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European Union

Capital: Brussels (de facto capital) /Luxembourg /Strasbourg GDP growth (annual %) 1.9%
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Key Facts
 
Chancery:No. 15, Dong Zhi Men Wai Da Jie, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Postal Code: 100600
Tel: (+86) 10 8454 8000
Fax: (+86) 10 8454 8011
 
Website: www.eu-in-china.com
  • Climate change laws around the world

    2017/05/14

    There has been a 20-fold increase in the number of global climate change laws since 1997, according to the most comprehensive database of relevant policy and legislation.

    The database, produced by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Sabin Center on Climate Change Law, includes more than 1,200 relevant policies across 164 countries, which account for 95% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Brexit negotiations should treat energy as ‘special case’

    2017/05/14

    There are strong practical reasons why the UK and EU should treat energy as a appropriate case during Brexit negotiations, argues a new statement.

    The statement, jointly authored by Chatham Home, the University of Exeter and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), says finding common ground on energy during the Brexit negotiations would benefit both the UK and remaining EU27, while compromise may be relatively easier to achieve than for other areas.

  • You’ll Only Understand Trump and Brexit If You Understand the Failure of Globalization

    2016/11/23

    Trump

    Trump made rejection of globalization a centerpiece of his campaign. In his July 21st acceptance speech as the Republican nominee, he said:

  • The TTIP is Alive?

    2016/11/23

    The ratification of the CETA agreement is imminent, with far-reaching economic and social implications. France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls is currently in Canada for meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    CETA is the object of protests in both Canada and the EU. It was also the object of a legal procedure in Germany. 

    The logic of the agreement must be understood. It constitutes the first step towards the integration of  NAFTA and the EU. This integration would create an North Atlantic political entity broadly coinciding with NATO.

  • Brexit delay risks triggering a shotgun divorce

    2016/08/25

    It’s been two months since Britain voted to quit the European Union (EU). Since again, the silence on how the divorce proceedings will be conducted has been deafening. It’s an impasse that helps neither side and, once Europe’s August holiday season is over and the region’s politicians are back at their desks, there’s a risk that things could turn nasty.

  • China Says EU Membership UK's Choice, but Hopes for Strong Europe

    2016/05/27

    Britain must decide for itself whether it stays in the European Union, but China hopes to see a strong Europe that contributes to the world economy, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday (26/05) ahead of Britain's June 23 EU membership referendum.

    Beijing has long been worried about the implications of free trade-supporting Britain leaving the bloc and of any weakening of a grouping which it views as a vital counterbalance to the United States, diplomats say.

  • Minimal Conditions For The Survival Of The Euro

    2016/03/20

    The Eurozone crisis has shown that monetary union entails additional than just sharing monetary policies. This column, initial published on 12 February 2016, identifies four minimal conditions for solidifying the monetary union. In the case of fiscal policy, this means a decentralised solution. In the case of financial supervision and monetary policy, centralisation is unambiguously the appropriate response. In the case of a fourth condition, deficit restructuring, either approach is possible, but the authors prefer a solution that involves centrally restructuring debts while allocating costs at national level.

  • The eurozone crisis - where are we right now?

    2016/01/03


    Five years next the outbreak of the eurozone crisis, the peripheral nations are at very different stages of economic recovery and rebalancing.
    Increase has returned and private sector and government balances have improved almost everywhere.
    Unemployment and public deficit levels remain high, whilst part of the rebalancing may be only cyclical.

     

  • The eurozone (debt) crisis – causes and crisis response

    2016/01/03

    The eurozone crisis could develop due to lack of mechanisms to prevent the build-up of macro-economic imbalances. Given limited access to other sources of finance and limited fiscal transfers, the ECB played a crucial role in the crisis response.
    External assistance only came next extreme market stress. The implicit promise of the ECB to act as a lender of last resort nations and government was necessary to re-establish market access. Program nations in particular had to push through reforms and severe austerity measures.
    By definition, crisis nations were not able to use monetary and exchange rate policy, but, given the chaos that it would likely have resulted in, euro-exit remained an unappealing alternative.

  • Buffett eyes eurobonds and puts tax cash to work

    2015/03/08
    Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is taking a trip across the Atlantic to take chance of the exceptionally low borrowing costs available to highly rated bond issuers in Europe.

