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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