Russia is shifting
The EU-Russia summit in Rostov is an opportunity for the new EU to show it can act effectively on the international stage. But only if it first tries to understand what Russia’s motives are and where it can help
José Ignacio Torreblanca
Hardware & software
Spain seriously needs to review its priorities in public expenditure, and its attitudes toward education. Otherwise it will go on being that country which a former German foreign minister called “a beautiful country, full of four lane divided highways with no cars on them.”
Do an Obama
The present type of EU summit with international actors ought to change, otherwise we will be perpetuating a type of encounter that is closer to circus than to diplomacy, and where it is hard to tell who are the lions and who are the tamers
Europe without Europeans
Of all the problems facing Europe, one seems very difficult to solve: demographic forecasts, added to political ones, point to a Europe without Europeans
Holes in the cheese
Nuclear crises require a lot of unlikely events to occur at once, like all the holes in slices of Gruy?re cheese lining up. But as the nuclear ambitions of the Iranian president remind us, that is not a reason to ignore the perils of atomic weapons
Downfall
Volcanoes, Greek tragedy and government collapses. Divine intervention? Not entirely – greed and stupidity play a big part
Despatches from a presidency in limbo
Summit after summit. Is the Spanish Presidency of the European Union running out of legs?
Prejudices
Sorry, but protestants do not perform better than catholics and EU laws do not represent 80% of national legislation. It’s time to have another look at some deep-rooted prejudices
Trench warfare
Snubbing the European Union never came so easy or at such a cheap price
Tomatoes and foreign policy
Europe has to make up its mind: it’s either tomatoes or immigrants