{"id":2992,"date":"2015-11-22T20:25:56","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T01:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/diplomacy\/?p=2992"},"modified":"2016-02-20T13:09:32","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T18:09:32","slug":"europe-get-your-act-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/2015\/11\/europe-get-your-act-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe, Get Your Act Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike the U.S., which benefits from the relative isolation of two oceans, Western Europe borders many of the world\u2019s most unstable regions. This unpredictable neighborhood poses a major security threat and Europe must prioritize its <\/span>geopolitical interests<\/span><\/a> immediately if it wants to remain relevant \u00a0in the 21st century. <\/span><\/p>\n

In recent months the European Union (EU) has been confronted with an unprecedented number of migrants arriving, not only from Syria, but also from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the north of Africa. They are moving for different reasons, \u00a0fleeing\u00a0violent sectarian conflict or political and economic instability. The EU\u2019s member states have taken a range of measures to address the challenges created by the current refugee crisis. One example is the<\/span> EUNAVFOR MED<\/span><\/a>; a military operation aiming to identify, capture, and dispose of vessels as well as enabling assets used or suspected of being used by migrant smugglers or traffickers in the Mediterranean. <\/span><\/p>\n

But migration is not solely a European issue.\u00a0Countries of origin or transit\u00a0of irregular migration also need to be involved. Back in April 2015, the European Council called for an\u00a0international summit\u00a0to discuss migration.\u00a0The summit took place in Valletta on the 11 and 12 November 2015, The <\/span>Valleta summit<\/span><\/a> brought together European and African heads of state and government in an effort to facilitate cooperation in dealing with migration and address the current challenges and opportunities. The conference built on existing cooperation processes between Europe and Africa, particularly the <\/span>Rabat<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Khartoum<\/span><\/a> processes on migration, and the EU-Africa Dialogue on Migration and Mobility. Migration is a\u00a0shared responsibility\u00a0between countries of origin, transit and destination. Leaders participating in the summit adopted a declaration and action plan designed to \u201caddress the\u00a0root causes\u00a0of migration by working to help create peace, stability and economic development, enhance cooperation on legal migration and mobility, reinforce the\u00a0protection of migrants and asylum seekers, particularly vulnerable groups, tackle\u00a0more effectively the\u00a0exploitation and trafficking of migrants and work more closely to improve\u00a0cooperation on return and readmission\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The $1.8 billion EU Emergency <\/span>Trust Fund<\/span><\/a> for stability was also formally launched to address the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa, providing additional funding to support the implementation of the action plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is all very good for Europe\u2019s external borders, but in practice there is still a lot of <\/span>confusion<\/span><\/a> regarding policy between the EU members and non-EU states along the Balkan route of migration. Europe has to reform in order to be more effective. Many policies within the EU today, such as \u00a0eurozone governance and the refugee policy are not delivering the results we need. David Cameron\u2019s <\/span>demands<\/span><\/a> pose a good opportunity to start a debate about the various reforms the EU needs in order to move forward as a unit. If an \u201cever closer union\u201d is not right for the British people, so be it. The other countries of the EU should use this opportunity to make unified decisions on economic governance, Europe\u2019s geopolitical role on the world stage, and putting an end to the Union\u2019s \u201c\u00e0 la carte\u201d approach to unity, where countries can cherry-pick the policies they want to adopt. Opt-outs should no longer be an option. <\/span><\/p>\n

The European Union needs to redefine its purpose and its goals, in order to devise a clear, long-term and all-encompassing strategy. The EU must temporarily abandon any designs for enlargement in order to deepen European integration across the eurozone. In order to secure these changes, they need to be combined by a revision of the EU treaties, which will give any reforms the necessary credibility. In that respect, the countries that want to integrate further can do so and those that don\u2019t should be free to do so as well. Finally, in the short-term, the EU should apply its considerable diplomatic pressure to end the conflict in Syria, even if that means having to pick a side. Strategic humanitarian ambiguity does not serve Europe\u2019s interests any longer; others will define those interests if the Union does not change tactics. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Eva-Eleni Giannarakou <\/b>is a graduate student at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations of Seton Hall University. She graduated from the American College of Greece, where she majored in International Business and European Affairs. She is currently pursuing a Master\u2019s degree in Diplomacy and International Relations,<\/span> with specializations in foreign policy analysis and global negotiations and conflict management. She is an associate editor at the Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Follow the Journal of Diplomacy on Twitter:\u00a0@JournalofDiplo<\/a><\/p>\n

Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike the U.S., which benefits from the relative isolation of two oceans, Western Europe borders many of the world\u2019s most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":2994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[349,141,174,5],"tags":[48,7,291,18,168],"class_list":["post-2992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-european-union","category-featured-2","category-migration","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-migration","tag-refugees","tag-syria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2992"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3250,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992\/revisions\/3250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}