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On 8 June, the Council adopted the decision establishing of the military planning and conduct capability (MPCC) within the EU military staff (EUMS). The terms of reference of the EUMS, which is part of the EEAS, have also been amended and approved.

"The establishment of the MPCC is a very important operational decision to strengthen European defence. It will contribute to make the non-executive European missions more effective and to improve the training of soldiers of partner countries, to guarantee peace and security. This is important not just for our partners, but also for the European Union's security", said the High Representative Federica Mogherini.

The MPCC will assume command of EU non-executive military missions, currently: EU Training Mission (EUTM) Somalia, EUTM Rpublique Centrale Africaine (RCA) and EUTM Mali. The MPCC will be the static, out-of-area command and control structure at the military strategic level, responsible for the operational planning and conduct of non-executive missions, including the building up, launching, sustaining and recovery of European Union forces. This will allow the mission staff in the field to concentrate on the specific activities of their mission, withbetter support provided from Brussels.

The MPCC improves the crisis management structures of the EU. It will work under thepolitical control and strategic guidanceof the Political and Security Committee (PSC), which is composed of EU member states' ambassadors and is based in Brussels.

The MPCC will be composed initially of up to 25 staff but will also benefit from the support of other departments of the EUMS. The Director General of the EU Military Staff will also be the director of the MPCC. He will exercise command and control over the current three training missions and other possible future non-executive military missions. He will also exercise the responsibilities related to deployment and recovery of the missions as well as overall budgeting, auditing and reporting.

The MPCC will work closely with its existing civilian counterpart, the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) through a joint support coordination cell. This cell will be able to share expertise, knowledge and best practices on issues relevant to both military and civilian missions, as well as capabilities when civilian and military missions are simultaneously deployed in the same area, including medical support or protective measures.

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EU defence cooperation: Council establishes a Military Planning ... - EU News

The jointly developed strategy, in the form of a Joint Statement, was signed today during the annual two-day European Development Days by the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, the Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat, on behalf of the Council and Member States, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and the High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini.

The new European Consensus on Development constitutes a comprehensive common framework for European development cooperation. For the first time, it applies in its entirety to all European Union Institutions and all Member States, which commit to work more closely together.

The new Consensus strongly reaffirms that poverty eradication remains the primary objective of European development policy. It fully integrates the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. In doing so, it aligns European development action with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which is also a cross-cutting dimension for the EU Global Strategy.

European leaders committed to three areas:

Background

Europe is a global leader in development, being the world's biggest provider of Official Development Assistance. The new European Consensus on Development was agreed jointly by all European Institutions and all EU Member States in an open and transparent manner, also in consultation with other partners. It is the EU's response to today's global trends and challenges, aligning EU external action to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The 2030 Agenda was adopted by the international community in September 2015, and includes at its core the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and associated targets, which run to 2030. Along with the other international summits and conferences held in 2015 in Addis Ababa and in Paris, the international community has an ambitious new frame for all countries to work together on shared challenges. For the first time, the SDGs are universally applicable to all countries and the EU is committed to be a frontrunner in implementing them.

On 22 November 2016, the European Commission proposed its ideas for a strategic approach for achieving sustainable development in Europe and around the world, including a Commission proposal for a new Consensus. Since then the European Parliament, the Council under the Maltese Presidency, and the Commission have engaged in an intensive series of inter-institutional discussions aimed at agreeing to a new collective vision for development policy which responds to the 2030 Agenda and other global challenges.

Europe is a frontrunner when it comes to sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda, through external and other policies.

For more information:

New European Consensus on Development

A Joint Statement by the Council and the representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission: A new European Consensus on development: Our World, Our Dignity, Our Future

Factsheet - "Q&A: The new European Consensus on development"

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

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The new European Consensus on Development EU and Member States sign joint strategy to eradicate poverty - EU News

On June 7, AGBU Europe launched an appeal calling on the European Union and European aid organizations to engage with the population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) is a landlocked mountainous territory in the South Caucasus, home to 150,000 people. It is one of the several unrecognized states that emerged from the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the Republic of Azerbaijan claims sovereignty over NKR. It is one of the most impoverished areas in the periphery, reads the text of the petition on Change.org.

The inhabitants of this small unrecognized state have been under continuous threat of war and isolation for more than 20 years, which has caused considerable hardship. A blockade continues to impact the daily life of the people, who also suffer from the highest mine-related casualty rate in the world, it says.

The EU does not provide direct aid to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, in contrast to other territories under dispute, such as Northern Cyprus, Abkhazia or Transnistria, which have received substantial benefits from EU engagement and aid.

We call on all those who believe in Europe to sign onto this appeal. We stand ready to work with European institutions as well as with international NGOs to find ways to respond to the needs of the civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh, says Nadia Gortzounian, President of AGBU Europe.

Despite the isolation and economic hardship, Nagorno-Karabakh focuses on the development of democracy. It is making considerable efforts to improve institutions and strengthen civil society.

