REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BRUSSEL -- The European Union faces a series of testing issues over the next five years, chief among them the economy and near-record unemployment.

The Ukraine crisis meanwhile threatens to complicate the international environment and make it even harder for Brussels to make its voice heard.

The Ukraine crisis has turned into the sharpest East-West stand-off since the end of the Cold War and seriously exposed EU divisions with Russia, a major trade partner and military power in the immediate neighborhood. Russia's US Trade Pact, Opportunity or Risk Climate Change, Energy Policy.

Pressure to cut greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming is growing but at a time when economic growth and jobs are at a premium, environmental concerns get pushed down the agenda.

Meanwhile, the election of a new European Parliament is expected to see eurosceptic and radical parties to the left and right do well, perhaps securing up to 30 percent of the seats.

With such a voice and a mandate for five years, EU governments could find it more difficult, or much less desirable to push for greater economic and political integration. Britain is already pressing for the return of some powers from Brussels and it is a message that finds an echo in many other member states.

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