Haughty by nature: on the EU’s outward rhetoric

... like the ENP Action Plans, was based on the acquis. It seems like, then, that the EU did not actually have to make any real concessions to partner up with Russia, but simply maintain the façade of special treatment. Keep in low gear The European Union has a fragile international image. ‘The turmoil in the EU has raised doubts in people’s minds about its continued ability to be a global leader’, suggests a BBC poll published last spring. But it is picked up on its arrogance as well, and not just by the British Eurosceptic mass media and myself. Tommy Koh, former Singaporean ambassador to the UN criticised the bloc for ‘not understanding Asia’, arguing the last European leaders of global stature were ...