    The Sage of Omaha, not known for borrowing in European markets, has hired banks inclunding Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for a potential eurobond offering, according to people with knowledge of his thinking. This is part of a trend for US companies to take chance of huge request and high prices for euro-denominated bonds that has gathered steam ahead of the European Central Bank launching its bond-buying monetary stimulus this month.
  • Leader_Syriza’s electoral win is a chance to strike a deal

    2015/01/27
    The victory of far-left Syriza in last weekend’s Greek general election opens a dangerous new phase in the eurozone crisis. Its leader Alexis Tspiras has demanded an end to the “fiscal waterboarding” that in his view has left Greece trapped in a debtor’s prison. But the rest of Europe, and Germany in particular, have so far stood their ground. If no compromise can be found Greece risks being bundled out of the euro by the end of the year.
  • Swiss franc fallout claims more casualties

    2015/01/21
    A leading European foreign exchange broker filed for government on Monday and a Danish bank conceded it faced heavy losses as the UK’s market regulator stepped in to assess the damage wreaked on the industry by last week’s violent swing in the Swiss franc.
  • Top 250 EU banks ranking, 2014: A tale of two halves

    2014/09/14

    This year's EU banks ranking shows how selective the region's economic recovery has been, with Greek and Spanish lenders edging into the black, while Italian, Irish, Portuguese, Slovenian and Cypriot institutions are continuing to struggle.

  • The UK’s attempt to exercise autonomy over its right to regulate short selling was extinguished

    2014/02/25

    The Court of Justice of the EU's rejection of British attempts to appeal against a European short-selling ban could signal a new degree of harmonisation on financial regulation.

    On January 22, 2014, the UK’s attempt to exercise autonomy over its right to regulate short selling was extinguished, as the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) dismissed the UK’s case for the annulment of the European Short Selling Regulations.

  • EU is mature enough to have a common foreign policy

    2014/02/19

    The question - whether the EU is mature enough to have a common foreign policy - needs to be asked in the light of recent comments by Gernot Erler and, indeed, Sergei Lavrov.

    Erler, who is a member of the Social Democratic Party in Germany and a senior advisor on Russia relations to Chancellor Angela Merkel, said in January that the EU should review its Eastern Partnership (EaP) policy for the sake of better relations with Moscow.

    "We have to ensure there is no tension between the Eastern Partnership and the Russian Customs Union,” he noted.

  • Interview With Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director Asia And Pacific At EEAS

    2016/03/20

    EUAC: Welcome to the new position. What were your first thoughts on being appointed as MD for Asia?

  • Hübner: ‘Nobody Wins If The UK Leaves European Union’

    2015/11/20

    In or out? Britain will decide on its next in Europe with a referendum once negotiations with the EU have been concluded. A delegation from the Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee went to London on 16 and 17 November to discuss the upcoming EU membership referendum with ministers, parliamentary committees and think-tanks. We spoke to committee chair Danuta Hübner, a Polish member of the EPP group, about her findings and the upcoming negotiations.

  • Florian Westphal is the chief of the German section of Doctors Without Borders

    2015/08/07

    The 28-country European Union has told member states that expressing regret over the new migrant tragedy was no substitute for action. Some 200 migrants were feared drowned at the same time as their vessel sank off the Libyan coast.

    One NGO helping to save shipwrecked migrants in the Mediterranean Sea is the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. DW has been talking to the chief of their German section, Florian Westphal.

  • Mayor of Warsaw and President of Eurocities, a Brussels-based association

    2013/07/28

    Europe is at a critical juncture, both economically and politically. Governments at all levels continue to feel the squeeze on public resources.

    The next long term budget for the EU must reflect this by directing EU spending and investment where it makes the greatest and most visible impact for the majority of citizens. This would truly be a step towards both 'better spending’ and change in the EU in terms of economic recovery and restoring public confidence.

  • Antonio Tajani, a vice-president of the European Commission

    2013/01/14

    Serge Rombi: “Hello and welcome. We’re with Antonio Tajani, a vice-president of the European Commission and Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship. Hello.”

    Antonio Tajani: “Hello everyone.”

    Serge Rombi: “Factories are closing, unemployment is increasing, SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), aren’t surviving the economic crisis. Is it amount completely unavoidable or can we get out of it?”

  • Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development

    2013/01/14

    “We must strengthen nations’ resilience towards food price shocks and changing climate patterns”

    At the same time as we meet Andris Piebalgs to discuss agricultural development, the streets were blocked by striking Belgian farmers. The country’s agriculturalists may be facing their own constraints, but the thoughts of the European Union’s commissioner for development are further afield.