The European maritime area, our ocean, is a critical domain where economy, sustainability, culture and security intersect. At the same time, EU ocean governance is deeply fragmented along the lines of national jurisdictions, sectoral agendas and investment priorities.

The Commission’s pre-enlargement policy reviews are expected this autumn, three years after the Granada Declaration and several missed dates later. Their content is unknown but their form is not – and that is already telling.

On 25 September, the members of the new Dutch party ‘Progressief Nederland’ (PRO), founded as a merger between GroenLinks (the Dutch Greens) and the Social Democrats, decided in a party ballot join the Party of European Socialists (PES). Progressief Nederland’s choice cost the European Greens one of their founding parties. The merger was initially embraced as an example of further collaboration between the Greens and PES, but it ended chaotically, with both European parties campaigning to win PRO. This puts future collaboration under pressure and shows the limits of the European party system.

Fifteen years ago, mass demonstrations across Spain culminated in thousands of people occupying Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square. The Indignados movement helped inspire mobilisations across Europe and Occupy Wall Street by pitting the “people” against the “casta”, the “one per cent” or the “elites”. This political division was then adopted by the populist parties on the left and right that greatly upended the political establishment.

The Commission’s proposal could make cross-border work easier and more transparent. However, the EU must address the structural conditions that lead to vulnerabilities and labour shortages.

With the opposition jailed, exiled, excluded or dead, the ruling United Russia party’s “victory” in the September 18–20 Duma elections was a foregone conclusion. The Kremlin will use the result to claim public backing for its war in Ukraine and a mandate to further escalate.

The explosives-laden drones discovered near a runway at Leipzig/Halle Airport and the recent attack on a Warsaw-bound train just kilometres from the Ukrainian–Polish border point toward a new escalation in Russia’s behaviour toward Europe.

Amid high attention on migration in the EU, recent political debates have focused on the integration and inclusion of newcomers across member states. Diverse regional experiences with integrating third-country nationals suggest different levels of support for more liberal or more restrictive immigration policies. While Western European models have commonly explained immigration attitudes through left–right ideological stances, recent research on public attitudes suggests that such frameworks do not translate seamlessly into Central and Eastern European contexts. Rather, restrictive attitudes tend to vary due to political environments, historical immigration trajectories, social determinants and dominant migration narratives.

Donald Trump has inadvertently done Europe and Canada a favour. By describing Canada becoming an Associate Member of the EU as potentially “hostile” and threatening retaliation, he has shown that the initiative matters.

From the UK to Japan, so many countries need to quickly be brought inside the European tent without the rigours of full membership, says economist Fabian Zuleeg

State of the European Union SOTEU

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address comes at a moment when the EU is once again navigating overlapping challenges — from security pressures and industrial competitiveness to the political turbulence shaping the transatlantic relationship.

From the UK to Japan, so many countries need to quickly be brought inside the European tent without the rigours of full membership, says economist Fabian Zuleeg

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address comes at a moment when the EU is once again navigating overlapping challenges — from security pressures and industrial competitiveness to the political turbulence shaping the transatlantic relationship.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address comes at a moment when the EU is once again navigating overlapping challenges — from security pressures and industrial competitiveness to the political turbulence shaping the transatlantic relationship.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address comes at a moment when the EU is once again navigating overlapping challenges — from security pressures and industrial competitiveness to the political turbulence shaping the transatlantic relationship.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address comes at a moment when the EU is once again navigating overlapping challenges — from security pressures and industrial competitiveness to the political turbulence shaping the transatlantic relationship.

Tactical compliance without genuine reform

Yet the AfD missed an absolute majority. With 39 projected seats, it falls short of the 42 needed to govern alone. This single fact prevents an immediate far-right takeover of the Landesregierung. However, if the AfD  supports or tolerates a minority government, it would still indirectly shape the state’s position in the Bundesrat, where the government as a whole casts the vote and coalition partners must agree on a unified stance for each dossier. The immediate institutional impact on EU decision-making is therefore limited for now. But the political impact is profound at the regional, national and European level.

In subsequent regional elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin on 20 September 2026, the party is again likely to score highly, but building coalitions to form the next governments is likely to be easier.

In subsequent regional elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin on 20 September 2026, the party is again likely to score highly, but building coalitions to form the next governments is likely to be easier.

Life expectancies across the EU continue to rise: by 2100, the European Commission projects they could exceed 90. Healthy life expectancy, however, has not kept pace – meaning citizens spend more years in poor health. As the demographic transition reshapes EU labour markets, care systems and public budgets alike, this gap between lifespan and “healthspan” risks becoming a central political pressure point.

Canada is offering Europe a lesson in how to deal with Donald Trump: economic dependence does not have to mean political submission.

In this paper, Andrew Duff looks again at the dual challenge facing the European Union of enlarging its membership and reforming its government. Despite its rhetorical support for enlargement, the European Council is floundering. It falls to the Commission of President Ursula von der Leyen now to deliver on its promises to speed enlargement, enhance security and strengthen EU government. The Commission might also learn how to campaign for Europe at elections and referendums.

Icelanders have spoken, by a margin of 52.8% to 47.2%, they rejected even reopening EU accession negotiations. Yet this was hardly a vote against European integration.

Moreover, AI is driven by both economic and political incentives. Greater European compute capacity would strengthen Europe’s ability to govern how data is used. It would provide alternatives to US big tech platforms shaped by Silicon Valley values.

The Ceuta incident not only underscores that the EU cannot afford internal divisions and tensions over migration. As a first stress test following the Pact reforms, it highlights the need for further investments into implementation and doubling down on achieving greater CEAS resilience.

The EU will issue a new Arctic strategy in autumn 2026, a few months after Germany warned, again, that Russia could attack NATO territory before 2029 – an assessment broadly shared across NATO and the EU. That attack could come in the Arctic or the Baltic Sea region, or in both simultaneously. Both already face infrastructure sabotage, aerial and maritime incursions, and cyberattacks – exposing vulnerabilities across Europe’s northern flank.

Today's geopolitical conflicts are fought not only with missiles, sanctions and tariffs but also through competing versions of reality. The battle is no longer simply over how facts should be interpreted. Increasingly, it is over whether facts exist at all.

The EU sets high green standards but too often fails to enforce them — weakening them under pressure and leaving them unenforceable beyond its borders. Its multilateral credibility depends on closing that gap.

As Ukrainian strikes expose growing vulnerabilities deep inside Russia, Europe should ramp up its support for Ukraine to create the conditions under which Putin concludes he cannot win militarily in Ukraine, and that a  negotiated settlement is preferable to a prolonged conflict.