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The SMM monitored the implementation of the “Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements”. Its monitoring was restricted by third parties and security considerations*. The SMM observed ongoing ceasefire violations at and around Donetsk airport. In line with current security considerations, the SMM did not conduct monitoring activities in the area of Shyrokyne. An SMM UAV spotted a large concentration of weapons in the vicinity of “DPR”-controlled Komsomolske. The SMM observed the Equality March in Kyiv on 6 June.

 

The SMM observed ongoing ceasefire violations at and around Donetsk airport[1] (“Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled, 12km north-west of Donetsk city centre). Over a period of two days, the SMM at the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) observation point at Donetsk central railway station (“DPR”-controlled, 8km north-west of Donetsk city centre) heard a total of at least 111 explosions caused by incoming and outgoing artillery and mortar fire, as well as small arms and light weapons (SALW) fire including heavy machine gun fire. The SMM concluded that the explosions occurred at locations to the west, north-west and north and at distances ranging between 2 and 8km from its position.

Furthermore, on 6 June an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) observed a burning building in central Donetsk.

On 7 June, while at a Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint in the vicinity of government-controlled Marinka (23km west, south-west of Donetsk), the SMM heard and saw SALW fire (7-10 single shots and at least 3-4 bursts) incoming from a north-easterly direction and impacting 3-5m next to SMM vehicles in sand bags and concrete blocks. The soldiers laid down for cover. The SMM immediately left the scene. No injuries or damage were reported.

An SMM UAV spotted a concentration of 40 military-type trucks in Petrovskyi district (“DPR”-controlled, 20km south-west of Donetsk city centre).

On 6 June in Petrovskyi district, the SMM spoke to a group of citizens from “DPR”-controlled Trudovskyi sub-district residing close to Petrovskoho Street (1.5km east of Marinka). One female interlocutor said that the sub-district had been subjected to heavy shelling on 3 June. The SMM met with five female and three male residents who said that no humanitarian aid had been delivered to that area due to the security situation. According to them no ambulance would drive into the area in the event of an emergency, and there was no possibility for their children to attend a summer school outside the affected area.

In Kuibyshevskyi district (“DPR”-controlled, 10km west-north-west of Donetsk city centre) the SMM monitored damage caused by shelling on 6 June reported by both sides of the JCCC and “DPR”. The SMM examined several impacts in the area. The first impact was at a flat located on the top floor of a building in Kremlynskaya Street. The roof of the building was damaged by an explosion. The SMM found inside the flat the remnants of a projectile, specifically the tail of a 120mm mortar round. The SMM could not determine the origin, distance or direction of the mortar. The other impact area was located behind another building on the same street, where a mortar round had hit the tarmac sidewalk. The SMM conducted crater analysis, determining that it was caused by a mortar round (120mm) from a north-westerly direction.

At the train station in Khartsyzk (“DPR”-controlled, 25km east of Donetsk) the SMM observed a train (no locomotive) consisting of eight empty freight wagons, two sealed 20-foot containers, one flat wagon loaded with round timber. According to SMM’s observations this is the same type of timber used to reinforce fighting positions.

In line with current security considerations, the SMM did not conduct monitoring activities in the area of Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol). However, an SMM UAV on 6 June spotted two mortar positions in immediate proximity to civilian houses in “DPR”-controlled areas of the village and the following day a burning building, also in the village itself.

The SMM monitored from a distance of approximately 4km a military training range close to  “DPR”-controlled Debaltseve (55km north-east of Donetsk) located on the E50/M03 cross road to the administrative boundary line between the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The SMM observed five armed individuals leaving the training centre in a civilian vehicle with bags and personal weapons in the direction of Debaltseve. The SMM saw that at the camp there were a dozen white tents. No military weapons or activity were visible from the SMM observation point. However, at 11:35hrs on 6 June, the SMM heard an incoming explosion (likely mortar or grenade) from a northerly direction.

On 7 June, between 11:15 and 11:25hrs, at the government-controlled Shchastia (20km north of Luhansk) bridge, the SMM heard ten explosions, probably originating from a mortar (82mm calibre). The shells landed approximately 100-500 metres north and south of the SMM’s position in the area around the bridge.

