Research Area

Brexit threatens to turn EU’s divide into an unbridgeable chasm

15/11/2018

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, recently wrote an article condemning those “mini-Trumps” who are driven, not by genuine desire for reform, but “power and personal enric... Be More Curious...

Russia Still Angry about Spanish Missile

12/11/2018

RRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that a NATO air patrol in Estonia came close to firing a missile sparking World War III. “A Spanish fighter recently accidentally fired an air-to-air miss... Be More Curious...

80 years after Kristallnacht — A new wave of anti-semitism in Europe

Xavier Ruiz Trullols

08/11/2018

Pittsburgh attack proved why we can’t ignore anti-Semitism. The Anti-Defamation League warned that there was an increase of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017 compared to the previous y... Be More Curious...

POLICY PAPER — The EU and the Western Balkans 6: a difficult wedding

07/11/2018

Publications, Western Balkans

The Balkan Region, and particularly the Western part closer to the EU, consisting of the so-called WB6 – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia , Montenegro and Serbia – has always had a fun... Be More Curious...

POLICY BRIEF — The Belgian Jews: To stay or not to stay?

01/11/2018

Israel, Publications

Belgium, with a Jewish population of about 40,000, has witnessed an increase in antisemitism in the past few years with attacks on the internet leading the charge. In 2012, the European Union Age... Be More Curious...

Monday Talk with Katharina Von Schnurbein, European Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism

29/10/2018

Israel, Monday Talks

As Part of our Monday Talks series, we have conducted an interview with Katharina Von Schnurbein, European Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism, to discuss the rise of Antisemitism in Europe and the Eu... Be More Curious...

What’s wrong with Ukraine banning two propaganda channels?

27/10/2018

The Parliament of Ukraine has recently voted for a Resolution that proposes to shut down two national TV channels – NewsOne and 112 Ukraine. The MPs accuse them of spreading Russian chauvinist propagand... Be More Curious...

The Threats from Within: Road to the 2019 EU Elections

24/10/2018

The elections are approaching. On 23-26 May 2019, the citizens of the European Union will be called to vote for their representatives in the European Parliament. The elections take place every five year... Be More Curious...

Monday Talk with Fulvio Martusciello, Head of European Parliament’s Delegation to Israel

22/10/2018

Israel, Monday Talks

As Part of our Monday Talks series, we have conducted an interview with Fulvio Martusciello, Chair of European Parliament's Delegation to Israel, to discuss about current state of the relations between ... Be More Curious...

Nigel Farage Pleads for a Europe of Sovereign Nation-States

12/10/2018

Listen the entire speech by Nigel Farage Two weeks ago, Nigel Farage was invited by the Flemish nationalist and conservative student association KVHV to give a guest lecture at Ghent University, Belg... Be More Curious...

EU-movie quotas are cultural protectionism

10/10/2018

The European Parliament calls for a 30 per cent mandatory quota of European productions for audiovisual content providers, surpassing the Commission's suggested 20 per cent. We have to call this proposa... Be More Curious...

Iran Deal and Two State Solution: Merkel Agrees to Disagree with Netanyahu

09/10/2018

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has just concluded her visit to Israel. This is probably her last visit to Israel as Chancellor, and it is a routine and sombre one. There was no breakthrough regarding t... Be More Curious...

Franco’s will

09/10/2018

It has become customary in Spain, whenever a so-called socialist cabinet starts its new mandate, to approve some eye-catching law. In this way, the new government always looks more liberal than the prev... Be More Curious...

Riace case: Are pro-migrant authorities under attack?

Zeynep Mentesoglu

08/10/2018

Inside Europe, Society

"What will all the do-gooders who want to fill Italy with immigrants say now?" wwrote Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini referring to the arrest of Domenico Lucano, known by his migrant frie... Be More Curious...

Was it a coup d’état on 10 August 2018, in Victory square, Bucharest?

Ana-Maria Caminski

06/10/2018

After more than a month, the military prosecutors did not make light in the opened file for vandalism acts that took place in the night of 10 August 2018, in Bucharest. Who bears the responsibility for ... Be More Curious...

Macedonia referendum result – everyone rejoices, none is satisfied

05/10/2018

Western Balkans

Last Sunday, on the 30thof September, Skopje held the most important vote in its recent national history, after the independence which took place in 1991. This time the aim was to settle the three decad... Be More Curious...

