Elcano Royal Institute and the Polish Institute of International Affairs, Poland and Spain: How to Cooperate in a Europe in Flux, Elcano Policy Paper 2/2013 – 11 July 2013. This Policy Paper is a joint publication of the Elcano Royal Institute and PISM and follows the Polish–Spanish roundtable “Poland and Spain: Working Together in a Europe in Flux” held on 27 May 2013 in Warsaw, organised by PISM, the Elcano Royal Institute and the Spanish embassy. The contributors to this publication include Kinga Brudzińska, Federico Steinberg and Salvador Llaudes, along with Beata Wojna and Paweł Tokarski. The document is also being published as “food-for-thought” for the ninth annual Polish– Spanish inter-governmental consultations, which will take place on 15 July 2013 in Madrid.
Ignacio Molina (coord.). Elcano Royal Institute, Spain’s position in the world in 2013, Elcano Policy Paper 1/2013 (Translated from Spanish) 24 July 2013. This is what this paper aims to do: present the map, or at least a map, of Spain’s foreign policy for this year. It is a novel kind of project which the Elcano Royal Institute hopes to consolidate in the future. The idea is to publish a new edition each year, with a list of the challenges that lie ahead and a forecast of possible developments. The report will also look at whether the predictions made for the previous 12 months were, in fact, accurate. It is a tricky job that will test the Institute’s ability to analyze and forecast.
Iliana Olivié and Aitor Pérez, Development outcomes from reimbursable aid to the private sector: a case study in Colombia, WP 10/2013 – 19 July 2013.
Federico Steinberg, After the storm: international monetary implications of a reborn euro, WP 13/2013 – 8 July 2013. This paper explores the implications of the survival of the euro for the international monetary system (IMS). Since the outset of the euro zone (EZ) sovereign debt crisis in 2010, a new Berlin-Frankfurt axis is providing leadership in the creation of a banking union, a limited fiscal union and some form of economic and political union, all of which are necessary conditions for the survival of the euro.
Iliana Olivié and Manuel Gracia, What would the ‘United States of Europe’ look like in this changing world? Reflections on the IEPG, ARI 25/2013 – 3 July 2013. The catching-up process of several emerging economies and the crisis in the United States and Europe have also had implications for their global presence: the IEPG shows that Western countries keep on losing positions in the global scene. However, if the European Union were to count as a single country, it would top the world in terms of global presence. The economic divergence and concentration that characterise the European Union are also apparent in terms of intra-European presence: in general terms, the old members have more ‘presence gains’ than the newcomers. Lastly, the IEPG shows that the weaknesses of Spanish external insertion call for a new foreign action strategy.
Iliana Olivié and Manuel Gracia, IEPG 2012: methodology and new analytic tools, WP 12/2013 (Translated from Spanish) – 1 July 2013. As in the two previous editions, the IEPG calculates the global presence of a selection of countries in the economic, military and soft fields. The 2012 edition of the IEPG widens the choice of countries to 60, as well as designing an IEPG for the European Union and a European presence index (IEPE, after its Spanish acronym) for each of the 27 member states. This document summarises the methodology underlying the IEPG. Secondly, it explains the methodological challenges and solutions in calculating an index to evaluate the global presence of a ‘United States of Europe’. Finally, it describes the methodology of the IEPE, which is calculated for the 27 EU member states in 2012. The Annex provides a list of estimated cases.
William Chislett, The EU bows to German pressure to delay Turkey’s membership talks, Expert Comment 42/2013 – 26 June 2013. The EU averted a possible derailment of embattled Turkey’s moribund accession negotiations by agreeing to open the first chapter in three years, but not this month as originally promised because of Ankara’s excessively brutal handling of the demonstrations which have rocked the country and particularly appalled Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor. Failure to have opened the chapter –on regional policy– could well have led the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an abrasive figure, to pull the plug on the negotiations.
Haizam Amirah-Fernández, Libya and the problematic Political Isolation Law, ARI 20/2013 (Translated from Spanish) – 20/6/2013. Theme: The fifth of May of 2013 could go down in history as the day in which the democratic transition in Libya was derailed. It was on this date that an ample majority of Libya’s interim parliament was coerced by armed militias into passing the Political Isolation Law. The law’s application could condemn the country to live anchored to its dramatic past.
Haizam Amirah-Fernández, Does the US know what it is doing in the Middle East?, Expert Comment 39/2013 – 12 June 2013. The question may sound like a provocation, but from its answer stem enormous implications for the international system. This is not an issue raised only by critics or enemies of the US. Increasingly more allies, partners and friends alike, wonder if Washington has a clear strategy towards the Middle East, if it foresees the possible consequences of its actions or rather if, as some believe, it is gradually dissociating itself from the region as part of its announced strategic shift towards Asia and the Pacific.
Elcano blog
Carlota García Encina, Australia: so far and yet so near, Elcano blog, 5 August 2013.
William Chislett, Spain’s Unemployment Conundrum, Elcano blog, 29 July 2013.
Manuel Gracia, #IEPG. Measuring the global presence of countries (2): United Kingdom, Elcano blog, 17 July 2013.
Iliana Olivié, A window of opportunity for a post-Busan donor, Elcano blog, 15 July 2013.
Salvador Llaudes, May 2014, elections to the EP: an even smaller turnout? Elcano blog, 12 July 2013.
Manuel Gracia, #IEPG. Measuring the global presence of countries (1): Russia, Elcano blog, 10 July 2013.
William Chislett, Parallels between Egypt’s and Turkey’s protests, Elcano blog, 8 July 2013.
Carlota García Encina, Spain: looking ahead to the African Century, Elcano blog, 24 June 2013.
Iliana Olivié, It IS possible to measure the global presence of countries. Check out the IEPG!, Elcano blog, 17 June 2013.