European Union

Dempsey Backs Strong US Military Presence in Europe

By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes

The U.S. military’s senior leader said Wednesday that he’s a strong supporter of maintaining a sizeable presence overseas, including in Europe, despite budget constraints, because of the proximity to potential hotspots.

EU-NATO: Playing at Defense

By Julian Lindley-French

 The European Union (EU) and NATO are in deep crisis. The EU is in trouble for at least three major reasons. First, EU is organized around Germany, which for understandable historical reasons trades down military power as it trades up economic and political influence. Second, Britain, one of the EU’s two serious military powers, is now […]

The Eastern Partnership Summit: What’s Next?

To discuss the challenges that remain for European leaders in continuing to develop the relationship with the eastern partners after Vilnius, and to articulate a vision for transatlantic cooperation on the Eastern Partnership going forward, the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Relations Program hosted a members’ conference call with H.E. Linas Linkevičius, minister of foreign affairs of […]

The Danger of Divergence: Transatlantic Financial Reform & the G20 Agenda

By Chris Brummer

Since the last report on this topic—The Danger of Divergence: Transatlantic Cooperation on Financial Reform, published in 2010 by the Atlantic Council and Thomson Reuters—the United States and Europe have worked to translate an ever-growing body of international financial regulations into legally binding domestic regulations. Although this process has been largely harmonious and remarkably consistent, […]

Europeans Less Able, Americans Less Willing?

By Daniel Keohane, German Marshall Fund of the United States

Europeans are becoming less capable militarily, having moved from a military reform to austerity paradigm since 2008.

Europe Needs a Strong and United Military

By Julian Lindley-French

Last month I had the honor of chairing a superb conference in Amsterdam on behalf of the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army Lieutenant-General Mart de Kruif. Two key messages came out of this conference. First, if we Europeans want to keep Americans engaged in NATO and, by extension, engaged in Europe’s security European armed […]

Ukraine, the EU, and Russia: Win, Don’t Whine

By Matthew Bryza

It is understandable that European leaders are angry with Russia for spoiling the EU’s Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius by pressuring Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to “suspend” signing of Ukraine’s EU Association Agreement.  Moscow’s hardball tactics created a diplomatic debacle for the EU, as President Putin (yet again) violated his self-serving maxim of noninterference in […]

A Conversation with Serbian Ambassador to the US, Vladimir Petrovic

On December 6, 2013, the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Relations Program had the honor of hosting Serbia’s Ambassador to the United States Vladimir Petrovic, on the occasion of the completion of his successful tenure as ambassador. Ambassador Petrovic spoke candidly to a select group of Balkans experts from the Washington policy community in an off-the-record roundtable […]

EU-Turkish Energy Relations in the Context of EU Accession Negotiations: Focus on Natural Gas

By David Koranyi and Nicolò Sartori

The European Union (EU) and Turkey have been on a divergent path over the past five years, but energy security is one of those sectors where the two partners would clearly benefit from closer cooperation. This paper by Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Deputy Director David Koranyi and Nicolò Sartori, researcher in the security and defence department at […]

Eurasia’s Captive Nations

By Damon Wilson

During the Cold War, against all odds and the tenets of realpolitik diplomacy, every White House and US Congress championed the cause of the ‘captive nations’ of central and eastern Europe locked behind the Iron Curtain. The accession over the next two decades of Poland, Estonia, and others to NATO and the European Union ended Cold War […]