Brussels, 17 December 2024
EU politics and institutions
Reports analyse Europe’s 35-year journey since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which triggered huge political and economic change. Papers examine the potential impact of EU enlargement from a territorial perspective, focusing on Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western Balkans. Regarding the EU’s reform debate and the strengthening of the EU’s global capacity to act, publications explore how member states can contribute to the success of the reform process; they also point out that European foreign policy does not lack instruments, structures, or institutions but, rather, depends on the political will of the member states and their willingness to overcome their differences. Lastly, they explore the EU’s path to 2030 from a wide variety of vantage points, from economic and industrial policy to the energy and climate agenda, digital innovation, the financial markets and corporate governance, foreign policy, human rights and the rule of law.
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Heinrich Böll Foundation): Strengthening the EU’s global capacity to act: impetus for the EU reform debate
Case – Centrum Analiz Społeczno-Ekonomicznych (Center for Social and Economic Research): Preparing for the enlargement from a territorial perspective: governance, policies and investments to ensure the role and means of LRAs in an enlarged EU
Centre for European Policy Studies: The EU’s path to 2030
Bruegel: A special historical analysis: Europe’s 35-year journey since the fall of the Berlin wall
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung: Gestiegenes Interesse an Europa
Forum for research on Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies (FREE Network): EU accession and sustainability challenges for Ukraine’s agricultural sector
Fondation Robert Schuman: Ukraine’s accession negotiations with the European Union: reforms undertaken in ten years and the challenges ahead
Fondation Robert Schuman: Draghi report: as strategic a guide as it is diplomatic for Europe
Institute of International and European Affairs: Championing democracy and rule of law in the EU: an overview of the portfolio of Commissioner-designate, Michael Mc Grath
Institute of International and European Affairs: An ugly cobweb or a new broom? An analysis of the structure of the new Commission
Notre Europe – Institut Jacques Delors: Albania’s steep road for accession by 2030
Institut pro evropskou politiku EUROPEUM (EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy): A wind of change? Role of Central Europe and the next EU political cycle
European Centre for International Political Economy: Shared liability: the European Parliament’s misstep in fighting financial fraud
LUISS School of European Political Economy: The faults of Italian europeanism
Institut français des relations internationales: Thirty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: what’s new in the East?
EU policies
Briefs explore whether European industrial policy is at a crossroads, and explain the trade-offs related to EU industrial and climate policy in the context of Mario Draghi’s report. Papers also argue that the EU should avoid comparing itself to the US when it comes to financial markets and instead focus on developing capital markets that reflect its own values, priorities, and diverse financial landscape. Publications ask how to safeguard international climate protection against the Trump agenda, and if there is a potential danger that the second Trump presidency will derail US climate leadership, leading to a withdrawal from the Paris agreement and reducing international climate finance. They assess the global implications of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism on trade flows, welfare, real wages and CO2 emissions. They discuss the EU’s digital ambitions over the next five years and how to accelerate Europe’s technological leadership. As for the EU’s energy ambitions, briefs reflect on the need for a pragmatic governance framework, pointing out obstacles to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, as some member states and European companies are raising concerns about the feasibility of the interim targets set for 2030 and 2040.
Agriculture and Fisheries
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Heinrich Böll Foundation): Shaping a future-fit Common Agricultural Policy: impetus for the EU reform debate
Institute for European Environmental Policy: The European board on agri-food: role and operational framework
Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space)
Bruegel: European industrial policy at a crossroads? Evidence from an expert survey
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (Social Science Research Center): Zwischen Transformation und Krise: Automobilzulieferindustrie in Deutschland im Umbruch
Bruegel: A fork in the road for EU competition policy
Terra nova: Le déploiement de la CSRD: pour un changement de posture plutôt qu’un moratoire
Terra nova: Investir dans la transition écologique: quel financement des infrastructures ?
European Think Tanks Group: After US elections, Africa and Europe should strengthen partnership for green industrialisation
Real Instituto Elcano (Elcano Royal Institute): ¿Mayor competitividad? La respuesta está en los intangibles
LUISS School of European Political Economy: Strengthening the democratic accountability of the EU’s new industrial policy through parliamentary oversight
LUISS School of European Political Economy: LUHNIP monthly brief on EU industrial policy: October 2024
Hertie School- Jacques Delors Centre: Europe ventures forward: getting the scaleup of cleantech right
Notre Europe – Institut Jacques Delors: Together we trade, divided we aid: mapping the flexibilization of the EU state aid regime across GBER, IPCEIs and temporary frameworks
Institut pro evropskou politiku EUROPEUM (EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy): Trade, money, power: a recipe for a green and competitive Europe?
Economic and Financial Affairs
Istituto Affari Internazionali: The crucial nexus between the stability and growth pact and the transmission protection instrument
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (German Institute for Economic Research): The distribution of national income in Germany, 1992-2019
European Capital Markets Institute: Why the EU should not compare itself to the US when it comes to financial markets
European Capital Markets Institute: Dangerous liaisons? Debt supply and convenience yield spillovers in the euro area
Bruegel: One bad Apple decision: EU tax ruling entrenches distorsions
Education / Youth / Culture / Sport
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (German Council on Foreign Relations): Influencers and their ability to engineer collective online behaviour: a boon and a challenge for politics
Employment / Social Policy / Health and Consumer Affairs
Center for Strategic and International Studies: Building civics concepts into STEM and the tech sector
Case – Centrum Analiz Społeczno-Ekonomicznych (Center for Social and Economic Research): Affordable sustainable housing in the EU
GLOBSEC Policy Institute: Diversity in enlargement: women as agents on fast-track to the EU
European Trade Union Institute: Rethinking social protection in the green transition: Implementing the Council Recommendation on fair transition
Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies: Confronting Europe’s labour shortage: a strategic blueprint to attract global talent and reverse population decline
LUISS School of European Political Economy: A continent in search of skills? Aiding the twin transition through skill formation policy
Environmental Issues
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: The EU’s triple-nexus challenge: climate, conflict, democracy
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (German Council on Foreign Relations): Safeguarding international climate protection against the Trump agenda
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Heinrich Böll Foundation): Boosting participation in the energy transition: five action areas for the new EU policy cycle
Centre for European Policy Studies: Improving waste wood circularity in the EU: classification frameworks and policy options
Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies): EU carbon border tax: general equilibrium effects on income and emissions
Bruegel: How to fill the remaining gaps in pricing the emissions of the EU’s energy-intensive industries
Bruegel: Extra time for deforestation: lessons for future EU environmental legislation
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Heinrich Böll Foundation) / ECCO: The climate and security nexus in Italian foreign policy
Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques: Les enjeux sécuritaires du stress hydrique en Europe du Sud
Real Instituto Elcano (Elcano Royal Institute): Análisis del impacto del cambio climático en los recursos de energía renovable eólica y undimotriz: panorama mundial y regional
E3G / ECCO: Moving towards a holistic transition planning framework in the EU
E3G: Financing Bulgaria’s green transition: political and financial catalysts for a sustainable economy
Brookings Institution: Green stocks and monetary policys shocks: evidence from Europe
Institut Montaigne: L’Europe de l’énergie à l’heure du pragmatisme: quel nouveau cadre pour atteindre la neutralité carbone ?
