Month: October 2018 (Page 2 of 2)

Question 1) In Foreign Policy, does Austria follow the lead of France, Germany, the UK, or Spain?

Given their shared history, culture, and ethnic identity, it should come as no surprise that Austrian foreign policy has trended to mirror German foreign policy.  For much of modern history since the end of the Second World War, Austria has sought to maintain an image of neutrality in the wake of their shared participation in the Nazi War Machine (FOREIGN RELATIONS).  Hoping to strike themselves as a friendly and docile neighbor to both the Communist countries to the east and the N.A.T.O. alliance to the west.  Their attempts to strike a balance between east and west has often drawn the ire of each side who see Austria’s attempts at outreach as duplicity (Gehler, Wilson Center)Seeking to be left to their own devices, Austria has been hesitant to engage in international debates beyond those issues that might directly effect themselves.  Therefor, they’ve engaged with the European Union for the purpose of their own economic advancement while avoided being the vanguard of the integration project.  As they lack the foreign policy authority to have the authority of its larger neighbors, Austria has often gone along with German politics in areas such as engagement with Russia, the economy, and migration politics.

Germany, like Austria, has gone on the charm offensive in the last several decades to repair its image in the east and west.  Recognizing that in the event of a European land war between N.A.T.O. and the Russian Federation, they would face occupation and annihilation, Germany sought to balance the interests of the United States and Russia with its policy.  The status of Germany as a reluctant leader has meant that the German government has been less then willing to take the reigns of control and assert European policies on the international stage (Welsh, 2015).  Meanwhile, their Ostpolitik engagement with Russia has drawn the ire of other European countries who feel that German hesitancy risks enabling future threats.  This has been something they’ve had to remedy as the role of the United Kingdom and France has declined on the international stage and other regional powers have tilted towards Germany due to their economic prowess.

Question 2) How does this choice appear as part of the EU-wide negotiations about Refugee politics?

During the initial stages of the 2015 Refugee Crisis, Austria’s policies reflected those from Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition in Germany.  Adopting a welcoming stance towards thousands of refugees, Austria was one of the first countries to open up their borders and settle refugees as they were halted at the Hungarian border and redirected.  Having settled the equivalent of 1% of their entire population in the country and granting generous government funded care packages to ease their transition into their new lives, Austrian society has witnessed cracks in their society between those who believe in taking in refugees and those who see refugees as a threat to their national identity (Kurz, 2017).  While Austria had followed through with the greater European communities wishes to pass liberal policies regarding refugees, they’ve recently caved to far-right political pressures and limited the help given to refugees.  Namely, the Austrian government has stripped refugees of their cellphones, large quantities in cash, and placed holds on citizenship applications, much to the chagrin of human rights watchdogs and their European neighbors (Bell, 2018).  This has presented conflicts with the European bureaucracy as some have interpreted Austria’s actions as standing in direct violation of the Union’s open borders policies which prohibit the restrictions on who can and cannot enter member nations.

Sources:

Austria – FOREIGN RELATIONS. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://countrystudies.us/austria/128.htm.

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/austria-german-unification-and-european-integration-brief-historical-background

Europe Today: A Twenty-First Century Introduction

http://time.com/5068561/sebastian-kurz-austria-chancellor-migrant-crisis/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43823166

Albania and the Refugee Crisis

For the most part migration in the context of Albania usually refers to emigration of citizens to other nations rather than immigration into the country. Albania regularly sees a positive net migration rate. But recently, Albania has felt the effects of the refugee crisis more so than many other nations in its area. The Balkans have become a popular route for those seeking asylum in Western Europe. “Interception of migrants and refugees in Albania increased by 15 percent in 2017, leading to 1,047 people caught at the border, while asylum requests increased by 27 percent to 309 people” (United Nations, 2017). Albania lacks a coherent policy on migration and has been accepting these refugees but failing to monitor or control their movements. This has caused conflicts within the region, specifically with Montenegro who has tried repeatedly to send back refugees to Albania, despite the fact that there is not proof that they came from Albania. In addition, Italy has been sending some of its migrants to Albania which the EU is upset about, but Italy continues to send them because Albania isn’t turning them away. There has been discussion of establishing migrant centers in various countries in the Balkan region in an effort to reduce the effects of the migrant crisis and “curb new arrivals”.  Albania would be one of the nations where these centers would be located but the Prime Minister has rejected this proposal (Sputnik, 2018).

