Think again: European decline
Although it may seem that Europe is down and out as it struggles with multiple crises, things are in fact far, far better than they appear on the surface.
Although it may seem that Europe is down and out as it struggles with multiple crises, things are in fact far, far better than they appear on the surface.
British public opinion is polarised over the legacy of Margaret Thatcher. But whether she was right or wrong she recognised the need for fundamental change in Britain in the 1970s – and that is something that Europe could learn from now.
The Cypriot crisis has made it brutally clear just how bad misgovernment with the EU – and the eurozone – really is. The only way to fix this is for genuine banking, fiscal, and economic union within the eurozone, backed by legitimate political instruments.
Like Greece, Spain and Germany, Britain now faces a cathartic moment when it needs to decide what price it is worth paying to stay in the European Union: coolheaded rationality must prevail over emotion
Cameron's EU speech is a bad miscalculation that underestimates how much the world has changed, and how much Britain needs Europe if it is to retain an influential voice in global affairs.
The main theme of 2013 is likely to be the unraveling of the global economy and supporting political integration.
2012 saw continuing crisis in the eurozone, growing Euroscepticism and populism in some corners of Europe, faltering transitions in Egypt and elsewhere, more violence in Syria, a new leadership in China, and both Putin II and Obama II. So what will 2013 hold?
As part of the ’Reinventing Europe' project, ECFR is publishing a series of papers on the national debates within EU member states over the crisis and the future direction of Europe. In the thirteenth of the series Teresa de Sousa and Carlos Gaspar analyse the situation in Portugal.
As part of the ’Reinventing Europe' project, ECFR is publishing a series of papers on the national debates within EU member states over the crisis and the future direction of Europe. In the twelfth of the series Brigid Laffan analyses the situation in Ireland.
On Thursday EU leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss the EU budget for the next seven years. ECFR experts in Spain, the UK, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany and Italy tell us what to expect.