Matteo Vermeer

Analysis · European Policy

The Commission proposes laws, enforces EU rules and manages programmes. It does not legislate alone—and its claim to political independence has defined limits.

Analysis · European Policy

The Brussels think tank covers nearly every major EU policy field while locating judgement with individual researchers rather than the institution.

Analysis · European Policy

Academic research and concrete policy design meet in an institution named for one of European integration’s defining political figures.

Analysis · European Policy

The Hague institute combines independent international-affairs research with diplomatic training, placing it between analysis and practice.

Analysis · Elections

Municipal office is where anti-establishment promises encounter budgets, procurement and statutory duties.

Analysis · Elections

Germany’s centre-right is trying to recover voters on migration and security while preserving a clear constitutional boundary.

Analysis · European Policy

Germany’s Basic Law sets an intentionally high threshold for excluding a political party from democratic competition.

Analysis · Elections

Proportional representation produces broad choice but can turn clear electoral signals into long, unstable negotiations.

Analysis · European Policy

The war in Ukraine has reopened questions about what military neutrality requires from a prosperous EU member.

Analysis · Elections

A movement seeking executive power must reconcile purchasing-power promises, protectionism and France’s fiscal constraints.

Analysis · Elections

Electoral alliances can block the largest first-round force while producing a fragmented National Assembly.

Analysis · European Policy

External processing promises speed, but courts, costs and European law determine whether the model can operate.

Analysis · European Policy

The north–south fiscal divide sits behind a constitutional argument over devolved powers.

Analysis · Elections

Regional government offers evidence on budgets, culture policy and coalition reliability that campaign speeches cannot.

Analysis · Elections

Rapid growth has given the populist right leverage without resolving questions about organisation and governing partners.

Analysis · European Policy

Frontline enforcement, humanitarian obligations and local capacity meet most visibly in the Aegean.

Analysis · European Policy

Investor-citizenship schemes turn a national competence into a union-wide security and trust question.

Analysis · European Policy

The island’s Green Line combines an unresolved conflict with asylum pressure and EU legal complexity.

Analysis · Elections

Tax, housing and distrust of institutions sit beside migration and sovereignty in the party’s coalition of support.

Analysis · European Policy

Disputes over EU funds expose the tension between national electoral mandates and conditions attached to a common budget.

Analysis · European Policy

Government positions on sovereignty, criminal law and foreign policy have sharpened conflict with Brussels and domestic opponents.

Analysis · Elections

Sovereigntist, populist and conservative forces compete over migration, energy and relations with Brussels.

Analysis · Elections

Disputes over election administration and corruption have created space for parties challenging the post-accession consensus.

Analysis · Elections

Recurring ballots reveal fragmentation, low trust and the difficulty of turning anti-corruption mandates into stable government.

Analysis · European Policy

Membership moved a national frontier into the core of Europe’s passport-free area.

Analysis · European Policy

Slovenia’s influence comes from coalition-building, expertise and regional knowledge as much as formal blocking power.

Analysis · European Policy

Digital public services are a strategic strength, but wartime pressure raises questions about data, identity and due process.

Analysis · European Policy

Russian-language education and media policy are shaped by both national cohesion and individual rights.

Analysis · European Policy

State-organised migration pressure creates a genuine security challenge without suspending refugee protections.

Analysis · European Policy

An asylum system loses credibility when final decisions are slow, inconsistent or rarely implemented.

Analysis · European Policy

National procurement protects domestic interests but multiplies systems, costs and logistical complexity.

Analysis · European Policy

New common rules address spyware, ownership and editorial independence while raising competence questions.

Analysis · European Policy

Ageing changes the fiscal mathematics of pensions, care, housing and labour supply.

Analysis · European Policy

The Mercosur debate asks whether market access can coexist with credible environmental and food standards.

Analysis · European Policy

Generation targets are outrunning grids, storage and cross-border capacity in parts of the continent.

Analysis · European Policy

The Western Balkans bring security urgency, but accession still requires durable institutional convergence.

Analysis · European Policy

Common standards lose authority when governments believe enforcement depends on political alignment.

