Looking at Europe

The presence of the EU flag without anyone beneath to represent it at the recent Hannover summit is testimony to the secondary role that Europe plays on the international stage.

At the summit between the EU and Turkey on 7 March, it was agreed that Turkey will take back the refugees that have arrived in Greece through its territory, in exchange for significant financial aid. For Cengiz Aktar, whose newspaper has been shut down by the Ankara government, the EU has abandoned its values in its dealings with aregime without scruples.

The EU-Africa summit taking place in Malta is focusing on security issues and readmitting migrants rather than on cooperation, laments a humanitarian operator based on the Mediterranean island.

EU leaders’ outrage at US spying is overblown, writes the New York Times, and so is their threat to suspend EU-US trade talks. Such surveillance is legal in the US, and Washington will have kept its European partners well informed of its findings.