The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the Balkan countries, not only on the region's already fragile socio-economic systems but also on their precarious geopolitical balance framed between Europe and the East. Although the EU remains the main partner and aid supplier of the Western Balkans during the pandemic, the last two years have proven integration in the region to lose momentum, leaving the field open to other superpowers such as China and Russia, as the so-called vaccine diplomacy has showed.
The pandemic has caused a very large increase in public and private debt all over the world. The G20 is deeply involved, in particular, in dealing with sustainability issues of poorest countries’ debt. In order to advance on this front, several measures are under discussion, including debt cancellation, various forms of restructuring, international risk sharing, and an increase in common debt issued via multilateral financial institutions.
In 1994 Russia ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and subsequently took part in all of its Conferences of the Parties. The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, was ratified by Russia in 2004. Developed countries, including Russia, have committed themselves to an annual 5% emission reduction compared to 1990 levels. But for Russia, these commitments do not imply a real "environmental breakthrough".
What does the future hold for the Middle East and North Africa? The second Rome MED Regional Meeting held last week provided an opportunity for experts to analyse and comment on the trends and challenges facing the region. The discussion was framed around MED’s 4 core pillars: Security, Prosperity, Migration, and Culture & Civil Society.
One year after it landed in Europe, the Covid-19 pandemic has left a deep mark on the Western Balkans. On the one hand, it has exacerbated geopolitical dynamics that had been ongoing for decades, especially with regards to the activity of external actors. And while the EU has continued to be inconclusive, proceeding at a snail’s pace with its carrot-and-stick approach, China has seized on the opportunity and expanded its footprint.
The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analysis and informed comments on the MENA region's most significant issues and trends. Today, we turn the spotlight on the outcomes of the latest European Council, where the EU-Turkey relationship was discussed in light of the recent attempts to de-escalate the Eastern Mediterranean situation and Ankara's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.
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The European Council meeting — which, among other things, discussed Turkey and the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean — offered a fragile, positive agenda in EU-Turkey relations and kicked the can down the road to the June meeting, as widely anticipated. The most important items of the positive agenda are as follows: additional financial aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey; the modernisation of the EU-Turkey customs union; high-level dialogue with Turkey on issues of common concerns and interests; and increasing people-to-people contact mechanisms.
Italy’s new Prime Minister Draghi has made it clear that his government will be reformist and pro-European. In his remarks to Parliament when seeking a vote of confidence he laid out his government’s intention to focus on the structural issues that have dogged Italy’s economy over the last two decades.
The ten-year anniversary of the Syrian uprising marks a desperate moment. Above all for the millions of Syrians still suffering under the grip of a brutal regime and an economic crisis pushing the country towards famine.
On January 20, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. According to a survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) as of January 2021, a majority of Europeans are happy about the election victory, but 32 percent say that the Americans can no longer be trusted after the four years of President Trump.
As global trade continues to face waves of uncertainty amidst the pandemic and ongoing geopolitical tensions, not least the unresolved trade war between the United States and China, the future of EU-Asia relations is going to be heavily impacted by the most recent development in the Asia-Pacific. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) signed last November is a symbol of a pan-Asian trade network, inspired by the belief that greater market openness will lead to greater economic prosperity.
The pandemic has cast a severe negative influence on the world economy. The Global Economic Outlook Report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that global GDP fell by 4.2% in 2020, which means that the total global economy dropped from $87.75 trillion in 2019 to $84.07 trillion in 2020, shrinking by $3.68 trillion.