As we enter 2025 with the imminent return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House and war still raging in Ukraine, we asked members of our network who are actively engaged in their domestic politics what the defence and security priorities for their country or party should be for the year ahead.
Following the UN Committee on Disarmament and International Security’s call to ascertain the views of Member States on the establishment of a Group of Scientific and Technical Experts (GSTE) on Nuclear Disarmament Verification (NDV), ELN Senior Network member Michael Biontino argues that NDV, beyond its technical aspects, is an essential political element of nuclear disarmament since it builds the trust needed for disarmament agreements. In the commentary, he outlines the various ways that NDV can advance the political processes necessary for effective disarmament.
As Germany enters early elections following the erosion of Olaf Scholz’s coalition, ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Tanit Koch, journalist, co-host of the Focus Briefing and former editor-in-chief of the popular BILD, for a discussion of the problems facing Germany in terms of its economic ills, political divisions, and the rise of populist extremism.
The Western Balkans stands at a critical juncture as several states grapple with increasingly authoritarian political environments that threaten their democratic institutions and legal frameworks. In this new report, Dr Leon Hartwell provides an in-depth analysis of parliamentary oversight in seven Western Balkan states – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia – and offers actionable recommendations for these states, the EU, and NATO to address these challenges.
Last week, President Putin approved changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, formally lowering the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons. ELN Senior Policy Fellow Rishi Paul writes that these changes have been prompted by Putin’s use of nuclear weapons as tools of coercion, aiming to manipulate shared nuclear risks for intimidation and political leverage and to induce Western caution. However, Putin’s nuclear threats have not fundamentally reshaped Western policies and may underscore the limitations of nuclear coercion as a tool for shaping adversaries’ behaviour.
This week, Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential elections, beating Kamala Harris to become the 47th President of the United States. We asked members of the ELN’s networks: What now for European security?