The 44-state European Political Community (EPC), first convened in late 2022 to express unity and defiance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, meets again on 1 June. In this post STG Executive Director Fabrizio Tassinari explains how this embryonic organisation might acquire real value.

European policymakers will face four major challenges in 2023: stagflation and market fragmentation, and the green and digital transitions (in the face of the US Inflation Reduction Act). In this post, Marco Buti (European Commission) and Marcello Messori (Luiss) argue that increasing the supply of strategic European public goods is key to addressing these challenges.

In light of recent polling suggesting a substantial shift in opinion on Brexit, the EUI’s Joris Frese, Juho Härkönen and Simon Hix examine the extent to which this can be explained through ‘voter replacement’ – the phenomenon of older, Brexit-supporting voters passing away and younger, anti-Brexit voters entering the electorate.

The promised benefits of AI-assisted courts pose myriad challenges to the fundamental principle of judicial independence, explains CIVICA Visiting Scholar Giulia Gentile. Judicial data stored or processed by foreign providers, or liability regimes covering judges and technicians are just some of the devilish details.

The authors conducted a 16-country survey to identify what reforms matter most to EU citizens. They found support for existing policies on climate change, immigration and corporation tax, and some support for more institutional integration. Decision-making by unanimity is unpopular.

Analysing a survey in five EU countries, Research Fellows Ioana-Elena Oana and Alexandru Moise find Hungarians and Poles to have the widest disagreement about EU membership for Ukraine and about ending energy dependence on Russia.

The EU’s Strategic Compass for Security and Defence was approved in the midst of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. In this assessment of the Compass, Visiting Fellow Michael Sanfey underlines the challenges of internal coordination and external cooperation, and regrets the lack of clarity on the EU’s peaceful raison d’être.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, there is much talk of ‘smart sanctions’ – those with a strong impact on Russia but a low cost for the EU. Visiting Schuman Fellow Daniel Gros argues that a tariff on imports of gas might be smartest sanction of all.

In this post, law researcher Marc Steiert argues that the EU needs to go beyond study exchanges and the Erasmus programme, if young people are to shape their future as a European one.

The granting of residency or citizenship in exchange for investment is an established – and legal – practice in many states, but it sits uneasily with ‘European values’ as usually promoted. Policy Leader Fellow Anna Patricia Valerio looks into how these schemes are evolving during the COVID-19 pandemic.