According to Dr Kaim, strategies are tricky things: flowery words describe the big picture and in the end, no one really knows what these words actually mean in practice. This is how many of the 76 pages of the first German National Security Strategy read. The Scholz government has not developed any fundamentally new guidelines for its foreign and security policy – it has written down what it has already planned and what is already reality. Much of the Strategy remains vague so that all parties of the coalition can rally behind it, with the Chancellor and four ministers using the presentation of the strategy to send a signal of unity. Nevertheless, the National Security Strategy expands the conception of "security" beyond just diplomacy and the Bundeswehr to also encompass electricity and water resources, pharmaceutical supplies, and the supply chains for raw materials that industry relies upon. But whether this is more than just words is something the German Government must now show in its implementation of the strategy.

About the Speaker:

Dr Markus Kaim is Senior Fellow in the International Security Research Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). He was Helmut Schmidt Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington 2019-2020. He has taught as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa, as DAAD Professor for German and European Studies at the University of Toronto, and as Adjunct Professor of Foreign Policy and International Relations at the University of Konstanz. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Zurich, at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, and at the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg.

The German National Security Strategy: It All Depends on the Implementation

Ireland finally beat New Zealand in 2016.
With brilliant commentary from New Zealand TV and previous heartbreak from RTE Radio one and idiotic predictions from Second Captains.

Music: 
Wisdom from Brian Jonestown Massacre https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/tepid-peppermint-wonderland/id1056856909

And Wasting My Young Years by London Grammar
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/if-you-wait-deluxe-version/id675018027

"Drops it off to Henshaw!" - Ireland Beat The All-Blacks

Tackling climate change is one of the main challenges of the 21st century. Last November the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warned that we have just 12 years left for effective action to be taken against rising temperatures.

Over the past decade the European Union has led action for climate targets among Member States. In 2015, under the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, the EU committed to reducing emissions by 40% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

While some EU member states have made significant progress in meeting their targets, others including Ireland, are lagging behind in meeting these commitments. Meeting these targets will require ambitious action by Member States to reduce emissions in key economic sectors. The agricultural sector is one of Ireland’s most important industries, yet it accounts for over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, making it the single largest contributor to Ireland’s total emissions. There is an urgent need to reconcile the need for urgent climate action and the need to protect the agricultural sector’s competitiveness and the livelihoods that depend on it.

Political leaders and policymakers have to find solutions to this challenge now. This is not a challenge faced by Ireland alone. Across Europe, policymakers and politicians are looking for solutions. In France, the Yellow Vest protests were initially sparked by increased carbon taxes. Clearly, a considered but effective approach to climate action is required to ensure a just transition and minimal economic and social disruption.

This event is part of the IIEA’s Future of the EU27 Project, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Event Chair: Niall Delaney, Presenter, Ocean FM
Audience Q&A Begins at: 36:36

Speakers:

· Marian Harkin, outgoing MEP for the Midlands/North West Constituency;

· Martin Kenny TD, Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Agriculture, Food & the Marine;

· Thomas Cooney, Chairman of the IFA National Environment Committee

· Dr Pippa Hackett, Green Party Spokesperson on Agriculture, Food, Forestry, Heritage & Animal Welfare.

Climate Change and the Future of Agriculture: A Debate on the Future of Europe

Sharing Ideas Shaping Policy. The Institute of International and European Affairs is an independent policy research think-tank based in Dublin.

The German National Security Strategy: It All Depends on the Implementation

IIEA

Related tracks