Demonstrators hold up Polish flags outside the European Union Commission representation in Warsaw, Poland, on 3 January 2025 during a protest against EU agricultural policies.

Polish Farmers and the Hallsteinian Vision for Agriculture

‘One is constantly reminded of Hallstein’s [Stresa] speech when analysing the turbulences of the recent years in Europe’s fields and countryside towns, occasionally bringing the distinct view of columns of tractors and piles of hay to the polished streets and thoroughfares of European capitals. And, out of the several farmers’ movements that have swept the EU since 2022, few dialogue so much with Hallstein as the Polish one.’

Trump Admin Left EU on Read — And It Couldn’t Be Better

Despite desperate efforts to capture the attention of the new US administration, Donald Trump’s foreign policy team does not appear interested in engaging with the European Union as a bloc. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has prioritized bilateral discussions with individual member states. This approach offers European nations an opportunity to reclaim their sovereign foreign policy, which has increasingly been overshadowed and taken over by Brussels in recent years, often against their will.

Gyula Benczúr, Saint Stephen Offering the Hungarian Crown to the Virgin Mary (1901). Altarpiece of the Saint Stephen Basilica, Budapest, Hungary

Twelve Pillars of Conservative Policymaking

‘Despite the different—and certainly debatable—approaches and priorities in specific policy areas, the fundamental objectives of conservative parties largely align. Public discourse and media representation in the West sometimes portray the self-determined policymaking of conservative governments in a polarized manner, focusing more on potentially divisive issues than on constructive dialogue.’

Tundra vegetation at Sydkap, Greenland

Unequal Partners: US–Danish Negotiations During the Cold War

On 8 January European defence industry stock prices rose following Donald Trump’s press conference at Mar-a-Lago, where he declared the ownership and control of Greenland to be ‘an absolute necessity’. This came as a shock for many but in reality, America has been eyeing Greenland for more than a century.

Meta Ends Third-Party Fact-Checking on Its Platforms

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that it will cease working with third-party fact-checking services on its social media sites Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Instead, it will rely on user-submitted ‘community notes,’ popularized on major Trump supporter Elon Musk’s X.

From Germany to Canada — Elections to Watch in 2025

While 2025 may not rival the election super year of 2024, it still promises a series of pivotal elections for political enthusiasts. In this article we present a non-exhaustive list of key elections to watch, spanning countries from Germany to Canada and Romania to Poland.

Károly Patkó, Zebegény (1934). Private Collection

The (Habsburg) Empire Strikes Back

‘The Danubian Compact could serve as a modern, flexible framework for cooperation, focusing on shared economic interests, energy security, infrastructure development, and more. What if the real future of Central Europe does not lie in resurrecting the past, but in reimagining it for a new era? The pieces are there, the question is whether the leaders of these nations are willing to make that leap.’

President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen rings a bell to start the first meeting of the new College of Commissioners of the European Union in Brussels on December 4, 2024. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

Reclaiming Europe’s Future Goes Through Bold Reforms

‘The leaders and politicians of our continent need to acknowledge a reality that the average European citizen has already discovered, namely, that Europe is on a dangerous path that will lead to total geopolitical irrelevancy and economic misery.’