📚 Leestip! Dit boek van @catherinedevries.bsky.social raakte me. Opgegroeid in het Zeeuwse grensdorp Sas van Gent herken ik hoe verlatenheid politieke ruimte creëert voor radicaal-rechts. Die vul je niet met boosheid, maar met perspectief. Daarvoor zet ik me elke dag voor in, in de Tweede Kamer

* DANISH PRIME MINISTER: I EXPECT ALL ALLIES TO RESPECT DENMARK'S SOVEREIGNTY, GREENLAND IS NOT FOR SALE @reuters.com

▫️The analysis of the data obtained shows that the Russian military-industrial complex is increasingly dependent on the supply of components from China. For example, optical parts manufactured by Chinese companies are key in the navigation and guidance systems of all types of Iskander missiles.

🇲🇩On June 15, the EU formally opened accession negotiations with Moldova. Exactly one month earlier, Putin signed a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for residents of Transnistria. Europe's fastest-moving EU candidate is also Russia's most active hybrid target. 1/10

The Leiden-London conference on flexibility in #EUenlargement starts with a keynote speech by Roman Petrov from Kiyv Mohyla university. We expect hot debates on the hottest day of the year @fggaleiden.bsky.social @leidenglobal.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social

EUolifant stampt door! We zijn nu ook te vinden op Substack! Vanaf nu delen we daar elke week nieuwe ideeën, analyses en reflecties over wat er speelt in Europa. Telkens weer geschreven door een andere EUolifant. 🐘🇪🇺 Benieuwd? Lees onze eerste bijdrage 👉 substack.com/@euolifant/n...

"Een eerste stap in de vorming van een Europese federatie"

Op Europadag verschijnt de allereerste Substack van EUolifant: een introductie van het collectief. Daarnaast schrijft Joshua Livestro over de beroemde toespraak van ‘Founding Father’ Robert Schuman.

substack.com

Wekelijkse update van de #EUolifant: mijn reflecties op spoiler governments in de EU en de nieuwe Bulgaarse regering en minister president Radev substack.com/home/post/p-...

Is de nieuwe Bulgaarse minister-president de nieuwe Orbán?

Een nieuwe wekelijkse update van #EUolifant

substack.com

Our newly published paper with @honoratam.bsky.social focuses on the problem of trust in societies in transition and the role of public service reforms for increasing trust and support for government. It is based on a new dataset from Ukraine before the war 1/2

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐟 & 𝐩𝐫𝐨-𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡: 𝐰𝐢𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐑𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐯, 𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐣𝐞? Dit weekend waren voor de 8ste keer in 5 jaar tijd #verkiezingen in #Bulgarije, deze keer met 1 duidelijke winnaar. Bulgarije-kenner @antoanetadl.bsky.social (@leidenhumanities.bsky.social) vertelt hierover @rtl.nl

Progressief en pro-Russisch: wie is Rumen Radev, de aanstaande premier van Bulgarije?

Bulgaren gingen afgelopen weekend voor de achtste keer in vijf jaar naar de stembus. Dit keer voor het eerst met een duidelijke winnaar: Rumen Radev (62). De linkse politicus staat bekend als…

rtl.nl

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

Four years ago today, we went to bed only to wake to the sound of explosions the first many of us had ever heard. We woke up to war. ​Since then, the war has been with us every second. No one is truly safe, no one is okay, and the future remains uncertain. Even when we laugh,

This is the way. Each Russian demand list must be mirrored. The battlefield is stalled and no one is winning. Thus, there's no reason to preemptively concede a single russian demand. The deference to russia's supposed might, which has long characterized European/US policy needs to end. Russia...

Euromaidan Press@euromaidanpress.bsky.social · 6mo ago

EU demands Russia withdraw troops from Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Transnistria, pull nukes from Belarus, pay reparations, and hold free elections — all as conditions for a Ukraine deal. "We pay back to Russian maximalist demands on Ukraine." 🔗 euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/19/e...

Former Dutch minister of defense Joris Voorhoeve answering why Europeans are less aware: the awareness of the Russian threat is proportional to the geographical distance. Denmark contributes much more than the Netherlands to Ukrainian defense @fggaleiden.bsky.social @universiteitennl.bsky.social

As the anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion nears, I feel the shock and sadness that of that day, only a fraction of what Ukrainians are going through. Yet they do not give up. Listening to Ukrainian former POW Oleksi Anulia @fggaleiden.bsky.social we need support for Ukraine more than ever.

