Europe

Democracy Goes Out with a Whimper

February 15, 2012 by Natalie Bowlus

Viktor Orban is killing Hungarian democracy. In 2010, his center conservative Fidesz party won a landslide victory. They had an overwhelming popular mandate to clean up the country after eight years of mismanagement under MSZP, the sclerotic socialist party run by holdovers from Hungary’s communist days. Excitement was real and palpable – Hungarians I knew [...]

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Croatia’s European Future: A Conversation with Croatia’s President Ivo Josipović

May 15, 2011 by Ivo Josipović

Professor Ivo Josipovic, President of the Republic of Croatia, assesses the political situation in Southeast Europe as stable, though fraught with continuing challenges. Serbia is attempting to balance regional cooperation with Kosovo’s independence, while Bosnia and Herzegovnia is enacting constitutional changes to transcend the imperfections of the Dayton Agreement. Against this dramatic regional backdrop, Croatia is entering the final stage of its EU accession talks while navigating painful political, economic, and social reforms.

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The EU After Lisbon

January 20, 2011 by Baroness Catherine Aston and Ambassador João Vale de Almeida

Note from the editors: The 2009 Lisbon Treaty sought to restructure European Union institutions and transform the organization into a cohesive and robust global player. For Brussels, implementing this mandate has proven challenging. Acute internal and external pressures have slowed the EU’s transformation and brought doubts about its continued relevance on the international scene. The [...]

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