ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Two days ago, when we laid out the components of Merkel and  Macron’s blueprint to reform the EU , we said that while “Macron suggested the proposal will be presented to other countries, with specifics to be worked out later this year and the plans to take effect from 2021, i t was unclear how he plans to get “other countries” to vote for a proposal which has already led to the alienation of Central and Eastern Europe, Brexit and an openly populist government in Italy .” We did not have to wait long for confirmation, because just two days later, Europe’s two self-proclaimed leaders were facing an unexpected backlash from most other European governments against the German and French plans for a common eurozone budget,  dealing a blow to the two countries’ ambitions for a big overhaul of the single currency area. As the  FT reports , the rest of Europe’s “core”, including  the Netherlands, Austria and Finland are among 12 governments questioning the need for any joint eurozone “fi

Ruslan Shamukov/TASS Russia is going to launch construction of a new nuclear-powered guided missile destroyer in 2020, Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief for Armament Viktor Bursuk says. “A preliminary design [of the destroyer] has been made. Following its results, we are now making the necessary decision and work on its technical design will begin shortly and the construction will start after 2020,” Bursuk said in a statement on June 20, according to the state-run news agency TASS. According to the statement, the destroyey will be of the Lider-class, also known as Project 23560. The project is being worked out at the Severnoye Design Bureau in St. Petersburg. The destroyed will have the displacement of 10,000-15,000 tonnes.