L’attaque armée contre un convoi de la Mission onusienne en République centrafricaine (MINUSCA) sur l’axe Rafai – Bangassou dans le sud-est du pays, a couté la vie à quatre casques bleus et blessé 10 autres.

Cette attaque inacceptable rappelle la fragilité de la paix en RCA alors que le pays cherche résolument à avancer vers la reconstruction de l’Etat de droit et le relèvement économique pour sa population. 

L’Union européenne exprime ses sincères condoléances aux familles des victimes, à la MINUSCA et aux gouvernements du Maroc et du Cambodge, et adresse ses vœux de prompt rétablissement aux blessés. 

L’UE réitère son plein soutien aux efforts constants de la MINUSCA, en appui aux autorités centrafricaines, dans son mandat de protection des populations civiles et de consolidation de la paix.  Cette attaque va à l’encontre des initiatives et des engagements pris dans le processus de dialogue en cours entre les groupes armés et le gouvernement

La détérioration de la situation sécuritaire et humanitaire dans l’est du pays est extrêmement préoccupante et nécessite un effort accru et coordonné de l’ensemble des partenaires engagés aux cotes du gouvernement centrafricain.  

Les auteurs de cette attaque doivent être identifiés et jugés dans les plus brefs délais. Il est urgent de lutter contre l’impunité et l’UE réitère son plein soutien au Président Touadéra dans son engagement pour la stabilité et la reconstruction du pays. 

The negotiators of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have reached tonight a compromise on draft legislation to implement the Marrakesh Treaty in the European Union. The objective of the proposals, made by the Commission as part of the ongoing modernisation of the EU copyright law, is to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, have other visual impairments or are otherwise print disabled. The deal will be now subject to the formal approval by the two EU co-legislators.

Following the political compromise, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: “ I am delighted that EU copyright rules will now be adapted to allow visually impaired and people with reading disabilities to access a wider range of reading material in the EU and in third countries that they can use for their education, work and entertainment. I am particularly pleased that our Digital Single Market strategy creates more social inclusion. And I am also confident that this compromise today will pave the way for a rapid ratification of the Marrakesh treaty by the EU”.

The adoption of the compromise between the EU institutions comes eight months after the Commission tabled the legislative proposals in September 2016, as part of the copyright proposals to modernise the EU copyright law and help create a truly functioning Digital Single Market. The deal will allow the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty into EU law by introducing a mandatory, harmonised EU exception to copyright rules which will allow the making and dissemination, including across borders, within the EU and with third countries parties of the Marrakesh Treaty, of special formats of print material for people with print disabilities, such as braille or daisy.

Thanks to these new rules, people who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled within the European Union and from other countries will now be able to access more books and other print material in accessible formats, including adapted audio books and e-books, from across the European Union and the rest of the world.

Background

Tonight’s political compromise is another achievement under the Digital Single Market strategy. The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled was adopted at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in 2013. It provides for the cross-border exchange of copies under exceptions and limitations to copyright. It is considered an important instrument to fight the ‘book famine’. It is estimated that only one to seven percent of books are available in accessible format across the world.

The compromised text agreed tonight by the EU negotiators must now be formally confirmed by the European Parliament and the Council.

The EU signed the Marrakesh Treaty in April 2014. In February this year, the Court confirmed the Commission’s view, that EU has exclusive competence for the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty.

For More Information

Press release Commission proposes modern EU copyright rules for European culture to flourish and circulate

Q&A modernisation of EU copyright rules

Vice-President Ansip’s statement on the European Court of Justice ruling on the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty

First Vice-President Timmermans

It’s my pleasure to be here with Jyrki to talk to you about globalisation.

We are in the middle of tectonic changes as we now see the effects of the 4^th industrial revolution and people are feeling the brunt of these global shifts. It’s very important that we have a debate on how to harness globalisation now, because it will challenge us even more in 2025.

There is no protection in protectionism. But there is isolation in isolationism. And who is isolated will be left behind. Who is left behind will miss out on many opportunities and will suffer for it.

Globalisation carries many benefits and is good for the European economy overall, but this means little to our citizens if the benefits are not shared fairly and evenly.

We want a fair and rules-based global economic development that protects European businesses. And we want Europe to lead in rewriting the global rulebook in line with our own values, interests, and standards. New circumstances – new challenges – new rules.

