Diplomacy
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EU-Syria: EU considers lifting oil embargo
19 April 2013295PresseuropInternational Herald Tribune, The Irish Times -
Diplomacy: Berlin’s new activism
2 April 2013349141 Le Monde Paris -
EU-Syria: ‘UK and France: We must arm Syrian rebels’
15 March 20133611PresseuropThe Guardian -
Diplomacy: Stupidity and stinginess in Mali
14 March 201317970 Le Monde Paris -
Diplomacy: UK and Argentina are polls apart over Falklands
12 March 20131517PresseuropThe Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Clarín -
Diplomacy: European small is beautiful
28 February 20131325 EUobserver.com Brussels -
Editorial: Every man for himself
30 November 20124117Presseurop -
Diplomacy: Syria: Europe’s unsustainable strategic weakness
4 October 201211853 Le Huffington Post Paris -
Debate: Towards a diplomacy without inhibitions
28 September 201213411 El País Madrid -
Israel-EU: Lady Ashton has hit a raw nerve
26 March 20121689 Ha’aretz Tel-Aviv -
Diplomacy: An EU human rights representative?
9 March 2012603PresseuropJyllands-Posten -
Germany: Diplomacy without a voice
5 September 2011654 Die Zeit Hamburg -
China – Germany: Tokens of friendship
27 June 20111PresseuropBerliner Zeitung -
EU-US: At last, Obama woos Europe
9 June 201111PresseuropLe Monde -
Slovakia: Ice hockey paves the way to Moscow thaw
28 April 20111PresseuropSME -
Geopolitics: Bucharest gets foothold in Caucasus
18 April 20111PresseuropRomânia libera -
Geopolitics: EU and NATO in a tail spin
15 April 20111332 El País Madrid -
Editorial: End of the line
8 April 201141Presseurop -
Netherlands: Austerity homes in on Defence
8 April 2011PresseuropNRC Handelsblad -
Diplomacy: Saving Private Ashton
1 April 20111097 El País Madrid -
Diplomacy: Paris and London torpedo EU foreign policy
31 March 2011952 La Stampa Turin -
Europe-Libya: The moral test of fire
18 March 20111152 Presseurop -
Editorial: Time to choose
7 March 201132Presseurop -
Diplomacy: Europe's zero doctrine
25 February 20112986 El País Madrid -
Arab revolutions: Sarkozy accused of amateurism
23 February 20111PresseuropLe Monde -
Justice: Diplomatic war between France and Mexico
16 February 2011PresseuropLe Figaro -
Netherlands-Iran: Diplomatic anger over secret burial
8 February 2011PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Institutions: What action, Lady Ashton?
28 January 20112612 Le Monde Paris -
Internet: WikiLeaks copycat targets EU institutions
14 December 2010293 EUobserver.com Brussels -
Diplomacy: Not such wicked leaks
2 December 20101003511 Libération Paris -
Diplomacy: Portugal and Germany take UN seats
13 October 2010PresseuropPúblico -
Diplomacy: UN General Assembly snubs EU
15 September 201015PresseuropLe Soir -
Kosovo: EU and Serbia finally reach agreement
9 September 2010PresseuropPolitika -
External Affairs: Jobs for the old boys
23 August 2010831 Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Warsaw -
Editorial: Moscow and us
13 August 201019Presseurop -
Spain – Morocco: Royal phone call defuses tensions
12 August 2010PresseuropABC -
Diplomacy: An outsized diplomatic machine
23 July 2010231 La Stampa Turin -
EU presidency: Madrid slumps out
30 June 201020 El País Madrid -
Diplomacy: How China walks over Europe
8 June 2010571 Hindustan Times New Delhi -
Debate: Why do they hate us?
3 June 20101341 EUobserver.com Brussels -
EU-Russia: Van Rompuy still finding his feet
2 June 2010PresseuropLe Figaro -
Diplomacy: Lady Ashton's large diplomatic body
27 April 2010PresseuropEl Periódico de Catalunya -
Diplomacy: Europe sucked into Berne and Tripoli spat
17 February 2010PresseuropTribune de Genève -
Institutions: Seek them here, seek them there...
28 January 20101 Le Monde Paris -
Haiti: Europe's tragic opportunity
18 January 2010El País Madrid -
Diplomacy: Karel won't go to the Congo
7 January 2010PresseuropDe Standaard -
After COP15: Verhofstadt's bilingual moan
23 December 2009PresseuropLe Soir -
EU-Russia: Moscow’s charm offensive
27 November 2009Presseurop -
EU-Russia: Sweden pushed onto Baltic chessboard
18 November 2009PresseuropSvenska Dagbladet -
Diplomacy : A song for Europe, but what's the tune?
5 November 2009131 El País Madrid
Germany is taking advantage of its robust economic health to firm up its presence on the international stage. However, trade is the engine of a diplomacy that still fears embracing military interventions, a stance which remains popular with the German public. 
