European Union

Les coupures et perturbations importantes intervenues ces derniers jours pour se connecter à internet en Russie resteront en vigueur « aussi longtemps que nécessaire » pour assurer « la sécurité des citoyens » face aux menaces ukrainiennes, a affirmé, mercredi 11 mars, le Kremlin.

The Commission president stressed that EU foreign policy remains anchored in international law and the UN Charter

AMENDMENTS 196 - 633 - Draft report Countering transnational repression – towards an EU strategy to protect Europe’s sovereignty and democratic values
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Hannah Neumann

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Au Soudan du Sud, l'armée du président Salva Kiir est entrée brièvement dans la ville d'Akobo mardi 10 mars, avant d'en être repoussée par les forces d'opposition. Frontalière de l'Éthiopie, Akobo, dans l'État du Jonglei, a été un bastion du mouvement de Riek Machar lors de la guerre civile en 2013. Après un ultimatum des autorités, Akobo s'est vidée de sa population ce week-end, en prévision de l'offensive gouvernementale.

In today's edition: EU Inc regulation, AI omnibus lacks bikini pics ban, Dutch warn Meta over profiling

In today's edition: Biotech act, AI, and Spain's universal healthcare

In today's edition: Nuclear, fossil fuels, cattle

Rigid power market rules mean rising gas price is feeding into electricity bills

Ouagadougou, le 6 mars 2026 – À l'occasion du mois de Ramadan et du Carême chrétien, Nestlé
Burkina Faso, à travers sa marque NIDO, a organisé dans la soirée du vendredi 6 mars 2026 une
rupture collective de jeûne à Ouagadougou. La rencontre, tenue sur l'esplanade du Centre aéré de
la BCEAO à Ouaga 2000, a réuni plus de 400 personnes issues de différentes confessions religieuses
et de divers horizons sociaux.

Musulmans, chrétiens et animistes se sont retrouvés autour d'une même table pour partager un
moment de convivialité, de fraternité et de solidarité, dans un esprit de respect mutuel et de
communion. Au-delà des appartenances religieuses, les participants ont vécu ensemble un temps
fort de rapprochement et de partage, avant de regagner leurs domiciles.

Cette initiative s'inscrit dans la volonté constante de Nestlé Burkina Faso, à travers NIDO, de
promouvoir le vivre-ensemble, de renforcer la cohésion sociale et de contribuer au dialogue
interreligieux, dans un contexte national marqué par de nombreux défis.
S'exprimant à cette occasion, le Directeur Général de Nestlé Burkina Faso, Monsieur Boureima
Drabo, a souligné la portée symbolique et citoyenne de cette rencontre :
« Nous sommes honorés de vous accueillir pour ce moment de partage, à la croisée du Ramadan et du Carême chrétien. Votre présence aujourd'hui est un signe fort de respect, d'engagement et de fraternité.

En ces temps difficiles pour notre pays, nous avons plus que jamais besoin d'être unis et solidaires. »
Pour le Directeur Général, cette union doit se traduire concrètement par l'amour du prochain, le
respect mutuel et l'attachement profond aux valeurs religieuses et culturelles qui fondent la société
burkinabè.

« Cette union se manifeste dans l'amour entre nous, l'amour pour notre pays et le respect profond de
nos religions. Des moments comme celui-ci montrent notre capacité de résilience et rappellent
l'importance de la tolérance et du partage. »

Monsieur Boureima Drabo a par ailleurs exprimé sa reconnaissance aux autorités administratives,
aux représentants de la commune, aux leaders religieux, ainsi qu'aux partenaires, distributeurs,
fournisseurs et parents de famille qui accompagnent Nestlé Burkina au quotidien.
« Nestlé vous aime et reste pleinement engagée pour le vivre-ensemble, le respect et la cohésion sociale. »

Dans cette dynamique, les leaders religieux présents ont rappelé les valeurs communes de
tolérance, de fraternité et de paix prônées par les livres saints, invitant les fidèles à cultiver l'amour
du prochain et la solidarité, particulièrement en ces périodes de pénitence.

