Economics
Why capitalism is fundamentally undemocratic
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Patricia Urban and Deniz Tekin from the CEPS, Brussels, in their memo From Green to Clean to Eco-Social: How to Put Wellbeing Back onto the EU’s Sustainability Agenda carefully but clearly recognize an important and alarming evolution of the European sustainable development policy.
From “Green” Well-Being to “Pure” Competitiveness: How the EU Gradually Abandons the Social Component of Transition
In an article entitled Can the Climate Crisis Unite Europe? and published by Project Syndicate, Giulio Boccaletti, Scientific Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, advances an idea that is more and more often heard in the recent years: that the escalating climate crisis could provide divided Europe with a common cause that would finally unite it and impart new meaning and renewed legitimacy to the European project
Europe Again Seeking Escape in an Illusion of a Common Cause
Arthur Daemers from the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in his memo A Make-or-Break for Accelerating Electrification, in a restrained but clear manner, describes the size of the problem that the European Union is going to face if it tries to dramatically speed up the electrification of its economy.
Europe Keeps Making the Same Mistake, This Time with the Power Grids
Reducing dependence on foreign suppliers raises costs, while a least cost decarbonization policy deepens dependence. The Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), proposed by the European Commission in March 2026, leads to this dilemma
The Flaws in the European Union’s Proposed Industrial Accelerator Act and How to Fix Them
In his analytical paper entitled Not All Dependencies Are Equal: Europe’s Energy Transition in the Wake of Geopolitical Crisis Camillo Stubenberg, a Cornell University PhD and an affiliated researcher at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, is trying to convince the reader that Europe’s energy transition is not just a climate policy but a complicated transformation of dependencies. But in practice the text only confirms what critics say: while rejecting one dependency, Europe quite plausibly falls into another, no less dangerous and far longer-lasting one.
Not All Dependencies Are Equal, but This Is Not Easier for Europe
In an article entitled Europe Is Losing the Energy-Security Battle to China Emmanuel Guérin, a fellow and special adviser to the CEO at the European Climate Foundation, spells out a reality most uncomfortable to Brussels: while Europe still sees illusions of a ‘green transition’ and ‘energy autonomy’, China is steadily winning the strategic battle for control over future energy systems.
Europe Losing Energy Security Battle to China
In the wake of the 2022 gas and oil shock, the EU expectably set a course to ‘get rid of Russian fossil fuels’. Today, out of the chaos of the new gas and oil crisis, a new lodestar is emerging for EU energy policy. This situation is examined by Noah Gordon, a DARE task force member.
An Electrification Race. Will the EU Avoid an Energy Crisis, and What Should It Do Next?
In a commentary entitled The war in the Gulf and the challenges facing EU energy policy, Agata Łoskot-Strachota, coordinator of the Energy in Europe project at the Warsaw-based Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), examines in detail how the Persian Gulf war and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have revealed the European Union’s profound vulnerability. Despite years of talking about an energy transition and reducing dependence on imports, the EU finds its economy and security hit hard by an external shock once again.
The Gulf War and Europe’s Helpless Energy Policy
In her article entitled Chilled ambitions: How the Iran war is foiling Europe’s LNG plans, Agathe Demarais, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, discusses how hard the Iran war has hit the European energy sector.
Washington and Moscow Get New Leverage over Europe
Since Israel and the United States launched their war on Iran in February 2026, global energy prices have skyrocketed, with crude oil reaching nearly USD 115 per barrel in early May and still growing. While this shock has hit low-income countries the hardest, it also places significant strain on high-income Europe.
An Energy Shock Is Coming. How Should Europe Respond?
In an article entitled The European Union’s External Imbalances: Past, Future, and Policy (Bruegel, Working Paper 07/2026) a group of authors led by Jeromin Zettelmeyer, director of Bruegel, an influential Brussels think tank, and Zsolt Darvas, point to a disturbing situation: for more than a decade, the European Union has had a persistent current account surplus of around 3 percent of GDP.
The EU’s Chronic Surplus: Handsome Figures Concealing a Deep Structural Decline
