According to a report from the European Parliament, Hungary is challenging the fundamental values of the EU treaties. However, the EU is partly to blame by letting it slide for too long. Hungary is no longer a full-fledged democracy. Instead, conditions in the central European country have deteriorated so much that it has become an “electoral autocracy”, according to a …

Because many things in Hungary can only be decided by a two-thirds majority, Viktor Orbán does  not concentrate all his attention to centrist voters when courting support. The result is almost inevitably populism. The good(ish) news first. There will be no exit of Hungary from the EU, not with Viktor Orbán, who, on the contrary, is preparing for a stronger …

Italy’s role and reputation on the international stage have been unstable – to say the least. The rapid alternation of coalition governments and their inability to come to full term, as well as the long history of scandals and criminal activity tied to the political elites have often made the country a laughingstock for its European neighbours and the rest …

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania said they were in favor of granting Ukraine immediate official status as a candidate for European Union membership. Shortly afterwards, the European Commission announced on June 17 that it had validated Ukraine’s application for membership. This declaration is a very strong message from three major Western European countries and Romania in favor …

Croatia will be the 20th European country to enter the Euro zone as of January 2023, following its application to adopt Euro currency in 2013. While Euro currency has been devalued and reached equal exchange rate with US dollar for the first time since its implementation in 2002, on Tuesday 12 July 2022, the Council of the European Union approved …

            First of all, the good personal chemistry between the two presidents plays its role. Putin and Erdogan are both adepts of speaking frankly, and they present this as an asset in inter-state relations, making it possible to overcome differences and blockages. In fact, each time the different stands they have on Syria, Armenia, NATO, Libya… threatened to reach the …

France has had to shake up its ambitious plans for the EU, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A crisis that did not prevent the country from reaching agreements on important issues. This is how to sum up the six months of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which ends today, June 30th. French diplomats must pack …

On June 23, the European Union decided to put Ukraine on the route to EU membership, acting with unusual speed and unanimity to drive the embattled country further away from Russia’s influence and closer to the West. At a summit in Brussels, leaders from the EU’s 27 member states obtained the necessary unanimous agreement to award Ukraine candidate status. This …

Following the suspension of Russian gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has accused Moscow of blackmail. But she said the EU was prepared for this scenario and would “provide a collective response”. They are in close contact with all EU states and have been working to secure supplies from other countries, she said before …

Sweden and Finland have pursued a policy of neutrality since World War II, refusing to officially join either side in the Cold War, and pursuing foreign and security policies coherent with this posture. After the end of the Cold War, this strict neutrality was already broken, with both countries joining the EU in 1995 and signing various agreements with NATO …