An irony of our time is that Enoch Powell basically thought this too. Today's Britain seems to be gleefully disinterring every ghastly artefact of Powellism apart from the one significant thing he got right: that it would be folly to leave Britain craven to American power.

"Research released this month by economists at the Bank of England, the Bundesbank, King’s College London and the universities of Stanford and Nottingham underscored the economic hit from leaving the EU. Brexit had reduced UK GDP by 6-8%" on.ft.com/4p1NoHv

Lethargy has become Europe’s strategic flaw, writes Nicu Popescu @ecfreuropeansec.bsky.social https://bit.ly/4p6XIhI

Spain is thriving now because 1898, and then 1975, left it as the big Western state with the fewest illusions about its place in the world. That's why, today, it's the European player with the most globally open and realistic foreign policy.

Ah, the “teething problems of young democracies” narrative. How well I remember it from PiS’s first term…

The Anglo consensus of the first half of 2010s was that where continental Europeans were endemically subject to crises and demagoguery, "we" were distinctly were more enlightened. Cameron's Britain. Obama's America. Ponderous essays about Magna Carta and the "golden thread". How wrong it all was.

"Why American-style polarisation is spreading across the West" Two words: algorithms and incentives. Mostly incentives. Until we modify or eliminate incentives, all we can do is watch as the fabric of society is pulled apart, strand by strand. www.ft.com/content/5060...

"Clearly echoing Erwin Rommel’s Nazi force, the Africa Corps is the Kremlin’s new expeditionary formation in Africa. ...Like Wagner before it, it is still laden with neo-Nazi and white supremacist symbology." on Russian neo-colonialism in Africa: ecfr.eu/publication/...

A very interesting new @ecfr.eu report about countering Russian hybrid warfare in Africa by @willbrownecfr.bsky.social. I am glad to see that the report really underlines one of my recent pet peeves: The need to go on the offensive on cyber.+

AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points

The EU has a strategic opening to align with US sanctions on Rosneft and LUKoil. It must compel divestment from European assets and close loopholes that enable Moscow to circumvent restrictions, write @vtcherneva.bsky.social and Szymon Kardaś @ecfrpower.bsky.social https://bit.ly/4nGBRwf

Donald Trump has already met Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in Tokyo. As the two move closer on defence and economic security, the EU must reflect on the credibility of its own alliance, writes Elli-Katharina Pohlkamp @ecfrpower.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3XcrJk1

✍️ If Europe wants credibility when invoking international law in Ukraine, Gaza or elsewhere, it cannot ignore the atrocities happening in Sudan. Though the options are limited, there are ways to hold the responsible accountable @cinziabianco.bsky.social @willbrownecfr.bsky.social buff.ly/B7uIpW9

It’s says much about both the woes of the American republic and the thrilling dynamism of its politics that Zohran Mamdani can generate so much excitement running on what is - whisper it softly - basically a conventional New Deal / social democrat platform.

"ANO-led coalition parties label the Green Deal “unsustainable” and call for an overhaul of industrial emission allowances to improve predictability. Prague will not implement the new ETS 2 scheme for buildings and road transport, citing social impacts..." www.euractiv.com/news/incomin...

What did Pasolini know? Fifty years after his brutal murder, the director’s vision of fascism is more urgent than ever

Thanks to @nacho-fariza.bsky.social @elpais.com for this interview on the Dutch election result. In short, the three defining features of European politics in 2020s - anti-incumbency, fragmentation, volatility - can work for *and against* the radical right. elpais.com/internaciona...

A horrific mass murder is unfolding in Sudan, where no one can see it. The RSF are murdering civilians in El Fasher, having finally defeated the Sudanese army forces holding out in the city. The BBC has managed to speak to some who escaped www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7fC...

Our publications @ecfr.eu have been going gangbusters recently. This past month we have published a series of must-read policy briefs on Europe's southern flank: ecfr.eu

Glad to see this out! In my latest policy brief with @ecfr.eu, I argue that Europe needs a more coherent, horizontal and context-sensitive approach in its green energy relations with Tunisia to create mutual benefits and people-centered cooperation. #EU #Tunisia #COP30 #energytransition

Look what you made us do: How to realise a European-led NATO: ecfr.eu/article/look...

"They (The Europeans) should propose a Europeanisation of #NATO’s command structure, appointing European four-star officers to lead the NATO air, land and maritime commands, with US three-stars serving as their deputies to ensure continued integration."

The most effective deterrent to Russian aggression? According to Pete Hegseth: "a lethal, capable and European-led NATO." My co-authors—Leoni Habedank and Katrine Westgaard—and I spell out what it takes to make NATO, its structures and its forces mostly European: ecfr.eu/article/look... @ecfr.eu

In Sudan, Rapid Support Forces captured the city of el-Fasher, resulting in fears of mass killings. To support long-term stability in Sudan, European policymakers can benefit from a closer understanding of Gulf interests, writes Jonas Horner @ecfrafrica.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3WNGppP

Dutch result evinces wider European trend: consolidation of nationalist right's rise accompanied by reconfiguration (or: outright power struggle) within its ranks. FvD & JA21 rising at cost of PVV, FdI eclipsing Lega, factional contests within RN, Konfederacja challenge to PiS...

