It is now widely accepted that Europe does not spend enough on defence. Most European defence budgets were dramatically cut back after the cold war and have remained at a very low level ever since. This governmental parsimony has had a damaging effect in two respects. First, it has resulted in glaringly obvious gaps in Europe's military capability.
On s’accorde généralement à dire que, depuis son lancement en 1995 à Barcelone, le Partenariat euro-méditerranéen n’a pas vraiment répondu aux grands espoirs qu’il avait suscités. Les ambitions initiales de cette nouvelle forme de politique méditerranéenne étaient en effet très importantes : assurer la paix et la stabilité régionale, encourager un développement économique partagé, permettre une meilleure connaissance mutuelle de part et d’autre de la Méditerranée.
The first Annual Conference of the EU Institute for Security Studies was held in Paris on 1 July 2002. At the conference, the Institute was officially inaugurated by Javier Solana, who - in addition to being the High Representative for CFSP - is Chairman of the Board of the Institute, and by His Excellency Hans Henrik Bruun on behalf of the Danish presidency of the EU.
The Madrid conference was organised in cooperation with the Real Instituto Elcano, under the aegis of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.
Football is the most European, and simultaneously, the most global of sports. The British Empire spread the game throughout Europe, and then worldwide. But national cultures in Europe quickly shaped peculiar and distinctive ways of playing the game which in time became expressions of collective identity
It is known all too well that Europe has a defence budget problem. Both the quantity and the quality of its defence spending are largely insufficient to provide for the capabilities the EU needs to fulfil its declared ambitions
All three Central European candidates for EU membership have gone through an evolutionary (and learning) process as regards the development of ESDP: from scepticism and worry – that it could undermine NATO – to qualified acceptance and more direct involvement.
Tous les alliés européens de Washington sont perplexes, voire inquiets, devant les évolutions stratégiques des Etats-Unis, et en particulier devant leur attitude à l'égard de l'Otan. Ils constatent en effet que l'unilatéralisme américain, cette méfiance envers toute démarche et institutions multilatérales, s'applique aussi à l'égard de l'Otan, qui était jusque-là perçue comme l'organisation internationale favorite de Washington
One could have been forgiven for thinking that little had changed since the 1980s when, in late February, thousands of pro-Romanian demonstrators took to the streets of Chisinau, Moldova's capital, to protest against government measures seen as pro-Russian.
Europeans spend much less than Americans on defence but are quite ready to engage in crisis management in so far as it entails a strong commitment to peace-building, especially (but not exclusively) in their immediate neighbourhood. Their political, financial and military presence in the Balkans - under different flags - is a good case in point. Comparing EU and US military budgets is therefore misleading and to a certain extent unfair:....