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Ursula von der Leyen

July 13, 2026

Why Trump's insult hit Italy where it hurts

Iohanne Holt Last month, on Italian TV, Donald Trump recounted an exchange with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 conference. Trump's claim that Meloni 'begged me to take a picture with her' earned him a sharp rebuke. Many saw this as Meloni's attempt to bolster her popularity ahead of Italy's 2027 election. But Iohanne Holt argues that Trump’s insult struck directly at the international image Meloni has so painstakingly built Read more
May 29, 2026

🧭 The EU’s Turkish dilemma and enlargement

Murat Aktaş Ursula von der Leyen’s move to group Türkiye with Russia and China jeopardises the EU’s new security architecture. Murat Aktaş warns that treating an official EU candidate and ally as an 'excluded partner' is a strategic miscalculation. This deepening crack between rhetoric and reality creates an ontological crisis, threatening the credibility of the enlargement policy Read more
January 27, 2026

What Davos 2026 reveals about the international system

Süleyman Güngör At Davos 2026, world leaders no longer spoke as architects of a shared international order, but as actors positioning themselves amid its visible unravelling. Assertions of raw sovereignty stood alongside anxious appeals to law, values, and legitimacy. This, says Süleyman Güngör, reveals a global system drifting decisively away from rules, and towards power Read more
May 16, 2025

Dealing with dissent: advice to leave the EU

Jaap Hoeksma May 2025 marks 75 years since the Schuman Declaration that paved the way for the European Union. But while the Declaration succeeded in establishing the first democratic union of democratic states, it is now failing to protect its democracies. Jaap Hoeksma considers how we can stop Viktor Orbán and his cronies from undermining the Union Read more
April 7, 2025

Balancing EU chemical policies: pollution control and competitiveness

Henry Hempel Chemical pollution is rising, and the global market share of European chemical industries is in decline. What can the EU do about it? Henry Hempel examines how the European Commission's proposed revisions to EU chemicals regulation could combine economic incentives with chemical simplification Read more
November 4, 2024

Women’s leadership in the European Parliament’s external delegations

Cherry Miller In the European Parliament, ‘delegations’ are formal groupings of Members who maintain inter-parliamentary relationships. At recently held constitutive delegation meetings, the gendered allocations of leadership positions revealed a complex picture. Cherry Miller and Lorenzo Santini find that, despite initiatives to improve gender representation, there has been a decline in the number of ‘head’ women delegation […] Read more
June 27, 2024

Von der Leyen’s rocky road to a second term as President of the European Commission 

Catherine E. De Vries Following the European election results, Ursula von der Leyen faces a rocky road to confirmation as President of the Commission for a second term, writes Catherine E. De Vries. The key question is how she is going to be able to satisfy very different demands from the various groupings. Read more
June 4, 2024

How real is the threat of the populist far right in the European Parliament elections?

James F. Downes James F. Downes argues that elections to the European Parliament will likely lead to record representation for populist far-right parties. Lack of unity and ideological divisions, however, will make it difficult for the far right to wield any real power Read more

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