Of the case study countries discussed in the textbook, Albania’s policies on migration seem to most closely resemble that of Germany. Although the volume of refugees that Germany took in greatly surpasses that of Albania, the two countries both share more open borders to migrants than other nations on the continent. That being said, Albania is currently trying to gain membership to the European Union and migration is currently a very polarized topic among EU members.  Albania needs to tread carefully before it passes or implements new policies regarding refugees because this could have a profound impact on its status of gaining membership.

Albania and EU Institutions 

Albania was granted candidate status by the European Union in 2014. Because the nation is not yet a member, it’s negotiations with the EU revolve mostly around its relations with nations that are in the EU and its accession for membership.  The road to membership is still underway and as a result of this status, the country has received more attention from the various institutions within the EU. The European Parliament was supportive, and therefore extremely influential in the visa liberalization process for the citizens of Albania (Likmeta, 2010). This process increases the mobility of Albanians for travel within the Schengen nations of the EU, by allowing them to travel without a visa.  The next step in the process toward visa- free travel was approval from the Council which was granted in late 2010. This marked a huge milestone for Albania and its desire to be a part of the integration of Europe.

Another important interaction between Albania and an EU institution came earlier this year at an EU Summit in Sofia (Herszenhorn, 2018). The European Commission recommended the start of membership talks with Albania considering the progress the nation has achieved over the past few years. Each year the Commission publishes a working document to showcase and analyze progress Albania has made toward meeting the Copenhagen criteria. The report also recommends steps for further improvement. According to Herszenhorn, Albania is “under pressure to crack down on organized crime and illegal migrants” and as a result the decision and negotiations on its accession have been postponed for another year so it can make progress on these reforms specifically. The Prime Minister of Albania expressed his frustrations about this statement because he claims that the EU is increasing the number of conditions the country must meet before membership talks are even allowed to begin. At a later summit in Brussels, the General Affairs Council adopted various conclusions on the “EU- Western Balkans stabilization and association process”, which includes Albania.  The European Council later responded positively to the progress made by Albania in meeting the established criteria and endorsed the conclusions as a means for beginning negotiations concerning membership in June of 2019.

In terms of specific policies that the European Union focuses on, Albania recently made an agreement with the EU concerning border management. The agreement promotes cooperation between the two parties as a means to control migration patterns in the country. Joint operations will take place. This agreement needs to be ratified by the European Parliament before it takes effect (Huertas Cerdeira, 2018).

Works Cited

Herszenhorn, David M. “5 Takeaways from EU’s Big Balkan Get-together.” POLITICO. May 23, 2018. Accessed October 21, 2018. https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-western-balkans-sofiasummit-takeaways-membership-talks-enlargement/.

Huertas Cerdeira, Verónica. “Border Management: EU Signs Agreement with Albania on European Border and Coast Guard Agency Cooperation.” European Council: Press Release. Accessed October 21, 2018. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press               releases/2018/10/05/border-management-eu-signs-agreement-with-albania-on european-border-and-coast-guard-agency-cooperation/.

Likmeta, Besar. “European Parliament Backs Albania, Bosnia Visa Liberalisation.” Balkan Insight, October 07, 2010. Accessed October 21, 2018. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/european-parliament-backs-albania-bosnia-visa-liberalization.

Sputnik. “Albania Refuses to Host EU Migrant Reception Centers – Prime Minister.” Sputnik International. June 27, 2018. Accessed October 22, 2018. https://sputniknews.com/europe/201806271065818205-albania-migrants-eu-statement/.

United Nations. “Progress Report 2017.” ROGRAMME OF COOPERATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2017-2021, 2017, 1-85. http://www.un.org.al/sites/default/files/GoA-UN Progress_Report-2017_1.pdf.

