Commentaries
Trump First
America first, or Trump first? For us Europeans it should in any case be Europe first.
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
Commentaries
The European Union is exaggerating in its demands for Brexit, especially about the European Court of Justice’s future role
« Brexit means Brexit ». So said Theresa May post referendum 2016. She took some time to discover what her words meant. One cannot be in and out the single market, or […]
The EU in the AIIB: taming China’s influence from within
With the recent approval of the membership request of Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Romania, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will soon count 20 EU countries among its […]
Strategic autonomy and EU-NATO cooperation: squaring the circle
Since the publication of the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS) in June 2016, there have been innumerable calls for the re-launch of the EU’s much misunderstood Common Security and Defence […]
External publications
New Pact for Europe – National Report of Belgium. Belgium and the EU : matching rhetoric and commitment
This is the first in a series of National Reports to be published as part of the new phase of the New Pact for Europe project. As a founding member […]
External publications
Sharing the burden of keeping Europe whole, free and at peace
“Measuring fair burden-sharing is more complicated than it seems,” says Alexander Mattelaer. He takes a closer look at this issue, which is a hot topic of debate in the run […]