London Calling: Starmer’s Resignation Suggests a New Chapter in the EU-UK Relations
The United Kingdom’s Head of Government, Keir Starmer, announced his resignation on 22 June. Stepping down just two years after an important victory in 2024 parliamentary elections, Starmer leaves the Labour Party to deal with the important domestic issues more decisively and prepare for the 2029 elections as the right-wing Reform UK reaches new heights […]
Fifteen Weeks of War: Peace in Sight for Iran and the US
On 15 June, the Trump administration announced a preliminary US-Iran agreement brokered by Pakistan that has fundamentally shifted global market dynamics. Executed as a memorandum of understanding, the framework is scheduled for a formal signing ceremony in Switzerland this Friday. The Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran, announced on 15 June, obliges Washington […]
Armenian Ship Sailing West: Pashinyan’s Pro-EU Party Keeps the Majority
The results of the parliamentary elections in Armenia signal an endorsement of country’s turn away from its traditional security ally, the Russian Federation, and towards integration with the European Union and Western countries. Still, navigating the next chapters will require the new-old government to manage profound domestic and a volatile matrix of competing global powers. […]
The Voice of Nature: Rights for Ecosystems and Power Saving for Data Centers
The European citizens are demanding that the EU grants legal personhood to the natural ecosystems, changing the way the lawmakers view terms such as forests and lakes. Simultaneously, the Commission is announcing a less flexible regulatory environment for the AI companies willing to develop in Europe, stating that they should be using predominantly sustainable energy […]
Market Power as Diplomacy: Trade as the EU’s Tool to Shape Global Foreign Policy
The EU has signed a trade deal with Mexico on 22 May during the first joint summit in more than ten years. This agreement follows the developments in the trade sector with countries such as India, Malaysia, and the Latin American bloc known as Mercosur and shows the often forgotten voice of European power on […]
Putting the Cure in Procurement: The Critical Medicines Act
While some see the agreement on the text of the Critical Medicines Act as a victory for patient safety, a deeper analysis shows a complex industrial change that attempts to balance between relatively high costs of European manufacturing and the uncertain security of global supply chains. The political agreement reached in the early hours of […]
Tariffs, Oil and Military Alliances: Geopolitical Heatwave Heralding Hot Summer
The first week of May has delivered several geopolitical shocks that once again show a shift in the global order and rising tensions between the United States and the European Union. On 1 May, the US President Donald Trump announced another escalation in trade policy, stating that the United States will increase tariffs on automobiles […]
The Missing Candidate: How Georgia Fell Out of the “Associated Trio”
Once a country with the fastest-growing democracies in Eastern Europe and grouped with Ukraine and Moldova as the EU’s eastern frontrunners, Georgia has been facing a growing discrepancy towards the EU enlargement policy as the country has been suspended from the track. The key question remains: is this a temporary procedural freeze or a fundamental […]
Strait of Hormuz: The New Reality
Even the most qualified geopolitical and economic experts are struggling to define what is going on with the Strait of Hormuz and what the consequences of its closing and opening are. This week, we are attempting to analyse the situation in the Gulf realistically and look for solutions that are likely to happen in the […]
Oil, Trade, European Union, and War in Iran – The Price of Black Gold
After a full month from the beginning of the war in the Middle East, the global economy is struggling with what the International Energy Agency has framed as the greatest energy security challenge in history. The military conflict involving Iran, which escalated sharply on 28 February, moved beyond a regional fighting into a systematic global […]