Ambiguous alliance: Neutrality, opt-outs, and European defence
The EU’s work on its Strategic Compass should include debates on the special status states’ future role in European defence
Cohesion & Governance
Deutschland vor der Wahl – Einschätzungen aus der Perspektive internationaler Politik
Der Checkpoint EXTRA findet als Kooperation zwischen der bpb und dem Berliner Büro des European Council on Foreign Relations statt
New Ideas for German Foreign Policy
Discussion with key representatives from the major parties on their party’s vision on German foreign & security policy. How are parties responding to the new challenges and how do they want to secure the support of the voters?
A foreign policy for a Green Germany
How would a (partially) Green government affect German foreign policy?
Germany’s Green Velvet Revolution?
While Germany’s long-ruling centre-right parties continue to offer more of the same, the Greens have recently emerged as a serious contender in the run-up to September’s federal elections
Towards stability: A new concert of powers
Could a “concert of powers” be the solution for the increasing power competition between the US and China and the current crisis of democracy?
Europe’s green moment: How to meet the climate challenge
Member states are not divided into two diametrically opposed camps. This makes the implementation of the European Green Deal an intricate puzzle – yet achievable.
Why should anyone care? Foreign policy and public opinion
There are at least six reasons why public opinion on foreign policy should matter more today than it did in the past
Europe’s green moment: How to meet the climate challenge
How can decision-makers mobilise creative coalitions and integrate the European Green Deal into EU foreign policy to deliver on the deal?
Under cover of Covid, Poland is stifling free media – and all Europe should be worried
A planned ‘coronavirus tax’ on revenues and attacks on foreign-owned media threaten to cut away democracy piece by piece
Publications
Ambiguous alliance: Neutrality, opt-outs, and European defence
The EU’s work on its Strategic Compass should include debates on the special status states’ future role in European defence
Europe’s green moment: How to meet the climate challenge
Member states are not divided into two diametrically opposed camps. This makes the implementation of the European Green Deal an intricate puzzle – yet achievable.
The crisis that made the European Union: European cohesion in the age of covid
The pandemic poses a threat to European cohesion by increasing economic divides and undermining trust in the EU and national governments
Crisis presidency: How Portuguese leadership can guide the EU into the post-covid era
The Portuguese EU presidency should handle issues in line with European voters’ perceptions of the new reality created by the coronavirus
The Brexit parenthesis: Three ways the pandemic is changing UK politics
The shock of covid-19 in Britain may end the culture-wars politics set off by the Brexit referendum
The big engine that might: How France and Germany can build a geopolitical Europe
The EU Coalition Explorer survey reveals the importance of Germany and France within the EU, and the impact they can have when they cooperate with each other
In sickness and in health: European cooperation during the coronavirus crisis
ECFR research into how EU member states and institutions worked together at the height of covid-19 confirms Germany was the bloc’s undisputed crisis leader
Untapped potential: How new alliances can strengthen the EU
Fragmentation in the EU makes it increasingly difficult for member states to build coalitions. The EU Coalition Explorer reveals potential new groupings.
What Europeans really feel: The battle for the political system
Support for membership of the European Union is currently high, but so too is pessimism about the future of the European project
Divided at the centre: Germany, Poland, and the troubles of the Trump era
Introduction For most Europeans, it is now obvious that the foreign policy of US President Donald Trump threatens the global liberal order. Trump’s hostility towards…
Articles
Germany’s Green Velvet Revolution?
While Germany’s long-ruling centre-right parties continue to offer more of the same, the Greens have recently emerged as a serious contender in the run-up to September’s federal elections
Why should anyone care? Foreign policy and public opinion
There are at least six reasons why public opinion on foreign policy should matter more today than it did in the past
Under cover of Covid, Poland is stifling free media – and all Europe should be worried
A planned ‘coronavirus tax’ on revenues and attacks on foreign-owned media threaten to cut away democracy piece by piece
Election 2021: How Germany could vote Green but keep the status quo
This year’s election could catapult the Greens to power – but it may not be enough to bring about the reforms Germany needs
Calling it quits: How Europe should build on Fidesz’s exit from the EPP
The European People’s Party tolerated Fidesz for far too long. Its de facto expulsion should be a turning point in the relationship between the EU and Orbán’s Hungary
Germany at the helm: How Berlin kept Europe together in 2020
Germany managed to keep Europe together in a time of severe crisis. The country led diplomatic efforts to find an agreement on the EU’s seven-year budget and its recovery fund.
The long year: Top foreign policy trends for 2021
Mark Leonard and Jeremy Shapiro predict ten bright and bold policy projections for the year to come
After Merkel: Why Germany must end its inertia on defence and security
Angela Merkel has long resisted updating German defence policy for today’s challenges. Her successor will not be able to avoid the challenge forever
How Britain and the EU could cooperate on defence after Brexit
The UK will have to decide how involved it wants to be in EU defence efforts. It seems likely that the country’s aim will be to have flexible structures that allow it to plug into European foreign and defence policy where doing so is in its interests.