We must rewrite it so that globalisation works for all Europeans, so that free trade becomes fair trade: transparent, equitable and sustainable. 

A global rule book of course needs effective multilateral institutions and fair dispute settlement. We look forward to discussing this in the upcoming G7 and G20 meetings.

We will require that all EU trade agreements include tax cooperation sections as well as binding social and environmental clauses, by lowering tariffs on clean goods and services as a matter of priority, and by introducing trade sanctions in case of violation of social and environmental clauses.

At home we must look seriously at a fairer redistribution of the benefits of globalisation, help our people to become more resilient through lifelong learning and better skills, and build robust social policies and safety nets.

This is absolutely essential to guarantee the social cohesion and solidarity this Union and all its Member States are based upon.

All of these tools can contribute to a fairer redistribution of wealth, but not all of these tools are in the hands of the EU, let alone the Commission.

All levels of government – EU, Member State, regional, and local – have a responsibility to make our societies and economies successful, resilient, healthy and innovative.  The EU Semester and strong enforcement of our rules should also play an important role in this respect.

This reflection paper is not a trade policy paper; it is the beginning of a debate on how we will protect and provide for our planet and for our people.

Harnessing globalisation; shaping the world for the better; promoting values and high standards outside Europe; protecting our citizens from unfair practices; making our societies resilient and our economies more competitive.

This is who we are; this is what we believe in; this is how I truly believe we serve Europe’s citizens.

Vice-President Katainen

First, globalisation is not, and it doesn’t have to be, a zero-sum game. It can be a plus-sum game.

This is dependent on three issues. First, how well the EU can influence the direction of globalisation, how well we can shape globalisation.

Second, how well we manage to bring our forces together in order to help poorer parts of the world to get better economic growth, more inclusive growth, for instance.

Thirdly, how well our Member States can address the negative side-effects of global openness. How well our Member States can strengthen the resilience of societies, especially the resilience of individuals.

When looking at these three elements, shaping or harnessing globalisation means that the EU has power to write the rulebook of globalisation. When we talk about rules-based trade, it is in our hands to negotiate fair trade deals. When creating international investment courts, for instance, it is in our hands to influence this. When fighting against tax avoidance, or when strengthening financial stability, it is in our hands to influence globalisation. When looking at the position of the poorer parts of the world, again, if we put our forces together, we can influence the development in African countries. We can help to address the root causes of migration.

Finally, when looking at the strengthening of the resilience of our people and citizens, all the power is already in the hands of Member States, governments and national parliaments. They are the ones responsible for the quality of education for instance, the quality of teacher training and the modernisation of social security structures.

Globalisation by definition is not a source of inequality if we manage to address the root causes, and make it work in a fair manner. The truth is that over the last decade, real incomes of middle class households in the EU and other advanced economies have, for the most part, stagnated even as the economy has grown overall. This is an issue which we have to face as a fact. It is also an issue which we have to address in order to make the future more fair. At the same time, if we are looking at the chart presented in the communication, it shows that the more open countries are in terms of international trade, the more equal they are. So, there are contradicting facts which shows that global openness and openness to international trade are not the primary sources of inequality. Quite the contrary, in fact.

We have to manage to make globalisation fair. In many peoples’ vocabulary, globalisation means growing inequality. Many people are using the dichotomy that there will be more winners and more losers as a result of globalisation. This can be the case if we don’t address difficulties. It is not globalisation itself which leads to this development. We can influence it by, for instance, redistributing the wealth generated by global trade, to the people by strengthening education and creating better social security structures which are more suitable to the modern world.

We try to provide some examples of globalisation in this paper. If you look at the country I know best, Mercedes-Benz started a car manufacturing site in a country considered to be a high-cost country because robots made the work more efficient. If you look at the specific city, it has the most robots per-capita and the most vacancies per-inhabitant in the country. So, modern technologies, for instance robots and digitalisation, can repatriate some manufacturing which we have lost. Globalisation is working in two directions.

We have lots of examples in other Member States where factories have been closed down and many people have lost their jobs, but thanks to the policies of public authorities and the active participation of social partners, many people have already found a new job after factory closures.

The basic message of our paper is that you can and you must influence the future of globalisation and we cannot protect ourselves through protectionism.