Focus euroatlantico n. 3 (settembre 2023)

The third issue of the 2023 Euro-Atlantic Focus begins, as usual, with an analysis of the state of play in the transatlantic relationship (supplemented by a number of graphs in the appendix). Riccardo Alcaro and Tiziano Breda highlight how Europe’s security system may change in light of NATO’s decision to accept Sweden as a new member, open to Ukraine’s eventual accession and rethink its defence and deterrence policy. In the section on US domestic politics, Alcaro and Breda explain how President Biden and his Republican opponents struck the agreement that prevented a major economic crisis over the US debt ceiling. Biden has been travelling across the country in the attempt to sell the apparently considerable results of economic policies – rechristened ‘Bidenomics’ – to a sceptical public. Meanwhile, the Republican primary campaign started, with former president Trump dominating his rivals in the polls. In the essay on the EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy as well as on the European Political Community, Nicoletta Pirozzi and Matteo Bonomi dwell on the relaunch of the EU’s intra-continental cooperation initiatives sparked by Russia’s aggression of Ukraine. They examine the benefits potential of new accessions to the Union and of the consolidation of the European Political Community. In his in-depth look at EU migration policies, Luca Barana illustrates the innovative aspects of the agreement reached in June on the management and distribution of migrants and asylum seekers. He also warns that the deal on economic cooperation and migration management with Tunisia could turn out to be a double-edged sword, just as it happened with Erdogan’s Turkey.