By Saana Tykkä and John Hodgshon
The EU citizen’s initiative and its implementation was the subject of a conference at the Austrian Interior Ministry on the 6th and 7th of May. The initiative itself is a bottom-up tool put into place by the European Commission to implement citizen’s agendas and include them in the EU’s decision-making process, whilst at the same giving people more ownership in the agenda. And if all those buzz words sound like an exaggeration, that was actually a small taste of what the conference was actually like. Alarm bells started ringing when someone used the words “political actors”, “agendas” and “elaboration of context” in the same sentence. And we were right.
EU politics
A true citizen initiative?
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The Danube Strategy – Prosperity through Environmental Management?
29.6.2011, 18:00-20:00 Hub Vienna, Lindengasse 56, Top18-19, 1070 Vienna
Environmental issues form a key part of the Danube strategy, linking water management, transport, energy, tourism and innovation policies. Will an increased emphasis on the environment result in a more prosperous and stable Danube region? This is the question we want to explore in our event.
17:30 Registration
18:00 Welcome and Introduction Cafe Babel and the Hub Vienna ‐ Introduction from the Hub – Matthias Reisinger ‐Cafe Babel informational video
18:15 Introduction to topic The Danube Strategy: How can environmental management support innovation, entrepreneurship and development in the whole Danube Region?
Moderator: Dipl.Pol. Ralf Nordbeck,
InFER (Institute of Forest, Environmental and Natural Resource Policy) at the BOKU
Speaker 1: Dr. Werner Kvarda,
University Professor, Institut für Bodenforschung, BOKU
Speaker 2: Prof. Dr. Edita Stojic‐Karanovic
President of the International Scientific Forum “Danube – River of Cooperation” in
Belgrade, Serbia.
Speaker 3: Susanne Brandstetter,
Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
Management (Lebensministerium) / Section VII: Water
Speaker presentations and guided discussion
The form will be a guided discussion format led by the Moderator. Each speaker will
have approximately 5‐10 minutes to discuss their area of expertise, organization and
current projects or research focus relating to the topic.
19:15 Moderated discussion Questions and audience interaction
20:00 Wrap‐up and closure
Refreshments served'
This project has been made possible by the support of the European Commission
May 9, 2010: Towards More Solidarity in Europe?
Europe Day was held on May 9 in Vienna under the banner of human rights.
By Audrey Plaza and Perrine Recours.
Translation by Perrine Recours. Editing by Alexandra Skwara.
It was almost impossible to miss: the giant
blue and yellow balloons representing fundamental rights caught the eye of any
tourist lost on Schwarzenbergplatz. For the first time in Vienna, the Europe
Day was organized jointly by three organizations: the European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights (FRA), the Office of the European Parliament in Austria and
the Delegation of the European Commission in Vienna. Thus, the Europe Day was
set in the context of the struggle for human rights and was a good opportunity to raise people's awareness and inform the public about these rights.
By Audrey Plaza and Perrine Recours.
Translation by Perrine Recours. Editing by Alexandra Skwara.
It was almost impossible to miss: the giant
blue and yellow balloons representing fundamental rights caught the eye of any
tourist lost on Schwarzenbergplatz. For the first time in Vienna, the Europe
Day was organized jointly by three organizations: the European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights (FRA), the Office of the European Parliament in Austria and
the Delegation of the European Commission in Vienna. Thus, the Europe Day was
set in the context of the struggle for human rights and was a good opportunity to raise people's awareness and inform the public about these rights.
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Global Warming: Talking Hot Air in Copenhagen and Vienna
By Daniel SpeichOn 18th December 2009, the Bella Center – Copenhagen’s largest conference center just 10 minutes drive away from the airport of Denmark’s capital – finally closed its doors as the discussions on solutions for global warming concluded, and the last representatives of the 192 participating countries of the 15th Conference of Parties (COP), colloquially known as the United Nations Climate Change Conference, departed.
