Dear Reader,
Summer has finally arrived in earnest in Berlin – and summertime is summit time. This week, the G7 has already gathered in Canada, and Europe is gearing up for four full days of leaders’ meetings at the end of this month. On 24 and 25 June, they will meet at the NATO summit in The Hague, followed on 26 and 27 June by the European Council in Brussels.
All eyes are now on the question of how much NATO countries will agree to spend on defence in the future. The combination of 3.5 percent of their respective GDP for military spending plus 1.5 percent on civilian defence seems all but certain. But while much has been said about the military side, we sense that the non-military side needs a lot more attention. That is why my colleagues Helena Quis and Torben Schütz have taken a deep dive into what both NATO and EU should do to advance Europe’s preparedness agenda. Find their policy brief below.
Another crucial question for Europe’s security will be how different groups of countries can work together within and outside the EU and NATO frameworks. And while “coalition of the willing” still has an early-2000s, Europe-divided taste to it, we need to discuss seriously how flexible formats can work in practice if needed. This was the topic of a public discussion last week at our Berlin house. Find the link to a summary below.
With EU member states looking for new cooperation models, the UK is an obvious like-minded partner. We were all the more pleased to welcome Nick Thomas-Symonds, Minister for the Constitution and for Relations with the EU, for a closed roundtable with political stakeholders in Berlin. The Minister discussed in detail the outcome of the inaugural EU-UK Summit, which resulted in a new Strategic Partnership. Please find Jake Benford‘s post-Summit analysis further below.
Finally, some exciting team news. This week, Claudia-Dominique Geiser has joined our Europe team as Senior Expert for EU Economic Policy. She comes to us from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development where she was the expert on all things related to EU due-diligence rules. We are very happy to have her on board to shed more light on how to find the right balance between cutting red tape while avoiding weakened consumer and labor protection standards that are at the heart of EU values.
Best regards from Berlin,
Lucas Guttenberg
Director
Europe’s Future Program
