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In previous rounds of EU enlargement, issues related to voting procedures were resolved before new members were brought in. Leading up to the 2004 enlargement, discussions centered on Poland’s role as the largest of the incoming countries. When Poland joined, it was allotted twenty-seven votes in the council, roughly equivalent to Spain’s weight, despite the latter’s population being about 60 percent larger.

The Uncomfortable Truth About EU Enlargement

Before the next wave of EU enlargement takes place, the union needs to grapple with thorny questions of how power is distributed among its members.

Fundamentally, the current tensions stem from the wholly divergent views Turkey and Israel hold of the regional order. Turkey favors an integrated, stable region led by strong central states. Israel’s current leaders prefer fragmented neighbors that are unable to threaten it.

Global Politics Israel and Turkey: Visions of Regional Order Clashing

Both Israel and Turkey hold an unspoken conviction that the other is not merely a regional actor, but an aspiring hegemon seeking to reshape the Middle East in its own image

Debate on this kind of cooperation has percolated policy discussions for two decades. While the concept seems intuitively promising, doubts about what it portends in practice have held it back. Apart from the perennial conundrum of deciding which countries are to be defined as middle powers, the category has struggled to gain substantive cohesiveness: On any policy issue or principle, it invariably spans a full range of clashing positions.

The EU’s Middle-Power Puzzle

While the EU and European governments are embracing the much-lauded middle-power moment, this entails three difficult conundrums

That ecosystem is maturing. PwC’s 2025 Indonesian Family Business Survey found that 27% of respondents already had a family office, most of them single-family offices, and that 43% of next-generation respondents saw resistance from the senior generation as an obstacle to transition. Indonesia is building the architecture of multigenerational capital and working through the tensions that come with it.

CEE and Indonesia in the Age of the Brussels–Jakarta CEPA

Two rising business regions, one major trade agreement and the chance to build a new family-to-family economic corridor

In principle, the EU is better prepared than during the euro crisis. There was criticism afterwards that too long had been waited to intervene. Now the ECB is monitoring the situation with eagle eyes, but it is detrimental if the economic situation of the member states diverge too sharply.

Is a new euro crisis looming?

In his weekly column N. Peter Kramer writes the interest rate differential between French, Belgian and Italian bonds and German is widening rapidly. The markets are targeting the eurozone countries with the highest debt. Is a new euro crisis looming?

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Against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and shifting global alliances, the maritime industry finds itself at the centre of international developments. From conflicts and trade rivalries to the security of strategic shipping routes, the discussion will highlight the critical role of maritime transport in global trade, economic stability and international relations.

Events

25th NAVIGATOR 2026 – THE SHIPPING DECISION MAKERS FORUM

Monday, October 12, 2026

Celebrating 25 Years of Dialogue, Collaboration and Progress in Shipping

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With their proposals, Merz and Macron aim to prevent individual Member States from blocking a swift European response when major powers such as China or the United States exert economic pressure. According to the two heads of government, the existing European trade instruments are too slow, too complex and too dependent on decision-making by the Member States.

Analyses

German Chancellor Merz and French President Macron want an economic ‘kill switch’ against China and the US

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

In a letter to EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, Germany and France are calling for the ability to ‘completely and immediately’ exclude unfair trading partners from the European market. The logic behind this is reminiscent of the Cold War.

more on Analyses

Brussels has been careful to point out that market access comes with strings attached. The growth plan links financial transfers to the rule of law, whereas the new scheme goes a couple of steps further by conditioning accession to the single market as a whole to judicial reform, anti-corruption, government accountability, and the like—on top of regulatory alignment.

Europe

How the EU’s Single Market Could Unlock Enlargement

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Much has been said of the changes Brussels is trying to make to the EU enlargement process. Here’s why gradual integration might—or might not—be the answer.

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Much of the world’s electronics - from phones to electric cars - are powered by computer chips made in Taiwan and it is widely agreed that any conflict between the two sides would devastate global semiconductor supply chains, with severe economic consequences globally.

World

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would “trigger a global catastrophe”

Friday, October 2, 2026

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would “trigger a global catastrophe”, according to Taiwan’s ambassador to the EU and Belgium.

