🇪🇺 🇮🇳 After the EU–India breakthrough, what comes next?

This Compendium, edited by @ivadica.bsky.social & @almutm.bsky.social, reflects on 2026 FTA & Security & Defence Partnership, as well as what it will take to turn political intent into sustained cooperation.

🔗 www.epc.eu/publication/...

🧠 Who profits when AI earns your trust?

EPC Discussion Paper by Jitse Goutbeek on why advertising-funded AI could import social media’s incentives into private, emotionally sensitive conversations — and what the EU’s Digital Fairness Act should do to address the risks.

🔗 www.epc.eu/publication/...

🔴 What changes for the Western Balkans when Orbán is no longer the autocrats’ main ally inside the EU?

Berta López Domènech argues that Orbán’s defeat weakens an illiberal axis that gave Balkan autocrats leverage in Brussels — and puts the spotlight back on the EU 👇

www.epc.eu/publication/...

🔴 How can Europe push back on Trump without weakening NATO’s deterrence?

Juraj Majcin warns that Europe should avoid moves that formalise US disengagement, strengthen its own posture, and keep support for Ukraine central.

Read the full Commentary 👇 www.epc.eu/publication/...

🇺🇦 Where does Ukraine’s EU accession go next?

Join EPC Policy Briefing with Taras Kachka to learn more on the state of accession talks, reform momentum and what Kyiv expects from the EU as it fights Russia’s aggression 👇

www.epc.eu/events/advan...

🔴 Could defence cooperation reset Türkiye–EU relations even with accession frozen?

EPC Policy Brief by Demir Murat Seyrek on Türkiye’s rising strategic relevance, the limits of transactional ties, and why defence cooperation is moving slowly.

Read 👇
www.epc.eu/publication/...

🇭🇺 Orbán is out — but Hungary’s democratic reset is only beginning.

In a new EPC Flash Analysis, @yorkalbrecht.bsky.social examines what Péter Magyar’s victory could mean for the EU, from rule of law to Ukraine and EU reform.

Read here 👇
www.epc.eu/publication/...

Orbán’s defeat is also a blow to the European far-right network, including its think tanks. But this does not mean these organised illiberal forces have been defeated. They have proven in the past that strategic patience is one of their key assets.

@politico.eu quotes EPC Chief Executive Fabian Zuleeg on a shifting Brussels landscape: as Commission funding for long-standing pro-EU think tanks is reduced, Eurosceptic think tanks are gaining visibility and influence.

Read 👇
www.politico.eu/article/euro...

@ericmaurice.bsky.social

🇭🇺 If Orbán loses, can the EU unlock funds to support democratic recovery without weakening rule-of-law enforcement?

@epc-official.bsky.social Policy Brief by @ericmaurice.bsky.social argues for phased, milestone-based conditionality tied to verifiable reforms.

Read 👇
www.epc.eu/publication/...

🏛️ TEPSA Director of Programmes: coordinate project teams, oversee financial management and contribute to fundraising.

Deadline: 15 April 2026 (midnight) 👇
tepsa.eu/events/job-v...

🧩 TEPSA Project Assistant: work alongside project managers supplying external expertise to EU institutions — strong fit for EU policy/project coordination profiles.

Deadline: 12 April 2026 (midnight) 👇
tepsa.eu/events/job-v...

🎓 TEPSA Academy & Skills Lab 2026: focused on European strategic autonomy, open to students and recent graduates interested in EU affairs.

Deadline: 19 April 2026 (midnight) 👇
tepsa.eu/events/tepsa...

💼 @tepsa.bsky.social has three opportunities currently open with April deadlines — spanning skills development for students/recent graduates, an early-career Project Assistant role and a senior Director of Programmes vacancy.

Find out more below 👇

🌍 Is the world entering a global permacrisis?

@epc-official.bsky.social Discussion Paper by Fabian Zuleeg on how sustained instability is going global, why crises now spill across security & economics, & what role Europe can play if it gets its own house in order.

Read 👇
www.epc.eu/publication/...

🇭🇺 Hungary’s elections: a critical juncture for the EU

Join EPC Elections Monitor, moderated by @ericmaurice.bsky.social, on 13 April: the day after Hungary’s elections, we assess what the outcome means for rule of law, European security and EU unity.

Register 👇
www.epc.eu/events/hunga...

Read the latest To The Point by EPC Chief Executive Fabian Zuleeg here 👉 www.epc.eu/publication/...

Confronting the permacrisis: Time for a supra- governmental avantgarde

🔴 Why the EU may need a more ambitious core of like-minded states in an age of permacrisis — an open supra-governmental avantgarde, as EPC called for in 2024, before “coalitions of the willing” became the language of the moment:
www.epc.eu/publication/...

Closing the compliance gap in migration and asylum after Hungary's elections The European Commission has avoided escalation ahead of Hungary’s elections. A Peter Magyar victory could ease relations, but it would not automatically solve the problem. Migration has been emotionally supercharged, and any incoming government would inherit years of confrontation.

🔴 How the EU should respond when a member state rejects common rules while still benefiting from cooperation:
www.epc.eu/publication/...

European leaders debate ETS while the energy crisis burns elsewhere The growing energy shock from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz forced a familiar reckoning onto EU leaders as they gathered this week for the European Council Summit. It did what energy crises have done since the 1970s: expose how deeply Europe’s prosperity depends on imported energy it does not control.

🔴 How the ETS debate at the March European Council showed Europe losing sight of its shared strategic interest: reducing dependence
www.epc.eu/publication/...

Like-minded traders: What a Euro-Pacific trade alliance could deliver Photo: Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the UN Ocean Conference. Vietnam, set to chair the CPTPP in 2026, will prioritise strengthening CPTPP–EU cooperation. At a time when rules-based multilateral trade is under assault from the United States, long a pillar of the global open trading system, like-minded nations in Europe and the Pacific whose prosperity hinges on dependable commercial governance must join forces. US economic coercion may only worsen, with the lopsided EU–US trade deal likely to entice President Donald Trump to press for further concessions.i Trump has also hit Pacific allies with high tariffs.

🔴 What an EU–CPTPP trade alliance could deliver at a time when rules-based trade is under growing pressure:
www.epc.eu/publication/...

WTO conference fails to deliver: what comes next? The most significant setback was the failure to extend the WTO’s e-commerce and TRIPS-related moratoria, which therefore lapsed. The expiration of the e-commerce moratorium, in place since 1998, allows countries to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions (such as digital downloads and streaming), marking a significant shift for global digital markets. The US and other developed economies pushed for a long-term or permanent extension to preserve a predictable, tariff-free digital economy, with US officials linking support for the moratorium to broader WTO reform. By contrast, a group of developing countries opposed the extension to preserve their right to impose duties and protect their emerging digital sectors. Brazil eventually blocked a final agreement linking the issue to the stalled agricultural negotiations.

🔴 The WTO’s failure to reach consensus — and whether the EU can lead coalitions of like-minded countries when multilateral agreement breaks down:
www.epc.eu/publication/...

The real question is not whether countries are like-minded — but in what sense.

This question runs through several other EU debates the EPC has covered 🧵👇