The EU has made more headlines in the American media this year than perhaps at any time in its history. With markets and governments jittery about the future of the EU single currency, the euro, there has been a flurry of EU summits peppered with seemingly endless talks on bailout terms and treaty changes. And the future of the EU has been in play.
On September 18th, The European Institute hosted a breakfast discussion with Rolf Einar Fife, Director General of the Department of Legal Affairs at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As the chief Norwegian negotiator of the breakthrough 2010 agreement with Russia on maritime boundaries in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean, Mr. Fife explained the process of negotiating agreements for resolving competing claims on Arctic resources and stressed the importance of the International Law of the Sea treaty as a “rule book” for governing the Arctic.
On July 18, The European Institute welcomed a delegation from the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) to a breakfast discussion on the Parliament’s role in the ongoing reform of the European Union’s public procurement policy. The committee members focused on the main aspects of the European Commission’s proposal to modernize the EU’s public procurement agreement, as well as the potential implications of these reforms for transatlantic trade. Michael Smart, Vice President at Rock Creek Global Advisors LLC, moderated the discussion with The Honorable Malcolm Harbour, Chairman of the IMCO Committee and The Honorable Heide Rühle (Germany – Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance) and The Honorable Edvard Kožušnik (Czech Republic – European Conservatives and Reformists Groups), Members of the IMCO Committee and Shadow Rapporteurs for public procurement.
On June 27th, The European Institute welcomed back The Honorable John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy to discuss the impending EU proposals for ensuring product safety and strengthening market surveillance. Mr. Dalli also elaborated on the EU’s efforts to bolster supply chain security for food, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other consumer products, as well as the prospects for further cooperation in ensuring the safety and security of goods in the transatlantic marketplace. Francine Lamoriello, Executive Vice President for Global Strategies for the Personal Care Products Council, moderated the discussion.
On June 19th, The European Institute, in partnership with Sanofi, convened a meeting of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Innovation and Research in Boston, Massachusetts. Held on the margins of the BIO 2012 Convention, the meeting focused on the challenges facing the sustainability of biomedical research at a time of potent scientific promise and increasingly limited financial resources. Christopher Viehbacher, Chief Executive Officer at Sanofi, opened and moderated the discussion with Dr. Elias Zerhouni, President of Global Research and Development at Sanofi; Dr. Arnd Hoeveler, Head of Unit for Advanced Therapies and Systems Medicine for DG Research and Innovation at the European Commission; Dr. Vicki Seyfert-Margolis, Senior Advisor for Science and Innovation in the Office of the Chief Scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and Robert Wells, Head of the Biotechnology Unit in the Directorate for Science and Technology at the OECD.
© COPYRIGHT THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTE 2009
You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from our site and redistribute by email or post to the web.