The European Council on Foreign Relations

tomorrow’s warriors

2010-09-02T09:41:02+00:00

Europeans need to respect what non-Western powers think, and that includes their militaries. Europe's Asian, African and Latin American counterparts are already playing a more vital role on the world stage; once Europe's defence budget cuts start to bite, this role will only increase.

A test calibrated to fix the result

2010-07-27T10:40:38+00:00

The EU's bank stress tests were flawed. The methodology suffered fundamental problems and was designed to fix the results. As ECFR council member Wolfgang Münchau argues in the Financial Times, if you tried to test the safety of cars using the same method, you would end up in jail.

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?

Germany�s withdrawal symptoms

2010-06-25T12:04:44+00:00

The euro crisis seems to have revealed a more inward-looking and nationalistic Germany. But Germany�s shift towards the domestic is more subtle than it appears. And it is certainly not just a recent development.

The euro crisis could lead to the destruction of the European Union

2010-06-23T16:08:28+00:00

George Soros gave a public speech on the euro crisis in Berlin on 23 June. In his speech, Mr Soros argued that the euro crisis could lead to the destruction of the European Union, setting in motion a “downward spiral” as member states struggle to reduce public deficits. He said delicate manoeuving is required, with German leadership. You can download the full transcript of the speech here in English, German and French.

Der politische Zwerg wird zu stark

2010-06-21T13:32:09+00:00

Die Machtbalace in den deutsch-franz�sischen Beziehungen hat sich radikal verschoben.

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?

The crisis we missed

2010-05-27T16:04:11+00:00

29 May is the 5th anniversary of the French �non� to the EU constitution. The Dutch followed with a �nee� a few days later. Richard Gowan paints a bleak picture of the Europe that might have emerged had the French and Dutch backed the EU constitution in 2005, and asks: Will the EU never be happy?

Why Cathy needs a good crisis

2010-05-26T09:38:18+00:00

Catherine Ashton will be judged on how she responds to her first international emergency. Budget cuts might mean there will be less EU missions to crisis zones under her watch. So where will her first opportunity come from? Africa, the Middle East, or a crisis involving Russia?

Europe would welcome a surprise act of statesmanship

2010-05-24T11:32:20+00:00

The historic reordering of British politics has been overshadowed by the world�s worst financial crisis in generations. The rest of Europe waits to see what David Cameron will do.

Old partners, new challenges

2010-05-20T15:53:26+00:00

What’s the verdict on the EU-Latin American summit, held in Spain earlier this week? For one thing: Latin American matters to Europe. And trade seems to have been a winner too.

Witneyhedgehog1

2010-05-17T10:18:31+00:00

What is defence really for and what should Europe do after defence budgets have been ravaged by the economic crisis? In the second of a two part series of podcasts, Daniel Korski talks to Nick Witney about how European security will have to be rethought from the ground up after the economic crisis - and how the best option might be to become a spikey, hedgehog-like larger version of Switzerland.

EU policy makers need a political reality check

2010-05-14T14:10:02+00:00

The European Commission�s budget monitoring proposals are sensible, but to succeed they must be firmly rooted in the democratic procedures of member states.

KorskiCleggservatives

2010-05-12T15:42:44+00:00

Forget reputations. Britain’s new coalition government of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will temper its foreign policy approach with a healthy dose of pragmatism.

GowanEuroExceptionalism

2010-05-11T11:38:11+00:00

The Euro crisis shows again that the EU needs international institutions like the IMF. This is giving observers from the developing world grim satisfaction that Europe is not as exceptional as it might like to think.

Wollen wir unseren alten Kaiser wiederhaben?

2010-05-07T15:45:43+00:00

Deutsche Sehns�chte nach normalisiertem Umgang mit dem eigenem Nationalgef�hl sind t�richt und gef�hrlich.

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.

The IKEA guide to Lisbon

2010-04-28T13:43:38+00:00

Implementing the Lisbon Treaty is the bureaucratic equivalent of putting together an IKEA flat-pack table. First step: read the instructions.

KorskiCleggEuroElection

2010-04-22T10:49:49+00:00

The emergence of Nick Clegg in the British election campaign means Europe is an issue that can no longer be ignored by the other candidates

A responsible government must re-examine Trident

2010-04-21T16:10:31+00:00

Tomorrow night�s foreign policy Leaders� Debate will cover a lot of ground, and Trident will no doubt be discussed. Nick Witney argues that a post-election defence review that does not include Trident is irresponsible and absurd.

Eine St�tze fur den Euro

2010-04-21T11:58:36+00:00

Der Euro braucht eine institutionelle Komplettierung und es h�ngt ganz wesentlich von Deutschland ab, ob das erreicht wird oder nicht.

KorskiGodementVolcano

2010-04-20T09:56:00+00:00

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has created transport chaos, but the EU can lead the way in finding a trans-national solution to a cross-border crisis.

The EU�s �slow food� enlargement

2010-04-14T16:29:40+00:00

The EU enlargement debate used to be about expanding freedoms and preventing conflict. But a lot of Europeans now think that whatever lies outside the EU�s borders can stay there.

WitneySTARTnotNOFUN

2010-04-12T11:16:50+00:00

Obama’s moves over nuclear weapons need putting in context. The US no longer needs them to equalise the USSR’s conventional forces, but others might need nuclear weapons to equalise the US military

What kind of interpolar world? daniel korski

2010-03-30T09:31:51+00:00

Two stories about the Middle East � Israel�s latest settlement plans and Iran�s nuclear programme � shed more light on the world�s power structure than the pages of a thousand history books.

LeonardEASblueprint

2010-03-26T17:51:50+00:00

Building the EAS is not simply about backroom Brussels politics and bureaucratic infighting. It is about giving Europe the means to punch its weight in a changing world

Europe�s future foreign policy at risk

2010-03-23T16:08:58+00:00

Before Catherine Ashton can become an effective actor on the global stage, the European Union’s new foreign policy chief needs to have in place the diplomatic service, ordained by the Lisbon treaty.

Korskisoftpowerhardstates

2010-03-22T10:24:20+00:00

It’s tempting to think that hard states like China and Russia cannot offer anything in terms of soft power. But Europe and the US need to understand that this viewpoint is no longer valid