Tajani

  • Launch of new EP website: What Europe does for me

    Dear colleagues,
    Citizens often ask themselves ‘What does Europe do for me’? Today, I launched a ground-breaking, new multi-lingual, interactive website to help us all to answer that question. It offers hundreds of easy-to-read, one-page notes, giving examples of the positive difference that the EU makes to people’s lives. Each user can easily find specific information about what Europe does for their region, their profession or their favourite pastime.

    The notes are available to read, share or reuse. They exist both as online pages and as PDF files.

    You can access the new website – called what-europe-does-for-me.eu – on your computer or mobile device at any time, inside or outside the EP’s premises.

    ‘In my region’ – 1400 notes on EU regions and cities
    How is Europe present in our towns, cities and regions? How has the EU provided support in any particular area? This section of the website covers over 1400 towns, cities and regions throughout all parts of the European Union.

    Each note provides a brief snapshot of some of the many EU projects and actions in places where people live, work or spend their free time. Users can select an area on an interactive map and look at what Europe does in that specific locality. And there are useful links to further sources of information.

    ‘In my life’ – 400 notes on citizens and social groups
    How does Europe affect citizens’ everyday lives? How does it impact our jobs, our families, our healthcare, our hobbies, our travel, our security, our consumer choices and our social rights?

    This section of the website provides practical examples of the role which the EU plays in different areas of citizens’ lives. There are useful links to further sources of information and you can also listen to a series of podcasts in a growing number of languages on these themes.

    EU policies ‘In focus’
    A third section of the website will present a series of 24 longer briefing papers exploring some of the EU policy achievements in the current parliamentary term and the outlook for the future, with a specific focus on public opinion and citizens’ concerns and expectations of EU action. Altogether, the ‘What Europe does for me’ website looks at the EU from the perspective of the individual citizen. It is designed to help him or her find out more about things which may be interesting or important about the EU in one’s daily life.

    This website came into being thanks to the hard work of several European Parliament teams and I am particularly grateful to the outstanding effort of our colleagues in the following DGs:

    EPRS, Translation and Communication.

    What Europe does for me is a living project that will be updated regularly and I am confident that it will be an important tool in helping to bring Europe closer to its citizens.

    With kind regards,
    Antonio Tajani
    President of the European Parliament

  • EU leaders continue to pressure on UK deal amid rumours of earlier Brexit summit

    An evening meeting on Wednesday of EU leaders could be a critical moment in both Brussels and the UK’s efforts to end the deadlock in the ongoing Brexit negotiations as, according to a French official privy to the agenda of the meeting, a Brexit Summit could be announced earlier than the rumoured November 17-18 date that was first floated during a September summit in Salzburg, Austria.

    The November dates remain on the table but have not been finalised. An earlier summit would likely tilt in favour of UK Prime Minister Theresa May and give her more time to work a deal through Britain’s parliamentary procedures, which require a significant amount of time to finalise the ratification of any agreement that may be signed.

    According to the current assessment, the next milestone for the British administration would be the budget vote on October 29. A summit could, theoretically, be held immediately after that date provided constructive negotiations resume just after Wednesday’s meeting, but not before.

    The lack of progress at the weekend despite a last-minute visit by UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab’swith his European counterpart, Michel Barnier, did not allow the EU’s diplomatic chiefs to discuss the basis of a potential political declaration. The agenda and tone of Wednesday’s meeting will remain the same, though there was hope that European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and May would have more to discuss if a divorce agreement was already on the table.

    Talks will not collapse

    Thus far, according to sources with knowledge of the talks, there is no indication that the Brexit talks will collapse.

    European Commission President Jean-Claude Junckeris expected to brief the EU-27 on the EU executive’s preparations for a so-called ‘no-deal’ scenario. in the event that Brussels and London fail to agree on a post-Brexit framework. According to a senior EU official, the European Commission had extra proposals ready to be released but opted to hold them back due to the positive progress of the talks ahead of last weekend’s anticipated breakthrough.

