The socio-political development of the Arab Spring has been a real wake-up call for the EU’s policy-makers. Rapid changes in the South Mediterranean once again pointed the finger at the EU’s inability to act swiftly, decisively and audaciously to the events unfolding beyond the EU’s southern borders. Numerous policy changes have recently occurred in the […]
By Dominik P. Jankowski and Paweł Świeżak The recently popular thesis concerning the EU turning to the South is an oversimplification and needs to be treated with reserve. Nevertheless, the interests and the involvement of the EU have been moving towards the African continent at least since 2010. This is clearly visible especially in the […]
Since the loss of Nicolas Sarkozy on his bid for reelection at the presidency of France in May 2012 the French right, especially the main party, UMP – Union for a Popular Movement -, has been in disarray. The election for the presidency of the Party of the UMP taking place on November 22, 2012 […]
Could Nazi Germany happen again? Could an autocracy take hold in a democratic country? These are the questions posed by a teacher in modern Germany, a teacher who is forced to teach about autocracy to high school students for one week. When he asks those questions, many of his students say they believe the sway the Nazis […]
This film is not only powerful but also excellent in every way. It centers on a Muslim woman, Ajla, and a Serb soldier, Danijel, during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s. Ethnic tensions, long suppressed by Tito, come to a head as Yugoslavia disintegrates. The brutal ethnic cleansing of Muslims by Serbs is shown […]
Two and a half years after the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU showed up with a new human rights face for its external relations. The often repeated words of Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stating that human rights have to be a “silver thread” that runs […]
If there is one element that Europeans can agree on is the satisfaction of President Obama’s reelection. The European Union is currently facing visceral crises such: Cameron’s attacks on the EU budget, the uncertain future of France’s economic recovery, the movements of independence, and so on. Despite what was supposed to be a tight race, […]
Europe has been these last couple years at the forefront of world media. First, the Eurocrisis and its domestic impacts have been over studied and analyzed. Second, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the EU creating an unfortunate outcry throughout Europe. Third, Western Europe has been plagued by a series […]
New America Foundation President Steve Coll wrote in The New Yorker mid-week about the foreign policy topics overlooked by President Obama and Governor Romney during the final presidential debate. It was valuable to have one debate out of three focused on the U.S. role in the world. It was also inevitable that both candidates still […]
The state of the U.S.-EU relationship is not on the list of topics considered in the recent National Opinion Ballot Report, but the responses in it still matter to Europe analysts. Poll answers on the issues of energy politics and the promotion and defense of democracy abroad may contain some insights into the immediate future […]
On the eve of the third and final presidential debate dedicated to the U.S. foreign policy between President Obama and Governor Romney, it is appropriate time to get back to the common foreign policy of the EU and explore where it stands today. The Treaty of Lisbon introduces two important elements into the institutional architecture […]
It all started with the aftermath of World War II and in the emotional and material rumbles of Europe. The visionary great men of Europe — Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer — understood that peace in Europe would only be possible through deep economic integration, strengthening an irreversible degree of cooperation […]
After watching the highly praised independent documentary winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, How to die in Oregon, I could not resist to connect the dots with the EU. This powerful, and in some levels traumatizing, documentary looks at the controversial Death with Dignity Act adopted by the state of […]
Identifying “strategic partners,” argued Christian Leffler, has become the main priority of the EU in order to remain relevant on the international stage. This strategic assessment was part of a presentation by Christian Leffler, Managing Director for the Americas (North, Central and South America and the Caribbean) at the European External Action Service (EEAS) entitled: […]
Nestled among gorgeous mountains, blessed with exotic cuisine, and loved for its arts and outgoing people, Georgia has many suitors. Long courted by her northern Russian neighbor, she has in recent years been beset by foreign admirers, bearing gifts of “democracy” and “growth” that (they promise) will ensure she lives happily ever after. With parliamentary […]