With the official prognosis giving one additional seat to PVV and one to FvD compared to the ext poll, the narrative should really not be that the Netherlands/Jetten has beaten the radical right. The far right bloc remains remarkably stable.

The significance of a D66 win in 🇳🇱 (if it transpires) will need some explaining outside the country. The Netherlands, like Denmark, has two liberal parties: one rooted in the classical liberal tradition, the other in the radical liberal one. D66 is the latter, ie the left-of-centre liberal party.

ICYMI: "Moscow has developed a powerful propaganda machine that taps into existing antipathy towards Europe, particularly France, to push African governments closer to its foreign policy objectives." @ecfr.eu ecfr.eu/publication/...

Couple of thoughts on today's election in the Netherlands: 1/2 The huge number of parties isn't a story of Dutch eccentricity, but of hyper-fragmented politics in most European countries. The only difference is that the Dutch electoral system exposes that fragmentation where others conceal it.

Welcome to @equatormag.bsky.social, a new magazine proposing to "hold up a mirror to a global audience of readers and writers who don’t yet recognise themselves as belonging together". Some great folks involved - give it a read. www.equator.org

Final Dutch poll before tomorrow’s vote: -Wilders’ PVV keeps losing ground; still on track for 1st place but 2nd is possible -D66’s strong performance continues, neck & neck with Timmermans’ PvdA -CDA and VVD holding steady at 4th and 5th But it’s very close - 4 parties all polling in low/mid 20s

After striking a critical mineral deal with Australia, Washington also inked another one with Tokyo. A few things worth noting: www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st...

“the Vatican is now clearly marking itself out against the dominant trend in contemporary politics, especially in the pope’s home country” < interesting on Leo XIV and JD Vance as rival poles of Catholic statecraft on.ft.com/3J5XVlX

❗Europeans have no genuine, resolute partner in Africa today. Meanwhile, Moscow has developed a powerful propaganda machine that taps into existing antipathy towards Europe. 📑 Read what like-minded Africans and Europeans can do to push back. @ecfr.eu 👉 buff.ly/gswHEyE

Arg is a very special case. What other country needs huge direct injections of dollars to keep the ruling party in power? Not just promised packages with strings attached, large-scale intervention in the fx market

Among the most significant questions about Trump's 2nd term: will he help tip the balance in favour of his ideological allies outside the US? Milei's midterm win following $40 billion US bailout offer is the most prominent datapoint yet. Next stop: Orbán's Hungary? www.reuters.com/world/americ...

The Christian Democrats have always been the party that Germans are most likely to trust with the economy. After a setback in 2022, their reputation bounced back, while voters' worries about the economy brew. Which makes the CDU's pivot to immigration during the 24/25 campaign all the more puzzling

Yicai: "China now supplies more than 60 percent of the world’s power batteries and about 70 percent of its battery materials, according to official data, giving a competitive edge to the country’s booming new energy vehicle sector." www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinas-...

Scale of Plaid win in Caerphilly is significant, not least because of what it says about the potential for progressive tactical voting in (relatively) high turnout elections to block Reform. Voters in this race knew it was a Plaid-Reform contest and voted accordingly.

The European project seems not just abstract, but anthropologically unsustainable. If the EU cannot offer a genuine sense of belonging, it cannot become a stable political community, writes Tibor Dessewffy. https://bit.ly/48KKDWo

One for the “Brexit will insulate UK from the far-right” crowd: the mainstream UK centre-right party is now proposing policies well to the right even of Germany’s notoriously extreme AfD.

🇭🇺 On this day in 1956, Hungarians rose up against Soviet occupation — and showed solidarity with the 🇵🇱 Polish (“lengyel”) nation, whose June 1956 Poznań protests had been crushed. 🎥 Footage: Blinken OSA Archivum, post-colorized by Colorful History (Színes Történelem) YouTube channel

A rainy night at the Centro Studi Americani in Rome

How Maga is interfering in the UK and why Britain is much less well equipped to deal with this kind of ‘foreign interference’ than other countries in Europe. My latest analysis for @blaetter (#German, but there always is Deepl)

Germany’s sheer determination to box its already-struggling car industry into a dying technology will never cease to amaze me.

Moscow has developed a powerful propaganda machine that taps into existing antipathy towards Europe, particularly France, to push African governments closer to its foreign policy objectives, writes @willbrownecfr.bsky.social @ecfrafrica.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3Jmv4cS

Report from @TGehrke_and @jankaoertel calling for the EU to use the anti coercion instrument against China over rare earths Points to chokepoints Europe could use: -older DUV machines -airplane components -high precision bearings -powdered superalloys

The case of Nexperia is another reminder Europeans need to speed up the assembly of their own trade and tech tools, writes Herman Quarles @ecfrpower.bsky.social https://bit.ly/47fT09U

Frugal EU member states would actually profit from a bigger EU-budget if support for green industries is well designed, I argue in this piece and describe what ”well-designed” could mean including good governance. ecfr.eu/publication/... @ecfr.eu

Scopri l'evento di domani: "Rise to the Challengers: Europe's populist parties and its foreign policy future" 📆 Roma, 21/10/2025; 16:30-18:00 📍Centro Studi Americani, Via Michelangelo Caetani, 32 RSVP: [email protected] 🤝 Festival della Diplomazia ℹ️ Agenda:👇