The European Union faces the enormous challenge of having to achieve the necessary climate targets it has set itself, while at the same time increasing industrial competitiveness and ensuring public services of general interest. A sustainable European financial architecture based on three pillars is needed to finance these green-social investments at EU level. It is presented in this policy paper.

The sixth edition of the long-term study Actually European!? examines how the German population views the European elections and what they expect from their government at the EU level, ahead of the 6-9 June 2024 European elections.

The war on the Ukraine brought new challenges for German-Polish relations. Certainly, the change of government in Poland after the election that took place on 15th October 2023 created a new window of opportunity for a substantial rapprochement between Berlin and Warsaw. This could lead to the intensification of their cooperation in Eastern Europe, which may become a game changer for the region. Report from the V. German-Polish Roundtable in Wojnowice.

In its coalition agreement, Germany’s current government committed itself to an “active EU policy” and promised to shape Europe in a "constructive" way. The past year however was dominated by crisis management in the wake of Russia's war of aggression. The EU, in its support of Ukraine or in the area of energy policy, proved to be capable of fast and common action, though its room for manoeuvre was often limited to the crises. Its defence capabilities and decarbonization of the economy still present enormous challenges. Against this political backdrop, the fifth edition of the long-term study Actually European!? analyzes how German citizens assess their country’s role in the EU and what they expect from their government.

The report “Europe and the war in Ukraine: DE-PL-UKR perspectives” published in the framework of the project “German-Polish Roundtable on the East”, implemented in cooperation The Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe, Austausch e.V, with the support of the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, and the city of Wrocław, invited prominent German, Polish and Ukrainian experts to write essays approaching the Russian aggressive war on Ukraine from various angles.  

The report “Between the Past and Future. Poland and Germany in Eastern Europe” published in the framework of the project “German-Polish Roundtable on the East”, implemented in cooperation The Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe, by diving deep into Polish and German policies towards Eastern Europe, details why a good cooperation between the countries is needed to effectively respond to the emerging challenges and opportunities in the region (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine). Furthermore, authors offer a set of concrete recommendations on how to overcome the existing Polish-German tensions and improve cooperation regarding the eastern dimension of their (foreign) policies.

Through 20 conversations with Green decision makers and civil society actors, held prior to Germany's EU Council Presidency, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung has striven to contribute to a profound debate about the consequences of the pandemic and the future of the European project.