Steven Everts makes numerous important and laudable points on the need for the EU to seriously recalibrate both its capacities and posture in foreign policy (Opinion, September 12).

It’s worth adding that in a foreign policy area on the bloc’s very borders, the EU has led the west into a dead end of failure, in which official pronouncements have never been more at variance with the on-the-ground reality.

The western Balkans is the only region in which the US consistently defers to a democratic partner’s leadership — that of the EU.

Nowhere else does the west, if united, wield greater leverage or have a wider array of policy instruments. Yet for far too long, the EU has addressed the region almost solely through its enlargement process, neglecting its foreign policy commitments — including a deterrent force in Bosnia and Herzegovina mandated by the Dayton Peace Agreement and authorised under Chapter 7 by the UN Security Council.

This force remains well below the brigade-strength required to pose a credible deterrent to threats to the peace and territorial integrity. In addition, the EU states it will support local authorities, who have primary responsibility to maintain a secure environment — defying the reason the mandate exists to begin with: namely to thwart attempts by local authorities to upend the peace.

The desire to maintain the fiction that the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue is still alive compels the EU into all sorts

of contortions which in effect reward Serbia, despite allegations of Serbian involvement in recent violence, and periodic (and ongoing) threats of invasion. By straying from its original declared purpose to achieve mutual recognition between Serbia and Kosovo, as well as serving as a shield for Serbia’s authoritarian president, Aleksandar Vučić, the dialogue serves as a diversion from genuine problem- solving.

Incoming EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has demonstrated leadership and vision for Europe and the wider west as Estonia’s prime minister, particularly with regard to the response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

One hopes she will undertake the overdue task of making the policies of the EU and the wider west more consistent with the values of democracy and human dignity we proclaim to hold dear. She can begin by leading the west to a restoration of credible deterrence in the Balkans, and start to counter the backsliding of democracy long visible there.

Kurt Bassuener
Co-Founder and Senior Associate, Democratization Policy Council, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Neri Zilber’s piece “Far-right minister accused of politicising Israeli police” (Report, September 17) eloquently describes the crisis in the West Bank. Israel’s current government and its unsavoury allies in the settler movement stand accused, but in truth every government since 1967 has favoured illegal settlement.

The first settlements — the so-called Nahal settlements — in September 1967 were supposedly military and so did not, Israel argued, contravene international law. The west did nothing, so Israel then went ahead with brazen colonisation. When the first Oslo Accord was signed in 1993, there were in the order of 110,000 settlers in the West Bank.

A central principle of Oslo was that neither party would takes steps that would prejudice final status talks five years later. But Israel’s so-called moderate leaders, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, immediately inaugurated the most intensive phase of settlement to date. By January 1996 settlers numbered 140,000. Rabin told his electorate not to worry — the Palestinians would not get a state. Meanwhile, Rabin and Peres accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. Butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. The west did nothing. The Palestinians knew they had been stitched up.

So we should be under no illusions. This isn’t simply Benjamin Netanyahu and his associates, it is the long-standing thrust of the majority of Israelis across the political spectrum. Western governments have known this all along and even now appear unwilling to ensure respect for international humanitarian law as they have undertaken to do.

The UN General Assembly is likely to agree that the July 19 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which spells out Israel’s lawbreaking in detail, must be applied.

If it isn’t, in the Middle East the killing will continue while in New York the UN may face an impasse given the unwillingness of the US and its allies to uphold the international order they themselves helped put in place.

David McDowall
London TW10, UK

The boss of Nike will step down next month, making way for a company veteran to take his place as the leader of the world’s biggest sportswear company amid tough competition in the retail sector.

In a statement, Nike said John Donahoe will retire on 13 October, staying on in an advisory role until early next year to “ensure a smooth transition”.

Demand for the company’s trainers has been faltering in international markets like China and the company’s stock price had slumped.

Shares rose more than 9% in after-hours trading, however, following the announcement that Elliott Hill would return to the firm.

Mr Donahoe was responsible for boosting Nike’s online presence, as well as driving more sales directly from customers instead of partnering with other shops on High Streets or in shopping centres.

He joined the company’s board in 2014 before taking on the role of chief executive in 2020.

His tenure has been challenging with huge shifts in the retail landscape during the pandemic and as inflation spiked in the following years.

The footwear firm has also faced tough competition from the likes of newer rivals like On and Hoka, which some analysts have described as being more innovative and on-top of current trends.

Nike had been hoping that new products and a marketing campaign around the Olympic Games in Paris would help bring shoppers back to the brand.

But in the announcement on Thursday, it said that the board and Mr Donahoe had “decided he will retire from his role”.

