Europe

How many ways are there to say Non?

June 13, 2013 5:56 pm by Hugh Carnegy

Nicole Bricq (Getty)

Nicole Bricq, France’s trade minister, appeared to be relishing the role of holding out for the “l’exception culturelle” when she hosted a group of journalists in Paris on Thursday morning, a day before she was due to meet of her EU colleagues in Luxembourg to discuss terms for opening trade talks with the US.

“France’s position has not changed today and I don’t believe it will change tomorrow. We’ll say no. There will be a political blockage, a veto if you want to call it that,” she declared.

She added: “I cannot imagine that engagement in an accord of this importance can go ahead without the support of France. Without France a thing like this has no chance of success.” Read more

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Posted in Europe, France |

Seven things to know about China’s taste for wine

June 5, 2013 5:48 pm by Lindsay Whipp

Sampling wine at a Shanghai wine fair (AFP)

As the China-EU solar dispute deepens, oddly enough, wine has been brought into the fray.

Here are seven interesting factoids you may (not) know about China and wine.

1. Chinese investors have bought up 30 French chateaux vineyards over the past four years and they aren’t stopping at that. There’s another 20 deals in the pipeline. Will they be affected by any probe?

2. Chinese wine importers were prominent bidders in the recent Elysee wine sale.

 Read more

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Posted in Asia, China, Europe, Global economy |

Erdogan: polarising opinion in Turkey

June 5, 2013 12:29 pm by Amie Tsang

Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Getty)

The AKP (Justice and Development party) and its charismatic leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have dominated Turkish politics since 2002. Since then, the country’s economy has tripled in size and Turkey has become an ever more influential player in global diplomacy. And yet, as the continuing protests show, many Turks are deeply unhappy with Erdogan and what his critics charge is an increasingly autocratic style of government.

What is it about Erdogan and his government that so polarises opinion in Turkey?

Here are the some of the best reads of recent years on Erdogan and the changing dynamics of his government: Read more

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Posted in Europe, Foreign affairs, Turkey |
From FT.com May 27, 2013

By Gideon Rachman
As the world edges towards a peace conference on Syria, three ideas about the west’s role in the conflict are widely accepted. First, that the longer the conflict goes on, the greater the chances of direct or indirect western military intervention. Second, that there is a deep and bitter division between the US and Russia that is making progress much harder. Third, that the Syrian civil war is dominating western thinking on the Middle East. Few people publicly dispute these propositions. And yet they are all distinctly questionable. Read more

Posted in Britain, Europe, Foreign affairs, Middle East, Syria, US foreign policy, World affairs |

Gideon Rachman Britain, Europe and the immigration debate

May 21, 2013 6:41 pm by Gideon Rachman

I am pleased that my column on Britain and Europe today has attracted lots of hits and comments. But, inevitably, when you try to deal with such a complex subject in 900 words (give or take), there is a lot you have to leave out. And there was one vital part of the subject that I didn’t deal with – and that is the impact of immigration on the British debate on Europe. Read more

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Posted in Britain, Europe |
From FT.com May 20, 2013

By Gideon Rachman
Twenty years ago, I was an anti-European. Today, I am a pro-European. The strange thing is that my views have not changed. I have always thought that Britain should stay out of the euro but inside the EU. During the John Major and Tony Blair years, when the euro was the dominant issue, that position made me a eurosceptic. But now the argument has become about whether Britain should leave the EU altogether. The front-line in Britain’s civil war over Europe has moved and, because I have stayed in the same place, I find myself on a different side of the battle-lines. Read more

Posted in Britain, Europe, World affairs |

In the Picture: Eurovision and Euro Divisions

May 17, 2013 7:05 pm by Amie Tsang

It’s a competition with some questionable talent, scorned for its lack of taste, and yet the Eurovision Song Contest has an audience of 125m and brings pundits out in force to discuss what it says about the state of Europe today. With this year’s final coming up this Saturday in Malmö, Sweden, we give you the best pieces on how it works and why Europeans care, so that you can mingle with confidence at Eurovision parties.

 Read more

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Posted in Europe, Foreign affairs |

Gideon Rachman Europeans take a look at each other – and at themselves

May 16, 2013 11:28 pm by Gideon Rachman

The Germans: rated trustworthy but lacking in compassion (Getty)

The Pew poll on European attitudes came out this week and drew plenty of attention because of the remarkably negative attitudes it revealed towards the European Union. But to my mind, some of the most amusing and intriguing findings came when the pollsters probed nations’ views of each other, and of themselves.

The Germans were widely rated as both the most trustworthy and the least compassionate people in Europe – which says something about the complexity of European reactions to the euro crisis. The Italians rated themselves as the least trustworthy people in Europe. Do we call that self-knowledge or self-loathing? Asked to choose from a list of several countries, the French rated themselves as the most arrogant people in Europe. But they also rated themselves the least arrogant people in Europe. Maybe they are just the most self-obsessed? Read more

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Posted in Europe |

FT podcast: World Weekly with Gideon Rachman

May 16, 2013 12:39 am by Financial Times

Britain’s future in the EU
Prime Minister David Cameron thought that his promise to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership of the EU, and to hold an in-out referendum on British membership in 2017 had bought him domestic political peace. Instead, many in his own Conservative party are agitating for an even harder-line position, and the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party is soaring in opinion polls. An eventual British exit from the EU is looking increasingly possible. So what’s going on, and what do other Europeans make of it. Quentin Peel in Berlin joins Janan Ganesh and Gideon Rachman in London. Read more

Posted in Britain, Europe |

Gideon Rachman Britain, Poland and the future of the EU

May 12, 2013 10:17 pm by Gideon Rachman

I have just returned from the annual “Polish-British Round Table” in Krakow. This year, the theme was – “Britain and Poland: A Shared Future?” After sitting through several hours of discussions, my conclusion was – “not necessarily”. In fact, it is quite startling how swiftly British and Polish viewpoints have diverged, since Poland joined the EU back in 2004. Read more

Posted in Britain, Eastern Europe, Europe, Foreign affairs, Germany, World affairs |
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