The disappointed facial expressions, however, say more than the final declaration of the world leaders: Europe, China, India and America, the major polluters, didn’t achieve a worldwide roadmap for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly those of CO2 and methane gas. Clearly, national interests won. However, the Guardian highlights some positive aspects as well: while no binding commitments to cut emissions were made, at least the delegates agreed to establish a fund to help poor countries adapt to the threat of climate change. This fund will initially contain 30 billion dollars per year, a sum which will rise to 100 billion dollars by 2020.
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Safeguarding the food we eat
The EU and food safety
By [Daniel Spichtinger|http://www.cafebabel.de/profile/display/4d7e9a6a-fc10-102c-9b39-e5384fe1717a/]
Nearly every day the media inform us about healthy and not so healthy eating habits (such as the worrying rise of obesity in Europe) and about real or perceived food scares. The EU is now the biggest global importer and exporter of food and the global trade in food has very real implications for all of us. As an example, contaminated milk in China has a potential impact on the safety of cookies sold in the Netherlands. At the same time we are asked to consider the environmental cost of shipping food over large distances and NGOs urge us to grow locally produced food. Many of these issues have led to low “trust” and “confidence” in food in some countries.
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EU election campaign – Tyrolean style
Interview: Daniel SpichtingerTranslation: Verena Schiefer
Within Austria and abroad the region of Tyrol is well known for tourism and winter sports. From time to time one hears the Tyroleans’ voices in far away Vienna and even more distant Brussels complaining about being a transit country. But how does an EU election campaign actually work in Western Austria? Babel Wien talked to the Tyrolean MEP Richard Seeber (People’s Party/ÖVP)about the campaign, the ÖVP strategy and his experience in the European Parliament.
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'Daily Europeans' – Avantgarde or dreamers?
by Stefan Fersterer
We consider ourselves Europeans and strongly believe that there is some kind of European identity. Ole did an Erasmus year in Spain; Jorge went to Norway to work via a Leonardo-da-Vinci internship and Marija started her career in Brussels. We know where and how to apply for financially subsidised European conferences and seminars, and enjoy the pleasant side effect of travelling abroad cheaply.
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Old Warhorses and newcomers: assessing the Austrian EU candidates
By Daniel Spichtinger
What kind of people are courting our votes in the upcoming European parliamentary elections? Are they old or young? Running for the first time or already established? Men and Women? How have they previously voted in the European Parliament? Are they more loyal to their political group or to other MEPs from Austria? These are the questions we are trying to answer in our assessment.
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Austria and the European Parliament Elections: a look at 1999 and 2004
By Daniel Spichtinger. With the input of Stefan Fersterer.On June 7 Austrians will cast their votes in the 2009 elections to the European Parliament. Let’s look at how the last two election campaigns in 1999 and 2004 were run to find out what may await us in 2009.
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One and a half hours flying time and yet light-years apart: Vienna – Brussels
Youngsters and political experts discussed the future of the European Union
By Verena Schiefer. Translated by Stefan Fersterer and Alexandra Skwara.
The Austrian Euro-scepticism cannot be considered a well-kept secret. A person transforms into the star of business small talk and the hero of regulars’ tables as soon as he/she rails against “those people in Brussels” and shows an indifference towards common European policies. Moreover, you will never run out of topics of conversation since there is always something to complain about.
The panel discussion “With drive for Europe” ("Mit Schwung für Europa", an event organized by the Austrian public TV channel ORF and the newspaper STANDARD) aimed to listen to youngsters’ attitudes towards the EU and to get a sense of their primary questions and contents. The Austrian Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU-Commissioner for External Relations, and the political scientist Peter Filzmaier responded to the critical questions of young panal participants and the audience.
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Zofrea
Chelita
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thinktoomuch
stivi
Ola
BabelWien
Charlotte aux fraises
Claudia Müllauer
Daniel
thobi
Saana
Magdalena
Mél
Alex
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Diego