Rain prayer
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
ECFR
A glass half full
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?
Foreign policy needs a rethink above and beyond Europe
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?
Russia is shifting
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.
Hardware & software
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.”
Europe would welcome a surprise act of statesmanship
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
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.
Do an Obama
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
Hedgehog Europe?
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
The European Commission?s budget monitoring proposals are sensible, but to succeed they must be firmly rooted in the democratic procedures of member states