EU plus

The establishment of AUKUS, and subsequent submarine dispute, has exposed once more the EU's strategic vulnerability. At present the EU has no common foreign policy and no European armed forces capability, and strategic autonomy remains an illusion. But it is not a wrong goal to pursue, argues Maximiliaan van Lange in this op-ed.

The European Union and its Member States strongly denounced malicious cyber activities against it originating in Russia. "We urge the Russian Federation to adhere to the norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace", the EU and its member states said in a statement on Friday,

"The EU and the US are unique partners in addressing global challenges. Their closer cooperation, based on shared values, will contribute to international peace and security", an EU statement said after the meeting.

"The EU is determined to explore further ways of cooperation with the GCC and its members, both on regional and global issues, including green and digital transition and post-Covid-19 recovery", said a statement issued by the European External Action Service after the meeting.

Leaders of the EU Mediterranean countries met in Athens on Friday to discuss climate change and regional security. The summit of southern EU states was established in 2016 by Cyprus, France, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. This year, Croatia and Slovenia joined for the first time to discuss issues ranging from the pandemic response to migration and the crisis in Afghanistan.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaking on the 60th anniversary of the day Berlin signed a migration deal with Ankara that allowed tens of thousands of Turkish citizens to find jobs in Germany said that "being German today can mean having grandparents from Cologne or Königsberg as well as from Istanbul and Diyarbakir". He said that German identity now includes "all those who want to live peacefully in this land of law and freedom."

The European Union and Turkey on Thursday (16 September), held their first high level dialogue on climate change. The delegations were led by the European Commission’s executive vice president for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, and Turkish minister of environment and urbanization,  Murut Kurum. They discussed the necessary steps to fight the devastating effects of climate change and to significantly cut emissions by 2050.

Russia remains our largest neighbour and it remains an important global actor. Not from the economic point of view, the economics of Russia is more or less the same size as Italy. It is much bigger in surface, but economically speaking it is a medium-sized state. They have a lot of gas, and gas is becoming more and more expensive. This is good news for them and bad news for us. They have the atomic arm, they have an important army and they use it when they need it. In any case, Russia will not disappear. It will be there and this will not change overnight.