INDIA - MANGALORE UNIVERSITY - Michael HINDLEY
2019-02-03 - 2019-02-08
The EP to Campus programme cooperated with Mangalore University. Michael Hindley was invited to India to speak present his views on important developments/ issues of European Union followed by discussion. The topic was related to relations with developing countries/India; global governance; contemporary developments in EU; security (EU and global conflict)/Cultural aspects.
The talks was attended for our member Michael HINDLEY. Here below you can find his article published on June 2019 FMA Bulletin. I have had a long a happy relationship with India and was absolutely delighted when invited to be guest lecturer for the FMA at the University of Mangalore in Southern India. Mangalore, on the coast of the state of Karnataka is certainly not on the tourist itinerary but given the beauty of its temples, mosques and nearby hill country it certainly should be. Beyond tourist attractions Mangalore has the perhaps un-expected status as being amongst the 50 most “liveable” cities in the world in terms of quality of life and as such the highest rated Indian city.
More impressively Mangalore rates 12th world city in terms of health care. The University campus is in a leafy suburb has also an outreach centre in Chikka Aluvara. I gave lectures in both and was greeted with typical Indian courtesy and intellectual curiosity. The University also has a city centre University College, where I also gave a lecture, which offers evening MAs courses for professional who wish to increase their qualifications. This fulfils one of my own educational commitments and that is “life-long learning”.
In addition I also gave a guest lecturer at the University of Manipal, one of the mo st modern state of the art educational centres I have seen anywhere in the world. One of the most attractive features of intellectual life in India is the politeness of the exchanges. There is seldom the feeling of trying to show how clever the questioner is. There is a sheer enjoyment of engagement without any inhibitions about disagreement. I also spoke to the local Chamber of Commerce and given the many commercial links which exists between India and the UK much concern was expressed about the effects of Brexit.
Concern was also expressed also about EU/India relations. I have been acting as adviser to the European Economic and Social Committee on a report on the Commissions “EU/Asia Connectivity” ideas which frankly give scant regard to the sheer complexity of “Asia”. India is a difficult partner for the EU, not least because its size gives it some counterbalance to the EU in bargaining power. “Europe” remains mainly a geographical concept, not a political one. Audiences certainly know the major member states of the EU but the extent to which modern Europe is integrated within the EU remains only vaguely appreciated.
My personal host, Professor Amin, was a fund of information about India and arranged some wonderful sight-seeing excursions to temples, mosques and the nearly hill stations in the Coorg region famous for its spices, exotically flavoured wines and coffees. The multicultural character of India is staggering – and the facilities of Indians to use English as a lingua franca, plus their mother tongue, plus a local language is quite amazing. For those who rightly celebrate the diversity of Europe, my advice is go to India, to put our diversity into global perspective.

