How Governments Are Using Tourism to Sanitise Their Image
From the pyramids of Giza to World Cup stadiums, international tourism has become one of the most effective, and subtle, forms of political image management.
Horizon Europe’s Scientific Answer to a Bipolar World
It is hard to overstate the innovative capacity of the US and China. To compete on equal footing, the EU must leverage its strategic edge: the collaborative nature of its own flagship R&I programme, now the largest research coalition in the world.
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.
Progressive Bulgaria and the Paradox of Power
Has stability finally come to Bulgaria? It appeared that it might have on 19 April 2026.
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?
