La Présidence allemande de l'UE - Priorités et attentes extérieures
Cette étude de Marco Overhaus, Hanns W. Maull et Sebastian Harnisch est publiée dans la revue trimestrielle sur les politiques étrangères allemande et européenne - Foreign Policy in Dialogue. Elle se penche sur les priorités de la Présidence allemande de l'UE en mettant notamment l'accent sur la perception de l'agenda politique de la Présidence dans les autres pays européens.
Cette étude de Marco Overhaus, Hanns W. Maull et Sebastian Harnisch est publiée dans la revue trimestrielle sur les politiques étrangères allemande et européenne – Foreign Policy in Dialogue. Elle se penche sur les priorités de la Présidence allemande de l’UE en mettant notamment l’accent sur la perception de l’agenda politique de la Présidence dans les autres pays européens.
Germany is at the helm of the EU as well as of the G8 countries during the first six months of 2007. Ahead of the presidency, Germany was faced with high expectations, which it tried to lower by highlighting the fact that the agenda is largely not set by the EU presidencies.
The official motto for the EU Presidency is « Europe – Succeeding together » but in the introduction of the study, the real Leitmotif of the Presidency is identified as « edging the internal and external contours of the European Union ».
The notion of ‘internal edging’ refers in particular to three concepts – first to the ‘Raison d’Être’ of Europe, secondly to the Lisbon agenda and the economic dynamics as well as growth and employment within the Union and third to the future of the Constitutional Treaty.
Concerning external edging, the study reaches the conclusion that « under the Grand Coalition government of Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD), the notion of delineating the external borders of European integration has gained more prominence than was the case with the Schroeder government ». According to the author of the introduction, Marco Overhaus, there is an understanding within the government that « limitations of future enlargements have to go hand in hand with the strengthening and broadening of the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy ». The relations between the EU and its « immediate and intermediate neighbours » are placed high on the German agenda.
The study includes foreign perspectives on the German Presidency’s policy agenda from France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Click here to read the full study.
