The European Council on Foreign Relations

Embryo states

2010-07-20T11:26:39+00:00

Everyone's talking about the BRICs. But we shouldn't forget about the territories trying to become states. Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan and East Timor: they're all looking for our attention, and in some cases make better 'states' that the recognised ones.

PIGS can fly

2010-07-13T09:37:47+00:00

Spain's footballing triumph at the World Cup came as a welcome distraction for the Spanish people. Their economy is a shambles; their politicians are struggling to do their jobs; and the Spanish presidency of the EU badly damaged their international reputation. But at least Spain's football team offer lessons as well as hope.

The BRIC bloc

2010-07-07T08:57:19+00:00

The Political West (the US, Europe and Japan) are in the doldrums while the BRICs keep growing. A third of world economic growth in the last decade has taken place in BRIC countries. So far, so good for the BRICs. But what next?

Torreblanca on Presidencies

2010-06-29T10:01:30+00:00

Spain’s EU presidency fell far short of expectations, but it was handed a presidency without precedent. One thing is certain: a foreign relations system based on holding summits without content has no future at all.

Torreblanca on EU-Cuba

2010-06-23T09:14:48+00:00

The common position on Cuba is so anomalous and exceptional that, rather than providing an example of European sponsorship of human rights, what it exemplifies are glaring contradictions in European policy.

glass half full

2010-06-11T13:46:40+00:00

The Western Balkans are taking steps towards reconciliation, but there is still a long way to go. At the current rate of progress the chances of these countries joining the EU by 2020, as some hope, are slim. Is the glass half full, half empty - or simply too big for Balkan leaders to fill?

Glass half full torreblanca

2010-06-11T08:02:25+00:00

Foreign policy needs a rethink above and beyond Europe

2010-06-09T09:26:43+00:00

At the end of June Spain reaches the end of its rotating presidency of the EU. Spain’s economic woes and the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty have made it a difficult presidency to handle. But there’s more at stake: the decreasing influence of the EU on the international stage puts Spain in a difficult position. Should it move away from Europe, and if yes, how?

Torreblanca on Russia

2010-06-01T08:57:54+00:00

The EU-Russia summit in Rostov is an opportunity for the new EU to show it can act effectively on the international stage. But only if it first tries to understand what Russia’s motives are and where it can help.

Nacho on Budget

2010-05-25T11:13:14+00:00

Spain seriously needs to review its priorities in public expenditure, and its attitudes toward education. Otherwise it will go on being that country which a former German foreign minister called “a beautiful country, full of four lane divided highways with no cars on them.”

Torreblanca on Summits

2010-05-18T09:56:07+00:00

The present type of EU summit with international actors ought to change, otherwise we will be perpetuating a type of encounter that is closer to circus than to diplomacy, and where it is hard to tell who are the lions and who are the tamers.

Torreblanca on Europe Future

2010-05-11T10:06:14+00:00

Of all the problems facing Europe, one seems very difficult to solve: demographic forecasts, added to political ones, point to a Europe without Europeans.

JITGruyere

2010-05-04T14:14:29+00:00

Nuclear crises require a lot of unlikely events to occur at once, like all the holes in slices of Gruy�re cheese lining up. But as the nuclear ambitions of the Iranian president remind us, that is not a reason to ignore the perils of atomic weapons.

Torreblanca on Europe in crisis

2010-04-28T09:21:01+00:00

Volcanoes, Greek tragedy and government collapses. Divine intervention? Not entirely - greed and stupidity play a big part.

Torreblanca on EU summits

2010-04-20T08:52:15+00:00

Summit after summit. Is the Spanish Presidency of the European Union running out of legs?

Torreblanca on Prejudices

2010-04-07T10:59:41+00:00

Sorry, but protestants do not perform better than catholics and EU laws do not represent 80% of national legislation. It’s time to have another look at some deep-rooted prejudices.

Torreblanca on Europe snubbed

2010-03-29T10:28:45+00:00

Snubbing the European Union never came so easy or at such a cheap price.

Torreblanca on Morocco

2010-03-22T09:51:50+00:00

Europe has to make up its mind: it’s either tomatoes or immigrants.

Torreblanca on Kosovo

2010-03-12T10:29:09+00:00

There is no way back from Kosovo’s declaration of independence - we must accept this and start helping to build a prosperous nation.

Torreblanca on Cuba

2010-03-02T12:11:27+00:00

Spain’s policy on Cuba it’s a wait-and-see attitude, and not an absurd one; but we should not use the word “policy”.

Torreblanca Pi�ata capitalism

2010-02-24T10:54:14+00:00

Europe should have a stronger voice when it comes to reforms in the financial system.

Torreblanca on Immigration

2010-02-03T10:04:00+00:00

The only relevant question about immigrants is whether or not their children will go to university.

Zapatero, stay cool. And if necessary, be boring. torreblanca

2010-01-21T14:21:38+00:00

Interview with Jos� Ignacio Torreblanca on what to expect from the Spanish EU Presidency in times of economic crisis and institutional innovation.

The European grill

2010-01-19T10:13:57+00:00

Every EU presidency faces unexpected crises; now Hait� is rapidly becoming the crisis that tests both the Spanish rotating presidency and the EU’s capacity for coordinating foreign policy action.

A Bush under the tree

2010-01-08T10:30:45+00:00

Obama has spent the year picking up the lost balls left behind by Bush, now he’s ready to play again in 2010.

spanish eu presidency torreblanca

2009-12-23T12:12:22+00:00

Spain will need to put national interests aside if it is to help give the post-Lisbon Europe real influence on the world stage.

torreblance world climate authority el pais

2009-12-22T15:28:47+00:00

We only have one planet. But we are managing it by outdated means: sovereignty was good at controlling feudal lords a couple of hundred years ago. Perhaps it is in the area of the climate change that the supranational EU can be a model for the rest of the world?

The right to self-goverment always rings twice

2009-12-16T11:06:39+00:00

The only means that Morocco has to maintain control of the Western Sahara is, apart from brute force, its ability to safeguard the individual and collective rights of the Sahrawis.

Iron diplomacy

2009-12-01T11:20:09+00:00

How is it that Spain, a country that has recently known a long dictatorship, is so insensitive to activists for democracy and human rights in other countries?

Reflecting for action

2009-11-22T10:59:40+00:00

What will Europe’s leaders do with the reflection group’s report, which aims to be straight talking, concise and legible, when Felipe Gonz�lez delivers next year?