Academic Preparation Kit

Academic Preparation Kit

Amsterdam 2016

16th National Selection Conference of EYP the Netherlands

Table of Content

2

Word of Welcome

3

List of Topics

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Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)

6

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL)

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Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE)

18

Committee on Fisheries (PECH)

23

Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO)

29

Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs (ECON)

34

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE)

39

The Committee on Regional Development (REGI)

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Word of Welcome Dear delegates, Welcome to Amsterdam 2016, the 16th National Selection Conference of the European Youth Parliament the Netherlands. It is my honour and privilege to introduce the attached Academic Preparation Kit, on behalf of the Chairs, Organisers, and other officials involved in the putting together of the conference.

During your time with us in February, you will have the chance to debate and discuss topics during the time of the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The themes covered in the session have been designed in line with the presidency themes: A Union focused on Essentials, a Union focussed on Growth and Jobs, and a Union that Connects with its Citizens.

The Chairs’ team and Organising team have been working tirelessly over the past weeks to bring this kit together, researching and writing the overviews you will find inside to guide you through and excite you about the topics we will tackle together in Amsterdam.

This Kit is intended as a springboard for your research into the policy area you will discuss at the conference, and provide you with insight into each of the other areas we will deliberate as well. The documents are introductory and it is recommended you pursue further reading of your own accord after having read the Topic Overviews in this booklet. This reading will help you in preparation for the conference to form ideas and opinions around the topic of your choice.

I would like to wish you all the best of luck in your preparations for the conference, and look forward to meeting you all in February.

On behalf of the Chairs’ Team of Amsterdam 2016, Lucy Bradfield President of the Session

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List of Topics

ENVI

Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

With survey results from the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) showing an increase of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) across many hospitals rendering the number of cures to certain infections smaller, and the Action Plan against the rising threats from AMR coming to an end in 2016, what further steps should the EU take the minimise the threats associated with the current and growing prevalence of AMR and halt its future expansion?

EMPL

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Committee on Employment & Social Affairs : The development of technological advancements in the labour market, including global integration and digitalisation, has led to structural skill shortages and discrepancies in the EU’s workforce. What steps should the Union take to best cope with new skill demands and address the current discrepancies?

ITRE

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Despite the long-term goals of the EU Energy Security Strategy and the 2030 goals, for the foreseeable future Europe will continue to rely heavily on imported energy resources. How should the Union move towards a more selfsufficient future, while still considering developments such as the proposal to build a second Nord Stream pipeline?

PECH

Committee on Fisheries

The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) was established in 2014 in order to support the work and livelihoods of fishermen, yet with an ever-rising demand aquaculture accounts for over 20% of all fish consumed in Europe.

How should the EU develop aquafarming as a supplementary fishing source and boost economic gains in the sector whilst at the same time ensuring a sustainable fishing future in line with the Europe 2020 strategy goals?

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AFCO

Committee on Constitutional Affairs

In light of the struggle of many Member State to deal with the influx of migrants and refugees entering the European Union and the consequent breaking of conditions of both the Schengen Agreement and Dublin Regulations, how should the EU deal with these Member States and frameworks to cope with current numbers arriving on European soil?

ECON

Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs

Following the European Commission’s recent rulings concerning tax arrangements between both the Netherlands and Luxembourg with Starbucks and Fiat respectively, amounting to illegal state aid, how should the EU proceed in tackling aggressive tax planning practices by multinational companies beyond a case-by-case approach?

LIBE

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Following the Paris attacks and subsequent security crackdowns, calls for greater intelligence sharing in the fight against terrorism have been mounting. How should the EU respond to these calls and what measures can be taken to effectively prevent similar attacks from occurring?

REGI

Committee on Regional Development

With the European Environmental Agency 2015 report claiming about 430,000 European premature deaths occur annually from poor Air Quality in Europe, and results from the Commission Public Consultation on the Key Features of an EU Urban Agenda calling for a more streamlined and ambitious urban strategy, how can the EU best harness local knowledge and provide a framework which can be adopted to the needs of individual Member States and urban areas?

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Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) With survey results from the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) showing an increase of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) across many hospitals rendering the number of cures to certain infections smaller, and the Action Plan against the rising threats from AMR coming to an end in 2016, what further steps should the EU take the minimise the threats associated with the current and growing prevalence of AMR and halt its future expansion?

By Waltter Roslin (FI) and Laura Korn (NL)

Background Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a natural process. Resistance occurs when microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, which all cause infections become resilient to the medicine used to treat them. As such these microorganisms have adapted to thrive in the harmful circumstances they live in as part of the evolutionary process. 1 Although this is a natural phenomenon, years of careless and excessive usage of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine, as well as the food industry has sped up this process immensely. In agriculture and the food industry this happens mainly for the benefit of the finished products, regardless of the consequences. Circa 25,000 people die every year in Europe due to infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria.

This is not an exclusively European problem, but instead has a truly global character. Nonfunctioning antibiotics would result in the loss of many medical treatments such as organ transplantation and the treatment of HIV or cancer, and would lead to a skyrocketing lethality of diseases. Surgery to provide patients with new knees, hips, stents for strokes or pumps for diabetics would no longer be possible, to name just a few examples of what this post-antibiotic era would look like.

1

http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/aboutus/organisation/Director%20Speeches/1201_Director_speech_EU_ health_prize_journalists.pdf ECDC director’s presentation for the EAAD

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Measures have to be taken to safeguard our way of living and maintain the quality of life, the battlefront being both the research laboratory as well as the halls of the legislator.

Key questions: sȩ Why are societies overusing antibiotics on all three fronts identified (human and veterinary medicine, food production)? sȩ What type of risks does AMR pose to human health and animal welfare? sȩ Why has not there been any major development in modern antibiotic research in nearly 30 years?

Further reading: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/ - Factsheet of what AMR’s are (WHO) http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html - Explaination of AMR (CDC) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gfznWXsxcY - Informational video about AMR to patients and parents (CDC) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXlJbw4t2Ns - Informational video about AMR to healthcare professionals (CDC) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3oDpCb7VqI - TED talk about AMR and the world without antibiotics

Key conflicts The accelerated development of AMR is caused mainly by the mis- and/or overuse of antibiotics. There are three situations that can result in the risk of microorganisms becoming resilient to antibiotics. First, when antibiotics are prescribed without there being a need for them, second, when too many antibiotics are used at once, and third, when antibiotics are taken for a longer or shorter period of time than needs be. However, due to public health falling under the supportive competences2 of the EU, Member States have the power to make their own public health regulations without direct interference from the EU. The EU can only directly interfere when given a mandate from Member States; without such a mandate, the EU is left with the task to support and coordinate (willing) national legislators. In light of this the EU has currently focusses on altering attitudes of the public (such as raising awareness), rather than implementing legislation directly.

Nonetheless, the human health industry is just one part of issue. Antibiotics are also used by the agricultural sector, for instance within animal feed as a growth hormone, to prevent 2

“The EU can only intervene to support, coordinate or complement the action of Member States when it comes to public health. Consequently, it has no legislative power in these fields and may not interfere in the exercise of these competences reserved for Member States.” For Areas of Supportive competences see article 6 of the Treaty on the Functionings of the European Union (TFEU)

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diseases, and ultimately to increase the profitability of the herd. It is important to note that mostly animals are infected by the same microorganism as humans. Battling these crossspecies transmissions therefore and the regulation of medical treatment and nutrition of animals are of utmost importance.

Lastly a link should be drawn between two competing competences of the EU. Whilst, as earlier stated, public health remains an exclusive competence of the Member States, food safety is an exclusive competence of the EU. The latter provides the EU with a much more powerful way to combat AMRs. Conflicts arise when dealing with matters that could be considered as falling under both mandates, but such action has not yet been taken in dealing with AMR and the repercussions are therefore still widely unknown.

Key questions: sȩ What could be done to limit the element of the ¨human error¨ in prescribing medication without posing an overbearing ideal of perfection over the medical practitioners? sȩ Is there a conflict between the food industry aiming for higher quantity of production against a claim of health benefits? sȩ Can Member States voluntarily create the changes needed to combat AMR or is there a need of a stronger EU framework?

Further reading: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/eaad/Documents/antibiotic-resistance-spread-infographic.pdf - How does AMR spread - (ECDC) https://noharm-europe.org/articles/blog/europe/amr-under-microscope-once-more - AMR under the microscope - (Health Care Without Harm Europe) http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/eaad/Documents/antibiotics-consumption-EU-data-2014.pdf - Summary of antibiotic use in the EU (published in november 2014) (ECDC)

Stakeholders European doctors are responsible prescribing the right medicine and for not writing a prescription too soon for patients. European Citizens are then responsible for taking antibiotics for the right length of time and to self-medicate with care.

All Member States have the authority to handle their own public health regulations. Thus, the national laws regarding AMR are up to them. Nevertheless, the European Commission (EC), the executive body of the EU, ought to ensure adequate safeguards for the health of its citizens according to article 35 of the European Convention on Fundamental Rights3.

Next to this, it is important for the Farming industry to adapt their use of antibiotics so that the process of AMR will not be sped up any further.

3

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT&from=EN - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

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On a European scale, there are a few bodies involved in the development of AMR tracking this development. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) coordinates and funds two networks of surveillance: the European Antimicrobial Resistance Network (EARS-net) and the European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption Network (ESAC-net). The ECDC also works together with the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).

