: :inin Kyiv (EET)

Section: EU

EU steps up efforts to help Ukraine
Jul24

EU steps up efforts to help Ukraine

The European Union has stepped up its efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, with EU foreign ministers warning Russia that it faces economic sanctions unless it does more to stop pro-Russian rebels and unless it co-operates fully with an international investigation into the shooting down last week of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine. A...

EU strikes second regional trade deal in Africa
Jul24

EU strikes second regional trade deal in Africa

The European Union has made a significant breakthrough in its economic relationship with Africa by concluding two regional trade deals encompassing 22 countries, including Nigeria and South Africa, the continent’s largest economies. The deals were each signed within a week of each other, after ten years of negotiations. Together they...

A decision deferred on the EU’s high representative
Jul24

A decision deferred on the EU’s high representative

The European Union will stumble through the summer without decisions on who will be its next foreign-policy chief and who will take other top posts, after the special European Council convened on 16 July to make these appointments broke down without agreement. The 28 prime ministers and presidents from the member states instead focused on the...

TTIP tries to weather the mid-way squalls
Jul24

TTIP tries to weather the mid-way squalls

Negotiators from the European Commission and the United States on Friday (18 July) completed another gruelling round of negotiations on the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), the sixth so far. Inside the European Commission’s meeting rooms and in a spillover facility, a specially hired conference hall near Châtelain, the...

Federica Mogherini – Italy’s scapegoat
Jul24

Federica Mogherini – Italy’s scapegoat

Even for a politician who has built a career around delivering grace under pressure, the intensity of the campaign against Federica Mogherini mounted over the past few weeks will have been unsettling. The youngest foreign minister in Italy’s republican history has been attacked for her politics (too left-wing), her views on Ukraine (too...

Belarus: island of stability?
Jul24

Belarus: island of stability?

Sunday, 20 July, marked the twentieth anniversary of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s presidency of Belarus – a European record for longevity in leadership with which, until last year, only Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker could compete. So what has life been like under the man usually described as ‘Europe’s last...

More Russia sanctions: no EU concrete decision
Jul24

More Russia sanctions: no EU concrete decision

Author(s): Dan Alexe warship_russia_france.jpg No immediate sanctions on Russia and no core sanctions against the inner circle of the Kremlin: the meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers on sanctions against Russia, chaired by the High Representative Catherine Ashton, took on Tuesday longer than announced, as an agreement proved hard to find,...

"They sow the wind and harvest the whirlwind”*
Jul24

"They sow the wind and harvest the whirlwind”*

Author(s): New Europe ukraine_plane.jpg The situation around the downed Malaysian airliner becomes somehow more clear and responsibilities should be attributed to irresponsible locals encouraged by alcohol and emotions, rather to any of the major powers involved. The incident gave the opportunity for a propaganda “war” for few days...

EU ministers discuss “phase three” of Russia sanctions
Jul24

EU ministers discuss “phase three” of Russia sanctions

Author(s): Dan Alexe train_ukraine_crash_dog.jpg EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to decide new measures against Russia, with Britain and some other countries demanding much tougher measures. The Foreign Affairs Council meeting will be followed by the EU-Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting, starting at 16.00. Further to the EU...

The EU has to draw unity from the wreckage of MH17
Jul23

The EU has to draw unity from the wreckage of MH17

The crisis in Ukraine is posing some hard existential questions for the European Union. The member states are being asked whether, in a post-Cold War world, they are ready to define their relationship with Russia collectively rather than individually. They are being asked whether they are prepared to inflict pain on their own citizens for the...