Time to Pay Attention to the Relationship with Turkey

Geoffrey Van Orden

02/10/2018

Turkey is a vital NATO ally and strategic partner of the West. Yet, over the past two years its relationship with the Western democracies and their allies has deteriorated. The catalyst for this was the... Be More Curious...

Kicking out at Britain won’t save the European Court of Human Rights

01/10/2018

Five years after Edward Snowden released his incendiary cache of documents, the mass surveillance programme run by Britain’s GCHQ has been deemed illegal by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In... Be More Curious...

The reasons why the EU mustn’t be gentle on Climate Change

Richard Senneville

30/09/2018

American cellular biologist, college professor and politician Barry Commoner claimed that the first law of ecology is that everything is connected to everything else. It took decades for the environment... Be More Curious...

As Europeans, we are living in a unique experiment that we should be proud of

Vladan Lausevic

30/09/2018

Five years ago Croatia became EU's 28th member-state. The accession process was seen as in important step for the Balkan region and the “Ex-Yugoslav area” to become Europeanized. One interesting thin... Be More Curious...

Following an Illiberal Path: Dragnea and Romania’s Judiciary Reforms

Xavier Palacios

30/09/2018

The latest demonstrations that took place in Romania this last summer have showed that the figure of Liviu Dragnea is polarising Romanian society. As in other cases of power accumulation in political fi... Be More Curious...

The EU should embrace Allan Savory’s Holistic Management in its sustainable development policy

Richard Senneville

30/09/2018

There is a much bigger problem than global warming that humanity must overcome: changing mindset is the biggest challenge in all cultures and societies. When we think about the causes of global warming we... Be More Curious...

Chernobyl 2.0 –The Crimean ecological disaster

30/09/2018

Overnight into the August 24, the Ukraine’s independence day, an ecological disaster in the city of Armyansk in the northern part of the temporary occupied Crimea occurred, close to the administrative b... Be More Curious...

Germany is delaying the adoption of the “Google tax”, and that’s a good thing

25/09/2018

Business, Inside Europe

While France and Spain are heavily lobbying for the adoption of a "GAFA" tax (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple), also known as "Google tax", Germany has chosen a more careful approach. Rightfully so. ... Be More Curious...

Is the European Arrest Warrant Becoming a Political Tool?

25/09/2018

All opinions in this column reflect view of the autor(s), not of Vocal Europe The saga of one of the European Union’s most problematic policies took an unusual turn late last month with an EU judicial ... Be More Curious...

Macedonia referendum: ”the once-in-a-life occasion”

24/09/2018

Western Balkans

After the achievement of the historical “name-deal” between Macedonia’s and Greece’s governments, which would allegedly will bring an end to their 27 years long dispute, on 30 September Macedonians wil... Be More Curious...

Will a European Plastics Ban really help the Environment?

22/09/2018

Over the course of this year, it seems as though the debate on environmental protection has greatly shifted to the issue of plastics, namely the effects of ill-disposed of waste on marine life. This... Be More Curious...

Departing further from European values

22/09/2018

First Kosovo. Then Moldova, Georgia, now Ukraine. Or just the way around. Not important. But everywhere the same unbelievable facts of parallel and somehow frightening tendencies over last months and ye... Be More Curious...

The lady’s not for turning

21/09/2018

Theresa May’s disastrous participation in the Salzburg summit was evidently fresh in her memory. She was described as having “showed too much arrogance” in a miscalculation similar to David Cameron, had... Be More Curious...

Fighting Online Terrorist Speech

20/09/2018

William Echikson, a former senior policy manager at Google, is head of the Digital Forum at the Centre for European Policy Studies. David Ibsen is Executive Director for the Counter Extremism Project (CE... Be More Curious...

Why they just don’t get it

20/09/2018

Another suffocatingly hot day in the Palace of Westminster and another all-party parliamentary group meet in committee to discuss Brexit. Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon and Chairman of the All-... Be More Curious...

Land-swap deal: ideal solution or Pandora’s box?

18/09/2018

Western Balkans

Despite the declared intentions of both the Kosovar and Serbian governments to achieve the land-swap deal, which would allegedly contribute to the detente of their bilateral relations and more generally... Be More Curious...

Pension reform: Will Russians have the chance to retire?

Clara Berthelot

17/09/2018

Last weekend saw the violent reaction of the Russian police over protests against the pension reform that has been proposed by the government. However, those protests were not the first one to show oppo... Be More Curious...

Generational decision: Will Macedonia’s citizens accept Agreement with Greece?

