In NATO’s new strategic concept, which was adopted in Madrid yesterday, China appears as a “challenge” for the first time. Although NATO had already classified the People’s Republic as a “systemic challenge” previously, this is now also stated in the paper that will determine the course of the next ten years. Stephan Israel analyzed what […]
From the Bavarian city of Elmau, where the G7 summit ended yesterday with an urgent appeal to China to convince Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine, we now head straight to Madrid, Spain, for the NATO summit. On the menu there: “Russian Salad”. The name of the dish made of peas, potatoes, carrots, and […]
Ukraine and Moldova became official candidates for membership in the European Union yesterday. This is a – albeit expected – bang for the buck and an “historic decision,” as was said several times at the EU summit in Brussels. and what about the Western Balkans? At the preceding informal meeting of the heads of state […]
Today, the heads of state and government of the EU and the Western Balkan countries are meeting in Brussels to discuss the next round of EU enlargement. On the agenda of the EU summit are, of course, the membership applications of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. Eric Bonse and Till Hoppe give an overview of what […]
It is quite telling that when Brigitte Knopf, Secretary-General at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), is asked what her favorite pub was during her studies in Marburg, she first thinks of the small book café down by the little Lahn river – and not of a tavern. Knopf, born […]
After Marine Le Pen’s jab from the right during the presidential elections in April, Emmanuel Macron now takes a left hook from Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left-wing alliance and as a result, the center alliance lost its absolute majority of seats in parliament in yesterday’s elections. This will likely make it more difficult for Macron to implement […]
It was clear words that the heads of government Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, Mario Draghi, and Klaus Iohannis had in their luggage on their trip to Kyiv yesterday: They will support Ukraine’s immediate candidacy status to join the EU. Among the German population, however, the picture is different, as a survey by the opinion research […]
Yesterday, the Russian energy company Gazprom further curtailed gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline. Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck suspects that the reasons given for the delays of the repairs of gas compressors may be a ruse and fears further reductions: “It may just be getting started,” he said in Berlin. […]
MEPs of the Environment and Economics Committees in the European Parliament celebrated their vote yesterday as an “important milestone victory”: They voted by a majority against the inclusion of nuclear power and natural gas in the EU taxonomy. Members of both committees had objected to the Commission’s plan. My colleague Leonie Düngefeld explains what happens […]
Following the EU Commission’s controversial decision to include gas and nuclear power in the taxonomy and thus classify them as green, the debate now turns to mining. It is said, in order to prevent potential supply problems, European mining projects would need to be subsidized. But environmental groups are skeptical, writes Leonie Düngefeld.It will be […]