Debates are becoming more muted as equality experts and activists learn to be silent on questions like Gaza and the illegal US and Israeli attack on Iran for fear of losing their access to much-needed EU funding. It is, as one conference participant says wryly: “The new Brussels effect”.
The EU has spent the last five years building the most ambitious digital regulatory framework on earth. It has regulated platforms, algorithms, AI models, political advertising, environmental claims, and data brokers. It has legal definitions for “very large online platforms” and “general purpose AI models.” But it doesn’t have one for “influencer” – and that’s an interesting oversight.
Calls to lift oil-related sanctions imposed on Russia to limit its war budget are now also being heard in the EU. Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán has already urged the EU “to review and lift all sanctions on Russian energy”. And he may not be the only EU leader thinking along similar lines.
“Law is stronger than force”, said Ursula von der Leyen on Greenland. Last week, the EU rightly stressed once more the illegality of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Four days later the US and Israel attacked Iran and the EU forgot about international law.
Usually, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s Facebook posts earn him an endless stream of insults, cynical comments and worse. But this time it was different.
Europe’s push for an “Airbus of payments” reflects real fears of foreign control, but the political discourse is not getting the diagnosis right. True sovereignty lies not in replacing Visa and Mastercard, but in fostering interoperable European alternatives that compete, writes Judith Arnal.
At their ‘leaders’ retreat’, we are seeing the curtailing of EU democracy in the name of saving Europe’s economy. They should be unleashing citizens’ demand for a stronger, independent Europe.
The new EU narrative on India reflects a modesty, pragmatism and flexibility that has long been absent from its dealings with the Global South. The unhelpful habit of dividing the world into democracies and autocracies is fading, replaced by a grudging acknowledgement that the EU is a middle-sized power which must work harder to find its place in a multipolar world, writes Shada Islam.
Or maybe we should ask a harder question: what if the goal is not to actually communicate – but just to be seen trying?
The exhibitionist display of raw power is no longer Russia’s alone. As the United States drifts toward “might is right” governance, a necropolitical oligarchy takes hold — one that only a politically unified Europe might counter, argues Anton Shekhovtsov.
I started the year by fulfilling a big wish: visiting Ukraine. So, I visited Lviv. It was a good choice. It gave me a clue what 2026 is about.
What Vladimir Putin cannot achieve on the battlefield and in Russian factories due to incompetence and corruption, he is trying to achieve instead by offering American companies and politicians fat contracts and huge profits, writes Caroline de Gruyter.
In 2025, uncertainty became the dominant buzzword in economic debates — but that does not mean policymakers can afford to stop looking ahead. On the contrary, identifying the key economic fault lines that will shape 2026 is now more important than ever, writes economics columnist Judith Arnal.
Somehow, people are under the impression EUobserver is a way larger organisation that it actually is.
A Europe that trades away its founding principles risks fulfilling Donald Trump’s cruel prophecy of becoming little more than another middle-sized power with a shrinking economy, an ageing population, and rapidly declining influence beyond its borders, writes Shada Islam.
What distinguishes the current review is its conceptual ambition — floating the idea of ending lifelong civil-service status for new hires, a move that, if extended to the whole institution, would signal a shift from a permanent, independent bureaucracy to a flexible, temporary workforce aligned with shifting political priorities, warns Alberto Alemanno.
The American part of the “peace plan” reflects the profiteering interests of real estate developer Steven Witkoff and investor Jared Kushner, both aligning neatly with Donald Trump’s own interests in wealth accumulation, writes Anton Shekhovtsov.
The significance of the EU’s so-called Democracy Shield is overrated. It represents a humdrum development of policies, but the real game of defending democracy lies elsewhere, writes columnist Michael Meyer-Resende.
Small European states now seek protection through deeper EU ties amid growing global power rivalries. The latest example is the principality of Liechtenstein. The lesson seems to be that in a larger club, you have at least some protection against tyrannical superpowers, writes EUobserver columnist Caroline de Gruyter
The temptation to burn political capital on marginal increases to the MFF is understandable — but profoundly misplaced. Even the most ambitious version of this budget will represent only a fraction of Europe’s financing needs, explains Judith Arnal.