How UK-EU trade cooperation can survive Brexit
The United Kingdom’s strategy should be to take a more considered, sectoral approach to trade – thereby strengthening its own internal market and its future relationship with key EU member states
Specials
EU Cohesion Monitor
European cohesion is bouncing back after crisis years. The EU Cohesion Monitor presents new insights on cohesion as an underestimated source of strength and collective action in the EU.
EU Coalition Explorer
The Coalition Explorer illustrates the expert opinions of more than 800 respondents who work on European policy and creates a visual understanding of the views held by Europe’s professional political class
European Solidarity Tracker
The European Solidarity Tracker collects and displays instances of pan-European solidarity throughout the coronavirus crisis
The 2019 European election: How anti-Europeans plan to wreck Europe and what can be done to stop it
Summary With anti-Europeans on their way to winning more than one-third of seats in the next European Parliament, the stakes in the May 2019 election…
EU Cohesion Monitor 2019
European cohesion is bouncing back after crisis years. The EU Cohesion Monitor presents new insights on cohesion as an underestimated source of strength and collective action in the EU.
The future shape of Europe: How the EU can bend without breaking
A critical mass of countries agree on the need for more flexible cooperation, but what could it look like?
Connectivity wars
This essay introduces “Connectivity Wars“, an essay collection on why migration, finance and trade are the geo-economic battlegrounds of the future
Britain in Europe Renegotiation Scorecard
The scorecard assesses the support that components of the reform agenda enjoy in Europe’s capitals.
Video
Europe in the German Elections
Everything you need to know about the German elections: Which parties are in the running to form a government, and what are the implications for European and foreign policy?
The world according to Europe’s insurgent parties
Douglas Carswell, UKIP MP for Clacton, discusses how Europe's foreign policy is being affected by insurgent parties
Scotland’s future in Europe
Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson MSP, spells out her alternative plan for Scotland in the wake of the Brexit vote
EU Cohesion Monitor
Josef Janning introduces the EU Cohesion Monitor and explains some of the stories hidden in its data
Brexit and Britain’s security
Nigel Inkster, former MI6 board member, and Nick Witney, former chief executive of the European Defence Agency and co-director of ECFR's European Power programme, give us their perspectives
Analysing the General Election results
Jacqueline Minor, Peter Wilding, Professor Sara Hobolt and ECFR's Mark Leonard analyse which direction the new government may take Britain
Video: Presentación del libro “Asaltar los cielos”
José Ignacio Torreblanca presentó el pasado 21 de abril su nuevo libro “Asaltar los cielos, Podemos o la política después de la crisis”, junto con Pepa Bueno, Belén Barreiro e Ignacio Escolar
The British problem – View from the Capitals
The heads of five of our national offices explain their national perspectives on a possible Brexit
The incurable European
Diplomat Robert Cooper, UK PSC Ambassador Angus Lapsley and ECFR's Susi Dennison, explore where and how the UK has influenced European foreign policy decision making in 2014
To Brexit or not to Brexit
A recent ECFR Black Coffee Morning event brought together three authors of reports on the possibility of “Brexit”
Podcasts
A foreign policy for a Green Germany
How would a (partially) Green government affect German foreign policy?
Towards stability: A new concert of powers
Could a “concert of powers” be the solution for the increasing power competition between the US and China and the current crisis of democracy?
One crisis, many responses: Fighting the first wave of the pandemic
Why did the approaches to handling the coronavirus differ so much even in all the countries around the globe?
A fair, green and digital recovery – brought to you by Portugal
How can the Portuguese presidency strengthen European strategic autonomy?
The coronavirus world order
How can we explain the current crisis of the liberal international order?
An interview with Anne Applebaum and José Ignacio Torreblanca
Head of ECFR’s Madrid Office, Jose Ignacio Torreblanca talks to the American historian, a Pulitzer Prize winner for Gulag, and expert on authoritarian populism about…
Where there’s a will, there’s a way: France, Germany and EU coalition building
In this week’s episode, Mark Leonard presents the new and third edition of ECFR´s Coalition explorer, which also included special questions regarding the impact of…
Europe’s way out of the coronavirus crisis: from self-interest to solidarity?
The coronavirus crisis brought about financial hardship for the European Union, and many agree that a recovery fund would be needed to overcome it. In…
You better bring a book – the start of the EU’s lengthy budget talks
Negotiations over the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021 – 2027 just have started. But as tensions and divergences between the EU member states are…
Midterm elections: Will US foreign policy change?
Mark Leonard speaks with Craig Kennedy, Jeremy Shapiro and Anna Kuchenbecker about the election results and Donald Trump's tenure. The podcast was recorded on 8th…
In the media
The latest confrontation between Warsaw and Brussels is more than a judicial disagreement, argues Piotr Buras in his op-ed
Jana Puglierin talks about Nord Stream 2 and other current affairs issues in Germany
José Ignacio Torreblanca talks about Cuba’s lack of freedom of expression and its consecuences
After Turkey’s withdrawal from Europe’s most important women’s rights treaty, Poland may follow suit, suspects Piotr Buras in his op-ed