European Council: No federal Europe this winter
Libération, Paris – The last EU summit of the year will not take the path of economic and monetary union closer. The fault lies with Berlin and Paris, who have agreed to bury the roadmap which was...
View ArticleThe EU’s future (4/4): The next Europe is… Switzerland!
Foreign Affairs, New York – The EU can only gain legitimacy among its citizens and retain its role as a global economic and political player if it transforms itself into a real federal union, like its...
View ArticleFederalism: Not a United States of Europe, please!
NRC Handelsblad, Amsterdam – If the EU is to continue to exist, then its representatives will have to be clear about their ultimate objective. This should not be a federation of states, but a Union...
View ArticleGerman elections 2013: ‘One woman to rule them all’
Despite previous criticism of the German Chancellor’s “needlessly austere” treatment of Eurozone countries and her reticence to commit the EU to full banking union, Angela Merkel is “the right person...
View ArticleGerman elections 2013: ‘Seehofer triumphs in Bavaria’
On September 15, “five years after losing its absolute majority, the Christian Social Union (CSU) [the Bavarian branch of the Christian democratic CDU] will once again be the sole governing party in...
View ArticleGerman elections 2013: Voters seek motivation
Der Spiegel, Hamburg – A record low voter turnout is expected for the German parliamentary elections this Sunday. The classic stay-at-homer is being joined by a new, elitist type that is making...
View ArticleGerman elections 2013: Forgetting about Europe
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich – The German elections are triggering a fascinating and unprecedented level of anticipation abroad. For Germany’s parties and voters, their country’s role and influence in...
View ArticleSpain-UK relations: ‘Gibraltar is the only colony in 21st Century Europe’
Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy invited the UK to re-negotiate the status of Gibraltar and denounced the “anachronistic” situation of the Rock at the United Nation’s General Assembly on September 25, reports...
View ArticleGreece: ‘Government to take on Golden Dawn’
Speaking to the press on September 26, the leader of Golden Dawn, Nikos Michaloliakos said he would neither exclude or confirm a possible mass resignation of the 18 MPs of his party in protest over the...
View ArticleNorway: ‘Right’s broken dream’
After three weeks of negotiations, the leader of the Conservative Party, Erna Solberg, who won September 9 elections has not succeeded in forming a government with her political allies, reports...
View ArticleTurkey: Erdoğan’s small step towards greater democracy
A reform programme aimed at according greater rights to minorities was presented by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on September 30. The "democratic package" includes provisions to...
View ArticleItaly: ‘Berlusconi’s loss’
Following the revolt by deputy prime minister Angelino Alfano and the PDL “moderates”, Silvio Berlusconi has been forced into a humiliating “last minute U-turn”, eventually voting for the survival of...
View ArticleItaly: The twilight of Il Cavaliere
La Stampa, Turin – Silvio Berlusconi, repudiated by some of his associates, who forced him to back the vote of confidence in the Enrico Letta government, and in the process of being ousted from the...
View ArticleRussia-Netherlands: The ‘clash of civilisations’
In the wake of the ongoing dispute over Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship, which was sailing under Dutch flag and detained along with her crew in the Russian port of Murmansk, a new “power struggle with...
View ArticleNorway: ‘They govern Norway’
On October 16, Norway’s new Prime Minister, Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg, presented her cabinet. Aftenposten reports that for the first time, the government will include ministers — seven...
View ArticleFrance: ‘Fiasco’
The Leonarda affair, the case of a teenager who was arrested while on a school trip on October 8 before being deported to Kosovo along with her five brothers and sisters, has left French President...
View ArticleKosovo municipal elections: Violence in the north, fireworks in Pristina
”Incidents prevented voting in Kosovo-Metohija,” splashes Belgrade's Politika daily, using the traditional name still in use in Serbia to describe its former province. Regarded as a test for the...
View ArticleCyprus: Isle of spies
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich – Due to its strategic location, Cyprus has long been a hotspot for spies. The British secret service has located one of its main listening posts on the island: complete...
View ArticleKosovo: ‘Elections without incident in north Mitrovica’
Five thousand two hundred thirty-one people turned out to vote in municipal elections, held November 17, in the northern section of Mitrovica which is mostly inhabited by Serbs. This represents a...
View ArticleAlbania: ‘Fatal accident. Sokol Olldashi dies.’
Democratic Party opposition MP and former minister of transport Sokol Olldashi, 41, died on November 20 in an accident on the Tirana-Elbasan road, reports Gazeta Shqiptare. The car in which he was...
View Article