Mr Udo Hemmerling, German Farmers' Federation, EU Common Agricultural Policy and Australia - Past and Future Challenges . Australian and EU agriculture both face nearly the same global trends: increasing long-term demand for food, concentration of the food retail chains, volatile markets and climate change.

What are the main reasons for the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with instruments such as decoupled direct payments to farmers?

Which steps will the EU take to comply with international agreements, especially WTO?

What will be future agricultural market opportunities for German and European farmers: domestic markets, world markets, bioenergy or public environmental services?   Date:  Tuesday, 11 May 2010    

Time:  2.30pm to 3.30pm

Venue: Room H241

Level 2, Building H

Monash University (Caulfield Campus)

900 Dandenong Road

Caulfield East

Mr Hemmerling has been with the German Farmers' Federation, Berlin since 1998, firstly as a Trainee, then as Desk Officer -Economics and Statistics, Head of the Economic and Structural Policy Section, and, since 2007, as Head of the Legal, Social, Energy and Economic Policy Area, including Coordination of Division, Support and Representation of Managing Board; Current focus: EU agricultural Policy after 2013 and Bio Energy.

From 2002-2009 he has also been a Delegate for the Advisory Group on Rural Development at the EU Commission and a Member of the Working Party on Rural Development at the EU Farmers' Federation COPA; since 2009 he has been a Member of the Working Group Bioenergy. All welcome - No charge

Education and Mobility for Research: International Policy Coordinator in Australia

Mr Bodo Richter, International Policy Coordinator (International Organisations and Industrialised Countries), Directorate General Education & Culture, European Commission, will be in Australia for meetings with the Australian Government. He will also give presentations around Australia outlining the diverse relationship between the EU and Australia, in terms of Education and mobility for research.

The relationship between the EU and Australia in terms of Education and Research collaboration is rich, varied and very successful.  However not many people know the extent of the collaboration or the background to it.  Mr. Richter will cover all aspects of the relationship including the Bologna Process and the many programs currently open to Australian students and academics such as  Erasmus Mundus, Marie Curie, Jean Monnet and the joint EU-Australia funded bilateral mobility projects.

The presentations are being held around Australia as follows:

The Lisbon Treaty: a stronger Europe in the World, speech presented by H.E. David Daly, Ambassador and head of the Delegation of the European Union to Australia and New Zealand.

Date: Friday 23 April 2010 at 11.00am speech

Ranking Europe's universities - Australian universities welcome!

Australian universities are sought to take part in an EC funded multi-dimensional university ranking system with global outreach. This initiative builds on earlier EU-funded work on mapping the different strengths and missions of universities and responds to an invitation by the French Presidency of the EU to explore and test the feasibility of a new ranking system for higher education and research institutions in Europe, in comparison with other world regions. The first results of the envisaged pilot project will be available in the first half of 2011. more

Punishing Universally Dangerous Crimes – Universal Jurisdiction in Europe and Australia - presented by the ANU Centre for European Studies, and Australian Red Cross ACT International Humanitarian Law Committee, on Tuesday 30 Marcy 2010, 6pm for 6.15pm start.
RSVP by Monday 29 March 2010 12.00pm - E: europe@anu.edu.au
Speakers: Dr Jean d’Aspremont, University of Amsterdam / University of Louvain and Mr Mark Ierace, SC, Senior Public Defender, Visiting Fellow UNSW. Chaired by: Matthew Zagor, ANU College of Law

Venue – ANU Centre for European Studies, 1 Liversidge Street, Bldg 67C, ANU. Inquiries - Email: europe@anu.edu.au. Phone: 6125 9896
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European Traditions and Identities An Innovative Universities European Union Centre Seminar Series for researchers whose work is focused on Europe.

SECOND SEMESTER PROGRAMME, 2009 Seminars are held on Wednesdays at 4.15 p.m. in the IUEU Centre Meeting Room, La Trobe University (Hum 3, level 2)

11 November - Douglas Webber (INSEAD France) - Perspectives for European Integration after the Irish Referendum

Purposes of the seminar series:

• To establish an additional and more cross-disciplinary forum for staff and postgraduate students to be involved in discussion with relevant researchers from their own and other disciplines
• To enable postgraduate students and staff to present papers in which they explore the directions of their work in more informal ways and as work in progress
• To provide for reading sessions for which particular works are read and then discussed informally. Such sessions might also be devoted to reading and discussing drafts of chapters or articles by individual researchers
• To provide a research context for Ph.D. candidates associated with the IUEU Centre that will contribute to the process by which their work is mentored.

