Europe is pouring resources into military rearmament, but a dangerous gap is opening beyond NATO’s borders. A RIEAS analysis warns that Washington’s dismantling of USAID is weakening Western influence across Africa, Asia and fragile states just as China and Russia expand their presence.

The EU wants its next long-term budget to do more than finance programmes – it also wants to defend democracy and the rule of law. But the Centre for European Reform raises a difficult question: can Brussels use financial pressure to confront governments that undermine democratic institutions without hurting the citizens it claims to protect?

Europe is running out of workers – and its next enlargement could provide part of the answer. CEPS warns that shrinking working-age populations and rapid ageing are putting growing pressure on European businesses, public services and economic growth.

Europe is quietly building a new layer of strategic insurance – and Canada is moving closer to the centre of it. GMF argues that the EU-Canada relationship is becoming more important as Washington grows less predictable, transatlantic trade tensions rise and Europeans search for reliable partners beyond the traditional US-led framework.

France is bracing for another politically explosive energy shock, with petrol potentially reaching €3 a litre by the end of 2026. But Institut Montaigne argues that the familiar response – cut fuel taxes, subsidise everyone and pretend the state can erase the shock – would be expensive, badly targeted and strategically damaging.

Europe is racing to rebuild its military strength as Russia threatens the continent and America demands that allies carry more of the security burden. But DIIS warns that governments risk paying for rearmament by hollowing out development assistance just as Washington is retreating from that field.

Britain is still behaving like the custodian of an international order that is disappearing beneath its feet. ECFR argues that Brexit, political turmoil and two Trump presidencies have badly weakened the assumptions underpinning British foreign policy, leaving the country more exposed to economic coercion and strategic dependence.