The German automotive industry faces a threefold challenge: competition from China; a difficult transition to electric vehicles; and US tariffs.

The rapprochement between Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and Germany’s AfD has accelerated significantly since Trump’s return to the White House.

The National Rally’s (Rassemblement national—RN) “de-demonization” strategy appears to be paying off: Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s party is steadily gaining ground in elections, and polls place it in the lead for the spring 2027 French presidential election. The period of normalization for this far-right movement has coincided with an era of upheaval on the international stage. Within this context, a fundamental question arises: what would the RN’s foreign policy look like if it came to power?

Since the start of the Ukraine War, Russian strategic guidelines on the application of air power—seen as the decisive instrument for achieving success in modern wars—have proven to be outdated, irrelevant and even self-defeating.

France has emerged as the EU’s IMEC forerunner, combining port infrastructure, diplomatic alliances and public-private cooperation. With Marseille Fos at its core, the country brings a strategic hub for logistics, energy and digital connectivity to the corridor.

Amid rising trade tensions between Europe and China and broader uncertainty in the international rules-based trade regime, Beijing has worked to preserve and bolster the multilateral trading system while at the same time failing to reform the domestic policies that have served to undermine that same system.    

The 2026 Munich Security Conference report observes that “the world has entered a period of wrecking-ball politics.” Indeed, the era of Western predominance, dependable alliances and capable multilateral institutions has given way to shifting balances of power and deepening uncertainty.

With the aim of structurally reducing the European economy’s dependence on fossil fuel imports and accelerating the energy transition, the European Commission has opted for electrification.