{"id":4268,"date":"2020-03-04T13:34:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=4268"},"modified":"2020-03-04T13:34:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:34:12","slug":"eu-will-be-very-pragmatic-with-neighbours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=4268","title":{"rendered":"EU will be &#8216;very pragmatic&#8217; with neighbours"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"art\"><\/figure>\n<header>\n<h1>EU will be &#8216;very pragmatic&#8217; with neighbours<\/h1>\n<p class=\"subhead\">EU should be more confident and self-interested in its relations with neighbours, European commissioner says.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<footer class=\"meta\">\n<p class=\"byline\">European Voice<\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<footer class=\"meta\">\n<p>\n\t\t\tBy\t\t\t<span class=\"byline\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"vcard\">Andrew Gardner<\/span>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Click Here: <a href='https:\/\/www.nrlshops.com\/United-Kingdom-Rugby-Jerseys' title='United Kingdom Rugby Jerseys'>United Kingdom Rugby Jerseys<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"timestamp\"><time datetime=\"2014-11-20T04:10:16+00:00\">11\/20\/14, 4:10 AM CET<\/time><\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<p>The European Commission intends over the next five years to adopt a \u201cvery pragmatic approach\u201d to would-be members of the European Union and to other countries in its neighbourhood, says Johannes Hahn, the European commissioner responsible for enlargement negotiations and neighbourhood policy.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Friday (14 November), Hahn said he wanted to bring some of his experience from business and from his five years as commissioner for regional policy into his new role. He portrayed pragmatism as a new, more self-interested and assertive policy by the EU, both towards countries that hope to join the EU and others along the EU\u2019s eastern and southern borders. \u201cIn the past, I had the impression that the European interest did not play a role,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to identify what are the European interests\u201d, and \u201cwe have to be much more confident\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The EU\u2019s interests would be more fully reflected in the conditions set for EU financial support, he suggested. To date, \u201coften conditionality [has been] formulated like a piece of literature\u201d, Hahn said. \u201cWe have to identify conditions that are measurable.\u201d Some of the conditions could be identified by asking \u201cinvestors if they are interested in going into a particular country\u201d, he said, adding that in his experience investors\u2019 wish-lists were topped by the rule of law, running costs, the<br \/>\nease of securing business licences, the availability of a skilled workforce and the quality of public administration.<\/p>\n<p>Hahn was speaking at the start of a year-long review of the EU\u2019s 16-country neighbourhood policy demanded by Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission. Juncker has ruled out further enlargement in the next five years to bring in any of the eight countries that have started the process of accession to the EU. Most would-be members are in the western Balkans.<\/p>\n<p>Hahn emphasised the importance of promoting investment in cross-border projects in the western Balkans, saying that this \u201cwould be a substantial<br \/>\ncontribution to the future coming-together of Balkan countries and their future capacity to become members of the EU\u201d. He said the EU should be confident in making demands because \u201cEurope is usually by far the biggest\u201d trade partner, investor, and donor in the Balkans and Europe\u2019s wider neighbourhood.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking before Hahn\u2019s comments, a diplomat from the Balkans said that his country particularly welcomed Chinese investment at present because \u201cthey are much less complicated than other partners\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s strategic position will grow substantially in December when it finalises a contract with Serbia and Hungary to build a \u20ac2 billion high-speed railway from Belgrade to Budapest, part of a broader plan to speed up the delivery of goods from the partly Chinese-owned port of Piraeus in Greece.<\/p>\n<p>Another diplomat said he saw Hahn\u2019s comments as a reflection of de-politicisation of the Commission\u2019s enlargement and neighbourhood policy by Juncker, whom he described as personally opposed to enlargement and heavily engaged in the background.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<footer class=\"content-credits\">\n<h6>Authors:<\/h6>\n<dl class=\"vcard\">\n<dt class=\"credits-author\"><span class=\"vcard\">Andrew Gardner<\/span>&nbsp;<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/footer>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EU will be &#8216;very pragmatic&#8217; with neighbours EU should be more confident and self-interested in its relations with neighbours, European commissioner says. European Voice By Andrew Gardner Click Here: United Kingdom Rugby Jerseys 11\/20\/14, 4:10 AM CET The European Commission intends over the next five years to adopt a \u201cvery pragmatic approach\u201d to would-be members&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}