Charles Grant

Charles Grant

Director
Areas of expertise 

Britain’s relationship with the EU, the ‘future of Europe’ debate, European foreign and defence policy, and China's relations with the West.

Twitter 
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What are European values?

The Guardian
25 March 2007
The larger the EU becomes, the more important it is for the people who live in it to realise that their union has been built on common values. So I am delighted that the Berlin declaration, issued at the special EU summit marking the union's 50th birthday, stresses European values...

A French force

Prospect
01 March 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy's call for a "rupture" with France's past makes him an exciting figure. In the last five years—during stints as chairman of the Gaullist UMP party, finance minister and interior minister—he has proved himself a hyperactive and effective politician.

Welcome to the neighbourhood

Russia Profile
15 January 2007
The enlargement of the EU is slowing down. Bulgaria and Romania have just joined, bringing the membership to 27, but in many EU countries there is little enthusiasm for extending the Union's boundaries further.

Europe must do more to embrace its neighbours

Financial Times
12 December 2006
The enlargement of the European Union has lost momentum. Bulgaria and Romania will enter the EU in January, but there is then likely to be a long gap before any other country joins.

Failed EU entrance could mean stronger ties to Russia

Zaman online
26 November 2006
According to a British think-tank, the Centre for European Reform (CER), if EU membership negotiations were postponed, Turkey would look for a new alliance, perhaps in Russia.

What to do about Russia?

The Guardian
22 October 2006
Perhaps the most important challenge for EU foreign policy is to develop a more unified approach to Russia. The EU member-states have very similar interests in Russia.

At last, some hope for Ukraine

The Guardian
04 August 2006
The formation of a new government - four months after parliamentary elections - is good news for Ukraine. The coalition is broad-based: the party of President Victor Yushchenko, Our Ukraine, has strong roots in the rural west of the country; the Regions party, led by the new prime minister, Victor Yanukovich, dominates the east; and the Socialist party, the third member of the coalition, is popular among farmers in the centre.

What new transatlantic institutions?

European Affairs
01 June 2006
The last two years have seen a rapprochement across the Atlantic. The elevation of new personnel – such as Condoleezza Rice to the State Department and Angela Merkel as German Chancellor – has helped to remove some of the bitterness that the Iraq confrontation had left behind.

Belarus blue

The Wall Street Journal
15 March 2006
To a first-time visitor, the capital of Belarus seems normal. People look content, streets are clean and orderly, and cafés ring with lively and frank exchanges.

India tilts to the west as the world's new poles emerge

The Guardian
12 January 2006
Nothing is permanent in history, including America's domination of the global economic and political systems. Assuming China and India keep growing at their current rates, the unipolar world of recent years - topped by the US - will be replaced by a multipolar world within a few decades.
Once its "unipolar...