The European Council on Foreign Relations

UK Russia reset reluctance

Date: 12th September 2011  |  Author: Ben Judah,

Categories: Wider Europe,

A good rule in restaurants is always to have a good look over your shoulder before taking too freely. I recently had lunch with a group of British diplomats, and one chided me for speaking a bit too loudly, while the Russians sat at the next table.

He had a point. Our Russian neighbours – a delegation high on moustaches and low on women – had fallen silent, as they swilled glasses of wine and tried to listen in on our conversation. Perhaps they were looking for clues about the prickly relations between Moscow and London, ahead of a visit by the British prime minister, David Cameron.

Other European countries are rushing to embrace the Russian business opportunities growing in the reset and recession induced political fair weather. Yet Britain has reset reluctance. While Merkel and Sarkozy regularly ink documents and grin for the cameras with Russia’s top leadership – not so the

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On the site this week: 9th September 2011

Date: 9th September 2011  |  Author: Fran Yeoman,

Categories: Europe and the world,

This week has seen the launch of a major new competition by ECFR in partnership with the Central European University, IDEA, and the Open Society Foundation on the theme of ‘Security Liberty.’ Ten years after 9/11, we are seeking undergraduates from around the world who can develop andadvocate a security policy that balances the need for security with respect for freedom and human rights. More details can be found here. Please spread the word among students and teachers that you know.

Elsewhere:

• Ulrike Guérot writes today, in her latest Germany in Europe blog post, about the need for political action in the wake of this week’s decision by the Karlsruhe constitutional court
• Jonas Parello-Plesner laments the lack of constructive debate about Europe in the election campaign taking place in his native Denmark
• Jonas also writes about the US and Europe’s shared dependence

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Germany in Europe: Karlsruhe has spoken

Date: 9th September 2011  |  Author: Ulrike Guérot,

Categories: Germany in Europe,

“Tout est language,” everything is language, the famous French psychologist Francoise Dolto once said – and the language was good. Germany’s constitutional court, in its judgment this week, more or less reiterated its existing position about the need for more Bundestag involvement in European decision-making. Its approval of Merkel’s response to the European debt crisis did not come as a surprise. Yet importantly, compared to its judgment on the Lisbon Treaty, which was said to have a ‘national’ tone, the wording of the court’s latest pronouncement was favourable to Europe. Indeed, the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the (first) bailout of Greece and funding of the EFSF is compatible with German Basic Law can be seen as “pro-European,” according to an initial evaluation by Christian Calliess, professor of public and European law at the Freie Universität Berlin.

In essence, the

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Securing Liberty - your ideas wanted!

Date: 5th September 2011  |  Author: Susi Dennison ,

Categories: Rule of law, democracy and human rights,

Later this month, the world will mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 bombings. This date is now understood to mark a seismic shift in our perceptions of our own security. The terrible events of September 11^th 2001 catapulted the debate over the relationship between security and human rights into the public eye. It also placed this debate – about whether a security policy that departs from human rights norms on issues like detention and interrogation can ever be justified by heightened threat – at the heart of policy-making.

In order to generate discussion among a generation of young people who become politically aware during the last decade, and for whom the ‘war on terror’ paradigm is effectively the norm, ECFR has joined with Central European University, IDEA, and the Open Society Foundation to launch a Global Debate and Public Policy Challenge on the theme of ‘Securing

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On the site this week: 2nd September 2011

Date: 2nd September 2011  |  Author: Fran Yeoman,

Categories: Europe and the world,

The big news for us as we enter the autumn is the opening of a new ECFR office in Warsaw, under the guidance of Konstanty Gebert. Click here for more details. Welcome to our new team!

Meanwhile, there are two big stories in the news. First, Libya:

• Richard Gowan has examined the question of whether the EU should provide the backbone of a peacekeeping operation in Libya, and sees several serious potential problems with this approach.
   
• In this blog post, Richard also looks at the possible involvement of the United Nations.
   
• We also recorded this audio podcast with Richard and Hans Kundnani, examining what the end game for Gaddafi might mean for Obama and Merkel. This blog post from Fran Yeoman summarises some of the arguments from the podcast.
   
• The complications the Libyan situation presents to Beijing are examined in this blog post by Jonas

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