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.
Commentary
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?
EU – Turkey relations: A glimmer of hope?
Relations between the EU and Turkey have hit such lows over the past few years that even marginal improvements look like big breakthroughs. However, positive momentum is building up thanks to the new French President Francois Hollande and a pragmatic Cypriot EU Council presidency.
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.
What Netanyahu learned from Shamir (and others didn’t)
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu eulogized the country's seventh prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir. At first glance the two strike very contrasting profiles yet in terms of ideology and policies, they are probably the two most kindred spirits to have held the office.
Terminating the European status quo
It is becoming clear that the roots of the euro crisis are political rather than economic. The 2008 financial meltdown may well give birth to one of the great moments of political realignment where mainstream parties are being pushed to the sidelines and parties that used to skulk on the fringes are dominating the agenda.
Reinventing Europe: Bulgaria and the anxieties of incomplete membership
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 fourth paper in the series examines the situation in Bulgaria.