Together, the ECDC and the EFSA publish annual specific summary reports on the occurrence of AMR in both zoonotic4 and indicator bacteria5 from food-producing animals and foodstuffs in the EU. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) monitors and evaluates the risk to human and animal health due to AMR. The EMA also founded the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) project, which monitors the way antimicrobial medicine are used in animals across the EU. Key questions: sȩ How can the EC safeguard their citizens health without overstepping their competences? sȩ How could the European doctors and patients adjust their behaviour so that this does not increase AMR? sȩ How can it ben ensured that all the differing agents of the EU do not add unnecessary bureaucracy and cooperate when dealing with cross topic subjects?

Further reading: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_food-safety/amr/action_eu/index_en.htm - Action at a EU-level (EC) http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/activities/surveillance/EARS-Net/Pages/index.aspx - EARS-net: surveillance network funded and coordinated by the ECDC http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/activities/surveillance/ESAC-Net/Pages/index.asp - ESAC-net: surveillance network funded and coordinated by the ECDC http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/regulation/document_listing/document_listing_000302.jsp - ESVAC reports (EMA)

Existing Measures and Current Legislation Most notably, the EU Commission Action Plan Against Antimicrobial Resistance (20112016) underlines key issues that the EU needs to address on the subject of AMR, from the need to improve communication to calls for increasing research, proper use of antibiotics, prevention of diseases, as well as monitoring and surveillance. The EC’s progress report6 4 5

Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be transferred between animals and humans.

Indicator bacteria are used to detect illnesses. The indicator bacteria can detect certain pathogens and can therefore tell when an infection is present.

6 http://ec.europa.eu/health/antimicrobial_resistance/docs/2015_amr_progress_report_en.pdf - Pro-

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highlighted the importance of dealing with all fields relating to AMRs simultaneously, and also offered more general suggestions for policies rather than concrete steps to be taken by the national legislators. Perhaps the most groundbreaking achievement is the upcoming Regulation for a single coherent Animal Health Law directed at issuing clear systems on prevention of animal related diseases as well as their treatment7. The regulation has not yet been adopted, however both the Parliament and the Council have reached a political agreement over it on June 1st 2015.

As mentioned in the introduction, the EU’s current efforts have been primarily focused on shifting the public opinion for a more cautious use of antibiotics as well as raise awareness of the threat of AMR. Most action has been taken by promoting EU- and third party initiatives aimed at educating the public on the topic of AMR. The EU has also branded the 16th of November as the European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD), with 2015 being the 8th consecutive year of celebration.

In 2014 the World Health Organisation (WHO) adopted a Resolution that established a WHO Global Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance, collaborating with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to foresee and develop a global action plan under WHO leadership8. The EC offered its support to and actively cooperates with the WHO. Key questions: sȩ What form of action have individual Member States taken to combat AMRs? sȩ What measures can be taken building on the Action Plan and the One Health approach to reduce AMR? sȩ Whilst Raising Awareness is a commonly used practice within the Union, what are its limitations? sȩ Are more regulatory methods such as the upcoming Animal Health Law directive most optimal forms of Union action? Is there even a need for enhanced harmonisation?

Further reading: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20928 - The development and tools used for the EAAD and a review of the activities and achievements of the EAAD (Eurosurveillance) http://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/eu-action-plan-against-amr.html - Evaluation of the Action Plan, including the progress report by the EC (RAND) http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/131126.pdf - The One Health approach (EC)

gress report on the Action plan against the rising threats from Antimicrobial Resistance 7 http://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/docs/ah-regulation-qanda_ahl_porposal_062015_en.pdf - General Q&A on the Animal Health Laws 8 http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_R13-en.pdf - agenda of the WHO for AMR 2014

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Conclusion To prevent the coming of the post-antibiotic era, there is an urgent call for action. As methods of fully countering the process of growing AMR do not yet exist, the EU needs to do what it can to limit the speed of nature as well as have measures in place to monitor AMRs efficiently.

What is most problematic is how a wide range of fields are affected by AMR, such as agriculture, public health, food safety and consumer protection. By having a wide range of fields to cover, it also means that the EU has a variety of tools at its disposal. It is vital to find common grounds for action and bring more clarity to a complex situation.

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Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) Committee on Employment & Social Affairs : The development of technological advancements in the labour market, including global integration and digitalisation, has led to structural skill shortages and discrepancies in the EU’s workforce. What steps should the Union take to best cope with new skill demands and address the current discrepancies?

By Ali Amjad (UK) and Hidde Fokkema (NL)

Background “As technology evolves nearly every occupation now requires a basic level of digital literacy with web navigation, email access and participation in social media.”

- Michael K Powell, former chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission.

Since the turn of the century Europe has seen the transition of millions of jobs into the Information Communication & Technology (ICT) sector. It is forecasted that by the end of 2020, Europe will experience a shortfall of over 800,000 jobs in this sector. 1 At the same time as many as one third (32.8 %) of students in tertiary education studied social sciences, business or law in 20122. Europe is seeing a skill mismatch which in turn will result in limiting economic output. This mismatch is caused by a structural skill shortage. Different to a cyclical shortage, which can be caused by a rapid growth and tends to be overcome naturally, a structural shortage is caused when the demand for certain skills suddenly increases. Because technology is moving forward at such a pace even the large

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1

http://www.dataiq.co.uk/news/201504/skills-shortage-fears-spark-warning-800000-jobs-shortfall

2

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Tertiary_education_statistics

number of unemployed people in Europe currently cannot fill the vacancies3. It is also worth noting graduates with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) degrees often choose to work outside the ICT sector.

TIMES sector (Telecommunication, IT/Internet, Multimedia, Ecommerce, Software and Security)

Currently Europe has as many as one in three employees either over- or under-qualified for the roles they undertake4. Further adding fuel to the fire a steady flow of highly skilled workers leaving for elsewhere. Data has shown that between 1998 and 2013 over 61,000 workers per year have been granted permanent residency (green cards) in the United States alone5.

The current influx of refugees Europe is experiencing,the need for highly skilled workers remains unmet. With Europe’s aging population, it is not easy to retrain older generations and alternative solutions are needed. While current changes showcase a trend towards highly technical jobs, with a constantly changing market Europe will need to showcase adaptability to whatever environment may present itself.

Article outlining the benefits of digitalisation to the public sector. http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2014/may/29/public-sector-digitalby-default Senior Economist BeĂąat Bilbao explains how digitalisation can reunite Europe. http://www.euractiv.com/sections/infosociety/how-can-europe-bridge-its-digital-divide-301733 Report on the exploitation and development of the job potential in the cultural sector in the age of digitalisation by the European Commission. http://www.economix.org/pdf/cALL.pdf Using the European Social Fund to unlock the potential of the digital economy.

3 4 5 real/

http://skills.oecd.org/hotissues/skillsshortages.html http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%205571%202013%20ADD%209 http://bruegel.org/2015/09/eu-immigration-to-the-us-where-is-it-coming-from-and-is-brain-drain-

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http://www.eu2015lu.eu/en/agenda/2015/11/10-11-conf-digital/10-11-conf-digital-agenda.pdf

Key Conflicts The two prime areas of conflict in this topic can be broadly defined as education and the labour market.

With regards first to education, issues arise from a lack of interest in STEM degrees, as well as the fact that the current population are not technologically literate. Such lack of interest leads to fewer graduates with STEM degrees, and is also one of a number of reasons that the likes of China and India become hubs for multinational organisations operating in Europe. This is leading to many of these companies operating within Europe but not employing anyone inside the continent’s workforce.

While all this is happening Europe is also in the midst of a severe unemployment crisis. So while on one hand there are jobs which require skilled workers, there are also people who are in need of jobs. This is precisely the mismatch which needs to be resolved.

Zoltán Kazatsay, Deputy Director General for the European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, pointed out that by 2020, there will be over 800,000 job vacancies for ICT professionals, while the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel claims that in the near future, 90% of jobs will require some level of digital understanding6.

The constant stream of tertiary educated workers leaving the EU represents another uphill battle the EU faces in the field of employment. In particular the United Kingdom is suffering a severe brain drain where many are choosing life outside the EU for financial and lifestyle benefits.

Another cause for concern has been the decision of many skilled international migrants to choose areas other than the EU in which to settle. In 2014 the EU fell behind the US for the first time as top destination for skilled migrants workers.

Further causing problems is the difference in the rate of development of individual Member States’ ICT sectors and infrastructure. This digital divide needs to be carefully considered when implementing any kind of pan-European goal7.

Key questions: sȩ sȩ sȩ

How can the EU deal with the shortfall in Jobs?

Are there incentives the EU can offer to prevent a brain drain?

What level of impact does the different capabilities of Member States cause?

