In the latest issue of the European News Journal (ENJ), our international authors and correspondents report from France, Germany, Romania, Japan, South Korea, and the United States on geopolitical tensions and threats to peace – both globally and within Europe.
“Paradoxically, the more Russia loses its edge, the more dangerous it becomes”, writes our eastern Europe correspondent Ioan Mircea Pașcu, former Romanian Defence Minister and Vice-President of the European Parliament (pages 8-9).
In this issue, our Editorial Director also holds a controversial discussion on the Europeanisation of French nuclear deterrence – announced by President Macron in March 2026 – with the President of the Robert Schuman Foundation in Paris, Jean-Dominique Giuliani (pages 10-12).
Experts from the United States and the European Space Agency (ESA) explore the future of European and American space policy, the new geostrategic focus on the moon, and Europe’s plans to land on Mars by 2040, as Pascal Legai, Advisor to ESA’s Director General, confirms in an interview (pages 16-18).
And, at a time where, increasingly, heavy wildfires are devastating vast areas of southern Europe, we provide expert analysis regarding the major role of civil protection and European crises mechanisms.
We wish you an insightful read!
Magazine no. 2/July-August 2026
24 pages of interviews and in-depth analyses by our editorial team, its experts and correspondents
NEW Shift in France’s nuclear doctrine: a significant step towards European autonomy
Guest commentary by Jean-Dominique Giuliani, President of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Paris
Open confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
By Gerhard Arnold, Würzburg
Tokyo is rethinking its approach to national security
By our Asia correspondent HIDESHI TOKUCHI, President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), Tokyo
“Trumpism”, a full-scale ideology
Guest commentary by JEAN-DOMINIQUE GIULIANI, Robert Schuman Foundation, Paris
Russian interference in Eastern Europe – how Moldova managed to resist
By MIHAI POPȘOI, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Chişinău
NEW “Pax Europaea”: a driver for future armaments cooperation in Europe?
by Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien, Managing Director of BDSV, Berlin
We cannot rely on others for our security
Interview with SEDE Chair MARIE-AGNES STRACK-ZIMMERMANN MEP, Brussels/Strasbourg
EU Presidency – Denmark’s new stance on European defence
By Nannette Cazaubon, European News Journal, Paris
NATO summit in The Hague – a great deal, but nor for Europe?
We asked General (ret.) Jean-Marc Vigilant, Paris
We must gain leadership and greater autonomy in space
Interview with DR JOSEF ASCHBACHER, Director General, European Space Agency (ESA), Paris
Geopolitical competition in space – on the edge of escalation?
By PD Dr Antje Nötzold, Senior Researcher and Lecturer, Munich/Chemnitz
Trump’s NASA budget cuts impact more than cooperation on space
By Sinéad O’Sullivan, Space and Defence economist, Boston
Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in civil protection stays on track
A report from Barcelona by NANNETTE CAZAUBON, European News Journal, Paris
CBRN protection requires constant adaptation to evolving threats
By MICHAEL HOFFMANN – Marketing Manager, Blücher GmbH, Erkrath
Wildfires in Europe – the worst season ever
By Hartmut Bühl, European News Journal, Paris
The European response to constantly evolving CBRN risks
By Nannette Cazaubon, European News Journal, Paris
© Shutterstock/Dedraw studio
A personal report by our Middle East correspondent Gerhard Arnold Our group tour of Sri Lanka ended on Friday 27 February 2026. We said goodbye to our fellow travellers at the hotel, as we all had different flights home. My wife and I were hopeful that US President Trump would…
Commentary by HARTMUT BÜHL, European News Journal, Paris In Trump’s world, and in his idea of ethics, everything is for sale. He wants Greenland to become American, so he proposed to buy the large frozen island, populated by only about 57,000 inhabitants. In the mind of the American real estate…
By NANNETTE CAZAUBON – European News Journal, Paris The European Commission plans to step up Ukraine’s participation in the European space programme. A first step was taken in April 2025 with the signing of an agreement between the EU and Ukraine on the country’s participation in the Copernicus component as…
By Nannette Cazaubon, European News Journal, Paris “Europe as a space power” is the theme and vision of the 19th autumn conference of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), which will take place on 28-29 October 2025, at Vienna City Hall, Austria. The autumn conference is one of ESPI’s annual…
Nannette Cazaubon – European News Journal, Paris There was widespread relief across Europe after Moldova’s pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won a landslide victory over the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc in crucial parliamentary elections on 28 September 2025. The election result was immediately welcomed by many Western and European…
Hartmut Bühl – European News Journal, Paris The humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s unwavering determination to seize Gaza City by military force and push its population south have prompted several UN member states to add their names to the long list of countries that…
Hartmut Bühl, European News Journal, Paris Chinese President Xi Jinping’s dreams of establishing a new world order without American dominance and prioritising the “Global South” took tangible form at the 25th Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), bringing together more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries in Tianjin, China,…
Hartmut Bühl – European News Journal, Paris In the tariff war with Europe, the European Commission’s task was to prevent things from worsening. It is too easy to accuse Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission II of capitulation, as it had to align the interests of 27 nations within a crystal-clear…
