Commentaries
Belgium must aim for a strong government
The corona crisis makes it clear that we need a decisive government. In Belgium this is not obvious, but it is a necessity. This commentary was first published in De […]
Belgian diplomacy
Publications
Commentaries
Summer reading by Johan Verbeke – The Geography of Thought
Personal recommendation: A few years ago I stumbled on a little book in the Georgetown University bookshop written by former Yale University Professor Richard Nisbett, published by the Free Press […]
Commentaries
Two elephants in one room: Sino-American competition and the EU at the Shangri-La Dialogue
“When elephants fight, the grass suffers, but when they make love, the grass suffers also”: this quote from Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew became the running theme at […]
Commentaries
A defence strategy alone is not enough
Belgium is not in the habit of putting down major strategies for its defense policy. In the past, capacity plans were always drawn up, which in fact usually amounted to […]
Fostering Belgo-German connectivity in the heart of Europe
On 18 March 2019 the fifth edition of the Belgo-German Conference took place in Brussels. Framed around the inter-related themes of energy, mobility and digitalization, the conference sought to provide […]
Commentaries
What justice for Belgian jihadi fighters?
There are still more than one hundred Belgian fighters in Syria and Iraq, some of which are currently detained in the region. The fall of the Caliphate and the US […]