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.
Europe’s Opening in Africa’s Finance Race with China Lies in Local Value Creation
As Europe and China converge on de-risking private capital in development finance, the real contest is shifting from mobilising finance to turning it into value-chain offers built around African priorities.
The EU in the Indo-Pacific: A Geopolitical Actor in Trade, a Bystander in Security
The European Union’s strong economic and regulatory influence in the Indo-Pacific is undermined by its lack of credible military power, leaving its geopolitical ambitions half-fulfilled.
Beyond Cheap Talk? The EU’s Fragmented Turn to Indo-Pacific Security
In 2025 the EU committed to more in Indo-Pacific security than ever before. It is not clear it has the means to follow through.
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.
Forgotten Civil War: What Are the EU’s Interests in Myanmar?
While headlines centre around conflicts in Iran, Palestine, Ukraine and Sudan, an ongoing conflict in Southeast Asia that has claimed over 100,000 lives persists with little coverage.
The EU Is Ceding Influence and Running Out of Time in the South Caucasus
How can the EU project real influence in a region where China, Russia, and Turkey move faster? Can Brussels balance its need for Azerbaijani gas with its own democratic principles? And what will it take for Europe to secure Armenia’s pivot to the West while preventing Georgia’s descent into authoritarian isolation?
EU Border Externalisation Is Testing the Migration Pact’s Own Human Rights Commitments
With the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum now fully applicable, its pillar on embedding migration in international partnerships is testing the EU’s ability to commit to the Pact’s own human rights obligations.
From Shia Ascendancy to Sunni Resurgence: The Emerging Middle East Europe Has Little Role In
The Shia Crescent built by Iran over two decades has fractured with startling speed. What is emerging in its place is a contested Sunni resurgence, and Europe has been absent from every pivotal moment of this transformation.
Conditionality Built the Liberal Order. Now the West is Abandoning It
Western conditionality shaped how the liberal order worked. Beijing is exposing what’s left of it.
Why China Cannot be Europe’s Alternative to the US
Europe risks trading one dependency for another if it treats China as a shortcut to economic security amid U.S. trade uncertainty.
From Normative Power to Geopolitical Actor: The EU’s Strategic Shift on Syria
More than a decade after imposing sweeping sanctions on Syria, the European Union is recalibrating its approach. The easing of economic restrictions and the launch of reconstruction aid mark not only a policy shift, but a test of whether Brussels can evolve from a purely normative power into a strategic geopolitical actor.
