Quentin Peel



Profile:
Full name: Quentin Peel

Area of interest: International affairs: US, EU, Russia, Germany

Journals/Organisation: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:quentin.peel@ft.com quentin.peel@ft.com]

Personal website:

Website: FT.Com / Quentin Peel

Blog:

Representation: http://www.leighbureau.com/speaker.asp?id=449

Networks: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/quentin-peel/28/9b3/b26



Biography:
About:

Education: Queens’ College, Cambridge: Economics, with French and German

Career: Trained at Newcastle Journal, Joining the FT in 1975, serving in Johannesburg when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1976; Africa Editor, based in London, 1981/1984, covering drought in the Sahel and the parallel trends of instability and development on that continent; European Community correspondent and bureau chief in Brussels in the mid-1980s; posted in Moscow in 1988 covering the Gorbachev revolution, the end of the Soviet empire and the end of the cold war; from 1991 covered the German reunification from Bonn; became Foreign Editor in 1994; International Affairs Editor 1998/2010, currently Chief Correspondent Germany and Associate Editor

Current position/role: Chief Correspondent Germany and Associate Editor


 * also writes/has written for:

Other roles/Main role:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media:

Video: Has been a regular contributor to Radio 4's Analysis programme
 * Russia Today TV, discussion: Quentin Peel / Dimity Medvedev - 'Dimity Medvedev was inaugurated as president on Wednesday. Quentin Peel, international affairs editor at the Financial Times, joined RT to discuss what the west expects from Medvedev' - 7th May 2008 (VIDEO)

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours: University of Birmingham, Doctor of the University (DUniv)

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * South Africa in retrospect: the views of two foreign correspondents OCLC11661773 with Robin Knight, 1981
 * The future of the Franco-German relationship: three views OCLC38498943 with Dominique Bocquet and Christian Deubner, 1997

Latest work: The future of the United Nations: report of a seminar held at Church House, London: 16 June 2004 OCLC57485994, 2004

Speaking/Appearances:
 * LSE lecture: The United States of Europe - 21st March 2006;
 * LSE talk:European Security: new perspectives - 30th June/1st July 2006
 * UACES talk: Reflections on 50 Years of the Treaty of Rome - 23rd/24th March 2007

Current debate:



Financial Times:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Foreign affairs

Section:

Role: International affairs editor and associate editor (responsible for leader and feature writing)

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:quentin.peel@ft.com quentin.peel@ft.com]

Website: FT.Com / Quentin Peel

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Various days

Regularity:

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2014

 * Federalism fit for a kingdom - A system that works for America and for Germany would for Britain - 30th September
 * Merkel is willing to pay for world stability - Russia expected Germany to resist action that would affect its exporters. It was wrong - 12th August



Articles: 2013

 * It’s all a matter of unfinished business - Berlin is a city that prefers not to be rushed as it ponders its future - 29th October
 * Merkel can be generous in coalition talks - Pragmatic chancellor knows a political contract with SPD must always leave some room for manoeuvre - 23rd October
 * Merkel won but Germany shifted to left - FDP and AfD, both to the right, did not win any seats - 26th September
 * Germany: More of the same - Radical change in policy is unlikely as neither Angela Merkel nor the opposition has addressed crucial issues - 20th September
 * Tragedy looms in spite of good intent - Angela Merkel’s safe and prosperous Germany hides a darker reality -11th September
 * A Merkel win will not alter Europe - The next government’s policies will not be very different to the present ones - 26th August
 * German poll is tale of colour coalitions - Denials abound but ‘traffic light’ option offers workable outcome - 14th August
 * Where bodies are free but data are not - Berlin allows people to be what they want to be – but don’t spy on them - 31st July
 * Paralysis may extend past German election - It may take pressure from the markets to trigger EU reform - 30th July
 * Obama’s chance to rekindle an affair - The US president’s Berlin speech will need substance as well as symbolism - 19th June
 * Small parties pose big threat to Merkel - German chancellor’s chance of election defeat unsettles supporters - 17th May
 * Germany: Angela’s choice - The country’s election is unlikely to deliver a less austerity-focused coalition - 10th April
 * Cyprus rescue is tricky for Germany - This time, the opposition is talking tough in setting conditions - 19th March
 * Overblown Cyprus discovers painful truths - Island’s partners are intent on not rewarding recklessness - 14th February
 * Cameron in danger of misreading Merkel - There is a long British tradition of failing to understand Berlin - 25th January
 * Europe: An uneven entente - France must contend with Germany’s growing predominance and its differing vision for European integration - 22nd January



