From EU to Europe of Nations?
Despite Brexit, nomination of pro-Europe faces for top EU jobs signals victory for integration By Huang Jing
The author is an associate researcher with the Institute of European Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
In 2019, the European Union (EU) faced two hot issues. One was Brexit. The UK was originally scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 but after fresh negotiations,the date was postponed to October 31.
The other was the European Parliament election in May. Following the results, after a long bickering, a special summit on July 2 f inally decided on the people who will head key EU posts for the next f ive years.
在钢琴学习的初始阶段，个人技巧或多或少都会受到老师的影响。特别是当老师有着强烈的艺术个性时，钢琴技巧的学习更是言传身教。此时，学生的钢琴演奏会表达老师的音乐意图，并使用相应的技巧方法。随着逐步的学习，学生的个性逐渐展露出来，并且钢琴技巧会日益完善以适应他个人表演的二度创作。
The list of names comes after fierce bargaining among European leaders,especially by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. Nationality, the political background and gender were decisive factors.Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's first female defense minister, was nominated to succeed European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Charles Michel, Prime Minister of Belgium and a Liberal, will be the new EU Council president, stepping into Donald Tusk's shoes, while Josep Borrell, the 72-year-old Spanish foreign minister, will be the EU's foreign affairs chief. International Monetary Fund (IMF)President Christine Lagarde has been nominated as the head of the European Central Bank (ECB).
But this time, when the EPP proposed Manfred Weber, a German politician, as its Spitzenkandidat, Weber failed to get support from major European states. One reason was that the EPP, which won 212 seats in 2014, secured only 182 this time.
Shift in power
Belgian Prime Minister and President-elect of the European Council Charles Michel attends a press conference after a special summit of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, on July 2
The election saw the death of the process of Spitzenkandidat, the lead candidate of a party. In the 2014 election, the European Parliament had proposed that to boost democracy in the EU, the candidate from the largest political group in the house should be president of the European Commission.Thus Juncker, the Spitzenkandidat of the European People's Party (EPP), the largest party group, got the coveted post.
A careful reading of the last-minute list, a surprise to many, will reveal several trends in European politics.
It is said that in 2014, 76 percent of EU citizens lived in countries led by parties belonging to one or the other of the two big families. Now the proportion is just 38 percent. As a result, there will be no easy majorities in the new European Parliament.The grilling bargaining and the dramatic outcome of the jobs carve-up bode harder years for the EU's consensus politics. Conditional coalitions will become the new norm.
本方法适用于表面温源加热板类装置及仪器设备，如电热板、消解实验仪等通过表面加热提供热源的仪器设备。适用温度范围为（50～400）℃。
The countries that are governed by populist parties, such as Italy, Austria,Poland and Hungary, did not have much impact on the job summit. Instead, Macron,a fervent advocate for a “Renaissance Europe,” is regarded as the only unmitigated winner and the list of nominees is clearly a pro-EU one.
潞新矿区煤厚、性脆、节理化严重，开挖扰动下极易发生煤岩体内部的破坏，特别是煤层底板巷道，巷道周围都面临强煤炮的影响。巷道掘进过程是动载荷发生强度和频率较高的时刻，此时掘进工作面煤体在卸载和动载荷的双重影响下，发生大变形，顶角应力集中区发生层裂破坏，两帮等出现劈裂等现象。支护完成后，锚固区外动载荷继续影响已形成的支护结构和围岩，使围岩继续产生离层、节理裂隙扩张、剪胀等大变形；待掘进扰动逐渐远离后，围岩及其支护结构才能趋于稳定。
采用SPSS 22.0软件，计量数据以±s表示，两组间比较采用独立样本t检验，各时间点比较采用单因素方差分析，P＜0.05为差异有统计学意义。
Surviving populism
Swayed by the fierce political debates on the campaign trail, more than half of European voters cast their votes,reversing the low turnout trend since the f irst election in 1979. The biggest surprise of the election was the resurgence of the liberals and Greens, most of whom are from the pro-EU camp. Although the farright populists took around one fifth of the votes, they were less impressive than predicted.
The European Parliament holds a plenary session at its headquarters in Strasbourg, France, on July 16, during which Ursula von der Leyen was elected as European Commission president
The last two years saw populists and euroskeptics making forays in some countries. The European Parliament election is regarded by many as the first EU-wide showdown between pro-EU liberals and anti-EU nationalists.
Macron has been especially critical of the Spitzenkandidat process since it puts his newly formed La République En Marche (En Marche) party at a disadvantage. Though Macron's party got less votes than the French far-right party National Rally (until June 2018 known as the National Front), his group in the European Parliament, Renew Europe, emerged as the third largest group, increasing his leverage.
Except for a handful of far-right parties,such as the Dutch Party for Freedom and the Alternative für Deutschland, most farright parties are no longer campaigning to exit the EU or the euro. Rather, they would like to stay and change from within. As Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy's far-right League, puts it, they would like to build a“Europe of nations.”
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, called the election a “landmark” and “a signal for change,” implying the EPP and the second largest group, the Socialists, can no longer dominate EU affairs.
Von der Leyen is a staunch European federalist who favors a European army in the long term. Michel comes from traditionally pro-EU Belgium and Borrell is an old hand at European affairs. Prior to taking up the EU foreign policy chief post, he stood out by leading EU diplomacy on the Venezuela crisis. Lagarde has been deeply involved in resolving the euro crisis as IMF president and her stand on f iscal discipline has won her fans in Germany. The new EU leadership appears to be resistant to the euroskeptic surge.
Integration on the cards?
The clout of big member states, especially Germany and France, can be clearly felt. The most important post, that of the European Commission president, has gone to Germany. Merkel secured the job for her defense minister, the only one to have served in all four governments of Merkel.The post of the ECB president has gone to France. And all the four new nominees are f luent French speakers.
英语作为一门语言，只有在具体的情境当中才能体现出它的意义和作用，因此，高中英语教师应当根据具体的教学内容和学生的喜好、生活经验等创设出一定的教学情境，让学生在情境当中学习英语知识、培养语感。但如果教师仅靠口述的方式描绘情境，其过程过于抽象，难为带给学生较深的感触，创设出来的情境也较为单薄，无法让学生有身临其境的感觉。利用微课可以较好地解决这一难题，微课是以视频的方式呈现在学生面前的，能够充分调动学生的视觉和听觉，让他们全身心地投入进来，从而提高教学的效率。
Spain also reaps benefit as the UK leaves and Italy falls into the hands of populists. A long-time reactive player in European integration, the Spanish Government has learned in recent years that only more influence at the EU level can help it deal with the secessionist movement in its northeastern community of Catalonia. Spanish Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez has doubled his investment in the EU. His top officials are strong pro-Europeans who understand how the EU works.And now, the Spanish foreign minister has been nominated as the EU foreign affairs chief.
It remains to be seen in the next few years how the important European countries seize the opportunity to promote European integration. For example,whether Macron can set up an EU-wide conference on the reform of the EU by the end of the year, as he has sought to in his open letter to the “citizens of Europe” in March.
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com