Europe is preparing a massive military spending drive, but more money does not automatically mean a stronger European defence industry. An IRIS assessment warns that the EU’s ReArm Europe plan could accelerate weapons purchases and expand production without solving the fragmentation that has weakened European military manufacturing for decades.

The international system Europe helped build is coming apart, but Brussels is struggling to adapt. An ECFR commentary warns that the world is moving beyond familiar rules and institutions into something more dangerous – a global landscape where countries increasingly act without any shared framework.

Europe is pouring resources into military rearmament, but a dangerous gap is opening beyond NATO’s borders. A RIEAS analysis warns that Washington’s dismantling of USAID is weakening Western influence across Africa, Asia and fragile states just as China and Russia expand their presence.

The EU wants its next long-term budget to do more than finance programmes – it also wants to defend democracy and the rule of law. But the Centre for European Reform raises a difficult question: can Brussels use financial pressure to confront governments that undermine democratic institutions without hurting the citizens it claims to protect?

Europe is running out of workers – and its next enlargement could provide part of the answer. CEPS warns that shrinking working-age populations and rapid ageing are putting growing pressure on European businesses, public services and economic growth.

Europe is quietly building a new layer of strategic insurance – and Canada is moving closer to the centre of it. GMF argues that the EU-Canada relationship is becoming more important as Washington grows less predictable, transatlantic trade tensions rise and Europeans search for reliable partners beyond the traditional US-led framework.

France is bracing for another politically explosive energy shock, with petrol potentially reaching €3 a litre by the end of 2026. But Institut Montaigne argues that the familiar response – cut fuel taxes, subsidise everyone and pretend the state can erase the shock – would be expensive, badly targeted and strategically damaging.