“It became clear now was the time to make a leadership change,” Mr Donahoe said, adding that Elliott Hill is the right person for the job and he was looking forward to seeing his future success.

His successor, Mr Hill, retired from the company just four years ago after serving in a number of senior leadership roles in Europe and the US.

He said he was “eager to reconnect” with employees he had worked with in the past.

“Together with our talented teams, I look forward to delivering bold, innovative products, that set us apart in the marketplace and captivate consumers for years to come,” he added.

Good morning. Today we’re covering:

• China’s growing military activity near Taiwan

• A novel treatment for schizophrenia

• Australia’s successful approach to economic security

But first: the audit that Volkswagen claimed cleared it of allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang failed to meet international standards, according to a review of the leaked report on its findings.

The carmaker said in December that an audit had found “no indications of any use of forced labour” at its plant in the western Chinese region, where human rights groups have documented widespread abuse against the mainly Muslim Uyghur ethnic group.

Löning, the Berlin consultancy founded by former German human rights commissioner Markus Löning, had applied the “internationally renowned” social auditing standard SA8000, VW said in a press release then. This prompted global index provider MSCI to remove a “red flag”, which since 2022 had barred ESG-focused investors from buying VW shares because of the Xinjiang allegations.

But the audit report, seen by the FT, shows that the Chinese firm involved in the work with Löning, Guangdong Liangma Law, did not adhere to critical aspects of the SA8000 auditing standard.

VW’s audit “departs” from the SA8000 standard “in several important ways”, chief among them the way interviews with staff were conducted, said Judy Gearhart, a professor at American University who helped develop the SA8000 rules.

The carmaker said that the SA8000 standard had only been used by the auditors as a “basis” but that “full examination of all points mentioned in the standard were [not] necessary”. 

Here’s what the review of the audit found.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Economic data: Hong Kong, Japan and India report inflation data for August.

• Monetary policy: Traders expect the Bank of Japan to hold rates at a policy meeting concluding today. Meanwhile, China is expected to slash its lending rate, according to a Reuters poll.

• Summit: US President Joe Biden hosts the leaders of India, Japan and Australia on Saturday for a gathering of the Quad nations in his home state of Delaware.

• Sri Lanka: The country holds its presidential election on Saturday.

What lies ahead for India after the first 100 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term? Join FT, Nikkei Asia and Asia Society experts for a webinar on October 10 and put your questions to our panel now. Register for free. 

Five more top stories

1. Taiwan’s defence minister has warned that China’s growing military activity will make it more difficult to spot harbingers of an attack on his country. “We have to think about how we differentiate between peacetime and wartime,” Wellington Koo told reporters earlier today. The remarks came a day after a Chinese aircraft carrier group passed through waters near Taiwan’s northern tip.

2. The S&P 500 closed at a record high yesterday as investors bet the Federal Reserve’s jumbo half-point interest rate cut would help deliver a soft landing for the US economy. The US gains capped a global rally that also featured strong gains in European and Asian markets. Japan’s Topix 2 closed per cent higher yesterday, led by tech stocks and exporters.

3. Israel struck targets along Lebanon’s southern border yesterday as the leader of the Hizbollah militant group said the Jewish state had crossed “all red lines” with this week’s mass detonations of communication devices. Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the attacks, which killed 32 people and injured thousands, were a “major security and military blow”.

4. Nike chief executive John Donahoe will step down next month in an abrupt leadership change at the world’s largest sportswear maker. The move punctuates a period of dour financial performance, including a dramatic stock sell-off after the company lowered its guidance in June. Here’s who will replace him.

5. Brazil’s Supreme Court will impose a fine of about $1mn per day on Elon Musk’s X and his satellite internet provider Starlink after service to the social media platform was temporarily restored in spite of a court-ordered ban. Users were able to access the service after X switched its third-party cloud provider.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

The Big Read

Schizophrenia sufferers are frequently pushed to the fringes of society, haunted by the delusions and hallucinations that define the worst flare-ups of the illness, while poorly served by a choice of old and imperfect treatments. Now hope is at hand. If approved by US regulators this month, a twice-daily pill will arguably be the first truly novel treatment for the “cancer of psychiatry” in more than seven decades.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

A frantic hunt by chocolate manufacturers for high-grade cocoa has left a backlog of old, poor-quality beans lying in London’s warehouses, leading to a rare divergence in prices between the UK and the US.

Take a break from the news

Thanks to a wave of nostalgia, demand for classic football kits is soaring. But so are the prices. HTSI’s Alexander Tyndall looks at the rise of the football shirt — and why a Holland ’88 kit might cost you £900.

Additional contributions from Gordon Smith and Tee Zhuo