European Union

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

Europe’s Troubled Neighborhood (Policy)

By Matthew Czekaj

Unlike people, countries cannot choose their own neighborhoods, and the countries of the European Union are surrounded by some pretty turbulent suburbs. Yet, collectively, the EU has not been content to give in to the geographic hand it was dealt. Rather than simply putting up a barbed wire fence – though it has tried some […]

EU, not NATO, should lead on Libya

By Sarwar Kashmeri, the Foreign Policy Association

Germany’s unhappy abstention from leadership

By Constanze Stelzenmüller, the Financial TImes

A Long-Term Strategy for Libya and the Mediterranean: Over to the European Union

By Sven Biscop

Now that operations have started, all eyes are fixed on the military intervention in Libya. That can only be useful though in the context of a comprehensive political strategy for the country and the region. Crafting such a strategy is the role of the EU. Intervening in Libya is not evident. The operation is far […]