Late to this: but spot on - Scary how the EU is seemingly abolishing itself. @euscream.bsky.social @alemanno.bsky.social euscream.com/pod-ep-121-u...

“the inability of moderate parties to produce a structuring narrative, particularly with regard to the rule of law, remains a major political issue.” @nicolastenzer.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/tenzerst...

Article excellentissime!

“On assiste simultanément à une reddition extérieure vis-à-vis des États-Unis et à une violation, par au moins un État membre puissant, d’une des règles les plus importantes du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l’Union, établissant une politique commerciale commune”

Ah, France will always be France. 😉

that s why they ll fight hard to stay in power including through illegal means

😉😂

"Far from draining our welfare system, migrants are supporting the British state’s solvency." New analysis by @lgilbert.co ukandeu.ac.uk/lower-migrat...

Strategic autonomy for ya EU weighs pausing parts of landmark AI act in face of US and Big Tech pressure on.ft.com/4r4SAfR

Having fun again w a transcription AI, one of the best I've found: can generally manage non native English speaker accents. A parliament session this week: "left-wing" =>"lesbian" Can't identify "EU" - always weird words Leon Delvaux = Leon De Beau (nice!) two-state solution = "twisted solution"

It’s right of course that Reform’s mad economic policies are scrutinised, but it’s still quite weird to frame “What a Reform government would really look like” as if it was just a bit of trouble making budget cuts, while omitting the ICE-style mass thuggery as they aim to deport 1% of the population

New tariff, new tariff, tariff pause, tariff cut, new tariff, tariff pause, tariff deal, new tariff .. @financialtimes.com

The think tank pieces that caught our editor’s attention this week: - #ISPI booklet on EU free trade agrmts - Kommerskollegium on EU #economicsecurity - #Hinrich on Malaysian dilemmas w Trump

Good to be making a point here, @profpech.bsky.social

There is relief for EU industry at a truce on China #REE rare earth and semiconductor export controls  - but it's not the EU that brokered it. By our editor @ianadreyer.bsky.social 

Je le dis souvent à demi mot et en plaisantant à peine: c’est lobby de la betterave à sucre et du colza qui gouvernent en France et par ricochet en Europe.

The latest by @thomaszimmer.bsky.social on state of US democracy one year into Trump 2: “A system that is democratic no more, but also not a consolidated autocratic regime yet. The political conflict isn’t over, nor is democracy’s fate sealed for good” democracyamericana.com/posts/218802...

a secretariat for CPTPP is a great idea

Last week at a Brussels thinktank conference I heard the US openly referred to as "our former ally". This week we learn that the US climate delegation is going around threatening to put European climate negotiators on the US sanctions list if they don't agree to wreck our climate.

China export controls #REEs #Nexperia "Don’t think the coming relief for the EU auto sector is the outcome of skillful EU diplomacy" By our editor @ianadreyer.bsky.social 

Il ne reste plus que la défense acharnée de la retraite des boomers dans un pays où les retraités ont plus de revenus globalement - sans parler du patrimoine - que les cotisants.

"Until European non-populists face this new reality and offer genuine alternatives not just to the populist challengers but to each other, the best we can hope for is a repeat of this week’s result. That is, an occasional Pyrrhic victory (….) and the ever-looming prospect of majority populist rule."

My plan for Halloween is to dress up as the Regulatory Scrutiny Board to spook EU Commission officials

Ha ha! There may well be some truth in this The Temu theory of populism on.ft.com/47tfTHb

For those interested - my two « obvious » cents on Nexperia crisis lessons in Brussels but for some reason none of this seems to be on the table now. Capitals just obsessed with protectionism etc.

Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America

Sad truth is most European or North American economic dialogue is either tech-babble or trying to recreate the old economy whatever that was. There is very little focus on what could realistically be created and where e.g. the car industry fits. Tells the story.

How about taking control? Some lessons from the #Nexperia crisis for EU economic security policy by our editor @ianadreyer.bsky.social 🔸 Neither 'Mr Fix' nor muscle-flexing will work 🔸 Strong inter-institutional coordination may do better (No paywall) borderlex.net/2025/10/23/e...

he heee.

Back to the future. www.wsj.com/world/americ...

From @dacemoglumit.bsky.social & Robinson’s The Narrow Corridor. => On how Hitler did it. He and his acolytes fully on the record on what they intended to do. Tulsi and Patel probably reading their history books to learn how it’s done. Really very chilling stuff that’s going on in the US.

Project « I will be dictator »

One reason China has to be optimistic about their century defining strategic competition with the United States is that they're the only side in it not actively trying to lose.

When trade policy is becoming a UN basket case then the situation is truly dire…..

The Netherlands has curtailed intelligence co-operation with the US over fears the Trump administration could use it to violate human rights or assist Russia.

ohhh pauvre chou.

Ok, I know this is The Times, former newspaper of old money But I still find this tone deaf from Eurostar The charge is they’re too expensive. Too complacent. Too London centric. And what do they do? THIS! We’re the monopoly elitists. FTW

Meanwhile in Ukraine.

Well well…. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...

Le Monde a mis une semaine à parler de cette affaire. Même les meilleurs medias en France sont à la traîne.

Perhaps a better way of saying it than “red softie” is “Starmer is accelerating the vassalisation of the UK”. It is nothing ideological. A mediocre Tory administration would have done the same than this mediocre Labour government - Ditto Reform in future: they d shout then cave and be bribed.

Uff. (If only!)

Incredible amount of China-panic over at the other place, apparently they might be trying to influence the UK away from democracy. Funnily enough not mentioned is the other superpower whose leaders have explicitly stated their intentions in that direction.

V useful @eui-eu.bsky.social paper on how populists including Trump, Orbán, AMLO, Milei transform democratic states: “administrative transformation is not just a side effect of illiberal rule; it is a strategic cornerstone to advance authoritarian dominance” cadmus.eui.eu/server/api/c...

Quelle farce tout ça, quand même.

Listening to a trade policy panel on reforming subsidies rules in a Tuscan chapel at @eui-eu.bsky.social World Trade Forum in Florence….(perks of the job!) But indeed it would require divine intervention to get the needle moving on this one these days!

. Après on s’étonne de la défiance populaire envers l’ensemble de la classe politique.

FT: Under the new rules, foreign companies will need Chinese government approval to export products that contain even trace amounts of Chinese-sourced rare-earth minerals, or that were manufactured using the country’s rare-earth extraction, refining or magnet-making technology on.ft.com/4714pdE