The Brussels Radar: Sanctions, Enlargement and EU Cohesion
On eleventh-hour unanimity compromise, Brussels agreed to delist prominent Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman in exchange for locking in the wider Russia sanctions framework on a 36-month review cycle. Concurrently, the European Commission is advancing accession plans for candidates like Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania, pairing market integration with unprecedented institutional and internal-market […]
Sweden’s Election: the Moderates Hold, Social Democrats Survive, and the Sweden Democrats Lose Ground
Last weekend’s election in Sweden gave a narrow edge to the centre-left, though the outcome may shift over the coming days. We can examine what occurred and what lies ahead. In every poll before the vote, the centre-right Moderata—linked to the EPP at the EU level and to the prime minister—were expected to lose up […]
The Many Drivers Behind the AfD Vote
This past weekend’s election in Saxony-Anhalt shocked Germany with the victory of Alternative für Deutschland with more than 40% of the votes. In this newsletter, we look into the reasons behind such vote and what it means for Europe at large. Sunday’s AfD’s 43.8% victory in Saxony-Anhalt is not that easy to explain. The simplest […]
Europe’s Energy Problem is Becoming an Industrial Problem
Europe’s energy crisis is becoming a structural competitiveness problem, raising questions about whether the EU can decarbonise without making European industry increasingly uncompetitive. Europe’s energy crisis is increasingly becoming a competitiveness problem, but the debate in Brussels is still largely framed as an energy-policy problem. The original causes of the crisis are well understood. The […]
Doubling the Electricity Use by 2040: EU’s New Electrification Action Plan
On 17 July 2026, the Commission proposed the Electrification Action Plan. The plan represents a package made to push Europe toward becoming what officials are calling the world’s first “electro-continent”. Primarily, it shows how Brussels wants to move industry and transport away from fossil fuels and towards the electricity grid. Overall, it is an ambitious […]
The $1 Billion Fine: EU’s First Take on US Big Tech Under the Digital Markets Act
On 23 July 2026, the European Commission adopted two decisions imposing a combined fine of €890 million on Google for non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act. The first fine, amounting to €460 million, concerns the preferential treatment of Google’s own services in Google Search. The second, amounting to €430 million, concerns restrictions preventing app developers […]
From Ceuta to Brussels: Managing Budgets for Security and Defence
As thousands of people illegally entered Spain from Morocco last week, the EU countries are confronted with the evergreen issue of balancing the budgets, especially in the modern era of immigration pressure and external security threats that keep intensifying since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. In the last week of July, almost 60 […]
Ankara-Kyiv-Washington: Ukraine’s Diplomatic Offensive
At a first glance, three developments over the past several days (a NATO summit, a government reshuffle in Kyiv, and the announcement of the Washington’s sanctions package aimed at Russia) are separate stories. Looking at them together, they follow a common theme of an alliance trying to secure more support for Ukraine as the individuals […]
The Transatlantic Connection: Evaluating the EU-US Alliance at 250 Years Since the Declaration of Independence
On 4 July, the United States celebrates 250 years since it declared independence from Great Britain. The American revolution in the second half of the 18th century was caused mainly by disputes over taxation and representation, as well as the right to govern without a faraway monarchy that would dictate the terms. This founding idea […]
The Road to the Élysée Palace: Assessing the 2027 French Presidential Election
The France is approaching one of the most important election cycles in the Fifth Republic. Scheduled to take place in April next year, the upcoming presidential election marks the end of the Emmanuel Macron era and a test for the stability of the European single market. With the President Macron constitutionally prohibited from seeking a […]