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
European Power
The European Power programme was created in 2015 to help Europeans develop policy responses to the issues affecting the EU’s capacity to act on the global scene. The programme explores the obstacles to sustainable unity on current and future foreign policy challenges and seeks to develop solutions for overcoming them.
Featured
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
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
French Connection: Macron’s plans for Europe
What are Macron’s plans for the EU Council presidency in 2022 and beyond?
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?
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
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?
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.
Germany’s election result and what it means for Europe
How are the German election results being perceived throughout Europe? And what do they mean for the future of our continent?
Four ways the new German government can strengthen European trade against economic coercion
Threats to Germany’s and Europe’s economic sovereignty have won too little attention in the German election campaign. But, soon, policymakers in Berlin will have to take decisive steps to build up Europe’s strength against economic coercion.
AUKUS: After the sugar rush
The initial high of announcing AUKUS has faded for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has returned from the United States to face a less congenial domestic agenda
Publications
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
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
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
The fall of the Afghan government and what it means for Europe
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
Dark money politics: Why Europe should join Biden’s fight against corruption
European policymakers should set up high-profile national institutions that are charged with tackling corruption and capable of working within an international network
Geo-tech politics: Why technology shapes European power
New technologies are a significant force shaping international relations. If the EU wants to be more than a mediator between the US and China, it will need to change its mindset.
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
Measured response: How to design a European instrument against economic coercion
The anti-coercion instrument needs to enable countermeasures that are both effective and credible; if it does not, this could carry more risks than benefits
New energies: How the European Green Deal can save the EU’s relationship with Turkey
EU member states should help Turkey manage the impact of the new trade regulations the deal would bring in
How to prevent Germany from becoming Eurosceptic
To engage more confidently with a world that is changing, outward-looking Germans need to shape a progressive new national identity before it is defined by the forces of isolation and exclusion
Articles
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
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.
Four ways the new German government can strengthen European trade against economic coercion
Threats to Germany’s and Europe’s economic sovereignty have won too little attention in the German election campaign. But, soon, policymakers in Berlin will have to take decisive steps to build up Europe’s strength against economic coercion.
AUKUS: After the sugar rush
The initial high of announcing AUKUS has faded for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has returned from the United States to face a less congenial domestic agenda
After AUKUS: The uncertain future of American and European cooperation in the Indo-Pacific
Europeans – especially the French – want Washington to explain its decision to ally with Australia and the UK. But the EU also needs to decide how to approach the Indo-Pacific.
Foreign and defence policy in the German election
The parties in Germany’s next coalition government could find it hard to bridge their differences on foreign and defence policy
What EU sanctions policy can learn from European mutual defence
EU sanctions policy could imitate the coalition-building mechanism of Article 42.7 – the EU’s mutual defence clause – in response to gross violations of sovereignty through economic coercion
The China factor in the German election
Germany will find it increasingly hard to maintain its current level of prosperity – and security – without charting a new course on China. Fortunately, German voters seem ready for change.
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
Independence play: Europe’s pursuit of strategic autonomy
To fulfil its true potential, the EU needs to end its strategic cacophony and focus on capability building
What Europeans really want: Five myths debunked
New ECFR/YouGov research reveals huge fluidity in current voting intentions: 70 percent of Europeans certain to vote are yet to make their choice. Nearly 100m swing voters are up for grabs.
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…
Eyes tight shut: European attitudes towards nuclear deterrence
Europeans remain unwilling to renew their thinking on nuclear deterrence, despite growing strategic instability. Their stated goal of “strategic autonomy” will remain an empty phrase until they engage seriously on this matter
The nightmare of the dark: The security fears that keep Europeans awake at night
Great power competition is increasingly shaping Europeans’ security environment, while other security threats are also on the rise, from terrorism and cyber attacks to climate change
Migration through the Mediterranean: Mapping the EU response
The Mediterranean and migration: Postcards from a ‘crisis’ Since 2014, European citizens have been engaged in an intensifying discussion about migration. This is the result…
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.
Podcasts
French Connection: Macron’s plans for Europe
What are Macron’s plans for the EU Council presidency in 2022 and beyond?
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?
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?
Germany’s election result and what it means for Europe
How are the German election results being perceived throughout Europe? And what do they mean for the future of our continent?
The transatlantic meaning of AUKUS
What does AUKUS mean for the future of transatlantic relations?
Lead time: How Germany should move on from Merkel | Episode 2 – China Policy
How should the next German government concretely shape its China policy, and its approach to the Indo-Pacific?
The age of unpeace – How connectivity causes conflict
Mark Leonard presents the main themes of his new book and talks particularly about how China’s growing role in this interconnected world poses threats for Europe
Sneak Peek | The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict
Get a sneak peek into Mark Leonard’s latest book “The Age of Unpeace – How Connectivity Causes Conflict”, read by the author himself
The fall of the Afghan government and what it means for Europe
How will the Western withdrawal impact on the state of European defence and military capabilities?
Lead time: How Germany should move on from Merkel | Episode 1 – Climate Policy
Whoever wins the election, the next German government must approach climate action more systematically and in a more sustained fashion
In the media
[Poland is a] test case as to whether a legal system in which the independence of the judiciary is not given can be tolerated in the EU
Piotr Buras fears that Poland’s behaviour could change the very nature of the EU and undermine its foundations
Piotr Buras talks in this podcast about Poland’s dispute with the EU over its Constitual Court’s ruling
Merkelism has reached its end. It has failed in tackling the most important crisis that the EU is facing today and which threatens the entire European project.
Piotr Buras on how “Merkelism” ignored the rule of law problem in Poland and other European member states
The fact that there is unpredictability in Hungarian politics is already a step in the right direction
There is general optimism in Hungary because for the first time in many years there is an election that Viktor Orban could actually lose, finds Andreas Bock