2026: The year we stop pretending it’s just a phase
Ten key foreign policy trends for the year ahead
Experts & Staff
Anand Sundar
Special Adviser to the Director
Areas of expertise
Defence and security policy, Transatlantic Relations, Israel/Palestine
Languages
German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, some Hebrew and Arabic
Biography
Anand Sundar is the special adviser to ECFR Director, Mark Leonard, at the European Council on Foreign Relations, based in the London office. Previously, Sundar worked at the Munich Security Conference and in the Israel-Palestine and Syria divisions of the European External Action Service. He gained further professional experience at LSE’s European Foreign Policy Unit, the German Foreign Office, and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute in Jerusalem.
Sundar holds a Bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern studies from Sciences Po Paris, as well as an MA in international security from Sciences Po, an MPhil in musicology from the University of Cambridge, and an MSc in international relations from the London School of Economics.
Under review: How to avoid a NATO-only approach to UK defence
Britain’s new Strategic Defence Review largely ignores its largest and closest partner, the EU. To ensure its NATO first approach doesn’t become a NATO only one, London should expand its defence cooperation with the bloc and its member states
Transatlantic drift: UK-EU defence cooperation in the second Trump era
Donald Trump’s re-election is calling America’s commitment to transatlantic security into question. The UK and the EU should deepen their defence relationship in the face of external aggression
In the media
Anand Sundar on the future of transatlantic security
Everywhere there is an increasing awareness that the threat from Russia will not disappear and will increase in the next few years
Anand Sundar on European Security and the threat posed by Russia
Anand Sundar on the UK’s defence policy
Anand Sundar on Trump’s tariffs
Anand Sundar on EU-UK defence cooperation