European Power

Markets wrong about ECB

The markets have made a habit of being wrong when analysing decisions made by policy makers trying to fix the euro crisis. Now they've made it clear they are disappointed by the words of Mario Draghi, and they're wrong again.  

Reinventing Europe: the Dutch paradox

As part of the ‘Reinvention of Europe’ project, ECFR is publishing a series of papers on the national debates within EU member states about the crisis and the future direction of Europe. The fifth paper in the series examines the situation in the Netherlands ahead of crucial elections.  

Multilateralism: Moscow rules?

With Russia due to play a central role in multilateral institutions over the next two years, its obstructionism over Syria does not bode well. However Europeans may find – to their benefit – that it is actually China that calls the shots on the international stage.  

The Long Shadow of Ordoliberalism

In its attempts to rescue the euro, Germany is often seen as the odd country out. However, what is seldom understood abroad is that the German position is about more than limiting its own fiscal exposure.  

The end of the affair?

Four years after Barack Obama's landmark speech in front of a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin, the transatlantic alliance is fading fast. What went wrong?  

A collective failure

Although Mariano Rajoy is distancing himself from the latest package of austerity measures being imposed upon Spain, they are the ultimate aim of a collective failure that must be explained to the Spanish people.  

Democracy and the EU’s ‘strategic partnerships’

If the EU has any real aspiration to be a normative power it must rethink its 'strategic partnerships' with the world's other powers, reflecting the importance of values like democracy, rather than ignoring them.  

The EU’s Rights of Passage

Putting the promotion of human rights at the centre of the EU's foreign policy is something I have focused on since I took up office. But to champion the kind of people that deserve our support requires that the EU overcome two key challenges, each one of which can undermine the struggle to build a better world.   

Merkel is our only hope

The British debate on Germany and the euro should focus on understanding Merkel's technocratic ideas without invoking Hitler and the Second World War. The best way to get Germany to abandon its counterproductive economic reforms is to talk about a compelling European future, rather than dwelling on the past.