In government-controlled Stanytsia Luhanska (16km north-east of Luhansk), Chernihiv battalion personnel serving under the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior informed the SMM that on the evening of 5 June, from 21:00-24:00hrs, there was an exchange of fire between their battalion and “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”) armed groups. The SMM spoke with three female residents (two young and one elderly) who spoke of the lack of electricity, which caused water supply problems. According to them, for the last seven days there was no electricity and water. They said that residents were using wells and hand pumps to obtain water. According to the interlocutors, the kindergarten was closed, due to the lack of water and electricity.

Despite claims that the withdrawal of heavy weapons has been complete, the SMM observed the following weapons movements/presence in areas that are in violation of the Minsk withdrawal lines: in government-controlled areas, 14 main battle tanks (MBTs) and three artillery pieces; and, in “DPR”-controlled areas, 16 MBTs and five artillery pieces.

Of particular note – amongst the weapons observed by SMM UAVs was a concentration at a railway station between the “DPR”-controlled Komsomolske (45km south-east of Donetsk) and Andriivka (45km south-east of Donetsk), namely seven MBTs. In the same area, the UAV spotted 35 military trucks and 25 armoured personnel carriers. Also, of note was a concentration around “DPR”-controlled Oktyabr (85km south of Donetsk), namely, three artillery pieces and two MBTs.

On 6 June, the SMM monitored in the city centre of Lviv two different protests. The first protest was organized by Pravyy Sektor against what they called “misgovernment” of President Poroshenko. Approximately 150 Right Sector supporters participated, mostly young males, of whom around 80 where in military fatigues but unarmed. Pravyy Sektor local leaders demanded from President Poroshenko the disclosure of preliminary results of the investigation of the events on Maidan in Kyiv in 2014, where 100 people lost their lives. They also demanded the legalization of Pravyy Sektor volunteer groups fighting alongside regular Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone. The SMM observed ten male police officers. The event ended peacefully.

The other protest observed by the SMM in Lviv was against rising living costs. The event was organized by the Svoboda political party. Approximately 200 supporters, evenly mixed in gender, participated. Several activists criticized the government’s handling of the current economic situation in the country, as well as oligarchs’ involvement in ruling Ukraine. The SMM observed 20 male police officers. The event ended peacefully.

On 7 June, the SMM met in Rivne (223km north-east of Lviv) with the local head of Pravyy Sektor, who said his organization had recently issued an ultimatum to all village council heads, heads of district state administration and the regional state administration demanding until 9 June 2015 the demolition of all monuments affiliated with the communist regime. According to him, the demand was in line with a recent bill passed in the Verkhovna Rada against communist symbols. In case the ultimatum is not observed, the Pravyy Sektor would embark on demolishing the monuments itself, the head said.

In Kyiv, the SMM observed on 6 June the venue of the “Equality March" organized by activists of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, in Obolon district. The SMM saw approximately 400 police officers and 35 police buses and 15 other police vehicles. The SMM observed three male individuals (25 to 35 years old) who were being held by police at the venue. The SMM observed a pool of blood and three detonated pyrotechnics. The SMM saw police transporting the three men held, from the scene at 11:50hrs. The SMM did not observe any activists from the LGBT community. According to the organizer of the Equality March to whom the SMM spoke, the participants were attacked during the march by approximately 40 men. The interlocutor suggested the men to be members of “Dynamo Kyiv Ultras” football hooligans. The hooligans had burning flares in their hands and were shooting fireworks in the directions of the march participants. According to the interlocutor the attackers had thrown several home-made firecrackers towards the police and two loud detonations had been heard. The firecrackers seemed to contain metal objects and one device detonated close to a police officer who got seriously injured, the Equality March organizer said.

On 7 June, the SMM spoke with the Head of the Department of Press Communication of the Ministry of Interior, who said that nine male police officers had been wounded at the Equality March. One of the police officers was in a critical condition with a wound in his neck, caused by firecrackers, containing metal objects. According to the interlocutor there had been 2,000 police officers designated to this event and approximately 200 activists participated in the march. She said that the police detained 30 people due to hooliganism. Seven of them are still under arrest. The SMM spoke in Kyiv with the spokesperson of Pravyy Sektor, whom the SMM saw at the venue of the march, who said that 150 members had been present at the venue of the march. According to him Pravyy Sektor members had not participated in the violence on 6 June. The spokesperson confirmed that four members of his party were detained by the police.

On 6 June, the SMM observed approximately 3,000 people (majority women, 15 to 75 years old) marching in Kyiv in opposition to President Poroshenko from Khreshchatyk Street, to European Square and the Parliament. The demonstrators held a large, crudely written banner, calling for the impeachment of the President. The SMM observed 10 police officers. The event lasted for approximately three hours and ended peacefully.

