An excellent, view here of the European Parlaiment Elections and voter’s unenthusiatic reaction towards them. The skilled author, Timothy Garton Ash suffers, however, from having only a national view of the importance of the elections. At European level, the elections are vital and, given the current state of economic collapse, could influence many global policies, potentially for centuries. The nation-centric view […]
Next Wednesday negotiations will begin on a possible EU/Canada trade deal. A study has estimated that the deal could bring real income gains of €20billion annually for both partners. Which only makes the absence of a similar EU/US deal more conspicious. In fact it is the increased protectionist feeling in the US that has blocked momentum toward such […]
On Friday, the European Union will mark the 5th anniversary of the “Big Bang” enlargement, when 15 mainly Western European Members were joined by 10 Central & Eastern European members in the EU. 5 years on many historical issues remain that have tended to divide these countries. Slovenia is currently blocking the entry of Croatia to the EU, due to a dispute […]
In June, 500 Million people all around the European Union will vote in the European Parliament elections. The elections will be useful to ascertain if the centre-left are gaining ground during the economic crisis. Already some polls are suggesting they may not be benefitting from the crisis, and may end up losing seats. However Agence Europe […]
Georgia may have once been America’s darling in the Caucasus, but no more. As pressure mounts from within on Georgia’s young President, Mikhail Saakashvili, the political dynamics outside the country seem ever less favorable. First there was the world economic crisis, reducing trade and foreign aid. Then there was the lukewarm attitude toward Georgia on […]
It’s understandable that American leaders believe they have a stake in the EU, as each other’s main trading partners, leaders of the developed world, and the fact that the political project EU would never have existed without US support and encouragemnet. Therefore George Bush and now President Obama are probably mystified at the negative reaction to their declared […]
President Obama arrives in Prague on Saturday on the last leg of his European odyssey in order to participate in an EU-USA summit. The Agenda of his visit is here, it includes lots of the usual formal meetings with the Czech Prime-Minister Topolanek and Czech President Klaus. However as the New York Times reports, the […]
As President Obama tours Europe trying to get support for his iniatitives, especially in Afghanistan – one commentator says the most successful method of getting what the US wants from Europe is to ignore it and wait for it to come around to your policy. According to Stephen Sestanovich writing in this month’s Foreign Policy […]
Timothy Garton Ash asks whether Europe is divided and weak at the G20. As I blogged before, there have been talks at an EU level between the participating G20 nations (UK, France, Italy & Germany) to try to come to a common position, but Ash argues that the lack of a strong united front will […]
This Newsweek Article considers the stability of the Euro currency. There are 16 members of the Euro-zone since Slovakia adopted the currency as of 1st January 2009. As the article states, in the current instability many other countries are scrambling to join the currency.
On the 6th March 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the European Parliament. While welcoming her, the Institution’s President Hans-Gert Pöttering laid out the unique characteristics of the Parliament: We are the only democratically elected international institution. We bring together the elected representatives of nearly 500 million Europeans from over 150 national political parties […]
The Friday conclusions of the European Council (the meeting of all EU Heads of Government or Heads of State) contained an an almost audible tone of defensiveness. The document was at pains to reiterate the huge amounts of money Europe was spending on economic stimulus. Only one sentence into the document and it read “Reviewing […]
It must be a bit of a mystery (if not a source of annoyance) for most European leaders to see President Obama, the leader of the most powerful nation on earth devoting much of his last Tuesday to one of the smallest countries in Europe – one that is not even a military ally of […]
One of the European Union’s most important officials, Commissioner Jacques Barrot is visiting the US this week with some good news for the US administration. The Frenchman, who is charge of Justice affairs and security is dropping hints about Europe accepting up to 60 detainees that are currently interned in the Guantanamo detention facility in […]
Brussels never received so much attention from the previous US administration, so last week‘s visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and today’s of Vice-President Joe Biden are most welcome. Most of the Vice-President’s engagements were at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, however he did have meetings with the EU Policy chief Javier Solana. A European […]