6 http://www.eu2015lu.eu/en/agenda/2015/11/10-11-conf-digital/10-11-conf-digital-agenda.pdf 7 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/content/how-can-europe-address-digital-skills-needs-allpeople-taking-account-different-entry-levels

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Further reading: Economist article suggesting changes in the job market may be afoot. http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21594264-previous-technological-innovationhas-always-delivered-more-long-run-employment-not-less Will the digitalisation of the labour market be our downfall? http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/515926/how-technology-is-destroyingjobs/ Highlighting the need to plan for the future through education. http://www.oecd.org/forum/oecdyearbook/we-must-teach-tomorrow-skills-today.htm

Stakeholders One of the biggest actors regarding this issue is the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs. This coalition was founded by the European Commission to help companies, education providers, and the public sector to attract young people into the ICT-sector and to retrain current workers by collaborating. It has already inspired national coalitions to arise, and many companies and NGO’s have already pledged to take concrete action with the help of the Grand Coalition.8 Additionally, the body which investigates and proposes policies to the EC is the Directorate-General Employment (DG EMPL). A DG is a subdivision of the commission with a single area of expertise. The DG EMPL is lead by Michel Servoz and is tasked with keeping track of globalisation, the ageing of the population, but has also done several studies on the digitalisation of the job market. 9 Also, as can be read further on, almost all actions carried out by the EC must be done with the coordination and approval of the Member States. This should be kept in mind when working on this topic considering different Member States will have different priorities or will need a different approach to solving these problems, meaning a one-size-fits-all policy cannot work.

Of course, another important group are current students. They deserve to receive an education which prepares them for the level expected by the labour market of today. This also means that currently unemployed workers should be able to retrain so they are able to fill in the vacant current positions.

Lastly the companies themselves will benefit from more skilled workers on the labour market. They are the ones that need to stay competitive and ensure they do not fall behind on the global market. Some companies have already set up plans to engage more students in ICT related fields. This has happened either with the help of the Grand Coalition or on the company’s own initiative.10 8 9 10

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/grand-coalition-digital-jobs-0#Article http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=656 http://www.brainport.nl/en/work/brainport-talentbox-for-worldwide-talents

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Key questions: sȩ sȩ

What should companies do on their own to get more skilled workers?

What is the best approach to give students the right skill set for today’s job market?

Further reading: A report on the formation of the Grand coalition http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-21668166 Companies explain why more engineers are needed http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/51dc6cca-c145-11e2-b93b-00144feab7de. html#axzz3vRy9oQnX

Existing Measures and Current Legislation New Skills for New Jobs The initiative ‘New Skills for New Jobs’ was launched in 2008 by the EC. This initiative is not aimed solely at technological jobs, but at a much broader range of fields. That does not mean that it is not relevant, however, since it has the following three aims: ȩȩ

sȩȩȩ0ROMOTEȩBETTERȩANTICIPATIONȩFORȩFUTUREȩSKILLS

sȩȩ Develop better matching between skills and the labour market, sȩȩȩBridge the gap between the worlds of education and work.

If the targets of this initiative are met a significant portion of the problem will be solved.11 Davos declaration The Davos declaration was brought into life at the beginning of 2014 when the EC brought many CEO’s from around the world together in order to create more support for the Grand Coalition. Again, this declaration has three main goals set out and they come down to this: to create more traineeships, to cooperate with other stakeholders to better the education of students and to raise awareness of the ICT sector.12 European Skills/Competences, qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) ESCO is a portal created by the EU for people to quickly and easily exchange their CV’s all across Europe. It achieves this by categorising skill, competences, qualifications and occupations and then translating them to every EU language. As of now, many people are benefitting from ESCO, namely jobseekers, employers and training institutions.13

11 12 13

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http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=822&langId=en http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-40_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1042

EU Competences It is also important for this topic to know how the competences of the EU work. The competences define how much action the EU can take, and where it has to collaborate with different Member States. The competences are divided in three different categories: Exclusive, Shared, and supporting. Our topic will focus on the following fields: Employment, social policies and education. The first two fall under a special kind of competence. 14 That is that the EU can only facilitate arrangements wherein different Member States must coordinate their policy. Education however falls under the last kind of competence, which means the EU can only coordinate, support or complement the actions of different Member States. 15 Further reading: The raspberry pi is a small computer, which is being used in schools to learn young students about technology http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Can-Raspberry-Pi-transform-the-sorry-state-ofIT-education A list of all the pledges that have been made with the help of the grand coalition http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/make-pledge A study into the Employment and Skills aspect of the Digital Single Market Strategy http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2015/569967/IPOL_ STU(2015)569967_EN.pdf

Conclusion While the issues related to the digitalisation of the labour market are relatively new, it is clear that the problems at hand have quickly grown large. With over 22.5 million people in the EU unemployed and a forthcoming shortfall of 800,000 jobs in the ICT sector there is need for action. WIth the EU incapable of forcing any Member State to adopt legislation it drafts due to competences, this causes difficulty with how to approach any potential solutions to these issues. The key question for Europe remains how to entice people to study STEM degrees as well as providing the required skills training to bring the labour workforce into the 21st century.

14 15

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3Aai0020 http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/competences/faq

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Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Despite the long-term goals of the EU Energy Security Strategy and the 2030 goals, for the foreseeable future Europe will continue to rely heavily on imported energy resources. How should the Union move towards a more self-sufficient future, while still considering developments such as the proposal to build a second Nord Stream pipeline?

By Elza Linda Purvinska (LV) and Titus Verster (NL)

Background Energy security: the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price while respecting environmental concerns. Short-term energy security focuses on the ability of the energy system to react promptly to sudden changes in the supply-demand balance, while long-term energy security is linked to timely investments in energy supply and largescale infrastructure.

The EU imports more than half of all the energy it consumes. Its import dependency is especially high for crude oil - more than 90%, and natural gas - 66%. The total import bill is more than â‚Ź1 billion per day.1 Several Member States heavily rely on a single supplier, including many who entirely rely on Russia for their natural gas. This could potentially put them in a vulnerable position should supply be disrupted through political or commercial disputes, or infrastructural failure.

In order to move a step closer to self-sufficiency, competitiveness and a sustainable energy system, Member States have agreed on a new 2030 Framework for climate and energy, including EU-wide targets and policy objectives for the 2020-2030 period.2 This Framework will aid in meeting the EU’s long-term 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets.3 1 2 3

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http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-strategy/energy-security-strategy http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-strategy/2030-energy-strategy http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/strategies/2050/index_en.htm

The short-term measures for winter 2014/2015 addressed by the Energy Security Strategy were executed by the European Commission and included so-called ‘energy security stress tests’ which were carried out by numerous European countries including all EU Member States who simulated energy supply disruptions over a period of one or six months. The test showed that prolonged energy supply disruption would have substantial impact on the EU, highlighting the difficulties that Eastern European and Energy Community countries would face, and also proposed possible short-term solutions.

Key questions: sȩ How could the EU become more self-reliant with its energy? sȩ Are the current frameworks in place effective enough? sȩ Are short-term actions combined with long-term actions what the EU needs or does the EU need to focus on only short-term or only long-term actions?

Further reading: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Energy_production_and_imports http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/living-without-russian-gas/4305 http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/occasional_paper/2013/pdf/ocp145_ en.pdf

Key conflicts Europe has spearheaded the drive to change from a system of power stations burning fossil fuels to one in which a significant proportion of electricity comes from non-polluting sources. However, investment in fossil fuels is still preferred over investment in renewable energy as the profit is immediate rather than long-term. Wind, solar, biomass and waste-topower, geothermal, small hydro, and marine power only contributed an estimated 9.1%4 of world electricity generation in 2014.

Between 2006-2010, 54%5 of energy consumed in the EU- 27 was imported. This dependence on imports varied between 53% and 55% between 2006 and 2010, but was substantially higher than a decade earlier (45% in 1999). This was due to a large reduction in EU production of primary energy, especially of oil and hard coal, which was not matched by the increased production of renewable energy.

Another of the key issues is that the dependance rate varies between Member States.

Malta, Cyprus and Luxemburg are almost fully dependent on imported energy - 97-100%, followed by Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain with import dependence ratios between 80% and 90%.

On the other hand, Denmark produced 24% more energy than it used, however, the United 4 5

http://fs-unep-centre.org/publications/global-trends-renewable-energy-investment-2015 http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/occasional_paper/2013/pdf/ocp145_en.pdf

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Kingdom, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania had import dependence ratios between 20 and 30%. These countries have substantial domestic production of oil, gas or solid fuels. Yet high import dependency becomes more problematic when it is associated with low levels of diversification, by country of origin and/or by energy source. All things being equal, the more diversified energy import sources are, the less vulnerable a Member State is to a single country’s decisions and potential problems.

Key questions: sȩ sȩ

Could the view on investment be changed? Why? Why are investors focusing on short-term gain rather than long-term gain?

Further reading: http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2012/07/10/how-can-europe-ensure-energy-security/#.

