The expectations towards the German Green Party have changed since March 27, 2011. Clearly, the Greens no longer serve an ecological niche. In their new role as a party of the center, the Greens will automatically have to assume more responsibility if they do not want to disappoint their new voters.
The people of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and also in other countries such as Yemen, Bahrain and Algeria are revolting against encrusted structures. Which direction the movement will take is still open, but one thing has become clear during the last few weeks: Neither the EU nor the EU Member States can claim that the current transition process in Tunisia or Egypt is a direct result of the European democratization policy.
The European Union ushers in the new year amid the ruins of its foreign policy with regard to Eastern Europe. If the EU wants to be a strategic actor in Eastern Europe, it will have to offer credible accession perspectives to all countries wishing to be a part of democratic Europe.
It is particularly difficult to attain higher social status in Germany. Why is that, how should we tackle the issue and how the German situation differs from the situation in North America? At a conference organised by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung several experts and politicians tried to find answers to these questions.
The Treaty of Lisbon represents another attempt in the history of EU integration to tap the potential of the EU in external relations as well as in other fields. However, it stops short of taking the ultimate step: The member states have not consented to a communitization of foreign and security policy. Instead, a complicated new structure was adopted which leaves much to be desired and creates new areas for friction.
