Conversation on Transatlanticism and Europe Blog

When the NSA surveillance scandal became public, it eroded transatlantic trust, write Alexandra Brzozowski and Mitchell Wilkinson. This blog post was written for the course "Current Issues in Global and EU Affairs", which took place from February 12-April 30, 2018. Edward Snowden in 2013 Image credit: Wikimedia user McZusatz Snowden’s disclosures revealed that the NSA together with partner intelligence agencies, in seemingly limitless capacity, monitored and stored communications of almost all states. Reports disclosed it ‘ bugged offices, accessed internal computer networks, obtained documents and emails, and listened in on phone calls ’. Striking is, that while inside the US it was clear that some legal institutional limits are in place−as few as they may seem− there are virtually no restrictions on US intelligence activities abroad. However, the more daunting truth for leaders worldwide was that the US spied on other governments and did not distinguish between fri...

By Marie Brethous and Laura Skana This blog post was written for the course "Current Issues in Global and EU Affairs", which took place from February 12-April 30, 2018. Meet PESCO, the new kid on the block. NATO and PESCO states. Blue countries are only in PESCO, red are only in NATO, purple countries are members of both PESCO and NATO Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user JLogan ‘ More Security for the EU and its citizens ’ is what the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) will bring to the table. The initiative signed by 25 EU member states, aims to enhance their cooperation in the area of security and defence, by allowing them to jointly develop capabilities and therefore enhance EU’s role as an international security actor. The mandate for PESCO is defined in the Treaty of the EU , art 42(6), art 46 and Protocol 10. It is a specific CSDP mechanism that allows member states to voluntarily commit regarding defence and security. On 11 December 2017 the 17 collab...