To handle the current COVID-19 crisis, Germany can learn from the crisis management experience of the French constitutional bodies. Just in time, the Bundestag has taken a path to hopefully save us from a long-lasting legal exceptional situation. It could have been even stricter.

The rapid spread of the corona virus hit Belgium at the worst possible time. At the beginning of March, Germany’s neighbouring country already lacked an effective government for more than a year and was well on the way to a serious national crisis. But then the Belgians recalled their greatest virtue, compromise, and got to know their Prime Minister afresh.

Following the Polish parliamentary elections in October 2019, some commentators believed that the re-elected ruling party PiS (Law and Justice) would modernize a little. Yet, they were disappointed. The government’s worrying trend is particularly evident in the way it is trying to instrumentalise the Corona crisis for the upcoming presidential elections on 10th May.

In its new action plan for the implementation of the agenda “Women, Peace and Security”, the German government should set a target of 50% women in the medical service and 15% in all other branches of the Bundeswehr as well as announce diversity commissioners for the armed forces. This is not about image cultivation, but about ensuring the operational readiness of the German Bundeswehr.

Our Ukraine expert Beate Apelt and security expert Sebastian Vagt report on the Ukraine conflict, analyzing possible future scenarios     Europe is at war. This is often overlooked in view of the Corona pandemic and a recently renewed refugee crisis on the Greek-Turkish border. However, in eastern Ukraine, soldiers are still dying every week… Read More

In an interview with Freiheit.org, our France expert Carmen Descamps explains how the low voter turnout and losses for La République en Marche came about.