Section: European Voice (EU)
Ukraine’s crisis of faith
VORSIVKA, Ukraine — For years, Father Vasily spent his Sundays behind the altar at St. Nicholas, a church in the small town of Vorsivka, in north-central Ukraine. That all changed in early January, not long after the Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially split from the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church in one of the biggest schisms in Christian...
Merkel’s go-it-alone legacy
BERLIN — No one has ever described Angela Merkel as being a gifted orator. That must be why her speech to the Munich Security Conference over the weekend was met with standing ovations and even hailed as “historic” by some. Instead of droning along in her trademark monotone as she usually does, speaking without really saying anything, Merkel...
Eastern Europe’s problem isn’t Russia
There’s an enemy stalking the post-Soviet states of Eastern Europe — undermining governments, attacking the economy and sowing instability. Russia? No. The greatest threat to countries like Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine lies in their own poor governance and abuse of informal power. And while these weaknesses make them more vulnerable to...
Ex-NATO chief: Russia to launch ‘major’ effort to meddle in EU election
MUNICH — Russia will use unprecedented means to disrupt the upcoming European Parliament election, former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned on Friday. “There is no doubt that Russia will be a major malign actor,” Rasmussen told POLITICO in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. At the same time, it is...
Orbán: Hungarian military should be able to defend country ‘from any direction’
Hungary is beefing up its military to defend itself from anyone. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview with Hungarian magazine Figyelő, published Thursday, that the country is implementing a multiyear military development process “at which end Hungary will have significant hitting power, and will be able to defend from an attack...
Nord Stream 2: Who fared best
Every winner is also a loser when it comes to Nord Stream 2. EU officials agreed late Tuesday night to amend the bloc’s Gas Directive so that its rules cover gas pipelines from third countries. The measure is aimed at the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, now under construction, that would carry gas from Russia to Germany under the...
Way to an Italian populist’s heart is through his stomach
ROME — The appeal of populist parties, no matter in what country, is often based on the idea of a glorious past that’s been lost, and might be restored. For some, this takes on the form of an obsession with land and “purity,” or nostalgia for white supremacy. For others, it’s about an economic system that rewarded hard work or...
Mike Pompeo’s EU troublemaker tour
Mike Pompeo is heading for the EU’s eastern fringe — on a mission to make sure it’s looking west. That’s how senior administration officials present the secretary of state’s upcoming visits to Hungary, Slovakia and Poland — as a chance to counter growing Russian and Chinese influence in areas as diverse as energy and...
EU Confidential episode 84: The Bellingcat team — Marietje Schaake MEP — US ambassador to EU Gordon Sondland
This week we bring you the revenge of the geeks! Bellingcat is the world’s most surprising and one of its more successful journalism ventures. Founder Eliot Higgins and senior investigator Christiaan Triebert explain what open source investigation is, and how they used it to get to the bottom of modern mysteries, including tracking down...
Belgian exporters found guilty of sending chemicals to Syria
A Belgian court has found three businesses and their owners guilty of shipping 168 tons of a substance potentially used in the making of chemical weapons to Syria between 2014 and 2016 without submitting the appropriate export licenses. The Penal Court of Antwerp fined AAE Chemie Trading, a wholesaler, Anex Customs and Danmar Logistics between...