AGBU Europe has published a video and information package aimed at explaining the case for EU engagement in NKR.

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Petition urges European Union to provide aid to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh - Public Radio of Armenia

British Prime Minister Theresa May has probably scraped back into office despite winning no overall majority in Thursdays general election. But while the election was much harder than she had anticipated, that doesnt mean the big challenge isnt still to come: negotiating Brexit.

Negotiations are set to start in 10 days and getting them off the ground on time will be the first test. European Council President Donald Tusk has already written to May to remind her that the two-year deadline for negotiating the terms of Britains departure is already approaching. The timeframe set by Article 50 of the Treaty [the formal exit mechanism] leaves us with no time to lose, he wrote.

One way to delay this would be for Britain to withdraw its notification of its desire to leave, first delivered to Brussels in March, and then resubmit it later. But such a move would likely be seen by the British public as backsliding on Brexit and May will be keen to avoid it.

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Once negotiations begin, Mays slender majority will bring new challenges.

She is likely to be governing under some form of deal with the conservative Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), currently under discussion. Most likely, Mays Conservatives will form a minority government and rely on DUP support for votes.

The two combined have just 328 seats, two seats over the number needed for an absolute majority.

That will have implications for the shape of the Brexit deal itself. The DUP supported Brexit, but it pledged in its manifesto to push for a deal that allows a totally frictionless border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Thats the Conservatives stated aim as well, but that doesnt mean its achievable. And May might now struggle to get a deal that doesnt allow for this past parliament.

The DUP is also clear in its manifesto that it will pursue a comprehensive free trade and customs agreement with the European Union, and pledges businesses will not face additional costs. Again, this is similar to Conservative intentions, but thorny customs rules and a desire to end the free movement of people from the EU might make one or both hard to achieve.

May called the election because she felt that, with her old one-party working majority of 17, she did not have the strength to negotiate the best possible Brexit deal. Without any majority on her own, voters will have to raise the question of whether things could get even worse.

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Will the UK Leave the European Union? How the UK General Election Affect Brexit Talks - Newsweek

PRAGUE Europe's chief executive appealed to EU governments on Friday to forge a military alliance to defend the bloc and enhance its power abroad, warning that the United States was no longer prepared to do it for them.

Two days after unveiling a multi-billion euro plan to help fund European defense research, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said it was time to integrate militaries and defense industries, seizing on the strong backing from France's new president and Britain's decision to leave the bloc.

"I see the tide turning," Juncker told a conference in Prague, citing growing support in EU capitals for military cooperation, notably from French President Emmanuel Macron.

"The call I make today is not only in favor of a Europe of defense it is a call in defense of Europe," he said.

Although the European Union has more than a dozen military missions abroad, the world's biggest trading bloc has never been able to match its economic might with broad defensive power, preferring to rely on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Britain had long blocked EU defense integration, fearing a European army that would challenge national sovereignty. NATO broadly supports EU defense integration, as 22 EU states are members of the U.S.-led alliance.

Chiding the bloc for decades of failed attempts to work together on defense since the 1950s, Juncker said that even before the election of President Donald Trump, the United States considered it was paying too much for wealthy Europe's security.

With Trump, who has sharply criticized European states for not spending enough on defense and has refused to explicitly support NATO, the reality was more stark, he said.

"NATO can no longer be used as a convenient alibi to argue against greater European efforts," Juncker said. He said the United States is "no longer interested in guaranteeing Europe's security in our place."

The economically powerful EU has long been able to boast of a "soft power" with recent diplomatic successes including its role in brokering the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

But the EU's inability to help bring peace to Syria or significantly influence events abroad, from Turkey to the Middle East, meant that soft power was not enough, Juncker said.

"We have no other choice than to defend our own interests in the Middle East, in climate change, in our trade agreements."

EU leaders will discuss broad European defense plans, first put forward by France and Germany following Britain's EU referendum a year ago, at a summit on June 22-23 in Brussels.

France, Germany and Italy want ways to pay for common military missions abroad, to be able to use EU battlegroups for the first time and for industries to collaborate and develop weapons and helicopters that can be used by all EU armies.

EU states jealously protect their defense contractors, meaning the bloc has developed 178 different weapons systems, compared to 30 in the United States.

"Absurdly, there are more helicopter types then there are governments to buy them," Juncker said.

(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague and Gabriela Baczynska and Robin Emmott in Brussels)

BRASILIA Brazil's top electoral court dismissed a case on Friday that threatened to unseat President Michel Temer for alleged illegal campaign funding in the 2014 election, when he was the running mate of impeached President Dilma Rousseff.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON South Korea does not aim to change its agreement on the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system to protect against North Korea, in spite of a decision to delay its full installation, Seoul's top national security adviser said on Friday.

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Warning of US desertion, EU chief calls for European defense - Reuters