You are currently browsing the archives for Diplomacy.
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd in London on Tuesday backed the European Union embargo on oil imports from Iran, decided on the day before.
Talk of a crisis over the flare-up in relations with that country coincided with renewed expressions of concern by the IMF over the larger crisis over weakening in the world economy. … Read More »
The Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, has begun a one-week tour in Europe taking in consultations in Brussels on the economic situation, security talks in London and a new bilateral agreement in France, signed on Friday (20.1.12).
NEW AGREEMENT WITH FRANCE INCLUDES PACIFIC, AND THE WESTERN FRONT
An agreement signed in Paris with the French Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe, raised the status of the relationship between the two countries to that of a strategic partnership. … Read More »
The push will be on in the New Year to extend the powers of the European Union, in the hope of it dealing better with challenges like the debt crisis.
More in the short-term, with the threat of a general recession, new efforts will be focused on setting up the permanent guarantee fund, the European Stability Mechanism, by mid-year; and on the possible issue of joint European bonds, guaranteed by governments in a group.
Disputes will go beyond immediate action, to wider ideas of what “Europe” should be, whether a collection of states, or a closer union more on the federal plan. … Read More »
Heads of government of the twenty largest economies -G20 - got to business, looking at ways to strengthen the world system, at their meeting in Cannes.
The political eruption in Greece, with the referendum plan that threatened to over-turn agreements on the country’s indebtedness, provided a huge distraction on the first day. … Read More »
Anxiety about climate change and rising seas has been a mark of the Pacific Islands Forum for several years - moreso this year with Europe and United Nations contributing to the debate.
Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, has had a day of selling the European idea to a not-always-aware Australia, 6.9.11. … Read More »
“I want to be very clear here: The EU and the Euro are strong and resilient, and we are doing all it takes, from tackling the underlying budget problems to strengthening the governance of the Euro-zone, from tighter financial regulation to improving our overall competitiveness”, said Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, in Canberra this week. … Read More »