VnvfuleUMZU http://fs-unep-centre.org/publications/global-trends-renewable-energy-investment-2015

Stakeholders Citizens of the EU - should the energy market malfunction, the European citizen is going to be impacted directly. Citizens have the freedom to vote in governmental elections, but do not hold much power over their energy sources; The Energy Community6 - is an international organisation which operates as a creation under its founding treaty. It aims to extend the EU internal energy market to South East Europe; European Commission (EC) - This is the executive power of the EU. It is the institution responsible for formulating energy frameworks, energy union, and more. Energy is a shared competence7, which means that the EU and the Member State are authorised to adopt binding acts in these fields. However, Member States may exercise their competence only in so far as the EU has not exercised, or has decided not to exercise, its own competence; Energy companies/providers - are affected by the slowly rising popularity of renewable energy. They can amend charges put to consumers thus making fossil fuels more affordable than renewable energy; Energy importers - one of the major stakeholders which dictates the dependence of the European Union; Member States - the Union as a whole is impacted by energy supply and demand due to not being able to provide enough energy itself and relying heavily on import;

6 https://www.energy-community.org/portal/page/portal/ENC_HOME/ENERGY_COMMUNITY/Who_ are_we 7 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV%3Aai0020

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Investors - they express their interest in investing in fossil fuels and oil as it is a short-term wiser decision rather than investing in renewable energy for long-term gain; Non-EU oil exporting countries - will be affected if renewable energy becomes highly demanded. They could seek other export options, however it is highly unlikely that those will arise; Nord Stream - a stakeholder that sets a working and implemented example of a shared energy market. Operates on its own terms under the Member States’ legislation.

Key questions: sȩ sȩ

How can the EU provide balance between the interests of named stakeholders?

Should more stakeholders be added to the ongoing debates and actions?

Further reading: https://www.nord-stream.com/the-project/pipeline/ https://www.energy-community.org/portal/page/portal/ENC_HOME/ENERGY_COMMUNITY/Who_are_we

Existing Measures and Current Legislation One of the 10 priorities of the EC is the Energy Unions And Climate8 which aim to make energy more secure, affordable, and sustainable. A European Energy Union will ensure that Europe has climate-friendly energy while fighting climate change by diversifying Europe’s sources of energy, creating a fully-integrated internal energy market, consuming less in order to reduce pollution and renewing the EU Emissions Trading System9.

The Energy Security Strategy’s long-term strategy addresses supply challenges. It proposed actions in five key areas: increasing energy efficiency and production, completing the internal energy market, speaking with one voice in external energy policy, and strengthening emergency and solidarity mechanisms.

Targets for 2030 set by the EC are a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels, at least a 27% share of renewable energy consumption, and at least 27% energy savings compared with the business-as-usual scenario. To meet said targets, the EC has proposed numerous notable solutions.10 The current project initiated by Nord Stream AG has built a twin pipeline that is a direct connection between the vast gas reserves in Russia and energy markets in the European Union. As the project strengthens the EU energy market and reinforces security of supply, the project has been designated as being of “European interest” by the European Parliament and Council.

On 12 December 2015 the 195 participating countries of the COP21 Paris Agreement 8 9 10

http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/energy-union/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-strategy/2030-energy-strategy

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conference agreed by consensus to the latest global pact, the Paris Agreement, to reduce emissions as part of the method for reducing greenhouse gas with the goals outlined in a 12-page document11 which will become legally binding if joined by at least 55 countries which together represent at least 55 percent of global greenhouse emissions.

Key questions: sȩ Are the current measures in place effective enough for the EU? sȩ What more could or should be done to move towards a more self-sufficient future? sȩ Is the focus of the EU in the right place regarding energy consumption and allocation?

Further reading: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-strategy/energy-security-strategy http://europa.eu/!jW73Ry http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-strategy/2030-energy-strategy http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/energy-union/state-energy-union/index_en.htm

Conclusion The energy security stress tests have shown that a prolonged disruption of energy supply would have a substantial impact on the EU. This clearly shows that the EU needs to work towards more self-sufficient and sustainable means of accessing and/or generating energy.

Despite this, fossil fuels are still far more widely used in most EU Member States, and are often imported from non-EU countries. This results in the supply of energy being heavily reliant on factors that are not within the EU’s control. The EU’s Energy Security Strategy and the Paris Agreement are already steps on the way towards energy self-sufficiency, but much more needs to be done.

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http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf

Committee on Fisheries (PECH) The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) was established in 2014 in order to support the work and livelihoods of fishermen, yet with an ever-rising demand aquaculture accounts for over 20% of all fish consumed in Europe.

How should the EU develop aquafarming as a supplementary fishing source and boost economic gains in the sector whilst at the same time ensuring a sustainable fishing future in line with the Europe 2020 strategy goals?

By John McGuinness (IE) and Francisca Somann (NL)

Background Over the past hundred years, wild fish stocks have been in sharp and constant decline.

Rising demand from an ever-growing world population coupled with rapid advances in fishing technology and methods have pushed the our global fish stocks to the brink. For instance, one study shows that average fishing yields in the UK, adjusted for technological advancement, have declined by over 94% over the past 118 years.1 Essentially this means that an average fishermen is catching 94% less fish on any given day that their late 19th century counterparts. While this may seem like an extraordinarily long time, advancements in fishing technology only advance the speed at which we deplete our most valuable fishing stocks.

With this in mind, many are desperately looking for more sustainable fishing methods and a large contingent of scientists involved in conservation feel that answer may lie in aquaculture.2 The practice has many obvious advantages from a conservation perspective but is not perfect yet; it shows disadvantages as well.

The current crisis in fish stocks makes aquaculture seem like an obvious solution and may leave citizens pondering why more isn’t being done to support the process. The issue 1 http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v1/n2/full/ncomms1013.html 2 Aquaculture is the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/what_is_aquaculture.html

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here is that many coastal towns across Europe are totally reliant on the fishing industry to support themselves and attempts to pivot away from the traditional fishing industry would bring serious harm to these communities. Coastal communities can have a culture that is based on fishing and without fish stocks their income would decline.

Transitioning to a more sustainable way of fishing would be very expensive, and moreover, they do not have enough knowledge about preservation to change methods independently. As such, many Member States find themselves wanting to support the aquaculture industry but are unable to do so without bringing serious harm to many of their coastal communities.

Further reading: Article on the role of aquaculture in alleviating strain on wild fish sources http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/aquaculture-replace-fish-stocks/ Article on effect of aquaculture http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v405/n6790/full/4051017a0.html The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations about discards of marine catch http://www.fao.org/focus/e/fisheries/discard.htm

Key Conflicts Fishing is a profitable industry and in some countries accounts for a big part of their economy. Usually, fish stocks have a high, but not unlimited, reproductive capacity. But when exploited, fish stocks may collapse. In 2009, the European Commission (EC) estimated that 88% of monitored marine fish stocks were overfished. Several fish are threatened by extinction, which causes ecosystems to derange or demolish.

Aquaculture has grown in the EU for the last couple of decades and is viewed as the environmentally friendly alternative to keep fish on the market. This is because it does not rely on existing fish stocks but instead rears their own, as such there is no risk of endangering the desired fish. It also avoids the extensive pollution caused by the operation of large fishing vessels.

However, critics doubt this alternative as these farms can negatively affect the ecosystems they are located in and carnivorous species of fish require large inputs of wild fish for feed, which still causes the exploitation of fish natural stocks. The biggest problem with aquaculture is that fishing communities and a lot of people employed in the fishing industry cannot compete with the cheaper fish that comes from the aquafarms. Therefore, the development of aquaculture has stagnated in the EU, in contrast with the rest of the world.3 Moreover, the revision of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which came into effect on the 1st of January 2014, mandates the fishing industry to fish more sustainably, but as many 3 Fact sheet about European aquaculture: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu. html?ftuId=FTU_5.3.7.html

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fishing communities are based on traditional ways of fishing and their income is already declining due to the competition of aquaculture and European quotas and TCA’s, this is a difficult transition. The EU tries to facilitate this development with funds like the EMFF, which was set up to aid the transition for fishermen to more sustainable fishing methods and diversify the economies of communities heavily reliant on the fishing industry. However, set goals towards sustainable fishing were not met, hence some sanctions related to discarding fish have been delayed.4 Key questions: sȩ What is the most sustainable way of producing fish and how can we ensure fish stocks for later generations? sȩ How can the EU develop and support this way without removing the source of income of fishing communities?

Further reading: European Commission, managing fisheries http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/index_en.htm The guardian, opinionated piece on the reform of CFP http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/17/new-eu-legislation-protect-fishstocks-quotas Euractiv, EC’s support of aquaculture ineffective http://www.euractiv.com/sections/agriculture-food/commissions-support-aquaculture-ineffective-say-eu-auditors-308683 Discard ban and about the waste of fish http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20150424IPR45725/Fish-discardban-MEPs-delay-sanctions

Stakeholders EU member states benefit from the income of fishermen; it can stimulate the economy of the country, even more so when Member States’ borders are near a sea. However, when overexploited fish stocks may collapse or fishing may cease to be economically viable.

Fishing/coastal communities rely entirely on fishing stocks. They fish on either small or larger scale and are affected by the scarcity of certain species. As aquafarming is a cheaper, the fish that is put on the market by those means is also cheaper, which renders the more expensive fish of the fishing communities less attractive. As a result, especially when combined with set quotas and Total Allowable Catches (TAC), their income has decreased drastically. Fishing communities mostly rely on traditional fishing methods which renders the transition towards sustainable fishing to meet the goals of the CFP slow and difficult.

4 European Parliament, sanctions delayed: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20150424IPR45725/Fish-discard-ban-MEPs-delay-sanctions

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The European Commission (EC) creates and proposes EU policy and funding relating to fishing and aquaculture. The EC set goals for Europe 2020 and has to bear in mind that when a common policy on fishing is not reached or maintained this can have disastrous impacts on the environment and will lead to further exploitation of sea stocks. Another key area to bear in mind is the competencies the EU holds in the area. Fisheries policy is a shared competency, meaning Member States are free to legislate on this area in the absence of EU legislation, but once the EU does legislate in the field, that legislation takes precedence over the existing national one. However, conservation policy is an exclusive competency of the EU, meaning that only the EU can legislate in this area. In either case, the EU has extensive power to make changes within this area.

