State of the Union: How the energy crisis can strengthen EU unity
The European Commission president’s annual address has not pleased everybody – but its focus on energy reflects a deeper understanding of the nature of security today
Experts & Staff
Susi Dennison
Director, European Power programme
Areas of expertise
European foreign and security policy strategy; politics, political movements and cohesion within the EU; Flexible Union; European refugee and migration policy; human rights, democracy, and justice
Languages
English and French
Biography
Susi Dennison is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Her topics of focus include the strategy, politics and governance of European foreign policy; migration, and the toolkit for Europe as a global actor.
At ECFR, Dennison leads the European Power programme, which explores how to protect European interests in the post-corona era, balancing the tensions between building European sovereignty and shaping a rules-based international system. She previously led ECFR’s foreign policy scorecard project for five years and worked with the MENA programme on North Africa. Before joining ECFR in 2010, Dennison worked for Amnesty International, on advocacy towards the EU institutions. She began her career in HM Treasury in the United Kingdom. There she held a range of positions, including with the EU Co-ordination and Strategy team during the Convention on the Future of Europe. She advised on prison, probation and migration policy in the run-up to the 2004 wave of accession to the EU, on enterprise in disadvantaged regions and served in the Private Office of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Photo © Dnevnik
Winter is coming: Europe’s energy transition and the war in Ukraine
Can Europe remain true to its climate agenda despite Russia’s war in Ukraine?
Own coal: Why Europe could lose its green transition
European leaders’ need to sanction Russia is pushing them to develop alternative sources of fuel. They should not lose sight of the role that clean energy could play in this.
Green peace: How Europe’s climate policy can survive the war in Ukraine
Russia’s war on Ukraine has weakened European governments’ commitment to EU climate goals. European leaders should intensify their efforts to build clean, sustainable energy security.
Peace versus Justice: The coming European split over the war in Ukraine
New ECFR research reveals that Europe’s remarkable unity in the early days of the war is under threat from an emerging split – between those who want peace as soon as possible and those who favour justice for Ukraine
The European Sovereignty Index #FactsThatMatter
How can the EU and member states close the gap between ambition and capability in their quest for European sovereignty?
European Sovereignty Index
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.
Diplomatic power: The EU’s ambitious new energy strategy
The EU can protect its energy security in the long term by transforming its approach to green diplomacy
Ukraine, Europe, and the power of association: A new way to help aspiring EU states
A new compact could allow Ukraine, Balkans states and others to move closer to the EU and drive reform more powerfully than the current rigid rules
31 Mar
The battle for the Elysee
ECFR is collaborating with De Balie to discuss France’s political future and the impact of the election result on European integration and solidarity
Publications
Green peace: How Europe’s climate policy can survive the war in Ukraine
Russia’s war on Ukraine has weakened European governments’ commitment to EU climate goals. European leaders should intensify their efforts to build clean, sustainable energy security.
A certain idea of Europe: How the next French president can lead
The next French president should pursue a strong European foreign policy agenda to protect Europeans against the threats they are most concerned about
Climate of cooperation: How the EU can help deliver a green grand bargain
The bloc should reframe the international debate on energy security to focus on clean energy resources and efficiency, engaging in the market reforms needed to incentivise this shift
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
Crisis of confidence: How Europeans see their place in the world
Public faith in EU institutions has declined due to their handling of the covid-19 pandemic. However, citizens still believe in the need for greater cooperation.
Europe’s green moment: How to meet the climate challenge
Member states are not divided into two diametrically opposed camps. This makes the implementation of the European Green Deal an intricate puzzle – yet achievable.
A new transatlantic bargain: An action plan for transformation, not restoration
The Trump years galvanised Europeans’ efforts to strengthen their own sovereignty; they now need to agree concrete offers they can make to the new administration
The transformative five: A new role for the frugal states after the EU recovery deal
The reputation of Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden as ‘frugal states’ does not reflect public sentiment in these countries
Crisis presidency: How Portuguese leadership can guide the EU into the post-covid era
The Portuguese EU presidency should handle issues in line with European voters’ perceptions of the new reality created by the coronavirus
Together in trauma: Europeans and the world after covid-19
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
Articles
State of the Union: How the energy crisis can strengthen EU unity
The European Commission president’s annual address has not pleased everybody – but its focus on energy reflects a deeper understanding of the nature of security today
Own coal: Why Europe could lose its green transition
European leaders’ need to sanction Russia is pushing them to develop alternative sources of fuel. They should not lose sight of the role that clean energy could play in this.
