August is the traditional month for invasions. Foreign politicians are on holiday, much of the harvest has finished and there’s time to consolidate before winter sets in. So this time it was Georgia.
None of us who were around at the time will forget the August day in 1968 when Soviet bloc troops invaded [...]
The new Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made a big effort at last week’s summit in the Siberian oil town of Khanty-Mansiisk to give new impetus to the EU-Russia dialogue. The president offered each of his EU guests an album of his own photographs and apparently charmed Messrs Solana, Barroso and Jansa in a way [...]
The worst fears of Europe’s leaders have been realised: Ireland’s voters have scuppered the Lisbon Treaty, with 862,415 votes against and 752,451 in favour on a turnout of 53.4 per cent in the Irish referendum. Politicians can complain till the cows come home about small countries and slim majorities. After all, the Irish “no” voters [...]
The worst fears of Europe’s leaders have been realised: Ireland’s voters have scuppered the Lisbon Treaty, with 862,415 votes against and 752,451 in favour on a turnout of 53.4 per cent in the Irish referendum. Politicians can complain till the cows come home about small countries and slim majorities. After all, the Irish “no” voters [...]
“That’s the only cut this year!” quipped a council member when European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet took the knife to the ECB’s birthday cake in Frankfurt on June 2. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the Bank’s establishment. Apparently the mood in Frankfurt was of genuine celebration tempered by concern at the conflicting [...]
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