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Welcome to the online edition of the “European Business Review (EBR)”, where journalists and distinguished guest-writers express their views and opinions on European affairs and Business issues with in-depth articles, analyses and commentaries.
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Are the hundreds of billions for defense being spent wisely, in for 95 percent traditional weapons? At the Munich Security Conference Moritz Schularick, director of the specialised research Kiel Institute, said that over 800 billion euros in additional investment in the next years are ‘no guarantee that Europe will become more secure!’. He advocated for greater attention to innovation.

After a painful NATO exercise: are all those billions for defense being spent wisely?

NATO reported on its website about a large-scale exercise organised by a multinational battlegroup in Estonia. The soldiers had to train in temperatures of 20 degrees below zero. The military alliance is investing significant resources in defending its eastern flank.

The European Commission should appoint a senior Syria coordinator, tasked with aligning fragmented responses across EU development funds, diplomatic services, and the European Investment Bank. A dedicated Syria reconstruction working group with mandatory member state participation would prevent contradictory policies that undermine credibility.

Can EU Still Matter in Syria?

Europe’s interests in Syria extend beyond migration management, yet the EU trails behind other players in the country’s post-Assad reconstruction. To boost its influence in Damascus, the union must upgrade its commitment to ensuring regional stability.

The auditors found that the EU’s high-level specifications for member states’ anti-fraud systems, as set out in the RRF Regulation, were not sufficiently detailed.

EU auditors highlight "fraud" in COVID fund

The EU’s €650 billion COVID recovery fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), continues to show multiple weaknesses in fraud detection, reporting and correction, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

The United States remains essential to both Europe and India, both economically and strategically. Under Trump, however, the risk of volatility may become a permanent feature of the relationship. The EU–India FTA, on the other hand, provides a steady basis for two markets that increasingly value predictability as a competitive advantage.

The New Trade Triangle: EU–India–US

Trump cut US tariffs on India just weeks after Brussels signed its FTA, but the EU still offers the only long-term, rules-based framework New Delhi seeks.

Likeminded, capable, and willing member states can move forward on supercharging the EU’s economic firepower by deepening the single market, completing the capital markets union and banking union, and consolidating industry. The formation of specialized subgroups within the whole should no longer be seen as a negative to avoid, but rather as a necessary flexibility without which the European project cannot survive.

To Survive, the EU Must Split

Leaning into a multispeed Europe that includes the UK is the way Europeans don’t get relegated to suffering what they must, while the mighty United States and China do what they want.

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