5 July 2024

Rough seas: A scorecard of the EU’s last institutional cycle

Carl Bildt

It was a different world five years ago when the last round of EU personalities assumed office. It quickly turned into a rough ride. Within weeks the covid-19 pandemic turned everything upside down. And when it started to fade, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borell went to Moscow to try to reset that relationship, only to be publicly humiliated by his Russian counterpart.

Nothing could have prepared the continent for what followed.

Two wars raging in Europe’s neighbourhood, an escalating trade war between the United States and China, and serious calls for the European Union to finally expand its own borders. Indeed, it’s been a turbulent ride in a period of unpredictable challenges, mounting confrontations, and rising dangers. Up against this, the EU’s record of the last five years is unavoidably mixed. But these unstable times have forced major changes in European foreign policy. The immediate task for the new institutional cycle is to take stock of these successes and failures as the EU moves further into unchartered waters.

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