The EUROPP team take a look at the week in Brussels blogging

Across Europe

Hungary held elections on Sunday, with the ruling Fidesz party emerging with a majority. Policy Network has an overview of the results, which also saw the radical right Jobbik party receive around 20 per cent of the vote.

Open Europe write on Finland’s economy, arguing that there are reasons to believe the country is in line for weak growth over the next two years. They also note that given Russia is one of Finland’s major trading partners, the situation could be exacerbated by the Ukraine crisis.

Elsewhere, Timur Kuran at Project Syndicate labels Turkey an ‘electoral dictatorship’ following the country’s municipal elections, in which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) received a successful result.

The EU centre

Clive H Church at e-international relations discusses the on-going implications of the Swiss referendum on immigration quotas for the country’s relationship with the EU. He notes that the domestic political situation in Switzerland is significantly more complex than commonly recognised, and that the referendum result has generated contentious legislative procedures and legal challenges that are far from being resolved.

Greece returned to the bond markets this week, selling €3 billion of five-year bonds at an interest rate of 4.95 per cent. Open Europe write on the strong demand for Greek bonds, which outstripped some of the more optimistic estimates. Meanwhile Paul Krugman discusses general signs of recovery in southern European economies, arguing that an economic revival in countries like Greece would not vindicate austerity policies.

The European neighbourhood

Oleksandr Andreyev and Andrew Wilson at the European council on Foreign Relations look at the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine and its impact on the wider crisis.

Taking a broader view, Zaki Laïdi at Project Syndicate assesses what kind of Europe will emerge from the crisis. Jana Kobzová at Strategic Europe also writes on the vulnerability of Central European states to the fallout from any sanctions which are implemented against Russia over the situation in Crimea. The article argues the crisis should serve as a wake-up call for states that are overly reliant on Russian energy.

And finally…

In light of the much publicised controversy over Copenhagen Zoo’s decision to kill a two year old giraffe for conservation reasons earlier this year, Lori Gruen at the OUP blog takes a look at whether such actions are justified from a philosophical perspective.

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Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics. Featured image credit: John D. Carnessiotis (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

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