Parliamentary Mission to the Country
that will next hold
the European Union Presidency
Berlin, Germany September 27–29, 2006
A. Introduction and overview
A delegation of three parliamentarians
from the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association travelled to Berlin, Germany,
for high-level meetings with members of the Bundestag, the German parliament’s
lower house, government officials and experts in preparation for the upcoming
German Presidency of the European Union (EU). The delegation was led by
Association president the Hon. Lorna Milne, Senator, and included
from the Senate the Hon. Mac Harb and from the House of Commons
Mr. David Tilson. The delegation was accompanied by association
secretary Philippe Méla and advisor Marcus Pistor.
In addition to meetings on Germany’s upcoming EU presidency, the Canadian delegation had the opportunity to discuss political,
economic, cultural and academic relations between Germany and Canada with officials, academics and representatives of the cultural community.
B. Program
1. Briefing Sessions with Embassy
Officials on German-Canadian Relations and Germany’s Relevance to Canada.
In the first of two session, officials
from the Political, Consular and Economic / Trade Sections of the Canadian Embassy
briefed the delegation on the current political situation in Germany, Germany’s
foreign policy and international role, bilateral economic and political
relations between Canada and Germany, and the German government’s plans for its
presidency of the European Union’s Council (January to June 2007). Officials
highlighted Germany’s central role in global politics, including as a key
member of organizations such as the G8 and the EU, as one of the worlds largest
exporters and a key trade partner of major economies around the world, and as
one of the largest donors of development assistance. Noting that Germany is
prepared to act internationally and that it shares Canada’s commitment to
strengthening multilateral institutions and international law and to democracy
and human rights, they argued that Germany is second only to the United States
in terms of partnership potential for Canada.
With regard to Germany’s preparations
for the EU presidency, officials highlighted the country’s commitment to
renewing the constitutional process following the failure of the Constitutional
Treaty to be ratified by all EU members, Germany’s efforts to decrease
bureaucracy at the EU level and to making Europe more competitive globally, as
well as, among other issues, the goal of developing a common energy policy for
the EU.
2. Meeting with
Dr. Uwe Corsepius, Head of European Policy Branch, Federal
Chancellery, and Senior European Policy Advisor to Chancellor
Angela Merkel
Dr. Corsepius provided the
delegation with an overview of his government’s EU policy and preparations for
the EU presidency. He told delegates that Chancellor Merkel has set a clear
agenda with a limited number of priorities and explained that the presidency
will be divided into two parts: The first will focus on competitiveness and
social affairs (developing better regulations, ensuring respect for the
subsidiarity principle, implementing of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda, and achieving a
25% reduction in bureaucratic costs to companies and citizens) and on energy policy
(development of an EU energy plan, including the diversification of energy
sources and the creation of an EU energy market). The latter would also
include efforts to begin a new phase of global negotiations on climate change.
According to Dr. Corsepius, the second part of the German EU presidency
will focus on the constitutional process with Germany likely proposing a road
map for a renewed effort that would not only seek to address the need for
institutional reform, including a clearer division of powers between the EU and
national levels of government, but that would also address the need to have the
EU reflect more clearly the shared values of Europeans, specifically the
commitment to human rights and the balance between the social, economic and environmental
dimensions of the EU.
3. Roundtable with Experts of the
German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft
und Politik, SWP)
The delegation met with researchers and
policy advisors of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs,
one of Germany’s leading foreign policy think tanks.
Dr. Andreas Maurer, Head of Research Unit European Integration, and
researchers Prof. Peter Schmidt, Dr. Annegret Bendiek,
Dr. Stormy Mildner, Frank Kupferschmidt, and Anthony Seaboyer
offered their insights on a range of issues, including the priorities of the
German EU presidency, the stalled EU constitutional treaty, the future of
transatlantic relations in general and Canada’s relations with a changing
Europe in particular (specifically with regard to the impact of an evolving
European Security and Defence Policy on NATO), the NATO mission in Afghanistan,
and the future of the Council of Europe. The meeting offered valuable insights
from a non-government perspective.
