This Human Rights Watch chapter on the European Union paints a deeply uncomfortable picture of Europe’s self-styled “values power”. The EU loves to lecture the world on democracy and rights – yet inside its own borders it is struggling with rule-of-law backsliding, harsh migration practices, growing discrimination, and weak accountability. The message is grim: Europe’s human rights credibility is eroding, and the EU is often slow, divided, or unwilling to confront abuses when they happen at home.

This Bruegel working paper looks at the macroeconomic impact of ageing in the EU – and it reads like a warning sign for Europe’s future. As populations get older, growth slows, labour shortages rise, and pension spending climbs. The paper digs into how immigration policy and pension systems shape the damage.

This Heritage Foundation commentary makes a blunt, provocative claim – Western civilisation can only be saved if the European Union is abolished. The text portrays the EU not as a peace project, but as a political machine that weakens democracy, erodes national sovereignty, and blocks the reforms Europe needs to survive. Whether you agree or not, the message is designed to shock: Europe’s biggest threat is not Russia or China, but Brussels itself.

It has been argued that in 2024, for the first time since the beginning of the 21st century, the number of democracies in the world exceeded the number of autocracies. According to most indicators, Europe continues to be one of the most democratic regions on the planet. The latest annual Freedom House calls it the “most free region in the world.”

After the U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) was made public and raised the issue of ‘civilizational erasure’ of Europe due to uncontrolled migration, the migration topic is in the spotlight again. Bernard Chappedelaine, ex adviser to the French Foreign Ministry, discusses the dangers of uncontrolled migration in his analytical brief.

The population of the European Union is getting older at an accelerating rate. The number of elderly people is growing in all the countries of the continent, with their birth rates falling just as rapidly. A low-probable or, more precisely, almost non-existent prospect of the latter’s recovery actually leaves the EU countries with just one way to mitigate the economic consequences of ageing: to get increasingly addicted to the migration drug. The costs of flirting with migrants are now evident to everyone in Europe.

The policy brief by the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael is an internal strategic document aimed at moving the system of control over adherence to ideological guidelines and political decisions from the realm of political negotiations to the field of technocratic regulation. The authors of the study focus on systemic weaknesses of the key mechanism - the annual EU Rule of Law report.

Migration has long shaped the demographic and economic realities of the Western Balkans, and Germany has become the principal migratory destination.