Articles: 2012

 * The faces of neo-Nazism - Between 2000 and 2007 a German neo-Nazi terror cell is alleged to have killed nine immigrants and a policewoman. What does the case reveal about the rise of the far right in the former GDR? - 23rd November
 * Black-green talk colours German politics - Rumours grow of alliance of Merkel’s CDU with Greens - 14th November
 * Greek crisis: Divided by a common currency - Tensions between Athens and Berlin suggest the sternest challenges still lie ahead - 19th October
 * Germany’s judgment day - Next month’s court ruling will be a decisive moment in the struggle to save the single currency - 8th August
 * Merkel’s man becomes the Becket of the Bundesbank - Jens Weidmann, the German central banker, has emerged from his chancellor’s shadow - 4th August
 * Germany: A lonely path - Merkel seems to be protecting her back against a eurosceptic backlash - 7th June
 * The moral majority is in headlong retreat - Overt racism, misogyny and, most recently, homophobia have ceased to be respectable in America - 14th May
 * Spain shows faith in the gospel of reform - Schäuble witnesses devotion to economic rescue - 7th May



Articles: 2011

 * The steely headmistress with Europe in her thrall - Pinning down Merkel is tricky - 19th November
 * Merkel’s mantra works without ‘big bazooka’ - There is German handwriting all over the eurozone summit conclusions, reinforcing budget discipline and strengthening the rules - 31st October
 * Mixed signals reflect muddle in Berlin - Rumbles of eurosceptic rebellion in junior coalition member - 16th September
 * Berlin finds rare ‘treaty change’ consensus - Merkel knows that Germany still fundamentally backs the EU - 10th September
 * eurozone remedy fails to impress'' - Franco-German initiative appears either alarming or largely irrelevant - 19th August
 * time to tear down Germany’s mental Wall'' - Berlin is a city of living history, but it does not do nostalgia - 12th August
 * Insight: Developing countries fail on IMF consensus'' - Protestations of solidarity by emerging market countries mask rivalries and divisions that impede a united front and which show that the very idea of a Brics bloc is misleading - 1st June
 * deliberation prompts hesitation chatter'' - Angela Merkel is getting a dreadful reputation inside the European Union for endless hesitation. But she insists that she simply will not be rushed - 13th May
 * Germany: A test of strength'' - The debt crisis has hastened Germany’s emergence as the continent’s dominant nation. In the first of a series, the FT examines the resulting challenges for Berlin and its partners - 12th April
 * treads cautiously in shifting bond market'' - All eyes are on Germany, linchpin of the euro, to find an answer that will prevent contagion, yet Berlin has offered a stubborn restatement of the rules of the game - 5th April



Articles: 2010

 * wins no votes in Germany'' - Are German parties simply out of touch with the rising Euroscepticism of voters? If so, it is a dangerous time to read them wrong with state elections due next year - 16th December



Articles: 2009

 * aims to modernise without compromise'' - Moscow wants to engage, but entirely on its own terms. It wants investment without excessive reform, and a security deal that largely ignores the sovereign choices of its neighbours - 18th December
 * of imagination'' - After the wall: East Berliners’ push for freedom 20 years ago started a process that spread across the world – but lost chances mean reforms to global governance are only now being pondered - 6th November
 * sets a high bar for incomprehension in Europe'' - If Downing Street and the Foreign Office are tone deaf on European politics, the UK Conservative party seems to be stone deaf - 31st October