S'exprimant au nom des différentes confessions religieuses, l'abbé Étienne Ganga, curé de Toécé, a
salué un fort symbole de fraternité interreligieuse :
« C'est une joie pour nous, croyants de différentes religions, de nous retrouver autour d'un même plat,
comme les fils d'un même père. Accepter de s'asseoir autour d'une même table, c'est accepter de se
rapprocher, de reconnaître l'autre comme soi-même et de construire la paix ensemble. »
Il a félicité Nestlé Burkina Faso pour cette initiative fédératrice et appelé à la multiplication de tels
espaces de brassage, essentiels pour la paix au Burkina Faso et dans le monde.
La rencontre a également été marquée par des prières collectives en faveur de la paix et de la
réconciliation nationale.

Les participants ont unanimement exprimé leur souhait de voir les cœurs se
rapprocher et la paix s'installer durablement au sein de la société burkinabè.
L'événement a enfin enregistré la présence de plusieurs acteurs du monde culturel burkinabè, parmi
lesquels la réalisatrice Apolline Traoré, les artistes Wedra, Sofiano, Sissao et ATT, ainsi que les
comédiens El Présidente et La Jaguar, venus témoigner de leur attachement aux valeurs de paix, de
solidarité et de cohésion sociale.

À propos de Nestlé au Burkina Faso :

Nestlé croit en la force d'une bonne alimentation pour améliorer la qualité de vie de tous aujourd'hui,
ainsi que celle des générations futures. Nestlé Burkina Faso est une filiale de Nestlé. Présents au
Burkina Faso depuis 2009, nous contribuons à créer de la valeur pour les consommateurs et les
communautés.

Omaro KANE

EUCO, EDA, SAFE

Policymakers say the bioeconomy isn’t a silver bullet, but it can offer low-hanging fruit to reduce emissions and environmental impact

AMENDMENTS 1 - 195 - Draft report Countering transnational repression – towards an EU strategy to protect Europe’s sovereignty and democratic values
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Hannah Neumann

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Lagarde said the situation now was "very different" to the last inflation crisis

In today's edition: Climate, fur farming, pesticides

Wednesday 11 March

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Wednesday 11 March

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

12 mars 2025 - 12 mars 2026
En ce douloureux anniversaire du rappel à Dieu de Kaboré Séverin Gilles Venceslas,
Les grandes familles Kaboré, Sawadogo, Ilboudo ;
Les familles alliées et amies ;
Monsieur Kaboré André et son épouse Kaboré/Ilboudo Florence à pissy, leurs enfants et petits-enfants ;

très touchés par les nombreuses marques de compassion, de solidarité, de soutien moral, spirituel et matériel qui leur ont été témoignées lors du rappel à Dieu de leur fils, frère et oncle, vous renouvellent leurs sincères remerciements.

À l'occasion du premier anniversaire de son rappel à Dieu, elles vous informent que des messes seront dites pour le repos de son âme le jeudi 12 mars 2026 à l'église Christ Roi de pissy à 5h45 et 18h30.
« Le juste, même s'il meurt prématurément, trouvera le repos. » Sagesse 4:7
Union de prières.

Also, in Wednesday’s edition: Turnberry, EPP rebels, EUCO, Socialists revolt

By Dimitris Bouris (University of Amsterdam), Saul Kenny (Article 109), Hanna L. Mühlenhoff (University of Amsterdam)

In our recent article for JCMS we set out to queer the European Union Foreign and Security Policy.

But what does this mean?

Queer, once a slur, is now a popular term that captures the variety of sexual orientations and gender identities. Rooted in decolonial, black feminist as well as cultural studies, queer theory uses sexuality and gender identity as an entry point to tackle taken-for-granted concepts across literature, politics, law, and international relations.