Analysis · European Policy

The carbon border mechanism seeks fair competition while manufacturers face high energy and compliance costs.

Analysis · European Policy

New common borrowing and revenue proposals raise an old question about taxation, consent and accountability.

Opinion · European Policy

The pact is now an operating system, not a campaign slogan. Here is what screening, solidarity and accelerated procedures mean in practice.

Opinion · Elections

The Merz government’s durability depends on whether fiscal restraint and migration control can coexist with coalition arithmetic.

Opinion · Elections

Migration matters, but regional economics, trust and representation also shape Germany’s most consequential electoral divide.

Opinion · European Policy

Minority arithmetic, public debt and resistance to spending restraint have turned each budget into an institutional stress test.

Opinion · Elections

The National Rally’s route to the presidency depends on courts, candidacy rules and a succession plan—not polling alone.

Opinion · European Policy

Margins, imports and environmental rules collide in a protest movement that neither Paris nor Brussels can dismiss.

Opinion · European Policy

Diversified gas supplies reduced one strategic risk while leaving manufacturers exposed to a structural cost gap.

Opinion · Elections

Excluding the election winner settled who governs. It did not settle the migration and trust questions that enlarged the FPÖ vote.

Opinion · Elections

Regional parties give Madrid a governing path while raising hard questions about budgets, amnesty and equal treatment.

Opinion · European Policy

The law changed legal exposure and parliamentary arithmetic, but the constitutional argument over sovereignty remains.

Opinion · European Policy

Warsaw is pairing spending with fortification and procurement. The challenge is converting urgency into durable capability.

Opinion · European Policy

Faster decisions can create capacity. They can also weaken democratic consent when vital national interests are overridden.

Opinion · European Policy

Headline percentages conceal fragmented procurement, thin stockpiles and infrastructure that still cannot move forces quickly.

Opinion · European Policy

A workable settlement must value food security and farm incomes while preserving measurable environmental outcomes.

Opinion · European Policy

Platform accountability has a democratic rationale. Opaque enforcement and pressure on lawful speech require equal scrutiny.

Opinion · European Policy

Borders, energy, defence and competitive industry matter more than arguments over whether Europe should be a federation.

Opinion · European Policy

Synchronising westward turned cables, frequency and reserve power into instruments of political independence.

Opinion · European Policy

New reactors promise firm power and industrial depth, but financing and delivery discipline will determine credibility.

Opinion · European Policy

Readiness depends on moving equipment across borders, making civilian infrastructure a central security question.

Opinion · European Policy

The case for simplification is strongest when measured in hours, permits and capital—not in the number of press releases.

Opinion · European Policy

LNG, storage and renewables bought resilience. Expensive power, grid delays and imported technology remain unresolved.

Opinion · Elections

Conservative, national-conservative, populist and far-right movements overlap, but treating them as interchangeable obscures more than it reveals.

Opinion · European Policy

A right-of-centre case for simpler rules, stronger investment and measurable restraint in Brussels.

Analysis · European Policy

Energy sovereignty needs a portfolio: renewables, grids, storage and firm low-carbon generation.

Analysis · European Policy

Europe needs fast decisions, enforceable returns and legal routes — under judicial oversight.

Analysis · Elections

The Alternative for Germany can lead a result without finding a route into government. That gap is now the central fact of German politics.

Analysis · Elections

Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella command a large electorate, but candidacy rules, two-round voting and constitutional review shape the road to 2027.

Analysis · European Policy

Brothers of Italy moved from insurgency to executive power. Its record shows both ideological continuity and the constraints of coalition government.

Analysis · European Policy

The Freedom Party's leverage explains why opposition status and political exclusion are not the same thing.

Analysis · Elections

Geert Wilders proved that electoral victory can transform coalition talks. It did not remove the structural limits of a one-leader party.

Analysis · Elections

The decisive issue is not rhetoric alone, but whether regional cooperation becomes a durable national route to power.

Analysis · European Policy

PiS, Confederation and the presidency share voters but not a single programme. Constitutional power is the arena that connects them.