Should countries which are ready to intensify the development of a common European policy in certain areas do so without having to wait for others or should they wait until all member states of the EU are ready ?

Among the thousands of advocates in Washington DC only a select few have risen to the top of their profession. Some of the Top Lobbyists are hired guns who have proven to clients that they can shape the agenda on Capitol Hill. Others are advocates who derive power from the grassroots, turning old-fashioned organizing into potent political power. Some work for a single business or corporation, giving them the ability to speak with authority on economic and tax policy.

While there are plenty of good public policy advocates at EU and member state level, the public policy advocacy profession in most countries has not developed its own mechanisms for indentifying them and providing professional recognition. In well-established professions, one of the main leadership functions is to build a framework for continuing learning from entry to the profession to advanced levels of standards, and systems for providing certification for members who reach those standards.

Professional Certification

There is considerable confusion about the similarities, differences and relationships between the words “accreditation”, “registration” and “certification”. They are not quite the same thing. They all have different meanings.

The International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) Council Committee on Conformity Assessment has attempted to resolve the semantics problem by standardizing the following definitions:

Priority area 4: Sustainable and inclusive development and growth and continental integration

Strategic objectives: Stimulate economic growth that reduces poverty, create decent jobs and mobilise the entrepreneurial potential of people, in particular the youth and women, in a sustainable manner; support development of private sector and SMEs; support the continental integration process, notably through accelerated infrastructure development, energy, industrialization and investment.

At a speech today in Brussels, President Obama said Russia's annexation of Crimea must be met with condemnation, "not because we're trying to keep Russia down, but because the principles that have meant so much to Europe and the world must be upheld."

At least since Soviet times, Russian leaders have been keen on outlining long term plans and doctrines in which the aims and means of their policy are explained to the people and the surrounding world. The most relevant Concept to Russian foreign policy presents the following priorities and objectives:

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has stressed that the European Union should conduct negotiations about the signing of an association agreement not only with Ukraine but also with Russia. "The fundamental interest of the EU lies in the fact that Russia would be its reliable and stable partner. The key solution  for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict lies in collaboration with Russia, not in confrontation with it," said Schroeder. He points out that it is not in the interests of Europe or the United States that Russia would focus on Asia not on the EU.

The decision (instigated by the U.S.) and endorsed by Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan to evict Russian from the G-8 is a fairly empty gesture. First there’s no formal enforcement mechanism for removing a country from the G-8, which has been meeting since 1975, so all the other countries have to do is not invite Russia to their party. The expulsion serves no constructive purpose.

We reproduce hereunder an extract of an article written by Stephen F Cohen Professor Emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton, that was published in The Nation (USA) on March 3, 2014 under the title “Distorting Russia” How the American media misrepresent Putin, Sochi and Ukraine.