Commentaries
In the (EU) army now
In this short commentary, Thomas Renard evaluates the necessity, desirability and feasibility of an EU Army, as recently called by Jean-Claude Juncker. Published on Reshaping Europe
Europe in the World
In a world that is largely driven by competition and rivalry (and partnership, yet) between great powers, understanding the Grand Strategy of each of these powers is crucial. So is developing a Grand Strategy for the EU itself. An EU that acts as one, as one pole of the multipolar world on a par with the other powers, is the only way to safeguard the way of life that the Member States of the EU have chosen, based on democracy, the free market, and equality.
Power cannot be divided: a global player must have political, economic, as well as military power. To that end, the Europe in the World Programme analyses the diplomacy and defence of the US, China, and Russia, and of the EU, NATO, and their members. We also focus on geoeconomics, researching Open Strategic Autonomy and the Global Gateway as key EU instruments, as well as the geoeconomic approaches of the other powers.
Defence policy is our third main axis of research, with a particular focus on European defence and its interaction with NATO, but also on nuclear deterrence and the deterrence of hybrid threats. Throughout all three research axis, we devote special attention to the role of Belgium, including notably the development of its own National Security Strategy and diplomatic and military capabilities.
Publications
What drives Europeans to Syria, and to IS? Insights from the Belgian case
A year ago, IS (also known as Daesh) announced the establishment of a new ‘caliphate’. Egmont has the pleasure of presenting the updated edition of Rik Coolsaet’s Egmont Paper What […]
External publications
Global Affairs
Egmont is proud to announce the publication of the very first issue of Global Affairs, a brand new journal published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the European International […]
The future of Belgian defence: horizon 2030
The Belgian Minister of Defence, Steven Vandeput, appointed a 14-member “wise pen team” to reflect on the future of the Belgian armed forces. All contributions, including that of Sven Biscop,
Commentaries
Bad theatre
In this article Sven Biscop argues that it is futile to put troops on the streets of European capitals when the real battle against ISIS needs to be fought at […]
No Belgian armed forces is unaffordable
In this Security Policy Brief Jo Coelmont examines the challenges Belgium is facing at present. On the one hand there is the declared political objective to henceforth provide its defence […]