The European Council on Foreign Relations

ECFR this week: 15th June

Date: 15th June 2012  |  Author: Andreas Mullerleile,

Categories: ECFR this week ,
Tags: , euro crisis, euro crisis , europe, syria, turkey, turkey , egypt

This week ECFR published an important new policy report as part of the ongoing 'Reinventing Europe' project. 'A Europe of incentives: regaining the trust of citizens and markets’ by Mark Leonard and Jan Zielonka lays out how a more inclusive Europe could be achieved and how a Two-Class Europe can be avoided:

"Angela Merkel says that political union is the key to fiscal union, but Europe is becoming an "apolitical union" where elections allow citizens to change governments but not policies, and technocrats rule the roost. What is needed is a new reform agenda that is generous, flexible, empowering - a Europe of incentives." - Mark Leonard

Mark Leonard also launched a new fortnightly column at Reuters. Here is his first post looking at the dark side of European technocracy.

More on the euro crisis

• The Spanish bailout is here and it is a psychological blow for Spain, writes Jose Ignacio Torreblanca in his weekly column - and here is a podcast (in Spanish) in which Nacho explains the Spanish crisis.
• What would have happened if the rest of the eurozone had reformed like Germany? Sebastian Dullien destroys some popular German myths.

Middle East and North Africa

• Richard Gowan thinks it is time for the Kremlin to rethink its Syria strategy.
• Julien Barnes-Dacey and Christopher Phillips are wondering wether it was a wise decision of the West to ignore Iran in the Syria crisis.
• Ahead of the second round of Egypt's presidential elections, Elijah Zarwan is in Cairo and examines the Brotherhood and the Military - the two dominant forces in Egypt's unfolding drama.
• Dimitar Bechev looks at the Kurdish problem in Turkey and its wider regional implications.