Conversations on the occasion of Germany’s EU Council Presidency. A dossier by our Brussels office. On 1 July 2020, Germany assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months. Given the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Presidency will face major challenges. The dossier covers Green proposals and initiatives regarding the European Green Deal, the future of the EU and the role of the EU in the world.

The way the Covid-19 pandemic has been dealt with has raised many questions for the future of the European project. How have the EU institutions and Member States managed the crisis so far? What challenges will coincide with the German EU Council Presidency in terms of crisis management and the future of the EU?

The German government must fight for a Real Green Deal for Europe that combines economy and ecology and sets the course for a socio-ecological market economy. Dr. Ellen Ueberschär describes what that could look like.

The Corona crisis demonstrated in fast motion the dilemma into which market-state-thinking leads. This is where commons come into play, i.e. what people do and are able to do with each other in a self-determined, self-organised, needs-oriented manner and without any marketing interest.

Amidst the Covid-19 crisis in Egypt, a recent chain of events reveals the systemic violence that the regime of President al-Sisi exerts. To address those developments, what’s behind them and how international actors might respond to them, we are speaking with Amr Magdi, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.

While restrictions against the pandemic are gradually being lifted throughout Europe, the situation in Armenia is worsening. The capacities of hospitals are exhausted. Armenia is in a de facto state of emergency as a result of the pandemic, which could turn into a political crisis. Our colleague Eviya Hovhannisyan from Yerevan reports the current developments in the interview.

Questions of environmental and climate policy remain relevant even during a pandemic, as the protests and debates about the stimulus package to fight the crisis show.  The German states have taken on a deciding roll regarding questions of implementation – which started already during the negotiations for the climate package. The Greens contributed the most to the climate package's increased substance. 

High-risk geoengineering projects are proceeding in violation of UN moratoria.

 On the second day of the European History Forum, four closed group discussions were held with participants from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The aim of the discussions was to contribute to the deconstruction of the myths of heroines and their memory.

The aim of this year's forum was to initiate an analysis of war and post-war history, examining the role played by women from all countries that participated directly or indirectly in the war. Scientists from Central, South and South-East Europe came together from Central, South and Southeast Europe came together in two fish tanks to exchange different perspectives on the topic.