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Turkey and Armenia have made formal efforts to put a nearly century old conflict behind them, though the effects of the move may have negative implications for the EU.  Turkey has been an ally of Azerbaijan in its fight against Armenia surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh region, whose control is disputed, but which Azerbaijan stakes claim to.  If Azerbaijan believes that Turkey is betraying them, they could move closer to Russia and remove the last viable non-Russian gas option.

Spanish merchants have slashed prices recently fueling concerns that a deflationary spiral may take form.  There is still no consensus as to whether deflation will become wide spread.  The European Central Bank has claimed that negative inflation is likely to be a reality, but not deflation.

Turkish Cypriot nationalist are set to win the most recent rounds of elections, putting further strain on relations with Greek Cypriots.  This will further dampen Turkey’s attempt to join the EU, as Greek Cypriots control the island, and they refuse to support Turkish EU membership without island unity.  Turkey invaded part of Cyrpus in response to coup plots in 1974.

Russia made it clear that foreign influence had taken part in the domonstrations that recently occured in Moldova.  Protesters in the capital of Moldova, it is argued, waved Romanian and EU flags.  Russia called on the EU to help protect Moldova from memberstate Romania.