iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 4h

The signage right now outside the 🇪🇺EU's foreign office. Implied: unlike 🇺🇸

Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 4h

Tonight I'll be interviewing 🇪🇺Commission Vice President @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu at the @feps-europe.eu policy conference - asking her whether sustainability and sovereignty are compatible European goals. More info here: feps-europe.eu/event/toward...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 10h

Best part: "'My wallet was stolen and my Italian ID was inside,' she said. With a looming holiday, she contacted the Italian embassy to ask what she needed to do, but to her frustration quickly realised that it would be faster to gain Belgian citizenship than to wait for a remade Italian ID."

brusselstimes.com

Why so many Italians are getting Belgian nationality

Belgium appears to be an easy place for Italians to come and be themselves. Many of those who do, love it and choose to formally become Belgian. But why?

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 10h

Ha I'm one of these 11,289 Italian citizens who got Belgian citizenship in 2024. For me it was about having an EU passport from the country I actually have a connection with. Italy ended its ancestry citizenship hand-outs last year, a decision I support.

brusselstimes.com

Why so many Italians are getting Belgian nationality

Belgium appears to be an easy place for Italians to come and be themselves. Many of those who do, love it and choose to formally become Belgian. But why?

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 11h

Today at noon I'll be chairing a panel including former 🇧🇪PM Guy Verhofstadt talking about next steps for creating an independent European defence capable of resisting Russia without US help. Register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Tiago Dias @tiagodf.bsky.social · 21h

Netanyahu is suing Haaretz and other media outlets and journalists following a Haaretz report earlier this month that said Netanyahu disregarded a warning by UAE President bin Zayed about a looming attack by Hamas just ahead of Oct. 7, 2023

haaretz.com

Netanyahu files libel suit against Haaretz over exposé on warning before Oct. 7

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 22h

There is not any such mechanism. Because any time there has been an attempt to create one, it is shot down for fear of "undermining NATO" (ie, undermining the American protection).

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 29/09/2026

I'll be chairing a panel with (among others) former 🇧🇪PM @guyverhofstadt.bsky.social on the European command & control possibilities that Europe's Atlanticists are still blocking - tomorrow at noon in Brussels. Register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 29/09/2026

The word "massively" is doing a lot of work here. There's still no independent European command & control, and no movement toward creating one. That means 🇪🇺🇬🇧 remain dependent on 🇺🇸 organising this continent's defence in the event of a 🇷🇺 attack - no matter how much Europeans raise defence spending.

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John Sipher @johnsipher.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

How embarrassing 😳

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The Times - which has v much joined in the rightwing clamour to reduce immigration - now reporting that Mahmood’s “success” has cost the economy £4- to £7Bn. Would they like to now honestly confirm that fewer people = less spending power for all. There’s a high price to pay for this nasty obsession.

Patrick Maguire
Chief Political Commentator Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Falling migration numbers could cost the chancellor as much as £7bn in fiscal headroom as he writes his first budget, The Times has been told.
Government insiders believe that John Healey, who already faced an uphill battle to balance the books next month, is likely to have an even bigger challenge after immigration undershot projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimated last month that the success of Shabana
Mahmood's
reforms, which have cut net migration to the low hundreds of thousands, could cost Healey some £4bn.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 27/09/2026

Half of EU countries have launched an “Alliance for the Reduction of the Bureaucratic Burden”, with calls for a one-year pause on EU lawmaking. It is a panicked and counter-productive move from governments that do not have real ideas for fixing Europe's problems.

davekeating.substack.com

Want to fix EU bureaucracy? Give more power to Brussels

13 EU countries have this week asked for a one-year pause on new EU laws. But if they really want to reduce bureaucracy, they should just ask for a ban on EU directives.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 25/09/2026

By then it would be too late. We'll all be learning Russian.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 25/09/2026

And yet it could still sucessfully invade the EU tomorrow if the US chooses not to defend Europe, because Europeans don't have their own unitedd command and control structure and rely on 🇺🇸-led NATO. Without 🇪🇺independent defence, Russia will always have the upper hand without 🇺🇸protection.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 25/09/2026

