Thu Nguyen

Besonders schön fand ich übrigens diese Worte in der Vorstellung: „Dabei sieht es so aus, als habe Dr. Thu Nguyen (…) Europa bereits in die Wiege gelegt bekommen“. Denn genauso fühlt es sich für mich an.

Full speech (in German) here: youtube.com/watch?v=UbUGEL…

11/ On enlargement during Q&A (not mentioned in speech) he seemed blank: starts his answer by referring to Brexit and EFTA. Says enlargement will take long and we need ideas for candidate countries (but also UK and Turkey) to take part in EU policy even without full membership

10/ Merz ends his speech with positive plea: epochal shift a chance for EU to not just survive but to grow closer as a community (he explicitly includes UK in this) that is bound by interests, history, tradition and rooted in values like democracy and rule of law

9/ On EU defence fund: says strong EU defence industry is of strategic interest but big doubts whether problem can be solved by money alone. Says we need reform of defence procurement first ('three s': simplification, standardisation and scale) before discussing new funds

8/ On DE strategic priorities: wants to present national security strategy in first year with 3 priorities: 1) restoring deterrence and defence capabilities; 2) strengthening national capacity to act and EU sovereignty; 3) ending Russian war against Ukraine

7/ On other MS: says he's minted by his time as member of European Parliament and wants to not only regain trust of big MS but also be broker for interests of smaller MS in Brussels

6/ On France: wants to enter new phase of Franco-German relations and use remaining 2 yrs of Macron to realise his (Macron's) vision of EU sovereignty. Announces trips to Warsaw and Paris on his first day in office as chancellor

5/ On regaining trust of partners: says most important is to repair relationship with Poland and France. On Poland: advocates for Polish leadership in the EU and calls for a new German-Polish friendship treaty (signed at the 35th anniversary of the DE-PL neighbourhood treaty)

This afternoon, CDU Chancellor candidate @_FriedrichMerz gave a keynote speech on foreign and EU policy at @KoerberIP. A thread on his main points on the EU and Germany's role in it:

4/ Somewhat funny point in between: no appointment of CDU ministers and secretaries of state that do not speak conversational ('alltagstauglich') English

3/ Wants to establish new national security council in chancellory to coordinate most important points of German foreign, security and EU policy

2/ On DE capacity to act in EU and foreign policy: no more public quarrels and better EU coordination. Says Germany is responsible not just for own interests but has responsbility to ensure EU unity and European capacity to act

1/ Merz started by stating we are currently experiencing what he calls not Zeitenwende but 'Epochenbruch' (epochal shift). Necessity for political change in 3 areas: German gov's capacity to act; regain trust of EU partners; strategic priorities

📆 Kostenlose Anmeldung: go.table.media/Sgcs0 Wir laden ein zum gemeinsamen Diskussionsabend mit @DelorsBerlin, um über den Einfluss der deutschen Bundestagswahlen auf Europa zu diskutieren. Zu Gast sind: @sven_giegold, Andreas Jung , @JudithSkudelny und @ArmandZorn.

Great surprise after Christmas holidays to find a hardcopy of this book waiting: 'New Frontiers of EU Funding - Law, Policy and Politics', ed. by Claire Kilpatrick and Joanne Scott. With @LindnerJS, we contributed a chapter on the politics of EU funding: global.oup.com/academic/produ…

🔙 Did you miss our most-read op-eds in 2024? 1⃣ Amos Goldberg and late Alon Confino on the “from the river to the sea” slogan: 🔗tinyurl.com/yck42zw6 2⃣ @AndreasSchedler on populism: 🔗tinyurl.com/uakb8ez2 3⃣ @onethuthree on the EU and Hungary: 🔗tinyurl.com/5n7dmy4y

Vladis Dombrovskis ist der EU-Kommissar, der für die Anwendung der neuen EU-Fiskalregeln zuständig ist. Wenn er sagt, die deutsche Schuldenbremse sei restriktiver als die europäischen Vorgaben und kann angepasst werden, dann sollte man ihm das glauben. handelsblatt.com/politik/deutsc…

Sind die neuen EU-Fiskalregeln für Deutschland so restriktiv, dass sie eine Reform der Schuldenbremse überflüssig machen? Zuletzt wurde das immer wieder behauptet. In einem neuen Papier erklären @lucasguttenberg und ich, warum das so nicht stimmt. Kurzer Thread:

Verhindern die 🇪🇺-Fiskalregeln eine Reform der Schuldenbremse in 🇩🇪? @niredeker und ich haben uns das im Detail angeschaut und kommen zum Ergebnis: Die Regeln lassen systematisch Spielraum für eine Reform. Aber er ist an Voraussetzungen geknüpft. Thread:

How can 🇩🇪 and 🇵🇱 work together to shape an effective #EU response to current challenges? Find out tomorrow morning at @BoellStiftung in #Berlin, w/@Formuszewicz, @jola_szymanska, @Chr_Puetz & our Deputy Director @onethuthree. Registration is still open 👉 calendar.boell.de/en/event/new-e…