The COVID-19 pandemic will negatively affect the defence field from a budgetary, industrial and politico-strategic point of view, particularly in Europe. Depending on the pandemic’s duration, its economic consequences and national and EU responses, effects may range from contained damages to a much wider European security crisis.
COVID19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus that has rapidly turned into a pandemic, could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. The international liberal order, as well as the European Union within it, has been in trouble for years now. The EU has been shaken by the successive Eurozone and migration crises, while its surrounding regions were spiralling into conflict and outright collapse. COVID19 could be the final nail in the coffin of a rules-based international order and the European project within it. But it could also give birth to a new phoenix rising from its ashes. Much will depend on how Europe, both internally and internationally, will confront this epochal crisis.
The December Communication on the Green New Deal – in the words of the EC President presented as the “man on the moon moment” of the European Union – outlines the steps to shape the European Union climate strategy for the years to come.
After the recent European elections in Italy, a populist leadership is set to be the driver of the Italian European agenda for the next months. These populist forces are destined to play a marginal role in the negotiations over the new Commission as well as the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2017. The growing role of Lega within the Government is expected to have a deep impact on the MFF, with agriculture, cohesion funds, migration and border management likely to become the real priorities for Italy at the expense of the development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.
The Sustainable Development Goals, the EU Global Strategy and the Consensus on Development present an unprecedented opportunity for a holistic understanding of what development means and how the EU can foster it. As part of this approach, the nexus linking migration, development and security is as important as bedevilled with
The domestic political orders in the MENA countries are going through a period of crisis and restructuring. Since mass protests spread from Tunisia and Egypt to other countries in the region in 2011 a number of worrying trends have affected the forms and functions of states, regimes, contentious actors and