For Europeans, there is no path to sovereignty and independence from 🇺🇸🇷🇺🇨🇳 that goes outside the European Union. The far-right parties telling you otherwise are selling you a fantasy. There's a reason 🇺🇸🇷🇺🇨🇳 are amplifying their message.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 24/09/2026

As @pellechristy.bsky.social wrote, there's a pattern here and it's causing more and more problems in Brussels. "🇪🇺 might want to start asking itself how to deal with a Commission President that not only decides to go rogue on an issue such as this, but clearly even feels entirely entitled to do so"

encompass-europe.com

We need to talk about Ursula von der Leyen…

From going rogue on offers of a new and undefined “associate EU-membership” without seemingly consulting anyone, or even defining what it is; over trade negotiations without…

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 24/09/2026

...but what happens when the world sees the term has been dropped at next month's 🇪🇺🇨🇦 summit? It could look like a win for Trump, who threatened retaliation if they go through with this "hostile act". That then looks like weakness, and could dampen enthusiasm for the actual alliance 🇨🇦 wanted.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 24/09/2026

Yes, I was partially making this argument as well last week. Only time will tell whether this fake offer of EU "associate membership" was worth it for the headlines. It was a bold move that got global attention, particularly from the White House, and it showed 🇨🇦🇪🇺 aren't Fing around. But...

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The European Union is tightening the regulatory backdoor through which US automakers have been quietly importing around 7k large SUVs and pickup trucks/year. “The revised rules, expected to launch in 2027, are designed to close loopholes that Brussels says allow unsafe vehicles onto European roads.”

europesays.com

Too big for Europe: America's pickup trucks became a trade war flashpoint - EUROPE SAYS

America loves its pickup trucks. The Ford F-150, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, the Ram 1500: these are not merely vehicles. They are cultural monuments on

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 24/09/2026

Associate membership was not an “EU proposal”, as it was described in outside-the-bubble media, but rather a von der Leyen improvisation during her State of the Union Speech. She has a habit of making these headline-grabbing unilateral proposals – and then not following up on them.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 24/09/2026

As predicted, talk of “associate membership” for Canada will already be dropped by the time of the EU-Canada summit in Montreal next month. europemorningpost.substack.com/p/canada-the...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 23/09/2026

But this strikes me as European exceptionalism. The states of India were fighting each other for centuries. Now they are together in a union. Should they each have a veto over the foreign policy decisions of India Nobody would think that is a good or necessary thing for 🇮🇳. So why for 🇪🇺?

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Anthony Zacharzewski @anthonyzach.be · 23/09/2026

Fire insurance now only available to houses already on fire.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 23/09/2026

A clip from my interview with The European Republic podcast this week. Listen to the full podcast here: open.spotify.com/episode/5F9d...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 22/09/2026

"Telling Europeans they should pool sovereignty without first being honest with them about how dependent they are on America is like telling someone to start chemotherapy before telling them they have cancer." An interview about my book The Owned Continent with The European Republic podcast:

youtu.be

Europe Is Awake — But It Still Doesn't Get Out of Bed | Dave Keating on European Federalism

YouTube video by The European Republic with Nikodem Skrobisz

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 22/09/2026

Europeans never believe me when I tell them this is the state the US is in right now, but here it is. 59% of these Democrats polled are so fearful of what's coming that they would support a military coup to safeguard the constitution.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 21/09/2026

The EU is extending its Russian sanctions for three years - but with two key oligarchs removed at the request of France and Luxembourg. The reasons for the removals are nebulous, and Kyiv says the EU is playing into Russia's hands.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 21/09/2026

But the EU isn't an "alliance". It's a confederation. It has a legislature, it makes laws. It has many of the features of a country. Yes 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇧🇮🇹etc all need to wake up that they're middle powers on their own. But the whole point is they're *already* in a union that is *not* a middle power.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 21/09/2026

Pascal is spot on here as usual. Talk of a “middle powers alliance” between 🇨🇦&🇪🇺 doesn’t make sense because the EU is not a middle power. An alliance between a confederation of 452 million and a confederation of 41 million people, on two different continents. pascallth.substack.com/p/what-carne...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 21/09/2026

