Brief/ The EU’s Geopolitical Enlargement – Ukraine’s Accession Will Make the EU a Stronger Security Actor by Anna Osypchuk and Kristi Raik
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine led the European Union to grant Ukraine candidate country status. This major shift in the EU’s approach was broadly seen by member states as a geopolitical imperative. Geopolitical enlargement holds greater geopolitical importance now and, if successful, it will be an essential part of Western efforts in preventing that Russia […]
Brief/ Playing the Long Game in the South China Sea: The Potential and Limits of ASEAN–EU Cooperation by Andrew W. Mantong & Steven Blockmans
The security dilemma between China and the US is threatening rules-based multilateralism, which runs deep in the veins of the EU and to a great extent defines its international posture. While the EU’s position is still taken into account by regional players, it is not strong enough to shape policy outcomes according to its own […]
Playing the Long Game in the South China Sea: The Potential and Limits of ASEAN–EU Cooperation
In the South China Sea (SCS), as indeed the wider Indo-Pacific, the European Union is facing a deepening strategic rivalry between China and the United States. In the SCS, China has been able to create physical realities in defiance of international law through the construction of artificial islands in the attempt to sustain its claims […]
Webinar/ Reflections on the Middle East – Insights from Türkiye and the EU
The ongoing security challenges emerging from the Middle East have played a pivotal role in shaping and will continue to influence the policies of both the EU and Turkiye in the near future. Escalating tensions have seized the world’s attention since the onset of October 2023, drawing the focus of the global community to the […]
The EU’s Geopolitical Enlargement – Ukraine’s Accession Will Make the EU a Stronger Security Actor
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted the European Union to grant candidate country status to Ukraine. This major shift in the EU’s approach was broadly seen by member states as a geopolitical imperative. Indeed, this time the geopolitical significance of enlargement is stronger than ever. A successful enlargement will be an essential part of Western […]
Policy Event/ CIDOB Breakfast with Radmila Shekerinska, former Minister of Defence of North Macedonia
On October 27, 2023, CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs) and IBEI (Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals), in the framework of the JOINT research project, held an event on EU enlargement with Radmila Shekerinska, former Minister of Defence of North Macedonia. During her three mandates, North Macedonia has become the 30th member of NATO and candidate […]
Brief/ The EU’s Entry Point into the Post-Tigray War Context by Jesutimilehin O. Akamo & Theodros Fisseha
As the Pretoria Agreement signed in November 2022 by Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front nears its first anniversary, critical issues remain unresolved. While excluded from the process that led to the agreement, the EU could now focus on these issues to reinsert itself into Ethiopia’s post-conflict stabilisation process, Jesutimilehin O. Akamo (Coordinator […]
Podcast/ The EU and intra-EU contestation: how to navigate and circumvent the negative effect of internal contestation on EUFSP
This new episode of the JOINT podcast explores the the hampering effect of intra-EU contestation on the EU’s ability to respond effectively to international conflicts and crisis. Moderated by Sarah van Bentum (Research Fellow at Freie Universität Berlin and Scholar-in-Residence at the German Federal Foreign Office), Pol Bargués (Senior Research Fellow at the Barcelona Centre […]
The EU’s Entry Point into the Post-Tigray War Context
Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) made a rational choice when they ended their two-year civil war through the signing of the Pretoria agreement in November 2022. As the peace deal nears its first anniversary, critical issues remain unresolved. These include the perception by the Tigrayan side that the cessation of […]