Cuardaigh

The EU has Cooperation Agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council (a regional organisation grouping Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), and with Yemen, and a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Iraq. Currently, the EU has no contractual relations with Iran but recognises that there is great potential for deeper relations.

EU-Russia relations have been strained since 2014 because of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, support to the rebels in East Ukraine, policies in the neighbourhood and internal developments. In 2016, Russia adopted more assertive international positions and tensions worsened over Russian bombing in Syria. The EU has regularly renewed restrictive measures against Russia since 2014. Still, the EU and Russia remain closely interdependent and the EU applies a ‘selective engagement’ approach.

The European Economic Area (EEA) was set up in 1994 to extend the EU’s provisions on its internal market to the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries. Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are parties to the EEA. Switzerland is a member of EFTA but does not take part in the EEA. The EU and EEA partners (Norway and Iceland) are also linked by various ‘northern policies’ and forums which focus on the rapidly evolving northern reaches of Europe and the Arctic region as a whole.

The EU’s Central Asia strategy, which was last reviewed in 2015, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. It aims to achieve stability and prosperity, while promoting open societies, the rule of law, democratisation, and cooperation on energy security and diversification. Parliament has highlighted the importance of human rights, good governance and social development. Levels of development and democratisation in these countries vary greatly and the EU tailors its approach accordingly.

Asia is the world’s largest and most populous continent, of great geostrategic importance to the EU. The EU is forging closer ties with countries in South Asia. India is now a strategic partner of the EU. The EU has security concerns in the region, such as the Kashmir conflict and Afghanistan. The EU is a strong economic player and major development and aid donor, working to foster institution-building, democracy, good governance and human rights.

The ministerial meeting in Iqaluit, Nunavut (Canada), closed Canada's two-year Arctic Council (AC) chairmanship. Arctic cooperation seems relatively unaffected by the poor state of Russia's relations with the West. Canada invested much in its AC Chairmanship, but its deliverables have been less significant than those of previous chairs. Canada's two main achievements are the Arctic Economic Council and the framework for action on black carbon and methane. The framework is only a step in the right ...

This compilation of briefings presents the most salient points and essential commitments made by the commissioners-designate during the hearings held in September/October 2014 before the parliamentary committees. These commitments concern the main on-going legislative procedures, the preparation of future legislative proposals as well as the scrutiny of the implementation of existing legislation. They also touch upon the crucial issue of inter-institutional cooperation.

Johannes Hahn, the recently-confirmed European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations, appeared before the European Parliament's Committee for Foreign Affairs (AFET) on 30 September 2014 to answer MEPs' questions. In that hearing and in his answers to the questionnaire prepared for the meeting in advance, Commissioner Hahn made a number of statements of interest to the European Parliament. This document provides a summary of his most salient points.

A dangerous political crisis ignited in Afghanistan this year – just months before the International Security Assistance Force was to be replaced by a reduced US and NATO force. Both presidential candidates, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, alleged that the second, June round of the presidential elections had been marred by fraud. A power-sharing agreement was finally reached between President Ghani and 'CEO' Abdullah in September, following intense international pressure. The outcome has frustrated ...

Water issues in Central Asia, which have proven contentious since the breakup of the Soviet Union, have attracted international attention with the World Bank's recent impact assessment condoning Tajikistan's plan to build an enormous dam. The Rogun Dam, under construction for decades, is strongly contested by downstream Uzbekistan. Tensions between energy-deprived Tajikistan and water-starved Uzbekistan – exacerbated by the region's endemically unsustainable resource management and growing competition ...