4. Meeting with the Parliamentary
Committee for Affairs of the European Union in the German Bundestag
At an informal meeting with senior
members of the Bundestag’s Committee on the Affairs of the European Union,
German parliamentarians expressed a strong interest in deepening relations
between Canada and Germany, especially in areas such as immigration and
integration policy and federalism. Discussion then turned to Germany’s EU presidency. According to the German parliamentarians, the following areas will require
particular attention from the German government: the need for a renewed
constitutional process, the importance of moving forward on EU-Russian
relations (especially with respect to energy), ways of strengthening the EU’s
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and the possibility of using
synergies form Germany simultaneous presidency of the EU and the G8.
5. Meeting with Michael Clauss, Deputy
Head of Europe Branch, Federal Foreign Office
At the German Foreign office, the
delegation received a briefing from Michael Clauss, deputy head of the
Europe Branch. In a remarkably frank exchange of views, Mr. Claus
highlighted the many challenges facing the EU and the German presidency,
including the low level of public support for the EU and the prospect of
political change and instability in key member countries. According to
Mr. Clauss, these will make it difficult for the EU to address the many
challenges it faces both internally (such as the apparent failure of the
constitutional treaty and the need for institutional reform, the need for
economic reform, and the growing threat of terrorism) and internationally
(including the emergence of India and China as new global powers, and the need
to address security and development issues in the Mediterranean region). To be
able to effectively address these challenges, he argued, the EU needs to
strengthen cooperation among its members but also with key partners. In
addition to developments in the European Union, the EU’s international role,
and cooperation between Canada and the EU in areas such as internal security,
immigration, integration of migrants, and energy, the situation in the Middle
East and the ability of Germany and of the EU to act as honest brokers in the
conflicts there were discussed.
6. Public Diplomacy, Academic
Relations, Canadian Culture in Berlin and Germany: Briefing Session with
Embassy Officials and Related Program Items
In addition to attending a second
briefing session with embassy officials, which focused on the embassy’s extensive
activities in the areas of public affairs and public diplomacy, promoting
Canadian art and culture, academic relations (including exchanges and
supporting Canadian studies programs in Germany), and youth exchanges, the
Canadian delegation had the opportunity to meet with selected guests from
Berlin’s cultural and academic community at a lunch co-hosted offered by senior
Embassy officials. The delegation also visited the Hamburger Bahnhof, a museum
of modern art, to see new Art Exhibition featuring Canadian and international
artists: Beyond Cinema. The Art of Projection. These program elements
highlighted the importance of the active role played by the Canadian embassy in
helping Canadian artists, authors and musicians establish a presence in Germany and Europe, but also of the embassy’s role in shaping Canada’s public image in Germany, where too often perceptions are either outdated or based on single issues such as
the seal hunt.
7. Other Program Elements
The Canadian delegation was welcomed to
the German parliament at a dinner hosted by Klaus‑Peter Flosbach,
Chair of the German-Canadian Parliamentary Association, and attended by several
Members of the Bundestag. This gave parliamentarians from both countries the
opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues, including bilateral relations
and Canada’s presence in Berlin, preparations for Germany’s EU presidency, the
NATO mission in Afghanistan, as well as Germany’s electoral system. The
Canadian delegation also attended a plenary session of the Bundestag. This was
followed by a special guided tour of the Reichstag building that houses the
Bundestag.
In addition to meeting with German
parliamentarians, officials, experts, and others, Canadian delegates benefited
from several other program elements: They attended a session of a conference
held at the Canadian Embassy on “Education in an Immigration Society - What can
communities/local authorities do?”, which was co-hosted by the Canadian
Embassy, the Freudenberg Foundation, the Berlin Office of Lower Saxony and the
Federal Association of Regional Centres for Education, Integration and
Democracy. This was followed by informal meetings with conference
participants.
Finally, the delegation was honoured
with a reception hosted by Ambassador Paul Dubois at the Canadian Embassy
with selected guests from the Embassy’s political and economic networks in Germany. Guests included academics, parliamentarians and a former federal minister.
Delegates also were given a guided tour of the prestigious and highly acclaimed
new Embassy and of the Marshall McLuhan Multimedia Centre, the Embassy’s
multimedia information centre where visitors have the opportunity to discover
Canadian culture, geography, politics and technologies through the use of
“state-of-the-art technical equipment.”(1)
The delegation was highly impressed by
the activities carried out by our embassy, and particularly by the exceptional
educational opportunities offered by the Marshall McLuhan Multimedia Centre