War
European ambitions towards closer cooperation within the Common Security and Defence Policy have been given a boost in the wake of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, while the reaction to the war was described in Germany as a ‘turning point’, the effects of which are still hard to predict. The announcement by the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD) of a special fund of 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr has already brought with it a massive shift in the Foreign and Security Policy of the EU. The general trend...
read more "Opposing the militarisation of the EU"
read more "Opposing the militarisation of the EU"
Those who need a compass have usually lost their bearings before – and this is certainly true of the European Union (EU) and its Common Foreign and Security Policy. At least this is what a new basic document puts forward, with which the European Union more or less openly admits to having operated at various levels and for many years with strategies and concepts that had no “reasonable” relation to one another. The “Strategic Compass”1 (SC) adopted at the EU summit on 25 March 2022 is intended to provide an explanation ...
read more "A Strategic Compass for Europe’s Return to Power Politics"
read more "A Strategic Compass for Europe’s Return to Power Politics"
As in other European countries, the Russian attack on Ukraine provoked a lot of emotions in Belgium.
The Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, immediately condemned the aggression as “one of the darkest moments since the Second World War”. On February 24, the day Russian tanks rolled into their neighbouring country, De Croo (from the Dutch-speaking liberal party ‘Open VLD’), addressed the federal parliament: “What is at stake today is nothing less than peace and security in Europe […] Together with our allies we will ...
read more "Belgium’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine"
read more "Belgium’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine"
Russia’s invasion of large parts of Ukraine not only marks the sad culmination of the end of all peace policy efforts in Eastern Europe since 1990, but also confronts left-wing forces around the world with a challenging test. As important as it is to adhere to the basic values of left-wing politics by calling for diplomacy over war and including Russia in a new European security architecture, we must acknowledge that the current Russian government has nothing to do with these basic values. The war against Ukraine with all its consequences ...
read more "No to War — Solidarity with the People of Ukraine!"
read more "No to War — Solidarity with the People of Ukraine!"
A plea for an inclusive and differentiating pan-European culture of remembranceHow many times have you heard someone say "Europe has been at peace since 1945" or "There has been no war in Europe since 1945"? The Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, which left over 130,000 people dead and created millions of displaced persons and refugees, are quickly forgotten (not to mention the war that has been under way in Eastern Ukraine since 2014). When challenged about this, people's response tends to be: "Oh well, I was of course referring to the EU."
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read more "1945 versus 1995, Europe versus the Balkans?"
read more "1945 versus 1995, Europe versus the Balkans?"