Europe
A Strategic Autonomy for Europe?
Back in late September, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, gave a speech stating the importance for the EU to move towards a strategic autonomy for Europe. This increasing cooperation is not supported by all and appears to depend on Biden’s future foreign policy for Europe.
The EU tries to revive Western Balkan Enlargement in Midst of a Pandemic
Russia, China, and the EU have tried to use the Covid pandemic as an opportunity to strengthen their influence in the Western Balkans. An Economic and Investment Plan announced by the European Commission is an attempt by the EU to revive the enlargement process after stalling following the French veto of accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. The risk for the EU lies in whether the Investment Plan will be enough to help resolve the region’s issues of corruption and internal disputes as well as meet the geopolitical challenge presented by Russia and China.
EU treaty instrument may mitigate risk of money laundering in the single market
The European Commission is planning to use Article 116 of TFEU in order to clamp down on multinational companies using favourable tax schemes in some EU member states to their advantage. The treaty instrument is designed to mitigate the risks associated with foreign subsidies that distort competition in the single market.
When pandemics fuel aborted revolutions: Serbia’s hot summer and what comes next
The failure of a surge of popular protests in Serbia to halt President Aleksandr Vucic’s apparently irresistible steer towards a demokratura could mark a milestone in the country’s path in the shadow of a global pandemic.
France: Towards stronger counter-terrorism regulation online
A terror attack on the outskirts of Paris that led to the beheading of a middle school teacher has emboldened President Macron’s efforts to impose harsher legislation on social media. Broadening the scope of user-generated content online is likely to affect the European Commission’s ambitious Digital Services Act, and thus the global digital fight against terrorism.
Poland: New Restrictions on Abortion – Catholic Influence or a Populist Agenda?
Poland as a majority Catholic state traditionally has maintained a hard stance against abortion – similarly to Malta (which has the toughest abortion laws in Europe) and Northern Ireland (where prior to 2019 abortion was criminalised). Other Catholic-majority states across Europe have also been contemplating tightening restrictions, evident in the recently unsuccessful proposal in Slovakia.Thus, a link between the politicisation of family planning and Catholicism as a state religion seems undeniable, albeit it being more pronounced in counties where the separation between church and state is blurred.
Armenia and Azerbaijan: Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh continues to erode regional security
A flare-up between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region raised concerns over the security and stability of the Caucasus for more than a month. A Russian-brokered deal between the two is highly likely to ensure the region’s security, although long-term peace is an unlikely outcome.
European monetary policy faces another crisis: Is the ECB effectively leading the way?
In a little over a decade the European Central Bank found itself fighting three considerable crises: the Great Recession in 2008, the sovereign-debt crisis in 2011-2012 to today’s pandemic-induced recessions. The Euro is a project without precedent and under Mario Draghi the ECB was a leading actor in world monetary policy. In 2019, Christine Lagarde became the new president of the ECB. How does she compare?
Bulgaria: Can Civil Unrest Lead to Actual Change?
Protests in Bulgaria have been taking place for almost three consecutive months now. However, not much has been said in terms of whether this increasing civil unrest will lead to actual change within the state.
Nagorno Karabakh – The Conflict in Perspective
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is often wrongfully seen as another post-Soviet frozen conflict in both academia and in policy-making circles. Although the conflict is indeed a product of specific preconditions and deliberate Soviet policies, it differs from other protracted ethno-political conflicts like in Georgia or Moldova. Gaining a deeper understanding of how this conflict came about, and its underlying causes, is essential for understanding the current episode of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
