The 2022 review of an EU policy nerd

2022 was quite the year - busy, but also productive. While I often engage in content conversations with peers, both online and offline, I’m not particularly good at looking back at the work done. That is a shame, because even when elections and Council Presidencies are over, it’s useful to remind ourselves of the exchanges and debates that we took part in during the year and learn from them.?

Working close to EU politics, I often feel there is a tendency to look at the ‘next big thing’ - the next election, the next roadmap, the next Commission initiative. While that makes a lot of sense as these are relevant events, it leaves little time for reflection - to the point that we tend to forget about the past too quickly.

So I decided to start with myself and to look back at the work I've done in 2022. If I make it public, it’s because it hopefully will also be interesting for others working on similar topics. And who knows, maybe it might even inspire others to do similar reflections and realise all the things they've accomplished in a year.?

Rule of law saga, Conference on the Future of Europe, and corruption in the EU

The year started with a lecture given at the AHA festival in Lucerne. While I love to travel to Switzerland, Covid-19 made it impossible for me to join the gathering. I still gave my lecture on Zoom on the question "Are there alternatives to democracy?" The research on the topic was fascinating. Polybius might now be my favourite Greek thinker (take that, Plato).

On 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine and started a brutal war of aggression. While the EU scrambled to respond, the relations with Hungary and Poland took a new twist. I warned to not let the war change the EU’s position on authoritarian leaders in an op-ed published by Euractiv: "The EU should not turn a blind eye to Putinist methods at home".?

The rule of law saga also continued in 2022 with regular Hungarian vetoes in the Council, seriously putting the EU's capacity to act on the line. I spoke to the BBC Business Weekly in February to explain what was going on with the conditionality mechanism; and published a think piece with my former colleague Clara Sophie Cramer on why the EU needs to use its power to safeguard values: "No power without values: Why the EU needs to embrace political leadership if it wants to safeguard democracy." This piece was deemed too controversial for some, but it just showcases that so-called “realists” do not mind putting fundamental values on the negotiating table - a dangerous path that left me quite worried. The good news was that the Commission went for a rather ambitious funding cut after all, despite the Council not being particularly keen on it.?

In May, the Conference on the Future of Europe came to a close. I wrote a short commentary at the request of my EPC colleagues working on the topic. I analysed the recommendations given by citizens on democratic reform in the EU, coming to the conclusion that "There are no ready-made solutions to Europe’s democratic woes."

The elections in Italy and Sweden in September brought right-wing extremists to government. I analysed those election results and what it means for the EU for the German radio NDR - while being called a “young lady” on live radio and then accused of playing into “identity politics” by a conservative MEP because I didn’t accept being called that way. Women in the public sphere are constantly reminded that they are not supposed to be “out there” but rather silent in the kitchen. Too bad I’m a bad cook and not exactly the silent type.?

Unfortunately, the issue of corruption also became increasingly important this year. First, we organised a roundtable in September with re:constitution, featuring a bunch of wonderful academics and practitioners working on the issue. As if they had sensed the upcoming scandal, some speakers mentioned that the EU should also have a hard look at itself when it comes to corruption. In December, the #Qatargate scandal erupted, with Vice-President Eva Kaili and a few other MEPs under investigation for bribery, money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation. I spoke to German TV Phoenix about the scandal and why even if this is really bad, we should not put the EU’s existence into question because of it.?

France in focus

2022 was quite the year for French politics: First the French Council Presidency running from January to June 2022, with a rather ambitious agenda; then the Presidential election in April, with some sweating involved for those caring about French democracy; and finally the legislative elections in June, with results that led to a much more proportionate representation of the French electorate - and left Macron without an absolute majority to govern.?

On the French Council Presidency, we organised an event looking at the rule of law agenda of the French Council Presidency, with a stellar panel. In April, I wrote an op-ed for the German newspaper Tagesspiegel warning Germans of the potential devastating result of the Presidential election - especially as no German media seemed to care about the elections in the neighbouring country. As always, I was quite disappointed to see how little attention Germans pay to France (and vice-versa too, unfortunately).?

We also organised another EPC event with two wonderful speakers, Georgina Wright and Christine Ockrent, to analyse the election result through the EU policy lens, asking what will change in French EU policy during Macron’s second term??

Right after the legislative elections, I participated in Democracy Reporting International’s event to analyse the rule of law situation in France. We discussed what the country will have to do to ensure that its judicial system stays independent and that EU law is not constantly put into question by various decision-makers instrumentalising the topic for their own political gains (remember, it wasn't Barnier's finest hour).?

