European Institute

It is welcome news that Germany seems to be swinging in favor of a role for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in helping Greece salvage its financial credibility and reform its basic economic structures.

After weeks of pledges of political and financial support, Angela Merkel appears ready to send Greece crawling to the IMF. Germany cites legal reasons for its position. In past rulings, its constitutional court has interpreted the stability clauses in European law in the strictest possible sense. "It is hard to say whether this argument is for real or is just an excuse not to sanction a bail-out that would be politically unpopular. It is probably a combination of the two," according to Wolfgang Munchau in the Financial Times on March 21st.

Europe’s “diplomatic service” is getting off to a slow start, with some initial deadlines already bound to be overrun. The practical difficulties of setting up the “External Action Service” (EAS) are turning out to be more considerable than planners apparently imagined, and many officials are now saying, as suggested here in European Affairs late last year, it may take the lifetime of a European Commission or even two for the new arm of EU collective diplomacy to show its muscle.

Greek Signal by Germany (and France) will help Eurozone, not just Athens

The major nations of the eurozone have agreed on a $25 billion bail-out plan for Greece, a crucial first step in practical help and solidarity from the EU to help one of its weakest member-states survive its debt crisis.

Transatlantic Press Review: Pentagon Slammed for Poor Management

The collapse of the joint tanker bid by Northrop Grumman and EADS triggered extensive and strongly worded media criticism on both sides of the Atlantic of the Obama administration’s handling of the bidding process by the Pentagon. These commentaries are echoed in private by many U.S. and European officials, who say that it further dims hopes for reversing a declining trend in transatlantic defense relations, starting with defense-industrial cooperation.

In Practice, Leaders’ Refusal to Grapple with Immigration Breeds “Dark Tribalism”

Almost in a fit of absent-mindedness, major European countries have become magnets for immigration. Between 1990 and 2009, 26 million migrants arrived in Europe -- compared to 20 million to America – a country that (unlike Europe) naturally thinks of itself as a land of immigrants.