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Jan 14, 2025 | 
thebulrushes.com | Giles Merritt
Europe stands on the threshold – some would say brink – of a make-or-break quarter-century. In Brussels, optimists speak of the continuity around Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as Commission President and point towards a return to the EU’s golden uplands. Others fear the European project now teeters on the edge of irremediable decline. The EU’s first quarter of this century has been mixed, at best. Public approval is waning when it’s not evaporating.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
thebulrushes.com | Giles Merritt
It’s either too soon or too late to speculate on the fates of the Letta and Draghi reports. Too soon because their ideas for fixing Europe’s productivity malaise and completing the single market are decades-long projects that cannot yet be judged. Too late as both reports are already in danger of becoming post-mortem death certificates instead of policy roadmaps.
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
friendsofeurope.org | Jamie Shea |Giles Merritt
Here we go again: the Trump rollercoaster returns to Washington- and Brussels too - Friends of Europe
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
friendsofeurope.org | Jamie Shea |Giles Merritt
Policy Voices | Reactions from Europe: Trump is in, time for the EU to step up - Friends of Europe
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Nov 13, 2024 | 
thebulrushes.com | Giles Merritt
Ursula von der Leyen’s incoming European Commission will face a host of unwelcome challenges once Donald Trump is back in the White House. This need not be undiluted bad news and could instead be cause for rejoicing. An unpredictable and even hostile Trump administration is likely to administer the shock therapy the European Union badly needs. Europe is trapped in the doldrums and can only escape with the help of strong winds.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
eutoday.net | Giles Merritt
19When historians look back on pivotal moments that reshaped Europe, they may well choose 2015-16. Not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nor the way Covid laid bare our economic weaknesses, but when immigration started to tear Europe apart, writes Giles Merrit. Far-right populists have succeeded in inflaming voters across the EU, and now form an anti-immigrant bloc that threatens the Union itself.
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
brusselsmorning.com | Giles Merritt
When historians look back on pivotal moments that reshaped Europe, they may well choose 2015-16. Not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nor the way Covid laid bare our economic weaknesses, but when immigration started to tear Europe apart. Far-right populists have succeeded in inflaming voters across the EU, and now form an anti-immigrant bloc that threatens the Union itself.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
thebulrushes.com | Giles Merritt
When historians look back on pivotal moments that reshaped Europe, they may well choose 2015-16. Not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nor the way Covid laid bare our economic weaknesses, but when immigration started to tear Europe apart. Far-right populists have succeeded in inflaming voters across the EU, and now form an anti-immigrant bloc that threatens the Union itself.
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Oct 22, 2024 | 
thebulrushes.com | Giles Merritt
The heat is on for taxes. But whether it’s the under-taxed rich who’ll get burnt or rival national tax gatherers is an open question. Efforts to shore up tax receipts across the European Union are also recipes for conflict. “Soak the rich” is a cry that’s getting louder by the day. Wringing fairer tax contributions from the super-rich is increasingly popular because tax-dodging billionaires and giant corporations have become so absurdly wealthy.
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Oct 8, 2024 | 
thebulrushes.com | Giles Merritt
Two statistical bombshells highlight the widening gap between Europe and the world’s poor and hungry. That they have failed to excite much interest in Brussels or EU capitals underlines the European Union’s preoccupation with its domestic concerns at the expense of its global responsibilities. The first disturbing fact is that poorer countries now spend more on debt interest payments to rich countries than they receive from them in development aid.
