European Institute

"It is quite true that the so-called races of Britain feel themselves to be very different from one another. A Scotsman, for instance, does not thank you if you call him an Englishman. You can see the hesitation we feel on this point by the fact that we call our islands by no less than six different names, England, Britain, Great Britain, the British Isles, the United Kingdom and, in very exalted moments, Albion. Even the differences between north and south England loom large in our own eyes. But somehow these differences fade away the moment that any two Britons are confronted by a European.”
From an essay by George Orwell 1941

Financial markets have climbed and retreated with each twist and turn of the negotiations to address Greece’s debt burden and implement austerity measures, but these fluctuations – volleying between “Grelief rallies” and “Grexit angst” – in bond, stock, and Euro currency values have remained within a narrow band. Investors’ fears of “contagion” and the EU’s implosion are tempered for now.

Europe cannot escape its history. It needs to digest it.

It is in this spirit that a group of 30 eminent historians from seventeen European countries and different schools of thought recently met at the College des Bernardins, a foundation close to Notre Dame de Paris, to present their research and launch a dialogue on the commonalities that lie at the core of a European consciousness. It is a consciousness that is increasingly discussed, despite, or perhaps because of, the many criticisms leveled at the European Union.^[1]

A battle is raging in the world of commercial aviation that is pitting legacy European and American airlines against newcomers eager the shake up the market. The United States and European Union must decide whose side, if any, to take, all the while avoiding the unraveling of existing Open Skies agreements that were concluded to foster greater competition.

The spotlight is shining on an effort by the low-cost carrier, Norwegian, to crack open the transatlantic market, and on a bid by Persian Gulf carriers, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, to grow their share of inter-continental passenger traffic.

What long has been completely unthinkable has now become part of the German foreign policy mix. Asking wannabe Tsar Vladimir Putin to not fuel the refugee crisis? Making nice with authoritarian Recep Tayyip Erdogan to get him to accept more refugees? Even negotiating with dictator Bashar al-Assad to stem the flood? Germany’s leaders are facing reality – and throwing overboard long held convictions. The influx of refugees is driving politics in the chancellery and at the Foreign Office at Werderscher Markt. Only a few month ago it was the other way around. Then there were clear strategic guidelines defining the way to go, even a number of red lines that in no circumstances were to overstep. Not anymore. Why? Because this tide has the potential to topple a government.

The First World War has produced a bounty of books, fiction and nonfiction, as well as poetry still recited in the English-speaking world. The bounty shows no signs of slowing as the anniversary approaches. Here's a sampling.

"Is there no one left in Britain who can make a sandwich?” asked a plaintive headline in a leading British tabloid, questioning the need to import 300 Hungarians to help make sandwiches for British supermarkets because the job did not appeal to local unemployed. The headline reflects the current obsession with the employment of European immigrants in menial jobs that Brits will not accept. There is also a constant stream of European migrants to fill vacancies for skilled workers in the building trade for which no trained local labour is available. Despite the country's need for these helping hands from Europe, they and their families are widely, if incorrectly, perceived (opinion poll in The Times) as negatively impacting the number of school places available for native-born children. They are also held responsible for low wages, lack of jobs and waiting times in hospital emergency departments. A sizeable proportion – 31 per cent of those polled – even blamed European immigration for the heavy traffic on major highways.

Latest data shows manufacturing stronger, unemployment falling

One key barometer of the Euro-area manufacturing sector, the Purchasing Managers Index,  posted its highest level in 33 months in October, and another index showed Germany’s unemployment dropping, all suggesting economic strength is building slowly in Europe, with Germany as the powerhouse.

Italy’s overwhelming vote on Sunday (December 5) against an over-confident PM Matteo Renzi, left bankers scrambling to shore up the country’s third-largest lender and prevent other Italian banks from collapsing under both the staggering burden of unpaid debt (an estimated $393.47 billion, or €365 billion) and a weak, intransigent economy.  By Monday’s close in Europe’s markets, Italy’s bank stocks had fallen overall by two percent,^[1]  a decline that was probably offset by widespread expectation of the “no” vote.

When prospects dimmed for private funds to advert a collapse of the bank Monte dei Paschi (MPS), the Italian government stepped in before Christmas with a bailout to protect depositors’ savings and inject new capital so that the world’s oldest bank, and the country’s third largest, could survive.

On 10 September, President Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled his team of 28, one for each member state of the European Union. With his promise to create a ‘more political, less technocratic’ Commission, supporters of the EU executive are hopeful that Juncker will restore the Commission’s lustre and emulate the visionary leadership of Jacques Delors, who served as European Commission President from 1984 to 1995.

The shots hurriedly fired at point-blank range from the steps of a delicatessen in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, found their royal targets, mortally wounding the heir to the throne of the Habsburg Empire and his wife. Those fatal rounds would come to be known as the shots heard round the world, but that colorful wording compresses into one phrase a month of ultimatums and military mobilizations that would lead to a world war and to what has been described as "the primordial catastrophe of the twentieth century."

Europe is struggling with a refugee crisis of epic proportions. Whether the various efforts to stem the tide will bring about a significant drop in the number of immigrants is yet unknown. But what already is clear: Germany, which has taken the brunt of the immigrants in Europe, has a Herculean task. A successful integration of the refugees may even decide over the political stablity of the largest country in Europe's center.

There are times in the life of a political writer when reality seizes the toolbox of words and concepts one has been using to tackle it and junks the whole lot.

An instance that springs to mind is a dinner with Italy's then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2003. Speaking before a few dozen journalists in Rome, Italy's richest and most powerful man launched into a long riff on his own qualities, proclivities and alleged political persecution that was so outlandishly laced with bombast, paranoia and sexual innuendo that senior Italian officials were left cringing with embarrassment and we journalists at a loss as to how to report it. Words failed us. What we published was a pale reflection of what we had actually witnessed.

What’s going on in Britain this cool spring? Even busy people around the world are vaguely aware of a few things going on in the north east Atlantic’s rainy archipelago. Some seem confusing.

Perennial underdogs, Leicester City, won English football’s coveted premiership league, an astonishing sporting feat against odds of 5000 to 1 and relative poverty. Queen Elizabeth, usually a byword for discretion, was caught on camera saying that Chinese officials servicing President Xi’s state visit last year had been “very rude.”

The foaming cocktail of official alarm and voter distain which greeted Donald Trump’s first flurry of presidential tweets and executive orders around the world was not mixed the same way in Brexit Britain, any more than it was in the American heartland. The Trump feedback loop is both negative and positive. Hey, if he’s upsetting all those protesting liberals, Silicon Valley and the foreigners, he must be doing something right, yes?

A month after Britons surprised themselves and the world by narrowly voting - 52% to 48% - to abandon their safe harbor inside the European Union, the initially pyrotechnic response in all quarters has given way to a wary lull, as the protagonists in London and Brussels, Paris and Berlin, wait for someone else to make a significant first move to achieve Brexit - the promised UK departure after 43 years.

In an Athens bar the other evening, a middle aged Greek of progressive outlook bemoaned to a London visitor the grim prospects facing his country, with a mixture of fear and anger. Greece had tried all permutations, governments of left, right and coalition, he protested. But it is still mired in debt levels which are unbearable for an economy that has lost 25% - yes, 25% - of its GDP since the financial crisis began.