In his book “Defending Freedom - How We Can Win the Fight for an Open Society”, Ralf Fücks sheds light on the underlying causes of the crisis of liberal democracy and the erosion of the political center. He concludes that our societies are undergoing a crisis of modernization triggered by four main fundamental changes

The Hungarian government trys to shut down the renowned Central European University. This is an attack on academic freedom in Europe.

The most discussed topics at this year’s Munich Security Conference were the new U.S. administration’s position on NATO and European security, and European commitment to meet the 2% defense budget target. But doubts remain if the European members will meet the NATO target.

Are the German Greens compatible with Angela Merkel? How can we explain the success of the xenophobic ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD) party? And what awaits Europe in the year 2017? The Green European Journal sat down with Ralf Fücks, the outgoing President of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, to talk about Christian Democrats, Trump, and the upcoming German election, as well as the foundation’s development over the past 20 years.

European policymakers were astonished by Trump’s recent remarks on NATO and the EU in an interview with Bild and The Times. Europe should be prepared for pivotal changes in U.S. foreign policy and transatlantic relations.

 "On a note of self-reflection, panelists agreed that liberal democracy has failed to redistribute the benefits of globalization."

On the occasion of the release of the new EU progress reports on the Western Balkans, the Heinrich-Böll -Stiftung North America held a roundtable discussion on the EU’s accession process and the future of transatlantic cooperation in the region. 

Is the EU the cause of the injustices we face? Zygmunt Bauman discusses Brexit and the impact it has on the world.

Hillary Clinton should be warned by the British referendum: Similar to the Brexit movement, Trump’s campaign benefits from anti-immigrant sentiment and anger over the “political elites” and “mainstream media”.

Great Britain will leave the EU. What does that mean for European Union going forward? What can be done to strengthen political unity within the Union? A commentary by Ralf Fücks.

We cannot quarantine ourselves from the instability that reigns south and east of Europe. Europe must strike a new balance between idealistic foreign policy and realism. The opening address of the  17th Annual Foreign Policy Conference. 

On June 23, voters in the United Kingdom will go to the polls for a referendum on the country’s membership in the EU. Most experts agree that a Brexit would fundamentally reshape the transatlantic relationship. 

Despite frustration over the pace of reform, many Ukrainians remain cautiously optimistic about the country’s direction. The new government would be well-advised to take advantage of this resolve, and leverage it to usher in a more democratic system. 

Europe’s troubled neighborhood: from a “circle of friends” to a “ring of fire”? EU Commissioner Hahn on the future of EU neighborhood policy and the central objective of maintaining stability

Invoking Yogi Berra’s overused quote may seem cliché, but for Kyiv watchers, it seems a bit like “déjà vu all over again.” GMF's Steven Keil reports from the #boell2Ukraine Tour. 

Thirty years after the biggest nuclear disaster at Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine is still seriously dependent on nuclear energy. It is high time for Ukraine to take the path of nuclear phase-out.

The migrant crisis and the subsequent political turmoil have banished from our minds a conflict that has been fairly present in Europe for the past two years: the war in Eastern Ukraine.

There can be no normalisation of the relations with Russia as long as Moscow leads a war in the eastern Ukraine. This articles examines a new attempt to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

The recent attacks in Brussels have left everyone in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe in shock. People feel more and more helpless in the face of what seems to be, after the attacks in Paris last November and in January 2015, an increasingly destructive threat.

In the US presidential primaries, foreign policy issues have yet to play much of a role – but this may soon change.

After a recent visit to Washington, Sergey Lagodinsky, head of the EU/North America Department at the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Berlin, reflects on Americans’ understanding of the European refugee crisis and the failure to anticipate long-term repercussions for US foreign policy interests.

The reasons behind people’s radicalization are individual. However, anger over lack of social recognition often plays an important role. Salafism and Islamophobia must be tackled simultaneously.

“Helsinki II” is on everone’s lips of late. Yet, the new accord is to be an evolution rather than a mere revision of Helsinki I.

Integration practitioners to share best practices and develop concrete efforts to establish welcoming infrastructures in local U.S. and German communities: hbs North America, in partnership with Welcoming America and Cultural Vistas, is pleased to announce the Welcoming Communities Transatlantic Exchange! 

