Blog
August 27, 2025
Sweden is the only country in the EU where snus, a tobacco pouch placed between the upper lip and the gums, is permitted for sale. At the same time, it has the lowest smoking rate in the EU, nearing 5%.
August 20, 2025
Even before President Trump took office, the global balance of power and the international political order were shifting, resulting in greater instability, uncertainty, and insecurity.
August 13, 2025
Sharing over a 600-kilometre-long border with Ukraine, Romania is at the heart of Europe’s evolving geopolitical tensions.
August 8, 2025
After the collapse of the USSR, some countries experienced the best of times: economic freedom, low inflation, high growth, democratic institutions, and closer ties with the West. Others fell into the worst of times: runaway inflation, economic collapse, relapse into authoritarian regimes, and continued dependence on Moscow.
July 30, 2025
The unintended, but so far most relevant, consequence of Trumpian protectionism has been to make us realise that protectionism does not suit us.
July 21, 2025
At the end of 2024, French general government debt stood at 113% of the country’s GDP, or approximately €50,000 per capita. Since 1969, the debt-to-GDP ratio has increased eightfold.
July 16, 2025
On July 1, 2025, Denmark took over the EU Presidency. This is a great opportunity for Danish politicians to lead by example in the EU and renew their membership of the ‘frugal four’.
June 26, 2025
The more tasks the Federal Reserve takes on, the more difficult it will be to maintain its independence. Especially if, in addition to ‘exercising powers that belong to the Treasury Department’, the central bank deals with ‘social problems’ such as climate change or inclusion, to which there are various policy responses but no technical, neutral approach.
June 6, 2025
In March, the incoming German coalition government led by Friedrich Merz from the right-leaning CDU/CSU – the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union based in Bavaria – worked with the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and the Greens to pass a historic legislative measure, loosening the stringent rules surrounding the country’s ‘debt brake’ constitutional amendment, known as the Schuldenbremse.
