Europe's World

New as it is, the Mediterranean Union needs an overhaul

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The painful transition from the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership to the new Union for the Mediterranean isn’t over. Roberto Aliboni outlines the direction it should go and warns the EU to take more of a back seat and let Arab governments decide the UfM’s future

It is still not too late for Europe to change its misguided Mediterranean thinking

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

EU policymakers have largely ignored the structural needs of Arab countries when fashioning co-operation policies. But Samir Aïta says that with influential voices in the Arab World now re-thinking their priorities, Europe too should update its policy agenda

But optimism on Africa’s future seems risky

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Why the EU newcomers still don't make the best of membership

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Many of the EU’s newest member states are no longer the euro-enthusiasts of yesteryear, and they also complain they have less influence on policymaking than they had hoped. Pavel Telicka assesses the newcomers' track record so far

The dragon has two burning issues it wants Europe to resolve first

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

BERN - Switzerland’s ambiguous EU relationship is now a source of growing political tension

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

How the UK's new Tory-led government sees its EU policy

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Britain's new Foreign Secretary William Hague says that in spite of his party's frank criticism of some aspects of the EU, the Union also deserves considerable credit for making Europe freer, more stable and more prosperous

Why the U.S. can't look to NATO or the EU to support its Russia strategy

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Europe is proving a foreign policy disappointment to the Obama Administration as it struggles to propound a clearer strategy toward Russia. Washington now recognises, says Stephen Szabo, that only Berlin has the key to a new relationship with Moscow

Europe should be wary of the Russian bear's embrace

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Russia apparently believes its growing economic power and revitalised military influence entitles it to a bigger role in the transatlantic security dialogue. Janusz Onyszkiewicz argues that Europe should be cautious – Russians still believe in the idea of “Great Powers” rather than multi-lateralism

Europe's Caspian gas policy to be key to energy security

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The EU's ability to harness its economic muscle and its infant "external action" diplomatic service will be crucially important to securing long-term gas supplies from the Caspian region. John Roberts explores the issues on which Brussels must take a lead

The European salt industry and public health: Correct consumer information & balanced dietary choices are the way forward

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

In truth, the newcomers are contributing more than meets the eye

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Dreaming the impossible dream – A truly democratic EU

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Introduction of the Lisbon treaty has been widely seen as marking the end of the EU’s institutional reform process for the foreseeable future. But Keith Richardson sets out an idea for a much more radical overhaul of the EU’s political and democratic structures

Feeding the world and combating climate change

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The hard lessons of the global financial crisis

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The downgrading of sovereign debt by the rating agencies may yet trigger another financial crisis. Jean-Paul Fitoussi explains what governments must now do to stop them from sapping the confidence of financial markets

Where Europe and America differ on global banking regulation

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It's tempting to base ideas for global financial regulation on “bashing big banks”, says Avinash Persaud, who chaired the UN’s “Stiglitz Commission” on financial reform. But he warns that the greater problem is that of diverging American and European views on a safer rulebook

It’s global population shrinkage we should really worry about

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The problems associated with a global population of perhaps 11bn by 2050 are already beginning to loom large, but Joergen Oerstroem Moeller warns that the real challenges will come when by mid-century populations begin to shrink and economic growth becomes constrained

Of course there are transatlantic differences, but banking is truly international

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A practical guide to decarbonising the global economy

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Sorting fact from fiction is becoming central to the climate change debate. In the aftermath of Copenhagen and with Cancun looming ahead, Jim Skea distinguished what can be done and what must be done

Why the EU, for all its problems, is still a model for the Arab World

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) often look with admiration at the EU. Abdulaziz Sager who chairs the Gulf Research Centre, assesses what the GCC can and cannot learn from the EU

Greening the CAP, and pruning it too

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It will soon be crunch-time for Europe’s controversially expensive CAP. Valentin Zahrnt puts forward ideas for slimming the EU’s €50bn a year farm budget while making it environmentally attractive

We are at a turning point for the MDGs

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It’s not too late to rescue the UN’s Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) from failure, says Antonio Vigilante. But it will demand a major effort and the leadership of the EU for the ill-effects of the global economic crisis to be reversed

Tough decisions delayed mean tougher difficulties later

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Europe must get inside the mind of the dragon

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Europe has long resisted American pressure and co-operated with China on technology, military and trade projects. Yet the EU still has little understanding of Beijing’s security aims, warns May-Britt Stumbaum. It must engage China at a much deeper level if it is to match the sophistication of the U.S. relationship with Beijing

How Europe could ease the economic crisis around the Mediterranean

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The southern Mediterranean looks set to bear the long-term brunt of the economic downturn in Europe, says George Joffé. He sets out the problems now facing many Arab countries and examines the ways that EU countries could lend a helping hand

Taylor on Nick Mabey's "A low carbon strategy for Europe"

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A low-carbon energy revolution in Europe is on the horizon, thanks to the 2020 energy and climate targets.

