It’s never all doom and gloom. Even when political developments feel heavy and the broader context darkens, light still finds a way through. Over the past weeks, we’ve seen some encouraging signs.
In Romania, voters rejected the far-right and handed victory to a centrist candidate. In Poland, the progressive challenger came out on top in the first round of presidential elections, setting the stage for a decisive run-off this Sunday. In London, the recent EU-UK Summit offered not just symbolism, but a structured and pragmatic format for post-Brexit cooperation. And one of the oldest conservative institutions - the Catholic Church - has elected an American pope with a diverse background who emphasises the moral obligation to protect vulnerable individuals; a different kind of American leader to the one in the White House.
These developments alone are not seismic shifts. But in a polarised, populist and politically volatile landscape, they matter.
At our EU office, we’re closely tracking these developments and their broader implications. We covered the Romanian election with our 3 Questions to EP Vice-President Nicu Ștefănuță and offered an early analysis of the first round of Poland’s presidential race. We’ll be following the second round this Sunday and will release a dedicated podcast to unpack the results.
In anticipation of the EU-UK Summit, we published an analysis by Jannike Wachowiak outlining key areas of convergence and divergence and sketching out the contours of a more structured partnership, especially on security and defence.
We’ve also just released our latest Böll EU Brief that takes a deep dive (pun intended!) into the EU’s emerging cable diplomacy. Subsea cables transport over 95% of global internet traffic and are increasingly vulnerable to sabotage and geopolitical rivalry. The EU has recognised their importance, stating in a recent action plan that it wants to develop a “global cable diplomacy.” Our brief offers a concrete framework for how this could work, proposing partnerships to reduce dependencies on Russian infrastructure in the Black Sea, invest in resilient coastal networks in Africa, and cooperate with Indo-Pacific countries like India, Japan, and Indonesia on repair and monitoring.
In a similarly strategic spirit, our New Delhi office hosted a webinar and published a study on the EU-India Trade and Technology Council, an increasingly vital platform for aligning digital, trade, and geopolitical priorities.
These diverse developments – from Bucharest and Warsaw to Seoul, from cables to councils – may seem disparate. But they show that in a turbulent world, democracies, though under pressure, are resilient, that alliances matter, and that institutions and relations can evolve.
Warm regards,
Read more in our Böll EU 5/2025 Newsletter!
Warm regards,
Roderick Kefferpütz, Director, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union
