In just a few hours, Bulgaria will adopt the euro. To mark this special moment, we are illuminating our main building in Frankfurt. We’re excited to welcome Bulgaria to the euro family 🇪🇺🤝🇧🇬 📸 by ECB

Important www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/12/19/r...

"Möchten Sie die Bundeswehr beliefern? Als Zulieferer der Bundeswehr müssen zahlreiche gesetzliche Vorgaben beachtet werden." ---> so die einführenden, werbenden Sätze auf der Seite des Bundesamts für Beschaffung #baainbw ---> Perfektes Marketing 😅 www.bundeswehr.de/de/organisat...

“It’s not great to come home without Mercosur or the plan on Russian assets,” said Guntram Wolff, senior fellow at Bruegel. “The question for Macron is whether it is smart to impose political losses on Merz on two big issues.” www.ft.com/content/99d2...

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

A few quick thoughts about this morning's decision. Don't believe the spin from various Russians & others: it's a big deal. The EU has now unambiguously demonstrated that it is able and willing to provide the external financial support Ukraine needs, for as long and as much as it takes. (1/N)

Most important is that Ukraine gets the money. Huge deal for EU: 1) if you want to do EU foreign policy, you need EU resources and debt. #EUCO delivered 2) First time this EU debt was decided without unanimity as far as I can remember www.consilium.europa.eu/media/wqmkno...

One big topic this week: the #Mercosur agreement. It would be absolutely appaling if the #EU again delayed. France should drop its absurd call for yet another delay. We have been debating this agreement for 25 years and yes, there are lot's of safeguards for special interests already.

Senator Kelly is correct. Plus a Public Service Announcement: KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1. The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal: "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."

Mark Kelly on the Trump/Hegseth boat strikes: "If orders are illegal, not only do they not have to follow them, they are legally required not to follow them."

🎙️ Ukraine talks: peace progress or dead end? @rebeccawire.bsky.social discusses Ukraine peace talks with @veron.bsky.social & @guntramwolff.bsky.social, and how the EU can manage the high-stakes standoff between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington. #EconSky Listen here:

"Right now, Ukraine may find itself facing a very tough choice. -Either the loss of our dignity or the risk of losing a key partner. " Zelenskyy ---> Let's all be honest here: the key partner has been lost for some time.

🪖 Understanding US foreign military sales globally since 2008 ✈️ What are the trends and values of United States Foreign Military Sales, and how have they changed over time? 🖊️ By @juanmejinoecon.bsky.social, @javier-ospital.bsky.social and @guntramwolff.bsky.social 🔗 buff.ly/VuzCafe #EconSky

If your government thinks the Pope “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” when he defends migrants’ dignity, the world should see the warning sign. The US is no longer leading on human rights. It’s suppressing them.

Guntram Wolff is sceptical that churning out more tanks or artillery will bring long-term economic gains. However, if European governments direct their money towards new technologies, this will “have broader economic benefits”. Time to modernise armed forces @bruegel.org www.ft.com/content/ec99...

my quotes in @guardian “Historically, there’s this notion that greater defence cooperation is questionable for sovereignty...But the counter argument is that we have a huge dependency on the US. ... sovereignty doesn’t sit in Europe – it’s in Washington.” www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Im Europamagazin des ARD wurde ich zum europäischen Klimaschutz befragt. Danke für das Interview

Fossil fuel use continues to climb, despite the growth of renewables. Bad news in today's Financial Times newsletter

It was a pleasure discussing in Berlin why Europe needs to invest in its domestic military industrial technological base - and why Germany's trust in the US is naive. A great Franco-German panel with a Polish chair.

Aktuelles Interview in "Die Presse" in Österreich

@guntramwolff.bsky.social from @ulbruxelles.bsky.social points out how much of European defence equipment works with US software: "While on the one hand, we're increasing our capabilities, on the other hand we're also increasing our dependencies." #ResearchMeetsPolitics

🎙️ Climate, data and complacency 🌍 @rebeccawire.bsky.social discusses the cost of climate change with @heathergrabbe.bsky.social & @guntramwolff.bsky.social, highlighting the ways in which it will affect insurance, housing and GDP. #EconSky 👂 Listen to the podcast:

Very much looking forward to this debate. I will speak also about our most recent paper on Europe’s dependence on US foreign military sales and what to do about it www.bruegel.org/policy-brief...

"European purchases of US arms hit a record high of $76bn 2024, according to a @bruegel.org paper authored by Juan Mejino-López & Guntram Wolff, who analysed 1,179 notifications under the US Foreign Military Sales programme since 2008." @financialtimes.com Henry Foy www.ft.com/content/4131...

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics. 🧵 1/7

Fascinating lecture today by @guntramwolff.bsky.social on how the 🇪🇺 can make its rearmament credible, effective & affordable given the challenge posed by 🇷🇺. Key points: build a common defence market, pool industrial capacities, boost R&D to reduce reliance on the US for strategic technologies.

Mit offensiven Raketen abschrecken --- A Burilkov und ich argumentieren, warum reine Luftverteidigung nicht mehr ausreicht und Europa Kapazitäten zur Abschreckung durch Stärke benötigt. Und wie man diese aufbauen kann www.faz.net/aktuell/poli...