 * Twin crises set early test for Czech leadership - Spare a thought for the poor old Czech Republic, the first country that was part of the Warsaw Pact to assume the six-month presidency of the EU - 6th January 2009
 * Winter gas farce may be having last season - The annual winter pantomime time is upon us. Once again, the malevolent Russian bear – also know as Gazprom – has turned off the gas taps supplying its feckless and debt-laden neighbour - 2nd January 2009



Articles: 2008

 * Putin’s lucky run in danger of running out - As prime minister, the former president is directly responsible for the economy as a sharp recession looms. For the first time since he came to power, he seems to be losing his sure touch - 17th December 2008
 * treaty could be back from the dead'' - Hopes are stirring that the EU’s reform treaty, quashed by the Irish No vote last June, may be revived after the country’s parliament found no legal obstacle to hold a second referendum on its ratification - 1st December 2008
 * lost in reality gap'' - The Russian leader’s big initiatives appear likely to take a backseat as world leaders, including the incoming US president, prioritise the financial crisis - 13th November 2008
 * is almost condemned to disappoint'' - If Barack Obama wins, as all the polls now predict, seldom can a US president have been elected with such high expectations and such daunting challenges - 3rd November 2008
 * Europe writes a history of crisis management - The European Union has never been good at dealing with emergencies. Its decision-making processes are far too convoluted and cumbersome - 9th October 2008
 * Europe lacks rules for crisis - Facing the financial crisis, the European Union’s 27 member states not only lack a clear consensus. They also lack the necessary rules of the game - 8th October 2008
 * Hopes of a legal solution are slim - Small wonder that Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, looked pleased with himself when he met Nicolas Sarkozy, his French counterpart - 10th September 2008
 * Prospects for a legal block on ethnic cleansing are slim - Georgia has launched a case against Russia at the ICJ over allegations of ethnic cleansing, which it denies. But the chances of a ruling taking flight seem unlikely - 10th September 2008
 * A confusion of ‘peacekeepers’ - There is no chance Russia will pull all its troops out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow has imposed its own “security arrangements” and any international negotiations would seem to be an exercise in futility - 2nd September 2008
 * A huge civilian crisis for a tiny nation - Thousands of people have fled their homes in Georgia to escape the conflict. In global terms, the wave of refugees may be small, but for Georgia it is huge and the consequences will be devastating - 13th August 2008
 * Wounded pride ignites an accidental war - The danger is now that the South Ossetia conflict will undermine Russia’s already tense relations with the US and the rest of Europe - 10th August 2008
 * A Uighur challenge to Chinese hegemony - The ancient city of Kashgar, cut off from the rest of China by the sand dunes of the Taklamakan desert, seems an unlikely site for a terrorist atrocity - 6th August 2008
 * Descent into Chaos - This fascinating account of the Afghan war and the double-dealing and corruption in central Asia should be required reading for the next US president (book review) - 19th July 2008
 * Past imperfect Russia looks to the future - When leaders of the European Union and Russia descend on a small town in Siberia today for their six-monthly summit meeting, there are high hopes that for once there could be a meeting of minds - 26th June 2008
 * Fears grow for migration and asylum reform - The annual report of António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is not a sensationalist document: it is a sober assessment of statistics and trends among refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people fleeing conflict and persecution around the world - 18th June 2008
 * Complex treaty cools passions of faithful - There is a terrible sense of déjà vu. Ireland’s entire political establishment is out campaigning for the Lisbon treaty. They are backed by business, the main trade unions and the media. Yet ordinary voters seem very tempted to join a grassroots revolt to reject it - 10th June 2008
 * Serbia still in Milosevic’s shadow - The ghost of Slobodan Milosevic continues to haunt Serbia, long after he precipitated the collapse of Yugoslavia by espousing Serbian nationalism and ended his life while on trial in The Hague for war crimes - 16th May 2008