We applied queer theory to EU foreign and security policy, specifically ‘queering’ the EU’s implementation of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) – a UN-mandated agenda that aims to consider the specific needs of women and girls in conflict. We focused on three queer concepts: invisibilities, heteronormativity, and binaries.

A (brief) overview of queer theory and its place in European Studies

To be queer is to be fluid; queer theory is therefore a framework that can be tricky to pin down. Its roots can, however, be traced to the post-structural turn in the 1980s and 1990s thanks to the work of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Eve Sedgwick as well as the wider LGBTIQA+ movement. Its development is linked to feminism, post-colonialism, and constructivism. And while it overlaps with LGBT Studies, it is at times in tension with it.

Petrus Liu offers a starting point:

“Queer theory challenges categories we take for granted as self-obvious, natural, or immutable… Queer theory is, moreover, a kind of doing, a form of socially conscious intervention that calls into question the blind spots of heteronormative and cisnormative worldviews.”

Queer scholars interpret and apply the theory in different ways, but we support Kath Brown and Catherine J. Nash’s suggestion that it “can be any form of research” that “highlights the instability of taken-for-granted meanings and resulting power relations”.

As we outline in our article, the EU is increasingly examined by various critical theories (most notably postcolonial and feminist theories). And while our research is the first applications of queer theory to the EU’s foreign and security policy, it builds on a rich body of queer literature that exists on the wider WPS agenda, humanitarian responses, development, human rights law, and the fight against the far-right, amongst others. Below, we try to unpack some key concepts of queer scholarship.

Invisibilities

Queer scholarship “focuses on the (in)visibility of queer representations in international politics”, as we write in our paper. This erasure has real-world implications for queer people.

We found that LGBTIQA+ people are absent in the EU’s implementation of WPS. This means they are doubly persecuted; the violence they are subject to is not recognised and so they are excluded from access to legal, health, and other services.

This erasure affects all queer people. On one hand, WPS was designed to protect women and girls – yet it ignores the experience of lesbian and trans women. On the other hand, research increasingly highlights how sexual and gender-based violence does not only affect women; because of gendered hierarchies, men and boys are “feminised” or “homosexualised” in conflict. This process of violent humiliation is often directed at queer men and gender minorities, which is why WPS is often seen to be an avenue to integrate protections for the wider LGBTIQ+ community.

The failure to include references to LGBTIQA+ people is therefore a missed opportunity.

Heteronormativity

Queer theory examines heteronormative and cis-gendered structures. In the EU’s implementation of WPS, we found that all relationships are assumed to be heterosexual. The possibility that couples could be same-sex (or that families could have a single parent, for that matter) is not considered.

But by examining heteronormativity, queer research goes deeper: it attempts to analyse why there are patriarchal (im)balances of power and how they manifest.

Queer theory posits that heteronormativity is upheld by a range of masculinities and femininities, which are expressed in individuals regardless of their gender. It is the “hegemonic masculinity” that defines what is socially expected and is in opposition to “weaker” and “feminine” Others. This violent, patriarchal hegemonic masculinity leads to, and legitimises, acts of violence against LGBTIQA+ people in conflict.

Binaries

Queer scholarship builds on its efforts to deconstruct male/female or gay/straight binaries by doing the same with Either/Or binaries across mainstream politics.

For example, it analyses West/rest, war/peace, foreign/domestic and concludes that they simplify complicated terms and erase the nuance around them. Often, this promotes a xenophobic world view: Josep Borrell’s (the then EU High Representative) now infamous statement “Europe is a garden” and “the rest of the world is a jungle” is an example of this.

As we write in our paper, tackling these binaries helps us appreciate how violence against queer people is:

“Palimpsestic; it does not commence with conflict, nor does it end with the brokering of a ceasefire, the signing of a peace agreement or in the latter stages of peacebuilding. The violence queer persons suffer in conflict-related situations is not an aberration but an extension of that which they face in times of peace.”

