Presseurop |

Politique | Voter-viewer | Cartoon (I Kathimerini, Athens)

Fri, 04 May 2012 17:05:50 +0100

(Cartoon) (Cartoon)

Eastern Partnership | The East, not on the EU's mind (Polityka, Warsaw)

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:18:26 +0100

As the Eastern Partnership summit opens in Warsaw, the EU, which is caught up in the ongoing financial crisis, appears to have little enthusiasm for the project, launched by Poland in 2008. As for the partner countries, they continue to present a wide spectrum of political systems, ranging from dictatorship to democracy. (Article)

Eastern Partnership | A policy that moves slowly, but surely (Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw)

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:59:43 +0100

Two years ago, led by Poland, the EU launched its Eastern Partnership with countries of the former USSR. Now that Warsaw is preparing to take over the rotating presidency, experts are painting a rather dispiriting outcome for this project. (Article)

Diplomacy | 5 billion to aid Arab revolutions

Thu, 26 May 2011 14:54:49 +0100

Within the framework of its Neighbourhood Policy, "the EU has made democracy a condition for aid to Arab countries," headlines the daily El País. On 25 May, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, and the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, presented the new strategy for the 16 countries that are the European Union’s neighbours on its eastern and southern borders. Of the seven billion euros of aid to be distributed between now and 2013, five billion has been earmarked for countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean.

Until now, points out El País, in its approach to countries like Egypt and Tunisia "the EU strategy has been based on the principle of ‘security in exchange for millions of euros.’” The parameters that have now been announced -- free elections, freedom of speech in the press, an independent judiciary, the fight against corruption, and democratic control of security and armed forces -- will enable Europe to measure the level of democracy in these countries. The Madrid daily notes that the plan unveiled by the European diplomacy chief also includes measures for the control of migration flows. However, it points out that "Ashton has denied that the plan offers money to prevent immigration."

(News in brief)

Armenia / Turkey | Erevan and Ankara talks stall

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:25:50 +0100

Leading with the front-page headline "Armenia deals blow to peace process with Turkey," Zaman reports that the rapprochement between Ankara and Erevan came to halt on 22 April, when the Armenian government announced its intention "to freeze the process of parliamentary ratification of accords with Turkey aimed at normalising ties" between the two countries. An unsuccessful outcome to the bid to normalise relations constitute a stumbling block to Turkish accession to the EU, explains the daily, which points out that the Armenian decision has been prompted by Turkey's unwillingness "to continue the process without preconditions" relating to the resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Zaman also notes that the "freeze" has occurred two days before the anniversary of the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire. On this topic, Tagesspiegel reports that a group of intellectuals have organised Turkey's first ever official public commemoration of the tragic events of 1915 to be held in Istanbul on 24 April.

(News in brief)

Turkey | Is the EU afraid of Ankara? (Le Soir, Brussels)

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:54:24 +0100

Following recent declarations by the Turkish Prime Minister on the deportation of Armenian immigrants, Europe's silence is testimony to the EU's ambiguous attitude towards the aspiring member state. Seen as not sufficiently European for immediate inclusion, Turkey is at the same time too important and powerful to be ignored. (Article)

All quiet on the Eastern front | Editorial

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:31:58 +0100

Do strategic partnerships serve any real purpose? Eight months after the launch of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) with the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldavia and Ukraine, the EU has little to show for its efforts. And while we are on the topic, what has become of the Union for the Mediterranean? When it was announced 18 months ago, we were told that it would bring together countries on both sides of the Mare Nostrum – a likely story. The Eastern Partnership has not become a household name, not even in Brussels. Of course, you could argue that European officials have been so preoccupied by the fate of the Lisbon Treaty that they have had time for little else. On the occasion of the first meeting of the EaP on 8 December in Brussels, foreign ministers of the 27 member states along with their six counterparts from the former Soviet republics were forced to admit that they did not have much to boast about apart from the hint of a possible U-turn in the attitude of Russia, which may now consider joining the initiative – but nothing really forward looking, and certainly nothing concrete. However, there was some hope that a deal to set up a European Investment Bank fund for lending to EaP countries which was sponsored by the Czech presidency of the EU could bear fruit in 2010. The fact that a Czech, Štefan Füle, has also been put in charge of the new Commission's portfolio for enlargement may also be significant. If he is to make progress, Mr Füle will have to convince the governments of several countries including Russia, that there is a point to the EaP, which Dmitri Medvedev described as "useless." So as not to hurt our feelings the Russian President was careful to add that the EaP is "not dangerous," as if we did not know that already. Let's hope that the reign of the new Commission will help the partners to overcome their fears and prejudices so that they can finally exert a positive influence on developments to the east of Europe's borders. I.B.G.

(Editorial)

Geopolitics | The new old order (The Independent, London)

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:08:52 +0100

With America increasingly disengaged from European affairs, and Russian influence tentative at most, the Independent wonders whether in this new age of alignments Europe might not be reverting to the order of old. (Article)

STEPHFF, THE NATION (BANGKOK) | The thaw begins | Cartoon (, )

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:56:47 +0100

(Cartoon) (Cartoon)