Foreign policy & defence
An asset but not a model: Turkey, the EU and the wider Middle East
01 October 2004
Many politicians and commentators tend to disparage the EU's nascent foreign policy. They should travel to Turkey. It is true that the EU has a poor record in making its mark on global crises.
Ukraine's European choice
01 October 2004
During the 1990s, the EU was busy completing its single market, introducing the euro and helping the Central and East European applicants get ready for accession.
Is tax competition bad?
02 August 2004
EU enlargement was meant to be a cause for celebration. But one seemingly esoteric issue is threatening to spoil the fun: taxation. West Europeans fear that low tax rates in the new member-states will lure companies eastward, taking jobs and investment with them.
Issue 37 - 2004
30 July 2004
- The recipe for a successful Commission, Alasdair Murray
- Is tax competition bad?, Katinka Barysch
- The peculiarities of the British, Charles Grant
From drift to strategy: Why the EU should start accession talks with Turkey
02 July 2004
The prospect of membership has been the EU's single most effective foreign policy tool. In their desire to join the EU, countries across the European continent have consolidated democracy, opened up their economies, strengthened their public administrations, and improved relations with their neighbours.
Europe's new defence agency
04 June 2004
By the end of 2004 the EU should have a new defence 'capabilities agency'. The agency’s initial impact on EU defence is likely to be small, but it could make a real difference in the medium to long run.
How the EU should help its neighbours
04 June 2004
The EU has had huge success in using its enlargement process to help ten Central and East European countries along the path to becoming stable democracies and successful market economies. Can it do the same for its neighbours, such as Ukraine and Algeria?
Where are the Eastern hordes?
01 June 2004
Readers of best-selling British newspapers must have the strong impression that the EU's eastward enlargement is primarily about migration.
Issue 36 - 2004
28 May 2004
- Where are the Eastern hordes?, Heather Grabbe
- Who's afraid of the charter of rights?, Mónica Roma
- If Britain votes no ..., Charles Grant
A European way of war
03 May 2004
The Europeans should develop their own distinctive approach to warfare, argue the authors of this report. Although the Europeans can learn from the Americans on how to prepare for the most demanding sorts of military mission, they should build on their core strengths of peacekeeping, nation-building and counter-insurgency.
The constellations of Europe: How enlargement will transform the EU
02 April 2004
Eastward enlargement will change the EU far more than its current members expect. Heather Grabbe plots the new members' positions in the emerging constellations of Europe - on the new constitution, the EU's budget, economic and regulatory policies, border controls, defence and the EU's role in the world.
Serbia and the EU
01 April 2004
Five years ago, NATO bombed Serbia and killed around 500 civilians. Today, Slobodan Milosevic and Vojislav Seselj (the leader of the ultra-nationalist Radicals) are in custody in The Hague while a convinced democrat, Vojislav Kostunica, is prime minister.
Issue 35 - 2004
26 March 2004
- Raising the quality of Europe's higher education, Richard Lambert
- A European public prosecutor would be a dangerous distraction, Mónica Roma
- Serbia and the EU, Charles Grant
Engaging Iran: A test case for EU foreign policy
05 March 2004
After the Iraq debacle, the EU badly needs a foreign policy success. Steven Everts argues that Europe's strategy of 'conditional engagement' has produced some modest results.
Could a hard core run the enlarged EU?
06 February 2004
The leaders of France, Germany and the UK meet in Berlin on 18 February 2004 to try to forge a joint agenda for the EU. The summit is partly aimed at a rapprochement between the 'Big Three' after Iraq.
Jobs for the boys
02 February 2004
Last year may have been an annus horribilis for the EU, but 2004 looks set to be just as divisive. In between negotiating a new EU budget and a possible starting date for Turkey's accession negotiations, EU leaders have to choose a new Commission president.
Issue 34 - 2004
30 January 2004
- Jobs for the boys, Steven Everts
- Poland: the EU's new awkward partner, Heather Grabbe
- Policing public sector aid, Alasdair Murray
Is Europe working?
01 January 2004
With more than 14 million people out of work, unemployment is the EU's greatest economic problem. However, while EU policy-makers ponder Germany's 4.3 million unemployed, Britain's low labour productivity and Italy's greying workforce, they have missed one of Europe's key labour market challenges: eastward enlargement.
If the EU's labour market statistics...
If the EU's labour market statistics...
A joined-up EU security policy
01 January 2004
EU member-states disagree on whether the EU should have its own military headquarters, or continue to depend on NATO to help run EU operations. This dispute is becoming increasingly theological.
'Old' and 'New' Europeans united: Public attitudes towards the Iraq war and US foreign policy
11 December 2003
Is there a clear and lasting division between new and old Europe at the level of public opinion? This paper looks at public opinion polls conducted in the EU-15 countries and ten new members that will join the EU in 2004, to see which countries' populations supported the Iraq war before and after it took place.