stevenblockmans.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Berrie en Marike zijn in Brussel en nemen deel aan het #CEPSideaslab. Het Charge-onderzoek naar Europese defensiesamenwerking wat momenteel loopt is een samenwerking met @stevenblockmans.bsky.social van @ceps.eu 🇪🇺

submitted 8 hours ago • 0 comments

The US poses a real and clear danger to the European security order. On the bright side, JD Vance’s Munich speech is the most important European integration speech since Robert Schuman, says @stevenblockmans.bsky.social at #CEPSlab2025. Follow the event live 👉 www.youtube.com/live/yQi66VY...

submitted 8 hours ago • 0 comments

Our opening plenary starts at 13.15! How can the EU navigate mounting geopolitical and internal pressures? At #CEPSlab2025, our opening plenary will set the stage for key debates on Europe’s future—from Ukraine to the single market, enlargement, and the rise of anti-European sentiment.

submitted 9 hours ago • 1 comment

Commissioner Kos at #CEPSLab2025: Ukraine’s accelerated integration into the defence industrial market will be central to the upcoming White Paper on the Future of European Defence.

submitted 7 hours ago • 0 comments

#REUNIRPublication D5.1 Political Threat Assessment in Eastern Neighbourhood & Western Balkan Countries Russia, China, Türkiye &the Gulf states exploit disinformation, economics & culture to weaken democracy & EU integration in the WB & EN @horizoneu.bsky.social Read here: tinyurl.com/tjwahf7z

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

#REUNIRpublication D4.1: Socio-Economic Threat Assessment in Eastern Neighbourhood & Western Balkan Countries Foreign actors pose major socio-economic threats to EU candidate countries in WB & EN to influence their economies & EU accession @horizoneu.bsky.social Read here: tinyurl.com/39nabkf8

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

#REUNIRblog “Against the War & Putin: Political Views of the Russian Community in Serbia” This @bezbednost.bsky.social study reveals that Russian community in Serbia is young, educated, &largely anti-war, focused on stability, not revolution Read here: tinyurl.com/3ue569a9 @horizoneu.bsky.social

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

The most arresting moment at this year's EU Enlargement Conference was Ukrainian poet Olesya Mamchych's personal & family account of the pain suffered as a result of a long history of wars waged by Russia. Each time, Ukrainian identity has been strengthened. Ukraine will prevail 🇺🇦

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

How has EU public opinion on enlargement evolved following Russia’s 2022 full-on war against Ukraine? 👇

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Blackmail by the MAGA Maffia

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Mijn interview van maandag, voor de top in Riyadh. Le monde tourne mal

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Not a single trace of enlargement or pre-accession fatigue here. If anything, the pronouncements by the Trump administration are concentrating minds to double down on reforms and accelerate the process. Many thanks to all panelists for their spirited contributions!

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

The EU not just has to discuss its geopolitical environment, it has to shape it. EU enlargement needs an electroshock: security guarantees for candidates, a strategy to deal with bilateral disputes outside of accession negotiations, additional funding to fill the hole left after the closing of USAID

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

To our participants: welcome to snowy Tallinn

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Tough Love icds.ee/en/a-new-but...

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

It seems appropriate to re-up this. #MSC2025

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

A hopeful Freedman: "Putin has to work out whether he can walk away from his maximalist demands. (...) Should he end up being blamed for the failure of this big push for peace, he might find that even Trump is ready to step up support for Kyiv and impose more sanctions on Russia." on.ft.com/42RI8yx

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

A referendum on restarting the EU accession process has been mooted ever since Iceland froze its negotiations in 2013. It was formally included in the programme of Iceland’s new government at the end of last year. www.ft.com/content/a39b...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Russian DPM Alexei Overchuk recently compared Armenia’s EU aspirations to “buying a ticket on Titanic” and warned it of economic consequences.

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Less than a week to go until this great conference. We have a great line up this year. Check out the programme: 👉 icds.ee/en/euec-2025/ @icds-tallinn.bsky.social

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

The int’l situation allows Putin to consolidate gains, regroup & then resume his colonialist mission. “There’s no sign of abandoning his goal of rolling back NATO’s presence to 1997 levels. A frozen conflict only benefits the aggressor.” 👉 raport.valisluureamet.ee/2025/en/ @mfaestonia.bsky.social

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Hegseth’s surrender speech will be music to Putin’s ears. But given the difficult going of the ‘special operation’, the Kremlin is unlikely to jump to conclusions. It will closely observe any changes in the US’s deployments in and around Europe and, if so, whether Europeans are plugging the holes

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

The world is sliding from a Helsinki to a Yalta-style order. Where does that leave the EU? @ceps.eu @icds-tallinn.bsky.social

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Maybe that’s what hell is like, spending an eternity in Bruges

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Pulling the plug on Russia

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

While the PM casually mentions that 2030 is a realistic target date to obtain EU membership, a Foreign Agents Law 2.0 is in the works. Also, the mandatory participation of NGOs in public decision-making processes will be removed from all relevant laws and by-laws. civil.ge/archives/659...