Loosing patience with X 📉 New poll shows 70+% support for taking further actions against X and amongst those supporting action, many consider not only fines but also a ban. The investigations by the @ec.europa.eu into X are backed and poll corroborates public support for platform regulation.

MEPs accuse COM of political expediency, arguing that the decision came on the eve of a crucial summit of EU leaders at which the bloc was desperate for Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán to cooperate on sending aid to Ukraine. The legal opinion by AG Ćapeta — to annul COM’s decision to unfreeze the funds —

🚨🚨 #Hungary had a dreadful day yesterday at the @eucourtofjustice.bsky.social; First, the CJEU suggested that the #Sovereignty law did breach EU law on several counts. Secondly, AG Capeta proposed the Court to annul the Commission’s decision to unfreeze €10B in funds. www.politico.eu/article/comm...

‘Absurd!’ Orbán slams idea of returning EU’s €10B

European Commission was wrong to give Hungary EU funds, says adviser to top court.

politico.eu

De helm waarmee 🇺🇦 Vladyslav Heraskevytsj is verbannen van de Olympische Spelen:

Albanië: derde demonstratie in korte tijd tegen corruptie binnen regering van premier Rama loopt uit de hand nos.nl/artikel/2601... in @nieuws.nos.nl

Rellen bij demonstratie tegen regering Albanië, meerdere gewonden

De regering van premier Rama ligt onder vuur vanwege beschuldigingen van corruptie tegen vicepremier Balluku.

nos.nl

⚡️ Update: Russian lawmaker says Telegram restrictions part of Russia's 'struggle with NATO.' "Information security is an integral part of the struggle between us and NATO," Russian lawmaker Andrei Gurulev said.

Russia restricts Telegram in latest push to tighten internet control

Russian lawmaker Andrei Svintsov said Telegram may face restrictions because it "does not fully comply with the requirements" of Russian law.

kyivindependent.com

Russia continues to answer diplomacy with missiles. We are determined to make that choice painfully expensive. Today, we present our 20th sanctions package. Sanctions severely hurt Russia’s economy. And every sanction chips away at its capacity for war. (1/9)

Nothing says "Russians and Ukrainians are one people" and Kyiv is "the mother of all Russian cities“ quite like trying to destroy its energy system and freeze its citizens.

Great @theguardian.com piece by @catherinedevries.bsky.social: "attention itself has become a strategic battlefield of int'l politics. Attention wars aren't won by reacting faster. They're won by deciding what deserves focus. Europe (..) needs to outplan" Trump. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump wants our attention. Let’s stop falling for his geopolitical clickbait | Catherine De Vries

Whether he’s targeting Greenland, tariffs or Iran, Trump’s agenda is to distract – because a Europe that is always reacting is never planning, says political scientist Catherine De Vries

theguardian.com

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

🇫🇮 Stubb: I don't agree with the narrative that claims Russia is winning militarily. Over the past 1,000 days, Russia has advanced by 1% of Ukrainian territory. The cost of that advance has been 1,000 dead soldiers per day — about 30,000 per month. These figures refer to the dead, not the wounded.

“We can negotiate all political aspects – security, investment, the economy – but we cannot negotiate our sovereignty,” Mette Frederiksen, Danish Prime Minister. Contours of a framework of a negotiation. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Greenland talks must respect our sovereignty, says Danish PM

Mette Frederiksen makes comments after European leaders give cautious welcome to US president’s tariff U-turn

theguardian.com

Two leaders that can give us hope, next to a sharp diagnosis of our current predicament. One you probably have come across with his magnificent speech in Davos. The other one, pay attention to what he says! open.substack.com/pub/antoanet...

Carney and Kubilius

Leadership of ideas and recognizing hard realities shows the way forward

open.substack.com

It’s worth reading every word of PM Carney’s speech to see that we live in a new world. www.weforum.org/stories/2026...

Davos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, PM of Canada

Canadian PM Mark Carney stressed the end of the rules-based international order and urged middle powers to act together to counter the great power rivalry.

weforum.org

Question in Copenhagen: why is Trump focussed on a Russian threat that doesn't exist (in Greenland) as opposed to one where it does (Ukraine)?

@euobserver.com's Tauber nails the script for recent US policy interventions: ' By now this whole thing is a playbook that’s been practised quite thoroughly by the Trump administration: Imagine a crisis. Treat the imagination as reality. Escalate the imagined crisis into an actual crisis... 1/2