Centre for European Reform: CER podcast: Unpacking Europe: Hungary's landslide election outcome On this week’s Unpacking Europe podcast, CER’s senior research fellow Zselyke Csaky sat down with Zsuzsanna Szelényi, director of the Democracy Institute's Leadership Academy, a founding membe...

🎙️Listen to our new #CERpodcast ‘Unpacking Europe’ discussing Hungary's landslide election outcome, @zecsaky.bsky.social spoke with Zsuzsanna Szelényi🎙️

Listen here:

If the #Hormuz strait remains closed, European governments should avoid the huge fossil fuel subsidies they provided in 2022, argue @elisabettaco.bsky.social and @johnspringford.bsky.social in their new @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight.

Read here: buff.ly/7gKy4VB

excellent analysis of the Hungarian election

I think all we can say re: Iran is that Trump pretty clearly wants it to go away without being humiliated.

But as that can't happen it's not at all clear what will.

We continue to watch and analyse Greenland risks closely. No officials in Copenhagen, Brussels or EU capitals think they've gone away - indeed most think they're rising.

Pentagon Threatened the Pope After He Criticized Trump It was so bad that Pope Leo changed his plans to travel to the U.S.

Missed this report the other day. Elbridge Colby told Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s US representative:

“The US has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.”

For over a year, Tisza has led the polls. But when asked who will win the elections, the public has always said Fidesz. This changed in the last 6-8 weeks. In March, Median found 47% who think Tisza will win vs 35% for Fidesz. Publicus measured a similar trend. This is massive

EU déjà vu: the emergency brake is back! Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform and Tim Shipman join James Heale to reflect on the rumours about Britain's latest set of negotiations with the European Union. There are reports that…

@cergrant.bsky.social from the @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social joins James Heale to reflect on the rumours about Britain’s latest set of negotiations with the European Union in the Spectator's Coffee House Shots podcast.

Here are 10 consequences of the US-Israel attack on Iran - a thread. US soft power is damaged. To launch an attack without clear aims or an exit strategy has upset allies - in Europe, Gulf & Asia - who must bear the economic, political and military consequences. /1

EU déjà vu: the emergency brake is back! Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform and Tim Shipman join James Heale to reflect on the rumours about Britain's latest set of negotiations with the European Union. There are reports that ...

Why does the EU dislike Starmer's plan to rejoin bits of the single market, sector by sector? I explain on this @thespectator1828.bsky.social podcast, to @shippersunbound.bsky.social and @jaheale.bsky.social.
spectator.com/podcast/eu-d...
@centreeuropeanref.bsky.social

“Excluding Türkiye from SAFE means that there is ultimately going to be a mismatch between the European threat map and its institutional map,” @senemaydndzgit.bsky.social told the #CERpodcast.

Listen here: buff.ly/MEKSCri

LAST WEEK TO APPLY for the 13th Clara Marina O’Donnell #fellowship.

Start date: October 2026 for six months
Pay: London Living Wage
Applications in by: 09/04/26
@centreeuropeanref.bsky.social @brookings.edu @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @campolis.bsky.social

buff.ly/3vV64SZ

Can Hungary's opposition win and restore democracy? After 15 years, Viktor Orbán could lose power. But the opposition’s path is fraught with obstacles, from a lopsided electoral system to the extraordinary difficulty of restoring democracy even if…

#Hungary is about to hold the EU’s most important election this year.

But can the opposition win and even if it does, can it restore democracy?

Read @zecsaky.bsky.social's analysis ahead of the vote:

War in Iran: Who wins and who loses? The attack on Iran by the US and Israel is good news for Russia but bad news for Europe, including Ukraine, and ultimately for the US itself. China could emerge as a long-term winner. Europeans must…

The US administration seems not to have foreseen that #Iran would attack facilities in the Gulf states with drones, and reportedly turned down a 2025 Ukrainian offer of counter-#drone technology.

CER insight by @cerianbond.bsky.social & @thomasmaddock.bsky.social
Read here:

A shrewd analysis of where WTO is going, or not

This thread by @cergrant.bsky.social still looks good. Only point that might have changed over the last 2 wks is Zelenskyy parlaying Ukraine's counter-drone expertise into defence export deals with Gulf states - potentially enabling UA to fund more arms production & offset cuts in US supplies.

@cergrant.bsky.social has been a central figure in European debates for three decades, and has done as much as anyone to build a European civil society. The CER is a fantastic organisation, and that's largely down to him.

An excellent thread on Hungary

My first ever serious job was @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social when @cergrant.bsky.social gave me a chance. Best ever school in how to be a think tanker.

It will be an exceptional challenge to take over from Charles who has turned the CER into a uniquely influential organisation.

Details below

Quite possibly the best job in Europe’s think-tank world. CER is looking for its next director as the irreplaceable @cergrant.bsky.social steps down as director later this year.

Good news in a troubled world. France is NOT necessarily drifting towards its first Far Right leader since 1944. Two polls now suggest that the former Centrist PM Edouard Philiippe could beat the Far Right in the 2nd round of the Presidential election next May. 1/

I agree with Ulrike's prescriptions - including the idea that more ambitious countries should move ahead in avant-gardes. I made a similar point in my recent essay on the future of Europe in the CER's annual report: www.cer.eu/sites/defaul... @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social

@cergrant.bsky.social, director of the @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social, said: “A number of EU countries, including Poland and the Baltic states are absolutely determined that their students should not pay higher tuition fees to study in UK universities...

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

@cergrant.bsky.social has welcomed everyone to our Brussels conference today on 'Can Europe be a global power?'

Sometimes it helps to take a step back and analyse the situation with crystal-clear objectivity.
Charles Grant has done this admirably; it’s a thread well worth reading:

European far right leaders, like Orban & Meloni, have been pro-Trump but canny enough not to support the unpopular war overtly. In France Le Pen/Bardella have never been very pro-Trump. But others - including Farage in the UK & Abascal in Spain - back Trump's war and may pay a price. /ENDS

Europe is particularly vulnerable economically eg with its high energy prices and dependence on LNG. But the war, after Greenland and other Trumpian antics, reinforces the case for Europe - including in some ways the UK - to spend more on defence and pursue strategic autonomy. /9

Trump will be weakened politically. The American public is not keen on this war and worries about inflation, which the war, like the tariffs, is worsening. Significant parts of the MAGA base - including Tucker Carlson & Marjorie Taylor Greene - oppose the Iran war. /8

The Iran war is not good for Ukraine. Many of the armaments and missiles that it hoped to obtain from the US have been diverted to or used in the Middle East. Trump's annoyance with Europeans for not being more supportive on Iran could weaken NATO and undermine support for Ukraine. /7

Russia is another big winner. Soaring oil prices boost its government's coffers. Also the world is distracted from its invasion of Ukraine. Trump's unprovoked attack on Iran can be claimed to justify Russia's attack on Ukraine. International law is further devalued. /6