European Union

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Jonatan Vseviov: Words Matter, Deeds Matter, but Outcomes Matter Most

There is no reason to assume that history in the 21st century will necessarily be less complicated or less bloody than it was in the 20th or 19th centuries. To cope with global competition, we have to strengthen a common front with the countries that share our worldview, both in fundamental issues but also in the coordination of everyday matters of practical politics, says Jonatan Vseviov, the secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia.

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The European Political Community in a Global Context

Since its inauguration by 44 heads of state and government during the Czech EU Council Presidency in Prague on 6 October 2022, the European Political Community (EPC) has been discussed and analysed by many political scientists across Europe. There has, of course, been no consensus. Some welcomed the French initiative as the right format at the right time; others criticized it as a non-inclusive, ‘Macron-only’ project. Nearly everyone, however, tried to compare the EPC to the European Union, whose framework and decision-making are in desperate need of institutional reform. In this sense, the EPC has blended into a European and EU enlargement context. Fair enough!

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The European Political Community 2022—New Wine in Old Bottles?

With the aggressive attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the course of European history has changed. War in Europe is back. War waged by a great power against its neighbour has returned to European soil. The European security architecture—established after the end of the Cold War and built as a pan-European code of conduct—has been disrupted by Putin’s unjustified and aggressive invasion. The principles of democracy, human rights, rule of law, market economy, good neighbourly relations, and territorial integrity have been brought into question. And the European Union’s response to this challenge is the European Political Community.

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Europe’s Indo-Pacific Tilt: Estonian and Japanese Interests

Reshaped by the new great power competition, the international order has been undergoing revolutionary transformations. Revanchist Russia has unleashed a barbarian war against a sovereign European nation, while increasingly militarised and contentious China looms as a not-so-insidious threat in the Indo-Pacific. In response to these shifting dynamics and mounting geopolitical tensions, Europe is now awakening to the new reality and paying greater attention to the far-away region.

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Building European Security Against Russia – A View From Estonia

With Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, major conventional war returned to Europe in a manner unseen since the two world wars and the end of the Cold War—three occasions during the 20th century when the borders, norms, institutions, and balance of power ordering interstate relations on the continent and beyond experienced an unparalleled upheaval.

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