Future uses of queer theory: an “open mesh of possibilities”

Queer theory is an “open mesh of possibilities”. This allows us to adapt the framework, use it in parallel with work that examines coloniality, race, disability, and class, as well as find allyship with other post-colonial or critical theories.

That being said, there are queer scholars who would disagree with this, instead positing that queer scholarship should remain on the fringes and not engage with mainstream policies at risk of it being instrumentalised. We recognise this tension but believe queer theory must be driven by a curiosity to engage; its insights are too important to be left on the sidelines.

At a time of increasing pressure on queer research and rights, we hope that others will use queer approaches to interrogate and analyse EU external policies – and encourage researchers to do so.

Doing so helps question the taken-for-granted structures and practises in these policies (what is considered “normal”), revealing the resulting power hierarchies around sexuality and gender identity and also shedding light on those who have been marginalised. In turn, this can contribute to the construction of alternative, more inclusive and irenic, policies and practices.

Dimitris Bouris (he/him) is an Associate Professor and Jean Monnet Chair at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. He is also an Associate Editor ofEuropean Security journal and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Natolin). Dimitris’ research focuses lies at the intersection of International Relations (IR theory, peace and state-building, contested states, security sector reform, conflict resolution, diplomacy), EU Studies (EU External Relations, EU security, CSDP, EU foreign Policy) and Middle East and North Africa area studies. He recently co-edited together with Nora Fisher-Onar and Daniela Huber a special issue in JCMS entitled “Towards Allyship in Diversity? Critical Perspectives on the European Union’s Global Role”. In addition to the article discussed in this blog post, recent publications also include an article on the Interrelationship between Gender and European Union Foreign Policy and an article on the performance of Transnistria’s statehood by its political elites

Saul Kenny is the Communication Manager at Article 109, an international coalition of civil society organisations mobilising to review the Charter of the United Nations to make multilateralism better equipped for the 21st century. Before Article 109, Saul worked at the European Commission in support of Horizon Europe. Saul co-authored the paper discussed in this blog after completing his master’s thesis, which analysed policies the EU could adopt to protect LGBTIQA+ people during conflict. Saul has also written about cuts to aid budgets and Europe’s role in a shifting world order.

Hanna L. Mühlenhoff is a Senior Lecturer in European Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She is interested in questions of security, militarism and civil society activism in the European Union and Europe more broadly, including in the context of the UN Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Feminist Foreign Policies. In addition to the publication discussed in this blog post, she recently published a queer analysis of the EU’s Strategic Compass in the Journal of International Relations and Development, and a co-authored chapter on gender (in)justice in von der Leyen’s geopolitical turn.

The post Queering the EU’s Foreign Policy and external relations: What does this mean and why does it matter? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

By Agnese Pacciardi (School of Global Studies, University of Sussex)

In June 2026, the European Union’s Pact on Migration and Asylum will enter into force. The Pact explicitly recognises the role of civil society organisations and NGOs in EU migration management, acknowledging their practical expertise, especially in working in contexts that are outside the EU. In recent years, EU migration governance has increasingly relied on partnerships with third countries, where border control, development cooperation, and humanitarian assistance overlap. Instruments such as the European Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) show how development funding is increasingly used to support migration management beyond EU borders. In this context, NGOs operating in countries of origin and transit have become central actors in how these policies are carried out on the ground. Much has been written about NGO criticism of EU migration policy over the past decade. Far less attention has been paid to how NGOs actually engage with these policies in practice. What does it actually mean for an organization committed to humanitarian principles to deliver EU-funded programmes inside the EU’s migration machine? My research answers this question by looking at how NGOs in Libya navigate funding pressures, ethical dilemmas, and complex local realities while delivering humanitarian and development assistance in a context heavily shaped by migration control objectives.

