Defence
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Rapid Reaction Force: What's the point in a European army?
24 June 2010PresseuropDagens Nyheter -
Armies: An austere disarmament
9 June 201024 3 Il Sole-24 Ore Milan -
Czech Republic: Prague, nuclear disarmament capital
8 April 2010PresseuropHospodářské Noviny -
Nuclear disarmament: US/Russian pact revives spectres
7 April 2010Mladá Fronta DNES Prague -
Arms industry: Germany Europe's biggest arms exporter
15 March 20101PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
Aviation: France and US in trade battle
11 March 2010PresseuropLe Figaro -
Common Defence : Time to close ranks
9 March 20102 European Voice Brussels -
Germany: Trouble in the Bundeswehr
5 March 2010PresseuropDie Zeit -
Strategy: Anti-missile shield resurfaces in Romania
5 February 2010PresseuropRomânia libera -
EU-Russia: Sweden pushed onto Baltic chessboard
18 November 2009PresseuropSvenska Dagbladet -
France/Poland: Paris and Warsaw cosy up on defence
5 November 2009PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Poland: Biden’s "virtual" shield gets short shrift
23 October 2009PresseuropPolska The Times -
Anti-missile shield: Russia inspires fear and foreboding
18 September 20091 Presseurop -
Netherlands: Dutch nukes without a home
10 September 2009PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Romania: Bucharest snubs arms "code of conduct"
27 August 2009PresseuropCotidianul -
Poland: US to drop Czech and Polish missile shield
27 August 2009PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Caucase: Romanian arms for Georgia
7 August 2009PresseuropCotidianul -
Military: Poland's Dad’s army
5 August 2009PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
European Union: European defence in 2020
3 August 2009PresseuropDie Presse -
NATO: A new chief for a shaky alliance
3 August 20091 Presseurop -
European Union: Soft power no match for hard reality
27 July 200924 4 El País Madrid -
Geopolitics: Denmark pushes to the Pole
20 July 2009PresseuropPolitiken -
ex-soviet bloc: Dear Barack, just a reminder...
16 July 20091 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
United Kingdom: Blame it on Brown
13 July 2009PresseuropThe Daily Telegraph -
Espionage: Brussels a riot with spy vs spy
26 May 200982 6 El Periódico de Catalunya Barcelona
Emergency measures enacted to reduce public spending and deficits are now being applied to the Defence budgets. Pulling out of foreign missions, reductions in weapons maintenance, and a decrease in military purchases are therefore the order of the day, at the expense of efficiency, notes Il Sole 24 Ore.
A year after he launched an appeal for global nuclear disarmament, US President Barack Obama has returned to Prague to sign a treaty with Russia to reduce the arsenals of the worlds two major nuclear powers. However, bridge-building between Washington and Moscow alarms some commentators in a region, where memories of Soviet invasion have not been laid to rest. 
When it comes to defence, each member state has so far been content to pump money into its own army. But challenges posed by the conflict in Afghanistan may force a rethink of this policy. 
Barack Obama's decision to abandon plans for a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic - promised by George Bush - has not been welcomed in either country. The European press expresses its concern about the influence of Moscow in the region. 
On August 1st, former Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen was formally invested as NATO’s new secretary general, declaring that resolving the war in Afghanistan would be his main priority. But what, wonders the European press, is the outlook for the western alliance, blighted by in-fighting and seemingly with no end in sight to its battle against a resurgent Taliban? 
While defence budgets have continued to rise in China, Russia, the United States and India, military spending in the EU has remained stagnant over the last ten years. For El País, Europe's global influence is now based on soft power, which cannot adequately replace the hard power of a real common defence policy. 
Leading politicians from Central and Eastern Europe have sent an open letter to the US president urging him to pursue "a firm and principled policy towards Russia". At stake is America's credibility in a region it wholeheartedly embraced in the 90's, but which now, according to the signatories, it takes for granted. 
Europe’s political and administrative capital is also a hotbed of international espionage where secret services vie for economic, technological, geopolitical and military supremacy. - previous
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