December 2005

October 2005

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Why Europe deserves a better farm policy
by Jack Thurston, December 2005

The prospects for radical CAP reform look bleak. At the time of writing (December 2005) neither the arguments over the EU budget nor pressure from major farm exporters at the world trade negotiations look likely to force the EU to reform. The resistance to change is too strong. The French-led coalition of countries defending the status quo is more united than the group that favours reform. In theory, EU ministers decide on agricultural issues by qualified majority voting. In practice, however, EU ministers are reluctant to put any country in a minority and consensus is the general rule.

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Georgia and the EU: Can Europe's neighbourhood policy deliver?
by Mark Leonard and Charles Grant, October 2005

All public buildings in downtown Tbilisi fly EU flags next to Georgian ones. The flags are a symbol of Georgia's determination to integrate itself into the West after the 'rose revolution', and a reminder of the potency of the European dream outside the European Union's borders. Georgia's bloodless coup of December 2003, which had started as a protest against the results of a rigged parliamentary election, brought to power a reform-minded government lead by the 37-year old Mikheil Saakashvili.

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The EU budget: A way forward
by John Peet, September 2005

Many of the bitterest arguments in the European Union have been about money. That is partly because the budget is inherently a zero-sum game: more for one country means less for others. But it is also because, although the budget is small (just over 1 per cent of EU GDP, equivalent to 2 per cent of EU-wide public spending), it gives rise to sizeable flows of money in and out of finance ministry coffers. All EU governments need to agree to the Union's 'financial perspectives' (the EU's medium-term frameworks for spending), and budget negotiations have become increasingly fraught in recent decades.

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Consumers and EU competition policy
by Alasdair Murray, September 2005

An effective competition policy is vital to the long-term health of the European economy. Competition increases the incentives for firms to reduce costs, cut prices and improve the quality of their products. It encourages the reallocation of capital from less to more productive firms. It benefits businesses which gain from greater competition between suppliers. But above all, competition benefits consumers through lower prices and better products.

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Crunch time on Iran:
Five ways out of a nuclear crisis
by Mark Leonard, August 2005

For the last few weeks Iran has been openly flirting with the idea of developing nuclear weapons. The European Union, under the leadership of Britain, France and Germany, has been trying to stop it. The two sides look set to head for a showdown later this year. When the negotiations last went to the brink in May 2005, the so-called EU-3 promised to produce a formula to defuse the stand-off by August.

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The EU's common fisheries policy:
The case for reform, not abolition
by Aurore Wanlin, April 2005

During the British general election campaign, political parties have found the EU's common fisheries policy (CFP) a temptingly soft target. The Conservative Party leader, Michael Howard, pledges that if elected he would pull Britain out of the CFP, a policy that he claims has "totally failed British fishermen". Prime Minister Tony Blair, on the other hand, wants the UK to "give a lead in reforming the Common Fisheries Policy".

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Ukraine after the Orange Revolution
by Kataryna Wolczuk, February 2005

The pace and scope of change triggered by Ukraine's presidential elections in late 2004 has surprised the EU, the US, Russia and, not least, most Ukrainians themselves. The rigged first round of the elections in October sparked the so-called Orange Revolution – mass protests under the orange banners of the opposition – as well as widespread international criticism of the regime of President Leonid Kuchma.
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