Seven essential reads on the debates shaping Europe in 2026
As Brussels slows down for the summer, it is a good moment to catch up on some of the ideas, challenges and policy choices shaping Europe in 2026 – and likely to remain high on the agenda when political activity picks up again in the autumn.
From Europe’s economic and pharmaceutical security to migration, democracy, enlargement, sustainability and the rapidly changing Arctic, experts across the European Policy Centre’s seven programmes have been examining how Europe can navigate an increasingly complex political and geopolitical environment.
We have selected seven essential reads – one from each EPC programme – for your summer reading list. Together, they offer a snapshot of some of the biggest questions facing Europe today and the choices that could shape its future.
Health and Societal Resilience
Towards openness-based European preference in the pharmaceutical sector
Elizabeth Kuiper, Paweł Świeboda and Samuel Goodger
Europe's dependence on external pharmaceutical supply chains has become an increasingly important question of health, economic security and resilience. But strengthening European production does not have to mean turning towards protectionism.
This Policy Brief examines how an “openness-based European preference” could help strengthen Europe’s pharmaceutical sector while preserving the benefits of international competition and innovation. It considers how procurement, investment and other policy tools can build greater resilience while avoiding an approach that could ultimately increase costs or undermine access to medicines.
Read the Policy Brief here.
European Politics and Institutions
Two years on: Why Europe’s far right keeps growing
Javier Carbonell, Tabea Schaumann and Levente Kocsis
Two years after the 2024 European elections, Europe's far right continues to gain political ground. Its rise is no longer an isolated electoral phenomenon but part of a broader transformation of Europe's political landscape.
This analysis examines what continues to drive far-right support and why mainstream political responses have struggled to contain it. It looks beyond individual elections to consider the deeper political and societal dynamics sustaining the far right – and what its continued growth means for liberal democracy and European politics.
Read the Discussion Paper here.
European Migration and Diversity
The EU’s response to Ceuta: the first stress test after the Pact reforms?
Helena Hahn
The sudden arrival of tens of thousands of people in Ceuta and Melilla placed Spain under intense pressure – and quickly exposed familiar political divisions over how Europe should respond to migration.
But the episode came just weeks after the EU's new migration and asylum rules entered into application. Rather than immediately reaching for new emergency measures, this Flash Analysis asks whether Ceuta should be treated as an early test of the system Europe has just spent years reforming. It argues that the episode reinforces the need to invest in implementation and build a more resilient Common European Asylum System.
Read the Flash Analysis here.
Europe’s Political Economy
Brussels Economic Security Review, Vol. I
Fabian Zuleeg, Georg Riekeles, Elizabeth Kuiper, Paweł Świeboda, Varg Folkman, Edward Fishman, Maria Demertzis, Bart Hogeveen
EPC experts and external contributors
Economic security has moved rapidly from the margins of EU policymaking to the centre of debates about Europe's competitiveness, trade, industrial capacity and geopolitical power.
The inaugural Brussels Economic Security Review examines what this shift means in practice. Bringing together different perspectives on Europe's emerging economic security agenda, it explores how the EU can reduce strategic vulnerabilities, strengthen its economic power and respond to geopolitical competition without sacrificing the openness on which European prosperity has been built.
For anyone trying to understand how economic security is reshaping EU policymaking, this collection provides a starting point for the debate.
Explore the Review here.
Sustainable Prosperity for Europe
Europe needs an Ocean Act for a strategic maritime era
Brooke Moore
Europe's seas are no longer simply an environmental policy domain. Energy infrastructure, shipping, food systems, defence, critical infrastructure, biodiversity and climate resilience are increasingly competing – and sometimes converging – in the same finite maritime space.
With a European Ocean Act expected later this year, this Commentary argues that the EU has an opportunity to move beyond fragmented sectoral governance. It sets out how stronger maritime spatial planning, clearer environmental targets, better data and more strategic investment could turn the Ocean Act into a framework capable of managing Europe's increasingly interconnected maritime priorities.
Read the Commentary here.
Europe in the World
From sea to space: How the EU can turn the tide on the Arctic
Maria Martisiute, Linda Solstrand Dahlberg and Tobias Etzold
The Arctic is changing rapidly. Russia's military threat, China's growing interest, greater competition between major powers and accelerating climate change are transforming a region that is increasingly important to European security.
Ahead of the EU's new Arctic strategy, this Policy Brief argues that Europe's existing approach has fallen behind this new strategic reality. It examines what the EU can do from maritime security and infrastructure protection to space-based capabilities and cooperation with Arctic partners to prepare for immediate risks while developing a credible longer-term strategy for Europe's northern flank.
Read the Policy Brief here.
Transnationalisation
Thinking Enlarged in 2026: Leveraging perspectives from future member states
Johannes Greubel, Liza Saris, Vanna Curin and Talisa Mazzoni
Enlargement is often discussed from the perspective of today's European Union: how should the EU prepare, when should candidates join, and what reforms will membership require?
Thinking Enlarged approaches the question differently. It asks what happens when future member states are brought into the policy conversations already shaping Europe's direction. By incorporating perspectives from candidate countries into wider European debates, the project explores how thinking as an enlarged Union today can help Europe prepare for the political realities of tomorrow.
Read the Compendium here.
Keep reading
Europe's policy challenges will not be taking the summer off. Explore the latest EPC research, analysis and commentary on the political, economic and geopolitical developments shaping Europe – and come back in September ready for the debates ahead.
The support the European Policy Centre receives for its ongoing operations, or specifically for its publications, does not constitute an endorsement of their contents, which reflect the views of the authors only. Supporters and partners cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