📸 Eben beim #Industriepolitik-Panel bei der #VfS_Conf2025 @vfsecon.bsky.social 💟 Danke @guntramwolff.bsky.social, @monika-schnitzer.com, @sdullien.bsky.social, Michael #Hüther und Beate #Baron (Moderation: @kbiesenbender.bsky.social). 🏭 Vertiefung ⤵️ www.wirtschaftsdienst.eu/inhalt/jahr/...

NATO members Romania and Poland scramble jet, Poland closes airport over Russian drones. One Russian war drone went sightseeing for 50 minutes in Romania. Totally predictable outcome, a direct result of Europe's ongoing cowardice. kyivindependent.com/romania-scra...

Today, a difficult State of the Union address. #SOTEU . From defence to trade and the weak economy and the continued political fragility in France: what will the Commission President say?

Interview im #Deutschlandfunk zur politischen Krise in Frankreich und ihren ökonomischen Folgen. Frankreich muss seinen Haushalt sanieren, aber das wird kaum gelingen ohne einen breiteren gesellschaftlichen Konsens. Den sehe ich noch nicht. www.deutschlandfunk.de/oekonomische...

No surprise here as Elbridge Colby had announced multiple times that he wants to de-prioritize weapon shipments to Europe: Ukraine battles air defence shortage as Pentagon slows shipments www.ft.com/content/26df...

❗ LIVE NOW: The future of Europe’s defence 🔗 buff.ly/VQS0Bks 🗣️ @guntramwolff.bsky.social, Bertrand Dumont (French Treasury), @kristiraik.bsky.social @icds-tallinn.bsky.social & @simonassatunas.bsky.social @ec.europa.eu

join us for what promises to be an exciting discussion

A broader discussion of European banking needs to be had in the new geopolitical context. $ dependence, complexity of global financial networks, & new tech such as stablecoins should be taken into account. M Dewatripont, P Praet, A Sapir, @guntramwolff.bsky.social‬ cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky

This is indeed a must-read piece by a group of leading experts on how China shock affects our economies. One point stands out: We need to let Chinese companies into our markets to get the technology and competition into our markets. At the same time, we need to be watchful of security risks.

Daniel Stelter hat mich eingeladen, über das Thema Rüstung zu sprechen. Hier der Podcast: "Rüstungsmilliarden allein genügen nicht". cc @kiel.institute , @bruegel.bsky.social , and Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management think-beyondtheobvious.com/ruestungsmil...

The Socialists in the EP have leveraged a no-confidence vote put up by the far right to effectively gut a major part of the reform of the EU budget. Stunning development that further imperils the prospect for a major MFF reform. I had hopes that this time would be different. But I was naive. Thread:

We are truly in an era where *anything* can happen! Next thing you know, the French will be praising the gourmet values of Yorkshire Pudding.

CO2 ist der Hauptgrund für die Erderwärmung. Allerdings: Langfristig erhitzen wir den Planeten durch jede Form von Energiezufuhr, auch wenn sie CO2-neutral ist. Nur PV und Wind sind langfristig wirklich nachhaltig.

Great to see the innovation proceeding fast - this will be critical for European security. The big question is whether our traditional armed services will be ready to adopt and scale with AI based systems... www.ft.com/content/7100...

Quote: „Also, truth-seeking and using X posts as training data is fundamentally incompatible.“ 👍🏻😆

Forecasters will imminently lose observations crucial for hurricane tracking and prediction, as data from three NOAA/DOD satellites will go unmonitored. The satellites aren't being decommissioned. The agencies will simply stop providing the satellites' data. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/c...

"The more rapidly we need to get money out of the door, the more there is the risk that it just goes to the easiest, most expensive but also potentially outdated technology,” said Guntram Wolff, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based economic think-tank @bruegel.bsky.social on.ft.com/46hnVUf

Interview on CNBC on NATO and EU summit @bruegel.bsky.social youtu.be/n4ynKaz-9GE?...

@guntramwolff.bsky.social opowiada, jak nie przepłacać za zbrojenia. Kto będzie w Europie więcej na nie wydawał? Czy powstanie europejska armia? I czy Ukraina wejdzie do NATO oraz Unii? www.rp.pl/biznes/art42...

Interview in der Börsenzeitung www.boersen-zeitung.de/konjunktur-p...

In 2024 the Middle East was accounting for less than a quarter of global LNG supplies - almost 90% of which went to Asia. At the same time, only about 10% of the EU's LNG imports came from the Middle East. And LNG contributed less than 40% to EU gas supplies.

A big #NATO week ahead. The debate needs to move from fiscal numbers to actual capabilities Europe needs to have. Want to find out the state of rearmament in #Germany, #UK, #Poland or #France? Check out our @bruegel.bsky.social and @kiel.institute report: www.ifw-kiel.de/de/publikati...

Die FAZ mit einer sehr schönen Zusammenfassung unserer Studie bei @bruegel.bsky.social und @kiel.institute www.faz.net/aktuell/wirt...