How to stop anti-crisis policies from becoming protectionist

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

“Industrial policy” has long been a euphemism in most parts of Europe for economic nationalism, and the problem is getting worse. Elie Cohen looks at the policy aftermath of the financial crisis and sets out a framework for EU-level industrial policymaking

This may be a key year, but alas not a decisive one

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Sobkow on Kurt Volker's "The 'Obama effect' has been to lay bare deep transatlantic tensions"

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

While European and U.S. political, economic, and military interests are very cloesely aligned, Europe is no longer an automatic priority for the Obama administration

Innovative ideas like the $2 plane ticket tax could rescue the MDGs

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The global economic crisis has made the goal of saving the world’s poor slip from difficult to very doubtful. But former French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy says the situation could easily be saved by widening the use of cheap but widespread travel taxes

Silberhorn on Mart Laar's "Taking stock of EU enlargement’s successes and failures"

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The key question is whether, against a background of demographic change and globalisation, we in Europe will be able to uphold our values and our way of life in the face of competition from emerging societies

Right diagnosis, but the wrong prescription

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Europe’s soft power versus China’s brute force in the global marketplace

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Europeans tend to be over-pessimistic about their economic strengths vis-à-vis China, says Jonathan Story. He looks at the cultural and political forces that have so far shaped their relationship

Tsarist and Soviet ambitions are long dead. We all face common threats now

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

How collaboration and data analysis is changing the way work gets done

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A reality check on market discipline

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

STOCKHOLM - Sweden’s election will raise the temperature on EU issues

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Lifting the nuclear threat isn’t a pipe dream

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The U.S.-led drive to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism is just one facet of the campaign to free the world of nuclear weapons. General Klaus Naumann, a former chairman of NATO’s military Committee, says that 2010 will be key to these efforts

The snag is that the EU model means ceding national sovereignty

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

But the key is whether the EU will at last recognise Palestine

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Europe is failing to shape the global governance debate

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The EU’s enthusiasm for reshaping global governance has dwindled, and now looks more like indifference. Pedro Solbes and Richard Youngs warn that the EU not only risks the debate being shaped elsewhere but may even find itself left out of the discussion altogether

Agriculture needs biodiversity and biodiversity needs agriculture

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Volk on Heather Grabbe's "Getting the EU's Enlargement back on Track"

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It’s time the EU told Israel that enough is enough

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

As a long-standing friend of Israel, veteran Swedish politician Pierre Schori says that European governments must abandon the EU’s passive silence on the Middle East conflict and speak out

Yes, fair competition was distorted. But there’s been no protectionist surge

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Devarajan on Roger Riddell's "Why we need a radical re-think of official aid"

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Aid delivered results because policy in Africa improved. When the global crisis hit, some oberservers including myself feared that the momentum for economic reforms would be slowed or reversed because the growth those reforms had produced began to decline sharply

Robinson on Charles Wyplosz' "Why the euro is not on course to dislodge the dollar "

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The real concern is that America's political influence is dispropriate, while at the same time the size of external dollar holdings is a U.S. weakness with political implications - weaknesses are rarely ignored in international relations.

Will the dollar survice as the world's reserve currency? The dollar may dominate holdings but it doesn't have a monopoly, and in the future its share is likely to decline. However, the dollar still underpins the global financial system.

And that’s because the EU’s “big beasts” don’t want a single voice

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

KIEV - Ukraine's Orange legacy leaves a bitter taste

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

After his inauguration Viktor Yanukovych made three trips to Moscow and visited Brussels, Kazakhstan, and Washington. This suggests a return to a Russia-friendly foreign policy from the pro-Western leanings of former President Viktor Yushchenko.

OSLO - Norwegians divide over "fairness" of EU renewable energy demands

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT