With the news of Germany and Austria halting Syrian asylum applications at the same time as EEAS declares that it does not communicate with HTS and waits to assess “actions, not only words”, the EU is again signaling timidity, incoherence, and no sense of opportunity. A shame

The draft program of the new Lithuanian govt includes a point that LT is “convinced the present EU institutional framework and decision making processes are not adequate for the new geopolitical reality” and pledges to support the expansion of QMV. 1/

A claim I see regularly is that EU digital regulations prevented a European tech giant (Amazon/Meta/Alphabet, etc.) from emerging. Yet all the tech giants cited emerge well before all the digital regulations cited.

As I've been saying for a long time, the most imp question regarding 🇪🇺geopolitical priorities actually revolves around the question of EU fiscal space. The consensus in 🇪🇺 was this would have to wait until the next MFF. Trump 2.0 now makes more urgent action necessary

www.ft.com/content/dd73...

with DOGE in the US and the Commisssion’s “simplification” agenda we’re entering the 3rd wave of “let’s make govt efficient” of the postwar era (following McNamara/ENA boys and NPM). Yet, except for AI, the new wave brings no novel approaches or methods of governance — can it be constructive at all?

The Centrum Balticum Foundation published the latest issue of the #BalticRimEconomies review, which includes my commentary on how the Baltic Sea region can set an example for open industrial policy required to deliver on the emerging transatlantic economic security agenda