The SMM continued to monitor the situation in Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Kherson, Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk.

 

* Restrictions on SMM monitoring, access and freedom of movement:

The SMM is restrained in fulfilling its monitoring functions by restrictions imposed by third parties and security considerations including the lack of information on whereabouts of landmines.

 

The security situation in Donbas is fluid and unpredictable and the ceasefire does not hold everywhere.

 

-         On 7 June the SMM was informed by an “LPR” “mobile border patrol” in “LPR”-controlled Diakove (70km south of Luhansk) of the presence of “subversive groups” and mines in “LPR”-controlled areas towards the Ukraine-Russian Federation international border. The “LPR” members said further movement of the SMM from Diakove towards the border was restricted. The SMM returned to Luhansk.

-         An SMM UAV experienced jamming of unspecified time on two occasions: between Dokuchaievsk (30km south, south-east of Donetsk) and Michurine 61km south of Donetsk), both “DPR”-controlled, on 6 June and, the following day in the vicinity of government-controlled Krasnoarmiisk (54km north-east of Donetsk).

 

[1] For a complete breakdown of the ceasefire violations, please see the annexed table.

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Même si la menace d'un nouveau 49-3 sur le texte du ministre de l'Économie est brandie, le gouvernement vise désormais un vote sans encombre à l'Assemblée.

Plenáris ülés : Pénteken lesz 30 éve, hogy Spanyolország és Portugália a csatlakozási szerződést aláírva az európai demokratikus nemzetek családjának tagjává vált, mondta a Parlament elnöke, Martin Schulz a júniusi plenáris ülés megnyitásakor. Az akkori vágyakból ugyan eddig nem minden vált valóra, de mindkét országban alulmaradtak a visszarendeződést kívánó erők és beköszöntött a stabilitás időszaka.

Forrás : © Európai Unió, 2015 - EP

Séance plénière : Cela fera 30 ans ce vendredi que l'Espagne et le Portugal ont signé leurs traités d'adhésion et ont ainsi rejoint la famille des nations démocratiques de l'UE, a noté le président Schulz dans ses remarques préliminaires. Tous les espoirs de ce moment historique n'ont pas été atteints, mais les deux pays ont gagné leur lutte contre les forces régressives et ont atteint la stabilité.

Source : © Union européenne, 2015 - PE

Le contre-point de Guillaume Tabard.

Plusieurs dizaines de migrants installés dans le nord de Paris ont été délogés, lundi, par les forces de l'ordre. Ces dernières ont fait usage de gaz lacrymogène pour disperser des militants et des élus venus soutenir les clandestins.

Plenary sessions : It will be 30 years this Friday since Spain and Portugal signed their EU accession treaties and so rejoined the EU family of democratic nations, noted President Schulz in his opening remarks. Not all the hopes of this historic moment were met, but both countries won their struggle against regressive forces and achieved stability. The EU promises of strength through democracy, and welfare for the many, not just wealth for the few, are still there, he added.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : It will be 30 years this Friday since Spain and Portugal signed their EU accession treaties and so rejoined the EU family of democratic nations, noted President Schulz in his opening remarks. Not all the hopes of this historic moment were met, but both countries won their struggle against regressive forces and achieved stability. The EU promises of strength through democracy, and welfare for the many, not just wealth for the few, are still there, he added.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

INTERVIEW - Christian Paul, le député PS de la Nièvre, est le chef des frondeurs à l'Assemblée. Il livre son analyse du congrès du PS à Poitiers.

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Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should promptly and properly exhume a mass grave that may contain the bodies of people forcibly disappeared or executed by Congolese security forces. On June 5, 2015, the families of 34 victims filed a public complaint with Congo’s national prosecutor requesting justice and the exhumation of the mass grave in Maluku, a rural area about 80 kilometers from the capital, Kinshasa.

(Kinshasa) – Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should promptly and properly exhume a mass grave that may contain the bodies of people forcibly disappeared or executed by Congolese security forces, Human Rights Watch said today.

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Séance plénière : « Vendredi, c'est le 30ème anniversaire de la signature du traité d'adhésion de l'Espagne et du Portugal. Cela a marqué une étape importante de l'Histoire européenne » a déclaré le Président du Parlement européen Martin Schulz lors de l'ouverture d'une nouvelle session plénière à Strasbourg le 8 juin. À cette époque, la Communauté économique européenne comptait, après l'adhésion de ces deux nouveaux pays, 12 États membres.

