Eurozone

EU Elections 2019: The Future of the European Project

On May 29, the Future Europe Initiative partnered with the Delegation of the European Union to the United States to facilitate a discussion on the results and implications of the 2019 EU Elections. This event featured an address by Antoine Ripoll, the Director of the EU Parliament Liaison Office in Washington, followed by a panel […]

Ukraine inaugurates new president

By David J. Kramer and John E. Herbst

Wasting little time after winning Ukraine’s April 21 presidential election in a landslide, the country’s new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, vowed in his inauguration speech on Monday to dissolve the parliament and hold early elections. After winning 73 percent of the vote in the second round, Zelenskiy may be hoping to ride the political wave, and […]

Critical questions for Ukraine’s new president

By Andreas Umland

Ukraine’s domestic politics will change fundamentally in 2019. On May 20, Volodymyr Zelenskiy was inaugurated as president of Ukraine. The country’s upcoming parliamentary elections this summer or autumn will likely reconfigure much of the governing elite, and lead to deep changes in the country’s legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Five major topics will keep Kyiv […]

Brussels agreed to Brexit extension to avoid no deal, EU official says

By David A. Wemer

EU official signals that the EU would be open to a compromise that passed the Withdrawal Agreement but changed the political declaration.

The European Union and Brexit

By Atlantic Council

In the context of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the world Bank Group, the Atlantic Council’s Global Business & Economics Program (GBE) and the Future Europe Initiative (FEI) co-hosted The Hon. Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission for the Euro. The discussion held on April 12th centered on the […]

Some things never change

By Andreas Umland

Ukraine’s presidential election is less than a week away, and no candidate will win outright with fifty percent. Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy leads in the polls and will certainly be in the run-off election on April 21. The big question is whether he will face incumbent President Petro Poroshenko or former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Poroshenko […]

Why do so few presidential candidates support NATO and EU membership?

By Taras Kuzio

Out of forty-two candidates who are running for president in the Ukrainian elections on March 31, only eleven support NATO and EU membership. This represents a lower proportion of supporters than the over 300 deputies who voted on three occasions to change the constitution to include those two goals. Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party and the Radical […]

Who is ready to lead Ukraine?

By Kostiantyn Romashko

It’s election season in Ukraine. While there are forty-two candidates officially registered, the competition, according to recent polls, comes down to three: incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and newcomer and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy. In January, UkraineAlert examined the foreign policy views of the five leading candidates. Now we narrow the focus […]

May’s Brexit deal faces another test. What if it fails?

By David A. Wemer

It remains unclear whether May’s government allies have been able to convince enough MPs to support the deal.

Opposition to Nord Stream 2 gathers steam on both sides of the Atlantic

By Agnia Grigas

Although largely symbolic gestures, these actions signal growing bipartisan opposition in Washington and a hardening of Brussels’ stance toward Nord Stream 2.