Insights

Welcome to the Global Month Ahead, a new Global Counsel podcast highlighting the key events in the month to come. In each episode, Global Macro Associate Director Isabelle Trick will hear from different members of the GC team to preview the month's stories before they are in the headlines.

On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron won a second term in the French elections. But his victory is complicated by the record showing of his far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen. With legislative elections looming in June and the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war threatening European cooperation, what did Sunday night tell us about the future of France?

Global Counsel Advisor Denzil Davidson is joined by historian Mary Elise Sarotte, author of the new book 'Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of the Post-Cold War Stalemate.

On Wednesday morning, Russian troops entered Ukraine. As stressed by policymakers in London, Washington, and Brussels, everything is now on the table in terms of further sanctions against Russia. Whatever new measures might ensue-and depending on Russia’s counter-response-the immediate costs and possible risks for investors and corporates in the region have never been…

What do recent events in Poland tell us about the rule of law in the EU? Stephen Adams, Anikó Zsebik and Denzil Davidson look at how the question of EU-level legislation has collided with current events in Poland and what it means for other member states and the wider debate on sovereignty.

The European Commission has released its proposals on how to ease the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. They contain far-reaching proposals in some areas, such as facilitative measures for goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. They are light on details in others. Critically, they are silent on certain issues raised by the UK government, such…

With the German parliamentary elections and Angela Merkel’s departure after sixteen years, the scene seems set for profound changes, with months of coalition haggling ahead. But with a change of players and, maybe, a change of parties, will much really change in German politics? And how will that affect policy at home and in the EU?

In-conversation with Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow at Brookings, former Deputy Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council; and Denzil Davidson, former Special Adviser to the previous British Prime Minister and Adviser on EU and multilateral policy at Global Counsel, discussing the last four years of US…

Jon Garvie, Practice lead for Policy; Denzil Davidson, Adviser; and Charley Roberts, Associate, Climate and Sustainability unpack the G7 leader’s summit, which will take place from Friday to Sunday in Carbis Bay, Cornwall.

How different will the world look after covid? Are we heading back to business as usual, or are we looking forward to more bumps in the road?

Given how its neighbours have fared in comparison, the predictability – some would say the boredom – of German politics may have been a blessing. Chancellor Merkel and a CDU/CSU government have been a fixture of the EU for sixteen years. The Chancellor has long been the EU’s most important political actor and the CDU/CSU, through the EPP, its most powerful political party…

Denzil Davidson, Adviser and Thomas Gratowski, Practice Lead, Global Macro discuss Germany's states elections, ahead of the federal elections in September, what the state elections tell us about the future of German politics and what it means for the EU.

The great Irish-American politician Tip O’Neill was famous for pointing out that all politics is local. But local politics doesn’t always stay local. The history of Northern Ireland is decades-long proof of that, and that proof is again being applied to the whole UK/EU relationship.

This conversation is based on publicly available information and previous draft texts at 5pm on Christmas Eve 2020.

Tom White, Director, Ana Martinez, Practice Lead for EU Policy and Denzil Davidson, Practice Lead for Financial Services and EU Institutions examine the EU’s policy of open strategic autonomy, what it means in practice and how it is likely to evolve.

It has become something of a ritual in the past three months for political leaders on both sides of the Channel to urge the UK’s and EU’s negotiators to work “intensively” to resolve the Brexit impasse. Following Saturday’s call between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen they are to work intensively again. But intensity of…

After the difficult negotiations of the longest ever EU summit, EU leaders agreed last week on a €750 billion recovery fund and at least one new EU tax. Some called it a “Hamiltonian moment” for the European Union. Practice Lead Denzil Davidson and Senior Associate Ana Martínez examine what was agreed, the politics that got us here, the disputes that still haven’t been…

 Brexit thus far has been a story of timetables. Its negotiating and political rhythm has been determined by deadlines, flexible and inflexible, and the potential cliff edges that lie beyond them.