MOROCCO - INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY RABAT - Per GAHRTON
2019-02-11 - 2019-02-14
The International University in Rabat invited a former member to a conference in Morocco. The main theme of the event was on current EU policies with a focus on migration and human rights. The speaker gave lectures on International Migration and Human Rights in the Mediterranean as well as EU policies and the European- Mediterranean relations.
The Conference was attended by our member Per GAHRTON. You can find here below his article published on the June 2019 FMA Bulletin. Morocco is unquestionably a country of strategic significance to the EU in many respects. That is particularly true with regard to migration, which was one reason why the Université Internationale in Rabat wished to have an EU speaker at its conference on ‘International Migration and Human Rights in the Mediterranean’ on 14 February. As the person chosen under the FMA’s Campus programme to take on this role, I tried to outline the EU’s current policies on migration and human rights. Coming from Sweden, it was also natural for me to mention the crisis in 2015, when Sweden accepted 170 000 asylumseekers, as against the normal figure of 30,000 – 40,000, while other EU countries closed their borders, built walls and in addition torpedoed the European Commission’s proposal for an equitable distribution of refugees. I observed that cooperation between EU and MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) countries was important in order to deal with migration in a humanitarian manner and in accordance with international law. At the same time, I was aware that cooperation between the EU and Morocco is by no means uncomplicated. On 12 February, while I was in Morocco, the European Parliament approved by 415 votes to 189, with 49 abstentions, a fisheries agreement with Morocco which was also intended to apply to fisheries off Western Sahara, even though the Court of Justice of the EU had ruled that an EU agreement with Morocco must not apply to Western Sahara. The decision was welcomed wholeheartedly in the Moroccan media and I was asked whether it should not be interpreted as a de facto recognition that Western Sahara belonged to Morocco. But on the European Commission’s website (12 February) it was stated that the agreement did not constitute a recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara. On the other hand, it was stressed that Morocco was obliged to report to the EU that the agreement, under which the EU was to pay Morocco EUR 160 million over four years, was benefitting Western Sahara economically.
With regard to Sweden, Al-Adath Al-Maghribiya stated that Sweden had supported the Polisario Front previously, but had backtracked, and representatives of Sweden’s Foreign Ministry now absolutely denied that there was any plan to recognise the Sahrawi Republic.
So what is the true state of affairs? Is not the whole EU in the process of backtracking from its united position on the UN’s demand for a referendum on the status of Western Sahara? Where Sweden is concerned, many people suspect that a deal has been done: two Swedish governments, one conservative and the other red-green, have disregarded the Swedish Parliament’s decision of 2012 to recognise the Sahrawi Republic, while Morocco has entered into cooperation with Sweden to take back the hundreds of Moroccan street children who suddenly turned up in Stockholm a year or two ago.
And when, despite the clear ruling delivered by the Court of Justice to the effect that no agreement between the EU and Morocco should apply to Western Sahara, the European Parliament nonetheless approved a fisheries agreement that covered that territory, did not that constitute a first step towards a retreat from the UN position? It is to be hoped that the talks recently initiated under the auspices of the UN will result in a peaceful solution. Perhaps not a sovereign Western Saharan state. But at least a separate, autonomous region, maybe like Scotland. And in some kind of union with Morocco. First, however, the referendum which was decided upon and which was supposed to have been held nearly 30 years ago, must be carried out.
Obviously there are serious practical problems attached to this, including that of deciding who should have the right to vote in it. But it is hard to imagine any solution being acceptable to all parties if it has not been supported in a referendum. This is a question of respect for international law and for the UN’s role in peace-making. And that is something for which the EU bears a huge amount of responsibility.

MAROC - Université internationale de Rabat - 12-14 FEVRIER 2019
2019-02-11 - 2019-02-14
The International University in Rabat invited a former member to a conference in Morocco. The main theme of the event was on current EU policies with a focus on migration and human rights. The speaker gave lectures on International Migration and Human Rights in the Mediterranean as well as EU policies and the European- Mediterranean relations.
>Per Gahrton

ITALY - SECONDARY SCHOOLS EUI - Liceo Machiavelli - Cristiana MUSCARDINI
2019-02-18 - 2019-02-19
The Historical Archives developed a programme for high schools focused on three main themes: European citizenship and school, climate change and the institutional reform of the EU. Numerous meetings were held in the prestigious Villa Salviati in Florence to discuss these highly topical issues.
The meeting with students from Liceo Machiavelli was attended by our member Cristiana MUSCARDINI.

ITALY - SECONDARY SCHOOLS EUI - Lycée Salvemini Luca d'Aosta - Gisela KALLENBACH
2019-02-21 - 2019-02-22
In the 2019 programme, the Historical Archives have developed a programme for secondary schools focusing on three main themes: European citizenship and school, climate change, and EU institutional reform. These themes were well received by secondary school students who showed great interest. Numerous meetings were held in the prestigious Villa Salviati in Florence to discuss these highly topical issues.
Our member Gisela KALLENBACH participated in this meeting.
