This is from the @politico.eu deepdive into views on EEAS reform: www.politico.eu/article/eeas... If this were to become reality it would be the ultimate irony. Today's EEAS was partly created out of the former DG RELEX within the Commission. We could then even give it back its name.

I just read this week's @economist.com Charlemagne column by @spignal.bsky.social. I usually really enjoy these and mostly agree with them, though using the Turnberry "deal" as an example for the EU's slow decision-making feels really off. In this case US politics is mainly at fault, not the EU.

The US State department is apparently getting ready to directly financially support far right parties in Europe. I'm curious how this will interact with campaign financing laws across European countries and public opinion amongst far right supporters. foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/01/s...

Hey @economist.com something seems very wrong with your chart on mayoral powers from your article on Zohran Mamdani‘s plans. The chart implies that the Berlin mayor has little control over things like education or policing, when the opposite is true. economist.com/united-state...

It seems like media outlets have a fundamental problem with reporting on the EU when it comes to reporting trade policy and figures. Depending on what sounds more dramatic the EU is either treated as a whole or as individual countries. That makes an already complex topic even harder to understand.

It’s probably too early to judge whether the EU-US trade “deal“ is the best that could be achieved given the circumstances, but its contents as we know them certainly set a bad precedent for upcoming EU negotiations in terms of the EU standing up for its principles and leveraging its strengths.

Aus europapolitischer Sicht sind die Zurückweisungen an den Grenzen nicht nur ein Problem, weil die Regierung damit europäische Nachbarn vor den Kopf stößt. Sondern auch weil sie den Vorrang des Europarechts, einen Grundpfeiler der EU, in Frage stellt. Kurzer Thread:

While Merz has now been elected, this will be a stain on the chancellorship from the beginning. This 2nd vote today was made possible due to the statesmanship of the opposition Greens and Die Linke groups.

Kann ich das Ampelchaos nochmal sehen?

Ouch. Soon-to-be German chancellor Friedrich Merz fails to gain the necessary majority at the first vote in the German @bundestag.de. This spells trouble before the government has even started.

I appreciate EU institutions trying to be „cool“ (whatever the current youth language thing is), but it might make sense to get the language right?!? Crafting items and following a quest are usually two separate things, unless Minecraft uses those terms differently from all other games…

Gestern durfte ich für die Sendung "Europa Heute" im DLF mit Manfred Götzke über den #Schengen Report 2025 sprechen. www.deutschlandfunk.de/schengen-rep...

What a strange piece by Dutch public broadcaster @nieuws.nos.nl on Donald Trump's trade policy. It nicely illustrates that making sense of what's going on requires fundamental explanations of concepts such as reserve currency & comparative advantage, which it doesn't touch. nos.nl/artikel/2563...

This conflicts w Council Decision 2011/168/CFSP, which aims, inter alia, to promote the widest possible participation in the ICC. It's a CFSP decision, so not subject to CJEU jurisdiction, but it should be added to the list of HU violations of EU values, justifying its suspension under Art 7 TEU.

In anticipation of the Trump administration's #trade war there was a fear that the US could deliberately impose different tariff rates on various #EU member states to sow chaos. They now seem to have done this accidentally instead by imposing different tariffs on EU territories such as Réunion.

Looking at the map, to get to Hungary, Netanyahu would have to (at least) fly over Romania, a member-state of the #ICC. Has Bucharest said Netanyahu can use their airspace? My guess is yes, but I can't find confirmation. Romanian President Ciolacu invited Bibi to Bucharest in January.

To all the international law folk out there: With Hungary set to leave the ICC & Netanyahu's safety from arrest essentially guaranteed by the Hungarian government, isn't there still considerable risk of arrest for him when flying over ICC member territory, such as for an emergency landing?

Zum heutigen #Schengen Jubiläum lohnt sich ein kurzer Blick in den aktuellen Stand der Verhandlungen zwischen CDU/CSU und @spdfraktion.de im Hinblick auf die Schengen-Grenzen, die leider nichts gutes für Deutschlands Unterstützung des Schengen-Raums erahnen lassen.

Genau mein Humor: Einerseits #Schengen öffentlich loben und preisen, und andererseits seit beinahe einem Jahrzehnt an den Grundfesten des Schengen-Raums durch quasi dauerhafte Grenzkontrollen rütteln.

Zum heutigen 30-jährigen Jubiläum der ersten offenen #Schengen Grenzen innerhalb der EU bin ich heute in diesem Beitrag des Deutschlandfunks mit einer leider nicht allzu optimistischen Einschätzung zu Wort gekommen. www.deutschlandfunk.de/meilenstein-...

Duolingo has an important message today for Signal users in high level government circles:

In case any scholars with plans to travel to the US for conferences were still thinking that surely they couldn’t possibly be affected by the Trump administration‘s border policies…think again.

A German court just ruled that Germany's 2022 #Schengen border controls towards Austria were illegal given an earlier ruling by the European Court of Justice which made it clear that border controls can only ever continue beyond 6 months if there are novel reasons to do so.

The Dutch parliament just rejected the EU‘s rearmament plan to bolster deterrence citing “financial risks“. Of course European defence being seen as ineffective and Russia (and possibly others) feeling emboldened doesn’t come with financial risks of any sort! nos.nl/artikel/2559...

A little article (in Dutch) on what my colleagues and I were up to last week with the Brussels launch of the @unileiden.bsky.social Europe Hub.