17/09/2018

Western Balkans

This piece was published in cooperation with European Western Balkans. On 30 September 2018, citizens of Macedonia will have an opportunity to strongly influence their country’s future. By voting for or ... Be More Curious...

Dealing with Autocrats: A principled approach to Erdogan’s state visit to Germany

Julius M. Rogenhofer

14/09/2018

Despite ongoing tensions between Turkey and its Western allies, the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier invited his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a state visit in late September. The... Be More Curious...

Sweden Elections: One Crisis, Two Major Parties, Numerous Outcomes

Christina Cigir

14/09/2018

Sweden’s recent elections has left a dual impression among many people: impressed and unimpressed. Ever since the 2015 migration crisis, Sweden has been placed in a predicament. This exact predicament h... Be More Curious...

Politics of the Street: How to respond to Germany’s far-right revival?

Julius M. Rogenhofer

13/09/2018

The German far-right successfully instrumentalises crimes allegedly committed by refugees to mobilise its supporters. These often violent rallies reveal an open affiliation of members of the Alternative... Be More Curious...

Juncker’s State of the Union Speech: Time for European Sovereignty

Clara Berthelot

12/09/2018

This morning was marked by the annual State of the Union speech to the European Parliament by the President of the European Commission in Strasbourg. Jean-Claude Juncker spoke for the fourth and last ti... Be More Curious...

EESC — Youth, digital and cooperation as pills to foster the European spirit

12/09/2018

After the Commission’s adoption of the “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific provisions for the European territorial cooperation goal (Interreg)”, on the 7... Be More Curious...

Can Macron still create a political cataclysm for the European election?

Clara Berthelot

10/09/2018

With the European elections coming up in 2019, Emmanuel Macron’s possibilities to change the political landscape at the European level seem to not be as easy as expected. The last week of August was mar... Be More Curious...

Can a Bavarian Make Europe Great Again?

Christina Cigir

07/09/2018

As the 2019 elections for the European Union’s commission president approach, the ongoing talks about an ideal candidate has granted its attention to leader of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber... Be More Curious...

Polish and Romanian civil society in fighting for the freedom of Justice

Ana-Maria Caminski

05/09/2018

The times when the Law protected their citizens are passed away. With more than a century ago, nobody would ever thought after the falling down of the Czarist Imperium that a Law could be given in order... Be More Curious...

Why Iran rejects Trump’s offer for unconditional talks?

04/09/2018

Kazem Wali is an Ahwazi freelance journalist and human rights activist based in London. After re-imposing the first phase of American economic sanctions against Iran on 6th August, President Trump propos... Be More Curious...

Europe and Qatar block

Michele Di Salvo

04/09/2018

This is not the first time that a crisis started between Qatar and the other Gulf countries (the last one dates back to 2014). Tensions had risen when the state news agency of Qatar reported a quote from ... Be More Curious...

Is Abduction Becoming a Tool for Turkish Foreign Policy Under President Erdogan?

Alessio Tardivo

01/09/2018

Turkish foreign policy appears to become increasingly aggressive. Despite the growing concerns echoed by her Western friends and allies, Ankara seems to act with a modus operandi inspired by the ruthles... Be More Curious...

Looking Globally – Europe with Hard Power

31/08/2018

There have been a few moments in the last century of Modern Europe’s history that shaped the structure of the continent for the next decades. Without any doubt, World War One and World War Two have trul... Be More Curious...

Nationalism Is Bringing Together Israel and Eastern Europe

30/08/2018

David Wainer is a contributor to Bloomberg. Milda Seputyte is a contributor to Bloomberg. During his recent visit to Lithuania, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid a wreath at a memorial to 70... Be More Curious...

Europe’s Concerns about Maldives Are Growing

Bartolome T. Carvajal

24/08/2018

Europeans do not usually think about the Maldives in geopolitical terms, but rather as an idyllic holiday destination in the middle of the Indian Ocean. However, the fact is that this tiny island nation... Be More Curious...

Nearly a year of pre-trial imprisonment with no legal grounds, despite German Court ruling

23/08/2018

Two events have weakened Spain's reputation in the last month. The first one is the case of the €4 billion submarines that are too big for its own dock - after the modification that allowed them to floa... Be More Curious...

Four countries, one threat

Ana-Maria Caminski

22/08/2018

On the chessboard of the world, every pawn seems to be an important pawn. Especially when the stake of the game is the expansion of the political power by gaining of the old sphere of influence and the ... Be More Curious...