"The mere fact of opening an investigation already has significant political effects", says Italian jurist Sabino Cassese. In conversation with the editor and director of Agenda Pública, the former judge of the Italian Constitutional Court insists that "judicial independence remains a fundamental value", but warns that this principle requires drawing a clear distinction between two spheres: "One is the political arena. The other is the judicial arena. And what is dangerous is precisely confusing the two".

In this week’s 'Brújula Europea,' Marc López Plana examines how a regulation that once promoted fibre optics in Spain is now facing a different situation. MARCo helped to democratize high-speed fibre, but the sector is debating whether keeping prices under cost discourages forward-looking investment. Amid accusations of a 'natural monopoly’ and a lack of reciprocity, plus European demands for resilience in the digital realm, Spain must either adapt its framework or else consolidate permanent 'de facto aid'.

Javi López, Vice-President of the European Parliament, takes it for granted that a new international order is in the making, but he wonders what role the EU can and should play in that reconfiguration. Here the MEP argues that the answer lies in effective European sovereignty, greater integration in critical sectors, and a foreign policy capable of cooperation, firmness, and geopolitical diversification.

Following his examination of the main issues facing China’s economy – particularly its problems of industrial 'involution' – MEP Jonás Fernández provides an exclusive analysis focused on what Europe should do in response. This second installment on the Chinese economy argues for a strategy of precision: dialogue around global public goods, selective protection against Chinese 'involution', and a European industrial policy focused on eliminating internal barriers rather than manufacturing European 'champions'.

Beijing insists it is staying the course. But after an institutional visit to China with a European Parliament delegation, MEP Jonás Fernández detects signs of slowdown, excess industrial capacity and structural tensions that could shape the Asian giant’s next decade. 'Agenda Pública' publishes his on-the-ground analysis exclusively.

Germany’s unexpected defeat at the United Nations has opened up a question in Europe: is Berlin still taking the support of its partners for granted? In his weekly column for 'Agenda Pública', editor and director Marc López Plana examines what this diplomatic setback reveals about the new balance of power in the EU, and how disagreements with Spain on key issues anticipate the end of automatic support in European politics.

The leader of Italy’s opposition has spent more than three years trying to build a left-wing alternative to take on Giorgia Meloni in the 2027 elections. In Rome, she sits down with Marc López Plana, editor and director of 'Agenda Pública', to explain what kind of Italy she wants to build as an alternative to the prime minister’s government and to call for a change of economic and diplomatic course.

In his weekly column, 'Agenda Pública' editor and director Marc López Plana analyzes Spain’s diplomatic transformation under Pedro Sánchez. Far from its traditional preference for 'passive consensus,' Spain has assumed a leading role in crises like Gaza and Iran. That ambition gives the country unprecedented influence, but it also increases our visibility: at the center of the global stage, every foreign policy decision is subject to stricter scrutiny and intense domestic political debate.

The indictment of former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the Plus Ultra case also has a reading from Washington, D. C. J. P. Carroll, 'Agenda Pública'’s columnist in the U.S. capital, examines the case through the lens of national security and the transatlantic relationship, looking at how it is viewed by two former CIA voices—Kevin Hulbert and Bjorn Beam—and Peter J. Brown, a former national security adviser to Trump.

"Only if we learn to understand the reasoning of others, to seek common ground or agreement, will we be able to move forward together," proclaimed Leo XIV in his first appearance during his apostolic trip to Spain. The Pope upheld "the importance of knowing how to listen” and thanked our country for its “fidelity to international law and multilateralism." Felipe VI, for his part, remarked that "in a world flooded with data and messages, empathy, understanding, and listening are essential." Both warned against the sterility of fear.

Elias Dinas, director of the Swiss Chair in Federalism and International Governance at the European University Institute, speaks with Jorge de Diego, staff writer at 'Agenda Pública', about immigration, the radical right and democratic erosion in Europe. The political scientist warns about the role of traditional elites in normalizing certain frames, argues that "ignoring the issue does not work as a long-term strategy" and analyses the singular place Spain occupies in the European migration debate.

Brussels has given in to pressure from Rome and relaxed the fiscal rules it recently approved. Driven by the electoral battle between Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, what began as an exception for military spending has been extended to energy investments. This concession by President von der Leyen marks a turning point: geopolitics and strategic autonomy have started to definitively impose themselves on the European Union’s old accounting orthodoxy.

In his weekly column, Marc López Plana, editor and director of 'Agenda Pública', analyzes the profound economic and political transformation Germany is currently undergoing. From the abandonment of austerity to the deployment of unprecedented fiscal expansion, Berlin is trying to respond to an industrial, geopolitical, and social crisis that threatens to reconfigure Europe’s balance of power. The result is a Germany that is more interventionist, more unsettled, and increasingly decisive for the future of the European Union.

Marine Tondelier, national secretary of Les Écologistes, speaks with Jorge de Diego, staff writer at 'Agenda Pública', about the risk of the French radical right reaching the Élysée, the exhaustion of the New Popular Front and the role of ecologism in a Europe marked by geopolitical, industrial and demographic crises. "The ecologists have been right for a long time", she says, stressing the urgency of implementing their agenda.

Andy Burnham, the Labour candidate who believes he can challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the country’s leadership, wants to "reconnect" the United Kingdom and, in the process, defeat Nigel Farage’s radical right. Journalist Nick Malkoutzis explains Burnham’s proposal, his "unusual popularity" and why Tony Blair rejects his candidacy and calls for a "return to a radical centre".

