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With EU citizens now living longer and healthier lives, the focus of EU policy has shifted from ageing to longevity. This demographic change has significant social and economic repercussions, such as increased demand for housing, healthcare and social services. Public spending is also expected to increase. Demographic changes are exacerbating labour shortages across various sectors and skill levels, posing a threat to the EU's green and digital transitions, competitiveness and public services. This ...

The European Commission has announced a range of new trade partnerships – the clean trade and investment partnerships (CTIPs) – to bolster the EU's competitiveness, diversify supply chains and boost economies. CTIPs are the latest instrument in the EU's set of trade tools the Commission calls 'alternative forms of engagement', and to which experts also refer as 'trade-related agreements' or 'mini trade deals'. They are meant to complement the EU's vast network of trade agreements through a faster ...

This paper covers possible defence financing and spending options under the European economic governance framework by reviewing the proposal for a ReArm Europe plan floated by the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The paper also analyses flexibilities under the EU budget, EIB and ESM financing while also assessing potential market challenges and public procurement. This paper has been updated with information from the European Commission's White Paper for European Defence Readiness ...

With the geopolitical situation evolving rapidly in the first months of 2025, EU leaders had already convened three times in advance of their regular March meeting. Next to competitiveness – originally due to be the central focus point – the spring European Council meeting covered issues including Ukraine, the Middle East and European defence. On competitiveness, the EU-27 outlined precise directions to accelerate the EU's economic agenda, focusing on three priorities: cutting red tape, ensuring ...

The European Union's defence industry requires a major increase in private investment due to the evolving geopolitical landscape. The emergence of new EU defence exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold shares in the underlying companies could encourage this investment and provide EU defence firms with dearly needed capital.

Europe must swiftly address huge challenges, in the face of a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape and major fiscal policy changes. With an increasingly protectionist United States (US) on one side and China becoming an ever-more direct competitor across industries on the other, Europe's economic future is fraught with uncertainty. In these testing times, the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery instrument, which has contributed to the EU economy's swift rebound from the COVID-19 crisis, is expected ...

The future of European Union defence unsurprisingly topped the March 2025 plenary session agenda. Members held a debate on Europe's security architecture and the EU's unwavering support for Ukraine, in the presence of the Presidents of the European Council, and European Commission. Debates also took place on the conclusions of the 6 March special European Council meeting and preparation of the regular meeting on 20 21 March 2025. Members marked International Women's Day with addresses from guests ...

This study first analyses the existing European security architecture, as it has emerged since World War II. It does so from an organisational perspective, looking at NATO, the OCSE and EU defence policy, as well as from a series of national country perspectives, trying to find underlying motives for national defence policies. After looking at recent policy responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the pivotal years since 2022, five scenarios for a possible future European security architecture ...

The EU's integration, from the establishment of the European Economic Community in 1957 to the welcoming of 13 European countries in the 2004-2013 period, has been lauded for boosting economic development and living standards across the continent, bringing dynamism and new perspectives as well as enhancing Europe's geopolitical weight on the global stage. This economic development has been accompanied by dramatic improvements in life expectancy, gender equality and protection of the environment. ...

Greenland is a self-governing Arctic island within the Kingdom of Denmark, which strives for economic self-sufficiency and future independence. This representative democracy of 56 542 inhabitants will elect 31 members to Greenland's Parliament on 11 March 2025. These parliamentary elections are taking place against the fraught background of rising geopolitical tensions. In the context of a heating – literally and figuratively – Arctic, Greenland is a focus of geopolitical competition and growing ...