EU solidarity in the energy crisis, unity vs. ambition and rocky Franco-German relations

At the beginning of the year, I wrapped-up a year of research funded by Charlemagne Prize Academy on EU solidarity in the Covid-19 pandemic and was happy to publish the discussion paper "Future perspectives on EU solidarity after the COVID-19 crisis: Moving from ‘second-order’ to ‘first order’ solidarity." Even if Covid-19 didn’t make many headlines after the war in Ukraine started, the topic of solidarity came up again in the context of the energy crisis. I was thrilled to see that my paper was quoted by the Financial Times, and that the concept developed by my colleagues, “permacrisis”, even made it into the headline: "Age of ‘permacrisis’ teaches EU that solidarity is arduous but worth it" (behind a pay-wall unfortunately).

After 24 February, the Russian aggression war was the number one topic in Brussels. The 'watershed moment' fundamentally changed security and defense in Europe and affected EU policy-making more broadly. As it was hard to keep up with all the decisions taken at EU level, Ilke Toygür and I looked back at what happened in the first months of the war. While the EU supported Ukraine, we also pointed towards the dangers of being not ambitious enough for the sake of unity.

In an intervention on France24’s talkshow The Debate, I also discussed Ukraine's EU candidacy and the EU’s response to the Russian war; and was very happy to be featured with an interview on FranceInfo on the energy crisis. My main take: decision-makers need to stop defending petty national interests as this harms the EU’s capacity to act (in French): "Crise énergétique : les intérêts nationaux priment sur la coopération franco-allemande, à l'heure d'un Conseil européen crucial."

In autumn, Franco-German relations hit rock bottom with a Ministerial Council rescheduled to January. While the official reason was scheduling issues on both sides of the Rhine, the true reason was that France and Germany - and more particularly Scholz and Macron - couldn’t see eye to eye on a number of issues, ranging from energy (MidCat pipeline), fiscal and economic policy (EU solidarity fund), the unilateral communication of Scholz concerning the German crisis package (“Doppelwumms”) and the Chancellor’s visit to China. Both leaders even avoided a joint press conference after a lunch meeting in Paris.

Let’s hope that 2023 will be better for France and Germany - now is not the time for petty fights when Europe depends on the two big countries making the right choices at EU level and working closely together. For Das Progressive Zentrum, where I am a policy fellow, I wrote a roadmap on what should be done to get out of that situation (in German): "Die ?Permakrise“ der EU bedarf mehr als deutsch-franz?sischer Symbolpolitik."

Lastly, I was very honoured to be invited for an interview in the morning broadcast of Deutschlandfunk in October, discussing Germany’s role in the EU - and why the traffic-light coalition has been too focused on domestic policy, which has not improved Germany’s reputation in the EU: "Politologin: Dynamiken in der EU ver?ndern sich auch wegen der Rolle Deutschlands."

Not to be forgotten: Civil society and the think tank sector

While the year was very busy in terms of topics to cover, I continued the work with a great team at Connecting Europe. We carried out a network analysis with the organisation Unity effect, looking at the network we built in the past years. We also discussed the role of civil society in the ‘permacrisis’ at the EPC Jubilee Conference in December, with a stellar panel, which you can watch here.

With colleagues at the EPC, we also looked at how to strengthen transnational cooperation of think tanks in Europe - discussing it at the European Think Tank Conference in October and putting down our first ideas in a think piece entitled "European think tanks: Time for transnational cooperation."

Lessons learned

What a year. Looking back, here are some of the lessons I draw:

1) EU politics is crisis-ridden and fast-paced - but that doesn't mean your "regular" policy fields should take step back. Mastering the art of balancing your topics and bringing together issues (e.g. French Council Presidency and the rule of law) is what I've tried to do in 2022 and intend to continue doing in 2023.

2) Just because you don't like a part of the job doesn't mean that it can't change. In 2020 and 2021, I had to force myself to do TV interviews, mostly due to bad experiences with journalists (hello misrepresentations, bad cuts and disrespectful behaviour). This changed in 2022 thanks to better boundary setting & knowing the EU media bubble a little better.

3) Take the time to look back at what you've worked on. Before writing this, I felt as if I had no time to publish much this year, but looking back this was a false perception. I also saw that I worked on several issues at once - also due to the hectic policy situation. In 2023, I will to focus in more depth at fewer issues and give those projects more time, independently of media frenzies and scandals.

4) Bye bye Twitter? Elon Musk's Twitter takeover means quite a change for think tankers, who use this platform to exchange and debate. It is a shame as Twitter really added value for my work, both in terms of getting information, debating, and making your own output visible. I hope to use LinkedIn a little more in 2023, but will continue posting on Twitter as I enjoy the format - while reposting on Mastodon (great concept but user friendliness is not the best).

5) I'm taking time off work after a hectic year. I will be on leave from EPC until 20 March 2023 for a very special project close to my heart, which I will announce in a different post because this one is already too long.

Thank you for reading!