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The Debate - Ukraine Crisis (16/9/2014)
As Ukraine is getting set to approve an association agreement with the European Union, Kiev plans to offer limited self-rule to parts of the country #39;s volatile eastern regions. Meanwhile,...
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The Debate - Ukraine Crisis (16/9/2014) - Video
Business Meeting with the CEO of HSBC UK 9/16/2014
Hotel Sofitel Brussels Europe 16 September 2014 The second business meeting attended by President Benigno S. Aquino III in his Working Visit to the European Union and Belgium is with the company...
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Business Meeting with the CEO of HSBC UK 9/16/2014 - Video
MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) The European Union is preparing short-term measures to secure gas supplies this winter if its largest supplier, Russia, cuts exports due to the crisis in Ukraine, according to a draft document quoted by Reuters Thursday.
The draft document, which confirms information from a European Commission source, says the European Union could take emergency measures to ensure that more coordinated use is made of facilities for converting liquefied natural gas (LNG) back into natural gas and of gas storage capacity, which can be done "when the normal functioning of the market does not lead to the optimal use of those facilities.
The measures could also include making use of existing powers to ban companies from selling LNG tanker cargoes outside Europe, keep more gas in reserve, and order industry to stop using gas, according to the document.
The proposed EU measures aim to ensure that more gas stays in Europe, however, the European infrastructure is not well enough developed to bring large quantities of non-Russian gas into the region.
Russia's gas giant Gazprom meets around a third of Europe's gas demand, sending almost half of these supplies via Ukraine. However the gas pipelines running through Ukraine became the subject of political maneuvering after the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis.
Three-party consultations between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union on gas issues have been going on since April, but have not yielded any significant results.
Ukraine has refused to pay Russia $500 per 1,000 cubic meters and has offered Moscow to set the gas prices at $300 per 1,000 cubic meters during the low season and $380 during the winter season instead, or tie the gas prices to the spot market in Europe.
On June 16, after several unsuccessful rounds of talks, Russian gas company Gazprom was forced to implement a prepayment scheme for gas supplies to Ukraine over its accumulated debt.
As of today, Kievs gas debt to Russia is estimated to stand at over $5.3 billion.
Within six months, Ukraine plans to sign new agreements with the European Union on the transit of Russian gas and move the EU gas receiving point to the eastern border of Ukraine.
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EU Taking Short-Term Measures to Secure Gas Supplies for Winter: Reports
Paris Peaceful and prosperous, an independent Scotland would seem ashoo-in for European Union membership.
But if Scots vote Yes on Thursday, its unclear how seamlessly it could rejoin the 28-member bloc and, more contentiously, on what terms.
Brussels has not publicly taken a position on Scotland's referendum.While the EU iswary of membership enlargement overall, Scots argue that they've belonged since 1973, when the United Kingdom joined.Whats more, Scots favor the EU, unlike the Euroskeptics in the ascendancyacross the border in England.
But some member states might resist Scotlands accession to the bloc because of their own concerns of secession. And if Scots seek the opt-outs that it currently enjoys because it belongs to the UK such as keeping its own currency the negotiating process could be fraught with uncertainties.
Although there are partial precedents for countries that have left the bloc or expanded like Greenlands exit or East Germanys entrance no EU country has ever split from another and reapplied for membership.
On the one hand it should be very easy, and on the other very complicated, saysSonia Piedrafita, a research fellow in the politics and institutions division at the Center for European Policy Studiesin Brussels. Nothing is crystal clear.
There is consensus across Europe that if Scotland breaks away it would be outside the EU and need to re-apply. Scottish nationalists argue that their state would be seen as a member that wants to renegotiate their relationship with the EU and that the process would be fast-tracked in as little as 18 months.
But critics warn that Scotland would face a lengthy process like any other brand new member. Moreover, once it applies,all 28 members of the union have to agree to accept their accession. No one is sure whether countries with their own independence movements, like Spain, would oppose Scotlands membership.
If Scotland is granted membership, the length of negotiations could depend on what the new nation actually seeks from the organization. When the UK signed the Maastricht Treaty that led to the single currency in 1992, it was able to keep the pound, as Scotland wants to do. But the current treaty specifies that all new members must eventually embrace the euro as their currency. If Scotland seeks an opt-out, other countries could demand that their positions are renegotiated.
Academics and analysts are just as split as the Scottish electorate on how painstaking the process would be. John Kerr, chairman of the Center for European Reform in London, warns that the EU would be in uncharted waters in a July paper. However,Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, professor at Oxford University, writes that the democracy-promoting EUwould undermine its own credibility if it were to dispossess Scots of their acquired rights and EU citizenship as a result of Scotland using the democratic right to vote for independence.
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For an independent Scotland, no easy path to EU membership (+video)
The European Union will spend 3 million ($3.9 million) on a program to encourage small and medium enterprises to invest in Cambodia.
Speaking at a conference yesterday in Phnom Penh, EU Ambassador to Cambodia Jean-Francois Cautain said the five-year grant to be managed by EuroCham would be used to market Cambodia as an investment destination for European businesses and to strengthen advocacy to create a favourable business environment in the Kingdom.
I think that 24 per cent of total FDI in ASEAN countries are coming from European Union investors. If we look at Cambodia it is only 2 per cent coming from European Union investors, Cautain said.
So I think there is room for improvement when it comes to businesses here in Cambodia.
Curtain added that a larger presence from European businesses would help create greater competition and a more sustainable business environment.
EuroCham chairman Emmanuel Menanteau said Europes proximity to Southeast Asia and lack of knowledge of Cambodias business climate meant European businesses had a much smaller presence here than countries like China, Japan and South Korea.
Especially for small and medium enterprises, we usually see Cambodia as a very faraway country with a different way of doing business, and we are unable to approach the market because mostly they dont know how to do it, he said.
Menanteau said that the grant would allow EuroCham to boost Cambodias image in both in the EU and in ASEAN, where many European investors were already well established.
They [European businesses] dont know what kind of businesses opportunities are represented here, he said.
The EuroCham chairman said that his organisation would focus on attracting European SMEs looking to invest in value-added manufacturing, as well as in sectors such as hospitality and tourism, where European firms already have some presence.
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EU gives $3.9 million to attract investment