Days after the Paris attacks, Europe is only slowly awakening from a state of shock. The events served as a painful reminder of our vulnerabilities from within and the daunting threats we face from abroad. A reflection on seven challenges looming on Europe’s horizon. 

The AKP has gained the absolute majority in Turkey’s recent snap elections, allowing it to continue to rule without a coalition partner. Deep rifts within Turkish society, however, remain. A take on the elections by Kristian Brakel, hbs-office director in Istanbul.

Poland has elected its new government. Not a single left-wing party has made it through the elections. Director Irene Hahn-Fuhr comments the outcome of the Polish parliamentary elections from a European perspective.

While Russia’s recent military involvement in the Syrian war theatre has caught much of the West by surprise, the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine has increasingly slipped off the public’s radar. We spoke with Marieluise Beck, Member of the German Bundestag and spokesperson for Eastern Europe of the Green Parliamentary Group, about the daunting reform challenges in Ukraine, the prospects for the implementation of the Minsk agreement, and German public sentiments towards Russia.

This Sunday, September 20, Greek citizens will go the polls for the third time in just eight months. While the refugee crisis in Europe has ousted Greece from the international headlines, the country’s political landscape is undergoing some deep and significant shifts. We spoke with Olga Drossou, director of our hbs office in Thessaloniki, to shed light on what moves Greece in these times of turmoil.

For a committed European, opening the newspapers and social media feeds has resembled an emotional roller coaster for the past few weeks. Given the war of words on the Greek crisis, it is not enough to be right or win the argument. Rather than engaging in a destructive blame game, all sides should tone down their rhetoric. Germany in particular should take seriously the inflammatory resurgence of resentment it faces in Europe and abroad for its seemingly overly assertive stance.

The Greek crisis and the past summit seems only like the first mile of a marathon. The next years will require a lot more bold decisions, strong political leadership, and solidarity among the European member states and their citizens. The project of reinvigorating Europe, regaining self-confidence, and redefining our common sense of mission in the 21st century has only just begun. An editorial by HBS North America Executive Director Bastian Hermisson.

The EU governing institutions' response to the euro crisis has been very poor. But the key message emanating from EU governing institutions throughout the crisis has too often been a type of ‘stay-the-course’ message. Ricardo Cabral contributed to our hbs Brussel's web dossier 'Europe@theCrossroads' by asking how to make the ‪‎Eurozone‬ more stable, prosperous and democratic. 

During his recent visit to Washington, D.C., we spoke with Jürgen Trittin, Member of the German Parliament, about European energy independence in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, the role of TTIP in enhancing energy security across the Atlantic, and how the German Energiewende can serve as a model for policy makers worldwide.

On June 24, the Heinrich Böll Foundation together with the Center on the United States and Europe (CUSE) and the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement hosted a panel discussion examining Europe’s migration crisis featuring Cem Özdemir, co-chairman of the German Green Party. An audio recording of the event is now available.

At the southern border of “Fortress Europe”, the Mediterranean has turned into a graveyard. The current migrant crisis in Europe is about more than a risk to the EU’s reputation. It strikes at the core of the EU’s founding values.  A continuation of its half-hearted response to the migration crisis is out of question.

The Eastern Partnership summit in Riga has been tagged by the hosting Latvian minister of foreign affairs a “survival summit”. This implied that EU leaders might propose decisive actions to intensify relations with the Eastern Partnership countries in light of the Ukraine crisis. But to the disappointment of some of the Eastern European and South Caucasus countries, this did not happen.

We spoke with Reinhard Bütikofer, Member of the European Parliament and co-chair of the European Green Party, about thriving populism in Europe, SYRIZA's election victory in Greece and possible political and economic consequences for the European Union.

In July 2013, the EU and the USA started negotiations the created the biggest global Free Trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The HBS European Union has created the TTIP Index, providing a resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to educate themselves and to create a higher level transparency.

Nearly one year after the Maidan protests shook the very core of Ukraine’s political order, opposing narratives of the revolution and the unfolding war in Eastern Ukraine continue to shape the public debate. These discussions do not only determine how the conflict will go down in our history books. They inform our response to the war in Ukraine by paving the way to more or less confrontational approaches toward Russia.

We spoke with Parliamentarian and President of the Greens in the European Parliament, Rebecca Harms, about the future of Ukraine after the parliamentary elections, the external challenges the country is facing, and the responsibilities the EU has towards Ukraine.

