Europe Center Commentary & Analysis

The Europe Center uses real-time commentary and analysis to explain to key audiences in America current developments in Europe and how they affect the transatlantic relationship.

Europe Center Commentary & Analysis

Dispatches Mar 18, 2026

Europe should help in the Gulf to serve its own interests, regardless of Trump’s demands

By Daniel Fried, Jörn Fleck

European leaders have plenty of reasons to engage constructively with the United States and partners in the Middle East.
Conflict Europe & Eurasia
Europe Center Commentary & Analysis

Dispatches Feb 2, 2026

To increase its autonomy, Europe must look to its strengths

By Piotr Arak

The challenge for Europe in the coming decade is not to imitate the United States and China, but to mobilize its own considerable strengths.
Economy & Business European Union
Europe Center Commentary & Analysis

Dispatches Jan 22, 2026

Trump may move on from Greenland. Europe won’t.

By Jörn Fleck, James Batchik

Trump’s willingness to engage in brinkmanship with Europe over Greenland will have a lasting impact on how the continent’s leaders approach relations with Washington.
Conflict Europe & Eurasia

All timely commentary & analysis

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2020

Forging the Four Freedoms Initiative for prosperity and peace in the Balkans

By Marko Čadež

To demonstrate their readiness to fulfill the responsibilities associated with full-fledged membership in the world’s largest common market, the countries of the region launched the Western Balkans Four Freedoms Initiative to bring down barriers to intra-regional trade, travel, and labor movement. While not identical to Roosevelt’s plans, this project seeks to ensure the same outcome of peace and prosperity through liberty, opportunity, and growth.

Macroeconomics Political Reform

New Atlanticist

Mar 31, 2020

Europe’s economic emergency is also a geopolitical one

By Benjamin Haddad and Josh Lipsky

European leaders are deciding the future of European power on the world stage. If Europeans can’t ensure solidarity with each other after so much pain and sacrifice, it will not only be a devastating loss for Europe. It will also be a blow to a world looking for the political shape of a post-coronavirus world.

Coronavirus European Union

New Atlanticist

Mar 26, 2020

EU greenlights North Macedonia and Albania membership talks: Breakthrough or symbolic gesture?

By Jörn Fleck

"The decision by the EU foreign ministers to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania comes at a time when Europe is battling a major public health crisis and is bracing for its economic aftershocks," Dimitar Bechev says. "Keeping enlargement alive speaks volumes about the union’s ability to muddle through."

Democratic Transitions European Union

New Atlanticist

Mar 25, 2020

Is China winning the coronavirus response narrative in the EU?

By Atlantic Council

With European countries still in the midst of the crisis or anxiously waiting to be hit, it is too soon to tell which narrative will win out in Europe—that of a generous China, whose systems managed to combat the virus, or that of an authoritarian regime, whose initial efforts to cover up the extent of the crisis cost the world valuable preparation time.

China Coronavirus

New Atlanticist

Mar 10, 2020

Idlib presents Europe with another migration test

By David A. Wemer

"The case should be made for a partial reengagement of Europe towards Turkey," Ambassador Michel Duclos says. "A coalition of willing should help Turkey—especially in the field of counterterrorism—to assure an effective implementation of the Moscow agreement as the only way to avoid the above scenario of a reconquest of the region by Assad."

Conflict European Union

New Atlanticist

Mar 6, 2020

French minister: Europe is ready to prove its strength

By David A. Wemer

Despite anxiety about the state of the European Union in the face of Brexit and political populism, French Minister of State for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin argued that there is growing evidence that Europeans are “starting to see Europe as capable of being strong [and] sovereign.” Recent joint European actions and renewed focus on building Europe’s ability to act autonomously has proved “that we can use the capabilities that we have, the power we already have, to take initiative,” de Montchalin said at the Atlantic Council on March 6.

European Union Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Mar 3, 2020

First privacy, now data: The EU seeks a managed digital space

By Frances Burwell

On February 19, the European Commission launched a major regulatory initiative aimed at creating a transformational digital economy in Europe. Given the close integration of the US and European Union (EU) economies—including in the digital sphere—this European initiative is likely to have a significant impact on US companies and consumers.

Digital Policy European Union

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2020

Putting privacy limits on national security mass surveillance: The European Court of Justice intervenes

By Kenneth Propp

In a little-noticed set of opinions issued on January 15, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) put forward a bold and unprecedented proposition—mass surveillance conducted by European Union (EU) member state national security services should operate within the bounds of the Union’s privacy laws.

Digital Policy European Union

New Atlanticist

Feb 14, 2020

France and Poland: Helicopters, forks, and reconnections

By Olivier-Rémy Bel

Macron's Poland visit makes political sense, but there is another pressing reason: as we enter an era of great power competition, the unity of Europe—and the unity of the transatlantic alliance—is a critical asset, which will be tested. Mending relations between East and West is part of the groundwork to bolster the political resilience of Europe.

France Poland

New Atlanticist

Feb 10, 2020

Will the Commission’s new EU proposal revive Western Balkans enlargement?

By David A. Wemer

“For a region whose politics, both domestic and foreign, have been shaped by the promise of EU membership in almost every way since the 1990s, the coming months and years will prove trying," Damir Marusic says.

Democratic Transitions European Union
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