To promote a successful outcome of the next Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons currently scheduled to take place in 2021 (NPT RevCon), the E.U. could capitalize on its access to member states increasingly divided over the issue of ratification or accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to cultivate dialogue, acting as a bridge-builder.

The E.U. aims to cut its dependency on Chinese and other foreign suppliers in six vital strategic fields to the bloc’s green and digital goals. The European Parliament and the European  Council reached a political agreement for a new Public Sector Loan Facility (PSLF) to support the green transition in Europe to attain the Union’s 2030 climate objectives and E.U. climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest.

After Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia expelled a total of seven Russian diplomats last week, Russia’s Foreign Ministry decided to expel seven diplomats from the four countries as retaliation. Slovakia’s decision to expel diplomats was denounced by the Russian Foreign Ministry as “false solidarity”, harming the Russian-Slovak ties. In retaliation for E.U. sanctions against Russian citizens, Russia has included eight European Union officials on a blacklist, preventing them from entering the country. Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated that the E.U. persists on an illegitimate policy of unilateral restrictive measures against Russian citizens and organizations. Top E.U. officials responded by stating that this move manifests Moscow’s choice of a path of confrontation with the bloc.

It is in the interest of the E.U. to prevent Russian weaponization of energy interdependence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which aims to undermine the country’s stability, keeping it out of NATO and the Euro-Atlantic sphere.

The content of the renewed Cotonou Partnership Agreement emphasizes the importance of global cooperation between the E.U. and its partners. It stresses the need for a “strengthened political partnership” and that the Agreement should serve as the foundation for fostering the parties’ adoption of similar positions at the international level and supporting the multilateral system.