A Framework for Reparations-Backed Lending, Applied to Russia’s Frozen Assets
In December 2025, the EU considered using €210 billion in frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine but stepped back from the plan. Not because the legal case collapsed, but because nobody had priced what the instrument would actually cost and who would carry that cost if it went wrong.
That question has not gone away. It has been deferred to a debate several Member States are already working to reopen.
Enlargement Begins at Home
Current geopolitical circumstances are accelerating Europe’s push for enlargement. But how is the EU handling its challenges?
In This New Geopolitical Reality, Europe Needs a Coherent Digital Deterrence Strategy
Europe’s digital resilience is weakened by the Union’s inability to deter the very digital security threats it seeks to resist.
Defence Spending Alone Cannot Produce European Defence Integration
On the 9th and 10th of September 2025, roughly twenty Russian drones intruded upon Polish national airspace, calling for a NATO response involving air-defences from several allies – this scramble exposes how the EU relies on NATO and individual national capabilities for rapid and coordinated defences rather than a stable and unified infrastructure.
The EU Should Look to Singapore and New Zealand on How to Secure Supply in a Crisis
A shortage turns trade policy into a sovereignty test: who keeps exporting when the goods become scarce?
Europe’s Extremists Are Outgrowing Its Terrorism Categories
Europe knows how to respond when extremist violence carries a familiar label, but what happens when it no longer does?
Why Transport Connectivity Can Accelerate the Credibility of EU Enlargement
How functional integration and corridor-wide network development can reinforce EU Accession in the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova.
Addressing the Growing Threat of Crypto-Asset Circumvention to EU Sanctions
Sanction circumvention is an adaptation game, and crypto has dealt Russia a new hand. To prevent the erosion of sanctions effectiveness, the EU must adapt to new evasion practices and tools to better target entry points into the formal economy.
The EU’s Military AI Gap: Why AGILE Will Not Be Enough
With just a 90-minute notice, the US cut off its allies from the use of its most powerful AI system. Will this be a wake up call for Brussels?
Has Christmas Arrived Early? The Commission’s Busy To-Do List
This Wednesday, the President of the European Commission took the stage to launch a new and considerably ambitious path forward for the EU.
Ireland’s Balancing Act on Russia, Big Tech, and the Limits of EU Neutrality
The rotating presidency of the Council of the EU is designed to serve the collective interest of the Union. Ireland’s six months in the chair may prove the design leaves room to defect.
Europe’s Search for Strategic Autonomy in Space
Waves of new-generation satellites and launchers continue to be built by Europe, but institutional fragmentation still stands between it and genuine strategic autonomy.