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

⚡️The Big Baltic Synchro. The BRELL treaty expires today. Tomorrow, the Baltics will disconnect from Belarusian & Russian IPS/UPS and connect to the Continental European synchronous electric power system. Worst case scenario: 3-day outage. Population is prepared. Kaliningrad will be a short circuit.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

An underwhelming response: no context, no names. Lost in abstraction

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Curious to learn whether the Ambassador gets any serious facetime with senior members of the Trump administration and whether she believes that the EU can be a stabilising force to a US-led West in a Yalta-style world order.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

No matter how often well-wishers (Gabriel, Verhofstadt) repeat the idea, it’s contrary to precedent (🇲🇦) + the spirit of Art 49 TEU to suggest that not having a geographical foothold in Europe is not important for a state to be considered 'European'. Better focus on closer partnership than membership

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

How it would have been reported in the NY Times and WaPo if it took place elsewhere: "Young foreign-born self-made millionaire in a bold move to break vested interests and stop hemorrhaging of government revenues".

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

If X is our guide then the end game for Musk seems to be: seize a polarized, inefficient institution; fuse his identity with it; then use it to punish his enemies & reward his friends. DOGE is a moonshot programme to turn govt into Musk’s personal political weapon www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

“Students and Serbians writ large have every right to feel betrayed by those who proclaim democratic values but spurn those seeking to see them actually implemented.” Here’s looking at you 🇪🇺, @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu @kajakallas.bsky.social et al.

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

It’s time for the EU (esp. EPP, FR, DE & Cion) to abandon Vucic and embrace the democratic aspirations of the Serbian people. The tradeoff: lose an autocrat supplying dirty business opportunities & geopolitical illusions and score a big win for democracy & regional stability tol.org/client/artic...

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

open.spotify.com/episode/1zM6...

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Looking forward!

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

Please sign the petition in solidarity with the students in Serbia (the content is the same as the other link, but this one includes affiliation) docs.google.com/forms/d/1A56...

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

A song for the dark times

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

These are the necessary conditions to get European boots on the ground in #Ukraine, by @stevenblockmans.bsky.social www.ceps.eu/these-are-th... via @ceps.eu #Russia #Putinswar

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

The Trump circus dominates the news. But there’s other events happening too - in countries where people are rising up against governments, fighting for democracy & accountability. These photos are from Serbia & Georgia today. Capital cities brought to a standstill 🇷🇸🇬🇪 (Pls see ALT for more detail)

submitted 38 days ago • 9 comments

Tens of thousands protest in #Slovakia over pro-#Russia policies of populist leader Fico apnews.com/article/slov... #Ukraine #Putinswar

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

Looking forward!

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

Highly recommend watching Conflict, the Finnish mini-TV series which explores an uncomfortably real scenario of a hybrid attack on a strategic peninsula in the Baltic Sea. More effectively than any govt campaign it sends the message that we can't take a safe & free society for granted. Slava Ukraini

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

#REUNIRpodcast 📌Episode 2 – How did Russia interfere with the 2024 Moldovan Presidential Elections and EU Membership Referendum? Listen to it on our website: reunir-horizon.eu/episode-2-ho... or Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/425j... @horizoneu.bsky.social @IPREMD

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

Congratulations, European Defence Agency, on your 20th anniversary! Victory in WWII - soon 80 years. What does history teach us? - Have a “Victory Plan”; - ⁠Go with a “big bang” approach in defence; - ⁠No more fragmentation, no more incrementalism; 1/2 ⬇️

submitted 40 days ago • 1 comment

HRVP Kallas injects a dose of urgency at #EDAConf: "An incrementalist approach to EU defence won't work ... Russia could test our preparedness in 3 to 5 years ... Last year, member states collectively spent an average 1.9% on defence. Russia is spending 9% ... Weakness invites the aggressor in."

submitted 40 days ago • 1 comment

Good morning Europe, smell the coffee and terminate your X account. You’re past making excuses

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

This sounds great but the devil is not only in the detail of arranging PPPs & off-budget vehicles to ‘make the EU great again’. EU structures, rules & procedures exist to ensure democratic oversight and judicial backstop. We shouldn’t lose sight of these in the flight forward suggested in this oped

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

Blue Monday feels like a double whammy this year

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments