Ukraine & Eastern Partnership

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Video interview on the way ahead for Ukraine

28 February 2014
Video interview with Ian Bond, director for foreign policy at the CER on the way ahead for Ukraine.

Soccer boycott could kick Ukraine toward reform

Tomas Valasek
11 May 2012
Bloomberg
If war is a continuation of politics by other means, then so is soccer. That's why European Union leaders are right to use the"beautiful game" to pressure an ugly regime in Ukraine.

A bad deal for Ukraine and Yanukovich

Tomas Valasek
27 April 2010
Financial Times
The new Ukrainian president has got off to a bad start in foreign policy terms. Last week, Viktor Yanukovich signed a lease agreement with Moscow that will allow the Russian Black Sea Fleet to stay in Ukraine for at least another 32 years.

Is Ukraine fit for the EU?

Tomas Valasek
24 August 2009
The Wall Street Journal
The European Union just helped put together a consortium of international banks to offer Kiev up to $3.6 billion in loans to buy Russian gas.

Europe and Russia's continental rift

Katinka Barysch
13 July 2009
Time Europe
Russia's economy - until recently one of the fastest growing in Europe - is in dire straits. In the first three months of this year, output fell by 10% compared with a year earlier.

The EU can ignore Eastern Europe at its own peril

Katinka Barysch
17 April 2009
Yale Global Online
The glow of the G-20 summit and some less-than-awful economic data have brought some faint signs of optimism to Europe. But in the European Union’s Eastern member-states, the risk of economic turmoil and political backlash is still tangible.

Belarus: An artful balancing act

23 February 2009
International Herald Tribune
Compared with most former Soviet states, Belarus has a lot going for it. The government is less corrupt than in neighboring Russia and Ukraine. Belarus has no oligarchs, since the state never sold its big companies, and social inequalities are low.

Pipe down, price up

Tomas Valasek
06 January 2009
The Guardian
The Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute is turning from a bilateral spat into a regional crisis. EU countries that share a border with Ukraine have reported dramatic drops in the volume of gas deliveries.

Europe must bring Ukraine into the fold

Tomas Valasek
07 September 2008
In a spectacular case of bad timing, Ukraine’s government all but collapsed last week. President Viktor Yushchenko withdrew most of his deputies from the ruling coalition with Yulia Tymoshenko, the prime minister.

Welcome to the neighbourhood

15 January 2007
Russia Profile
The enlargement of the EU is slowing down. Bulgaria and Romania have just joined, bringing the membership to 27, but in many EU countries there is little enthusiasm for extending the Union's boundaries further.

What to do about Russia?

22 October 2006
The Guardian
Perhaps the most important challenge for EU foreign policy is to develop a more unified approach to Russia. The EU member-states have very similar interests in Russia.

At last, some hope for Ukraine

04 August 2006
The Guardian
The formation of a new government - four months after parliamentary elections - is good news for Ukraine. The coalition is broad-based: the party of President Victor Yushchenko, Our Ukraine, has strong roots in the rural west of the country; the Regions party, led by the new prime minister, Victor Yanukovich, dominates the east; and the Socialist party, the third member of the coalition, is popular among farmers in the centre.

Belarus blue

Charles Grant, Mark Leonard
15 March 2006
The Wall Street Journal
To a first-time visitor, the capital of Belarus seems normal. People look content, streets are clean and orderly, and cafés ring with lively and frank exchanges.

The real crisis for Europe

10 October 2005
Newsweek
So, is Turkey to start membership talks with the European Union? The reception could hardly be more hostile. As the public sees it, the EU is big enough already. Political leaders from France's Nicolas Sarkozy to Germany's Angela Merkel are opposed.

A beacon of liberty flickers: Observations on Georgia

18 July 2005
New Statesman
President Bush proclaimed Georgia a "beacon for liberty" when he visited Tbilisi in May. Georgia has certainly made great progress since people power overthrew the corrupt and incompetent regime of Eduard Shevardnadze in 2003. Nevertheless, clouds are dimming the light of that beacon.
There is something amiss, for example, when none...

Variable geometry

01 July 2005
Prospect
The end of enlargement would be a tragedy. Perhaps it can be saved by "variable geometry".
The French and Dutch referendums have halted both deepening and widening in the EU. The two ideas have always been intimately linked. The political elites in core countries such as France were reluctant to accept...

Europe must keep its 'soft power'

Carl Bildt
01 June 2005
Financial Times
In the aftermath of the French rejection of the European Union constitution, on the eve of the Dutch referendum and amid political uncertainty in Germany, there is a growing risk that the EU will start to backtrack on its commitment to continued enlargement.
Yet, in recent years, Europe has prided itself...