Enquiries: IUEU@latrobe.edu.au

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Contemporary Europe Research Centre (CERC), Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, The University of Melbourne - International Conference 'The Europe That Was, Is, And Will Be'   - 9 November 2009. Keynote Speakers: Professor Graeme Gill, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney ; Professor Douglas Webber INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, Visiting Fellow, Monash EU & European Centre.  The major themes to be addressed are: Germany and Eastern Europe; Memory; The EU and the World; Russia; The EU's Crises and the Future; Language, Film and Media; Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Full program and registration form available at http://www.cerc.unimelb.edu.au/events/

For more details contact: Ms Linelle Gibson, Administrator, Contemporary Europe Research Centre, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Level 2, 234 Queensberry Street The University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 T: 8344-9502 F: 8344-9507 E: cerc@cerc.unimelb.edu.au

Conference: 'Cross-culturally speaking, speaking cross-culturally. 6 - 8 July 2009, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. more

Conference: 'Europe's Expansions and Contractions' - XVIIth Biennial Conference of the Australasian Association of European Historians (AAEH) Adelaide, 6 - 9 July 2009, Flinders University, South Australia. more

Out of the Dust, Life in Afghanistan - Everyday life in the midst of ongoing reconstruction is what Dutch photographer Hans Stakelbeek intended to capture in the exhibition Out of the Dust: Life in Afghanistan. On display at the Australian War Memorial from 3 April through to 24 May 2009, it pays tribute to the Afghan people's determination to survive. Hans Stakelbeek was commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands to document the reconstruction of Afghanistan in the midst of the ongoing efforts to restore peace and stability to the country. Stakelbeek made four trips there, photographing in Kabul and Uruzgan, as well as other remote areas. His photos capture the essence of the people he came to know, the country and the reconstruction efforts. Out of the Dust was completed in April 2008 and has so far toured the Netherlands, Washington, London and Berlin. It was first launched in Australia by the Dutch and Australian Foreign Ministers at the Western Australian Museum in Perth in January. After Canberra, the exhibition will be on display at the Freehills Law Library of the University of Sydney from 29 May through to 27 June. For further information: www.awm.gov.au ; www.netherlands.org.au or contact Deciana Speckmann, 6220 9417 / 0424 0747 733, CAN-PCZ@minbuza.nl

The European Union and India with Professor Antonia Marika Vicziany, Director, Monash Asia Institute, presented by the Monash European and EU Centre and Monash Asia Institute, on Friday 8 May from 2 to 4 pm at Monash University -  Professor Marika Vicziany has embarked on a new book project in collaboration with Professor Pascaline Winand.    According to their statement of objectives in late 2008: " The book will focus on how India's relationship with the EU is being reconfigured at a time when US policy has been tilting towards India, rather than America's traditional partner in South Asia - Pakistan.  As the India-US alliance has strengthened, Indian opposition to increased American influence suggests that the Indian government will be compelled to increase its engagement with the EU partly because the influential left wing Indian opposition parties remain opposed to the US alliance.  In this new world, the EU's influence in India is likely to grow as the EU increasingly is seen as a counterbalancing force to American power in Asia .  Until now the EU has been important mainly as a trading partner." This statement, however, no longer holds true. Fieldwork in India in January 2009 has compelled Professor Vicziany to revise the earlier hypothesis. How and why this has happened will be discussed at this seminar. RSVP to patricia.arnold@general.monash.edu.au ph 03 9903 4638

Energy Security and Climate Change in Europe, Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Energy. The world faces monumental challenges of ensuring energy supply can meet ever growing needs, while urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The current course we are on will see global energy demand rise 45% by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2008. The report also offers this sobering assessment: The world's energy systems are at a crossroads. Current global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically, socially. The EU's indigenous energy supplies fall well short of demand, with over 54% of primary energy consumption currently being imported. The European Union does not underestimate the scale of the task ahead. December 2008 saw the formal adoption of measures to put the EU on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost energy efficiency and increase the share of renewables in final energy consumption to 20% by 2020. The objectives also include increasing renewables in transport, to encourage the uptake of biofuels and electric vehicles. Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, will discuss the EU response to its energy security concerns and the threat of climate change. Tuesday 19 May, 6-7pm, Finkel Lecture Theatre, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, Building 131, Garran Rd , ANU. This lecture is free and open to the public. Please register attendance with ANU Events. Enquiries: T: 6125 4144 E: Events@anu.edu.au download flyer