The EU and China: sanctions, signals, and interests
Sanctions are much easier to use against your allies than against your enemies. A friend will want to stay in your good books, and is much more likely to modify […]
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
External publications
European Foreign Policy in times of Covid-19, a conversation with HRVP Josep Borrell organised by Groupe d’études géopolitiques
A Conversation with High Representative for the EU Josep Borrell, Kishore Mahbubani, Adam Tooze, Nicoletta Pirozzi, Monika Sie Dhian Ho and Sven Biscop. Organised by Groupe d’études géopolitiques, an independent European […]
External publications
Transparency in EU trade policy: a comprehensive assessment of current achievement
The EU trade policy is increasingly confronted with demands for more transparency. This article aims to investigate how transparency takes shape in EU trade policy. First, we operationalize the concept […]
Commentaries
Crying wolf will not help Taiwan
It is a strange spectacle. The president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, speaks out to “assure everyone that our government is fully capable of managing all potential risks and protecting our […]
Secondary sanctions and multilateralism – the way ahead
The sensitive issue of American ‘secondary sanctions’ imposed on its allies generated serious tensions in the transatlantic relationship when the US left the JCPOA with Iran. Some hoped these would […]
Will only a Green Power remain a Great Power?
When the coronavirus broke out in 2020 the whole world literally came to a pause. The pandemic overshadowed all other major problems and started to shape relations between states. Climate […]