EU-US Relations

Article Information: Category: March 2009; Created on 10 March 2009

Ukraine will make it. Even with all the dire news and statistics pouring out through media about Ukraine, about its economic woes and about the power struggle between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Victor Yuschenko, the country is defying expectations by not falling apart.

Article Information: Category: March 2009; Created on 01 March 2009

The United States and the European Union have both changed their positions on the conflict in Georgia, informing Kiev the West needs to seek greater cooperation with Russia, according to a usually well-informed online intelligence service, Stratfor.

Its sources report that Georgia was given this message on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of NATO in Brussels on March 5. The report says that Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri was told that NATO cannot protect his country militarily from Russia, even though Georgia is still promised eventual membership in the alliance. The warning reportedly came from both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Article Information: Category: Roundtables; Created on 24 February 2009

This meeting assessed the reasoning behind U.S. and EU positions on the merits and effectiveness of global human rights frameworks and identified opportunities for transatlantic cooperation in the promotion of human rights. Speakers included: Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Head of Political Affairs Division IV, Human Security of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs; Robert Harris, Assistant Legal Advisor for Human Rights and Refugees at the U.S. Department of State; Claudia Pinto, Senior Political Advisor at the Delegation of the European Commission; and Dr. Ruth Wedgwood, Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and Director of the International Law and Organizations Program at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. The session was moderated by Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of the American Society of International Law.

Article Information: Category: February 2009; Created on 10 February 2009

The only winner in the recent energy standoff between Russia and the Ukraine was Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is now viewed as having wrested the least-bad deal for Ukraine in her bargaining with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Article Information: Category: Roundtables; Created on 03 February 2009

This meeting focused on Europe’s increasingly troubled energy relationship with Russia, with particular emphasis on Northern Europe. Against the backdrop of the Ukrainian gas crisis and renewed pledges on the Nord Stream gas pipeline project, participants assessed Russia's influence in European energy markets and the critical interplay between Russia's economic downturn and energy export policies, as well as the attendant implications for the transatlantic relationship. Participants included Pekka Sutela, Head of the Bank of Finland's Institute for Economies in Transition; Anders Åslund, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Jaroslav Kurfürst, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Czech Republic; Dr. Phyllis Yoshida, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Energy Cooperation, U.S. Department of Energy; Tomas Gulbinas, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania and J. Robinson West, Chairman, Founder and CEO, PFC Energy. Ambassador C. Boyden Gray, former U.S. Special Envoy for European Union Affairs and Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy presented keynote luncheon remarks.

European Institute

Ukraine will “Make It.” Despite Political and Economic Crisis, a Strange Calm Exists

West Backs Away from Georgia in Hope of Gaining Russian Support on Larger Objectives Elsewhere

Transatlantic Perspectives on Global Human Rights Governance

Tymoshenko Victorious in Gas Wars

The Challenge of Energy Security in Europe’s Northern Dimension

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