This deal is getting worse all the time
When Darth Vader tells Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back, “I am altering the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further,” it captures...
The Brief – Ursula von der Leyen’s ‘wolf warrior‘ press brigade
Any veteran journalist has received this warning from a flack at some point in their career: ‘I’m not threatening you, but if you run the...
Europe’s cities are the heartland of democracy – Budapest is living proof
Hungary has entered a new chapter. The elections of 12 April swept away an autocratic system and made clear that Hungarian society wants to...
Yerevan and the end of Europe’s comfortable politics
Created in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Political Community (EPC) was designed to solve a structural problem: Europe had geopolitical responsibility...
Independent newsrooms are Europe’s first defence against foreign interference
After storming to victory in last month’s parliamentary elections, Hungary’s new Prime Minister Péter Magyar has promised to restore media freedom in the country....
The Chattering Classes: Euronews comes to Jesus
Hallelujah! The Chattering Classes is risen! Contrary to the testimony of at least one heretic, we haven’t disappeared. Rather, we’ve been in the cloisters, deep...
The end of the Brexit taboo: how Rejoin became respectable
King Charles is in America this week on a state visit, trying to repair what Britons used to call the “special relationship”. But most...
The Brief – New leadership in key Commission departments
The heads of DG ENER and DG TRADE will change in a significant personnel reshuffle, Commission officials revealed to Euractiv.
The key portfolios will fall...
Putin’s Stalin cosplay threatens Central Europe and the Baltics
If one wants to learn about “ten centuries of Polish Russophobia”, they can now visit a special exhibition in Russia. Aside from the topic...
Free passage is fading: Europe needs a navy
Since January 2025 it was clear that US disengagement could eventually leave Europe’s vital sea lanes less safe. Iran has transformed the Strait of...
The battle of ideas is escalating
For decades, think tanks and other knowledge institutions occupied a relatively well-defined niche in liberal democracies. Their role was to translate academic research into policy-relevant analysis,...
Editors’ Choice: More than just money – Ukraine’s EU dream
In 2023, Ursula von der Leyen called on EU members to “prove what it means to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”...
China is quietly armour-plating its supply chains. Brussels must take note
The European Union is moving slowly but deliberately towards one of its most consequential industrial policy moments in decades: the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA),...
Europe’s cyber defence now runs on American goodwill
At the start of the month Anthropic released Mythos, which it calls the most capable AI model to date. Within days, Mythos had helped...
Europe needs green tech more than ever; France shows social leasing is the way forward
Energy has been the main driver of Europe’s biggest inflation crises – the 1973 oil shock, the 2022 gas crisis, the price surge we...
Bulgaria’s election tests how far the EU can contain pro-Russia drift
Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party has won Bulgaria’s eighth general election in five years, securing an absolute parliamentary majority and breaking a long cycle of instability....
An EU-China bridge is designed to crumble
Recent tensions between the EU and US have resurfaced the familiar argument that Europe should rebalance towards China to compensate for uncertainty in Washington....
Editors’ Choice: Purging bad blood in the Union
After 16 years in office, a fixture of Europe’s political firmament fell on Sunday. Viktor Orbán’s defeat signifies a seismic shift that tips the...