European Institute

By Michael D. Mosettig, former Foreign Editor of PBS News Hour

  When I was traveling for six weeks out of Washington, there was only one event in the city I genuinely felt I had missed ---the music-filled, Kennedy Center memorial farewell for Ina Ginsburg. Sadly, I was back in time for the commemoration of the life of Arnaud de Borchgrave. Beyond living long, celebrated and more than full lives, these two Europeans emerged from a shared experience -- the deadliest human-made catastrophe in history, Europe's descent into barbarism and the Second World War --to be pitched on to Anglo-Saxon shores and eventually to Washington.

By Brian Beary, Washington Correspondent for EuroPolitics

“If there is no interest, any relationship will come to an end.” A stark warning from Turkey's EU affairs minister, Volkan Bozkir, on a trip in February to Washington, acknowledging the drift in Turkey's relations with its European Union and United States. Having spent decades trying to ensconce itself in the transatlantic community, joining NATO in 1952 and entering a customs union with the EU in 1996, Turkey's westward alignment is witnessing a reversal. The immediate cause of anxiety for Bozkir was the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the biggest ever bilateral free trade pact, under negotiation since summer 2013, and from which Turkey is excluded since it is not in the EU.

By Michael D. Mosettig, former Foreign Editor of PBS News Hour 

Reflecting his country's increasingly pivotal role in the world's major crises, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier can count on a full house when he makes an address in Washington. And with his increasingly visible role comes increasingly direct talk to his American interlocutors and audiences on issues from Ukraine to Iran.

By James D. Spellman, Strategic Communications, LLC

The European Central Bank announced last week it will begin buying €60 billion ($66.49 billion) of government and private bonds on Monday (March 9) in its most intensive effort yet to avert a deflationary spiral and jumpstart economic growth. 

European stock markets immediately rallied to close at their highest levels since November 2007, the start of the financial crisis, as inflation expectations rose and the euro slipped to an 11 and ½ year low.