It is so depressing that, at this critical time for the EU, centrist governments are pulling on familiar populist EU-bashing levers instead of real solutions. This is a non-solution to Europe's problems. But non-solutions are all our leaders can muster right now.

caliber.az

EU countries call for 12-month pause on new legislation | Caliber.Az

Austria and 10 other European Union countries have called for a 12-month pause on the adoption of new EU legislation, proposing a “year of simplification” to reduce...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 21/09/2026

Tomorrow evening I'll be speaking with the European Journalism Initiative at the Brussels Press Club about my book The Owned Continent and how we can create a robust pan-European journalism space. More info here: theownedcontinent.eu/events

theownedcontinent.eu

Europe in transition: in conversation with Dave Keating | The Owned Continent

The EU Journalism Initiative will host a conversation with veteran journalist Dave Keating about his book The Owned Continent and how a robust pan-European journalism space can be created.

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Chris Cummins @christianccummins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This summer, in #Europe our #river system wrote its own warning sign and gave the clearest possible argument for why the #restoration work underway across it matters more, not less, in a hotter, drier future. via @fm4.orf.at fearturing comments from @wwf.at's Lisa Wolf fm4.orf.at/story/amazon...

fm4.orf.at

A River System on the Edge

Five years ago, the Mura, Drava and Danube became the world’s first five-country UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This summer, record drought showed exactly why that matters.

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Florian Foos @florianfoos.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Now more likely than not that the CDU will fail to cross the 5% threshold in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. This is consistent with the ongoing count.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 20/09/2026

Macron's protégé has called for a United States of Europe as the only way for Europeans to have sovereignty, embracing Draghi's prescription of a two-speed Europe if outer countries aren't ready to go along. Can it make him stand out in a crowded race?

davekeating.substack.com

Gabriel Attal is running as France’s federalist presidential candidate

The nation-states of Europe face a choice: be voting members of a United States of Europe, or be non-voting vassals of the United States of America.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 19/09/2026

🙄It wasn't Carney's offer, it was President von der Leyen's offer. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 18/09/2026

Former French PM and presidential candidate Gabriel Attal is outlining a stark choice facing the individual nation-states of Europe. They can either be voting members of a United States of Europe. Or they can be non-voting vassals of the United States of America.

euractiv.com

Time to build United States of Europe, says France's Attal | Euractiv

Attal says Ursula von der Leyen’s EU is moving too slowly and failing to deliver

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 18/09/2026

euractiv.com

Time to build United States of Europe, says France's Attal | Euractiv

Attal says Ursula von der Leyen’s EU is moving too slowly and failing to deliver

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Todd Buell @toddbuell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Taking the occasion on a quiet Friday afternoon to promote our EU Journalism Initiative event on Sept. 22 in Brussels featuring veteran journalist @davekeating.substack.com. More info here: www.pressclub.be/event/panel-...

pressclub.be

Panel Discussion EU Journalism Initiative (EUJI): Europe in Transition: Politics, Geopolitics and the Changing Media Landscape | Press Club Brussels Europe

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 18/09/2026

The final results from Sunday's Sweden election are finally in. The centre-left bloc has won - but only by a hair. But as I wrote on Monday, though the vote share for the far-right SD went slightly down, half of people voted for them to be in government: davekeating.substack.com/p/half-of-sw...

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 18/09/2026

This morning I spoke to CNN's Ivan Watson about what the new EU-Canada alliance is – and what it isn't. Bottom line: this is happening because of Donald Trump's threats to both unions, who are both dangerously dependent on the United States.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 18/09/2026

🇨🇦PM Mark Carney got a standing ovation in the 🇪🇺Parliament yesterday, but not everyone was pleased to see him. The far right was not happy, and someone yelled out "U-S-A! U-S-A!" as Carney took the podium. Here's what Carney said he wants from this new 🇪🇺🇨🇦 alliance:

youtu.be

Von der Leyen goes out on a limb with "associate membership" idea for Canada

YouTube video by Dave Keating

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