Key questions: sȩ How can the EU move forward with conservation policy without causing excessive harm to Member States’ economies? sȩ How can Member States be encouraged to prioritise long term sustainability ahead of short term economic gain? sȩ How can communities become less dependant on one industry and have multiple sources of income?

Further reading: The guardian, quotas and TAC’s still too mild for fish stocks to recover http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/16/cod-and-haddock-catches-toincrease-under-eu-fishing-quotas European Parliament, fisheries control and enforcement http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.3.3.html

Existing Measures and Current Legislation The Common Fisheries Policy is a set of rules governing European fishing fleets and conservation of European waters. It seeks to make fish a common resource and guarantee equal access for all Member State fleets to European waters. It also notes the serious issue of overfishing in the EU and attempted to tackle the issue by setting catch limits, making fishermen more selective in what they fish, phasing out the practice of discarding unwanted fish and setting fishing practice standards such as minimum mesh size.5 Technical issues such as mesh size are quite varied depending on regional conditions and species of fish being caught. Originally enacted in 1971 and heavily revised in 2014 to give more power to national and regional agencies, the CFP also attempts to address issues in the fishing market by harmonising standards across Member States and encouraging development of producer organisations to help plan market supply to adjust for demand. These organisations are given the freedom to remove fish from the market for storage to be returned to the market at a later date should the price fall too low and compensation awarded to the impacted fishermen.

5 Details of technical measures include in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) that vary depending on regional conditions. http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/technical_measures/index_en.htm

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The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) is the funding instrument of the CFP for 2014-2020. The EMFF co-finances projects along with national funding. Each country is appointed a share, based on the size of its fishing industry and is together with the EC responsible for the implementation of the funded programme. The fund helps fishermen in the transition to sustainable fishing, creates jobs and supports coastal communities in diversifying their economies. 6 Total Allowable Catches (TAC) are a function of the Common Fisheries policy which sets quotas on the amount of different fish species which can be caught in a given time frame.

Quotas are set based on the total available fish and a country’s traditional percentage.

Quotas are set each year by the Council of Ministers.

The Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) coordinates the different maritime sectors of the EU: fisheries and aquaculture, shipping and seaports, marine environment, marine research, offshore energy, shipbuilding and sea-related industries, maritime surveillance, maritime and coastal tourism, employment in the maritime sectors, development of coastal regions, and external relations in maritime affairs. As decisions in these sectors are intertwined, the IMP facilitates collaboration and focuses on issues that do not fall under a single sector such as economic growth or preservation of marine environment.

Key questions: sȩ Do the existing measures adequately address the issue? Or are further measures required? sȩ Can a sustainable fishing industry be achieved by revising and extending existing legislation or are new ideas required? sȩ Should further limitations be placed on the existing industry or more resources pushed into aquaculture? Or both?

Further reading: European Commission on the CFP http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/index_en.htm Factsheet about PO’s and the CMO working with CFP http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.3.5.html Factsheet about The Integrated Maritime Policy http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.3.8.html European Commission on the EMFF http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/emff/index_en.htm TACs and quotas http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/tacs/index_en.htm Brief look at EMFF 6 European Commission, the effects of the EMFF: https://ec.europa.eu/dgs/maritimeaffairs_fisheries/ magazine/en/places/sailing-towards-brighter-future-local-fishing-communities

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http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/emff/index_en.htm The Guardian, Fishermen will be subject to strict limits on their catch and ban on discarding fish will gradually come into force http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/23/eu-vote-curtail-fishing-subsidies

Conclusion Fisheries and the fishing industry are integral to the economies of numerous coastal communities across the EU. In addition they also constitute an incredibly pressing ecological issue facing our generation. The chance to create a sustainable future and balance short term damage caused to many in our efforts to alleviate the strain on wild fish stocks is current and real. Aquaculture poses one such solution to this issue, but carries its own long list of limitations. Moving forward in a sustainable and still profitable manner is the challenge for fisheries in the EU.

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Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) In light of the struggle of many Member State to deal with the influx of migrants and refugees entering the European Union and the consequent breaking of conditions of both the Schengen Agreement and Dublin Regulations, how should the EU deal with these Member States and frameworks to cope with current numbers arriving on European soil?

By Melissa Forss (FI) and Luc Vorsteveld (NL)

Background Due to several conflicts taking place in Africa and the Middle East, the EU is now the recipient of large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. This requires economic resources and the capacity of authorities and the society as a whole to ensure safety, equal treatment, and integration of refugees and asylum seekers. Nationalist and anti-immigration parties gaining popularity across Europe are often against common EU legislation, and the reception of refugees and asylum seekers themselves. Hungary, for example, decided to build a fence along the border with Serbia to physically prevent migrants from entering the country, and in doing so breaking the Schengen Agreement of which they are a part. Cultural issues, religion and safety concerns are often at the heart of the anti-immigration debate.

Consequently, some Member States have contravened existing legislation and measures and put in place anti-immigration policies that are against humanitarian law and agreements of the EU.1 Safety and integration of refugees and asylum seekers is both a constitutional and a humanitarian matter, but also economic, as there are short term costs but most importantly great benefits in the long-run.

1 http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21679855-xenophobic-parties-have-long-been-ostracised-mainstream-politicians-may-no-longer-be

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Key Conflicts The European Union has recently received refugees and asylum seekers in numbers not seen since the Second World War. Refugees and asylum seekers are arriving for instance from Syria, which is going through a violent civil war, and from several conflict and war ridden countries in Africa and Middle East. From Syria alone, 4 million people have fled, 95% of whom have found refuge in the neighbouring countries: Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. The Arab States, such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, have not accepted any refugees arriving from Syria.

Refugees and asylum seekers from Africa and Syria arrive to the EU mainly on unsafe and overcrowded boats across the Mediterranean Sea and face inhuman treatment and conditions. In addition, refugees and asylum seekers pay large sums of money for their services and are often blackmailed whilst suffering from inhuman conditions during the journey.

Several overcrowded boats have sunk in 2015 alone. Local populations and FRONTEX have often been the only ones to help survivors. Some operations in cooperation with Member States and the European Commission, such as Mare Nostrum, have helped asylum seekers to reach Europe more safely.

Member States treat refugees and asylum seekers differently and some are more eager to accommodate them than others. Member States have differences in terms of social security, employment, cultural and political conditions. While quotas are often suggested as a method of equally distributing migrants, but some are unwilling from different reasons to compromise and establish a system based on fair division. Some of the “most desirable” countries are currently Germany, that has openly invited asylum seekers, the UK and the Nordic nations.

Key questions: sȩ How could the EU ensure equal treatment of both refugees and asylum seekers throughout the EU and guarantee their fair integration to the society (e.g. housing, education and jobs)? sȩ How should the EU guarantee safety of refugees and asylum seekers during their journey to the EU? sȩ Should the Member States have freedom in terms of the process and number of accepted refugees and asylum seekers as well as concerning higher security measures in light of the recent terrorist attacks?

Further reading: The Week: The Rise of Europe’s Far Right http://theweek.com/articles/576490/rise-europes-far-right The World Bank: Refugee population by country or territory of origin http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SM.POP.REFG.OR?order=wbapi_data_ value_2014+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=desc

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Stakeholders The European Union sets laws, directives, objectives and guidelines bound by international law and international humanitarian law. However, the decisions and their binding force are dependent on the approval of the Member States. The European Commission has taken an active role in guaranteeing security of refugees and exiles also through operations such as Operation Mare Nostrum originally started by the Italian government. The EU can provide most of all significant financial support and material assistance, but requires the Member State(s) to take an active role.

Many Member States and citizens believe refugees and asylum seekers are a burden on their economic power, employment, safety and culture. These are often the result of many different objections put forward by Member States. Although the general view on refugees and asylum seekers is rather negative, the largest Member State, Germany, has accepted the most refugees and asylum seekers last year. There is no consensus or clear cut system on number and destinations of asylum seekers.

The border of the EU are patrolled and guarded by FRONTEX2, a body of the EU which has the task of patrolling the outer Schengen border. It is often the first EU agency with which refugees and asylum seekers come in contact, in the Member States or still on the Mediterranean Sea. The people most affected are the refugees3 and asylum seekers4, who are vulnerable and in a state of great distress when they flee their countries and take days, sometimes weeks in order to reach Europe, often paying thousands of Euro’s to illegal smugglers.

Europol,5 the EU’s law enforcement agency is given the task of relocating asylum seekers that are not granted asylum in one of the Member States. The agency also shares the task of screening and interrogating possible human smugglers6 that attempt to illegally aid refugees to enter the EU. Key questions: sȩ How can the EU respect its humanitarian duty and deal with a large number of refugees?

