Insights

  • Insight
    Insight by Simon Tilford
    09 May 2011

    Even as the ink is still drying on Portugal’s EU/IMF ‘bail-out’ agreement, it is becoming clear that Greece’s 2010 bail-out has failed to improve the sustainability of its public finances.

  • Can the Arab spring bring peace to the Middle East?
    21 April 2011

    Many western diplomats and observers argue that the popular uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East reinforce the need for Israelis and Palestinians to return to peace talks.

  • The June European Council: Migrants on their minds
    Insight by Hugo Brady
    08 April 2011

    In June, EU leaders will meet in Brussels for their next quarterly summit chaired by Council President Herman Van Rompuy. Some of them – Britain's David Cameron and France's Nicolas Sarkozy – are currently fighting a war in Libya. Others, like Angela Merkel and Silvio Berlusconi, are facing political upheaval at home.

  • Europe's damaging obsession with 'competitiveness'
    Insight by Simon Tilford
    31 March 2011

    Many European policy-makers and business leaders believe that a country's economic growth prospects depend on its ability to capture a growing share of global markets.

  • Turkey, the EU and the Mediterranean uprisings thumbnail
    Insight by Katinka Barysch
    16 March 2011

    The revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have brought home to many people that Turkey has become a force to be reckoned with in this region. Turkey enjoys lots of credibility in the Arab world. It has burgeoning trade ties and solid political relations with many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries.

  • What cuts in US defence budget will mean for the transatlantic alliance
    Insight by Tomas Valasek
    15 March 2011

    The US defence budget seems set to fall as Washington begins to restore order in its finances. Spending on the military has reached such heights – $700 billion, or 20 per cent of the US federal budget – that it has become too large for deficit-cutters to ignore.

  • What should NATO’s new strategic concept say about Russia?
    Insight by Tomas Valasek
    09 March 2011

    Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO has strived to reduce mutual suspicions with Russia and to build a more co-operative relationship. So it is vexing that 20 years on, Russia continues to view NATO as a hostile alliance.

  • The EU’s new politics of movement
    Insight by Hugo Brady
    17 February 2011

    The freedom enjoyed by EU citizens to live and work in each others' countries is a unique liberty. It is the basis around which European governments have tried to build a single border, a compensatory system of co-operation between police, judges and immigration officers and a common refugee policy.