The ESAANZ Blog Series is a weekly blog on European Studies submitted by the ESAANZ members and community. This initiative aims to further ESAANZ goals on contributing to a discussion of European studies in Australia, while also offering an opportunity for members, be they early career researchers or established academics to promote their ideas for discussion.
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ESAANZ welcomes contributions from its community, with articles accepted from a wide array of topics, including education, politics, the environment, business and more so long as there is some relationship to Europe or European Studies. If you are interested please send an email to info@esaanz.org.au and we will be in contact with you soon.
October 24th, 2022
Should we be considering ‘drift-backs’ as organised state crime?
Since March 2020, following the Turkish government opening its border with Greece, mainstream media has suddenly discovered the existence of migrant pushbacks from the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) and various European border agencies. [...]
Biden makes EU members talk, once again, about tax coordination
It is undoubtful the role that the United States (U.S.) played and is still playing in shaping the integration process on the other side of the Atlantic: the creation of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation to manage Marshall Plan aids; the [...]
With the EU-Vietnam FTA entering into force on 1 August 2020, Vietnam’s GDP and exports are expected to rise by 2.4 percent and 12 percent respectively by 2030. The agreement will lift 99 percent of tariffs on goods traded between the EU and Vietnam. [...]
Stability and Growth Pact after Covid-19: back to the origin?
Stupide. So much so that with Covid-19 the fiscal rules for the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) of the EU have been suspended. After almost twenty years, that hardly institutional attribute expressed by one of the most institutional figures in the EU still [...]
Brakujący. What Has Happened to Poland’s Social Democrats?
The world is currently watching the protests across Poland in response to a new constitutional court ruling that effectively amounts to a legal ban on abortion in that country. This conservative ruling should not surprise those with an interest in European [...]
Contrariamente a quanto avvenuto di fronte alla crisi economica e finanziaria del 2008, nel caso della pandemia del COVID-19 l’Unione europea ha saputo dare una risposta in modo veloce e sostanzialmente unitario. Tra gli interventi più significativi vi è [...]
GIs and Leaks: An update on the EU-NZ FTA negotiations
Since 2018, the European Union (EU) and New Zealand (NZ) have been undertaking Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations (in parallel with the EU-Australia FTA negotiations). A small trading state on the edge of the Pacific, until 2015 the European Union had [...]
Over the last half millenium, this region, situated at the crossroads of Eastern and Western Europe, has changed hands many times; with each transition the identity of Belarusians - a Slavonic peoples distinct from modern day Russians and Ukrainians - has [...]
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold: Alexei Navalny’s civic revolution and the unrest in Belarus
The post-election protests in Belarus and the poisoning of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny are cemented together by something greater than cause and effect. Certainly, what is unfolding in Belarus is a reminder that the collapse of the USSR is an [...]
Although the Covid-19 pandemic knocked Brexit of its long-held Number 1 spot on the UK government’s to-do list (EU representatives always liked to pretend they had bigger fish to fry, but it was pretty important to the EU too), negotiations over the UK’s [...]
Nach dem Lockdown ist vor dem Lockdown (After lockdown is before lockdown)
This phrase (or variations of it) has been circulating in German language media for some time now. It captures Europeans’ apprehension about the possibility of a significant rise in COVID-19 numbers following the easing of restrictions, resulting in a wave [...]
Ukraine: where fallen statues become resurrected as Darth Vader
In 2015, following the establishment of Decommunisation Law, Odesa’s artist, Alexander Milov, intentionally transformed Lenin into the villain who chose the dark side of the force. This humorous act of dressing Lenin in Vader’s attire brings to life the [...]
Il rapporto tra italiani e Unione europea è diventato sempre più critico. Tutti i sondaggi mostrano come nell’arco di poco più di un ventennio gli italiani siano passati da convinti sostenitori dell’integrazione comunitaria a euroscettici. Secondo i [...]
Italy and the European Union: A rollercoaster journey? – A book summary
The shifting attention which Italy demonstrated towards European integration since 1945 has been a reflection of its changing agendas, the external constraints (vincolo esterno) and to a lesser extent on changing political elites. It went from distraction [...]
Od dylematu do kaca moralnego – wybory na Prezydenta RP za granicą
1 Lipca, mój Kanadyjski kuzyn, Marek, napisał do mnie emaila z moralnym dylematem. Cytuję: ‘Prowadzę dyskusję z dwoma kolegami, Polakami: jeden z Texasu, drugi z Toronto. Mamy podzielone zdania nt. czy powinniśmy głosować, czy nie. Na razie [...]
With president Andrzej Duda’s 2020 reelection, Poland continues its march towards authoritarianism. Duda supports the Law and Justice (‘PiS’) party, which has been leading Poland down the illiberal route since 2015. After Duda’s victory, one can [...]
The EU Recovery Fund: Negotiation and Contention among EU Members
This week’s €750 billion ($A1.21 trillion) Recovery Fund, agreed by the European Council, injects considerable stimulus into the faltering EU economy in the form of grants and loans. Member countries that have been badly affected by Covid-19, such as [...]
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