World Archives

Germany is no longer a geopolitical chessboard and is beginning to see itself as a major world power again – and it has been forcefully defending its interests and national economic strategy ahead of the G20 summit this week, writes global intelligence company Stratfor in an analysis.

Even though every state is going to the G20 summit with their own plan, only two matter: the United States and China, which seem to be edging towards a compromise on the currency front, argues Peter Zeihan, an analyst at Washington-based intelligence website Stratfor.

Ahead of the G20 meeting in Seoul, former South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan argues that amid a shift in thinking about state-market relations, leaders have to avoid looking inwards and squandering valuable opportunities, and instead make meaningful progress to revitalise and strengthen the IMF and global financial regulation.

In a commentary written on 3 November, Tom Spencer, executive director of the European Centre for Public Affairs, discusses Britain's coalition government, recent political developments in the EU and the United States, and the public affairs of climate change.

The shaping of Europe's Russia policy should reside with the EU's foreign policy representative rather than a handful of the bloc's member states, writes Constanze Stelzenmüller, a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin.

Fulfilling the full potential of a NATO-Russia relationship is vital for the security of all, writes Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of NATO.

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).

The moment is ripe for Europe to redefine its narrative in order to better cope with future challenges, writes Giles Merritt, editor of Europe's World and head of Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe and the Security & Defence Agenda.

Despite a dramatic increase of its GDP, China is still a "rising developing country" rather than a developed one, writes Song Zhe, China's Ambassador to the EU.

Multilateral liberalisation would be more effective in reducing trade discrimination than preferential free trade agreements, write Jagdish Bhagwati, professor of economics and law at Columbia University and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and Arvind Panagariya, professor of economics and Indian political economy at Columbia University.

Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the foremost organiser for human rights and democracy in China would reaffirm the values held most dearly by mankind, writes Xu Youyu, philosopher, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and holder of the Olof Palme Chair, Sweden for 2001-2002.

The EU's diplomacy skills need to be kick-started to reflect a geopolitical shift towards the East, writes Grigory Nemyria, former deputy prime minister of Ukraine.

Too many obstacles stand in the way of realising the full potential of Germany and Russia's Modernisation Partnership, writes Justyna Gotkowska for Polish think-tank the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in a July commentary.

It is hard to predict whether a row over 4G licences in Russia's telecoms market will ultimately amount to a new brutal culling of the oligarchs, an extra barrier to foreign ownership or a transfer of coveted assets to the state and its cronies, but Russia can ill afford any of these scenarios, writes communications expert Eugen Iladi in an exclusive commentary for EURACTIV.

Russia and Bulgaria have established a framework of agreements regarding the Bulgarian section of the South Stream gas pipeline and new gas contracts. But the negotiation process is still far from over, write Ewa Paszyc and Tomasz D?borowski for Polish think-tank the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in a July commentary.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka's geopolitical game has reached a dead end – EU dialogue has halted, Russia is turning against him and the country is now facing the prospect of Russia-initiated regime change, writes Balazs Jarabik, associate fellow at Madrid-based think-tank FRIDE, in a July commentary sent exclusively to EURACTIV.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) certainly does not signify the advent of a new dynamism in the EU's common foreign policy. There are too many differences between the interests of the various countries and the positions of the EU institutions and in the long term, all that remains is the hope that the EEAS will have the effect of a large socialisation structure, writes Stefani Weiss of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in a June publication.

Civil society pressure is needed to bring stronger penalties against those harbouring dirty money, write  French Economy, Industry and Employment Minister Christine Lagarde and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Bank Group's managing director.

The upcoming presidential election in Belarus presents the EU with a new chance to step up to the challenge of confronting Belarus, writes Pavol Demes, director for Central and Eastern Europe at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, in an exclusive commentary for EURACTIV.

US President Barack Obama's security strategy is a clear departure from that of its predecessor and a decisive step towards solving the challenges of the 21st century and preparing us for the world of tomorrow, writes Javier Solana, the European Union's former High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy.

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.

Setting up the European External Action Service (EEAS) is proving more difficult than anticipated, but this is no surprise given that the details were left until the implementation phase and it requires re-writing the ground rules of European diplomacy, write Timo Behr, Johanna Nykänen and Aaretti Siitonen of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) in a briefing paper.

The outcome of the latest Gas Exporting Countries Forum (Gaspec) meeting held in Oran, Algeria, "was far from explosive for gas-producing states," writes Matthew Hulbert, senior fellow at the Zürich-based Centre for Security Studies, in an exclusive op-ed for EURACTIV.

Poland and Russia have been going through the pain and distress of the Smolensk airport tragedy in unison and the climate of rapprochement between the two nations is conducive to closing historical problems in contemporary Polish-Russian relations, writes the Polish Institute of Foreign Affairs (PISM) in an April commentary.