The Erasmus+ programme, which aims to boost the number of students and staff studying and working abroad across the European Union, started on January 1 2014. It will provide €14bn to 33 countries over…
Scotland is renowned for its seabirds, thanks to landmarks such as the Bass Rock, Ailsa Craig and St Kilda. There are around five million of the birds, including 95% of the EU’s great skuas, 67% of its…
What do the latest growth figures teach us about Europe? First, the overall growth performance of the European Union is worse and more fragmented than expected. GDP in vulnerable countries such as Greece…
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown a small drop of about 4,000 in the number of Romanian and Bulgarian-born people employed in the UK in the first three months of 2014 – the…
Ukraine is disintegrating before our eyes, with escalating anarchy, civil war and proxy war with Russia, and dozens killed in Odessa on Friday. Acting President Alexander Turchinov officially declared…
The costs to Britain of a potential departure from the EU are much argued over, but when it comes to the crunch, even the most likely scenarios put forward by the pro-Brexit camp show the country could…
Germany’s envied “Mittelstand” of modest, family-owned companies which have underpinned the country’s emergence from the financial crisis has given Europe a problem. It has helped turned the country into…
The German energy giant RWE has begun to “reverse flow” supplies of gas from Europe back to Ukraine via Poland, a process first arranged in 2012, with an agreement to deliver up to 10 billion cubic metres…
Congratulations to Iain Mansfield for winning the “Brexit” essay competition. He is an old friend. We have a high regard for him, and even commented on an early draft of the paper. But we think his analysis…
Jessica Jewell, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
With tensions running high in Ukraine and the release of the third part of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, energy security and climate change are on governments’ agendas. Specifically, how to reduce…
The ongoing standoff between Russia and Ukraine has exacerbated Europe’s vulnerability caused by its reliance on Russian gas. The situation has locked the two nations into a dispute over paying for gas…
What to do about invasive species, which are having a growing and generally detrimental effect on Europe’s environment and economies, is the subject of discussion in both the European Parliament and UK…
Europe’s neighbourhood is in flames. To the south, the optimism provoked by the Arab spring quickly gave way to concern about successor regimes. To the east, all eyes are on Ukraine as some 40,000 Russian…
The situation in Ukraine remains tense, yet the odds are that it will now stabilise. It is unlikely Russia will invade eastern Ukraine, both because it is unclear whether this was in the plans (if such…
After capturing 48% of the vote and 158 of the 250 seats in parliament at elections in March, the centre-right Serbian Progressive Party – led by first deputy prime minister Aleksandar Vučić – can form…
The current stand-off between Russia and Ukraine has left the European Union looking perhaps flatfooted and ineffectual. It is an unfair reflection of reality. The EU is not a military alliance and so…
Talks between US secretary of state John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Paris, followed after a week of high-level diplomacy, including a phone call between presidents Obama and Putin…
The Crimea crisis has focused our attention on the vexed question of Europe’s energy supplies. To a great extent Europe depends on Russia for its oil and gas, which gives Vladimir Putin disproportionate…
The LBC debate between Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg is a significant moment in British politics for a number of reasons. It is worth considering two in particular. First, it was a curious spectacle for…
When the EU-US summit kicks off in Brussels this week, the prospects of a new trade deal will be jostling for attention with events in Ukraine. The long-term implications might even be more far reaching…