Tessera

Though enlargement was not prominantly #EuCo, happy to share a piece I wrote for Euractiv: EU urgently needs to prepare for being a bigger Union 📍Public discourse: Anticipate fears and proactively discuss a bigger 🇪🇺, its advantages (&challenges) 📍Institutions: Make sure EU is itself fit to enlarge

Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Mit WELT TV habe ich über die heutigen Verhandlungen gesprochen 👇 Zur Headline würde ich gerne noch hinzufügen "Deutschland zahlt mit Abstand am meisten, bekommt aber auch meisten heraus" 🙃 www.welt.de/videos/video...

Volumen von zwei Billionen Euro: Streit um EU-Haushalt – „Deutschland zahlt mit Abstand am meisten“ - Video - WELT

Auf dem EU-Gipfel in Brüssel wird der Haushalt für die Jahre 2028 bis 2034 beraten. Der erste Entwurf hat ein Volumen von knapp zwei Billionen Euro. „Es ist im großen Interesse der Bundesregierung, zu...

welt.de

!!!! This is ridiculous indeed. Again: how did they screw up the cancellation announcement so badly when they were preparing it for months?! #FCAS (Translation: we STILL don’t have the official FCAS jet cancellation announcement even though officials already talk about it)

Thomas Wiegold@wiegold.de · 2mo ago

Fun Fact: alle berichten vom Scheitern des FCAS-Projekts, und Verteidigungsminister Pistorius tut so, als sei das doch klar. Aber offiziell haben bislang weder Berlin noch Paris es für nötig gehalten, das auch offiziell zu verkünden.

Shahin Vallée @shahinvallee.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Heute beginnt der Staatsbesuch von Bundespräsident Steinmeier in den Niederlanden. Dazu habe ich heute im @deutschlandfunk.de.web.brid.gy in #EuropaHeute gesprochen: share.deutschlandradio.de/dlf-audiothe...

Deutschland und die Niederlande, wichtige Partner? Interview Linn Selle, DGAP

share.deutschlandradio.de

My new weekly Notes on Europe. open.substack.com/pub/geoecono...

Notes on Europe

ECB meeting, G7 in Evian and the missing exchange rate question, the international role of the euro

open.substack.com

Yesterday, Germany and France published a Non-Paper on how to drive the enlargement process with the Western Balkans and Moldova. First of all: Good to have a joint proposal from 🇩🇪 & 🇫🇷 after the single-handed letter from Chancellor Merz on associated membership for 🇺🇦. Some first thoughts 👇

Wahrscheinlich eine unpopular Opinion, aber wäre nicht jetzt der Moment, dass Deutschland sich gemeinsam mit Partnern für einen EU-Sitz im Sicherheitsrat einsetzt?

Notes from Poland @notesfrompoland.bsky.social · 2mo ago

You just gotta love the snarky sense of humour - in a country where the catholic church still holds major influence

Travellers can once again take the 666 bus to Hel - a town on Poland's Baltic coast - after FlixBus this week launched a new service under that number. A previous route was shut down three years ago after complaints that it was "spreading Satanism".

Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 3mo ago

As Brad notes: China didn't respond to Germany's "engineering" surplus by sitting on its hands -- it had a rather active industrial policy to substitute Chinese production for German imports (including by buying and digesting Kuka), and now it turbocharges its exports with a weak currency

Centre for European Reform@centreeuropeanref.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Since mid-2025, Germany has been buying more capital goods from China than vice versa – a symbolically powerful tipping point, write Brad Setser @cfr.org and @sandertordoir.bsky.social. 🇨🇳 🇩🇪 New policy brief, read here: buff.ly/2OizisL

So it's not Ukrainian grain, it's the good old German potato destroying the Polish market www.euractiv.com/news/poland-...

