twitter: @matthew_petti.

Image: Reuters.

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Turkish Defense Minister: Turkey Still Wants To Join European Union - The National Interest

The narrative is logical:A recoveryfund will strengthenthe European Union, afterits fallinto economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and send a signal of solidarity. The strong helpthe weak. Because this kind of solidarity should go hand in hand withgratitude, theprogram should alsothwart Europe'spopulists. The more money from Brussels, the fewervotes for Italian Matteo Salvini and hisanti-EU crew.

DW editor Andreas Noll

Unfortunately, such simplistic equations have rarely worked out in the past. In contrast, onehistorical model is able to shine:Following World War II, the US organized a reconstruction fund for Europe, the legendary Marshall Plan.

However, there is currently little to rebuild in Europe and no food shortages to be addressed. Butthere are entitlements that need financing, such asunemployment and reduced work benefits, and pensions and health insurance contributions. Social protections are even more expensive in times of crisis, and national budgets are already under pressure. Yet for these budgetary holes, the EU is conceivably the most unsuitable place to turn.

You cannot discuss unemployment benefits without talking about the duration and amount of assistance needed. You cannot discuss pensions without discussingthe retirement age. No EU member statewants to allow voters outside its bordersto have a say in its budgetary issues and definitely not thecountries that are particularly vocalin asking for assistance.

Politiciansbehind the recovery deal know they can't convey a message of thisstate financing by the bloc being business as usual.They're emphasizing thatit's not about "bad old debts"but "good new debts."That's why future projects aimed at strengthening Europeare being clearly specified.

Of course, no one is thinking of repeating theso-called ghost airports in Spain thatwere built with EU money. But who willguaranteethat things will turn out better this time around? After all, more money needs to be spent in less time.EU citizens are aware of where things might go wrong. Bulgarians,who have been taking to the streets to protest government corruption,fear the injection of money from Brussels will again disappear into shady channels.

In Sofia, Bulgarians have demonstrated against government corruption over the past weeks

At some point, the younger generation will have to pay for this rapid flow of money from Brussels. Greek sociologist Michael Kelpanides evaluatedthis generation's European identity. He undertook the elaborate study where there should beparticularly strongunderstandingfor the needs of others: at the European School in Luxembourg, the oldest such institution on the continent.

His sobering conclusion: "Thecoming together of very heterogeneous national groups, whichpreviously had only superficial knowledge of one other, makes them aware for the first time of just how different they really are. Andthis understanding can lead toconscious detachment instead of cohesion."

Kelpanides' study is only one piece of the puzzle, butit shows that those who believe in the idea of European integration should not asktoo much of its citizens.

EU leaders reached an agreement on a coronavirus recovery plan after record-breaking talks

Now that the die has beencast, the EU should direct money to areas where Europeans will really need more communal strength in the future.Common European defense is one example, butit wasn't given much thought during the recovery plan negotiations,with only 7 billion out of the total 750 billion ($8 billion out of $874 billion)earmarked for thispurpose.

The EU could also carry on with the most beautiful symbol of European solidarity that it displayed during the coronavirus crisis. Several EU countries, plus Switzerland, took in seriously ill COVID-19 patients from overcrowded hospitals in northern Italy and eastern France.

A European register of intensive care beds and the promise that in times of crisis, all EU countries will unbureaucratically help one other out with health care services, hospitalbeds, medication and mask stocks now that would be a historicsign.And asign for which it would not be necessary to put up billboards saying: Financed with funding from the European Union.

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Opinion: EU coronavirus deal is the wrong answer for Europe - DW (English)

Sir Hilary Beckles

In an effort to deepen ties between the Caribbean and Europe and help The UWI protect the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the European Union (EU), a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and the European University Institute (EUI), is expected.

The agreement, which was signed virtually on July 14, 2020, includes the establishment of a research center. It was signed by Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of The UWI and Professor Renaud Dehousse, President of the EUI.

That center will help to promote inter-regional and intra-regional development and encourage discourse on how transnational and global issues impact the Caribbean Region and Europe.

After a year of negotiations, the EUI agreed to host a joint UWI-EU center. It will be anchored in Florence, Italy and will provide services to our foreign service community, business groups, advocacy leaders in issues such as public health, climate change, economics equity for small island nations, Vice-Chancellor Beckles explained.

The UWI and EUI partnership foresees collaboration in areas of studies and research common to both institutions. Areas of focus will include sustainable development, multilateral trade, gender equality, security, environment and climate change, migration, energy, regional integration processes, and transnational governance.

Last year, Vice-Chancellor Beckles began to pursue a strategy to position The UWI in the EU as a strategic response to Brexit.

He noted that The UWI had to step up to create academic research and business advisory hub in the EU.

He felt the region needed greater policy support within the EU, as the EU downgraded the regions finance sector, and responded poorly to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

Beckles referred to the relationship between Europe and the Caribbean over 500 years as one of the most intense historical experiences between two parts of the world and the basis of modernity as we know it.

He said, It is a relationship that has to be sustained within the context of its positive contributions, mutually to Europe and to the Caribbean and of course to the wider world. So, it is perfectly normal therefore that universities ought to be coming together within this context to sustain the benefits and to provide a vision for the future of this relationship.

Noting that joint activities by universities are very significant in effective achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Beckles said that The UWI, for example, has been selected by the International Association of Universities to provide global advocacy around some of these sustainable goals, in particular, goal #13 which focuses on climate-smart issues.

Work has begun on the implementation of the MOU at both The UWI and the EUI.

Professor Dehousse said that given The UWIs excellent reputation, the partnership is a kind of bridgehead in the broader Caribbean and Latin American world and represents an opening towards a region of the world in which we are still developing contacts. He added that Europes problems today are no longer confined to what is going on within its borders, and it is absolutely indispensable for us to open up towards other regions of the world, as well as to other kinds of actors.

