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Portrait: Simone Veil, first President of the European Parliament and Holocaust survivor

25 December 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: General, European Union, Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

Listen to this Post Simone Veil was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. As health minister, she is best remembered for advancing women’s rights in France, in particular for the 1975 law that legalized abortion, today known as the Veil Act (French: Loi Veil). From 1998 to 2007, she was a member of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest legal authority.   read more…

75th anniversary of NATO

15 July 2024 | Author/Destination: Around the World / Rund um die Welt | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Listen to this Post The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO; French: Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique nord, OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. The organization’s motto is animus in consulendo liber (Latin for ‘mind unfettered in deliberation’). The organization’s strategic concepts include deterrence.   read more…

European Broadcasting Union

13 May 2024 | Author/Destination: Around the World / Rund um die Welt | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Listen to this Post The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; French: Union européenne de radio-télévision, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Council of Europe. As of 2023, it is made up of 113 member organisations from 56 countries, and 31 associate members from a further 20 countries. It was established in 1950, and has its administrative headquarters in Geneva.   read more…

The European Union: The Anthem of Europe, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 ‘Ode to Joy’

4 May 2024 | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Listen to this Post The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and musicologists as a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the history of music. One of the best-known works in common practice music, it stands as one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world.   read more…

Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor organization to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

31 December 2023 | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  4 minutes

Listen to this Post The Second World War era Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the forerunner of today’s CIA. During the war the organisation planned and executed thousands of covert operations behind enemy lines from North Africa to Europe to Asia.   read more…

Germany’s integration into the West

30 December 2023 | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  7 minutes

Listen to this Post Western integration, also known as western ties, is understood to mean the inclusion of the Federal Republic, founded in 1949 as a western German state, in treaties with western states. These were used to make foreign, security and economic policy decisions. The Western powers combined two goals with Germany’s integration into the West. On the one hand, the integration of Germany was intended to serve the security of the Western European states from Germany, which had posed a threat to its neighboring states in the past. On the other hand, West Germany should make a contribution to the security of the Western European states from the Soviet Union, whose troops were stationed on the Elbe due to the Warsaw Pact. With the Paris Agreements in 1955, the Federal Republic was finally integrated into the Western community of states and the Atlantic security community. This marked the first conclusion, which on the German side was influenced by the policies of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Because of Adenauer’s policy of ties to the West, the Federal Republic integrated itself into the political, economic and military alliances of the West after 1949.   read more…

The European Union: Common Fisheries Policy

24 September 2023 | Author/Destination: Knut Wingsch | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  14 minutes

Listen to this Post The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fisheries policy of the European Union (EU). It sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishing industry by various market interventions. In 2004 it had a budget of €931 million, approximately 0.75% of the EU budget.   read more…

The European Union: Common Agricultural Policy

22 September 2023 | Author/Destination: Knut Wingsch | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  9 minutes

Listen to this Post The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the EEC budget cost (from 73% in 1985, to 37% in 2017) and consider rural development in its aims. It has however, been criticised on the grounds of its cost, its environmental, and humanitarian effects.   read more…

The European Union: European Sky Shield Initiative

12 September 2023 | Author/Destination: Knut Wingsch | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Listen to this Post European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is a project to build a ground-based integrated European air defense system which includes anti-ballistic missile capability. As of July 2023, nineteen European states participate in the initiative. ESSI is part of the Common Security and Defense Policy and as such is designed to complement and relieve the burden on NATO.   read more…