 * Warning over inflation threat to poor - Emerging markets will face grave problems in controlling inflation and money supply because of the expansionary economic policies of industrialised countries seeking to prevent gridlock in their financial markets, the head of the United Nations Development Programme warned on Tuesday - 6th May 2008
 * Russia heats up frozen conflict - The trouble with frozen conflicts is that they seldom stay that way. The unrecognised rebel region of Abkhazia looks like being the latest that could easily tip back into violence - 24th April 2008
 * Business ties bind Putin to Berlusconi - On the face of it, Silvio Berlusconi and Vladimir Putin scarcely look like natural bedfellows - 17th April 2008
 *  Party echoes Soviet times, but with style - United Russia, the party that won two-thirds of the seats in the Russian State Duma in December, is a strange creature to western eyes. It is a party that has no ideology and only one purpose: to back Vladimir Putin as Russian president and now – presumably – to support Dmitry Medvedev, his chosen successor, when he takes over in the Kremlin next month - 15th April 2008
 * Nordics stay hot for globalisation - The backlash against globalisation is spreading among the wealthy nations. It started with worries about job losses. Now it is fuelled by concerns about the credit crunch in the US and Europe - 10th April 2008
 * Cowen must revive the Celtic tiger - For more than a decade, the Celtic tiger was the envy of the rest of Europe. Today it seems to be flagging. Is it just pausing for breath, or has boom time for the Irish economy come to an end? - 8th April 2008
 * Map is of little use to Macedonia - Of all the central and east European nations queuing up to join the Nato alliance, one country both needs and deserves the move more than any other: the Balkan republic of Macedonia. Yet because of an arcane dispute with neighbouring Greece over its name, it is the least likely to get the green light at this week's summit in Bucharest - 2nd April 2008
 * Russia shows its displeasure at Kosovo - Fall-out from the independence of Kosovo, including its recognition by the US and most of the European Union, continues to reverberate through the Balkans and all the way to the fringes of the former Soviet Union - 17th March 2008
 * Brussels and Ahern pin hopes on the Irish - To well-nigh universal relief in Brussels, the UK House of Commons has decided there will be no referendum in Britain on the Treaty of Lisbon. Parliamentary ratification will be all that is required - 7th March 2008
 * Medvedev’s chance for a ceasefire - Russia and Ukraine stepped back from the brink once more on Wednesday and agreed to restart normal gas supplies - 6th March 2008
 * Russia warns against game of Balkan dominoes - The annual Munich security conference is a splendid occasion that assembles the cream of the military and political establishment of the Nato alliance and has traditionally been a good place for Europeans and Americans to tell each other a few home truths - 12th February 2008
 * Another chief, another messy compromise - Of all the issues to get things buzzing inside the Brussels “Beltway”, there is nothing to match good old-fashioned speculation about who will get what top job. So it is with the latest flurry of stories about whether Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, might become the first full-time president of the European Council - 8th February 2008
 * Greek Cyprus watches Kosovo’s move - Now the Serbian presidential election is over, the unilateral independence of Kosovo is likely to be declared within a matter of weeks. It may be a tiny, remote, poor and mountainous land, but the consequences of the move will spread far beyond its Balkan borders - 6th February 2008
 * The challenge of mobilising the party faithful - Oppositions do not win elections, governments lose them. That is usually a pretty good guide to political forecasting - 31st January 2008
 * Serbian victory for Putin and Russia Inc - Russia will reap its first big reward on Friday for supporting Serbia in trying to stop Kosovo from declaring unilateral independence. Next week the European Union may suffer a serious reverse for doing the opposite, if Serbia elects a hardline nationalist president. The price of Kosovo’s freedom is high - 25th January 2008



News & updates:


References:


Links:

 * MEP Richard Corbett's blog comment on QP's article the European parliament got serious
 * Gorbachev Foundation: "Full transcript: FT interview with Mikhail Gorbachev" - 17th April 2006