Three Asia-related summits are planned in Brussels, at a time the EU is trying to cast itself as a foreign policy player of substance.

Asia in European limelight

Business Standard

Only a few months after the European Union weathered the threat posed to the euro by the sovereign debt crisis of Greece, it faces a fresh challenge to another of its foundation stones: the right to free movement within the EU for every citizen of a member-state.

Brussels takes on France over Roma

The European Commission clarified today that no breakthrough in the ongoing dispute between India and the European Union (EU) regarding generic drug seizures had been reached. In response to queries from Business Standard, John Clancy, the EC&rsquo;s spokesperson on trade, said he was unable to confirm Indian media reports that the matter had been resolved.

Drug seizure dispute with India not resolved: EU

The European Commission outlined proposals today that would unilaterally suspend duties on a range of Pakistani imports into the 27-member European Union for a period of three years. The move which is likely to prove controversial at the World Trade Organisation, comes in the wake of devastating floods in Pakistan and is intended to help bolster the country&rsquo;s economic recovery.

EU set to offer Pakistan trade for flood aid

The European Union (EU) and South Korea signed one of the world&rsquo;s most ambitious free trade agreements (FTA) today, expected to boost business by 30 billion euros a year.

EU, South Korea ink one of the most ambitious FTAs

The 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) came to a close today, following two days of wide-ranging discussions between 40-odd heads of state and government. The main issues raised included global economic governance, climate change and the combating of terrorism and piracy.

Asia-Europe meet sees give on IMF but none on yuan

Europe formally turned its attention today to the dynamic economies of Asia, hoping to deepen its strategic relationship with the region at a time of global geo-political shifts, with the start of a two-day Asia Europe Meeting (Asem) in Brussels.

Europe re-orients to engage with Asia

China and India, muscular economies whose emergence is re-orientalising the world, may be neighbours, but they are beasts of a different temperament. This divergence was pithily symbolised by the differential nature and outcome of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and its poor relation, the recently held Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Pallavi Aiyar: A tale of two Games

In a post-9/11 world, the discourse on minority integration in Europe is dominated by the continent&rsquo;s relatively new Muslim immigrants, with headscarf and burqa bans having emerged as the issue&rsquo;s most emotive symbols.

Europe's oldest integration challenge

One way of framing the complexity of China&rsquo;s long history is to understand it as the interplay of ideas between the pragmatic, human-centric precepts of Confucianism and the nature-worshipping, harmony-seeking philosophy of Daoism.

Green blot on the Red dragon

Gautam Thapar is chairman and CEO of the $4-billion Avantha Group, which includes the power transmission and distribution equipment major, Crompton Greaves (CG), and the paper heavyweight, BILT. He spoke to Pallavi Aiyar at the port city of Zeebrugge in Belgium, where CG has been involved in the design, solutions and manufacture of equipment for one of Europe&rsquo;s most ambitious offshore wind projects, the Belwind wind farm.

Q&A: Gautam Thapar, Chairman & CEO, Avantha Group

The European Union (EU) today gave the go-ahead to a wide-ranging free trade deal with South Korea, its first with an Asian partner. Italy, the main country opposing the agreement, withdrew its objections in exchange for a concession that will see the deal&rsquo;s introduction postponed by six months.

EU trade deal with S Korea gets green light

Spanish solar energy heavyweight Abengoa recently won a commitment of $1.45 billion from the United States&rsquo; Department of energy to construct what will be the world&rsquo;s largest solar plant, a 280 MW behemoth in Arizona state. The company is now turning its attention to India where the government&rsquo;s recent push to promote solar energy has caught its attention. A generous subsidy system for solar power has taken Spain to the forefront of the industry over the last few years.

Q&A: Santiago Serge, CEO, Abengoa Solar

Following a two-day meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday and Saturday, Europe is preparing to grant extraordinary trade concessions to Pakistan. The move is intended to bolster the flood-devastated nation and help Islamabad tackle extremism.

Europe to grant more trade sops to Pak

In the late 19th century, King Leopold II of Belgium became one of the richest men in the world, fed fat from the profits of his personal fiefdom in Africa, the Congo. It so happened that the monarch got his hands on the colony at the very time one of its most abundant resources, rubber, was becoming as precious as gold.

Driving into the establishment

Almost a year after the world&rsquo;s biggest economy, the European Union, initialled a free trade agreement (FTA) with Asian heavyweight South Korea, the process of getting approval for the deal remains stalled. A hoped-for green light from the European Council, which comprises 27 member-states, was not forthcoming on Friday, as EU trade ministers met to try and break the deadlock.

EU-Korea FTA remains stalled

The European Union is in the throes of a debate about whether and how to use trade as a means to assist flood-ravaged Pakistan rebuild its economy, the outcome of which will have knock-on effects for India as well. On Friday, European trade and foreign ministers met in separate sessions to try and thrash out general agreement on a strategy, ahead of a summit of EU leaders next week.

EU divided on trade help to flood-hit Pak

While Europe&rsquo;s sovereign debt crisis may have shaken the euro and exposed fissures in the European Union, one country&rsquo;s hand in the region has been strengthened: China&rsquo;s. It has converted Europe&rsquo;s crisis into an opportunity to extend Beijing&rsquo;s clout in the region.

Europe's crisis a win-win opportunity for China

The cold, choppy waters of the North Sea are increasingly playing host to a new creature &mdash; the slender-necked, rotor-headed, offshore windmill.

Crompton Greaves puts wind in Europe sales

Negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union, the world&rsquo;s largest economy, and India, one of the world&rsquo;s fastest-growing economies, took one more step towards completion today, with chief negotiators concluding 2-day talks in Brussels.

India, EU take another step towards FTA

Brussels, the usually placid seat of the European Union, was transformed into a battleground today, with tens of thousands of workers from across Europe marching through the streets in protest against austerity packages recently put in place by governments in the region.

Pallavi Aiyar

Pallavi Aiyar

Page 5 - Pallavi Aiyar