EU ambassador leads series of events
Ambassador John Bruton has renewed the European Union’s call for the United States to end the death penalty, spoken against a proposed U.S. tourism surcharge, questioned America’s commitment to mitigating climate change, and been promoted as a prospective leader of the EU.
And that’s just within the last month.
This Friday, Bruton, the EU’s ambassador to the United States, will speak in Denver in an appearance sponsored by the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence, which was established last year at the University of Colorado.
Bruton’s appearance, on Friday, Oct. 16 at 9:45 at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver, is part of the CEUCE Transatlantic Affairs Events Series. Attendance at the event is by invitation only.
Bruton has been the EU’s ambassador to the United States since 2004. First elected to the Irish Parliament in 1969 at the age of 22, he was prime minister of Ireland from 1994 to 1997.
The United States and the EU enjoy a close alliance and together account for about half of the entire world economy. EU and U.S. firms also have the largest bilateral trading and investment relationship in the world, totaling about $1 billion daily, the EU reports.
But the fact that the two economic powerhouses are good friends does not preclude friendly criticism. Last month, for instance, Bruton publicly urged the U.S. Senate to pass climate-change legislation. If the Senate does not take up the issue until next year, Bruton said, “it would open the United States to the charge that it does not take its international commitments seriously, and that these commitments will always take second place to domestic politics.”
The United States is one of the 190 countries coming to the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December. “But the United States emits 25 percent of all the greenhouse gases that the Conference is trying to reduce,” Bruton said. "Is the U.S. Senate really expecting all the other countries to make a serious effort on climate change at the Copenhagen Conference in the absence of a clear commitment from the United States?”
Myka Lee, assistant director of the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence, says Bruton’s appearance further underscores the center’s efforts to make the Boulder-Denver area a nexus for the European Union. As CU leaders have noted, the center also helps advance a strategic university goal: transforming CU into a “global crossroads.”
Bruton’s appearance is one of several events hosted by CEUCE in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, Oct. 15, the Consul General of Turkey in Los Angeles, Hakan Tekin, will give a public lecture titled, "Easing the Tensions and Rebuilding Trust in a Troubled Region; Recent Trends in Turkish Foreign Policy." The event will take place at 4 p.m. in ATLAS 102 on the CU campus.
Tekin’s appearance is also sponsored by the CU Department of Political Science. To attend, contact Lee at ceuce@colorado.edu.
Additionally, CEUCE is coordinating a Silesia, Poland-Colorado Trade Mission to Colorado. The event will run from Tuesday, Oct. 20, to Friday, Oct. 23 in Denver, Colorado Springs and Boulder.
Members of the Polish delegation include Polish municipal officials, business executives and university representatives. The event is billed as a chance meet with the Polish delegation to catalyze economic, political and research opportunities between Colorado and Poland, central Europe and the European Union.
For more information, contact ceuce@colorado.edu.
CEUCE was established last year with a three-year, $450,000 grant, which aims to foster study of and teaching about the interactions between the EU and the United States.
University-based centers of excellence strive to raise awareness of the EU and build the “transatlantic relationship among academic, business, government and other communities” in Colorado.
CU is one of only 11 U.S. universities to win a three-year grant from the European Union.
Oct. 14, 2009
John Bruton
And that’s just within the last month.
This Friday, Bruton, the EU’s ambassador to the United States, will speak in Denver in an appearance sponsored by the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence, which was established last year at the University of Colorado.
Bruton’s appearance, on Friday, Oct. 16 at 9:45 at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver, is part of the CEUCE Transatlantic Affairs Events Series. Attendance at the event is by invitation only.
Bruton has been the EU’s ambassador to the United States since 2004. First elected to the Irish Parliament in 1969 at the age of 22, he was prime minister of Ireland from 1994 to 1997.
The United States and the EU enjoy a close alliance and together account for about half of the entire world economy. EU and U.S. firms also have the largest bilateral trading and investment relationship in the world, totaling about $1 billion daily, the EU reports.
But the fact that the two economic powerhouses are good friends does not preclude friendly criticism. Last month, for instance, Bruton publicly urged the U.S. Senate to pass climate-change legislation. If the Senate does not take up the issue until next year, Bruton said, “it would open the United States to the charge that it does not take its international commitments seriously, and that these commitments will always take second place to domestic politics.”
The United States is one of the 190 countries coming to the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December. “But the United States emits 25 percent of all the greenhouse gases that the Conference is trying to reduce,” Bruton said. "Is the U.S. Senate really expecting all the other countries to make a serious effort on climate change at the Copenhagen Conference in the absence of a clear commitment from the United States?”
Myka Lee, assistant director of the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence, says Bruton’s appearance further underscores the center’s efforts to make the Boulder-Denver area a nexus for the European Union. As CU leaders have noted, the center also helps advance a strategic university goal: transforming CU into a “global crossroads.”
Bruton’s appearance is one of several events hosted by CEUCE in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, Oct. 15, the Consul General of Turkey in Los Angeles, Hakan Tekin, will give a public lecture titled, "Easing the Tensions and Rebuilding Trust in a Troubled Region; Recent Trends in Turkish Foreign Policy." The event will take place at 4 p.m. in ATLAS 102 on the CU campus.
Tekin’s appearance is also sponsored by the CU Department of Political Science. To attend, contact Lee at ceuce@colorado.edu.
Additionally, CEUCE is coordinating a Silesia, Poland-Colorado Trade Mission to Colorado. The event will run from Tuesday, Oct. 20, to Friday, Oct. 23 in Denver, Colorado Springs and Boulder.
Members of the Polish delegation include Polish municipal officials, business executives and university representatives. The event is billed as a chance meet with the Polish delegation to catalyze economic, political and research opportunities between Colorado and Poland, central Europe and the European Union.
For more information, contact ceuce@colorado.edu.
CEUCE was established last year with a three-year, $450,000 grant, which aims to foster study of and teaching about the interactions between the EU and the United States.
University-based centers of excellence strive to raise awareness of the EU and build the “transatlantic relationship among academic, business, government and other communities” in Colorado.
CU is one of only 11 U.S. universities to win a three-year grant from the European Union.
Oct. 14, 2009