Professor Dr. Gülnur Aybet’s lecture on Turkey’s alliances and new strategic outlook held on 11 April 2012 in Brussels attracted a vast and versitile audience. In light of the latest developments in Syria Dr. Aybet observed that “hesitation is bad enough in the realm of politics, like inertia and inaction to intervene – today over Syria, yesterday over Bosnia”.
- Turkey at a Crossroads
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New Direction published on 6 March 2012 in London a new study analysing the EU’s reaction to the financial crisis – EU’s Runaway Train. The launch was kindly hosted by the City of London Corporation at Guildhall. The opening remarks were delivered by Sir Michael Snyder.
- How to Improve Europe’s Competitiveness?
Shane Frith, director of New Direction attended on 3 February a joint seminar with Raggruppamento Europa Sociale, an Italian think tank, in Milan to discuss ways to improve Europe’s competitiveness. Shane argued for deregulation of labour markets and cutting of red tape to ease the process of business formation.
- New Direction at CPAC 2012
New Direction – The Foundation for European Reform hold a fringe event “Defending The Thatcher-Reagan Legacy in Europe” during the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC 8-10 February. Among the speakers were President of New Direction Geoffrey Van Orden MBE, MEP, Vice-President Derk Jan Eppink MEP and Luke Coffey, Margaret Thatcher Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
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New Direction hold on 7 December 2011 in Brussels a lecture by Professor Hans-Olaf Henkel, a leading German businessman and economist, the former President of the Federation of German Industries. During his speech Henkel called for the splitting of the Eurozone into northern and southern parts to improve the competitiveness of the weaker countries and to prevent inflation. “We leave the Euro where it is, you do not kick Greece out but four countries – Austria, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands – leave and create a new currency, the working name is the Northern Euro. By doing this we would achieve two effects: a strong revaluation of the Northern Euro and the remaining 13 countries would devalue,” said Henkel.
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Professor Dr. Marcus C. Kerber, the initiator of the legal challenge against bailouts of the sinking eurozone countries, attracted nearly hundred people to the New Direction headquarters in Brussels on 21 September 2011. According to Kerber, the mostly political experiment called the euro in its current form is effectively over. He strongly criticised the European Central Bank for its bond buying action, warned against inflation and questioned the sustainability of public debt in Germany, which is expected to cover most of the eurozone insolvency problems. He also called for a debate on the reshaping of the Eurozone. “If we cannot trim the eurozone [make Greece leave] to make it survive then the only chance for the surplus countries to survive and to fight the trend of further inflating bailouts will be to leave the Eurozone,” said Kerber.
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New Direction supported discussion with a Flemish journalist Johan Van Overtveldt held in the European Parliament on 21 September 2011. Mr. Van Overtveldt is the editor-in-chief of Knack, Flanders’ leading weekly magazine and author of a book called ‘The End of the Euro: the Uneasy Future of the European Union’. Together with Mr. Van Overtveldt debated the president of New Direction Geoffrey van Orden MBE MEP and the vice president Derk Jan Eppink MEP.
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The Liberty Conference 2011 was held in Brussels on 4 February 2011 to commemorate the centenary of the late US president Ronald Reagan. Speakers from Europe and the US explored Reagan’s legacy and disscused what inspiration the world can take from him in difficult economic and political times. The current security challenges and threats were debated by two members of the European Parliament specialised in defence and security issues: Geoffrey Van Orden, British MEP and the President of New Direction, and his Dutch fellow MEP, Marietje Schaake. That evening some 200 people celebrated Reagan’s contribution to freedom at the “Liberty Ball”, addressed by American political satirist and author, PJ O’Rourke.
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New Direction invited to Brussels the best-selling author and journalist Saul Singer on 30 November 2011 a compelling to share compelling story about Israel’s economic miracle through innovation. Over the past two decades Israel has been transformed from a semi-socialist backwater into a high-tech superpower. According to Singer, Israelis feel they are on a constant mission as they country struggles for survival and that is one of the driving forces behind their entrepreneurial success. Now Israel has more start-up companies per capita than large, peaceful and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Canada and the United Kingdom.
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