Source : © Union européenne, 2015 - PE

Plenary sessions : Martin Schulz has paid to tribute to Portugal and Spain on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the two countries signing the EU accession treaty this Friday. "This was a major step in European history," the president of the European Parliament said in his opening remarks of the 8-11 June plenary session in Strasbourg. At the time the EU was still known as the European Economic Community and after the accession of Portugal and Spain consisted of 12 member states.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Martin Schulz has paid to tribute to Portugal and Spain on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the two countries signing the EU accession treaty this Friday. "This was a major step in European history," the president of the European Parliament said in his opening remarks of the 8-11 June plenary session in Strasbourg. At the time the EU was still known as the European Economic Community and after the accession of Portugal and Spain consisted of 12 member states.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

A török szavazók megfosztották nagy álmától, az elnöki rendszer bevezetésétől Recep Tayyip Erdogant, akinek befolyása jelentősen csökkenni fog, ha az ellenzéki erők alakítanak kormányt. „Törökország parlamenti demokrácia és a nyugati demokráciák része marad” – vélekedik Demir Murat Seyrek, az Európai Alapítvány a Demokráciáért nevű szervezet vezető politikai elemzője.

Photograph from the International Space Station of the South China Sea which includes the Eldad Reef and Itu Aba Island features. Photo Credit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center

The advent of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) appears to be a sign of U.S. geopolitical decline, or at least of China’s geopolitical ambitions. France, the U.K., Australia and South Korea are among our allies who have signed up; the U.S. and Japan have been holding back. At the same time, the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, which does not include China and appears to be an attempt to check Chinese power, seems to be on track.

Should the U.S. allow geopolitical rivalry to subsume economic matters? Economically, our interdependence with China is deep and mutually beneficial; disrupting it will damage both sides, and both governments know this. While U.S. influence remains dominant, China’s is growing. Using economic policy to reinforce our position puts the economic benefits at risk and exacerbates tensions. As China grows in international economic clout, extending the rivalry could even drag our economy into the relative decline of our overall power. If we let geopolitics alienate us from a global source of economic strength, we also cast ourselves as more interested in our power than others’ economic growth.

To be sure, we must follow up on commitments made to date and implement TPP and its Atlantic counterpart, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Principles pact (TTIP). Both liberalize trade, a good in itself, even if they are tied to geopolitical allegiances. Shoring up the latter is necessary right now, and dropping the ball on either pact would undermine U.S. credibility, both to our partners and to our commitment to liberalization.

The time has come to contemplate diplomatic foundations for a new global posture. The purpose of our geopolitics is to defend freedom, as we know it in our liberal democracy, and as understood by our closest allies. Our nationhood makes freedom our deepest strategic interest. Whether of containing Russia or China or Iran; of cementing economic power in trade or finance; or of enforcing human rights; policies must fit each other, and current realities, in a long-term orientation to that fundamental end.

Geopolitics and military security can be re-oriented, away from “containing X” (fill in Russia, China, Iran, ISIS, North Korea, or anyone else we dislike but prefer not to attack) toward “defending free society.” Established democracies, with a liberal ethos, largely comprise the memberships of our primary alliances, NATO, U.S.-Japan, and ANZUS. Knitting these into an integrated community, dedicated to protect precisely this vision of freedom, we can keep attacks of violence, malicious disruption, or external coercion, off the table as they are now. Our focus would be non-directional, responsive to any threat, and would hold not only our territories but our communications channels sacrosanct.

This group of nations has the technical capacity to deter any threat. The U.S. military is already orienting itself in that direction, toward a focus on the global commons. Diplomatic re-orientation of our alliances will align our military and geo-political strength with moral principle. Freedom will have a clear diplomatic base, on which we can orient further diplomacy to our best ends.

We should treat economic development as an influence for freedom. Those places where well-ordered democracy has taken root, or where rights are spreading, have seen freedom progress after economic growth. We should not condition our support of growth on such progress, but if a nation secures liberal values in its institutional practices, we should consider inviting it into our security alliance. Such a stance creates a mutual interest in developing nations’ intertwined growth and freedom.

