EU-Neighbourhood Policy

The European mission is not accomplished. There are new challenges Europe has to face: internal ones like voting fatigue, growing nationalism and the rise of Eurosceptical forces.

Where did UKIP come from, who is supporting it, and what does its rise reveal about British and also European politics?

Remembrance cultures are more complex and diverse than a mere look at state-carried, nationalist commemorative practices might show. This complexity is present in and around Ypres.

This paper first turns to the question of the EU’s impact on democracy in would-be and new Member States and whether it has helped to overcome the division of the continent. The EU’s ability to trigger liberal democratic reforms in candidate countries should not be overestimated, especially when it faces illiberal and authoritarian governments.

When Europeans commemorate the Great War of 1914-18 this summer they should be reflecting not only on the diplomatic blunders and the enormous waste of lives but also the beginning of a new approach to international relations epitomised by the EU.

A European Year of Remembrance is about much more than the First World War, but it is also about its legacy. For above all, it is about the people of Europe. The people of Europe are those who we are commemorating in this project.

Portugal, a country full of hopes for the future in 1974. A country with very poor macroeconomic and social-development indicators, where most of the population had limited contact with the rest of the world, except those spread in the African colonies and in some European countries.

Most important now is that the international community responds speedily and clearly to what amounts to a Russian occupation of the Crimea and the additional threat of Russian troops being stationed in Ukraine.

Julian Rappold is one of our Young Voices of Europe.

Mar de Salas Quiroga is one of our Young Voices of Europe.