Wider Europe

Dialogue of the deaf

  • Andrew Wilson
  • Commentary

As the European Union and Ukraine prepare for their delayed summit in Brussels on Feb. 25, many are wondering why the two sides are meeting at all. Nobody expects any decisive breakthrough, even though this is the highest level meeting between the two entities, taking place on a yearly basis.  

Will Russia pivot East or West?

  • Jonas Parello-Plesner
  • Commentary

Russia-watchers have long been interested in her place on the international arena. Now, with China at the centre of the growing power game, the question is how Russia will seek to position herself in the Pacific Century.  

Sanctions: a useful but flawed alternative to war

  • Konstanty Gebert
  • Commentary

Sanctions are the EU's sole coercive instrument of power short of military action (Brussels, mercifully, does not engage in warfare). The EU needs to understand their impact so that it can use them more effectively.     

Ten trends for 2013

  • Commentary

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?  

Bringing Turkey back to the EU debate

  • Dimitar Bechev, Nathalie Tocci
  • Commentary

Shunned by the EU with membership talks effectively blocked, Turkey feels empowered. It is no longer on the European periphery, but at the centre of its own world.  

Putin’s visit rekindles the Russia-Turkey affair

  • Dimitar Bechev
  • Commentary

Are Turkey and Russia still friends? Critics of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan are often heard fretting about “Putinization” in Turkey, but is the Russian leader a welcome guest in a country that is now the principal supporter of the Syrian opposition?