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UWI to protect CARICOM in the European Union | New York Carib News - NYCaribNews

The future of Europe depends on climate action. This is the resounding message that young Europeans have delivered to their leaders over the past two years. To be sure, the wave of young climate activists across the continent, from Fridays for Future to Extinction Rebellion, is part of a global response to the climate crisis. But for the EU in particular, it is also a warning from a new generation of Europeans to their leaders: our European identity hinges on your climate policies.

For our parents generation, the European Union defined itself as a protector of peace, a fortress against fascism and a society of (relative) social security. For our generation we are in our mid-20s this narrative does not resonate. We came of age in a Europe of crises: a financial collapse, a panic over migration, a surge of populism. These formative moments gave the lie to the notion of a united European identity. To many of us, the EU appeared less a project of democracy, diversity or solidarity than one of bureaucracy, xenophobia and fracture. What is more, Europes responses to these crises were hardly material for a new common narrative. Just the opposite: the responses were the crises.

But the climate crisis is different. For one, young Europeans see it not just as a threat, but also a genuine opportunity to build a better world (and a better Europe). An Eupinions poll last year found that 47% of 16- to 25-year-olds believe the environment should be the EUs top policy priority, nearly 10% more than those in older age groups. Poll after poll including one conducted by our Europes Stories research team, earlier this year finds young Europeans overwhelmingly supportive of eliminating the EUs carbon emissions by 2030.

EU leaders, mired in years of failed top-down projects to find a new narrative for Europe, have finally taken note. In December 2019, Ursula von der Leyens European commission made headlines with its European Green Deal, which aims to turn Europe into the worlds first carbon neutral continent by 2050. While finally bringing its fossil-fuel exit underway, Germany declared climate change one of the key policy priorities for its current council presidency. And European leaders have just negotiated the conditions of a recovery plan, earmarking 30% of both the EU budget and the new recovery fund for climate protection.

Yet so far, Europe has failed to match deeds to words. Negotiations about target dates for carbon neutrality across the continent have been sluggish. Worse, carbon neutrality has itself come to serve as a cover for outsourcing emissions to developing countries and investing in alternative fuels, such as biomass, that sound green but are really anything but. And despite all the talk, from the outset, the commissions recovery strategy was set to prop up high-carbon industries once again. Consider one particularly egregious example: airline bailouts. Rescue packages for Lufthansa, Air France and their fellow crisis-hit airlines, amounting to 34.4bn, all came without binding environmental conditions. In the latest budget deal, the safeguards used to guarantee that funds go to green technologies instead of polluting industries remain unclear. In this light, the EUs grand declarations of climate action could still amount to greenwashing, pure and simple a narrative without substance.

Hollow narratives cannot endure; they undermine themselves. If EU leaders and national governments continue to soft-pedal and greenwash, they will forfeit the already fragile faith of our generation.

This loss of faith has already begun: our generation has not failed to notice the discrepancy between EU leaders exemplary commitment to climate action on paper and their delays and obfuscations in practice. Our polling for Europes Stories suggests that just over half of young Europeans think authoritarian states are better equipped to tackle the climate crisis than democracies a worrisome but perhaps unsurprising trend that speaks to how urgently young Europeans want climate action, and to the failure of European democracies to meet the moment.

There is a better way forward. And, with governments opening their coffers to save their economies, its now or never. Here are a few specific proposals. Instead of asking for minimal (or no) climate commitments from failing airlines and auto manufacturers, the EU could institute a ban on short-haul flights a policy that 62% of Europeans support and accelerate the switch to electric vehicles. Instead of bowing to polluting industries on the sly, the EU could exclude emissions-intensive industries and practices, such as the fossil-fuel industry, chemical manufacturers or motorway expansions, from receiving recovery funds no exceptions and channel that money into a green public works programme. Instead of sticking with the loophole-ridden target of carbon neutrality by 2050, the EU could set a more appropriately ambitious target that includes strict trade regulations that pressure other emissions giants such as China and the US to speed up their own energy transitions. Oh, and stop cosying up to fossil-fuel lobbyists.

These measures would set Europe on a path to a just transition: from the third-largest polluter in the world to a genuine climate leader. They would also help to craft a new and durable European identity for a new generation of Europeans. It is up to Europes leaders to recognise, before it is too late, that the latter cannot succeed without the former. To save Europe, they will have to save the planet.

Daniel Judt, Reja Wyss and Antonia Zimmermann are graduate students and members of the Europes Stories project team at Oxford University

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To save the EU, its leaders must first focus on saving the planet - The Guardian

On 24 July 2020, the governments of France and Spain agreed with Airbus SE to modify the terms of the Repayable Launch Investment granted by them for development of the A350 aircraft to reflect market conditions. Therefore, the European Union and the Members States concerned are now in full compliance with the rulings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the Airbus case.

In 2018 the WTO Appellate Body found that the Union and its Member States had not fully complied with the previous WTO rulings with regard to Repayable Launch Investment for the A350 and A380 programs. Hence, the WTO allowed the United States to take countermeasures against European exports worth up to 7.5 billion dollars. Airbus took action concerning the other challenged measures earlier and Frances and Spains agreement with the company address the last remaining measures condemned by the WTO.

The achievement removes any grounds for the United States to maintain its countermeasures on the Unions exports. However, if the United States opts to maintain its duties on European exports or decides to increase tariffs or apply them to new products, the Union will act to exercise its own sanction rights, based on the relevant WTO authorizations, as soon as the level of countermeasures is established by the WTO in the Boeing case.

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Aviation. The European Union and involved Member States take action to ensure full compliance in the WTO Airbus dispute - Lexology