Libya and EU Externalisation Strategy

Libya sits at the centre of EU externalisation efforts. Since 2017, the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has funded Libya’s Coast Guard to intercept migrants at sea and return them to detention centres where abuse, forced labour, and torture are widely documented. Research and reports have also documented NGO involvement in alleviating the suffering of migrants in some detention centres, raising questions about whether such engagement is compatible with their humanitarian mandate. This coupling of migration control with development and humanitarian aid is not incidental but is structural, as it is openly acknowledged in Article 2 of the MoU itself.

In this context, NGOs in Libya work in an environment shaped by both urgent humanitarian needs and migration control policies. In my research I show how they navigate this terrain through two seemingly distinct but actually overlapping approaches. The first is what I call “pragmatic developmentalism”: accepting EU funding despite reservations about its political objectives, and focusing on delivering essential services and addressing urgent needs. This approach may involve engaging with local authorities and navigating informal power structures, but it remains oriented towards concrete outcomes for communities. The second is “principled humanitarianism”: an ethics-driven approach in which humanitarian imperatives take precedence over other objectives. This emphasises neutrality, impartiality, and the obligation to provide assistance based on need. In practice, it is based on the belief that NGOs can preserve spaces in which humanitarian action can operate independently of the political agendas that shape its funding context.

The RSSD Project: Where Development Meets Migration Management

The EU-funded Recovery, Stability and Socio-Economic Development (RSSD) project offers a concrete illustration of these dynamics. Targeting municipalities along migration routes in Libya, the project stabilises communities and supports local health systems, such as restoring health centres, delivering medical supplies, and training local staff. While these are developmental outcomes, practitioners themselves recognise that the project operates within a wider strategy aimed at discouraging onward movement towards Europe.

Interviews with NGO workers reveal the two overlapping logics at work. On one hand, they  accept EU funding to deliver essential services, despite some political reservations about the EU migration agenda. On the other they seem preoccupied with maintaining what they describe as ethical “red lines.” What emerges from their accounts is that the tension between pragmatism and principle is not simply an individual ethical dilemma. It may reflect a structural feature of contemporary migration governance itself. NGOs are not only making difficult choices, they are part of the mechanism through which migration policies are implemented on the ground. By delivering services within containment-oriented strategies, NGOs can simultaneously alleviate immediate harm and contribute to stabilising those same strategies. Many practitioners openly acknowledge this ambivalence. One NGO worker describes the tension in stark terms as “whitewashing”, suggesting that the humanitarian framing of their projects can serve to mask a much less humanitarian political agenda. As such NGOs operating within these frameworks are key actors through which migration policies take shape in practice.

Looking Ahead: NGOs and the Future of EU Migration Governance

While the extent to which NGOs manage to maintain independence and stay neutral remains up to debate, the interaction between pragmatic developmentalism and principled humanitarianism shows that NGOs are not simply passive implementers of EU policy. They interpret, adapt, and sometimes push back against EU objectives while continuing to deliver essential services on the ground. At the same time, their work can also indirectly support EU agendas. By framing migration through development and humanitarian action, EU external migration policies can appear more technical and less political, while part of the responsibility for their implementation is carried out by NGOs.

As the EU continues to expand its externalisation strategy, including discussions around “safe third country” arrangements and the delegation of asylum processing, the role of NGOs in transit countries is likely to grow. Understanding their work beyond the simple view of NGOs as either critics of EU policies or their enforcers is crucial for policymakers and civil society actors. It highlights the tensions that arise when migration governance is outsourced, and shows that migration policy is shaped not only by states and institutions, but also by the everyday decisions and principles of the organisations working on the ground.

Agnese Pacciardi is Research Fellow at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex. Her work focuses on borders, mobility, and security through critical lenses. In her research, she primarily delves into European border security, humanitarianism and development cooperation in North and West Africa, exploring the impacts and implications of these policies on the communities they affect from feminist and decolonial perspectives.

The post When Development Policy Becomes Migration Policy: Side Effect or by Design? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.