Despite what its European partners say in public, France is alone in fighting the armed Islamists and helping rebuild the Malian state. The EU's inability to agree on major global issues will cost it dearly one day, argues Le Monde. 
From Germany’s austerity drive to the UK’s planned referendum on EU membership, it is always the big states that get the headlines in EU policy making. But the smaller states are increasingly punching above their weight on the world stage. 
The impotence of the EU faced with the drama in Syria reflects the lack of a credible European foreign policy. But this can only come about if the European Union gets a real armed force of its own. 
To make Europe’s voice heard on the world stage, its policymakers should adopt a more incisive and strident tone. A number of rambunctious young ministers of foreign affairs, like Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski and Finland's Alexander Stubb, are revamping the old continent’s old fashioned sense of protocol. 
The parallel drawn by the EU's foreign affairs chief between the massacre of three Jewish children in Toulouse and Syrian, Israeli and Palestinian war victims has provoked widespread outrage in Israel. But Israel should stop playing the role of eternal victim, argues columnist Gideon Levy. 
With an estranged foreign minister on one side and a less than united coalition on the other, the government of Angela Merkel must steer through an increasingly difficult international context. It's an uncertainty that affects all of Europe. 
The military operations in Libya have shown that NATO is no longer able to control the course of world events. And the EU is incapable of taking over for the same reasons: faultlines among its members, and American reluctance to get involved. 
While the Libyan crisis unfolds before gates of Europe, the High Representative for EU foreign policy is totally absent from the scene. "One wonders if the post still makes sense," writes analyst Jose Ignacio Torreblanca.
The initiative taken by France and the United Kingdom — two countries which occupy key posts in the European External Action Service — has fragmented the emerging structure of European diplomacy to the point where some commentators have remarked that the EU’s foreign policy should be directly entrusted to Paris and London. 
A few hours after the UN approved military operations against Libya, the regime in Tripoli announced a cease-fire. This decision might well simplify a situation the European press deems risky, while supporting an eventual war there. 
During major crises, every major power has a clearly defined diplomatic doctrine which it applies according to its interests. As revolution spreads across the Arab world, it’s the EU found its own, argues columnist José Ignacio Torreblanca. 
Catherine Ashton was cast as Europe’s international voice, the head diplomat of an EU full of world-wide ambitions. Unfortunately, she is not making her voice heard, is nearly invisible and has already lost the confidence of most of the member states. 
A self-funded group of former EU officials and NGO, media and PR-sector workers based in Belgium has set up an EU version of WikiLeaks, in what is just one of several copycat sites springing up since Cablegate began. 
For the celebrated novelist and intellectual Umberto Eco, the Wikileaks affair or "Cablegate" not only shows up the hypocrisy that governs relations between states, citizens and the press, but also presages a return to more archaic forms of communication. 
Only two of the EU’s 115 ambassadors come from central Europe, all the rest come from Old Europe. As the "Foreign Affairs ministry" gets up and running, Poland warns that it will not tolerate the stitch-up. 
After long months of negotiations between the European Commission, Parliament and member states, the European External Action Service is set to be operational by fall. It remains to be seen whether the efficiency of its operations will justify its cost and complexity. 
The six months it spent at the head of the European Union were something of an ordeal for the Spanish government, which had to contend with the economic crisis, the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and a lack of strategic vision in the EU — circumstances that highlighted the downgrading of the rotating presidency. 
Five years ago, China was the great hope of the European Union. Brussels believed the Middle Kingdom was moving along the same path of postmodern pacificism being taken by Europe. Today, Europeans recognise this was an illusion, argues a senior editor at India's Hindustan Times. 
While Europe sees itself as a benevolent superpower with an enviable lifestyle, the rest of the world sees nothing more than a shambling, increasingly introspective ex-colonial master that hides behind the United States. If it wants to become a major global actor, it must change. 
Catherine Ashton off the radar, Herman Van Rompuy vanished from view, and José Manuel Barroso defending his prerogatives as European Commissioner : the new institutions established by the Lisbon Treaty, which were supposed to simplify the action of the European Union, are clearly undergoing some teething problems, says Le Monde. 
However painstakingly planned out in advance, every EU presidency ends up facing an unforeseen crisis that forces it to reshuffle its priorities and puts its crisis response capabilities to the test. Haiti is turning into the first test of the new EU foreign policy institutions’ ability to take coordinated action.
After tensions triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union and post-9/11, the hour has come for rapprochement between Europe and Russia. Favoured by the United States’ relative unconcern and the absence of major present-day flashpoints between the two powers, their reconciliation is being approached pragmatically – and in many areas on the Kremlin’s initiative.
The Lisbon Treaty provides for the establishment of a common diplomatic service for the EU 27 presided over by a “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy”. But the EU’s member states and various institutions have yet to figure out who’s to call the tune. - 1 of 2
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