Highlights
Featured
Burning ambition: Egypt’s return to regional leadership and how Europe should respond
The Egyptian regime has become somewhat more open to discussing matters such as human rights than Western capitals sometimes assume
Beyond Merkelism: What Europeans expect of post-election Germany
Paradoxically, to fulfil many Europeans’ expectations, Berlin will need to revise the principles of Merkelism that created this trust
What Europeans think about the US-China Cold War
A majority of European citizens believe a new cold war with both China and Russia is under way – but they mostly do not think that their own country is involved
Waves of ambition: Russia’s military build-up in Crimea and the Black Sea
Russia’s capacity to carry out large-scale military operations against Black Sea states allows it to coerce and extort them
The election to the German Bundestag on 26 September 2021 will have repercussions far beyond Germany. Whoever succeeds Angela Merkel will have a decisive influence on whether and how the country positions itself as a leading power in Europe in the coming years.
ECFR works toward advancing this debate and having a role in shaping the foreign policy agenda of the next German government.
Lead time: How Germany should move on from Merkel | Episode 3 – Economic Coercion
How can the next German government build up Europe’s strength against economic coercion?
14 Sep
Beyond Merkelism: What do Europeans expect from post-Merkel Germany?
What do European citizens expect from Germany’s next government, after 16 years of Angela Merkel? With little over a week to go until the elections, join a panel of pundits to analyse ECFR’s latest survey of attitudes of 16,000 citizens across 12 EU countries
Podcasts
Out of Order: the Polish Constitutional Court’s challenge to the European Union
What steps can the EU take to defend its legal order and protect the authority of the CJEU?
Featured projects
European Sovereignty
To prosper and maintain their independence in a world of geopolitical competition, the EU needs to learn to think like a geopolitical power
Featured
Re:shape Global Europe
The project strives to engage citizens across Europe and generate a wide debate about the purpose of European power in the twenty-first century
Featured
Public opinion polling
Through polling in EU member states, ECFR’s analysis seeks to unlock shifting coalitions in Europe that favour a more internationally engaged union
Featured
Latest
Iraqis’ vote to restrain armed groups
In the wake of Iraq’s parliamentary election, European states should be highly cautious about publicly engaging with Iraqi policy on armed groups. They should only help Baghdad deal with this issue following a direct request.
Boxed in: How the Pandora Papers could change politics in Europe
European political parties should seize on leaks such as the Pandora Papers to draw voters into broad-based anticorruption constituencies – tapping into public discontent with governments’ acquiescence to large-scale graft
Germany’s new government: Promising signs for Western Balkans EU integration
The emerging ‘traffic-light’ coalition government should recognise the dangers ranged around the EU on its Western Balkans borders – and help move EU integration along for the region’s states
What they want: Paris’s views on the new German government
With Germany’s leaders focused on domestic politics in the coming months, French President Emmanuel Macron will need to suggest policy initiatives to, and build coalitions with, other EU member states
What they want: Rome’s views on the new German government
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has an opportunity to build a relationship with the next German chancellor that is free from party political rivalries. In doing so, he should focus on four main issues at the heart of the German-Italian relationship.
What they want: Warsaw’s views on the new German government
Poland is the EU member state that will miss German Chancellor Angela Merkel most. Polish-German relations look set to deteriorate more quickly than many predicted before the recent Bundestag election.
It could set a precedent and undermine the whole European cooperation. If every member state can decide for itself whether to comply with common EU law, there is no EU.
Piotr Buras argues that the EU cannot leave the ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Court unchallenged
Aukus tells us a lot about the foreign policy of the Biden administration & raises two questions: What does it mean to be an ally of the US? And what is Washington’s vision on the Indo-Pacific?
Aukus could force Europeans to conclude that the Indo-Pacific is too far from their interests, writes Frederic Grare
A further exit of a member state after Brexit would be a disaster, but even more serious is a disintegration of the European Union from within
The big and acute threat is not Polexit, but that the Polish government will create space for an autocracy in the middle of the EU
Piotr Buras analyses the implications of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling questioning the supremacy of EU law
More on Africa
Mapping African regional cooperation: How to navigate Africa’s institutional landscape
Regional organisations have proliferated in Africa, with many organisations attempting to address similar issues in similar parts of the continent. Europeans should take stock of the situation they have helped create.
More on Asia
Moving closer: European views of the Indo-Pacific
It will take more than just strong support from France, Germany, and the Netherlands to ensure that the new EU strategy for the Indo-Pacific is effective in the long term
More on European Power
Europe’s invisible divides: How covid-19 is polarising European politics
Europe’s covid-19 experience has been a tale of two pandemics – and the differences in each story could haunt the continent for many years to come
More on Middle East and North Africa
People before politicians: How Europeans can help rebuild Lebanon
Lebanon is home to key strategic interests for the EU, which does not want another failed state on the Mediterranean
More on Wider Europe
Faltering fightback: Zelensky’s piecemeal campaign against Ukraine’s oligarchs
The campaign has encouraged Zelensky’s tendency towards governance through informal means. This has allowed him to act speedily – but it risks letting oligarchic influence return
Views from the Council
Europe’s post-Afghanistan to-do list
The EU’s approach to foreign policy and economic policy needs to account for the fact that, globally, the space between the two areas is increasingly narrow