European Union’s bilateral relations with China
The Mission of the Peopleʼs Republic of China to the EU provided funds to CEPS in the framework of a number of anticipated activities, structured around the general topic of the European Unionʼs bilateral relations with China. With the aim of building a strategic and trusting cooperation between each other, CEPS provided a platform for […]
Systemic rivalry and balancing interests
Authors: Steven Blockmans and Weinian Hu For years, the EU has refrained from criticising China’s attempts to shape globalisation according to its own interests. Member states have allowed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to tip the balance of power towards the companies that China owns or subsidises. Alarmed by recent Chinese takeovers in strategic […]
2nd EU-China Forum: The Road Less Travelled – European Involvement in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been described as everything from the Chinese Marshall Plan to a tool for debt-trap diplomacy. Extensive reporting on the BRI has been done from political, economic, and strategic perspectives, but much less has been written from the business perspective. The […]
How the EU can – and should – enhance its security and global competitiveness
To achieve the objectives of security and competitiveness the EU will absolutely need to prioritise its enlargement policy, defence strategy and global partnerships over the coming years to 2030 and beyond. To make the EU fit for 30+ members, it will have to start by reforming its enlargement methodology towards a ‘staged accession’ procedure and […]
EU-India: a renewed strategic partnership or business as usual?
In 2004, India and the European Union signed a strategic partnership, based on the shared values and principles of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the promotion of peace and stability. Today, though, free trade negotiations are stalled and the two sides have yet to find common ground to move forward on key […]
Italy’s foreign policy will stay the course, but the economy remains its Achilles heel
Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right leader who has just been elected as Italy’s prime minister, has a history of pro-Russia sentiment. At a time when her Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy – FdI) party is poised to form a government, some fear that she will orchestrate a radical shift in the country’s foreign policy. While Meloni […]
Can Europe offer a Green Deal to the world?
In its attempt to strengthen the EU’s role in the world and notably vis-à-vis the other global powers, the new von der Leyen Commission is seeking to use climate change to underpin EU leadership ambitions. The failure of COP25 in Madrid to reach a satisfactory conclusion flags up how hard it will be for the […]
No longer a new kid on the block – China in the Middle East
Given China’s growing role in the complex security dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa, the EU should intensify its dialogue and, where interests coincide, joint action with Beijing. Last month’s Chinese Communist Party Congress, with its stress on President Xi Jinping’s strong leadership at home and abroad, has sparked much discussion on how […]
The Eastern Partnership at 10
The EU’s Eastern Partnership programme is often underestimated for what it has accomplished but overestimated for what it can achieve. Ten years since its formal launch on 7 May 2009, the EaP has brought sizeable benefits in terms of political association, economic relations and regulatory convergence. But the programme is not one of the EU’s […]
EU-Russia relations and Europe’s global profile
Relations between great powers have worsened in recent years, prompting High Representative Josep Borrell to assert that the European Union must learn to “use the language of power”. When it comes to the EU’s relations with Russia in particular, the need for such a language has become evident. Borrell’s trip this week to visit his […]
China and the EU: The contradictions of exercising joint trade leadership
Author: Jacques Pelkmans China and the EU seem condemned to each other in matters of global trade and investment. In world trade, there are only three potential ‘leaders’ – China, the EU and the US – with ‘critical mass’ in trade and, in varying degrees, foreign direct investment. One of them has shaken off responsibility […]
How the EU can best woo ASEAN over the connectivity agenda
On 14 December, leaders from the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet for an inter-regional summit in Brussels, the first ever of its kind. From the Indo-Pacific to European shores, geopolitical tensions around the Sino-American rivalry and the erosion of rules-based multilateral frameworks promise to hang over the summit like […]
It’s time for the EU to make a (bilateral) move on Indonesia
In an era where supply chain resilience in the Indo-Pacific is a key EU geopolitical interest, it’s easy to see why Europe should pay attention to the resource-rich, fast-growing G20 economy that is Indonesia. But is the feeling mutual? ‘We don’t really need Europe anymore’, said Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto in November 2023, criticising […]
A surprising new alliance: Europe and Japan
Almost surreptitiously, Europe and Japan are discovering they have a great deal in common, joining up to defend free trade, democracy and the rule of law. For decades, low-grade commercial friction and political indifference marked the relationship. Japan’s powerful car industry frightened European industrialists while its closed agricultural market angered European farmers. Geopolitically, Europe discounted […]
Ceren Ergenc
Dr. Ceren Ergenc is a Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and an affiliated researcher at the East Asian Studies and Research Centre, Autonomous University of Barcelona. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Boston University and has built a distinguished academic and research career focusing on China Studies and […]
EU dithering leaves Western Balkans prey to other suitors
After years of taking the Western Balkan region for granted, there were great expectations that the European Commission’s strategy paper published in February 2018 would herald a new and more determined EU engagement. Unfortunately, this has not been the case, raising serious concerns as to whether some member states fully grasp what is at stake […]
Permission to be ambitious – what the G20’s EU win means for global geopolitics
There were two major outcomes from the G20 Summit for Europe: a toned-down statement on Ukraine, and the announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). To put it plainly, one negative, one positive. Taking a closer look at both can lead to vastly different conclusions on the EU’s changing role in geopolitics and global […]
Extraterritorial sanctions with a Chinese trademark
China has recently updated its laws on the (security) screening of foreign investment, promulgated a new export controls law, drawn up an ‘unreliable entity’ list, and adopted an EU-style statute blocking the extraterritorial jurisdiction of US law. Beijing wages legal warfare (‘lawfare’) against Hong Kong, in the South China Sea, along the Belt and Road, […]
The New EU Strategy on Central Asia
For the EU, Central Asia has always been a lower priority area given the greater interests and more urgent developments in its immediate neighbourhood. But NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, the export of violent extremism after the rise and fall of ISIS, massive Chinese investments, and Russian attempts to regain influence have inflicted collateral damage on […]
EU-China Leadership in Trade Policy: Feasible? Desirable?
With Trumpism stirring controversy in world trade diplomacy, the other large trading partners are well advised to assume leadership in economic openness and responsible globalisation, argue the authors in this CEPS Commentary. The EU and China both disagree with Trumpism and have every reason to withstand it if they take firm leadership. They could even […]
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