The Centre for European Studies’ EU Policy Briefs Series presents concise, policy-focused commentary on pressing issues of EU politics and Canada-EU relations. We are pleased to highlight four new EU Policy Briefs published this summer:
“The EU–Canada partnership: An alternative route to, but not an alternative to, multilateral governance” (EU Policy Brief #20, September 2026): Jan Wouters (KU Leuven, Konrad Adenauer Visiting Professor at Carleton University) discusses whether the EU-Canada relationship, touted as an “Alliance for the Future” by the Canadian Prime Minister, can form the nucleus of an alternative multilateral governance coalition that compensates for US disengagement. Using five criteria, he shows that the EU-Canada partnership succeeds as a rule-preserving laboratory, but not as a substitute order. He argues that the proposed “Alliance for the Future” should be built for speed, openness and multilateralization.
“Decarbonization by regulation, security by LNG: Policy coherence in the EU energy transition after 2022“ (EU Policy Brief #19, June 2026): Ahmed Al-Jalili (Carleton University) analyzes recent changes in EU energy policy. He shows that the EU’s response to the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not resolve the tension between decarbonization and energy security. The EU preserved its climate ambitions while increasing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports, especially from the United States and Qatar, thereby stabilizing supply but not eliminating external dependence. The result is a delicate form of policy coherence shaped by regulatory decarbonization, crisis management, and uneven member-state strategies.
“Frozen conflicts in the EU’s neighborhood: Enlargement with or without de facto states?” (EU Policy Brief #18, May 2026): Magdalena Dembińska (Université de Montréal) provides an analysis of EU enlargement policy with respect to Moldova and Georgia, focusing especially on each country’s unresolved territorial conflicts. She argues that the de-facto states of Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia must be seen as strategic actors, not Russian “puppets”; their distinct hedging strategies reveal why enlargement without security guarantees risks importing frozen conflicts with Russia into the EU itself.
“The RN in power: Lessons from Perpignan for French national politics” (EU Policy Brief #17, May 2026): Liam Nohr (Carleton University) analyzes how the Rassemblement National (RN), France’s dominant far-right populist party, has governed at the municipal level since winning the mayoralty of Perpignan in 2020. He shows that the RN consolidated authority not by moderating its positions or doubling down on its more extremist stances, but by repackaging them in the language of ordinary administration.
Read further contributions to the series here.
The EU Policy Briefs Series is a publication of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Carleton University. The Jean Monnet Centre is co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
The European Commission’s support for the production of these publications does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