Le Pen’s pole position in the presidential race is not mainly driven by her positions on the war in Ukraine. But, given the specificity of the questions in the Harris poll, they shouldn’t be underestimated either.

Analyses

How Le Pen Benefits from the Stalemate in Ukraine

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

The domestic impacts of how long it is taking to end the war in Ukraine have pushed the French electorate to the political extremes and compromised the country’s diplomatic capacity.

Danuta Hubner, a former Polish MEP and European Commissioner

Europe

Senior political figures call for speeding up of EU/UK re-set

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

A former European Union commissioner has called for a re-set of EU/UK relations to be stepped up. Danuta Hubner, also a former Polish MEP, said Brexit “is not working.”

When Andy Burnham, now Britain’s prime minister, arrived in the Commons in 2001, he signed House of Commons motions about the marbles with other MPs.

World

After the Bayeux Tapestry Why Not the Parthenon Marbles?

Monday, September 28, 2026

Britain needs friends in Europe. Finally returning the Parthenon Marbles to Athens would be a good start toward gaining one.

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The proposition for the coming decade is more ambitious and more defensible. Build in Romania because it lets you manufacture inside the European Union and sell into the Single Market without tariff risk. Build here because it connects Central Europe to the Black Sea. Build here because Europe’s industrial and defence renewal is being written on its eastern flank. And build here because, sooner or later, Ukraine’s reconstruction will become one of the largest economic projects on the continent, and Romania is next door.

Europe

The Asian Century’s Next EU Factory

Sunday, September 27, 2026

Western capital built Romania’s first manufacturing boom. Asian capital could build the second

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The lesson from Stockholm to New York is increasingly clear. Progressive parties are discovering that voters are less interested in symbolic cultural battles than in whether they can afford a home, access a doctor, pay their energy bills or build a decent future for their children.

Analyses

The End of Woke? Why Progressives Are Returning to Bread-and-Butter Politics

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

As living standards stagnate and the populist right advances, progressive parties across the US and Europe are putting wages, housing, healthcare and economic security back at the heart of politics.

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For Europeans, the conclusion must be that a new path to supporting Ukraine’s economic resilience, now under heavy strain, lies in resetting Europe’s relations with African and Middle Eastern countries—the same countries that both face the worst global food insecurity and can make the case to Putin that he must agree to a truce.

Analyses

A Black Sea Truce Is About Global Food Security, Too

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

A summer of escalation in the Black Sea has hurt Ukraine economically and is exacerbating world food security. A truce is needed—as is a broader reframing of Europe’s Ukraine strategy.

more on Analyses

In a recent interview, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan renewed objections centered on what Ankara describes as the “militarization” of eastern Aegean islands and on the resumption of surveys for the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection project.

Europe

Clouds gather over the Aegean

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Beyond the exchange of statements, signs point to further strain in Greek-Turkish relations.

more on Europe

Mr Merz is facing pressure to resign over his failure to reform Germany’s ailing economy and hold back the rise of AfD.

Europe

Merz vows to fight on despite election ‘disaster’

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

German leader’s party on course for worst ever result, with AfD having surged in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and hard-Left forecast to win Berlin

more on Europe

EU Actually

Is a new euro crisis looming?

N. Peter KramerBy: N. Peter Kramer

In his weekly column N. Peter Kramer writes the interest rate differential between French, Belgian and Italian bonds and German is widening rapidly. The markets are targeting the eurozone countries with the highest debt. Is a new euro crisis looming?

Europe

The EU’s Middle-Power Puzzle

The EU’s Middle-Power Puzzle

While the EU and European governments are embracing the much-lauded middle-power moment, this entails three difficult conundrums

Business

Businesscraft: Japan’s Quiet Discipline for a Fractured World

Businesscraft: Japan’s Quiet Discipline for a Fractured World

For almost thirty years after the end of the Cold War, geopolitics stayed away from the corporate boardroom. Geopolitical considerations belonged to the foreign ministry or to a dedicated risk committee back at headquarters, and rarely crossed a CEO’s desk.

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