‘Arc of instability’ has red lights flashing in Europe

AS THE clock ticks towards June’s big European Parliament elections across the 27 member states, politics in Brussels is becoming increasing domestic-focused. Yet, there has rarely been a time in recent years when so many “red lights” are flashing outside the bloc, in what has been called “an arc of instability”.

That arc term was first used in the 1990s, especially by Australians, to describe a chain of politically unstable nation states in the Asia-Pacific region. However, much more recently it has been used by some US policymakers to highlight instability in a different, broader geography – a spectrum of states from sub-Saharan Africa through North Africa, into the Middle East, East Europe and the Caucasus, plus South and Central Asia, and potentially parts of South-east Asia too.

It is some of this vast geography that will be the key topics of discussion on Thursday (Mar 21) and Friday, at the first summit this spring of the European Union’s 27 presidents and prime ministers. Take the example of growing tensions in the Middle East, where the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell has this week condemned Israel for creating what he said was a “man-made famine” in Gaza.