EU/North America

The future of U.S. renewable energy policy depends on the next president. What are the policy scenarios for 2009 and beyond?

Only if Georgia succeeds in building a dynamic and attractive democracy, the populations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a real choice – between a democratic Georgia and an authoritarian Russia.

The EU should readjust its relations with Russia. In this it must bear in mind that Moscow no longer rules out military confrontations as a means of pursuing its interests. Accordingly the EU has to more clearly define its external policies. Should a country like Georgia, which has strategic importance for the West, be left to a Russian sphere of influence?

Founded 35 years ago, in January 1980, the new Green party Die Grünen successfully entered the German Bundestag in March 1983. Ten years later, in April 1993, Die Grünen and Bündnis 90, a party founded in East Germany in 1990, merged to form Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Alliance 90/The Greens). Data pertaining to all party conventions and key decisions, as well as all elections to the Federal Executive Board, are listed here; the texts of all platforms are available for download.

The international community has to put pressure on Russian, the Georgian and South Ossetian parties to de-escalate the situation as soon as possible. Only this could avoid the recurrence of the bloody events of early 1990s in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Th EU needs to seriously address its democratic deficit and the disillusionment that many Europeans feel for the Union. Dealing with these issues will surely not be an easy task but it will, without a doubt, enrich European democracy and the very ideals that we stand for and wish to promote in the world.

Independent of the EU’s internal debates on reform and enlargement the extension of co-operation beyond the borders of the EU will remain pressing. An updated European Neighbourhood Policy could enable the EU to engage its neighbours flexibly, keeping options open for closer future integration.

Russia and the European Union are increasingly bound together – if not by common values, then by virtue of their interdependence. Beyond strong economic ties, both actors have a mutual interest in maintaining international stability and a secure neighbourhood.

With contributions by Renate Künast, Milan Horácek, Marieluise Beck, Michaele Schreyer and many others