Further reading: Amnesty: People on the Move https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/people-on-the-move/?page=4 The European Union: A Common European Asylum System Factsheet http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/docs/ceas-fact-sheets/ceas_factsheet_ 2 http://frontex.europa.eu/ 3 http://www.geneva-academy.ch/RULAC/international_refugee_law.php 4 http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c137.html 5 https://www.europol.europa.eu/ 6 https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2015/09/18/refugee-crisis-frontex-border-agency-budgetincrease-fingerprint-check-failings/

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en.pdf Global News: Reality check: Are refugees an economic burden http://globalnews.ca/news/2228972/reality-check-are-refugees-an-economic-burden/ Migrant crisis: Migration in Europe explained in graphics http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911 The UN Refugee Agency: Facts and Figures About the Refugees http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/key-facts-and-figures.html The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOnXh3NN9w

Existing Measures and Current Legislation The fact that refugees are to be given refugee status in the EU is established by the Geneva Convention7, a number of conventions, that have established the core of international humanitarian law, amongst others regulating armed conflicts and protecting people that do not take part in the fighting and those that can no longer fight. The Geneva Convention of 1951 states that refugees have the right to humane reception, when the country of origin is too dangerous to be sent back to.

The Common European Asylum System 8(CAES) is an umbrella for several legislative instruments: the Asylum Procedures Directive, Reception Conditions Directive, Qualification Directive, Dublin Regulation and EURODAC. Various legal acts which have been revised in order to guarantee the distribution and reception of refugees and asylum seekers in the Member States, while regulating the way in which the Member States have to process the requests for asylum. The Common European Asylum System is very much connected with the Geneva Convention, the former effectively implementing the Convention and both giving guidance to Member States in the various stadia of accommodating refugees.

In this context the Schengen Treaty and its implementing measures are also of great relevance as this instrument, effectively abolishing borders between most Member States, creates the necessity for a strong border regime and an all-encompassing EU framework.

In this connection, this Treaty for example makes it practically impossible for potential refugees to travel by air to the EU by imposing strict sanctions on airlines.

National Policies affect the ways in which the aforementioned measures are applied. Member States take decisions on how asylum seekers and refugees are treated in terms of ways of receiving and integrating them into society. However, in the face of the influx of refugees, Member States are no longer correctly implementing EU measures and using the CEAS instruments, which creates an unequal strain on the European-wide system and must be addressed.

Key Questions: 7 8

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http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49da0e466.html http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/docs/ceas-fact-sheets/ceas_factsheet_en.pdf

sČŠ What should the EU do to close loopholes in the Schengen Agreement and Dublin Regulations in view of refugees and asylum seekers while improving fairness, efficiency and effectiveness of the current system?

Further reading: European Council on Refugees and Exile: Dublin Regulation http://www.ecre.org/topics/areas-of-work/protection-in-europe/10-dublin-regulation.html Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights: International Refu gee Law http://www.geneva-academy.ch/RULAC/international_refugee_law.php COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2001/51/EC of 28 June 2001 supplementing the provisions of Article 26 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:187:0045:0046:EN:PDF The UN Refugee Agency: Asylum-Seekers http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c137.html The UN Refugee Agency: Refugees http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c125.html

Conclusion The EU faces a serious problem with refugees arriving to the EU in numbers not seen in decades. The current legislative framework is failing and shedding light on broader issues within European law as Member States openly disregard it. Not only is there a lack of sufficient measures, but the attitude of Member States and citizens towards refugees and asylum seekers is often rather negative. This is slowing down the process of finding viable solutions on an EU level.

Great misconceptions have occurred on the current measures, while at the same time some of the measures that are currently in place do not function effectively. The rights, stated in the Geneva Convention, of refugees and asylum seekers fleeing persecution or war are currently being violated. As the EU is bound to offering refuge to those qualifying on the basis of the Geneva Conventions, new and improved EU legislation is needed in order to accommodate their arrival in a humane and correct manner.

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Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs (ECON) Following the European Commission’s recent rulings concerning tax arrangements between both the Netherlands and Luxembourg with Starbucks and Fiat respectively, amounting to illegal state aid, how should the EU proceed in tackling aggressive tax planning practices by multinational companies beyond a case-by-case approach?

By Ilir Kola (AL) and Anja Todorović (RS)

Background Multinational corporations act and have subsidiaries in different countries. These subsidiaries are sometimes treated as separate companies, and are obliged to pay separate corporate taxes to the authorities of countries they are located in. However, tax rates (both corporate and other) vary greatly from one country to another and will therefore impact on the tax liability of a company. Additionally, international law regulating the multinational corporations is arguably outdated and does not address certain aspects of these corporations in their entirety (e.g. subsidiaries). This allows companies to use these “loopholes” as means of reducing taxable profits, while still operating within the limits of the law. These practices are defined as tax avoidance, or in its drastic form aggressive tax planning. Tax avoidance consists in base erosion and profit-shifting, and it is estimated to have cost Member States around EUR 160-190 billion.1 It is important to keep in mind that tax avoidance is legal, and should not be confused with tax evasion, which itself is illegal.

Typically, a multinational corporation which wishes to lower its corporation tax liability, and conducts most of its business in a higher-tax country, may avail of the lower-tax rates existing in a country in which they have a subsidiary. Then, they use transfer pricing2 practices 1 European Parliamentary Research Service: ‘Bringing transparency, coordination and convergence to corporate tax policies in the European Union’ 2 Transfer pricing is the setting of the price for goods and services sold between controlled (or related) legal entities within an enterprise. For example, if a subsidiary company sells goods to a parent company, the cost of those goods paid by the parent to the subsidiary is the transfer price.

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to shift profit from the high-tax country to the low-tax country. The benefit for the company is as follows: that these transfer prices are set and controlled by the multi-national company which in turn determines the level of profit earned by the company and in which country it does so. As the corporation tax paid by the company is calculated on these profits, the transfer pricing method gives the corporation an undue influence on the level of tax paid.

Key questions: sȩ sȩ sȩ

What is the main cause of aggressive tax planning and tax avoidance?

Which loopholes are mostly used when performing tax avoidance?

How can these loopholes be eliminated?

Further reading: Combatting corporate tax avoidance: Commission presents Tax Transparency http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-15-4609_en.htm The New York Times: How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/business/apples-tax-strategy-aims-at-low-tax-statesand-nations.html?_r=0

Key Conflicts Commonly known as “tax havens”, countries such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ireland have low corporate tax rates, which create a fiscally attractive environment for multinational companies in which to open their subsidiaries. This allows investors to branch out and boost the economy of the aforementioned countries (e.g. by creating job openings and consequently reducing the unemployment rate). It is a “win-win” situation, considering that the corporation ends up paying lower taxes than it would have without the subsidiary in a “tax haven”, and the economy of the country of subsidiary evidently benefits from this arrangement.

However, the country in which the company is actually conducting its business is at an obvious loss. The corporate taxes it should have collected from these multinational companies are reduced through nets of subsidiaries, and the outcome taxes the country actually collects are not even close to expected rates.

Therefore, in trying to boost their own economies, “tax havens” indirectly damage other countries’ economies and the realisation of the single market within the EU. Tax havens can be considered to create a distortion of competition, since by delivering certain rulings in favour of aggressive tax schemes, they provide state aid to multinational companies. The interpretation of such actions goes both ways, however, as other opinions claim that tax competitiveness only accounts for future progress and that it should not be smothered by additional legislation.

Finally, despite their European Union (EU) membership, taxation is still primarily under the competence of the sovereign states and the EU has little say in how this is regulated on a national level.

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Key questions: sȩ What incentives can be given to remove the need for aggressive tax planning? sȩ What form of intervention should the EU use, given that it does not have competences to act directly?

Futher reading: The Economist: Still slipping the net http://www.economist.com/news/business/21672232-europes-corporate-tax-havens-saythey-are-reforming-up-point-still-slipping-net Taxation and customs union: The fight against tax fraud and tax evasion - A huge problem http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/tax_fraud_evasion/a_huge_problem/index_en.htm

Stakeholders Governments of Member States with high tax rates are strongly affected by the issue at hand, as their economies are often damaged by aggressive tax planning conducted by multinational corporations.

Governments of the Member States with low tax rates are entitled to creating their own taxation policies. The fact remains that these states are not willing to raise their corporate taxes, lead by the example of France, which decided to increase the taxes and consequently chased away a great number of companies previously stationed on its soil. What was supposed to represent a boost to France’s economy only damaged it, and currently low-tax countries are not willing to risk the same outcome.

Multinational corporations’ primary goal is to maximise profit. These companies are focused on selling their product with the largest possible overall profit, and they have found a solution in aggressive tax planning. As far as these corporations are concerned, if the means are not illegal, their utilisation is justified.

The EU strives to create a free and just internal market. This can only be achieved if Member States have equal opportunity to attract and foster companies, while reflecting the economic reality. In that light, the EU bodies have concluded that aggressive tax planning indirectly leading to state aid by means of intransparent tax rulings should be considered illegal.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined its mission as promotion of policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Being the only competent intergovernmental body to handle the issue of international taxation, the OECD is responsible for the amendments in the current global taxation system.

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Key questions: sȩ What approach would cover all possible methods which are currently used? sȩ Which actors should take a leading role in implementing this approach? sȩ What is the best way to achieve cooperation among Member States in the field of tax harmonisation?

