Policy Fellow
European public opinion, economic sovereignty, Poland and France in the EU
English, French, Spanish and Polish
Pawel Zerka is a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
He is a lead ECFR analyst on European public opinion. He contributes to ECFR’s Re:shape Global Europe project, which seeks to develop new strategies for Europeans to understand and engage with the changing international order. Pawel is also engaged in discussions about Europe’s economic statecraft, and he works on Polish and European foreign policy. Based at ECFR’s Paris office, he has been part of the team since August 2017.
Previously, Zerka worked as expert and head of programmes at two leading Polish think tanks, demosEUROPA-Centre for European Strategy and WiseEuropa. Zerka holds a PhD in economics and a master’s degree in international relations from the Warsaw School of Economics, having also studied at SciencesPo Bordeaux and Universidad de Buenos Aires.
Europeans are understandably eager to cut off all channels of Russian influence over their continent, especially in energy. But this interdependence has also allowed them to push back against Russian aggression.
The holiday period could erode public interest in Ukraine. Europeans should recognise that their attitudes towards Russia’s war on the country have consequences.
Europeans have set out on a journey towards greater economic sovereignty. They will only reach their destination if they learn to navigate an interconnected world.
Warsaw is in a uniquely strong position to launch an ambitious initiative for the EU’s eastern neighbourhood. To do this, it will need to use its new image in Europe to good effect.
How can the EU and member states close the gap between ambition and capability in their quest for European sovereignty?
The EU can overcome the new challenges it faces and can shape the global order. To achieve this, Europeans will need to improve their joint capacity to act.
In the wake of pandemic and war, the Sentiment Compass assesses the changing expectations of the EU across its member states. It finds that EU should harness the power of culture and the free media to nurture a stronger European sentiment – helping it to address the major challenges facing the continent.
The European Council on Foreign Relations, the European Cultural Foundation and Le Grand Continent are delighted to invite you to a panel discussion dedicated to the key political dilemmas that the EU is facing in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine
The EU should adopt a phased approach to energy sanctions on Russia. This would be more effective than a rushed embargo and would help preserve European unity.
Europe has been united in its solidarity with Ukraine. To ensure this continues, the EU needs to support member states through the challenging times ahead and shield them from actors who may wish to sow discord.
The EU needs to develop an Anti-Coercion Instrument that acts as a powerful economic deterrent, but this alone will not sufficiently protect Europe 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
The pandemic poses a threat to European cohesion by increasing economic divides and undermining trust in the EU and national governments
The reputation of Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden as ‘frugal states’ does not reflect public sentiment in these countries
The EU should move quickly to consider and adopt a suite of tools to protect and enhance European sovereignty in the geo-economic sphere
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
A new survey shows that, after the onset of the covid-19 crisis, there has been a rise in public support for unified EU action to tackle global threats
The results of the European election confront EU leaders with a considerable challenge: navigating a new, more fragmented, and polarised political environment
The context Now is not the moment for either the European Union or the United Kingdom to risk allowing the political tensions around Brexit to…
Europeans are understandably eager to cut off all channels of Russian influence over their continent, especially in energy. But this interdependence has also allowed them to push back against Russian aggression.
The holiday period could erode public interest in Ukraine. Europeans should recognise that their attitudes towards Russia’s war on the country have consequences.
Europeans have set out on a journey towards greater economic sovereignty. They will only reach their destination if they learn to navigate an interconnected world.
Warsaw is in a uniquely strong position to launch an ambitious initiative for the EU’s eastern neighbourhood. To do this, it will need to use its new image in Europe to good effect.
The EU should adopt a phased approach to energy sanctions on Russia. This would be more effective than a rushed embargo and would help preserve European unity.
Europe has been united in its solidarity with Ukraine. To ensure this continues, the EU needs to support member states through the challenging times ahead and shield them from actors who may wish to sow discord.
Protectionism is not the answer. European countries must build public support for strategic openness.
Emmanuel Macron shook French politics from top to bottom. To show he did not bring the house down, he will quickly need to defend his record and reach out to lost voters.
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.
There are at least six reasons why public opinion on foreign policy should matter more today than it did in the past
The EU can overcome the new challenges it faces and can shape the global order. To achieve this, Europeans will need to improve their joint capacity to act.
In the wake of pandemic and war, the Sentiment Compass assesses the changing expectations of the EU across its member states. It finds that EU should harness the power of culture and the free media to nurture a stronger European sentiment – helping it to address the major challenges facing the continent.
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 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
The European Solidarity Tracker collects and displays instances of pan-European solidarity throughout the coronavirus crisis
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…
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
How can the EU and member states close the gap between ambition and capability in their quest for European sovereignty?
What is coercive engineered migration? And what would be the best way for the EU to respond to Minsk’s tactics?
In what circumstances should an Anti-Coercion Tool be triggered? What kind of countermeasures could protect Europe, keep markets open and support a functional global trade order?
The geopolitical grouping known as the “frugal four” — Austria, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands — has emerged as a key power centre in this year’s negotiations over the EU’s next budget and the covid-19 recovery fund. Does “frugality” actually reflect the public sentiment in those countries?
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…
Recently declared a global pandemic, it is undeniable that the coronavirus will be a global political, social, financial and economic crisis – requiring actions that…
Negotiations over the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021 – 2027 just have started. But as tensions and divergences between the EU member states are…
This week, Ulrike Franke is filling in for the regular host Mark Leonard to discuss the stories behind the media headlines in the aftermath of…
Podcast de notre BCM du 28 mai « Ce que veulent les citoyens européens : un bilan des élections européennes » en présence…
Mark Leonard speaks with Susi Dennison, director of ECFR’s European Power programme, and Pawel Zerka, programme coordinator for European Power, about the upcoming European Parliament…
The European Council on Foreign Relations, the European Cultural Foundation and Le Grand Continent are delighted to invite you to a panel discussion dedicated to the key political dilemmas that the EU is facing in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine
This event is the second webinar in a two-part series on current developments in the global use of economic coercion
This event is the first webinar in a two-part series on current developments in the global use of economic coercion
L’ECFR a le plaisir de vous inviter à une discussion virtuelle sur l’opinion publique et la politique étrangère
The Commission can have its plans, but of course it has to react to reality. And reality has been very dynamic in the last twelve months
Pawel Zerka comments on von der Leyen’s State of the Union 2022 speech
The Commission can have its plans, but of course, it needs to be responding to the reality. And the reality was very dynamic those past 12 months
Paweł Zerka comments on the Commission’s work ahead of the State of the European Union 2022
More-Europhile governments once gave Poland a greater say in the bloc’s affairs
Pawel Zerka comments on Poland’s role in the EU
When it comes down to it, being able to deal with complex dependencies is what European sovereignty is all about
Pawel Zerka explains in his op-ed why the results of the new ‘European Sovereignty Index’ are a bittersweet reading for the EU
Europe can meet and actively shape the global challenges that have resulted from interdependence
Pawel Zerka explains the European Sovereignty Index
