Mark Leonard

Will the Iran conflict break the West?

After months of both the United States and Iran taking a harder line against each other, Europe finds itself stuck between a rock and a hard place. If Iran pursues further brinkmanship in response to US provocation, European Union member states may decide they have no choice but to embrace the Trump administration’s containment strategy.    

Can Europe become a global player?

As the nominee to serve as the EU's next high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell will have an opportunity to update Europe's approach to foreign policy. Chief among the challenges facing the bloc is the reassertion of its own sovereignty in an age of great-power politics

The case for a sovereign Europe

The EU's lack of sovereignty is becoming a threat. Against the Trump administration and in the face of emerging economic and technological markets, the EU risks lagging behind

The end of “Chimerica”

By threatening the survival of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, the Trump administration has put an end to speculation about a possible rupture between the United States and China. A full-scale decoupling between the world's two largest economies is now under way, and a new age of zero-sum competition is beginning

Fear will save the EU

Pro-European parties can leverage voters’ anxieties to come out on top in election

Seven days to save the European Union

The European Parliament elections take place next week – our latest pan-European polling reveals voters are deeply concerned about what the future holds

Is winter coming to the EU?

Many observers expect a grand showdown between the forces of “open” and “closed” societies in next month’s European Parliament elections, with the very future of the European Union at stake. They are right to be worried, but wrong about the reason

When European politics becomes personal

As the United Kingdom has hurtled ever closer to the Brexit cliff, once-abstract notions of a transcendent European identity have gained substance, and millions of people who still believe in the European project have come out in support of it. The question now is whether the European idea can win out over resurgent nationalism