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Dimitar Lilkov

The Unique Characteristics of Chinese Energy Policy

This blogpost is an edited excerpt from the Martens Centre’s recent policy brief on ‘Evaluating China’s energy outlook’. The full paper can be found here. ‘Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun’ is one of Mao Zedong’s most famous quotations. What is often omitted is the rest of the statement and thus […]

30 May 2023

Mikuláš Dzurinda

Deeds, not Bluffs, President Macron!

Following his recent trip to China, French President Emmanuel Macron drew global attention with two remarks: First, that Taiwan is not Europe’s problem, and second that Europe should avoid being a constant ‘follower’ of the US. Quite the opposite he claims, the EU must emancipate itself and become a third global superpower – alongside the […]

24 April 2023

Jarosław Pietras

Avoiding a Net-Zero Sum Game in Transatlantic Relations

The US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), after being welcomed initially, has created some irritation in Europe. The IRA’s aim was appreciated, but the instruments were confusing. The difference in approach between transatlantic partners forced the EU to seek a counterbalance. The European Commission has come forward with a proposal for a Green Deal […]

05 April 2023

Michael Benhamou

Understanding (unloved) France

“The French are frustratingly irresponsible, individualistic” is one complaint sometimes heard in diplomatic quarters. Foreign Policy recently doubled down with an opinion piece complaining that France was accommodating imperial Russia and forcing Europe into its (alleged) socialistic views. This outrage reveals a well-known difficulty in understanding my country’s perspective. France has realised (around two centuries […]

31 March 2023

Anna Nalyvayko

Deportations, abductions and forced Russification – the fate of Ukraine’s Children of War

Vladimir Putin might be nostalgic for the Czarist Russian Empire, but that has not stopped him from taking a page from Stalin’s playbook. Since he began the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on February 24th 2022, the Russian political and military leadership have been accused of a number of war crimes. These include, but are not […]

28 March 2023

Dimitar Lilkov

Rick Slootweg

True Strategic Autonomy Requires Improved Domestic Supply 

Achieving a successful clean energy transition while retaining control over necessary critical resources cannot happen if EU Member States continue to avoid the inconvenient discussion on the importance of domestic production. This week the European Commission is set to unveil the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Act to provide a framework to tackle the issue of resource dependencies […]

17 March 2023

Tomi Huhtanen

The EU’s Interests Today Require Stronger Ties With the Global South

In a June 2022 interview, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stated “Somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems, but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems”, when discussing the war in Ukraine. Much could be said in response, for instance reminding the fact that the EU […]

07 March 2023

Eoin Drea

The Windsor Framework Shows that Germany is Key to a British Recovery

Much of the analysis of the recent Windsor Framework between Britain and the EU naturally focuses on the specifics of the accord. From the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to the extent of customs checks at Northern Ireland ports, the compromises on both sides are compared against the previous years of fraught […]

03 March 2023

Garvan Walshe

Why Ukraine Belongs in Europe

It’s been a year since war came back to Europe. Not terrorism, or counter-insurgency or undeclared proxy fighting. Not hybrid- or cyber- or another kind of hyphenated conflict, but a full scale war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine. Don’t forgive the horror — the civilians murdered with their hands tied behind their backs in […]

27 February 2023

Klaus Welle

When the War in Ukraine Ends…

A version of this text was originally published in French in Le Point. The Russian war against Ukraine will end, as did every war before it. The current intensity of Russia’s war effort is not sustainable. About half of its heavy armaments have already been destroyed or captured by their Ukrainian adversary after the first […]

24 February 2023

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About Martens Centre

Hi, we are the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, the official think tank of the European People’s Party.
Through our work, we inspire ideas for action and shape responses to European challenges.

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