European Power

Making the most of Geneva II

The Geneva II conference on Syria will finally convene in Switzerland next week. Prospects for an immediate or dramatic breakthrough are decidedly bleak, yet that should not be the bar against which the merits of convening Geneva II should be measured.

Why Europe can’t leave Asia to the US

Can Europeans safely ignore rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific? European policymakers may want to focus on their near neighbourhood and the transatlantic relationship but one way or the other they will have to deal with the fallout from rising tensions in Asia

Britain’s Bulgaria-Romania phobia

The panic in Britain over prospective Bulgarian and Romanian immigration is based on a misunderstanding of European rules. It is also at odds with the country's best traditions.

European defence: ten years on

A  transformed world poses fundamental military and political questions that Europe's national leaders need to answer. Perhaps the most useful thing this week's summit could do is open the door to a thorough debate on the future of Europe's foreign policy.

Europe’s strategic deficit

At their end-year summit, Europe’s 28 national leaders will take time out from their interminable wrangling over the economic crisis to discuss defence. Many Britons will find this very proposition bizarre, if not offensive.