What I see is European construction drifting towards a free-trade zone, that is to say an English-style Europe, which I reject. If we do nothing, this will lead in 15 years to a break-up. I reject a Europe that would be just a market, a free-trade zone without a soul, without a conscience, without political will,...Read More

In recent years, the internal challenges to Western liberal democracy and the early effects of climate change have both intensified drastically. In early 2020, the impact of the coronavirus outbreak added a harsh reminder of the capacity of epidemic diseases not only to kill human beings but to cause massive economic, social and political disruption....Read More

The focus of this article is to explore ongoing developments in European perceptions of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and how BRI has been gradually influencing Europe in thinking more strategically about its own continental scale and common interests across Eurasia. The New Silk Roads are neither a formal policy nor a clearly defined...Read More

Before we turn to our 12 things to watch in the global economy in 2020, let us briefly review 2019. The deterioration in the global economic and geopolitical environments continued unabated last year. In a tumultuous year that has now drawn to a close, the global economy experienced its slowest growth rates in a decade,...Read More

Despite examples of continued cooperation and resilience in the international order, there remains a growing consensus that we are witnessing the return of great power rivalry. This renewed period of contestation has produced two paradoxes that go well beyond the mounting liberal-populist divide. Confronting them will require the European Union to pose fundamental questions about...Read More

Open Letter to Christine Lagarde (President-Elect ECB), Ursula von der Leyen (President-Elect EU Commission), Roberto Gualtieri (Chair of EP Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee), Christoph Schmidt (Chair of the German Council of Economic Experts).   Dear President-Elect Madame Lagarde, You will soon be taking up your new post as President of the ECB. At the...Read More

In moves that signify their strong desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation, the European Union and Vietnam have reached milestone agreements in recent months. On 30 June 2019, they signed a free trade agreement (FTA) and an investment protection agreement (IPA). Over a month later, on August 5, they inked a new defence agreement. In many...Read More

“Almost the single worst abuser of everybody.” This was how US President Donald Trump described Vietnam’s approach to trade in an interview in June. His damning verdict was followed a few days later by an announcement from the US Department of Commerce that it would be imposing duties of up to 456 per cent on Vietnamese...Read More

The ‘America First’ Endgame argues that we are currently witnessing the ‘endgame’ of the international system established by the USA in the immediate post-WWII period. It is against this background that the US has enacted a new monetary, fiscal, trade and foreign policy mix, ‘America First’, which amounts to a coherent and comprehensive financial war...Read More

The escalating USA trade war must be seen as part of a much wider US push-back against a rising China, and indeed much of the global system that is considered not to be acting in the American interest. For China, this raises concerns over the impact on its economy and highly integrated domestic and international...Read More