Press

The larger the EU becomes, the more important it is for the people who live in it to realise that their union has been built on common values. So I am delighted that the Berlin declaration, issued at the special EU summit marking the union's 50th birthday, stresses European values...

It is seven years since the European Union launched its Lisbon agenda of economic reforms aimed at transforming the competitiveness of the European economy by 2010. Despite the pessimism, there has been much to cheer.

For some time, Ségolène Royal, the French Socialist presidential candidate, benefited from a good degree of sympathy in the UK. Her charm, her praise of Tony Blair’s policies and criticism of some French policies like the 35-hour week had gained her support in British media and political circles.

The enlargement of the EU is slowing down. Bulgaria and Romania have just joined, bringing the membership to 27, but in many EU countries there is little enthusiasm for extending the Union's boundaries further.

The enlargement of the European Union has lost momentum. Bulgaria and Romania will enter the EU in January, but there is then likely to be a long gap before any other country joins.

According to a British think-tank, the Centre for European Reform (CER), if EU membership negotiations were postponed, Turkey would look for a new alliance, perhaps in Russia.

Perhaps the most important challenge for EU foreign policy is to develop a more unified approach to Russia. The EU member-states have very similar interests in Russia.

The eurozone risks breaking up in the near future putting the entire EU single market into jeopardy unless member states – particularly Italy - undertake crucial economic reforms, according to a new report.
Entitled Will the eurozone crack?, the report by the London-based Centre for European Reform, argues that instead of...

The formation of a new government - four months after parliamentary elections - is good news for Ukraine. The coalition is broad-based: the party of President Victor Yushchenko, Our Ukraine, has strong roots in the rural west of the country; the Regions party, led by the new prime minister, Victor Yanukovich, dominates the east; and the Socialist party, the third member of the coalition, is popular among farmers in the centre.