Europe
Economist: Lisbon Treaty would not help EU deal with Georgia crisis
The Economist argues that Nicolas Sarkozy is wrong to suggest the Lisbon Treaty would have helped the EU deal with the situation in Georgia. It argues that "the notion that they would magically transform a deeply divided club into a single powerful force is belied not just by recent history (think of the wars in former Yugoslavia and Iraq) but by the Georgian crisis itself."
It argues that "the policy response from France, Germany and Italy has been diametrically opposite to that of Britain, Sweden and the east Europeans. The French and Germans, eager to preserve their links to Moscow, have tried to be neutral, while the Italians have blamed the entire war on Mr Saakashvili. The British, Swedes and most east Europeans have loudly condemned Russia's aggression. So long as EU members hold such divergent views, no amount of institutional tinkering can ever create a forceful common foreign policy."
The article also suggests that "cosy deals" done by France and Germany with Russian on energy are obstacles to a more successful common approach towards Russia.
Jacek Kucharczyk of Institute of Public Affairs, a Polish think-tank, has an article in European Voice echoing this argument: "Institutional development cannot foster policy leadership in a vacuum; at best, it can deliver policies based on the lowest common denominator between the positions of - in this case - Russia's critics and its apologists." He criticises EU leaders who are threatening to halt the enlargement of the EU if Lisbon is not ratified. "There is no evidence that EU institutions in their current form are less effective as a result of the recent enlargement...by putting further enlargement on hold, the EU would be voluntarily depriving itself of the most effective foreign policy tool it has ever had."
Writing in the Telegraph, Con Coughlin argues that Europe's dithering over Georgia is "embarrassing and endangers us".
Telegraph Coughlin Economist European Voice Economist 2
An article in the Economist assesses the future role of Turkey in the Caucasus and the difficulties posed by its fraught relationship with neighbour Armenia.
Home Office figures published yesterday suggest a fall in the number of eastern and central Europeans registering to work in the UK - reasons are said to be the fall in the value of the pound and improved job prospects in their home countries.
EU halts farm cash to Romania
The European Commission has temporarily suspended rural development payments to Romania after identifying "deficiencies" in the country's auditing procedures.
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