Europe Center Commentary & Analysis

Transatlantic Security in a Trump Era

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Spanish foreign minister discusses the rise of populism, dealing with Vladimir Putin, and measuring defense expenditure The year 2016 has been a terrific one for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The rising tide of populism across Europe has brought to the forefront far-right populist leaders, in France and Germany, for example, who espouse pro-Russia rhetoric. The […]

Italian Voters Deal Leadership Blow to Europe

By Rachel Ansley

The victory of the “no” vote in the Italian referendum is not simply a rejection of reform, but will result in a significant loss of leadership on the European stage with the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, according to Andrea Montanino, director of the Global Business and Economics Program at the Atlantic Council. Montanino, […]

Austria Votes for Europe, But It’s Too Soon to Celebrate

By Alina Polyakova

On December 5, Austrians voted against far-right populism and for Europe. Norbert Hofer, the presidential candidate of Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), conceded the election to Alexander Van der Bellen, former head of the Greens who ran as an independent. Van der Bellen ran an unabashedly pro-European Union (EU) campaign at a time when the […]

‘Channeling Brussels’ with Federica Mogherini

By Teri Schultz

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on 2016 US presidents and EU challenges Welcome to the inaugural episode of “Channeling Brussels”, a new podcast on transatlantic foreign and security policy that bypasses the blah blah blah and digs  deep. As your host, I’ve been covering the European Union and NATO for a decade for major […]

Brexit Ruling is a Win for Parliamentary Democracy

By Erwan Lagadec

The era of “fact-free politics” just met its match, in that “facts are stubborn.” Populist politicians can distort much of the truth with little or no political consequences, but the British high court’s ruling on November 3 proves that for Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, and Theresa May, ignoring the reality of the United Kingdom’s constitutional […]

The Rise of the Strongman

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US official cites challenges to making the case for internationalism, free trade, open borders In the prevailing atmosphere of growing nativism and xenophobia, the phenomenon of the strongman is on the rise across the globe, said a senior US official, and this will be the case as long as people believe that the world will […]

Defending Europe Against Russia

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former secretary general of NATO, has some advice for European governments: invest more in defense in light of the threat posed by Russia. “I think more and more people understand that Russia has changed from being a strategic power to being a strategic challenge,” said Rasmussen. Rasmussen, who is also a […]

Rebuilding Trust in the European Union

By Rachel Ansley

Faced with challenges posed by Brexit, an unprecedented influx of migrants, and feeble economies, the European Union must work hard to rebuild confidence among European publics, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák said at the Atlantic Council on October 6. “Our main focus now is bringing the European Union closer to Europeans,” said Lajčák. Slovakia holds […]

Negotiating a Brexit

By Ashish Kumar Sen

EU will seek ‘best exit possible’ for the United Kingdom, says David O’Sullivan, EU’s ambassador to the United States The European Union wishes to negotiate the “best exit possible” for the United Kingdom from the bloc, said David O’Sullivan, the EU’s ambassador to the United States. “I don’t think it is a question of saying […]