News: Centre of Excellence

Can Germany’s New Coalition Modernize the Country to Meet 21st Century Challenges?

 Reichstag Building Germany

Andreas Freytag, Professor and Chair of Economic Policy, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena and Visiting Professor with IIT.
Since Wednesday, the traffic light coalition has been in place and the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been elected. This will mark the end of a long Merkel era and the beginning of a new era under Social Democratic leadership.

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The market is a powerful instrument to counter human rights violations in China

Human Rights

Andreas Freytag, Professor and Chair of Economic Policy, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena and Visiting Professor with IIT
European Union (EU) foreign ministers have finally responded to China's documented human rights abuses by imposing sanctions on four individuals and one organization believed to be substantially involved in the oppression of Uyghurs in north-western China. Reports
of the Chinese government's treatment of the Uighurs provide evidence of mass detention and human rights abuses.

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Putting “Values” into Value Chains in an Era of System Rivalry

Value Chains Op-Ed

Naoise McDonagh, Lecturer in Political Economy, Institute for International Trade.
The EU and U.S. have a history of using trade agreements to project their value-systems on trading partners. The EU is forthright about this goal, stating: “projecting our rules and values in trade agreements helps the EU shape globalisation, especially on issues like human rights, working conditions and environmental protection”

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Pursuing an Open Strategic Autonomy trade policy against China: Expect policy fluidity

Op-ed by Weinian Hu

Weinian Hu is Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Belgium. The EU’s Open Strategic Autonomy policy approach was first revealed under the Commission’s recovery plan post-Covid, which was released in May 2020.

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Biden and Berlin: How Germany can help reset transatlantic relations

Biden and Berlin: How Germany can help reset transatlantic relations

Andreas Freytag, Professor and Chair of Economic Policy, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena and Visiting Professor with IIT. 
The election result in the United States (USA) is now certain. Despite the refusal of leading Republicans to recognize the election result and to congratulate the election winner, everything now speaks in favor of the next (and thus 46th) President of the USA being Joseph R. Biden, Jr. This means an experienced Washington insider will again sit in the Oval Office, marking a return to more typical pre-Trumpian forms of policy and diplomacy.

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In Conversation with Europe - EU Diplomats visit Adelaide

Jean Monnet Chair, Richard Pomfret - panel discussion

On 21-23 October a group of twenty-two EU ambassadors and heads of mission came to Adelaide.  They visited various businesses in the state and met Premier Steven Marshall to discuss how to further expand European connections with South Australia. On the evening of Thursday 22 October, The Centre of Excellence
co-sponsored a public panel discussion in the University of Adelaide’s Elder Hall which was followed by a dinner at the National Wine Centre.

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Where does the EU’s Eastern Expansion end?

Richard Pomfret, Professor of Economics & Jean Monnet Chair Economics of European Integration, the University of Adelaide. 
Until 1989 the eastern border of the EU was set by the Cold War.  Since the end of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, sixteen countries have joined the EU and the border has shifted many hundreds of kilometres to the east.   Apart from the three Baltic countries, the EU’s eastern frontier is now the border of the Soviet Union established in 1945.

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Australia-UK relations and the CPTPP

UK AUS flags podium

Richard Pomfret, Professor of Economics & Jean Monnet Chair Economics of European Integration, the University of Adelaide. 
On 17 September Jean Monnet Chair Richard Pomfret participated in an online discussion on
Potential Benefits Of An Australia-Uk Free Trade Agreement with Elisabeth Bowes, Chief Negotiator, Regional Trade Agreements Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Vivien Life, Director Asia and Australasia Negotiations within the UK Department for International Trade. The webinar was chaired by Peter Draper, Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade at The University of Adelaide.

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Asia-Europe Sustainable Connectivity (AESCON 2020)

The Asia-Europe Sustainable Connectivity Scientific Conference (AESCON) conference is a major ASEM preparatory event around the theme of connectivity.   The conference was organized principally by the European Commission Joint Research Centre and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, and attracted participants from governments, think tanks, universities and the private sector. Initially scheduled to be held in Singapore on 25-27 February, the conference was postponed and held online on 22-25 September.

[Read more about Asia-Europe Sustainable Connectivity (AESCON 2020)]

Report on Potential Benefits of an Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement

UK AUS flags podium

IIT hosted an online discussion on potential benefits of an Australia-UK free trade agreement with Elisabeth Bowes, Chief Negotiator, Regional Trade Agreements Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and Vivien Life, Director Asia and Australasia Negotiations within the UK Department for International Trade. The two negotiators emphasized the like-mindedness of the UK and Australia when it came to international trade, implying that an agreement could be reached speedily.

[Read more about Report on Potential Benefits of an Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement]

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