Publications

Eu governance
2025 - n° 225 04/06/2025

At the June 1985 European Council meeting, in Milan, the diverging views about the future of Europe – its identity as a common trading area or as a more cohesive bloc – were bound to clash strongly, given the fact that the meeting was intended to consider various proposals for the reform of the European institutions. A Policy Brief by Andrea Colli

Andrea Colli
Eu governance
2025 - n° 218 26/05/2025

While the proof of the pudding will be, as always, in the eating, the UK-EU 19 May Summit can justly be said to have laid out an enticing menu. A commentary by Sir Alan Dashwood

Alan Dashwood
competitiveness
2025 - n° 217 26/05/2025

In this paper, we unpack the logic—and the unintended fallout—of the Trump administration’s tariff strategy. We present our analysis as an imagined conversation between President Trump and the late historian Carlo M. Cipolla. A paper by Marco Buti and Marcello Messori

Marco Buti, Marcello Messori
war Ukraine elections
2025 - n° 204 30/04/2025

To restart growth, the EU needs to focus on productivity and innovation. This does not require hundreds of billions of euros in new expenditure, but rather a sharp focus on the efficiency of existing budgets coupled with innovation-friendly rulemaking. A Policy Brief by Daniel Gros, and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard 

Daniel Gros, and Jacob Funk Kierkegaard
competitiveness
2025 - n° 197 14/04/2025

Direct public subsidies to Chinese BEV producers in the forms of grants and tax breaks are relatively small. The Commission motivates a large part of the countervailing duties (CVD) with the argument that entire markets in China are so distorted by industrial policies that the Chinese BEV producers do not face market prices for credit and batteries. A Policy Brief by Daniel Gros, and Weinian Hu 

Daniel Gros, Weinian Hu
competitiveness
2025 - n° 191 02/04/2025

The intrinsic contradictions of Trump’s strategy will strike the United States where it is most vulnerable: inflation and employment. In the ensuing moves of this chess game, it is vital to project both strength and flexibility. A commentary by Ignazio Angeloni

Ignazio Angeloni
sfondo updates
2025 - n° 172 26/02/2025

Trump’s ambitions to extend U.S. influence over neighboring countries align with Karl Haushofer’s notorious geopolitical doctrine. A new global order is emerging, and Europe may not be part of it. A commentary by Andrea Colli

Andrea Colli
war Ukraine elections
2025 - n° 171 25/02/2025

As 80 years ago, today’s large states aim to impose their will on smaller nations. This time, however, no European leader is at the table. Will incoming German Chancellor Merz change this? A commentary by Catherine De Vries

Catherine De Vries
green transition
2025 - n° 169 19/02/2025

The shared opposition of environmentalists and farmers to the EU-Mercosur trade deal reflects concerns about economic liberalization at the expense of ecological and social equity. A commentary by Pietro Galeone, Joseph Christopher Proctor, Romain Svartzman

Pietro Galeone, Romain Svartzmann, Joseph Christopher Proctor
Digital & Innovation
2025 - n° 167 17/02/2025

The incumbent’s full control over a pivotal realm of power implies several risks related to the incumbent’s behavior. The first temptation is to self-justify the strict control over AI technology “for the good of mankind” . A commentary by Andrea Colli

Andrea Colli
Eu governance
2025 - n° 161 31/01/2025

The German economy is weak not because of a lack of investment, but because of the sectors it goes into. German industry has specialised in mid-tech sectors, like automotive, that are now under increasing competitive pressure from China. A commentary by Daniel Gros

Daniel Gros
Financial Markets
2025 - n° 158 22/01/2025

The empirical evidence does not confirm the hypothesis that the public debt tends to be more stable in countries where the (real) interest rate is systematically lower than (real) growth. On the contrary. 

