The year 2017 brought wins and failures. The Ukrainian Government was able to approve important reforms, which was still not sufficient to receive scheduled assistance from the IMF and the EU. 2018 will be tough as Ukraine should make large progress in many areas, while the 2019 elections are approaching.
The EU closes the year 2017 with several strong accents. Among them, the launch of PESCO and triggering Article 7 (TEU) against Poland. This, paired with thevisions for the future of the EU presented by Jean-Claude Juncker and Emmanuel Macron may be a proof that the EU regains its strength.
Angela Merkel’s party, CDU, came in first in the German national election. However, this is not a great victory because what’s important here is that for the first time in post-World War 2 history, an extreme right-wing party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), came in third in the national election, getting around 13% of the votes.
Similarly to Le Pen, Donald Trump or Brexit, Kotleba has been playing on the same phenomenon (the frustrated, dissatisfied people), which he skillfully manipulates to such an extent that he easily gets public support. The real threat to Europe is right now posed by Europeans themselves.
