Yes, this is really the official title of the position that will be created once the Lisbon treaty is in force. Why not “EU Foreign minister” you may ask – well, the British delegation successfully managed to lobby against the title of “EU Foreign Minister” in the negotiations (supported by quite a few others). Strange, [...]
Posts under ‘European Foreign Policy’
Fortress Europe – War against refugees?
Via wikileaks I found this very interesting video, unfortunately only in German. If I had some time I would add subtitles (here is the text file). Although only a shorter version of the video was shown on German TV, it is quite a good example of EU related journalism.
The video is about Frontex and how [...]
Return to Europe – A Rediscovery
“Return to Europe” or “BalkanExpress” (do not ask me why there are 2 names for it… ) is according to the European Stability Initiative (ESI): “…one of the most ambitious TV projects on South Eastern Europe produced in recent years.” It is a 10 part documentary series and details about the project can be found [...]
Quick Poll: What is “EU foreign policy”?
Writing a PhD requires one to think a lot about definitions and typologyies. One of the more interesting topics in that respect is a definition of “EU foreign policy”. At the same time, there seems to be quite a gap between academic debate and public debate , although one can of course argue that this is [...]
Propaganda and Satellite Imagery in Georgia
There has been a lot of talk about the role of information/propaganda during the war in Georgia. The question what information is actually correct has been one of the major problems in analysing the conflict. Robert Amsterdam posted a translation of Propaganda 2.0, a good article on the topic (here the original in German).
Via Paul [...]
Karadžić arrested, ambassadors back – What next for Serbia?
Serbia’s new government really seems determined about its pro-EU ambitions.
The arrest of war criminal Radovan Karadžić is clearly a political breakthrough, not only for Serbia but also for the entire region as well as a promising sign for EU-Serbia relations. Actually it can be interpreted as a success for the EU foreign policy approach towards [...]
After Karadžić, Mladić?
Recent developments in Serbia give the impression that the newly established government tries to act in a “European way” and fulfill the criteria of the SAA as quickly as possible. Probably everyone who follows the developments in the region and who knows something about the Yugoslav conflicts is relieved after this capture.
However, there are also [...]
The regionalisation of the EU neighbourhood
There is quite some interesting developments going on in the realm of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). To start with the basics: The ENP aims at developing a secure and prosperous neighbourhood, in a way a “ring of friends” around the EU. So, the EU offers a wide range of cooperation possibilities coupled with economic [...]
Should the EU offer a SAA to Serbia? (and possibly influence the elections?)
“Ministers, over lunch, will discuss the situation in the Western Balkans, notably in the run-up to the Serbian general elections on 11 May.” This is the seemingly unimportant announcement on the GAERC Council Agenda for the April 29th meeting in Luxembourg. But EU Foreign Ministers will have to decide on quite a difficult issue: Should [...]
Russia – A new European partner?
During the last several weeks a range of interesting events happened in EU-Russia and in NATO-Russia relations. After quite some time full with “new cold war” rhetoric, new partnerships are being negotiated:
- Russia will support the EUFOR Chad mission by deploying 6-8 helicopters. According to some EU officials, these helicopters are quite crucial for the [...]