Poland pushes 'potato patriotism' amid import surge | Euractiv

A surplus is pitting EU growers against each other

euractiv.com

Internationale Politik Quarterly@ipq.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Super excited that we @dgap.org @ipq.bsky.social are launching a new article series on the intersection of EU enlargement and reform! We aim at looking at Berlin's stance but also how other member states perceive this debate 🇪🇺💪

🚀 Today sees the launch of our new "The Future Shape of Europe" series––in cooperation with the @dgap.org |s Europe Center! First two articles are up – by Linn Selle @linnselle.bsky.social and Stefan Meister @meistefan1.bsky.social ... 2/

Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 3mo ago

FREDERIKSEN: Problem for us Europeans is we still think and behave as if we're in peacetime. We're no longer in peacetime, so we have to change our mindset. If we don't do that, Russia is going to win. Because their mindset has never been in peacetime. They're always in wartime.

I am wondering, why the German government is still proposing the E3 should take a more prominent role in potential ceasefire negotiations with Russia and not including Poland in those crucial discussions on future security on the European continent www.welt.de/politik/ausl...

Johann Wadephul im Interview: „Die militärische Option gegenüber Iran besteht“ - WELT

Bundesaußenminister Wadephul warnt Teheran vor möglichen Konsequenzen, sollte eine Einigung mit den USA erneut scheitern. Berlins Verhältnis zu Washington hält er für stabil.

welt.de

The dilemma on EU reform in two strategic documents: FM Wadephul in his first major EU speech yesterday, advocating for more #QMV esp. in #CSDP, whilst the new Polish Foreign Policy Strategy underlining that unanimity is a "matter of principle" for Poland.

Katalin Halmai @eublogo.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This report on the transparency of NGEU funds will likely have an impact on how the question of a move towards a more targets-based approach in the MFF will be discussed euobserver.com/215124/where...

Where did the EU’s Covid recovery money go? Auditors say it’s hard to tell

Because transparency rules are weak, it remains difficult to tell what €577bn in Covid-spending has achieved and who ultimately received it.

euobserver.com

🇭🇺 Hungarian elections Hungary will once again be a strong ally in the EU and NATO, Péter Magyar said in his victory speech. “Europe, Europe, Europe,” chanted the crowd. “We will rebuild our international relations and put our relations with our neighbors in order”, he added.

Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🧵 Thread of European leaders reacting to Péter Magyar's victory and Viktor Orbán's defeat. Ursula von der Leyen: "Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger."

Ursula von der Leyen@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 4mo ago

Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger.

"So long and thanks for the fish" (from Victor Orban's concession speech, via 444.hu)

Szabolcs Panyi@szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This is momentous! Although the Polish example shows how hard it will be to dismantle an illiberal system by liberal democratic means.

💥🇭🇺🗳️ BREAKING: Péter Magyar says Viktor Orbán called to concede and congratulate him. Magyar will be Hungary’s next prime minister and, as it stands, is set to secure a 2/3 supermajority – enough to fully dismantle Orbán’s system. A 16-year chapter is over.

Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🇺🇸🇵🇱🗳️ We really need JD Vance to visit Poland just before the 2027 vote and endorse PiS.

Jon Worth @jonworth.eu · 4mo ago

Now it's on: Will #Tisza profit from a seemingly high voter turnout in #Hungary? Even if Tisza would win the question would be if a supermajority is possible to reverse some parts of the Orban System.

The oil price hike *ought* to be a chance for European railways In 🇩🇪 for example 99% of long distance and 80% of regional rail passenger-km are on ⚡️ railways No transport mode is better sheltered from price hikes Can the rail sector seize the opportunity? jonworth.eu/rising-fuel-...

Rising fuel costs due to the Iran conflict give European railways an opportunity - can they seize it?

Go back a couple of short years to the months prior to the 2024 European Elections, and railways were trying to set their political direction. This was is in CER's manifesto (PDF): "the regulatory fr...

jonworth.eu

C🅰️S Ⓜ️UDDE @casmudde.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Yes, the “people” are the problem… not the energy-wasting businesses and the politicians who protect and subsidize them, of course. This is the second major fossil fuel crisis in 5 years. If this is not a wake up call to transition to renewable energy, I don’t know what is.

POLITICO Europe@politico.eu · 4mo ago

🚨 BREAKING: The European Commission has urged people to work from home, drive and fly less, and for EU countries to urgently roll out renewables, as it warned of a prolonged energy crisis as a result of the conflict in the Gulf. Full story: www.politico.eu/article/euro...