Euroscopic EP11: What's on the menu

All not quiet on the ex-EU front.

This week’s Euroscopic podcast will be out soon. For those who already want a taste of it (or actually like to read), here’s what’s on the menu:

Amuse-bouche

From the Balkans to Ukraine to the Mediterranean, the European Union faces challenges to its single market of beloved liberal values.

Starter

But first, well beyond the reaches of EU borders: Are the French having another Indochina moment? After one coup too many in what used to be their Africa, France’s interventionist aspirations are falling apart at the seams.

Primo

Before we get to the EU’s external borders, the bloc’s internal ones are proving enough of a headache. The one between Germany and Poland, in particular, may be getting harder, and it probably has as much to do with electoral concerns in both countries as it does with actual security ones.

Secondo

To accession or not to accession, that is the question. The EU’s hands are wringing as its member states spar over if and how and when and where to enlarge the bloc. Ukraine, of course, would like to cut to the front of the line, while Balkan countries have been getting strung along for … ever? Rumbling violence in that region is both an argument for and against to bringing them in.

Nachtisch

We’ve covered lions and boars. Now a word from our new sponsor, wolves.

Don’t forget to tip

In economy news, whether renting or buying, housing seems to suck everywhere. There is some good news, though, most cities are below-bubble levels. Though with construction costs and interest rates way up, it might not matter much if no one can afford to build and buy. And renting? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Doggy bag

In a recent episode, we discussed the EIB — what it is, what it does, and the power it has to leverage European finance at the behest of European policy. Now, the European Investment Bank may be getting into the defense business.

Still hungry?

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