This report by Forbidden Colours argues that the EU’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 was designed for a political moment that has since shifted dramatically. Although it secured important legal advances, it failed to anticipate the rise of coordinated anti-rights movements challenging fundamental freedoms across Europe. As the EU prepares its 2026–2030 Strategy, a decisive shift is needed: gender equality must be anchored as a core pillar of democratic resilience, security and rule-of-law protection – not treated as a standalone social policy.
The United Arab Emirates has become a major investor in the Western Balkans. With enlargement back on the agenda, the EU must ensure that foreign capital meets rather than undermines its governance standards.
This analysis argues that democracy should feature more prominently in the Global Europe pillar of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), both in terms of objectives and of instruments. It then locates democracy among the European Union’s external strategic objectives, arguing for a more central role as democratic governance has the potential to contribute to other policy objectives such as security and economic development.
A new report commissioned by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), and supported by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's EU | Global Dialogue and Washington, DC USA | Canada | Global Dialogue offices, highlights mounting concerns that international trade agreements are creating barriers to consumers’ right to repair the products they own. As everyday devices from smartphones to tractors become ever more reliant on software, restrictive clauses in free trade agreements are making it harder for consumers and independent repairers to access the tools and information they need for effective repairs.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is now in force, but climate disinformation is not explicitly recognised as a “systemic risk”. With this regulatory gap in mind, we set out to examine how platform responses to climate disinformation evolved or failed to evolve between 2023 and 2025, and what their policies look like in practice.
Northern EU accession is becoming a political possibility that requires attention. Bundling enlargement could help build momentum. A carefully sequenced enlargement round that includes both Nordic and southeastern and eastern candidates could reinvigorate a fatigued debate. However, the EU needs to be careful to only incentivise, rather than push, EU accession.
