Publications Archive

On April 25, President Emmanuel Macron delivered his second Sorbonne speech, following on from the one he gave on September 26, 2017. Longer, richer in concrete proposals, and deploying maximum ambition for the European Union, commentators hesitate to qualify his target: is it his party's potential voters for the upcoming European elections, the European Parliament, or is it above all his European partners? We would argue here that, while the speech obviously has electoral repercussions, particularly given its high content of proposals, it is above all a speech designed to challenge the Member States, as was already the case in 2017.

The EU is in rough waters between the USA, China and the global South. Added to this is the war in Ukraine. In an eight-part series, cep looks at the challenges for the period after the European elections.

The EU faces fateful years. In an eight-part series of articles, the Centres for European Policy Network (cep) aims to draw attention to the pressing issues and developments that will have a decisive impact on the EU beyond the day-to-day political and regulatory matters in the run-up to the important and trend-setting European elections on 9 June.

Italy recently held regional elections that could have a major impact on European politics as a whole. The elections in Sardinia and Abruzzo have confirmed the strength of the Italian centre-right coalition. However, the right is in a difficult position as it maintains a blatant ambivalence between the anti-European, pro-Trump and pro-Putin positions of Matteo Salvini's Lega and the increasingly pro-EU, pro-NATO and pro-Ukraine positions of Prime Minister Meloni in recent times.

Times are getting increasingly difficult for European security. Russia is becoming more and more aggressive on the Ukrainian front and elsewhere – including cyberspace with disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks. The US is unable to vote for more Ukrainian military aid, although it has been providing most of it in recent years.

Italy is set to become the European hub for energy supplies from Africa in the coming years. To this end, the Meloni government has drawn up an ambitious plan for a strategic partnership with the African continent. Eleonora Poli from Centro Politiche Europee | Roma (cep) has examined the "Piano Mattei" and sees it as an opportunity to promote economic development in Africa.

Growing migration flows have become one of the most pressing political issues in the European Union. Despite the recent compromise reached by the member states, a solution to the problem is not in sight. The Centre for European Policy (cep) considers the EU's so-called asylum pact to be unrealistic and unfinanceable.

At just 34, Gabriel Attal becomes the youngest Prime Minister of France since the beginning of Republics, in 1792. Emmanuel Macron wants to use his "energy" and "commitment" to implement his "rearmament" and "regeneration" project imagined for the second part of his second term in office. His mission will be a difficult one: he must lead the government and the presidential majority through a new electoral cycle (European and municipal elections), get laws passed in the Parliament without any absolute majority, keep on getting along with President Macron, but also strengthen the country sufficiently such that the far right does not win the 2027 presidential elections. Not to mention the surprises that are bound to happen. If he succeeds despite all these pitfalls, he will then have a chance of becoming the next President of the French Republic.

Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia: for years, the countries of the Western Balkans (WB6) have been striving to join the European Union. For just as long, the EU has been stalling them, citing rule-of-law and economic deficits. The Centre for European Policy (cep) considers this hesitation dangerous in view of the geopolitically tense situation for Europe and therefore pleads for a quick admission - under changed institutional conditions.

Poland and Hungary are increasingly abusing the EU's unanimity principle to block decisions and enforce their own benefits. With attacks on the rule of law, they undermine European values and ultimately the sovereignty of the EU. There are hardly any remedies in sight. Ejection from the EU is just as difficult to implement as an "EU 2.0", as a study by the Centre for European Policy (cep) shows.