It's UN week in New York City! That means: Heads of State and Heads of Government from almost all the countries in the world visit New York to join the General Assembly of the UN. This 73rd session of the General Assembly opened on the 18th of September and lasts until the 5th of October. Besides everything going on in the buildings of the UN itself, there are many side events in the city. Including the "UNited for a different migration" conference, organized by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), of which FMS is a member.
On February the 25th, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung organised a roundtable about the impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on developing countries. The keynote speech was given by Eveline Herfkens, Senior Fellow at John Hopkins University and former minister of development cooperation in the Netherlands, based on her recent paper ‘The TTIP: More Obstacles or More Opportunities For Sub-Saharan Exports?’.
Between the 27th and 30th of November the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity organized a training for representatives of social democratic parties from Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia. The training took place in Amman and focused on developing and communicating a message that is based on concrete policy issues in the region that are of importance for social democrats. The Future Leaders training course is supported by the UK Labour Party through the Westminster Foundation. Our partner in Jordan, Jordanian Commission for Democratic Culture (JCDC), provided great assistance in making the training possible, while Foundation Max van der Stoel (FMS) and the Labour Party provided two trainers each to conduct the training.
Agnes Jongerius zit namens de PvdA in de S&D-fractie van het Europees Parlement. Ze is op dit moment druk bezig met de onderhandelingen over TTIP, het vrijhandelsverdrag tussen de EU en de VS. Wat vindt Agnes Jongerius van dit verdrag en hoe gaat zij de uitdagingen die het akkoord brengt aanpakken?
Op woensdag 1 oktober jl. organiseerde de FMS in samenwerking met het Internationaal Secretariaat van de PvdA het eerste grote publieksdebat over TTIP; het Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership tussen de EU en de VS. Het werd een stevige discussie met aan elkaar gewaagde panelleden, over gebrek aan transparantie, het vasthouden aan hoge EU standaarden, het aangrijpen van kansen en het oplossen van mogelijk negatieve gevolgen.
