Just as a woman bows out of the race for the most powerful political office in the world, calls for a female leadership role in the European Union are swelling. Launched by Danish Socialist MEP, Christel Schaldemose, the ‘Females in Front’ initiative is looking to fill one of the key posts in the 27-member Union […]
On May 29th the French Assemblée Nationale took a vote that might have profound impact on whether Turkey joins the European Union in a few years, or not. Making good on what his predecessor Jacques Chirac had promised all along, President Sarkozy and his ruling UMP party introduced a constitutional amendment, which would put future […]
It's June 1st and that leaves only a short twelve days for pro and con EU Treaty campaigners in Ireland. They have their work cut out for them, according to recent polls. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that “NO” campaigners are gaining ground, particularly among the conservative and the country's large farming population who see […]
“Don't let yourself be fooled,” is EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's message to American voters. In an interview for BBC's Hardtalk, which was excerpted to the Financial Times, Mandelson argues that promising disengagement from certain parts of the global trading system in order to win votes is dangerous. Implicitly critiquing views expressed by Democratic Presidential […]
Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, received Europe's most prestigious honor on May 1: the international Charlemagne Prize. Previous winners include US President Bill Clinton, former EU Commission President Jacques Delors, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and Europe's “Mr. Foreign Policy,” Javier Solana. None other than French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivered the laudatory address – an interesting […]
Wolfgang Ischinger, the designated head of the Munich Security Conference, former German Ambassador to the US currently serving as his country's top diplomat in the UK, has published an article in the Financial Times arguing that now – not after the US elections – is the time to forge stronger transatlantic ties. A rare opportunity […]
The Foreign Policy Association and the European Courier spoke with Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, about the role of small countries at the UN, the International Criminal Court and reform at the United Nations. Transcript available at the European Courier. April 11, 2008 [kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-5792792129699709429″ width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /]
The Foreign Policy Association and the European Courier spoke with the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the United Nations, Ambassador Fernando Valenzuela of Spain, about issues impacting the EU at the UN. Watch the video below or read the transcript here. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=20973086853862567″ width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /]
The European Parliament rang in its 50th anniversary today, with a 'solemn ceremony’, in what FT commentator Andrew Bounds calls “an even more surreal session” in Strasbourg than usual. Since 1958 and with the growth of the Union the legitimacy (first appointed then directly elected), size (from 142 members to the current 785) and role […]
Commentators are speculating about the end of the Barroso Commission as we know it. It seems as if he resignation of EU health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou to take up the post as Cyprus’ Foreign Minister two weeks ago was only the beginning. Effective March 14 one of the arguably most successful Commissioners, internal policy head […]
Europeans took to the polls over the weekend, with perhaps unsurprising results: Spain's socialist Prime Minister Zapatero was reelected against a bland looking Mariano Rajoy, despite an economic crisis that still has to fully play out and France's governing UMP was given a shake-up in communal elections, serving as a warning sign that the electorate is […]
You might think you are reading the synopsis of a comic book, for all the talk of ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’, but instead it's just the newest edition of the Centre for European Reform's (CER) Lisbon Scorecard. Published with smooth regularity ahead of the Union's annual Spring Summit for the eighth consecutive year the report highlights the most […]
Popular from Press