According to a recent report from the Centre for European Reform think-tank, Germany’s economic paralysis is no temporary slump but a structural crisis in the path of China’s commercial steamroller. While Berlin has misdiagnosed itself, obsessed with energy prices and bureaucracy, 'China Shock 2.0' has been demolishing its external competitiveness. The vacuum left by the sputtering European engine is pushing Spain to rewrite its alliances, running the risk of trading its historical dependence on Germany for a new technological subordination to China.

According to Miguel Ángel Ortiz-Serrano, PhD in Economic History and Professor of Economics, Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in office have left a France that’s "more socially divided, more politically polarized, and more economically depressed." Ahead of a 2027 presidential election with expected advances by Le Pen and Bardella, the expert on French politics takes up the question of what should be done by a moderate candidate to prevent a victory by the Rassemblement National.

A phone call from Berlin, complaints from German Social Democrats, and the Spanish delegation taking note. In this week’s edition of Brújula Europea, 'Agenda Pública' editor and director Marc López Plana sees cracks in the S&D group after extension of immunity for an MEP from the CDU party. By breaking unwritten rules, the Social Democrats have made a costly sacrifice to prevent Manfred Weber’s EPP from drifting off-center – a strategic game that risks fuelling the discourse of the radical right.

The vice-president of the European People’s Party and one of the leading rapporteurs on the Multiannual Financial Framework in the European Parliament opposes the European Commission’s proposal for "weakening the Common Agricultural Policy and Cohesion Policy". In conversation with Agenda Pública’s editor and director in Strasbourg, Mureșan draws attention to alternative mechanisms to increase funding —such as common debt— and to the need to address the challenge posed by digital giants.

Javi López, Vice-President of the European Parliament, examines the modernization of the Global Agreement between the European Union and Mexico – a pact that "isn’t only a trade agreement." In a scenario where "the borders between economics and geopolitics have vanished," he argues that Europe needs to strengthen ties with "reliable partners" and that Mexico meets key conditions for building more resilient supply chains and a long-range political alliance.

Professor Frank Decker, from the University of Bonn, talks to Jorge de Diego, staff writer at 'Agenda Pública', about how Germany is trapped between an unpopular grand coalition, the rise of the AfD and an economy that urgently needs reform. The academic describes this as "a real dilemma", warns that "in Germany, there is no alternative in the party system to this coalition" and calls for a change of perspective in German politics: "We need visions", he says.

The Andalusian elections pave the way for the general election and invite a reading that goes beyond the number of seats: the PP maintains its territorial strength, but it has not shown that it has expanded the conservative bloc compared with 2023. At the same time, the PSOE avoids an image of collapse and confirms that its electoral floor still depends on mobilization.

The rules-based international order is faltering, but it is also "being repriced." Juan Luis Manfredi, professor of International Studies, argues that, for banks, funds and financial institutions, geopolitics has become "a structural input into credit origination." From this perspective, he sets out three complementary scenarios — from midterms that rebalance Trumpism to energy disruption driven by Iran — that point to the same conclusion: "the immediate priority is correcting what markets are systematically mispricing."

Europe’s economic engine is seizing up, its political system wracked by paralysis and by the unstoppable rise of the AfD. Has the German model entered a phase of structural demolition? In his weekly column, 'Agenda Pública' editor and director Marc López Plana examines some current developments, from the exhaustion of Merz’s grand coalition to the industrial standoff with Spain over green funds. He finds an institutional crisis that is threatening to fracture the single market.

Bronwen Maddox, Director and Chief Executive of Chatham House, talks to Marc López Plana, Director and Editor of 'Agenda Pública', about Spain, Trump, China, European defence and the future of the European Union. "It would be unwise to rely on Trump to defend Europe," she says, whilst calling on the continent to step up and "defend its industries."

"The European social model is an asset for our economic model," argues Roxana Mînzatu, executive vice-president of the European Commission, who calls for poverty to be understood beyond income: "Someone may have a salary and still not have enough to live on," she says. In conversation with Jorge de Diego, editor at Agenda Pública, she discusses the EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, housing, child poverty and the role of member states.

From the American Enterprise Institute to the Eurasia Group, analyst J.P. Carroll has compiled the views of seven experts - including alumni of the Trump and Obama administrations - ahead of the major summit between the United States and China. Although most observers agree that they expect little progress, they highlight trade and Taiwan’s security as the key issues at the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

Labour strategist John McTernan warns that Keir Starmer has lost authority after "the worst election results the Labour Party has had in more than a century." The former director of political operations for Prime Minister Blair argues that the party will only be able to stop Nigel Farage if it rebuilds a progressive coalition with recognisable policies on housing, climate, Europe, defence and immigration.

The Brussels bubble has burst, integrating itself into day-to-day partisan disputes. In his weekly column, Marc López Plana, editor and director of 'Agenda Pública', examines how today’s politics circulates freely across borders, so that an audit report issued in Madrid can end up fueling the budget debate in Berlin. No longer a distant arbiter, the EU has become a transnational arena for permanent electoral battle.

Erik Jones, PhD in International Relations and professor at the European University Institute, talks with 'Agenda Pública' staff writer Jorge de Diego in Florence. The academic, who speaks of a "post-Atlantic Europe," is optimistic about Ukraine's EU accession process, but acknowledges that many challenges remain. For example, in the new European budget, where he believes that "we also have to find a way to cushion the blow for all those rural societies that will be affected."