A policy Brief by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi
sfondo updates
2025 - n° 157 21/01/2025

The geopolitical references in the inaugural address of the new US President are striking because they align closely with the concept of “classic geopolitics”—a vision of politics and international relations as an aggressive, zero-sum game. A commentary by Andrea Colli

Andrea Colli
Financial Markets
2025 - n° 155 20/01/2025

Both in the U.S. and Europe, the excess liquidity created over past decades has been only partially reabsorbed. It remains ready to fuel inflation if a matchstick is struck. A commentary by Franco Bruni

Franco Bruni
Digital & Innovation
2025 - n° 152 15/01/2025

In a world where the number of smartphones is nearing that of people, and each device typically hosts two or three payment applications, the added value of X's new tool is limited

Ignazio Angeloni
sfondo updates
2024 - n° 150 13/12/2024

In a nutshell, we see that 80 years of prime partnership have created a solid base of mutual appreciation and similar sensitivities. Europeans and Americans still see in the other their most valuable ally, NATO is highly regarded and cooperation trumps competition. However, eight years of American hyper-polarisation at home and mixed messaging abroad have taken their toll. In 2024, 63 percent of Europeans agree that it is time for Europe to go its own way. 

Isabell Hoffman, Catherine De Vries
Eu governance
2024 - n° 149 04/12/2024

Reduced economic insecurity generates not only a direct increase in demand for populist commitments but also a change in culture in the direction of lower trust and prevalent exclusionary rhetoric, which in turn are further indirect channels through which populist movements thrive

Massimo Morelli
war Ukraine elections
2024 - n° 144 18/11/2024

The discussion explored practical ideas around the process of establishing a broad and deep partnership between the United Kingdom and the European Union in the areas of foreign, security, and defence policy.

Eleanor Spaventa
Eu governance
2024 - n° 143 13/11/2024

Lack of integration of capital markets is a major source of weakness and declining competitiveness of the European economy. While efforts to complete harmonization of capital market legislation in this domain should retain highest priority in the new Commission’s work programme, there is room to advance integration by exploiting the STS regulation introduced by the EU in 2017 as part of its broader efforts to implement the CMU.

Stefano Micossi, Andrea Stringhetti
Eu governance
2024 - n° 135 23/10/2024

“The Commission would like to be taking the lead on defense policy, but defense remains the domain of Member States”. Thomas Gomart is one of the most influential experts on foreign relations and geopolitics at the EU level: he has been director of the Ifri, Institute Francais de Relationes Internationales, since 2015. An expert in Russian geopolitics and the history of international relations, he has recently published the book L'accélération de l'histoire. Les noeuds géostratégiques d'un monde hors de contrôle ( Éditions Tallandier, 2024).

Stefano Feltri, Thomas Gomart
Financial Markets
2024 - n° 132 16/10/2024

On 16 October 2024, Claudia Buch delivered a lecture titled Bank Profitability: A Mirror of the Past, Creating a Vision for the Future at Bocconi University. The event was co-organized by the Baffi Center on Economics, Finance, and Regulation and the Institute for European Policymaking @ Bocconi University (IEP@BU).

Claudia Buch
competitiveness
2024 - n° 129 09/10/2024

Building on a previous analysis of the trends of convergence and divergence between peripheral and core EA-12 countries after the euro area sovereign debt crisis (Bordignon et al., 2023), this work investigates the long-term evolution of such differences in economic, institutional, and political outcomes, testing whether a pattern of convergence was finally resumed and comparing the effects of this crisis with those induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Massimo Bordignon
competitiveness
2024 - n° 126 30/09/2024
A credible low-cost path to decarbonize energy systems and transport, which together account for 60% of emissions, now exists. Unfortunately, political obstacles to the rapid adoption of these clean-energy solutions have emerged, owing to NIMBYism in advanced economies and tensions between the West and China.
Daniel Gros
Eu governance
2024 - n° 123 18/09/2024

While the focus of the new Commission will be crystallizing over the months and years to come, this short analysis of the mission letters for the future Commissioners suggests that the recent intervention of Mario Draghi on Europe’s competitiveness has been agenda-setting for the policy priorities as defined by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

Catherine De Vries

IEP@BU Contributors