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 knows it needs a massive investment surge to compete, decarbonise, digitalise and defend itself – but its next budget is nowhere near large enough to deliver it. Bruegel estimates that meeting the EU’s major strategic objectives will require about €7 trillion of additional investment between 2028 and 2034.

Europe built its prosperity on openness. Now that openness is being turned into a weapon. ISPI argues that trade, investment, technology, energy and supply chains have become instruments of geopolitical pressure as the US and China compete and the rules-based trading system weakens.

The EU’s next budget could be agreed – and still be thrown into turmoil by one powerful member state. DGAP warns that a future French government challenging EU contributions could exploit national ratification rules, demand a rebate or, in the most extreme scenario, simply withhold part of France’s payments.

Europe creates innovative companies but is struggling to keep them when they need serious money to grow. CER’s policy brief finds a stock-market system losing ground to the US – fragmented exchanges, weak equity investment and too few large companies capable of delivering heavyweight IPOs.

Germany can launch satellites into orbit, attract billions into start-ups and build cutting-edge industries – yet millions of voters still feel the country’s future has nothing to offer them. The National Interest argues that the AfD’s historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt exposes this dangerous split between a Germany reinventing itself and regions still scarred by decades of economic decline.

A fresh scramble for influence is under way across Eurasia, but no new superpower bloc is ready to replace the US-led order. China, Russia, India and Turkey all want more room to manoeuvre, yet each is boxed in by rivalries, economic limits and clashing strategic interests.