European Union

NATO and the EU: Achieving Unity of Effort in a Comprehensive Approach

By Leo Michel

Amidst a spate of disturbing reports about Afghanistan and impending deep cuts in the UK, German, and other allied defense budgets and force structures, security affairs cognoscenti could be forgiven for overlooking some positive news about the Euro-Atlantic relationship:  NATO and the EU still enjoy broad support despite their current travails. According to the recently […]

Tracking Iran’s nuclear money trail to Turkey

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

Brussels Workshop on Protecting the Global Commons

On September 19 the Atlantic Council in partnership with Allied Command Transformation and the Security and Defence Agenda (SDA) gathered experts and NATO, EU, and national representatives for a workshop on NATO’s Role in the Global Commons.

Van Rompuy accused of power grab over EU foreign policy

By Bruno Waterfield, the Telegraph

From Bruno Waterfield, the Telegraph:  Mr. [Herman] Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council which brings together EU leaders, has been accused of supporting a French proposal to set up a "special task force" on strategic relations that would rival Lady Ashton, who is supposed to be in charge of Europe’s foreign policy.

New poll reveals effects of Erdogan’s foreign policy on public opinion in Turkey

By Luke Baker, Reuters

From Luke Baker, Reuters:  For the United States and Europe, perhaps one of the more disconcerting findings in the survey was evidence of Turkey’s growing frustration with the United States and the EU, and its shift toward the east and the Arab world. In the 2004 survey, more than 70 percent of Turkish respondents said […]

Europe cools towards Obama: poll

By Luke Baker, Reuters

From Luke Baker, Reuters:  President Barack Obama‘s popularity remains high in Europe but has fallen in the past year as doubts emerge about some of his foreign policies, an opinion poll published on Wednesday showed.

Eastern EU states battle for posts in new foreign service

By AFP

From AFP:  EU foreign policy supremo Catherine Ashton is gearing up to name her first appointees in the bloc’s new diplomatic corps, but East European states are grumbling big nations are cornering the top jobs. Though the carve-up of posts in the European External Action Service (EEAS) was not on the agenda of a two-day […]

EU leaders to urge closer links with NATO at summit

By Arthur Beesley, the Irish Times

From Arthur Beesley, the Irish Times: European leaders are taking steps to develop deeper ties between the EU and Nato as the union seeks to boost its influence in global affairs. At a summit next Thursday, the leaders of the 27 member states will ask EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to explore ways of strengthening the union’s […]