About: EU sanctions
Europe must play its key role in starving the Russian war machine
According to some estimates, switching off the Russian oil and gas pump for just two months may be sufficient to starve the war machine of resources and force Russia to abandon its aggressive war, writes Kateryna Markevych.
‘The ashes of Bucha are burning in our hearts’
After the massacre of Ukrainian population in Bucha, Irpin, Vorzel, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Mariupil, the EU should completely disconnect Russia from SWIFT, close all their ports to Russian ships, froze and seize all the Russian assets, and charge Putin as war criminal, writes Roman Rukomeda.
The EU needs to step up on Hong Kong sanctions
The EU has been slow to respond to China's repeated attacks on democracy in Hong Kong. It's time it started catching up with the US and others, writes Reinhard Bütikofer.
Germany must abandon Nord Stream 2
Europe needs to impose new sanctions on Russia following the arrest and sentencing of Alexei Navalny and scrapping Nord Stream 2 should be top of the list, write a group of six MEPs from the European People's Party (EPP).
The EU and Turkey: Three scenarios
The volatile situation around Erdoğan’s Turkey poses a dilemma for EU decision makers. Three scenarios can be envisaged for how the EU handles tensions with Ankara, writes Sir Michael Leigh.
Annexations in the West Bank: Europeans need to punch their weight
Last week, EU foreign ministers emphasised that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains one of the Union’s strategic interests and that they discourage possible steps towards annexations. In this vein, the EU and its member states should send a clear signal, Muriel Asseburg and Peter Lintl argue.
Oil crisis hits Russia and… EU unity?
The Russian oil sector seems to be in dire need of seeing the end of Western sanctions, even more than it has been so far, and there is no doubt that they will try to use the current circumstances to change EU countries' stance on the policy towards Moscow, writes Mateusz Kubiak.
Crimea: The cost of sanctions and the risk of retaliation
Sanctions have already cost Russia one third of its GDP. As they come up for renewal, the EU must be wary of backing Putin into a corner and forcing him to take drastic action, writes John Dale Grover.
President Juncker’s misguided trip to Russia
The visit of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker o St. Petersburg will not promote the general interest of the Union prescribed by the EU Treaty, writes Hrant Kostanyan.
Linkevicius: Dealing with Russia is like playing football against a rugby team
Calls for returning to “normal dialogue” and re-establishing “pragmatic” relations with Russia only show that some in the EU have not learned the lessons of the recent past, writes Linas Linkevi?ius.
Is it time for Europe to excuse Russia’s aggression?
As strange as it may seem, the Kremlin’s claims of “historical facts” and “common past” in order to justify some “exclusive rights” of Russia to define destiny of the Ukrainians sometimes find echo in the West, writes Liubov Nepop.
EU must speak up to thwart Thailand’s backdoor dictatorship
General Prayuth Chan-ocha’s military coup in May 2014 quite rightly sparked deep concerns in Brussels. To its credit, the European Union acted swiftly with punitive measures, but the junta’s latest attempts at constitutional reform pose a long-term threat that must be addressed, argues Aron Shaviv.
New South Stream will be Russia’s ‘route of friendship’
Thwarted in one attempt to build a gas pipeline to southeast Europe, the Kremlin is working with a small circle of allies to lay the groundwork for an alternative that would help it maintain leverage in its rivalry with the West, write Krisztina Than and Michael Kahn.
Is there reason to hope for Minsk II?
The last Minsk agreement on eastern Ukraine failed to bring peace. The latest looks similar — but the context has changed, writes Michael Emerson.
The deathly risks of doing business with Russia
The tragic death of Total CEO Christophe de Margerie in the recent plane crash at Vnukovo airport in Moscow is a lesson to be learned, writes Ram?nas Bogdanas.
How Tolstoy might have portrayed the legacies of Yanukovich and Putin
The Kremlin has privileged politico-military-territorial objectives in Ukraine, while ignoring the economic consequences, and this begins to look like a strategic miscalculation, or Tolstoy’s “ill-directed will of one individual, and usurpation of power”, writes Michael Emerson.