We spoke to Marieluise Beck, Member of the German Bundestag, about the public mood in war-torn Ukraine, Germany’s hesitant stance towards Putin, and the track record of the transatlantic partnership in responding to the crisis.

The Middle East is burning and, as usual, all eyes rest on Washington. The US bears a considerable share of responsibility for the current crisis. But neither Schadenfreude nor a “we told you so” approach are a viable foreign policy strategy, especially in the wake of the breathtaking costs in human lives. What, then, is Germany willing and capable to contribute to the crisis management in Iraq? The diffuse reactions by German politicians across the political spectrum serve as a case in point for a tentative process of political reorientation currently under way.

At the opening event of our 15th Annual Foreign Policy Conference in Berlin, international guests discussed whether German foreign policy is ready to respond appropriately to current challenges.

On May 23, HBF co-organized a panel discussion with Brookings and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung to assess Germany's new foreign policy and the challenges presented to it by the crisis in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government should promote an inclusive, participatory and transparent constitutional process. Such a process could help de-escalate the current conflict and build confidence in the central government and its willingness to integrate all constituencies into Ukraine’s political system. 

US Americans may not care much about the upcoming European elections. Inferring from that a general indifference towards the European Union or its Parliament, however, is a short-sighted fallacy.

The German public's empathy or antipathy for the Ukrainian revolt against the Yanukovych regime is blanketed by a deeper difference: their view of Russia.

No, the Crimea crisis does not mean Germany needs a national gas reserve. A resource revolution is the most intelligent response to Russian gas and the Crimea crisis.

We would all love to have a democratic Russia as a partner in the European Union. However, the country’s current political leadership is moving away from Europe.

On March 21, 2014 the political parts of the association agreement were signed between Ukraine and the EU. What does this mean, asks Dominik Tolksdorf: is the EU ready to put forward criteria for a reform in the country, and will Ukraine kick off such a reform agenda?

How the EU and the USA could collaborate in pioneering fair competition and an economy fit for the future. It is time for a positive, sustainable vision of free trade.

TTIP is an initiative that aims to cement the dominance of the two largest economic powers in the world. Rainer Falk and Barbara Unmüßig consider a topic thus far left out of critical debate: TTIP’s implications for the “rest of the world,” particularly for developing and emerging economies.

Atlantic-community.org is inviting students and young professionals to contribute their policy ideas on key issues of the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago in the policy workshop, "Your Ideas, Your NATO." Participate for a chance to discuss your ideas directly with decision makers, including US Ambassador Philip Murphy and a NATO representative, during the May 21 summit.

On Friday, May 13, 2011, the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America and the Brookings Institution co-hosted the event Quo Vadis, Germany? Making Sense of Berlin’s Foreign Policy in an Era of Global Change with Cem Özdemir.

On September 28, 2010, the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings hosted Catherine Ashton, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, for a roundtable discussion on U.S.-European affairs with a small group of transatlantic policy experts.

The workshop was followed by the 2010 CUSE Annual Conference, which was co-organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Brookings.  The Annual Conference featured prominent speakers from both sides of the Atlantic who explored critical issues shaping the future of transatlantic relations in the post-Lisbon Treaty era, including Europe’s Eastern neighborhood and the role Russia plays, and the impact of the Eurozone crisis.

With a U.S. Administration still popular across Europe and a new Lisbon Treaty designed to enhance the diplomatic reach of the European Union, transatlantic relations should now be at their best in years. But this is clearly not the case, with the strategic partners often looking in opposite directions.

Never waste a crisis.  In a few years, if we succeed in overcoming the current problems, we might say that the progress made in economic governance in the wake of the Greek crisis was a gift.

On April 8, 2010, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America and the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings will hold a panel discussion to launch the book "The Foreign Policy of the European Union. Assessing Europe's Role in the World" and discuss the past, present and future of EU foreign policy.

The Frontiers of Europe conference will discuss the Eastern Partnership’s potential—and the challenges it will face—in achieving its stated goals of promoting democratic values and good governance; strengthening energy security; and fostering stability and economic development.

In cooperation with the Center for American Progress, Fundacion Ideas & policy network Thursday & Friday, 1 & 2 October 2009Madrid, Spain, invitation only

Joint Workshop with the Center on the United States and Europe at BrookingsApril 1, 2009Washington, DC