The importance of critical raw materials for Europe’s future key value chains is increasingly being recognised. This policy brief argues that, in order to achieve greater strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty, the EU needs to enhance its security of supply and mitigate its extensive dependences in this domain. Its current approach, devised more than a decade ago, faces considerable challenges and is out of step with today’s geopolitical environment and the Union’...
04/2020
European Recovery post-COVID19 and the Green Deal
- As the focus shifts from emergency towards recovery, an EU-wide approach will be needed more than ever.
- The economic constraints associated to Covid-19 constitute both a challenge and an opportunity for the European Green Deal ambitions, depending on the design of emergency and recovery policies.
- Post crisis, ensuring viable value and supply chains of basic materials industries will be critical.
03/2020
Epidemic zoonoses and climate change: High time to tackle root causes and build adaptive capacities
In this policy brief, we argue that both epidemic zoonoses – diseases transmitted from animals to humans that can turn into pandemics such as COVID-19 – and climate change require a long-term preventive approach that tackles their root causes. This should reduce the number of future pandemics and extreme weather events and other related crises and prevent us from crossing dangerous...
02/2020
How can educators contribute to the prevention of radicalisation and violent extremism in Belgium and beyond?
The role of educators in the prevention of violent extremism and radicalisation has been widely discussed in Europe since the late 2000s. The precursors for these debates have been the series of terrorist attacks throughout Europe and more recently, the rise of right-wing extremists movements. This Policy Brief examines the potential of educators in preventing and countering violent extremism. It draws upon an experiment on designing innovative solutions for teachers of secondary schools in...
6/2020
South Korea’s Corona-Diplomacy in the Soft Power Race
While countries in the West have suffered from domestic struggles, the global crisis caused by COVID-19 has become an opportunity for public diplomacy for several countries in the East. Once having the second largest outbreak in the world behind China, South Korea succeeded in flattening the curve quickly thanks to swift government intervention and joined the soft power race immediately. However, the initiative was purposefully connected to public diplomacy at home with the aim of winning...
04/2020
KF-VUB Korea Chair Policy brief: The Making of South Korea’s COVID-19 Test Success
At least 120 countries have asked South Korea for COVID-19 test kits and other materials to fight against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. South Korean biotech firms are shipping the kits everywhere from Europe and the United States to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The secret to South Korea’s test development and manufacturing success lies in Daejeon. This city is home to Daedeok Innopolis, South Korea’s main R&D cluster, including for biotech. Developed since the...
1/2020
GOVTRAN Briefing Paper: Energy Cooperation between the EU and Switzerland – Partners by Destiny in Search of a New Model
The gradual integration of EU energy policy has implications for the national energy policies of its neighbors. While members of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Energy Community implement large parts of the EU’s energy acquis, other third countries are also affected. Switzerland—physically integrated in the European energy grid but lacking a formalized mechanism of regulatory adaptation with the EU—is an interesting case in this respect, not least because of...
08/2019
The Nexus between Migration and Development in EU External Action: No Quick Fix
For the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the Commission has proposed a new mega instrument in the area of external action that will make migration a key focus of the EU’s development cooperation. The nexus between migration and development will thus take centre stage in the EU’s engagement with third countries. In this context, it is interesting to look at current policies combining external migration governance with development cooperation. While the EU seems to assume that...
07/2019
Sustainable reintegration: identikit of a popular policy objective
Among the objectives composing the 2018 UN Global Compact for Migration, Objective 21 deals with the return of migrants to their countries of origin. This objective includes a reference to sustainable reintegration occurring when returnees have access to psycho-social assistance, justice and occupational prospects. The policy objective of sustainable reintegration apparently enjoys broad support in the face of some countries increasingly opposing the global...
05/2019
KF-VUB Korea Chair Policy brief - The global 5G race: South Korea speeds ahead
South Korea has become the first country in the world to launch commercial 5G services on 3 April. 5G economic benefits are estimated to include worldwide revenues of €225 billion by 2025 and a wealth of job creation. The US, China, South Korea and the EU are economic powerhouses vying to lead the unfolding global 5G market. US and China are strongly positioned in the current telecom market, but their growing 5G competition is spilling over into geopolitical competition. Wary of being...
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