Threads

European Union

The EU faces populist challenges to its liberal foundations, a recalibrated Green Deal, and competitiveness concerns, all against a backdrop of constant sovereignty negotiations between Brussels and member states.

Brussels vs capitals — EU integration

Sovereignty within the European Union is not static; it is continuously contested and renegotiated through legal rulings, treaty interpretations, and political crises, with competences shifting between Brussels and national capitals.

Updated 10h ago28 new

The Green Deal under revision

The EU's climate agenda has formally pivoted from legislative expansion to a phase of implementation, simplification, and competitiveness-driven recalibration, marking a strategic retreat from new regulatory ambition.

Updated 10h ago

The ageing Union's economy

Europe's economic competitiveness is under pressure from low productivity, weak investment, demographic decline, and the cost of the green transition, with the Draghi and Letta reports framing the debate on whether the EU can keep pace with the US and China.

Updated 4h ago

European democracies and populism

Populist and anti-liberal political forces are gaining institutional ground within the European Union, testing and at times reshaping the boundaries of liberal democracy through electoral victories, legal challenges, and conflicts with EU frameworks.

Updated 4h ago

World

From the Middle East to Ukraine, and from Brussels to Washington, global powers are hardening their positions through tariffs, stalled diplomacy, and military stalemates.

China and the West — decoupling

The strategic de-risking of Western economies from China is an ongoing, multi-faceted process involving tariffs, export controls, and investment screening, with its effectiveness and consequences still being determined.

Updated 4h ago

The war in Ukraine and its limits

The war in Ukraine remains a protracted conflict defined by positional warfare, but it is increasingly framed by Western leaders as the initial stage of a longer-term strategic confrontation with Russia, necessitating accelerated military preparedness and institutionalized, multi-year support for Kyiv.

Updated 10h ago

The Middle East after Gaza

The Gaza war has accelerated a fundamental realignment of Middle Eastern power, shifting influence from traditional centers like Egypt and Syria towards the Gulf states, while simultaneously forcing regional and European powers to negotiate a new, post-conflict security architecture for critical chokepoints and alliances.

Updated 4h ago27 new

The US under Trump — second term

US foreign policy under the Trump administration is shifting decisively from multilateralism toward a doctrine of transactional bilateral bargaining, placing significant pressure on established alliances, trade relationships, and global institutions.

Updated 4h ago

Other

The EU's new legal frameworks for AI, migration, climate adaptation, and digital platforms are colliding with urgent external pressures and internal political tensions during their first high-stakes implementation phase.

Demography and migration

An ageing Europe faces a structural need for labour immigration to sustain its economy and welfare systems, yet political sentiment across member states remains deeply sceptical, creating a persistent and widening policy gap.

Updated 3h ago

AI — capabilities, regulation, labour

Models are learning faster than the institutions behind them can adapt. The thread tracks frontier-model capability jumps, the AI Act and its enforcement, labour-market impact, and infrastructure (chips, energy, water).

Updated 4h ago32 new

Climate — from mitigation to adaptation

The world has crossed the 1.5°C warming threshold, forcing a pivotal narrative shift from solely preventing climate change to urgently adapting to its irreversible impacts, with the EU grappling to implement coherent policies amid escalating crises.

Updated 4h ago23 new

Culture, media and the new divides

The European information ecosystem is under strain from collapsing traditional media business models, algorithmic-driven polarisation, and the unchecked rise of AI-generated content, while regulators scramble to impose order and courts grapple with defining new boundaries for speech and accountability.

Updated 22h agoImportant