European Union

Sweden blocks planning for EU mission in Libya

By Valentina Pop, EUobserver

From Valentina Pop, EUobserver:  Foreign ministers have sketched out the basic outlines of an EU ‘military-humanitarian’ mission to Libya, amid concern about putting ground soldiers into a volatile situation. The meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday (12 March) saw ministers discuss the so-called concept of operations (Conops) for the Eufor Libya mission, the first step in […]

Deutschland, unter alles…

By David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy

From David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy:  I will be happy to tell you how a host of the world’s current problems will work out if you answer one question for me: How far will Germany go to solve other countries’ problems?

Germany and Libya

By Charlemagne, the Economist

Germany willing to participate in EU mission in Libya

By Spiegel

From Spiegel:  In a Thursday interview with the television channel N24, [German Foreign Minister Guido] Westerwelle said that Germany would take part in a European Union humanitarian mission should such an operation come to pass.

EU setting up military operation for Libya

By the Council of the European Union

From the Council of the European Union:  The Council adopted today a decision on a European Union military operation in support of humanitarian assistance operations in response to the crisis situation in Libya ("EUFOR Libya" operation).

Europe needs a miliary avant-garde

By Charles Grant, the Center for European Reform

From Charles Grant, the Center for European Reform:  The Libyan operation has shown that the US now expects Europe to look after its own backyard.

Lady in Waiting: Where is the EU’s foreign policy chief?

By Stephen Castle, Foreign Policy

From Stephen Castle, Foreign Policy:  The crisis in Libya is a rare instance in which Europeans can plausibly claim to be outdoing Americans in foreign policy, and a rarer one still of the old world being more prepared than the new to use its military muscle. But while France and Britain have burnished their leadership […]

Europe Had Better Wake Up

By Lord Robertson, the New Atlanticist

From Lord Robertson, the New Atlanticist:  Europe, despite its relative prosperity and economic muscle, is still not, as we have seen, able to act in its own self-interest without US leadership and military capabilities.

Chancellor Merkel’s Shellacking

By the Editors of the New York Times

From the Editors of the New York Times:  Even after pandering to voters’ fears about nuclear power, the euro and NATO operations in Libya, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany got a shellacking in her Christian Democratic party’s traditional bastion of Baden-Württemberg.

New Report: “most NATO members have taken sides in what amounts to a civil war”

By the NATO Defense College