D ecision-making rules in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) have been the subject of debates for many years. The unanimity requirement used in CFSP is seen by many as an obstacle…
T he European Defence Fund (EDF) is based on the article 173 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which provides the legal framework for cooperation between the EU Member states through…
F or a number of years the EU has been hoodwinked by Turkey’s leader, now president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is a master practitioner of the art. Likewise, the US president, Barack Obama, who…
F or the past years, many economic indicators have been projecting what the world's leading political and economic powers would look like in 2020.[1] In these projections, China, Russia, India and the United States…
A t the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, Russia was considered less affected than other countries in fight against the pandemic. Despite sharing a long border with China, the number of COVID-19 cases…
I n the past two decades, the Eastern neighbourhood has been one of the EU’s key foreign policy priorities.[1] With the enlargement waves of 2004 and 2007 in Central and Eastern Europe, the EU…
T he short-term economic effects of the COVID-19 and the lockdown measures adopted across Europe in response to the pandemic are causing significant pressure for public spending. As national budgets and the EU’s…
T he Russian government’s response to COVID-19 has been one of contradictions and confusion. Yet to announce a nation-wide lockdown, President Vladimir Putin has shifted responsibility, delegated decision making and averted public attention away…
T he European Union and China have developed diplomatic relations since 1975 and sealed their economic ties in 1985 with the signing of the EC-China Trade and Cooperation Agreement[1]. From the 1990s, the two…
T he COVID-19 outbreak has spread relentlessly across the globe in the past few months. It has brought unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems in almost every country in the world, but it also has…