Following the important victory of Maia Sandu against Igor Dodon in the runoff of the presidential elections on the November 12, 2020 the mandate of the president-elect faces major challenges, both domestic and foreign. Moldovan citizens and the Western partners of the Republic of Moldova expect the new administration to adopt sustainable reforms, combat corruption, develop the economy, recalibrate the relation with the Russian Federation, and, at the same time, intensify the democratisation and Europeanisation process.

By the end of 2020, a strange information appeared in Bosnian and German media: having made unilateral concessions to the long campaign of Russia to put an end to the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany now wants to overthrow the current High Representative, Valentin Inzko, and bring the OHR under control of its own man, Christian Schmidt.

NATO had been addressing a range of emerging threats for quite some time, yet it had done so in a compartmentalised way, without clear-cut political guidance or thorough conceptual underpinning. The 2010 Strategic Concept signalled a change, however, as it provided NATO with a wide-ranging mandate to address these challenges in a more systematic way.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland leaving the European Union and Euratom represents a major challenge to the EU and its Member States, and has complex economic, financial, social and political implications for the entire Community acquis. The United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, the success of Eurosceptic and populist discourse, the radicalization of public opinion, as well as the persisting differences in the developmental trajectories of EU countries highlight the need to (re-)think the European project in order to provide Member States with a common sense of direction.

UK leaving the European Union takes place in an increasingly complex and challenging international context, and to make things even more complicated the bilateral negotiations meant to deliver an agreement by the end of this year are stalling. The good news is that the outcome of the presidential elections in the USA promises to be beneficial to the transatlantic relationship on the whole and to (eventually) contribute to the UK-EU relationship being repaired.

From the Editor

After the European Council meeting last week it could be said that the European Union (EU) is going through a difficult period.
The course of Brexit is indefinite and the rise of France through attempts by its president to lead the European scene confirm that the union is shaken, with the coming year decisive for its future.

Adjusting the response to the new challenges and threats within a permanent global dynamic in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and coordinating and supporting member states’ efforts to understand the dimension of the ensuing economic, social and political crisis are top priorities for the United Nations.

More than 100 years since the Great War (1914-1918) and 75 years since World War II (1939-1945), the traumas that the Romanians and the Hungarians alike have been through during this period are still present in the collective mindset of both nations.

If anyone needed remembering that the US is still the world’s leading superpower, Election Night proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Not because it constituted a grand, majestic projection of power and international aplomb.