European Union

2015 is the European Year of international development, during which a new framework for development should be adopted. The development agenda has changed and although the EU remains the world’s largest donor of official development assistance (ODA), countries such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Korea are playing an increasingly important role in development.

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The EU’s relations with its strategic partners varies depending on each country and although emerging powers have similar interests, their strategies in relation to both development cooperation and the multilateral development agenda differ. In this context and in light of a book published by FRIDE, New donors, new partners? EU strategic partnerships and development, senior researcher Clare Castillejo analyses the opportunities for engagement between the EU and its strategic partners and the approaches followed by the five emerging powers mentioned above.

Click here to watch the video-interview with Clare Castillejo.

Diplomats reported little progress in talks between foreign ministers in Berlin earlier this week

The new year has brought with it much talk of new diplomatic “windows” opening for talks between Europe and the Kremlin, thanks in large part to the sudden economic chaos Russia faces due to the plummeting price of oil and value of the rouble.

Such talk has come from a number of capitals, including Riga, home to the EU’s new Latvian presidency, and Brussels, in the form of foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. But critics point out that nothing has changed on the ground. Fighting continues, including a an attack on a Ukrainian bus this week which left 12 dead, and Moscow has made no progress in implementing the so-called Minsk agreement, the blueprint all EU leaders have cited as a pre-requisite to ratcheting down its sanctions regime against Russia.

Indeed, according to EU officials recent hopes of Russian acquiescence ahead of a proposed summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana have largely been dashed during diplomatic discussions with Germany and France because of refusals by the Kremlin to budge.

Still, the issue will gradually rise up the agenda in Brussels as the sanctions agreed last year begin to expire – the first in March, but incrementally towards the big economic measures which run out in June and July. It will take a unanimous decision of all 28 EU countries to renew the sanctions.

Despite the lack of progress with Russia, Mogherini this week circulated an “issues paper on relations with Russia” ahead of Monday’s meeting of foreign ministers that proposes a series of re-engagements with Moscow. Our friends and rivals at the Wall Street Journal were the first to report about it, but we’ve posted a copy of the paper here.

The school attack in Peshawar has set all eyes on Pakistan. The war between the military forces and the Talibans has evolved into a spiral of violence that is difficult to resolve. Clare Castillejo, senior researcher at FRIDE, analyses the factors behind the attack and the state of the Pakistani talibans.

What are the implications for the country and for the troubled region?

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Three years after the fall of Gaddafi, the political situation in Libya has evolved in a chaotic way. Fragmented and with two governments, the country is unable to maintain the security across its territory and deal with several domestic and external challenges.  Barah Mikaïl, senior researcher at FRIDE, analyses the failed political process in Libya, the risk of spillover into neighbouring countries and the role of the international community.

In what ways is Tunisia different from its neighbours? What are the factors behind its positive path to democracy? What would an electoral victory of Essebsi mean for the democratic transition? What are the challenges ahead?

Flickr-Stephan de Vries

The first round of elections has showed how positively Tunisia has advanced towards democracy in comparison with other Arab spring states. However, Tunisia still faces several socio-economic and security challenges. According to Kristina Kausch, Head of FRIDE’s Middle East Programme, implementation of the necessary reforms will only be achieved if a strong unity government is in place.

To watch the video, click on the image

When I was 9 years old, my family moved to Finland and I went to the International School of Helsinki until the age of 11, when I went off to boarding school in the UK. My best friend, probably the first one I had, was an American girl called Katja Ollendorff. She lived in the next suburb to us, so we spent a lot of time at each other’s houses and we were both obsessed with the Police. I remember evenings spent dissecting all the inner meaning of the lyrics of every song on Zenyatta Mondatta, and probably ascribing much more meaning than the original authors ever intended.

In the way of diplomatic kids, though, our respective families moved on. We kept in touch by letter for a while, but eventually lost touch.

Fast forward to 2014. I use a mail application called Mailbox, which encourages you to aim for #inboxzero. When you get there, you get an image, curated from somewhere on the web. Today it was a very striking pattern, and I was intrigued, so I clicked on it.

It took me through to an Instagram page and you can probably imagine my astonishment when the account was owned by a graphic designer called Katja Ollendorff! Like Antonia Mochan, this is hardly a run-of-the-mill name! I left a message on the page, to see if it was indeed the same one, and it is.

We all know that the 6 degrees of separation seem to have been reduced to half that through social networks, or maybe they are just more visible. But this connection seems utterly random. The connection between me and Mailbox, and Mailbox and Katja is so tenuous as to have made this connection hugely unlikely. What if I hadn’t got to #inboxzero today? I might never have come across her again. Even when I do reach it, I rarely click on the picture – this one was just particularly eye-catching. The whole thing is completely weird and wonderful at the same time.

As you know, I am a passionate advocate for the power of social networks to bring people together. It was joyous to have this example of how that happens given to me today.