Tag "European Union"

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Africa Politics

Côte d’Ivoire – Do new EU laws promise sweet success or a bitter aftertaste?

Impending EU legislation seeks to reduce the Côte d’Ivoire cocoa industry’s reliance on minimum wages, child labour, and environmental degradation. Yet these efforts may be hindered by the coronavirus pandemic, and cynical buyers seeking alternative sources. The EU’s efforts also come as the industry in Côte d’Ivoire sits in the midst of several complex political and legal storms.

Europe Politics

Irregular Migration to Europe: How a New Pact is Shifting Old Routes

The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum aims to address irregular migration through better management of external borders and stronger international partnerships. While certain aspects of the proposal create opportunities for a better cooperation, the current approach to stricter return policies is pushing asylum seekers towards riskier and less controlled migration routes to Europe, putting lives at risk and increasing criminal activities.

Europe Politics

The Italian Recovery Plan: Health and Education

With a 9% fall in GDP and one of the highest Covid-19 death records in Europe, Italy has been one of the countries to have struggled the most in 2020. Now, more than 200bn euros are being offered to the country by the EU as part of an ambitious stimulus package. This represents a potentially unique occasion for the “Bel Paese” to reverse its crisis. The question being, is it actually possible?

Europe Politics

Reality of Post-Communist Transitions Risks Entrenching EU-Central Europe Divide

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, and his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, argue that new powers handed to the European Commission, allowing the EU to withhold payments of the €750bn Covid recovery package from member states that fail to meet EU standards on the rule of law, are a politically motivated attempt to target their countries. 

Europe Under The Radar

Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence: the case of Europe

Nuclear disarmament has always been a very sensitive and divisive issue among the EU Member States. But in a world with less credible US security guarantees and a more assertive Russia in the East, a revived debate on a EU nuclear deterrent, which would either rely on the British or French nuclear arsenals, cannot be avoided, as it could potentially equal to the final stage of a well-structured European defence arrangement. 

Europe Politics

Small-Country Diplomacy: What if Bulgaria Prevents Further EU enlargement?

Discussions of further enlargement of the EU have largely stalled since the Brexit referendum. Among others, France emerged as the main obstacle on Western-Balkan countries’ path towards Brussels. But the recent Berlin Process summit has proved that Sofia could be an even tougher nut to crack, especially for Skopje.

Insights Politics

The Eastern Partnership May Need Reform Given Change in US Foreign Policy

The crisis in Belarus and the outbreak of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh are testing the European Union’s capability to act as a source of regional security. Political instability, violations of human rights and ethnic conflict within members of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) is calling into question Brussels’s foreign policy strategy to further integrate six former Soviet states with the EU.

Asia Pacific Security Under The Radar

North Korea’s recent nuclear advances: what are the implications for European security?

On the 10th of October 2020, North Korea unveiled what appeared to be its biggest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile, during a military parade organised in Pyongyang. This new ICBM, although currently untested, reflects North Korean nuclear advancements and revives the global debate surrounding North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. For the European Union, North Korean nuclear capabilities represent a strong risk for its security.

Debate Corner Europe Security

Cuts in the European Defence Fund’s budget: at what cost?

The European Defence Fund (EDF) was originally intended as a key measure for achieving European strategic autonomy. Its downsizing is putting future EU military and industrial capabilities into question, while highlighting the permanent lack of defence cooperation between EU member states.

Europe Politics

The Internal Market Bill: Updates on the UK-EU Brexit deal

Negotiations between the UK and EU over their post-Brexit relationship are now at risk of failing. This comes after the UK Government introduced the Internal Market Bill (IMB), the provisions of which amount to the breaking of international law, as it would enable UK ministers to implement regulations relating to state aid and customs procedures between Northern Ireland (NI) and Britain that are in breach of the UK’s obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement (WA).