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A switch to qualified-majority voting would have obvious benefits. It would help to prevent the watering-down of sanctions proposals to their lowest common denominator as twenty-seven capitals argue that sanctions should not impact their respective national champions. It would also prevent policy paralysis and project EU unity, instead of placing the spotlight on the fringe stances of a handful of EU states. Finally, it would help shield the EU from the divide-and-rule tactics of Russia, China, and other adversaries.

How the EU can think creatively for sanctions on Russia

Ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit, it is hard to deny that EU sanctions on Russia are facing headwinds

Since the EPRS’s launch in 2013 as the parliament’s in-house think tank, it has earned a solid reputation for digging into areas that ‘good news’ EU officials may leave undisturbed. Its report looked at the EU’s 10 main policy categories and listed a host of initiatives and reforms that would deliver massive benefits if delivered on.

’Good news’ EU downplays €2.8 trillion cost of non-Europe

By: EBR | Tuesday, June 17, 2025

The ‘eurocrats’ at the top of the EU’s executive Commission are fond of good news, and spread it whenever they can

"The Conservative Party in government, and now in opposition has always been clear that any deal must ensure that the sovereignty and rights of Gibraltar are safeguarded in full and must carry the support of the government and people of Gibraltar, as well as protect constitutional arrangements. We also consistently opposed any efforts by Spain to disrupt the flow of goods at the border," she said.

UK agrees post-Brexit deal over Gibraltar

By: EBR | Friday, June 13, 2025

The UK has agreed a deal with the European Union over Gibraltar’s status after Brexit

After all, even Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times has noted that the voters in the old northern heartlands of Brexit know it has delivered none of its promises and just want to move on.

Britain after Brexit: Not Sovereign, but on the fence forever

By: EBR | Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Brexit is still hurting Britain, but it is now on life support as ever more Britons realize their voting mistake

Another pressure point is Kashmir. The deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam this April, which killed 26 civilians, reignited tensions between India and Pakistan. The aftermath saw diplomatic expulsions and limited military exchanges. In Brussels, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar was quick to clarify that the recent Operation Sindoor was aimed at terrorist infrastructure — not Pakistan itself. “Think of it less as a strike against Pakistan, and more against terrorism,” he told reporters.

The EU-India strategic dialogue: Big promises, bigger questions

By: EBR | Wednesday, June 11, 2025

As Brussels and New Delhi race to deepen ties in trade, tech, and defence, can high ambition overcome the challenges ahead?

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Germany’s long-awaited pivot to leading Europe

By: EBR | Friday, June 6, 2025

Chancellor German Friedrich Merz is wasting no time in reshaping Berlin’s role in Europe and farther afield. To achieve his foreign policy objectives, the chancellor must have a strategic outlook and demonstrate conviction

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At the same time, he will likely support military aid for Ukraine. He holds no sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin and recognizes that Ukraine’s victory is vital to Poland’s interests. As a result, it will be difficult for him to align with Washington if U.S. President Donald Trump pursues a reset with Moscow.

Razor-Thin and deeply divided: The Polish election shock

By: EBR | Tuesday, June 3, 2025

The election of populist Karol Nawrocki as Poland’s president poses challenges to the country’s reform agenda and deeper EU integration. Yet, the narrow result underscores that Poland still has a strong, resilient pro-European democratic core.

While the Civic Platform chose Rafal Trzaskowski, the Mayor of Warsaw, a nice liberal politician like London Mayor Sadiq Khan, to be its candidate for President, the PiS allowed Nawrocki to run as an “independent,” albeit one who, like PiS politicians, is an anti-abortion, anti-EU, anti-gay, anti-woke candidate.

Sobering News from Poland: Advantage PiS and Nawrocki

By: EBR | Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Poland’s new President, a strident nationalist, is politically close to Trump and Farage — and a potential misfortune for the EU‘s political center.

Until then, it is worth revisiting, from time to time, the central assertion regarding natural rights in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The U.S. State Department’s artful misreading of contemporary Europe

By: EBR | Monday, June 2, 2025

Does Europe really need a crusade from American shores to save it? On the dangers of using the history of Western intellectual thought to conflate questions of legal governance with political persecution.

But those in Europe who say broaching the topic and presenting a plan would encourage the Trump administration to abandon the Europeans infantilize their American counterparts. Also, Europeans cannot keep pretending that every single capability the United States provides is irreplaceable and unattainable. It undermines their own credibility and desirability as allies. If everything is vital, nothing is.

The irresistible plan Europeans can offer Trump to save NATO

By: EBR | Wednesday, May 28, 2025

At the next NATO summit, Europeans have an opportunity to set new conditions for decades to come. They can strengthen the alliance by committing to a timeline that allows for a U.S. drawdown while preserving American strategic enablers

First of all, my train from Paris to Frankfurt departed two hours late. This is not entirely surprising. German trains are frequently very late or cancelled — something which is quite rare in France.

Germany goes loopy

By: EBR | Monday, May 26, 2025

Let me first dispel the myth that all Germans speak English. It is quite simply not true.

Some Labour ministers use Theresa May’s slogan she “would make Brexit work.” That is an oxymoron. When the very conservative governor of the Bank of England says here will be no growth if we continue to set our faces against trade with Europe that is an ex-cathedra statement saying Adieu to Brexit.