Futher Reading: The Netherlands tax haven: infographic http://www.taxjustice.net/2014/05/20/netherlands-tax-haven-infographic/ Commission decides selective tax advantages for Fiat in Luxembourg and Starbucks in the Netherlands are illegal under EU state aid rules http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5880_en.htm Fighting tax evasion: EU and Liechtenstein sign new tax transparency agreement http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5929_en.htm

Existing Measures and Current Legislation At EU level, the European Commission has presented an Action Plan for Fair and Efficient Corporate Taxation in the EU, setting out a series of initiatives to tackle tax avoidance.

Some of the actions are the re-launch of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base and a framework to ensure effective taxation where profits are generated.

Furthermore, the European Council adopted the Tax Transparency Package which was put forward by the European Commission. The directive now demands Member States to implement provisions that will inject greater openness into Member States’ corporate tax regimes by sharing information on letters of comfort and other tax rulings, thereby making companies – but also tax administrations – more accountable for their tax practices.

Another project aimed at creating a framework is the OECD’s Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, which aims to introduce obligatory and periodical bilateral exchange of taxation information between countries, with particular regard to the multinational corporations operating therein. However, the OECD’s decisions are not legally binding, and hence the need for further action to be taken. The Council of the European Union has issued a Directive on Administrative Cooperation in order to render the immediate exchange of information in the field of taxation mandatory for Member States starting in 2017.

Meanwhile, copious tax rulings issued by the low-tax countries in the past couple of decades show the consequences of disparities around taxation regulations among Member States. An example would be the Luxembourgish tax ruling on McDonald’s, which resulted in McDonald’s avoiding the taxes for their operations on European soil. This situation attracted a lot of attention, consequently resulting in the Commission’s investigation of the ordeal.

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Key questions: sČŠ sČŠ

Are the measures proposed on a EU level enough?

What measures are currently in place in different Member States?

Further Reading: OECD (2014), Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, OECD Publishing http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/2314131e.pdf?expires=1451255208&i d=id&accname=guest&checksum=74C56E1C691538FB3AB293F67E8F6643 Council Directive 2011/16/EU of 15 February 2011 on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32011L0016&from=en COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2014/107/EU of 9 December 2014 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014L0107&from=EN COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 24 November 2015 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12802-2015-INIT/en/pdf

Conclusion Aggressive tax planning, despite being a legal practice, is a matter of concern to the EU since it causes significant economic loss to a number of Member States and may damage the internal market. This matter is particularly controversial, since tax policies are a competence of the Member States, and the EU cannot take direct action. The European Commission is trying to put forward a common set of rules presented in the Action Plan for Fair and Efficient Corporate Taxation in the EU, aiming at making the corporate tax environment in the EU fairer, more efficient and more growth friendly. However, the question still remains open, and the balance between having a fair corporate tax environment and preserving the sovereignty of Member States in fiscal policies is yet to be found.

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Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Following the Paris attacks and subsequent security crackdowns, calls for greater intelligence sharing in the fight against terrorism have been mounting. How should the EU respond to these calls and what measures can be taken to effectively prevent similar attacks from occurring?

By Andrei Popoviciu (RO) and Maria Bianka Lojanica (NL)

Background On 13 November 2015 several mass shootings and suicide bombings took place in Paris.

This tragedy sparked many questions, one of the most important being how this incident was allowed to happen. In the days following the Paris attacks, research concluded that a more efficient approach from the French intelligence system could have prevented a lot.1 This seeking of a better functioning intelligence system is also to be seen at international level, where calls for increased and improved EU wide intelligence shared are being voiced.

The EU has therefore been working towards the sharing of intelligence between countries within and outside of its borders, striving to optimise the use of available information. As of 2013, the second version of the Schengen Information System2 went live across the participating Member States, aiming to improve national security through the sharing of intelligence by alert cases. This is only one of the several examples in which the EU attempts to increase intelligence sharing within the EU . However, the EU does not have any current system in place to record travellers data within its borders. Moreover, there are indeed centralised EU organisations concerned with battling and persecuting crime, including terrorism, but no such thing as an EU wide security agency exists.

1 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/19/how-french-intelligence-agencies-failedbefore-the-paris-attacks 2 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengeninformation-system/index_en.htm

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Key questions: sČŠ sČŠ

Should the EU have its own security agency?

What are the barriers in sharing intelligence across borders?

Further reading: Trend report on terrorism in europe https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/p_europol_ tsat15_09jun15_low-rev.pdf

Key Conflicts At first, the need for increased security measures often seems to be at odds with the right to the protection of personal data. As a result the collection and analysis of personal data in order to filter out potentially harmful actors has become a sensitive practice and topic for debate. The recently adopted EU General Data Protection Regulation has strong emphasis on strengthening data protection rights and on giving subjects more control over their personal data.

Furthermore, the fight against terrorism is not restricted to EU borders but is in fact a global issue. Therefore, international cooperation and intelligence sharing is key in preventing possible future attacks. Several agreements between the EU and third countries are already in place, such as the Passenger Name Record3 and the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program4 between the EU and the US. However, taking into account the different political objectives and standpoints of third countries, common security measures are not always easy to achieve. Setting up a common communication framework with third countries and national agencies poses additional problems.

Also, the Schengen Agreement, while convenient for the average european traveller and the transportation of goods for commerce, actually renders the tracking of potential terrorists within the Area difficult. In the light of recent attacks in Paris, the debate on the necessity and competence of the Schengen agreement has been on the rise, and the urge to impose stricter border control has increased.5,67

Key questions: 3 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/police-cooperation/passenger-namerecord/bilateral-agreements/index_en.htm 4 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/crisis-and-terrorism/tftp/index_en.htm 5 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-end-of-schengen-restrictions-by-denmarkand-sweden-are-threatening-europes-passport-free-zone-a6796696.html 6 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/24/cancelling-schengen-agre ement-europe-terrorists 7 http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21678832-schengen-system-open-borders-was-alreadyunder-pressure-latest-terrorist-attacks-may

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sȩ sȩ

Would the Schengen Agreement be up for revision?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current Schengen Agreement?

Further reading: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3Al33020

Stakeholders Since national security agencies have access to most data available concerning national security, but are not obliged to share all of this data with other member states and the EU, the EU has to rely on the cooperation and intelligence gathering of national authorities.

Quite evidently, this dependence makes national security agencies, and therefore their respective Member States, important players in the fight against terrorism. Their willingness to share their data in EU databases therefore greatly determines the effectiveness of a European solution.8 Also known known as The European Police Office, Europol9 concerns itself with law enforcement in the EU. It is important to notice that Europol does not have the right to arrest or start investigations within Member States. It is however able to lend support in the fields of analysis and exchange of intelligence to the Member States. It concerns itself not only with terrorism, but with all kinds of crime, such as smuggling and trafficking.

The European External Action System (EEAS) serves as the foreign ministry of the EU10, with a large focus on security. In order to counter terrorism, the EU has to work closely with third countries to track and monitor potential terrorist threats. The EEAS is responsible for the coordination between the EU and third countries on this matter, and therefore works closely with Member States and the council working group on terrorism and its international aspects (COTER).

Key questions: sȩ What is the difference between Interpol and Europol? sȩ How could the EU encourage the national security agencies to share their information more? sȩ Is there/what is the value could come of combating terrorism by the same European channels as other kinds of crime such as trafficking and smuggling?

Current measures and legislation Member States have been collaborating in dealing with the mounting terrorist attacks that have been targeting Europe and the world. The EU counter-terrorism strategy has been revised to effectively tackle the issue. It is founded on four main pillars of activity and is 8 9

https://www.europol.europa.eu/content/page/europol%E2%80%99s-priorities-14 http://eeas.europa.eu/fight-against-terrorism/index_en.htm

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concentrated on preventing, protecting, pursuing, and responding to the threat while cooperating with international institutions, third parties and states. In order to achieve these goals, measures such as information exchange and cooperation between a series of authorities have played a great part in dismantling and preventing terrorist threats.

The Passenger Name Record (PNR) consists of personal information from passengers collected and recorded by airlines. Its main goal is to aid law enforcement authorities in prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of serious crimes and offences. Member States make use of the initiative by supervising and processing PNR data. The PNR allows Member States to gather data from passengers entering or departing the EU and from selected domestic flights inside the EU. Although a provisional deal was made, the European Parliament will still need to vote on legislation regulating the PNR later this year.

The Schengen Information System (SIS) is a large-scale information system that supervises and supports Member States in regulating borders and aims to improve cooperation between Schengen States and law enforcement. It permits authorities to take action in order to preserve internal security in Schengen States and administer missing persons or goods.

The system operates in every EU Member State and all Schengen Area countries. The updated version of the system, the SIS II, plays a crucial role in regulating and facilitating the free movement of people in the Schengen Area.

The computerised European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) is a mechanism that helps Member States exchange data concerning convicted criminals. Its sole purpose is to prevent criminals escaping conviction by moving to another Member State. ECRIS is an efficient interdependent database and is capable of offering up-to-date information about criminals and their convictions in a quick and safe manner, thereby improving communication and police efficiency between and within Member States.

Key questions: sȩ How does the PNR proposal differ from the Schengen Information System II? sȩ What other examples of EU data sharing are there? sȩ Are the current regulations and measures effective enough or are we facing the need to replace, change or update them?

