Georgia does not need the EU’s rubber stamp to evince its European identity
Tbilisi is hell-bent on winning the hearts and minds of those at the helm in Brussels, albeit at the expense of parting ways with deep-rooted conservative ideals.Georgia is a poster child for the limitless heights sovereign states can set out to scale upon decoupling from a totalitarian bloc.It is one of the few ex-Soviet republics…
EU creating new incentive for illegal pushbacks
On the heels of one of the deadliest boat sinking of migrants off the Greek coast, with at least 78 dead and possibly many more, warnings are emerging that last week’s political agreement on asylum will compel EU states to engage in even greater numbers of illegal pushbacks.Those fears are embedded in a formula that…
It’s time for the EU and Three Seas Initiative to align their goals
The Three Seas Initiative offers its 12 members an opportunity to build resilience and increase foreign investment. But to truly succeed it needs to take a collective, cooperative approach that recognises each member’s individual strengths, says the head of Latvia’s investment and development agency. Ahead of the latest Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summit, held in Riga,…
No entry: Poland, Baltic states cut off key EU routes used by Russian tourists
The EU’s failure to implement a bloc-wide ban on the entry of Russian tourists has forced Poland and the Baltic states to take regional action. “You are not welcome here,” Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Russians this week. “Do not travel to Estonia.” Would that they could. From September 19, it will be all but…
The EU lacks political will to give asylum seekers decent refuge
In the recent Greek elections held in late May, the ruling party New Democracy performed exceptionally well, despite the backdrop of various scandals and the tragic Tempi train crash. Led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the party’s campaign portrayed Mitsotakis as a renewed political figure reminiscent of former US president Donald Trump, calling for building the wall…
Cyprus calls for EU support against Erdoğan
Cyprus and Turkey have traded harsh words on their frozen conflict, in a sign recent elections on both sides changed little.The “open wound” of Turkey’s 50-year old occupation of northern Cyprus formed the centrepiece of Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides’ speech at the European Parliament on Tuesday (13 June). Published by: euobserver.com
Migration commissioner: Greek pushback film ‘clear deportation’
EU migration commissioner Ylva Johansson says video evidence published by the New York Times of asylum seekers, including a six-month old baby, being set adrift on a raft by Greek authorities “seems to be clear deportation.”The comments, made on Monday (5 June) to MEPs in the civil liberties committee, came amid the growing outrage over…
For the Western Balkans, the EU’s mixed messaging continues
Bosnia and Herzegovina this week became a formal EU candidate, while Kosovo filed an application for EU membership. Neither country will be an EU member anytime soon.European Union ministers on Tuesday agreed to endorse a recommendation from the bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate member status, the third country…
Corruption is no longer a tenable dividing line between East and West
The arrest of MEP Eva Kaili over Qatar-linked bribery charges goes to show that kickbacks and shakedowns are just as brazenly entertained in Brussels as elsewhere in Europe.Ever since the EU enlargement in mid-2004, a palpable ‘them and us’ culture has reigned supreme between the bloc’s founders and its newcomers to the East. Needless to…
In the Western Balkans, the past again threatens the future
The detention last week of three Bulgarians at the border with North Macedonia is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat events between the two countries that threatens to once again derail Skopje’s EU bid. Disputes with its neighbours over the interpretation of history have plagued North Macedonia’s EU accession ambitions for years, and even after a…