Europe’s far right is watching Washington, and it likes what it sees. This study argues that a second Trump era would not just shake the US system but turbocharge radical right movements across Europe. The shock is not ideological inspiration alone. It is the signal that disruption works and that liberal guardrails can be bent or ignored.

France still talks like a global player, but this analysis shows how domestic chaos is hollowing out its international role. Political fragmentation, protest politics and permanent campaigning are dragging foreign policy down to size. Paris wants influence abroad while barely holding authority at home.

The analysis takes stock of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first hundred days and finds a government eager to signal strength but constrained by the same limits that trapped its predecessors. Rhetoric has sharpened, priorities look clearer, and ambition is back in Berlin. The problem is delivery.

Europe’s housing crisis is already squeezing voters. This analysis warns it is about to get more complicated. Any serious solution, it argues, must include decarbonising buildings. That may be climate-sensible, but it risks pushing costs higher in the short term if governments get it wrong. The housing shortage and the green transition are colliding, and Europe is not ready for the impact.

Europe says it wants a reliable, integrated power market. This policy brief shows how far reality lags behind the promise. Capacity mechanisms meant to keep the lights on are multiplying across member states, poorly aligned and barely coordinated. The result is higher costs, distorted markets and growing risk just as electricity demand and system stress rise.

Europe’s China policy is being rewritten by events it does not control. This report maps the geopolitical forces pushing Brussels from naïve engagement toward guarded competition, and exposes how slow, divided and reactive the shift remains. As rivalry hardens, Europe talks tougher but still struggles to turn awareness into leverage.

The commentary dissects Emmanuel Macron’s latest defence spending commitments and finds a familiar French pattern – bold announcements masking hard questions left unanswered. Paris talks about resolve, leadership and strategic autonomy. The paper argues that behind the headline figures sit delivery risks, budget trade-offs and capability gaps that money alone will not fix.