Policy Briefs

No Cooperation Without Circulation: Why EU–China Talent Mobility Matters

Tightening immigration policies in traditional hubs such as the U.S. creates new opportunities for Europe and China to cooperate in attracting and retaining young European talent in China. This opportunity is not merely theoretical; since Deng Xiaoping’s opening-up reforms in the late 1970s, the outbound flow of Chinese talent to Europe has thrived, resulting in more than 68,000 Chinese students and professionals contributing to Europe’s academic and professional landscape.

Navigating Great-Power Rivalry: An Indo-Pacific Plus Strategy for the European Union

As transatlantic tensions deepen, the European Union faces a geopolitical environment increasingly shaped by great-power rivalry rather than stable multilateralism. At Davos 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that the rules-based order is weakening and that middle powers must respond through cooperational coalition-building rather than passive reliance on inherited institutions. Canada’s subsequent strategic tariff arrangement with China and the United Kingdom’s pragmatic reset with Beijing illustrate a broader trend of strategic hedging under US assertiveness. For the EU, the central question is whether to react with its own unilateral pivot, or to actively implement a coordinated Indo-Pacific coalition strategy that preserves resilience and strategic autonomy without drifting into dependency on either Washington or Beijing.

Threat or tailwind? Chinese wind turbine manufacturers and the future of European energy

The European wind turbine industry is experiencing increasing competitive pressure from Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), whose rise reflects a national industrial ecosystem built on market-pull innovation, domestic scale, and supply chain integration. As Chinese OEMs expand globally, European policymakers have reacted with protectionist reflex, risking both trade tensions and the deceleration of the very energy transition the European Union has committed to. While the EU is scrambling to boost its competitiveness across several sectors amid the current geopolitical scenario, it needs to reconcile its strategic priorities with cooperative engagement towards the achievement of climate neutrality targets.

Streamlining Trade: Harmonising Customs Along the Trans-Caspian Corridor

The Trans-Caspian Corridor (TCTC) links Europe to the Greater Caspian Region and Central Asia, holding great potential to boost trade and diversify transport routes. Yet, fragmented regulations and limited digitalisation still slow its development. Tools such as eTIR, e-CMR, and Single Window Systems (SWS) can harmonise procedures and streamline cross-border trade. With its strategic location and digital reforms, the Greater Caspian Region stands at the centre of this transformation. Through region-to-region cooperation and interoperable digital frameworks, the EU can help make the TCTC a more efficient, competitive, and sustainable trade route between Europe and Central Asia.

How The EU Can Leverage The Current FTA Negotiations To Secure A Mutually Beneficial CRM Partnership With India

As the EU is set to accelerate on its path toward climate neutrality, technological sovereignty and independence, the European Union’s access to Critical Raw Materials (CRM) poses a pressing structural priority, with CRMs playing fundamental roles in the manufacturing of semiconductors, solar panels, wind turbines, and other essential components of the emergent green and digital economy. Despite this apparent strategic importance, the EU relies on a dangerously bottlenecked import base. With China producing 86% of the world’s rare earth minerals, the EU imports 100% of its supply of heavy rare earth elements (REE) from China. Such a dependency transforms CRMs from merely a supply chain concern into a genuine geopolitical challenge. This policy brief argues that CRM integration into the EU-India FTA would be a strategic necessity for the security of Europe’s industrial future.

Chinese Banks in the EU: Structures, Functions and Regulatory Challenges

Chinese banks have established themselves in the European Union as key players in financing trade, investment, and business activities between Europe and China. Their special institutional structure in the form of the ‘branch-cum-subsidiary’ model, often established in Luxembourg, allows for high financial flexibility, but also brings regulatory tensions. At the same time, new European regulations on banking supervision, investment control, and economic security are changing the framework of their activities within the union. This leads to challenges and new requirements for a balanced and reciprocal design of EU-China financial relations.

The Trans-Caspian Corridor: Understanding the Financial Framework for Attracting and Derisking Foreign Capital

The development of the Greater Caspian region has become a geopolitical imperative for the European Union. The war in Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, and disruptions along the Suez and Red Sea route have brought Central Asia and the Greater Caspian Region into sharper focus for the EU. Due to its wealth of resources of fossil fuels, hydrogen, and Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), the region holds materials which are vital for a number of core elements of the green transition, particularly in the manufacture of battery technology to store green energy. The region holds the potential to serve an essential role in the European Union’s environmental pivot.

The Middle Corridor: EU Connectivity through Infrastructure Digitalisation and a Single Window Environment

Amid global supply chain disruptions and geo-political uncertainty, the Middle Corridor, also known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), is rapidly redefining how Europe connects with the Asian continent via Central Asia and the Greater Caspian region – offering a faster, more reliable alternative to traditional trade routes. Increasingly emboldened by investment and regional cooperation, this multimodal corridor promises to reduce transit times, bypass existing chokepoints, and drive digital innovation in customs and logistics.

The Trans-Caspian Corridor: Financial Risk Mitigation for Unlocking EU Connectivity with the Greater Caspian Region and Central Asia

Examining the financial mechanisms underpinning the European Union’s engagement in Central Asia, this Policy Brief focuses on the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (TCTC) as a strategic infrastructure and trade initiative. It analyses how instruments such as the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) are deployed to de-risk private investment, foster sustainable development, and strengthen regional connectivity. By assessing both the opportunities and challenges of EU-backed financing, the study highlights how coordinated investment, regulatory frameworks, and risk mitigation strategies can enhance economic integration, diversify supply chains, and support the EU’s broader geopolitical and green-transition objectives in the Greater Caspian Region.