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The Council's agreement last week on the AGILE mandate – opening trilogue on a €115 million programme designed to get disruptive defence innovations from lab to deployment in weeks rather than years - puts a sharp spotlight on the questions: is Europe actually financing its defence the right way? This paper for GLOBSEC’s competitiveness tracker takes stock and argues that the honest answer is: not yet. The EU-27 collectively outspend both Russia and China on defence.

Ahead of the fourth NATO Summit in Ankara next month, the European Policy Centre (EPC) brings together a collection of analyses on the alliance’s priorities, expectations and strategic challenges at a decisive moment for Euro-Atlantic security. Written by EPC in-house experts and external authors with long-standing expertise on NATO and transatlantic security, the contributions assess the political, military and institutional pressures shaping the alliance’s agenda.

NATO is asking whether the United States under Donald Trump is still reliable. The answer is simultaneously: yes, no, maybe. Schrödinger’s cat is the best-known image of indeterminacy: inside the closed box, the cat is both alive and dead. NATO now faces a similar ambiguity. Is the United States still reliable? Under Donald Trump, the most honest answer is simultaneously: yes, no, maybe.

Europe is facing a China shock of historic proportions. European assessments identify 400 to 800 product categories exposed to Chinese overcapacity pressure: Steel, batteries, solar panels, electric vehicles, chemicals and machinery are all under strain. More sectors will follow. The issue is not simply whether Chinese imports are too cheap or whether Europe is losing market share.

The New Pact on Migration and Asylum has been presented as a turning point in EU migration and asylum policy. After years of tension, it is meant to create a more predictable and balanced system: more extensive registration of asylum seekers, faster procedures at external borders, clearer responsibilities and an effective solidarity mechanism. Member states have had two years to adapt legislation and ensure operational preparedness and funding. The rules start applying on 12 June.

Would you enjoy the buzz and pace of daily event management in a high-level policy think tank environment? Are you innovative, well organised, detail-oriented and able to manage numerous procurement processes? Are you a good ‘people person’ and adept at working with many different teams? Do you have experience organising full-day forums/conferences with over 200 participants?

On 7 June 2026, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won just under 50% of the vote in Armenia’s parliamentary elections. While this gives Pashinyan a parliamentary majority, it falls short of the constitutional majority needed to call a referendum on amending the constitution, including removing references that Azerbaijan says imply territorial claims to Nagorno-Karabakh — Azerbaijan's condition for signing a peace treaty.

On 3 June 2026, the European Policy Centre hosted a policy briefing on "Making prevention work: from policy design to real-world impact", exploring the gap between health policy ambitions and outcomes. Moderated by Samuel Goodger, Policy Analyst in the Health and Societal Resilience programme, the discussion brought together Dr Peter Harper, oncologist, and Elizabeth Kuiper, EPC Associate Director and Head of Programme.

This year’s EU–Western Balkans Summit had everything a high-stakes enlargement moment needs: Macron, Merz, Meloni, von der Leyen and Costa – assembled on the Montenegrin coast for what Podgorica called the most important gathering in its history, coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of its independence. The optics were impeccable. So was the drama: before a single speech was given, Montenegro had turned back 87 Serbian nationals at Tivat airport.

Brussels, 5 June – The European Policy Centre’s second Brussels Economic Security Forum (#BESF2026) concluded today with a clear message: Europe must build economic resilience as global fragmentation deepens. Over two days, leaders, policymakers and industry experts examined how to diversify supply chains, secure critical technologies and reduce vulnerabilities linked to trade shocks and strategic dependencies.