Joris Larik

Verlamde EU wil doorpakken en zet kopgroepen in om dwarsliggers te omzeilen Unanimiteit verlamt vaak de besluitvorming in Brussel. Met kopgroepen kunnen lidstaten alvast vooruitlopen en treuzelaars onder druk zetten om aan te haken. Er zijn ook risico’s: ‘Het zou jammer zijn als een Europa van meerdere snelheden geen tussenoplossing blijkt, maar een toestand van toenemende versplintering.’

Interview in het FD over nauwere samenwerking ("enhanced cooperation") in de EU na de top van Alden Biesen.

Kortom: een goede strategie om momentum te creëren, maar “het zou jammer zijn als dit geen tussenoplossing blijkt, maar een toestand van toenemende versplintering."

fd.nl/politiek/158...

Historic day!🇪🇺🤝🇨🇦

Amidst global shifts, Canada and the EU are strengthening ties when needed most.

Pleasure to sign w Minister McGuinty important agreement under the #SAFE instrument this morning! It will boost our industries & security, strengthen our defence cooperation & economic ties.

Trump wants our attention. Let’s stop falling for his geopolitical clickbait | Catherine De Vries Whether he’s targeting Greenland, tariffs or Iran, Trump’s agenda is to distract – because a Europe that is always reacting is never planning, says political scientist Catherine De Vries

Today in @theguardian.com, I argue that Donald Trump’s foreign-policy playbook is increasingly about attention capture, or what I call geopolitical clickbait.

Plus I outline why this matters for Europe & what to do about it.

🧵

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” Scary stuff.

There is no break on #SAFE! 🚀

8 more national investment plans approved just now.

~€75B in #EUDefence funding, moving us closer to collective strength.

⏩ What’s next: Council decisions for fast disbursement.

And we continue working on the remaing plans.

The display of the flags of the EU, the EU Military Staff, and our maritime missions ATALANTA and ASPIDES at India’s Republic Day is a powerful symbol of our deepening security cooperation.

It will culminate tomorrow in the signature of our Security and Defence Partnership.

Good to see a contingent representing the European Union, led by Colonel Spruijt acting on behalf of the EU Military Staff, at the #RepublicDay parade.

Uitslag van Motie: 21501-20-2374

Motie: 21501-20-2374
Europese Raad

Motie van het lid Erkens c.s. over in de Raad steun uitspreken voor het voorlopig in werking laten treden van het EU-Mercosurakkoord

tweedekamer.nl

Agriculture is only a tiny part of EU-Mercosur free-trade agreement
• EU tariff cuts on Mercosur-made meat will apply only to small share of European imports
• Real economic rationale of deal could lie in industrial and services trade, as well as mineral products
www.economist.com/europe/2026/...

"Think the unthinkable".

Yesterday's speech by German Foreign Office State Secretary von Geyr expresses the horror at both Trump's Greenland threats and the "Board of Peace" by many in German foreign policy establishment. Both named alongside Russia's war against Ukraine as turning points.

Relatedly, given the serious "Battle of Hoth" vibes of the whole Greenland crisis, we should consider renaming it the "trade ion cannon"...

I thought about this comment a lot. In a way, I think it's been genius to give it this catchy (albeit ridiculous) nickname: It captures the EU's economic power & ways to leverage it in an imaginative way that actually gets media and policymakers' attention. The "bazooka" is the massage!

I think deterrence... worked. Europe's response was actually strong. They sent forces to Denmark, they threatened to retaliate with tariffs, they talked about selling US debt, they made markets nervous and it looked like Trump TACO'd... for now.

The feeling is mutual. We don‘t recognize the United States anymore. And it breaks my heart. Greetings from Europe!

Trump on NATO:

"The problem with NATO is that we'll be there for them 100% but I'm not sure that they'd be there for us, if we gave them the call".

We did get the call on 9/11. 26 NATO members sent troops to defend the US. Hundreds died doing so. It was the only time Article 5 has been activated.

Then again, why even suppress it anymore? As someone recently radicalized by Mark Carney, I’d say take down the signs and stop
living within the lie. Laugh at what’s laughable.

Trump says 'Europe not heading in the right direction' as he addresses world leaders at Davos It comes after Trump says he will add a 10% tariff to goods imported from eight European countries that oppose his plan to take over Greenland.

He is literally fighting windmills.

www.bbc.com/news/live/cj...

Yes, but...

bsky.app/profile/jori...

[6/]

➡️ ...even if some violations of EU primary law are found, it may be possible to remedy them without fully unpacking the agreement and/or discontinuing provisional application.

[the end]

[5/]

➡️ ...while having to study further the issues raised, I am not too worried that the Court will find the EU-Mercosur Agreement incompatible with the EU Treaties. It confirmed CETA's compatibility with the EU Treaties in 2019 in Opinion 1/17 (see also Opinion 2/15 on broad EU trade powers.)

[4/]

➡️ ...this does not delay the provisional application of the agreement (not subject to EP consent), which was going to be a longer interim situation anyway. CETA between the EU and Canada has been provisionally applied since 2017 and, and trade between the two sides has thrived in the meantime.

[3/]

➡️ ...waiting for the ruling will at least delay the possibility for the entry into force of the agreement.

HOWEVER, to quote Scott Bessent for once, I think we (including our Mercosur partners) can "sit back and let things play out", because...

[2/]

If you support the agreement as a sign of strengthening ties with like-minded countries in geopolitically turbulent times, this is bad news, because...

➡️ ...the agreement cannot enter into force if the Court rules that it is incompatible with EU constitutional rules.

and...

EU-Mercosur trade deal stalled as MEPs send it for judicial review Opponents of the Latin American accord prevail, potentially delaying it for up to two years.

The European Parliament just voted to request an Art. 218(11) TFEU opinion on the EU-Mercosur Agreement; as is its constitutional prerogative.

www.politico.eu/article/eu-m...

[1/]

This speech was so great, PM Carney deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature! 🏆

Seriously though: This was a tour de force. Uncomfortable, clear-eyed, but not at all hopeless; with lots to think about for policymakers, international lawyers, IR theorists, integration theorists, and many more.

Nothing demonstrates the mental colonization of the European mind better than the ease with which Americans have been able to spread the myth over here that America, out of the goodness of its heart, has been "paying for Europe's protection".

Denmark and Greenland are not alone.
Good to see my colleagues Troels Lund Poulsen and Vivian Motzfeldt.

Arctic security is a shared transatlantic interest, and one we can discuss with our US allies.
But tariff threats are not the way to go about this. Sovereignty is not for trade. (1/2)

2024: can Europe defend itself ALONGSIDE America?

2025: can Europe defend itself WITHOUT America?

2026: can Europe defend itself AGAINST America?

I suspect the vast majority of those Americans assume that one day they can simply say 'reset' to us, and all will be well.
It won't be. America has never ever threatened a European democracy with invasion. Until now. We are in a new era.

Agree with @gideonrachman.bsky.social excellent column. European appeasement hasn't worked. It's time to try a different approach.