Here, U.S. policy would assess other nations less as “friend or foe,” than as more or less compatible with our ends of freedom. The U.S. and China may well be inevitable rivals, as Robert Blackwill and Ashley Tellis assert in a recent Council of Foreign Relations report.  But China might become a “three (or four or two) out of ten” rather than a “frenemy.” With a single criterion to guide us, we will be better able to avoid schizophrenia such as dissident Chen Guangcheng felt when his refuge in the U.S. Embassy collided with Hillary Clinton’s economics-oriented visit. In this stance, questions over China’s islands in the South China Sea can be viewed in terms of how they “move the needle” of compatibility rather than who wins or loses a zero sum confrontation. A security policy emphasis “for freedom” more than “against China” also maintains an overriding defense commitment to Japan while allowing us to treat an AIIB on purely economic grounds.

Above all, steering policy toward the protection of freedom and commitment to economic growth, and away from “anti-X” habits, will better orient our policy to our nature.

Conseillée par des juristes spécialisés, la présidente du Front national réunit les membres du bureau exécutif mercredi à Strasbourg.

An visitor rejoices after catching a large fish during his trip to Truong Sa Islands. Photo: Mai Thanh Hai

Here in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the local government last week ordered its travel and tourism departments to draw up a feasibility study for tours to the Truong Sa (Spratly) islands, which Vietnam currently occupies.

The first tour is scheduled for June 22 with over 200 Vietnamese reportedly signed up for the 7-10 day tour of two islands and two reefs which Vietnam controls. According to the promotion offer, “Traveling to Truong Sa…means the big trip of your life, reviving national pride and citizens’ awareness of the sacred maritime sovereignty of the country.”

Other islands in the Spratly island chain are either occupied or claimed by several nations, including Brunei, China, Malaysia and the Philippines. China, using a nine-dash line, lays claim to around 90 percent of the South China Sea.

The tour announcement in Vietnam follows last month’s confrontation between the U.S. and China in airspace over the South China Sea, which has sparked concern and triggered increased militarization among the claimant countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The confrontation occurred on May 22 as a U.S. surveillance aircraft, with a CNN crew aboard, flew over Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross Reef — two artificial islands which China is constructing on submerged coral reefs it occupied in the mid-1990s and late 1980s, respectively. The aircraft was warned eight times to leave the airspace, over which Beijing has claimed the right to establish an air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Recently released satellite images reveal an airstrip, port facilities, cement factories and military barracks, and the U.S. has also received information China recently placed two mobile artillery vehicles on one of the islands.

China’s attempt to grasp the airspace follows last month’s grasp of the waters, as China’s municipality of Haikou, on Hainan island, issued its annual ban on all fishing vessels in the northern part of the South China Sea. The ban was first introduced in 1999 and typically lasts three months, ostensibly to protect marine resources. Haikou’s ban includes the waters of the Paracel island chain (known as Xisha in Chinese and Hoàng Sa in Vietnamese), which China grabbed from Vietnam in 1974, and the Scarborough Shoal in the Spratly island chain, taken from the Philippines in 2012. Last week, Vietnamese local media reported a Vietnamese search-and-rescue vessel from Da Nang was reportedly threatened and obstructed by a Chinese vessel while passing through the Paracel Islands en route to rescue a fisherman. (The fisherman was eventually rescued.)

These disputes over freedom of navigation in the air and waters are the latest in a series of spats China is having with the U.S., Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea, which is leading to an increase in defense spending, defense coordination among Asian nations, and an increased military presence in the region.

The largest presence in the region will continue to be from the U.S., whose combat ship, the USS Fort Worth, just completed its patrol in May. Four more warships are expected to be deployed to the region.

The Philippines is also keen to beef up its military alliances to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Last Friday, Philippine President Benigno Aquino announced his government is ready to start talks with the Japanese government on allowing Japanese military aircraft and naval vessels access to Philippines’ bases on a rotational basis for refueling purposes. With refueling capability, the Japanese military would be able to significantly extend their range of operation into the South China Sea.

On Saturday, Taiwan commissioned two 3,000-ton navy patrol vessels capable of docking at a new port being constructed on Taiping Island, the largest of the Spratly islands.

Back in Vietnam, Hanoi is also responding to a heightened activity by China in the waters it calls the East Sea, reportedly courting the foreign defense contractor divisions of such companies as Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Saab, and the European consortium Eurofighter to buy fighter jets, patrol boats and surveillance drones. Vietnam is believed to be interested in Saab’s Gripen E fourth-generation fighter jet and the Saab 340 or 2000 twin-engine patrol turboprops, and the latest P-8 Poseidon surveillance technology from Boeing placed on a business jet. Hanoi is also interested in Airbus helicopters, the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, the Lockheed/Korea Aerospace F/A-50 light fighter jet, and the Lockheed Sea Hercules, a maritime patrol aircraft similar to its C-130.

