How EU leaders should deal with Chinese government repression

European institutions should warn Erdoğan that there will be serious consequences if votes are rigged and the legitimacy of upcoming elections put in question.

Russian president Vladimir Putin will cheer on a mini war-parade in Moscow on Tuesday, as German chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks of peace in Europe in Strasbourg.

"Africa has to unite behind a single agenda on debt resolution. We know what China wants, we know what the US wants, we know what the World Bank wants, but we don't know what Africa wants."

Acts of sabotage on wind farms or the underwater electricity grid are likely to be carried out as 'grey zone tactics', state-sponsored sabotage may be disguised as a civilian accident, or carried out from a leisure yacht or fishing boat.

On 15 May, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will elect its next leader. Just like five years ago, the contest is not without controversy, with member states divided over prospective candidates.

Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May will show whether Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's decade of relentless state interference with the media has paid off. Or whether a new generation of journalists finally taste freedom?

Russia is gaining power in the Central African Republic as the EU pulls out, amid similar developments in neighbouring Sudan.

In the Czech Republic, the extravagant promises of Chinese investment never materialised and the former president Miloš Zeman's sycophancy toward Xi Jinping provoked a wide revulsion. In contrast, Slovakia has avoided a real debate about its relationship with China.

The ability to use different foreign policy discourses is the EU's biggest asset. It keeps a systemic rival like China on its toes, while signalling to the US that Europe has its own interests.

With 60 percent of African countries spending more on debt repayment than on national healthcare, the EU should use Global Gateway financing to address structural issues rather than conversations about finance.

Nobody in Belgium wants Russian "blood diamonds" any more, but the next round of EU sanctions still won't ban them.

Serbia is trying to block Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, putting in doubt an EU-brokered deal amid heightened tension in the region.

Prominent Iranian rights defenders are demanding the EU list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

The narrative now is all about how clueless African, Asian and Latin American leaders can still be brought back to the right path — and out of China's embrace — with the right amount of tough pressure and sweet persuasion.