The ancient mariners of Brexit are losing the plot

By: EBR | Wednesday, May 21, 2025

So the white smoke emerged from Whitehall as the Prime Minister didn’t quite say “Habemas a Deal”. at the end of the much hyped UK-EU reset talks

They have also guided Ukrainian officials with daily advice behind the scenes on everything, from communications to diplomacy, to help them repair their severely damaged relationship with the U.S administration after the blow-up between Trump, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, and Zelensky in the Oval office at the end of February.

Why Europeans should impose a ceasefire in Ukraine

By: EBR | Tuesday, May 13, 2025

The meeting of EU leaders in Ukraine underscored their reliance on the United States for game-changing actions to end Russia’s war. But Europeans can influence military efforts on the ground, including interdicting Russian attacks over Kyiv

Also, the transactionalism taking over international relations has infected several EU member states, which is increasing the risk of deadlock and disunity in the bloc at a crucial moment. Hungary is already set to block the renewal of EU sanctions against Russia in June and veto the beginning of membership negotiations with Ukraine. If this veto persists, some member states that support Ukraine may consider blocking any progress on the Western Balkans to put pressure on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

EU enlargement in the age of geopolitics

By: EBR | Thursday, May 8, 2025

EU enlargement remains the union’s most potent tool to strengthen unity and stability in Europe. But to succeed in this era of geopolitical standoffs between great powers, enlargement requires greater EU engagement and an innovative, differentiated approach

But in April, the Parliament’s legal affairs committee backed a legal opinion rejecting the Commission’s approach. The Parliament’s legal service argued the legal basis was procedurally inappropriate, as the proposal fails to meet the threshold for emergency powers.

Metsola to Commission: Change legal basis for €150bn defence fund or face EU court

By: EBR | Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Metsola has considered legal action against the Commission for invoking an emergency clause to bypass Parliament oversight.

In this election, Russian influence was amplified by pressure from elements of the Trump-aligned MAGA movement to create a window of opportunity for a radical reversal of the country’s democratic course and strategic orientation. Simion’s success will no doubt embolden them. Russian influence has already become normalized, and has continued more visibly and explicitly after the annulled presidential election last year.

When disillusion meets interference in Romania

By: EBR | Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Far-right candidate George Simion’s lead in Romania’s presidential election reflects public discontent with political elites. To safeguard democracy in Europe, political parties must better represent their voters and engage with them in a fair information environment.

France and Germany have a special responsibility to shepherd Europe through the epochal geopolitical crisis at hand. To assert Europe’s geopolitical power, Paris and Berlin must revamp their foreign and defense strategies as well as their economic fundamentals, and cooperate with Nordic, Baltic, and Polish allies.

France and Germany are staring into the Abyss

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 29, 2025

France and Germany have a special responsibility to shepherd Europe through the epochal geopolitical crisis at hand. To assert Europe’s geopolitical power, Paris and Berlin must revamp their foreign and defense strategies as well as their economic fundamentals, and cooperate with Nordic, Baltic, and Polish allies

Amid rising domestic political and media pressure, India announced several retaliatory measures, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty. A move Pakistan described as tantamount to a declaration of war. With reports of border skirmishes between the two armies, the risk of further escalation is growing.

Why the Kashmir crisis between India and Pakistan should alarm the EU

By: EBR | Monday, April 28, 2025

As tensions escalate with border skirmishes between the two nuclear-armed states, Europe could face mounting risks

Brussels dipped its toe in the waters of television 20 years ago when it backed the launch of Euronews, but then failed to sustain its financial help. The channel has since morphed into a loose franchised network owned by a Lisbon-based company said to have close links to Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán. Euronews’ reporting is in fact independent (it is unambiguously pro-Ukrainian), but it isn’t a viable basis for a future EU broadcasting giant.

Three ways Europe should fill Trump’s geopolitical vacuum

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Geopolitics, like nature, abhors a vacuum so the EU must prepare to fill the spaces the US is vacating

Some European populists, as well as their supporters at the highest levels of the U.S. administration, are drawing parallels with the rejection by the European Court of Human Rights of Călin Georgescu’s appeal against a Romanian court. The court’s decision to annul Romania’s 2024 presidential election after the far-right candidate won the first round amid evidence of Russian interference is being framed as political intrusion by judges, rather than understood as protecting the democratic process.

What Le Pen’s sentence means for the rule of law in Europe

By: EBR | Friday, April 11, 2025

Marine Le Pen’s conviction for embezzlement and ban from elected office have sparked accusations from far-right and populist movements of antidemocratic behavior. But the ruling shows that attachment to the rule of law is resilient, and upholding it is the only way to counter claims that the system is rigged

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EU Actually

Socialists & Democrats furious: ‘Commission’s withdrawal of the Green Claims Directive is political sabotage’

N. Peter KramerBy: N. Peter Kramer

‘Commission-EPP alliance hijacks EU decision-making process’ argues the S&D Group after the EU Council decided to cancel the final trilogue about the Green Claims Directive when the Commission let know to intend to withdraw the directive

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Europe

How the EU can think creatively for sanctions on Russia

How the EU can think creatively for sanctions on Russia

Ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit, it is hard to deny that EU sanctions on Russia are facing headwinds

Business

To save the Single Market, bring back Delors’ 1992 playbook

To save the Single Market, bring back Delors’ 1992 playbook

Most people familiar with EU affairs know the single market is a myth. Hailed as the bedrock of the European Union, it was never completed and is now crumbling.

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