Though a state secret, Vietnam’s military budget was believed to be around $3.4 billion in 2013, having doubled in size from a decade ago, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Vietnam’s military personnel are estimated at 480,000.

From Russia, Hanoi has already taken possession of three Russian Kilo-class attack submarines and has three more on order.  Hanoi currently owns more than 100 old Russian MiG-21 fighters, and has on order a dozen Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets.

From the U.S., following U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s visit last week, comes $18 million toward the purchase of U.S. patrol boats. The U.S. began easing its long-term embargo on sales of lethal weapons to Vietnam back in October.

Hanoi may have chosen to talk to defense contractors of many nations, so as not to anger Beijing by focusing on U.S. technology while also diversifying their equipment purchases. Nonetheless, Beijing cannot help but take notice of the rapid buildup in defense capabilities of not only Vietnam, but the Philippines, and the joint military exercises and promises of support among South China Sea claimants. Each Chinese action to assert its sovereignty over the South China Sea has a counter action, and while some of the counter actions have been relatively mild so far (Vietnam’s promotion of tourism on disputed islands), the potential for a more severe military confrontation is growing should these small actions grow in number and significance.

Apr�s deux semaines de consultations, le chef de l'�tat togolais a nomm� vendredi 5 juin un nouveau Premier ministre. Komi S�lom Klassou �tait jusque-l� premier vice-pr�sident de l'Assembl�e nationale.

Quantifying Peace: Launch Event of the 2015 Global Peace Index Report

Az EU–Algéria Társulási Tanács kilencedik ülésére ma reggel került sor Brüsszelben.

A társulási tanács ülésének elnöki tisztét az EU külügyi és biztonságpolitikai főképviselője, a Bizottság alelnöke, Federica Mogherini töltötte be. Algériát Ramtane Lamamra államiniszter, külügyminiszter, és a nemzetközi együttműködésért felelős miniszter képviselte.

A társulási tanács újabb ülésén a felek ismét kijelentették, hogy meg kívánják szilárdítani kétoldalú kapcsolatukat nemcsak a társulási megállapodás végrehajtása révén, hanem egy ambiciózus politikai párbeszéd keretében is.

Ezzel kapcsolatban a társulási tanács ülésén megvitatták a közös kihívásokat is.  A felek áttekintették a Líbiával, a mali válsággal, valamint a terrorizmus elleni küzdelemmel és a radikalizálódás megakadályozásával kapcsolatos legfrissebb fejleményeket. Ezenfelül foglalkoztak a migráció jelenségével és az energiaügyi együttműködéssel, melynek keretében idén tartották meg az energiáról szóló magas szintű párbeszéd első fordulóját. A napirenden szerepelt még a maghrebi integráció is.

Az EU és Algéria megállapította, hogy közeledtek egymáshoz álláspontjaik az európai szomszédságpolitika felülvizsgálatával kapcsolatban, és a felek ismét kijelentették, hogy szándékukban áll a cselekvési tervre irányuló tárgyalásokat 2015-ben lezárni. A felek ennek keretében kifejezték, hogy érdekükben áll az algériai politikai, intézményi és társadalmi-gazdasági reformok folytatása, melyek célja a demokrácia és a jó kormányzás megerősítése a civil társadalom valamennyi elemét bevonó inkluzív párbeszéd révén. Ezt illetően a felek áttekintették a kétoldalú együttműködés prioritásait, így a gazdaság diverzifikálását és a polgárok közéleti részvételének megerősítését.

Ezenfelül az emberi jogok védelmének kérdését is megvitatták. Az EU üdvözölte a nők társadalmi szerepvállalásának megerősítését célzó, a közelmúltban elfogadott reformokat. Az egyesülési és a gyülekezési joggal kapcsolatban az EU arra ösztönözte Algériát, hogy erősítse meg együttműködését az ENSZ-szel, hogy még jobban tudjon igazodni az e téren elfogadott nemzetközi normákhoz.

A technikai együttműködést illetően a felek aláírták a társulási megállapodáshoz csatolt jegyzőkönyvet, mely lehetővé teszi, hogy Algéria részt vegyen az euromediterrán programokban. Algéria így az EU húsz programjában vehet részt, többek között a COSME (kkv-k), a Horizont 2020 (kutatás) vagy a Kreatív Európa programban (kultúra és média).