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
The EU is currently assembling its fifth package of sanctions on Belarus. Here is what European governments and the Belarusian opposition should draw from how things have gone so far.
If the Kremlin sees the Duma election result as a buffer that will allow it to safely prepare for a transition at the top, the Russian political system might still find a way to evolve. But, if it views the result as confirmation that the system works just fine, its ‘victory’ really is a Pyrrhic one.
What can the EU and NATO do to reduce the risk of escalation in the region?
Russia’s capacity to carry out large-scale military operations against Black Sea states allows it to coerce and extort them
Germany insisted on its choice of new high representative. Now it needs to reveal if it has a plan to make the Bosnian state workable enough for the high representative institution to finally end.
Faced with a Russia that is still conducting a war in Ukraine and weaponising gas, Washington’s new deal with Kyiv could provide a real boost to Ukrainian defence and intelligence
ECFR’s policy experts examine what the Taliban takeover means for countries and regions around the world: Europe, the US, the Middle East, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and the Sahel
A year on from the falsified presidential election, two Belaruses now occupy the international arena. Neither the West nor Russia will be able to change this reality, but each will have to learn to live with both.
Public attitudes in Ukraine and Serbia raise pressing questions about EU enlargement. If member states are to sustain this process, they will need to base it on a shared sense of belonging
Russia’s capacity to carry out large-scale military operations against Black Sea states allows it to coerce and extort them
ECFR’s policy experts examine what the Taliban takeover means for countries and regions around the world: Europe, the US, the Middle East, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and the Sahel
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
The solution to the dispute between Kosovo and Serbia should be to create a societal consensus on both sides of the border
EU member states should help Turkey manage the impact of the new trade regulations the deal would bring in
The bloc should reframe how it speaks of human rights and democracy, while developing closer security and military links with select neighbours
Instead of using the UAE to push back against Turkey or vice versa, Europe should develop its own strategy on their rivalry
As European and US ambivalence towards the Western Balkans persists, the region will be in increasing danger of falling into an endless spiral of competition between various foreign actors
It will be difficult to sustain progress for Bosnia or the region without a credible and clear EU accession process
Covid-19 has damaged Russia’s economy and President Vladimir Putin’s political agenda
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
The EU is currently assembling its fifth package of sanctions on Belarus. Here is what European governments and the Belarusian opposition should draw from how things have gone so far.
If the Kremlin sees the Duma election result as a buffer that will allow it to safely prepare for a transition at the top, the Russian political system might still find a way to evolve. But, if it views the result as confirmation that the system works just fine, its ‘victory’ really is a Pyrrhic one.
Germany insisted on its choice of new high representative. Now it needs to reveal if it has a plan to make the Bosnian state workable enough for the high representative institution to finally end.
Faced with a Russia that is still conducting a war in Ukraine and weaponising gas, Washington’s new deal with Kyiv could provide a real boost to Ukrainian defence and intelligence
A year on from the falsified presidential election, two Belaruses now occupy the international arena. Neither the West nor Russia will be able to change this reality, but each will have to learn to live with both.
Public attitudes in Ukraine and Serbia raise pressing questions about EU enlargement. If member states are to sustain this process, they will need to base it on a shared sense of belonging
Bulgaria’s abstention on the European Climate Law not only isolates the country within the EU once again but also reveals two familiar shortfalls in Bulgarian diplomacy
If policymakers watch closely enough, football might just provide the perspective and insights they need to advance a geopolitical Europe
The arrest of Raman Pratasevich changed the calculus for EU capitals, which agreed new sanctions with real bite. The EU could finally be succeeding in its search for strategic sovereignty.
What role does Russia play in the breakaway regions of Eastern Europe?
Locked in a shadowy life between war and peace, “grey zones” now litter the map of Eastern Europe
Following high level ministerial meetings on Ukraine, ECFR's Wider Europe team report on the implementation the Minsk agreement
What can and should the EU do to support Ukrainian sovereignty?
How will the European Green Deal affect the EU’s relationship with Turkey?
What will be the impact of the EU and US measures against Belarus? And what should be next steps also ahead of the EU-US summit on 15 June?
How much influence does China already ha be in the Western Balkans and how should European policymakers react?
How can the EU prevent the Turkey-UAE rivalry from destabilising European security and foreign policy?
What kind of implications do the developments in Belarus have for the wider neighbourhood and Europe?
What lessons can be drawn from Josep Borrell’s controversial visit to Moscow?
Mark Leonard and Jeremy Shapiro predict ten bright and bold policy projections for the year to come
The contested Nagorno-Karabakh region is at the heart of a decades-long armed standoff between neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan. The…
In this week’s episode, Jeremy Shapiro stepped in as host and welcomes senior policy fellows Kadri Liik and Andrew Wilson as well as political scientist…
This is not EU competences versus member states’ competences; it’s democracy versus autocracy
Piotr Buras comments on the dispute over the rule of law between Poland and the European Union
If the Russians do not depend on Ukraine as a transit country, they are free to destabilize it by other means […] All these other means would more or less end up on Washington’s desk
Gustav Gressel comments on the fears that Nord Stream 2 could liberate Russia to invade Ukraine.
For all these years, PiS has seen that it can get away with anything. There might be problems, but eventually it is able to push through the majority of things
If we, as Europeans, do not draw the right conclusions at this critical moment and do not follow the laws of the European Union, it will lead to the disintegration of the European Union
Piotr Buras comments on the ruling of Poland’s Constitutional Court and what actions the EU must take
From the point of view of the CJEU and the European Commission, the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal has no meaning, no legal value
In an interview with Gazeta, Piotr Buras argues that what matters most from the point of view of the Commission is whether Poland implements the rulings of the CJEU or not