While it was already clear last night that Germany's election outcome would be quite close to the final polls as results came in last night, it is now finally clear that the BSW has failed to enter parliament by a small margin. This should make building the next government coalition easier.

🇺🇸🇷🇴🇺🇦🗳️ JD Vance slamming the Romanian constitutional court for cancelling prez election due to malign influence while, at the same time, the Trump administration is pushing Ukraine to hold prez elections (despite no legal pathway to do so) is pretty much a clear indication of what this is all about.

Germany just lost its „firewall“ against the far right. A proposal by the Conservative CDU/CSU on migration policy only made it through Parliament with the votes of the AfD.

The #EU has managed to extend its #sanctions against #Russia for another 6 months after Hungary caved in. While this is good news overall, the timeline and content of the decision still underlines fundamental weaknesses of the EU's Russia policy: www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

My strategy for coping with the news during Trump 1.0 seems to have returned for Trump 2.0. Despite how worrying it all is, I still find myself chuckling over Denmark, one of Europe's most staunchly Atlanticist/NATO first countries on security, currently finding itself in Trump's crosshairs.

A Pole who lives along the Polish-German border has filed a lawsuit against Germany over the border controls it has introduced. The measures are intended to prevent illegal immigration, but he says they violate free-movement rules in the Schengen Area.

Don't pretend you don't have someone in your life who'd love to get this

In case you are still looking for a 🎄 present for all of those people out there who like to nerd out even over the holidays: "The EU under strain" (co-edited with @mechthildroos.bsky.social) is now out as a paperback at @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. www.degruyter.com/document/doi...

🚨🚨 Most notable thing here is that this Commission is by far the least popular one to date in terms of MEPs votes: 370 MEPs voted in favour, 282 against, and 36 abstained. For confirmation, the College of Commissioners needed a majority of the votes cast (rule 129.7 of the EP Rules of Procedure). 👇

Vote of the new Commission : - Greens are split : 27👍 19👎 6⚪ - ECR are split : 33👍 39👎 4⚪ - Most S&D in favour, but 25👎 18⚪ - Renew in favour, but 6⚪ - Most EPP in favour but 25👎 (mostly Spanish voting against T. Ribera) and 2⚪ - Far right (PfE and ESN) against

This looks quite bad for 🇪🇺President von der Leyen. Her Commission has just been confirmed by the 🇪🇺Parliament by just 370 votes, well below the 401 who voted for her individual confirmation in July. She has relied on votes from Giorgia Meloni's right-wing ECR.

Got the thresholds wrong, as it's a majority of the votes cast for the Commission itself, and an absolute majority only for the election of the Commission president. So the correct thresholds would be: 2024: 370 in favour (344 needed) 2019: 461 in favour (354 needed) Thanks @politaeus.bsky.social.

What a great time for the official @ec.europa.eu von der Leyen account to show the "invalid handle" error again. @jonworth.eu: it looks like migrating accounts does still seem to come with tons of technical hiccups even weeks' down the line.

I'm not sure as to who writes breaking news stories for German public broadcaster ARD/Tagesschau, but apparently barely reaching a majority counts as a "broad majority" now. www.tagesschau.de/ausland/euro... #vdL #Commission

The von der Leyen II #Commission was just approved by the thinnest of majorities in the European Parliament with 370 votes in favour (361 needed). For comparison, the von der Leyen I Commission received 461 (374 needed) in 2019. #vdL

🟥 On my way to Den Haag to protest the Dutch government‘s shortsighted cuts on higher education. 🟥 #StopDeBezuinigingen #Eppocalypse

Telling or ironic that Bulgaria and Romania are finally about to fully join Schengen while it is being dismantled more and more in the inside...

The EPP-S&D-RE deal is done! Unlike the vote on the Commission Pres, the vote on the Commission as a whole is by roll call + simple majority, so this could get interesting: the first real test of the internal discipline/cohesion of the centrist/pro-European groups. www.politico.eu/article/euro...

With the new European Commission now likely to be confirmed for a December start, two things stand out to me: 1) While this is ultimately the result of an EPP-S&D deal, it seems more like a temporary ceasefire agreement, and conflict will return on regular votes as happened on deforestation.

🚨🚨 Inspired by fellow EU nerds, I did a first attempt in creating a starter pack on European law and politics (defined in a broad sense) collecting some of the people I really think you should follow in this area. More names will be added but a bit exhausted by this work. go.bsky.app/E5ByTCJ

The Dutch government has decided to introduce border checks at its internal #Schengen borders with Germany, Belgium, as well as at airports. These will start in December and will initially last until June 2025. Why is this such an interesting development? 👇

Quite a remarkable case on LGBTQI rights in Hungary is heard in the European Court of Justice today. Not only the court‘s plenary session makes this stand out, but also that a majority of member states actively support the Commission in this.

I created a starter pack of academics working on EU 🇪🇺 politics and European integration 👇. Let me know if you want to be added. go.bsky.app/Bg7sPSp

Given all the political turmoil at present, these things can go almost unnoticed a the moment, but the #EU today expanded its secondary #sanctions on #Iran over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

The current Dutch government has apparently decided to introduce #Schengen border controls. This is an important break with previous practice. The last time the #Netherlands had Schengen border controls was in 2014. They had none during the "migration crisis" in 2015 or during the #Covid emergency.