Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V.
The results of the Panorama Analysis 2025, which monitors developments in 2024 compared with 2023, show that the European Union is facing major challenges despite relative internal stability – particularly regarding the global environment.
In a year-on-year comparison, a mixed picture can be drawn for the Innovation and Competitiveness dimension, mirroring the last Panorama Analysis. On the one hand, the Economy & Trade indicator shows the calm before the storm that is gathering with the global upheavals of the current Trump presidency. On the other hand, the EU has not yet managed to increase its own economic attractiveness in response. To strengthen its competitiveness, the EU must return to its roots, i.e. the removal of barriers to single market integration. In the area of trade, too, the EU now has the opportunity to present itself as a rules-based, reliable player and drive forward an ambitious global trade agenda.
The EU's institutional framework remains stable overall. While the challenges in voting behavior in the European Council and Council of the European Union remain, a decline in infringement proceedings can be observed. However, the EU institutions reveal structural deficits in critical areas such as foreign and security policy. These cause member states to repeatedly resort to ad hoc and alternative formats in order to circumvent foreseeable blockades. Institutional reforms are therefore urgently needed, particularly with regard to decision-making within the Council. Only then can the EU act as a geopolitical player.
The EU's global environment is increasingly deteriorating. No indicator examined under this dimension shows a positive development compared to the previous year. For example, the United Nations Security Council has passed the fewest resolutions since 1991 – despite intensifying international crises and conflicts. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are also blocked and severely restricted in their ability to act, respectively. Overall, this also increases the internal economic and institutional challenges facing the EU. Like Aesop in the fable about the pentathlete, one would like to call out to the EU: "Hic Rhodus, hic salta! (lat.) Here is Rhodes, here jump!" – The EU must prove here and now that it can do it.
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The series informs in a concentrated form about important positions of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung on current topics. The individual issues present key findings and recommendations, offer brief analyses, explain the Foundation's further plans and name KAS contact persons.