Diplomatic power: The EU’s ambitious new energy strategy
The EU can protect its energy security in the long term by transforming its approach to green diplomacy
Ukraine, Europe, and the power of association: A new way to help aspiring EU states
A new compact could allow Ukraine, Balkans states and others to move closer to the EU and drive reform more powerfully than the current rigid rules
New year’s irresolution: France, nuclear power, and the EU’s energy transition
The roles of gas and nuclear power in the EU’s transitional energy mix present France with one of the first big fights of its EU presidency
Second acts: How Europe can renew the transatlantic partnership
This could be the moment to build a more balanced transatlantic relationship, with Europeans showing the US where we need it to engage, and how – rather than simply waiting for cues from Washington
The proof of the European Council pudding will be in the eating
EU leaders need to show that they are not only capable of reaching an agreement between themselves, but also of shaping the post-coronavirus world
Spain goes Eisenhower: Coronavirus, cohesion, and the return of MFF talks
The post-corona recovery threatens Europe’s cohesion, but Spain’s attempt to bridge the north-south divide is likely to fall short
Pulling through the coronavirus together: European and international solutions to the pandemic
European governments can only defend their citizens effectively if they cooperate at a European level and reinforce multilateral structures based on openness and information sharing
The colour of money: Green deals, cohesion funds, and the populist challenge
Nationalist parties are increasingly ready to portray climate change as another refugee crisis – an occasion for Brussels to impose standards on member states.
Specials
European Sovereignty Index
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.
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…
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
New European Security Initiative
Edited by Ulrike Esther Franke, Manuel Lafont Rapnouil & Susi Dennison
Fear and loathing on the road to the US elections
European leaders are underestimating the danger that Trump presents to the transatlantic alliance and assuming too much continuity in the event of a Clinton presidency
The Future of Schengen
In the midst of a Schengen crisis, how do Europe's member states see the future of Europe's visa-free travel area?
Podcasts
Winter is coming: Europe’s energy transition and the war in Ukraine
Can Europe remain true to its climate agenda despite Russia’s war in Ukraine?
Peace versus Justice: The coming European split over the war in Ukraine
New ECFR research reveals that Europe’s remarkable unity in the early days of the war is under threat from an emerging split – between those who want peace as soon as possible and those who favour justice for Ukraine
The European Sovereignty Index #FactsThatMatter
How can the EU and member states close the gap between ambition and capability in their quest for European sovereignty?
Health of Nations: How Europe can fight future pandemics
This week, ECFR senior policy fellow, Susi Dennison, takes over the podcast to talk about international cooperation on global health
COP26 and Europe’s green grand bargain
Is the EU in a position to deliver a green grand bargain, or is its role as peripheral now as it was at COP15?
New Energies: The European Green Deal and the EU-Turkey relationship
How will the European Green Deal affect the EU’s relationship with Turkey?
What future for the transatlantic alliance?
How well does the transatlantic alliance still fit with the way that Europe and the United States now see their goals in foreign policy?
Multilateralism after covid-19
How can Europe adapt its strategies for multilateralism in this competitive world and what would they look like?
How Europeans see Biden’s America
How do Europeans assess the future of transatlantic relations?
Europe’s battle of narratives
How can Europe win the global battle of narratives during the covid-19 pandemic and a struggle for geopolitical influence?
Events
31 Mar
The battle for the Elysee
ECFR is collaborating with De Balie to discuss France’s political future and the impact of the election result on European integration and solidarity
10 Mar
A new era for Europe: Do Europeans trust France on Russia?
Our panel will discuss insights from new public opinion polling of 15,000 citizens across 12 EU member states, captured in the upcoming report by Susi Dennison and Tara Varma.
13 Jan
Delivering the European Green Deal: creating a climate of co-operation after COP26
Our experts will talk about European climate sovereignty, energy security and potential partnerships with the neighbourhood
7 Dec
The European Green Deal: A recipe for development or a source of conflict?
The green transition is vital to Europe’s future. Rebuilding economies to achieve climate neutrality is essential not only to avoid a catastrophe but also to…
18 Nov
After COP26 – How Europe can turn words into action
How can the EU and its member states take on this role and enact change to advance climate ambitions in a practical way?
9 Jun
Crisis of European confidence: How Europeans see their place in the world
Join a panel of political pundits to help disentangle the public mood ahead of Biden’s first overseas trip
21 Apr
Europe’s green moment: How to meet the climate challenge
How can decision-makers mobilise creative coalitions and integrate the European Green Deal into EU foreign policy to deliver on the deal?
10 Dec
EU Budget: How the Frugal Five Can Become the Transformative Five
How can the frugal five become the transformative five? What issues concern voters the most after the recovery deal?
3 Dec
Comment les opinions publiques influencent-elles la politique étrangère ?
L’ECFR a le plaisir de vous inviter à une discussion virtuelle sur l’opinion publique et la politique étrangère
8 Oct
High-level virtual roundtable on covid-19-related debt in Africa
The economic knock-on effects of the COVID19 pandemic are severe all over the world but Africa is particularly exposed. As governments’ ability to respond to the…
In the media
The German newspaper refers to ECFR’s policy brief on how Europe’s climate policy can survive the war in Ukraine
European governments have kind of gifted this argument to nationalist parties, in the sense that the sanctions packages have been framed too much in terms of solidarity with Ukraine and doing the righ
Susi Dennison comments on the political fallout of Europe’s energy crisis
There’s the sense that [money to scale up renewables] will have to come later now, given the crisis
Susi Dennison on how Europe’s energy crisis threatens the green transition
There are two broad groups of those who oppose nuclear fuel — although these lines are softening in light of the current energy crisis
Susi Dennison comments on the objections to the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy
French leadership matters hugely to the future of the European project
Tara Varma and Susi Dennison on the France’s election results and its impact for the EU