BrusselsReport.eu

By Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Carl Baudenbacher, former President of the EFTA Court (2003-2017), Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, Baudenbacher Law AG The forthcoming EU referendum in Iceland raises a limited legal question, but a much larger political one. Formally, Icelanders will be asked whether accession negotiations with the European Union should be reopened. In substance, however, the vote concerns the direction of the country’s constitutional, economic and political future.

Over the last few years, the European Commission has already managed to acquire ever more powers. Yet, it has appetite for more. Whether the pretext is migration, the war in Ukraine, trade tensions with China, the new long term EU budget or the “Covid recovery fund”, the institutional reflex in Brussels remains the same: “more Europe”, more centralisation, and more resources under the Commission’s control. The pattern is familiar and, from a democratic accountability perspective, deeply troubling.

By Hans Hoogervorst, who served as Dutch State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment in the Kok II cabinet, as Minister for Finance in the Balkenende I cabinet, and as Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport in the Balkenende II and III cabinets. From 2007 to 2011, he was chairman of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets, and from 2011 to 2021, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in London.

Copyright: "Xi Jinping, painted portrait _DDC2123" by Abode of Chaos is licensed under CC BY 2.0 By Belgian MEP Johan Van Overtveldt (Belgian Finance Minister between 2014 and 2018, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Budget Committee) On September 7, 2010, a Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels in a contested area of the East China Sea. The Japanese took control of the Chinese boat and arrested its captain.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. copyright picture: © European Union 2019 – Source: EP, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons By Derk Jan Eppink, a former Dutch MP and MEP In the Berlaymont building in Brussels, the headquarters of the European Commission, President Ursula von der Leyen looks out contentedly over the European capital. As a German who has set her sights on historic missions, she is the ‘Queen of the Offices’, with her own little flat on the thirteenth floor.

Dutch Finance Minister Eelco Heinen (VVD) (Copyright: © European Union, 1998 – 2026, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons) The Irish EU Council Presidency aims to secure agreement on the EU’s long term budget by the end of this year, as any later deal may be even more complicated due to national election campaigns, for example in France. Still, this is a rather ambitious endeavour. In 2025, the European Commission proposed to spend about 2 trillion euro between 2028 and 2034.

By Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson. Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Iceland Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur K. Gunnarsdóttir is seeking a referendum on Iceland’s membership of the European Union on 29 August this year. She says now is the right moment, because our ties with the United States are loosening as President Donald Trump turns his back on Europe.

By international affairs specialist Glen Hodgson of Swedish think tank Free Trade Europa In the Taoist text The Liezi, attributed to Lie Yukou, it is said that to solve a problem, one must remove its cause, not merely treat its symptoms. This wisdom has unfortunately been ignored in the formulation of strategy for the European steel sector. Despite the fundamentally flawed premise, tougher steel safeguards in Europe were approved late on 13 April.

By Martin Patzelt, a former member of the German Bundestag. He was part of the German Parliament’s Human Rights Committee for two terms, where he also served, among other roles, as rapporteur on Iran. Europe stayed out of the recent confrontation between the United States and Iran. Yet the European Union remains a major stakeholder, for a simple and important reason: energy. Europe depends significantly on oil and gas produced in, or transported through, the Gulf region.

By Tim Andrews (Prohibitiondoesnotwork.com) A new report from Prohibition Does Not Work (PDNW) finds that the Netherlands’ vaping flavour prohibition has totally undermined any control over the market and failed to achieve its public health goals. Instituted in 2024 out of fear of a non-existent ‘youth gateway effect’, the ban has instead driven over half of consumers to a black market, provoking both a doubling in youth vaping, and increase in cigarette consumption.