Further reading: APIS http://www.apis.bg/en/eucases/eucasesproject2.html European Arrest Warrants http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/european-arrest-warrant-statistics SWIFT agreement http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:008:0011:0016:EN:PDF PNR data http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20150123BKG12902/EU-PassengerName-Record-(PNR)-proposal-an-overview

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SIS I&II http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengeninformation-system/index_en.htm http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=URISERV:l14544 ECRIS http://ec.europa.eu/justice/criminal/european-e-justice/ecris/index_en.htm

Conclusion The Paris attacks deeply affected the international society and its view of European and national security, and have brought to light the urgent need to review Europe’s security measures. In the aftermath of these events fear and questions around public safety are still to be addressed. The prime goal of the current initiatives, such as ECRIS, SIS I/II, PNR, is to create a safe environment for citizens and a pan-European network through which Member States and other third parties can facilitate dialogue and information sharing, in a bid to eradicate issues relating to instability and current vulnerability to terrorism. Despite their existence, the problems are still at large and require further attention, to not only prevent and tackle the roots of such incidents, but also to directly deal with their repercussions in international society.

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The Committee on Regional Development (REGI) With the European Environmental Agency 2015 report claiming about 430,000 European premature deaths occur annually from poor Air Quality in Europe, and results from the Commission Public Consultation on the Key Features of an EU Urban Agenda calling for a more streamlined and ambitious urban strategy, how can the EU best harness local knowledge and provide a framework which can be adopted to the needs of individual Member States and urban areas?

By Giorgos Hadjipavlis (CY) and Kimberly van der Laan (NL)

Background With more than two-thirds of the European population living in or around cities, it is safe to say that urban areas are the centres of modern society. They provide circumstances for science and culture to thrive, but also for large problems either socially such as unemployment and spatial segregation1, but also environmental issues like air pollution and noise disturbance.

With the EU spending 32,5%, almost a third, of their budget on regional development via the Cohesion Policy for 2014-2020, it is clear that urbanisation is hugely prioritised as not many other policies are financed as severely.2 Particularly highlighting the centrality of this issue as something to be dealt with, last year the European Commission (EC) launched the Public Consultation on the Key Features of an EU Urban Agenda, in order to gain insight from local authorities, governments, civilians, and other bodies on the direction of the urban future of Europe.

1 2

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http://www.un.org/ga/Istanbul+5/50.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/graphs/graph1_en.pdf

While lots of legislation concerning cities already exists on how they should be governed generally, such as the European Charter of Local Self-Government,3 and what the environmental/social standards are that the EU has set for its Member States, that legislation has to change so it conforms to our current needs. The results of the public consultation were many and varied, and a summary report can be found below.

Key questions: sȩ How could national governments use previously existing projects and knowledge to harness themselves against future problems in upcoming urban areas? sȩ What are the results of the Public Consultation relating to Air Pollution and future work in that field?

Further research: Results on the Public Consultation of the Key Features of the EU Urban Agenda, in particular see pages 4-5, 18. http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/consultation/urb_agenda/pdf/swd_2015.pdf Homepage of the EU Urban Agenda, one of the key areas of the Dutch Presidency of the EU 2016 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/policy/themes/urban-development/ agenda/ Inception report 2013 - Study on promoting multi-level governance in support of Europe 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/studies/pdf/mlg_inception_report_20140114.pdf A summary of the “Cities of tomorrow” report issued by the European Commission (regional policy): http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/studies/pdf/citiesoftomorrow/citiesoftomorrow_summary_en.pdf A general explanation of spatial segregation: http://www.un.org/ga/Istanbul+5/50.pdf Video issued by the Council of Europe about the most important characteristics of local governance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao0qAoApT1M A study, conducted in 2012, concerning regional governance in Europe with interesting conclusions on page 15: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/work/2012_02_governance.pdf

3

http://www.osce.org/kosovo/38288?download=true

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Key Conflicts The key issues in this topic is the rate at which European citizens are dying prematurely due to environmental issues which are man-made and urban-created, with air pollution showing up in the latest European Environmental Agency Report4 published in 2015.

Despite the fact that the EU is the front-runners worldwide when it comes to decreasing greenhouse gases and other environmental protection measures, a shocking approximate amount of 430,000 premature deaths5 are caused annually by fine particulate matter (PM2.5), making air pollution the single largest environmental health risk in Europe. A further 10,000 can be blamed on noise pollution that lead to coronary heart diseases and strokes. These conditions particularly arise in urban areas and a solution must be found that is applicable to a range of European cities.

Behind this conflict lies a larger current problem, that much legislation is conducted locally and nationally to combat this pan-European problem. Not only do all cities vary to quite an extent, but each Member State also deals with different problems depending on natural resources and general condition of that specific population. It is precisely this diversity of European cities which makes universal legislation a complicated feat. Also, the level of knowledge sharing is still insufficient, as for example many green initiatives have proven that are only ever executed in one specific area.

Key questions: sȩ What are the (dis)advantages of small-scale urbanisation spread over large areas versus founding large metropolises in multiple single locations? sȩ What makes urban areas so important to public health and economic development?

Further reading: Some general information about demographic decline: https://books.google.nl/books?id=KodxBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=demographic+decline+definition&source=bl&ots=EiXjmuBbS1&sig=DfNx-Y0r5cMiI1oI4iAGIaEsH Fs&hl=en&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjKu-Xp1_zJAhVLuhoKHWzcAtIQ6AEIUDAH#v=one page&q=demographic%20decline%20definition&f=false An example video of a green project that could be more widespread, but isn’t: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq1QtmmZTbs

Stakeholders The two relevant funds of the European Structural and Investments Funds (ESIF) through which the Regional Policy functions: European Regional Development Fund http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/erdf/ 4 5

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http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/air-quality-in-europe-2015 http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air

Cohesion Fund http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/cohesion-fund/ The URBACT programme, part of European Territorial Cooperation programme, is focused on sustainable integrated urban development in cities across Europe and emanates from the Cohesion Policy. It is financed by European Regional Development Fund and Europe’s 28 member states, amongst others. http://urbact.eu/urbact-glance The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union which proposes law having researched into any particular area. http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm The Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy deal directly with leading research into the streamlining of European policies across Memeber States. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/regional_policy/index_en.htm Horizon 2020 is a 7-year research programme concerning innovation, sustainable growth of cities and improving the futures of Europe’s cities. It provides funding for new projects that are focused on progress, and consequently publishes new scientific results of which the reports are written in an accessible writing style to motivate the public and private sectors to work together. https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/official-documents The Urban Audit is a report on the opinion of European citizens concerning their own life quality. “The European City Statistics - Urban Audit is a project sponsored by the European Commission to provide reliable and comparative information on European cities.”: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/policy/themes/urban-development/ audit/?cookies=disabled The European Observation Network for territorial development and cohesion (ESPON) 2020 Programme was established to encourage urban knowledge sharing and policy improvement. In addition, it aims to encourage policy makers and public authorities to interact and cooperate. http://www.espon.eu/main/Menu_About/ POLIS is a network mainly focused on innovative solutions for travel issues and on making regions cooperate. It’s members are various European cities. http://www.polisnetwork.eu Key questions: sȩ Are many of the urban development and -integration programmes sincerely effective? sȩ What have they achieved in the years since they have been founded? sȩ What kind of influence would oil companies and other polluting energy developers have on this topic?

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Existing measures and Current Legislation Cohesion policy 2014-2020 Strives towards many of the Europe 2020 targets, but is mainly focused on jobs and growth. http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/archive/what/future/index_en.cfm Also very important, the environmental aspect of the policy: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/informat/2014/fiche_low_carbon_ en.pdf “Cities of Tomorrow” report The “reference document at the European level” concerning the general development cities should be undertaking.

Summary: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/studies/pdf/citiesoftomorrow/citiesoftomorrow_summary_en.pdf Results of the public consultation on the key features of an EU urban agenda, the complete document on how the EU plans to structure and expand future cities and metropolises. All the most recent efforts to come up with a progressive and sustainable strategy are collected in this framework. http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/newsroom/news/2015/05/eu-urban-agenda-keyfeatures-results-of-the-public-consultation Territorial Agenda 2020 The general EU urbanisation plan of the following five years. https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ah UKEwj_yJjyyILKAhXFtQ8KHXW4AcgQFggfMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fntccp-udg. eu%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2FTA2020.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGzvZV9GXsbj3EZQmYg1ANVCxpYg g&sig2=TH9n3zKTTFj1uZIBkmJWdA&bvm=bv.110151844,d.ZWU European Environment Agency report 2015 Includes important facts and figures about climate change, especially concerning urban areas and European public health. http://www.eea.europa.eu/downloads/d296749fa34b44e394ba35fad1915431/14248765 33/0c-executivesummary.pdf Key questions: sȩ Why have so many frameworks been written, when many virtually state the same vision or facts? sȩ Is there any overlap between legislation mentioned in the list above that could have been avoided or is unnecessary repetition? Why would legislators find it so important to repeat them?

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Conclusion “Man’s course begins in a garden, but ends in a city.” - Alexander MacLarzen The same thing counts for the European Union: it may have once started as a union of farmers, but the future lies in its cities. It relies on their capabilities to thrive, attract people, and lead to economic growth, as has been discussed in the Urban Agenda. At the same time, however, the rate at which deaths are occuring due to environmental impacts is out of control. To preserve EU citizens’ health and general well-being, changes in legislation as well as national/regional communication are likely necessary.

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