Foreign Policy Scorecard 2012 – Sofia launch
Closed launch of the Scorecard 2012.
Guests
Adelina Marini, EUinside
Boyko Vassilev, Bulgarian National Television
Georgi Pirinski, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hans Kundnani, Policy Fellow, ECFR London
Ilin Stanev, Capital weekly
Marin Lessenski, Open Society Institute
Monika Panaiotova, Chairperson of the Committe for foreign affars, National Assembly
Nickolay Miladinov, Bulgarian National Radio
Ognyan Minchev, Institute for Regional and International Studies
Pavel Anastasov, Adminitstration of the President
Radan Kanev, Deputy Chairperson, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria
Vessela Tcherneva, Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Vladimir Shopov, Sophia Analytica
Chaired by
Dimitar Bechev, Head of ECFR Sofia
2011 may come to be seen as a turning point for the European Union. As its leaders failed to reassure the rest of the world about the sustainability of their common currency and the future of the European project, the continent seemed to be losing its agency: where it was once seen as a critical part of the solution to international problems, it has now become a problem to be dealt with by others. In spite of some foreign-policy successes such as Libya and the deal on climate change in Durban, the euro crisis seriously constrained Europe’s ability to react to the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa – arguably the most important geopolitical event in its neighbourhood since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the introduction to 2011 Scorecard, we wrote that Europe was distracted by the crisis. in 2012, Europe was diminished by it. It remains to be seen whether 2011 will turn out to be a decisive moment in the long-term decline of the EU or the beginning of a fight back.
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