Germany’s Russia policy remains above all guided by economics and energy, and the substantial Russia lobby in the German business community is unlikely to be moved by events in Ukraine.
It seems the build-up to Vilnius has, in other words, shown the limits of the EU’s normative foreign policy in its Eastern neighborhood. The EU’s engagement in Ukraine is critical, but its abilities to foster reform have been damaged.
U.S. allies clearly no longer trust the United States and its companies as much as they did before the NSA revelations. Thus, they are taking it upon themselves to seek alternatives and to protect their citizens as they see fit.
Last week’s decision by Yanukovich was not a surprise. Ukraine’s failure to meet European requirements for an association agreement should not be seen as the end of the line.
At midnight on Monday, Croatia became the 28th member state of the European Union. Yet in certain EU countries and in parts of the EU establishment there has been growing skepticism about adding new member states.
Unemployed youth, immigrants, and societies that are either outside the EU should be at the front of a strategy for Southern Europe’s renaissance. These groups have the motivation to innovate and create new opportunities for growth in the region.
Although it is possible to argue that EU membership ruined Greece and non-membership saved Turkey, this conclusion is as incorrect as it is intriguing.
The Eurovision Song Contest takes place this year in Azerbaijan, a country with a poor human rights record. Politics and popular entertainment have long made strange bedfellows in the 56-year-old competition.
Two recent official reports have dampened the economic mood on both sides of the Atlantic: U.S. Department of Labor data shows the U.S. job market is slowing down, while the European Commission’s spring economic outlook predicts rising unemployment.
In whatever state Europe eventually emerges from its credit crisis, its constituents will need to realign themselves with the parts of the world that are growing. Increasingly, that’s Africa.
