A fresh scramble for influence is under way across Eurasia, but no new superpower bloc is ready to replace the US-led order. China, Russia, India and Turkey all want more room to manoeuvre, yet each is boxed in by rivalries, economic limits and clashing strategic interests.

Germany’s old image as Europe’s stable, wealthy anchor is cracking fast. Friedrich Merz is struggling with dire approval ratings, infighting inside his CDU and an economy that has barely grown for six years. Meanwhile, the AfD is closing in on real political power as mainstream parties fail to offer voters a convincing route out.

Europe wants sovereign satellites, secure communications, stronger defence constellations and less dependence on foreign space giants. The RFI report shows the brutal catch: by 2030, the continent may not have enough rockets to launch what it says it needs.

Europe’s extreme weather is no longer just an environmental problem. The Modern Diplomacy analysis argues that wildfires, floods, droughts and heatwaves are becoming a direct threat to public budgets – and governments are still treating them too much like one-off emergencies.

The EU’s new Migration and Asylum Pact was supposed to show that Europe had finally built a tougher, clearer and more predictable system. Then Ceuta happened. The EPC analysis argues that the Spanish enclave has become the first real stress test of the post-Pact era – and the early signs are not reassuring.

NATO is preparing for war with Russia, but CEPA warns that one of the Alliance’s biggest vulnerabilities sits outside the traditional battlefield. Europe’s ports, railways, energy grids, undersea cables, pipelines, satellite links and digital networks are now part of deterrence – and too many remain exposed.

Greece is no longer just buying French weapons. The ISDP brief argues that Athens is becoming a test case for Europe’s defence pillar – a country using French arms, French political guarantees and deeper industrial cooperation to build deterrence in the Eastern Mediterranean.