  • Bono calls on artists to celebrate ‘romance’ of Europe

    U2 singer says supportive voices needed at time when ‘people are questioning Europe’.

    Bono has called on artists to celebrate the “romance” of Europe at a time when the value of the EU has come under question.

    Visiting the European Parliament in Brussels, the U2 singer hailed the European institutions as both a “brain that is strategically working to improve the lives of Europeans, so we do largely live better lives than anyone else in the world”, and a “loudly beating heart”. “I’m not sure it is heard by enough people, and I want to be a part of that romantic idea that is Europe,” he added.

    The Irish rock star and anti-poverty campaigner did not mention Brexit in his comments alongside the parliament’s president, Antonio Tajani, but said that pro-European voices were needed at a time when “people are questioning Europe”. “As an artist I think I probably have a role to play in romancing the idea of Europe and seeing it as something warm-blooded,” said Bono. “Europe is a thought that needs to become a feeling, and I am, as an artist, in service of that.”

    If you think  about how Hollywood perpetuated the idea of the American dream, when you think about artists involved in the project that is Europe, it’s not that many.

    Describing himself as “European as well as Irish”, Bono suggested that Europe had lost out from the lack of the kind of positive artistic treatment given to the United States in movies and songs. “If you think about the mythology of America and you think about Hollywood and how Hollywood perpetuated the idea of the American dream… when you think about artists involved in the project that is Europe, it’s not that many,” he said. “I think we need more as people are questioning Europe.”

    Tajani thanked the singer for his engagement in the European project, adding: “If we want to protect our citizens we need the European umbrella. It’s impossible to compete during globalisation as Italy, as France, as Ireland, as Germany, with China, Russia, India or the USA. We need to be united all together as friends with a common history, a common identity and common values – first of all, freedom.”

    Bono was in Brussels for talks about improving the partnership between Europe and Africa, which he characterised as “an incredible opportunity”. “While America is on its holidays from big ideas, we should sit across the table with our African partners as equals and take over the world,” he said. – PA

     

  • Il patrimonio culturale europeo, un ponte tra passato e futuro del quale si parlerà al Parlamento europeo a Bruxelles

    Si svolgerà martedì 26 giugno a Bruxelles, su iniziativa del Presidente del Parlamento europeo Antonio Tajani e in stretta collaborazione con la commissione per la cultura e l’istruzione, presieduta dall’On. Petra Kammerevert, la conferenza di alto livello dal titolo “Il patrimonio culturale in Europa: un ponte tra passato e futuro”.

    La conferenza si svolge nel contesto dell’Anno europeo del patrimonio culturale 2018. L’obiettivo dell’edizione di quest’anno è quello di incoraggiare un maggior numero di persone a scoprire e lasciarsi coinvolgere dal patrimonio culturale dell’Europa e rafforzare il senso di appartenenza a un comune spazio europeo. Il ‘patrimonio culturale’ è pertanto considerato fondamentale per il passato, il presente e il futuro del progetto di integrazione europea. Ciò risulta evidente nel motto dell’Anno  Il nostro patrimonio: dove il passato incontra il futuro.

    Sono 300.000  le persone che lavorano direttamente nel settore culturale dell’UE e 7,8 milioni i posti di lavoro che ne dipendono in modo indiretto. La conferenza intende pertanto diffondere il messaggio sull’importanza sociale ed economica della cultura e del patrimonio culturale europeo.

    La sessione di apertura della conferenza è seguita da tre gruppi di lavoro che affronteranno tre temi: “Patrimonio culturale e identità europea”, “Conservazione e promozione del patrimonio culturale” e “Innovazione e potenziale economico del patrimonio culturale”. Ogni gruppo di lavoro includerà artisti (nel campo della musica, della cucina, dell’architettura, del design, della fotografia, ecc.) e rappresentanti di vari gruppi di interesse che presenteranno le loro testimonianze.

    Sarà possibile seguire la conferenza, a partire dalle ore 14.00, in web-streaming in italiano al seguente link:

    www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live

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