The commentary frames Europe as standing at a critical stress point where democratic resilience is no longer an abstract ideal but a live security issue. Elections, institutions and public trust are under pressure from disinformation, polarisation and foreign interference. The piece argues that Europe talks confidently about defending democracy, yet the shield it relies on is thinner, slower and more uneven than leaders admit.

The website of the Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB) has posted the January issue of its CIDOB Opinion newsletter containing an article “How Europe can reduce dependence on the United States” by Francis Ghilès, the Center’s non-resident Senior Fellow.

The analysis takes a close look at the principles guiding German foreign policy and exposes a widening gap between aspiration and impact. Berlin speaks the language of responsibility, multilateralism and restraint. The problem, the piece argues, is that these principles increasingly look like comfort blankets in a world that rewards speed, leverage and hard choices. What once sounded virtuous now risks sounding evasive.

The analysis tears into the EU’s handling of trade policy and finds a familiar pattern of overconfidence followed by underdelivery. Faced with a tougher global trade environment, Brussels talked up strategic autonomy and defensive tools. What it delivered instead was delay, confusion and diluted action. The piece argues that Europe did not just struggle to respond – it actively mishandled the moment.

There is a so-called circular migration programme (also known as collective migration) that has been used in Spain for many years. Officially it is called Gestión Colectiva de las contrataciones en Origen (Collective Management of Recruitment at Origin) or GECCO. The programme is often presented as an advanced one. The European Commission even took the “Spanish model” as the basis for drawing up the EU’s directive on seasonal workers.

The analysis takes stock of Europe’s position one hundred days into Donald Trump’s return to the White House and finds a Union talking geopolitics while bracing for turbulence it cannot control. The EU wants to act like a strategic power, but Trump’s early moves expose how thin that ambition still is. The piece argues that Europe is navigating the storm with limited instruments, fragile unity and heavy dependence on decisions made in Washington.

The analysis delivers a blunt assessment of Europe’s China policy and finds a continent stuck in the middle with shrinking room to manoeuvre. Brussels talks about de-risking, resilience and strategic realism. In practice, Europe remains deeply entangled with China economically while lacking the power or unity to shape the relationship on its own terms. The paper argues that Europe is trying to manage a rivalry it did not choose, with tools that are not strong enough.

The analysis delivers a stark diagnosis of a quiet but consequential shift in EU thinking. Human security, once held up as a guiding idea that put people at the centre of policy, is fading fast. In its place comes a harder, narrower focus on borders, deterrence and state power. The piece argues that Europe is not openly rejecting its values, but steadily sidelining them under pressure.

On January 29, the Breugel (Brussels European and Global Economic Laboratory) think tank published on their web site a policy brief entitled “Better regulation in the European Union needs a fresh start”, by Anne Bucher and Elizabeth Golberg.

The commentary delivers a stark wake-up call to Europe after Donald Trump’s military strike and capture of Venezuela’s president. What should have been a distant regional event has immediate geopolitical recoil for the EU. The piece argues that Europe’s policymakers face a harsher world order where the US prioritises its own strategic agenda, ignores international norms and uses force with growing ease.

The analysis takes aim at Europe’s growing unease with its own democratic model and asks an uncomfortable question – is the EU trying to protect democracy, or quietly reinvent it to survive political stress. The piece argues that Europe is no longer confident that existing democratic rules can cope with polarisation, populism and external pressure. The response is not renewal through trust, but tighter control through redesign.

The analysis takes apart the quiet return of Venezuelan oil to global markets and shows why this matters far beyond Latin America. What looks like a technical energy adjustment is, in reality, a geopolitical win for the United States and a reminder of Europe’s shrinking leverage. The paper argues that Germany, in particular, is watching others reshape energy flows while having little influence over the outcome.

The analysis asks a question Europe is quietly afraid of answering – is it ready for the rise of artificial general intelligence. The answer, stripped of polite language, is no. While AGI is still emerging, the paper argues that Europe is already falling behind on the basics: investment, infrastructure, talent and governance speed. By the time AGI becomes real, Europe risks being a rule-taker in a world shaped elsewhere.