What is Europe? Where are its Boundaries?

Europe is a geographical term apart of Earth’s continent in the northeastern quadrant.  Throughout history there have been a variety of ways to describe Europe and explain where its boundaries are.  Through politics, culture, and geographical locations Europes identity has changed over the years.  Europe’s identity is very different than Asia’s.  My case study nation is Greece and interestingly enough the ancient Greeks wanted to differentiate themselves from their neighbors, the Persians.  Taken from an ancient Greek myth the term Europa was derived to gain the name Europe for the continent (Glencross, 14).  This idea is very important because it is used to show distinctness and separateness from Asia.  

The EU contains twenty eight nation states currently and there certainly are other countries in Europe that are not apart of the European Union.  For example there is the Council of Europe which includes forty seven countries.  Europe has clear boundaries to the west from the Atlantic Ocean, to the south with the Mediterranean Ocean, and to the North with the Arctic Ocean. In order to define Europe with specific geographical boundaries is difficult.  For example The Caucus mountains and the Urals in Russia create controversy because it will not include Turkey and it will divide Russia.   Their boundary to the east, however, causes confusion leaving the question of which countries are allowed to be apart of the European Union.  Countries like Russia and Turkey who both have territory in Asia and Europe will remain unclear whether or not they are allowed to be apart of the European Union.  History has shown interesting aspects of what Europe is.  The Mediterranean sea was a space shared by North Africa and the Levant culturally and economically.  During the Roman Empire they called this body of water mare nostrum meaning “our sea” (Glencross, 15).  This resulted in Morocco not being able to join the European Economic Community in 1987 (Glencross, 15).  This is very important because it shows the European Union most likely will not expand south of the Mediterranean Sea.  Throughout history Europe experienced ambiguous treaties that were the foundation of Europe all together.  The treaties did not provide specific details regarding which countries could be potential EU members or which countries are considered European.  The EU’s borders to the East remain the most problematic.  Many countries would love to be apart of the EU in order to gain economical and political power.  

The Idea of Europe: Greece 

When Greece joined the European Union it ended their dictatorship and started to incorporate democracy into their society again.  Greece wanted to become a member of the EU because they wanted the community to gain the stable institutional framework used to better their  political system along with their institutions.  Greece also wanted to develop relationships with countries other than the United States.  This would strengthen their independence regionally and internationally.  One of Greece’s main goals was to develop and modernize their economy and society.  Greece wanted to further help the development of European integration as a whole.      

The European Commission was optimistic about letting Greece join the EU.  Greece had a weak economy which in turn could end up harming other member states.  German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was extremely worried because Greece had trouble for example collecting taxes from their most prestigious citizens.  It was not until Konstantinos Karamanlis’ argument about Greece offering a cultural import towards the European Union that the European leader found reasonable to let Greece join the EU.  Konstantinos Karamanlis was a prestigious political figure in Greek history.  Two years after joining the EU they joined the euro as well furthering their integration into Europe.  However, interestingly enough Greece is extremely close to withdrawing from the euro today because of their recession and debt.  

Bibliography 

“Greece’s Course in the EU.” Culture: Greek Customs. Accessed October 01, 2018. https://www.mfa.gr/en/foreign-policy/greece-in-the-eu/greeces-course-in-the-eu.html.

Glencross, Andrew. The Politics of European Integration: Political Union or a House Divided? Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.

James Angelos, Bayer AG, Polish Electricity Association, and VELUX Group. “Why on Earth Is Greece in the EU?” POLITICO. June 22, 2015. Accessed October 01, 2018. https://www.politico.eu/article/why-is-greece-in-the-eu-grexit/.

A) In foreign policy, does your case study country follow the lead of France, Germany, the UK, or Spain (as described in our textbook and assigned readings)? If so, why?

B) How does this choice appear as part of EU-wide negotiations about a specific policy, such as Brexit or migration? Please include in the analysis how the case study country has approached/negotiated with two of the EU’s institutions, such as the Commission, Council, Parliament, and the Court.

Upload due: Oct. 23, review: Oct. 25, final: noon Oct. 29

(10 points)