Tag: Foreign policy

The European External Action Service (EEAS) can provide a more coherent, visible and effective EU foreign policy but faces problems such as low morale among personnel, friction with the European Commission and disputes over EU representation in international organisations, writes Graham Avery, senior advisor at the European Policy Centre (EPC).

On 18 October, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sat down to discuss a new European conception of global security and – with the current order dysfunctional and inadequate – it was high time to include Russia in the discussions, write Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard in a report for the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

Today's world contains two declining global powers (Russia and the US) and two emerging ones (China and the EU). While China's rise is unstoppable, the EU must establish its own foreign policy doctrine, which in an interdependent world must be one of "inclusiveness" and soft power, writes Romanian MEP Adrian Severin, vice-president of the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament, in an exclusive commentary for EurActiv.

After decades of bloody conflict in Sudan, Europe is still applying double standards to Africa and does not recognise the right of the South Sudanese to decide their own future, wrote Savo Heleta, author of the book 'Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia', in a letter to EurActiv. 

"It is not possible […] to take an optimistic view of the trade relationship" between the EU and China, writes European Policy Centre founder Stanley Crossick in a May blog post reflecting on the High-Level Economic & Trade Dialogue (HED), which took place in Brussels on 7-8 May.

"The US-China relationship is becoming the most important bilateral relationship in the world," writes Stanley Crossick, the founder of the European Policy Centre, in a March blog post reflecting on the outcome of the recent G20 summit in London.

The EU must "restore self-confidence and cohesion" in its policy towards Russia, argues Arkady Moshes, programme director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, in a February paper for the Robert Schuman Foundation.

Amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, resurgent violence and war in the Middle East, a row between Russia and the Ukraine over gas supplies which left Europe freezing, and skyrocketing expectations for the first Afro-American US President, EurActiv asked European Commission director generals to spell out their hopes for 2009.

The war in Georgia divided the EU instead of uniting it, while differences between its members' positions will thwart the bloc's attempts to develop a common Russia policy, writes Tomas Valasek in an August paper for the Centre for European Reform (CER).

In the confusion following the failed Lisbon Treaty referendum in Ireland, EU leaders are still issuing contradictory messages, adding to the chaotic situation. In the meantime the Slovenian Presidency confirmed that no major decision on how to address the crisis is to be expected from the imminent EU summit on June 19-20.

The United States and Russia's "tough and contradictory positions" over Kosovo may cause a policy split in the EU, leading to its "loss of credibility as a foreign policy player", warns Branka Trivic of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).

Russia has suspended transport and postal links with Georgia after a spying row. EU presidency urges both parties to avoid provocations.  

With or without the Constitution the EU urgently needs to think about streamlining itself, says EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in a interview with EurActiv.sk

The Convention's Praesidium has proposed draft articles of the Constitution on enhanced cooperation which aim to simplify the current provisions and reinforce the role of the Commission and the European Parliament.

The European Convention has started debating the most divisive issues of the enlarged Union's institutional reform on 15 May. The Convention remains deeply split on the proposal to replace the rotating presidency with a permanent president, with smaller countries insisting that the six-month presidency is essential to ensure the equality of all Member States.

The German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has called for the creation of a post of an independent EU Foreign Minister.

The Commission President Romano Prodi has accepted a challenge by the the Convention Chairman Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to debate in public the future of the EU.

The Commission has reiterated its opposition to proposals by the Convention Praesidium to create a full-time EU President and insisted that there should be one Commissioner per Member State.