The EU priorities for trade and investment relations with China are defined by the March 2019 Communication ‘EU-China – A strategic outlook’. In such Communication, the EU openly recognised China as a ‘strategic rival’ and ‘economic competitor’, while reiterating its importance as a “cooperation partner”.
Relations between China and Europe have undoubtedly been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic impact. The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment signed at the end of 2020, for example, marks a change of pace in the pursuit of the Union's economic interests towards Beijing.
One month after the Egyptian revolution succeeded and ousted long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011, I was in Cairo with a delegation of the European Parliament. From the reactions of many young revolutionaries we understood that they didn’t feel any support from the West in their struggle for freedom and democracy. They had done this themselves and they were proud of it. During a meeting with prime minister and later presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik, another message was given to us, surprised Europeans: “You supported Mubarak.
At the end of 2019, when the current College of Commissioners of the European Commission took office, several changes in the EU’s international cooperation policy were on their way. President Von der Leyen sent Ms. Jutta Urpilainen a mission letter for a new post:[1] the Commissioner for International Partnerships (previously titled for International Cooperation and Development). That letter clearly stated the need to move away from a “donor-recipient relationship” to “partnerships of equals” between the EU and developing countries.
As President-elect Joe Biden is busy with cherry-picking candidates for his team, it becomes clear that the new administration will be more cooperative on some issues while it will also retain Donald Trump’s antagonistic China policy on the others.
Countless articles have been written over the last weeks about the situation in Tunisia, ten years after the Arab spring. The prevailing tone is bitter. Observers are now more inclined to describe the political, economic, and social shortcomings as well as the daunting challenges of the Tunisian transition rather than to stress how exceptional and unique it has been.
In 2020, many of our forecasts and expectations were disrupted by a “Black swan” only few could expect: a global pandemic that rapidly turned into the deepest economic recession since World War 2. This year wraps up with few certainties and many questions: our annual dossier “The World in 2021” sets out to answer ten of them.
What are the main variables on which the success of Italy’s presidency of the G20 in 2021 depends? The question is particularly relevant with only a few days to go before the end of a year that has made the need for – and the absence of – effective global governance mechanisms so evident.
The long era of Angela Merkel's chancellorship will draw to an end in 2021, leaving a series of major question marks, some of which hang over not only Germany's destiny, but also that of Europe. On 26 September, Germans will head back to the polls, but it will be the first time an incumbent chancellor, at the height of her popularity, is not throwing her hat back into the ring. Merkel's exit could very well leave her party, and the country as a whole, in a sort of horror vacui. The election results will also have inevitable repercussions for the balance in Europe.
2021 approaches; Europe is filled with hope. Vaccines and medicines will help us fight our way out of the pandemic. Unprecedented rescue and recovery packages serve to soften the painful impacts of the Covid-19 crisis and the related lockdowns. After a very tough 2020 with all of its losses and set-backs, relief is in sight.
Will 2021 be the year in which Europe finally learns to stand on its own two feet and find the strength and maturity to tackle its internal and foreign policy challenges? Before we embark on an answer, it is worth establishing one clear fact: 2021 will still be the year of the pandemic, both in Europe and worldwide. While we can hope that a vaccine might quell the health emergency, it will certainly not wipe out the devastating social and economic repercussions of Covid-19.
While the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the globe into an unprecedent state of immobility, a gradual reopening is beginning. The deep economic recession that has followed may spark new forms of migration and changing routes, even as it constrains other movements. What are some of the first indications as to the drivers of migration in a post-pandemic world? And is Europe geared up for dealing with a new migration wave?