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'In 2026, we will deliver', was the main message of European Council President António Costa after the EU leaders' informal competitiveness retreat at Alden Biesen castle, Belgium, on 12 February 2026. There was a shared sense of urgency on the need to fix the ailing EU economy, which suffers from low productivity, expensive energy, bureaucracy, a fragmented single market, fierce competition from the United States and China, and the unravelling rules-based global order. As usual, no formal conclusions ...

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has been President of the Russian Federation since 31 December 1999, except for a brief four-year interlude from 2008 to 2012 during which he held the office of prime minister but effectively maintained his political authority. During Putin's 26-year rule, Russia has been at war, overtly or covertly, for 21 years. Putin's first term coincided with the launching of the Second Chechen War, intended to be brief but which lasted for 10 violent years. In 2014, during Putin's ...

X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) are particle accelerators that create pulses of light of extremely short duration, similar to that of some lasers used in eye surgery. Combined with the X-ray energy-domain, they enable a close examination of the shortest processes in nature – such as the way atoms move during a chemical reaction. Although Europe hosts some of the world-leading XFELs, the next generation may allow scientists to trace the motion of electrons in its entirety. This could make XFELs ...

Transatlantic relations since early 2025 have been marked by rising tension and uncertainty regarding the reliability of the United States as an ally. Policy clashes are expected across multiple domains, including NATO, Greenland, Ukraine, trade, technology, climate, and relations with China, underscoring a fundamental divergence in the US and European outlooks and objectives. While the US under the Trump Administration increasingly prioritizes Asia and presses Europe to assume greater responsibility ...

Enhancing the EU's competitiveness is a key priority for the European Council in the current legislative cycle. In a complex geopolitical environment, in which the international rules-based order is increasingly undermined and core alliances are questioned, it is essential for Europe to be able to stand firmly on its own feet. Strengthening the single market and the EU economic base is 'an urgent strategic imperative' in the words of European Council President António Costa, to improve the EU's competitiveness ...

Non-cash payments constitute the lifeblood of the developed economies, and a threat to their resilience is automatically a threat to wider economic resilience. The ECON Committee has commissioned two papers from members of its academic expert panel for Banking Union scrutiny in order to analyse threats to the resilience of non-cash payments and possible measures to strengthen resilience. This briefing reviews the two papers and puts forward the main lessons they offer.

The highlight of the first plenary session of 2026 was the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Spain and Portugal's accession to the European Union, marked with a formal sitting addressed by His Majesty Felipe VI, King of Spain, and His Excellency Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Republic of Portugal. Members debated with the European Council and European Commission on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 18 December 2025 and the geopolitical tensions currently facing Europe ...

This study examines the perpetrators and methods of transnational repression within the European Union (EU) and suggests possible counter-strategies for EU institutions. The study explains how transnational repression relates to associated issues faced by the EU, such as foreign interference, disinformation, abuse of migration frameworks and hybrid threats. Whilst the scale, scope and methods of transnational repression comprise a global phenomenon, this problem is specifically prevalent within the ...

Following a strategy of maximum pressure since January 2025, the United States intervened militarily in January 2026, captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and arraigned them in New York on drug trafficking charges. After their capture, Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as President. Venezuela's constitution provides for elections when the president is incapacitated, although the deadline by which elections are required to take place is not clear. Trump's message ...

The Commission's proposal for the 2028-2034 Global Europe instrument seeks to ensure a more strategic approach, in line with the objectives of the EU's internal policies – particularly migration control, while taking on board EU and partner countries' mutual interests. It deeply restructures the EU's external financing architecture, introducing a new system of geographic pillars, a global pillar, and a flexible 'cushion', while integrating several existing instruments ranging from development cooperation ...