Articles

The new British prime minister is a far better communicator than Keir Starmer. But we have little idea of his thinking about the world beyond Britain, says Ros Taylor. For the moment, Andy Burnham’s priorities lie at home.

When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan five years ago, the EU set out conditions for engagement, but the prospect of them being fulfilled is more remote than ever. Nevertheless, ties are growing closer.

Since Germany’s last federal election in 2025, its centrist parties have lost large numbers of voters to the fringes – particularly to the Right. At the same time, the Greens have also regained ground. A new study gives clues as to how a centre-left political platform can secure a strong governing majority.

Testimonial by Irene Cresci, Trainee from March to July 2026.

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's Global Unit for Democracy and Human Rights in Brussels is welcoming applications for its traineeship programme, running from mid-September 2026 to December 2026. The deadline for applications is Sunday, 16 August 2026, 23:59 CEST.

The European Commission suggests a new electrification target, doubling the share of electrons in the EU final energy consumption by the year 2040. Can it energise a common EU energy policy again to prevent fossil fuel price hikes and combat the climate crisis?

The European Commission has revealed its revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the cornerstone of European climate policy. Since 2005, this cap and trade system has capped greenhouse gas emissions across covered sectors while letting companies trade allowances. But with the Linear Reduction Factor, free allocation and price volatility all up for debate, and a possible extension to private jets and waste incineration on the table, how much climate ambition will survive the rewrite? We put three questions to MEP Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA), shadow rapporteur for the ETS reform, on where the real red lines should be drawn.

Franziska Brantner and Joschka Fischer spoke about the state of the country, for the new Böll.Thema 1/26,. Brantner is Member of the Bundestag since 2013 and Co-Leader of the German green party Alliance 90/The Greens since 2024. Fischer was the first ever Green Vice-Chancellor (1998-2005).

Published in 2021, the first European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan set concrete measures for building a strong social Europe as a way to foster Covid-19 recovery and just transitions. Its upcoming revision brings back the attention to the European social model and how this can support the green transition. We explored with Sebastiano Sabato, Senior Researcher at the European Social Observatory, how the link between social and ecological dimensions can be strengthened in the EU policy landscape to advance just transitions.

Europe is heavily dependent on US companies for cloud services, AI and digital infrastructure. However, the close ties between Big Tech and politics in the US exacerbate the risks associated with this dependence. The EU needs to realign its digital strategy.