Europe Center Commentary & Analysis

The British are Voting: Here’s What You Need to Know

By Ashish Kumar Sen

‘It is not important that Britain is not important,’ says Atlantic Council’s Dungan If one thing is nearly certain about Britain’s general elections May 7, it is that they will produce no clear victor and, as a result, could lead to another coalition government—or even a hung Parliament. British Prime Minister David Cameron is leading […]

For France, ‘Solidarité’ Against Terror

By Nicholas Dungan

French Response to Islamist Violence Reflects Political Values and a Sense of National Mission France’s people and leaders have shown a unity and dignity following last week’s terrorist attacks that honor the country’s political culture of tolerance and reaffirm its success in confronting terrorism. France thus constitutes a valuable role model for other democracies and […]

Hitting Russia’s Economy: What Obama and EU Must Do Wednesday in Brussels

By Frances G. Burwell

President Obama and his European Union colleagues will gather Wednesday in the most important meeting so far for Western governments as they decide how to respond to Russia’s egregious, illegal seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. US and European sanctions so far have targeted individuals among Moscow’s elite, rather than the broader Russian economy. At the […]

Ukraine Nears Civil War

By New Atlanticist

US, EU Must Sanction Kyiv Authorities, Wilson Says The newly violent confrontation in Kyiv between the government and protesters has shoved Ukraine’s three-month-old crisis into a new, more dangerous phase that poses increased risk of a civil war, Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Adrian Karatnycky says. The attack by police on Tuesday against demonstrators demanding a […]

Dungan Comments on Hollande State Visit

Nicholas Dungan, a nonresident senior fellow with the Council’s Program on Transatlantic Relations, was interviewed recently about French President François Hollande’s visit to the United States. In the remarks below, Dungan illuminates the interplay of French and American politics, the impact of Syria on the transatlantic relationship, and how this state visit is viewed from both an […]

Ukraine: A Dire Scenario

By Adrian Karatnycky

“Ukraine’s fate will be decided in the coming weeks. If a dictatorship triumphs in Kyiv, it will markedly set back Europe’s hopes of a significantly enlarged European democratic space.” Every Sunday for the past eight weeks, several hundred thousand Ukrainians have gathered in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) to protest government policies. Initially, in late […]