Martin Sandbu

Behind the headline numbers, the resource constraints are evident

Technological and geopolitical competition between democracies and autocracies are two sides of the same coin

Because it’s still the economy, stupid

The US is enjoying a virtuous cycle, while the EU is caught in a mid-tech trap

Germany’s choice

Nine like-minded member states would be enough to break the logjams on reform

The many ways in which the big blocs can make it hard to stay non-aligned

It has always been a high-tax, high-spend country, so why have things been getting worse?

Current EU structures discourage joined-up thinking in pursuing geostrategic goals

When it comes to lifting EU productivity, fortune will favour the bold

Engineering a $50bn advance from the profits of frozen Russian assets is presenting a challenge

The bloc’s motto of ‘united in diversity’ should make it choose majority over consensus where possible

The pre-Brexit economic relationship is out of reach but closer ties are possible if each side moves from entrenched positions

The chill that has suddenly fallen over Europe’s battery industry captures the essential shortcoming of EU green industrial policy. Even as leaders are clear-eyed about the central importance of domestic economic strength to their geostrategic independence, they still do not seem to will the means to their stated ends. In the tangle of policies making up the EU’s industrial strategy, batteries actually stand out as a relative success. The European Commission includes them in “important projects…

(And a mandate is not a landslide)

Hello. While we are waiting for election results in the UK and France — do use your vote if you are a citizen of either country — spare a thought for monetary policy. Inflation is more or less back in its box, and central banks are preparing to cut interest rates or have already started. It’s a good time to lift our eyes from the immediate question of what to do about price rises to what we can learn from the inflation hits we are now putting behind us. The inflation of the past couple of years…

Congratulations to the FT Monetary Policy Radar team for getting its regular forecasts up and running. I am pleased to appear occasionally on its pages to provide an in-house stress test of its thinking, to keep it on its toes and, hopefully, as an alternative perspective for Monetary Policy Radar subscribers to ponder. That said, I think the forecasts do an excellent job of mapping the thinking inside central banks — and highlight the data central bankers pay close attention to. Where I think…

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of the far right. The strength of populist, nationalist and illiberal forces in the European elections and in France’s ongoing legislative polls has provoked anguish across the political spectrum. In France, especially, there is panic over Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National. But fear and loathing, however understandable against parties with a legacy of hateful rhetoric, are not adequate political responses. Most of Europe’s political mainstream ha…

After Brussels’ preliminary tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, key decisions have to be made by both sides. The tariffs must be confirmed (or not) by EU governments in the autumn. China must decide whether and how to retaliate. These decisions will be interdependent: Beijing will no doubt target capitals with bespoke threats (French cognac is already in its crosshairs) depending on what stance they take. There is, however, a bigger question: what role should China play in Europe’s decarbonis…

In the month since Russia launched a new offensive against Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, and its surroundings, I have thought a lot about an earlier assault on Kharkiv, and of a young woman named Anna who experienced it. Eighty-three years ago next week, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. By the autumn, its forces had reached Kharkiv. Many of its inhabitants fled eastward, away from the front. Anna did not. She missed the departure of the lorry that evacuated her family and w…