THE EUROPEAN UNION

For the European Union (EU), 1997 will be a critical year, whether for es-tablishing its Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) or for building its political u-nion, or for its eastward enlargement. First, 1997 is a decisive year for countries applying for founding membershipof the EMU scheduled to be launched in 1999. To be sure, to realize EU’s plan forsingle currency is one of the major objectives of its cross-century strategy and

The trend of relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean from the perspective of Bi-regional Summits

Nowadays,multilateral consultative mechanism is gradually becoming a mainstream approach in the contemporary international system.As one of the most important international collective player,the European Union(EU) has been engaging in multilateral cooperation and consultation since its inception.It has also been promoting a plural world through advocacy and action.The EU and the Latin America/Caribbean(LAC) Countries summits are considered a stability mechanism for promoting bi-regional dialogues.Nevertheless,after 10 years of bi-regional strategic partnership construction,the EU and LAC relations are currently experiencing a difficult phase,suggesting it is time to reform.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the advantages as well as the challenges to EU-LAC relations from the perspective of bi-regional summits,and to assess the short-term trend of their relations in the near

Colorectal cancer screening in countries of European Council outside of the EU-28

AIM: To provide an update on colorectal cancer(CRC) screening programmes in non-European Union(EU)-28 Council of Europe member states as of December 2015. METHODS: The mission of the Council of Europe is to protect and promote human rights in its 47 member countries. Its 19 non-EU member states are Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, FYR of Macedonia, Turkey, and Ukraine(EU-19). The main data source were GLOBOCAN, IARC, WHO, EUCAN, NORDCAN, ENCR, volume X of the CI5, the ministerial and Public Health Agency websites of the individual countries, Pub Med, EMBASE, registries of some websites and the www.cochranelibrary.com, Scopus, www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu, Research gate, Google and data extracted from screening programme results. RESULTS: Our results show that epidemiological data quality varies broadly between EU-28 and EU-19 countries. In terms of incidence, only 30% of EU-19 countries rank high in data quality as opposed to 86% of EU-28 states. The same applies to mortality data, since 52% of EU-19 countries as against all EU-28 countries are found in the high ranks. Assessment of the method of collection of incidence data showed that only 32% of EU-19 countries are found in the top three quality classes as against 89% of EU-28 countries. For the mortality data, 63% of EU-19 countries are found in the highest ranks as opposed to all EU-28 member states. Interestingly, comparison of neighbouring countries offering regional screening shows, for instance, that incidence and mortality rates are respectively 38.9 and 13.0 in Norway and 29.2 and10.9 in Sweden, whereas in Finland, where a national organised programme is available, they are respectively 23.5 and 9.3. CONCLUSION: Cancer screening should be viewed as a key health care tool, also because investing in screening protects the weakest in the population, decreases the social burden of cancer, and reduces all types of health care costs, including those for radical surgery, long-term hospitalisation, and chemotherapy.

Putin's Strategy of Integrating Russia into Europe and Its Prospect

The establishment and rapid rise of the European Union (EU) have increasingly made Europe an independent force. Objectively, the enlargement of both the EU and NATO has speeded up the process of European integration, and "One important link of Russia’s diplomacy

Europe's "Division" and Its Implications

Just as France and Germany took an increasingly divergent stand with the United States over the Iraq issue, on January 3rd, 2003, eight countries including Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary made a joint statement in the British Times, appealing to Europe to act in concert with U. S. over the issue of using force against Iraq.

Fifty Years of China-Western Europe Relations

Ever since the founding of the PRC in 1949, Sino-Western European relationshave experienced three different phases. The first one ranging from 1950s toearly 1970s is the period in which the two sides were mainly seeking to set up andnormalize their diplomatic ties. The second phase ranging from early 1970s to

CSHRS Delegation's Visit to Europe

Headed by Zhou Jue, President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), the delegation of CSHRS paid a visit tO Germany, Austria, Belgium and EU from December 1 to 17, 2003, at invitations of relevant organizations. This is the first delegation sent by CSHRS to visit the three countries and EU since its founding in 1993. The delegation had extensive exchanges, dialogues and forums with the parliamentarians, government officials, and people from political parties and nongovernment human rights organizations, research institutions and academic groups in Germany, Austria, Belgium and EU during the visit, and met the press respectively in the three countries. While in Ger-