Istituto Affari Internazionali: Environmental crimes and forced migration: an overlooked nexus
LUISS School of European Political Economy: United in diversity? EU core-periphery divided at the time of the green transition
Europe Jacques Delors: Finalising the global plastics treaty: key issues and steps forward
Real Instituto Elcano (Elcano Royal Institute): ¿Cauto pesimismo en torno a la COP29? – Real Instituto Elcano
Justice and Home Affairs
Real Instituto Elcano (Elcano Royal Institute): La regulación de la desinformación en el derecho digital europeo
Institute of International and European Affairs: The geopolitics of privacy policy: lessons and implications for the EU
Transport / Telecommunications / Energy
Fondation Robert Schuman: Digital legislation: convergence or divergence of models? A comparative look at the European Union, China and the United States
Real Instituto Elcano (Elcano Royal Institute): La inteligencia artificial en riesgo en la Unión Europea: no es la regulación, es la implementación
Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada: Pasado, presente y posibles futuros de la energía nuclear en España
European Centre for International Political Economy: Empires of exceptionalism: lessons from the EU AI Act and attempts at AI legislation in California
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (German Council on Foreign Relations): How Germany can improve its standing in post-quantum cryptography
Centre for European Policy Studies: Tackling the EU’s digital ambitions over the next five years
Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt (The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs): Digital borders, global ties: the EU’s dual quest for cybersecurity and digital sovereignty
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung: Creating the space for competitive and resilient digital Europe
Institut Montaigne: Achieving the EU’s energy ambitions: the need for a pragmatic governance framework
European Trade Union Institute: Twenty years after the EU’s eastward enlargement: win–win integration or deepened east– west cleavages in European shipbuilding?
RAND Europe: Risk-based AI regulation: a primer on the artificial intelligence act of the European Union
The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies: HCSS Draghi report series: expert commentary
Foreign and security policy / Defence
On foreign affairs, reports explain why the BRICS summit in Kazan should be a wake-up call for the EU, and examine the growing influence of BRICS countries in a multipolar world. All BRICS members seek to reshape global governance to provide a greater voice for the Global South and strengthen South-South cooperation. Papers explore whether Europe’s security without the United States is an imperative of the moment or a dangerous idea. They note that most European capitals have become increasingly aware of the need to address their own defence deficiencies in the face of unprecedented security challenges. Indeed, the EU’s defence industrial policy, they argue, should reconcile Europe’s strategic autonomy by strengthening the continent’s military industry and reinforcing the Atlantic Alliance. Notes suggest that the EU needs an architecture that is much stronger overall in order to respond swiftly to the consequences of wars and other emergencies affecting the EU itself and its allies. They also ask if Europe can navigate the second Donald Trump presidency in key policy issues such as European security, the economy and trade, climate, and the rule of law.
Think Tank reports on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine
Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich (Centre for Eastern Studies): Europe’s security without America: an imperative of the moment or a dangerous idea?
Bruegel: A European defence industrial strategy in a hostile world
Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques: EU defence industrial policy and strategic autonomy: how to square the circle with NATO?
Real Instituto Elcano (Elcano Royal Institute): Oriente Medio: reivindicar nuestra humanidad compartida
European Union Institute for Security Studies: Countering cyber-enabled hybrid interference in the Western Balkans
Istituto Affari Internazionali: Trump, Ukraine and Nato: two crossroads for Europe
European Council on Foreign Relations: Better firefighting: readying Europe for an age between war and peace
European Council on Foreign Relations: Brazil: Europe’s bridge to the Global South
Atlantic Council: How Sweden and Finland’s membership in NATO affects the high north
Atlantic Council: NATO needs a ‘hellscape’ defense at ‘replicator’ speed
Atlantic Council: North Macedonia: a reform agenda on the path to EU integration
RAND Europe: EU tariffs must be part of a multipronged strategy
Bruegel: A trade policy framework for the European Union-United Kingdom reset
European Council on Foreign Relations: Material world: how Europe can compete with China in the race for Africa’s critical minerals
Hertie School- Jacques Delors Centre: Welcoming Chinese FDI with open arms: and a clenched fist
Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations: Why the BRICS summit in Kazan should be a wake-up call for the EU
Istituto Affari Internazionali: International law versus realpolitik? The European Union court of justice and the Western Sahara
European Union Institute for Security Studies: Trouble in Tbilisi: how the EU should respond to Georgia’s drift towards authoritarianism
Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations: EU strategy 2025-2029: we have the instruments, now set the objectives
Centre for European Reform: Can Europe navigate Trump 2?
Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations: The politics behind the EU-Rwanda deal(s) and its consequences
Rahvusvaheline Kaitseuuringute Keskus (International Centre for Defence and Security): Narratives of external norm contenders across the EU’s eastern neighbourhood
European Think Tanks Group: EU-AU cyber cooperation: from patchwork to partnership
Österreichische Gesellschaft für Europapolitik (Austrian Society for European Politics): How the West loses public opinion in Europe’s neighbourhood
Ulkopoliittinen instituutti (Finnish Institute of International Affairs): Peace mediation in the age of geopolitical contestation
Fondation pour l’innovation politique: Central Asia: a player still largely unknown in Europe
Notre Europe – Institut Jacques Delors: Securing the Baltic: a European necessity
LUISS School of European Political Economy: Europe in the face of Trump: overcoming the pessimism
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Geopolitics and economic statecraft in the European Union
The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies: Twilight of Atlanticism? America’s shifting approaches to Europe
Global affairs
Articles explore ways to develop a coordinated US-Australian response to potential Chinese aggression, as China’s expanding military strength raises serious concerns for the United States, Australia, and their allies. They also look at China’s influence within the United Nations, and especially at the promotion of its narratives and its voting behaviour. They point to the Belt and Road Initiative which has had a far greater impact on UN discourse than any Western initiative. Briefs examine Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine, as well as the role of emerging powers like Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and South Africa, which over time, become more integrated with the global economy and have increased their share of global GDP.
Brookings Institution: The future of the US digital economy depends on equitable access to its jobs
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale: Trump 2.0, seen from Asia
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale: Between earth and stars: MENA’s strategic role in space competition
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: More than the sum of its parts: developing a coordinated US-Australian response to potential Chinese aggression
Center for Strategic and International Studies: Refocusing US public diplomacy for a multipolar world
Center for Strategic and International Studies: Crossing the deepfake Rubicon
Center for Strategic and International Studies: Regional support to address democratic backsliding in Africa
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (German Institute for Economic Research): Interest rates, convenience yields, and inflation expectations: drivers of US dollar exchange rates
Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt (The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs): No escape – On the frontlines of climate change, conflict and forced displacement
Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt (The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs): Emerging powers, the G20, and reform of multilateral institutions
Real Instituto Elcano (Elcano Royal Institute): Trump II: dominio energético y subordinación del clima
Institut français des relations internationales: L’essor du programme spatial taïwanais : construire une industrie, soutenir la sécurité nationale
Atlantic Council: Reducing US industrial emissions under budgetary uncertainty
Atlantic Council: A path forward for Colombia’s 2016 peace accord and lasting security
Atlantic Council: Avoiding entanglement G20 : responses in a Taiwan cisis
Atlantic Council: No policies, no party: four cases from Latin America
Atlantic Council: An energy and sustainability road map for the Middle East
E3G: Securing a pathway to ambition through the new collective quantified goal
European Institute of the Mediterranean: Policy impacts of the climate change conferences in the mediterranean
Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt (The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs): From possible conflict to wartime cooperation: laying the foundations of regional cooperation in the Caspian sea (2002–2018)
Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies): The jockey, horse and racetrack revisited: why did CESEE’s command economies collapse?
Rahvusvaheline Kaitseuuringute Keskus (International Centre for Defence and Security): High noon for the high north? Norway, Russia, and the Svalbard stronghold
Bruegel: China’s influence at the United Nations: words and deeds
Institut für Weltwirtschaft Kiel (Kiel Institute for the World Economy): Shooting down trade: firm-level effects of embargoes
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine isn’t a blueprint for weapons use: its primary value is manipulation
Note
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