Foundation for European Progressive Studies

Twenty years after Montenegro regained independence, the upcoming EU-Western Balkan summit in Tivat should remind Europe of something essential: enlargement was never merely a bureaucratic exercise about negotiation chapters, institutional alignment or technical benchmarks. Enlargement was the political project through which Europe stabilised its continent after decad...

A year and a half ago, with the nomination of the first-ever European Commissioner fully dedicated to the Mediterranean, hope and expectations rose across the region amidst growing mistrust and strained relations due to the tragic war in Gaza. There was the promise of a pact to reinvigorate relations – but is it able to repair what had been broken?

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The current energy crisis is not only reshaping global oil and gas markets, but it is also forcing Gulf countries to rethink how and where they invest in energy infrastructure. The shock of the Strait of Hormuz closure has exposed the vulnerability of relying on a single strategic chokepoint for Gulf oil and liquefied natural gas exports. The longer-term implications ...

In the same short period that Spain and Belgium were tightening arms embargoes against Israel, Germany was finalising close to a billion euros in new Heron drone contracts with Israel Aerospace Industries, and Greece was midway through a multi-billion military modernisation programme leaning heavily on Israeli weapons systems. There is no better demonstration of the s...

Donald Trump’s ill-conceived war with Iran has shattered the regional security order that governed the Persian Gulf for decades, with cascading consequences for the Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean. Whatever the conflict’s ultimate military outcome, the war has already overturned many of the assumptions underpinning the prewar regional architecture: the reliabilit...