News & Highlights
EU-China: Green development or ecological civilization? 19 October 2020 On 14 September, China and European leaders held a summit on an investment agreement. What does the timing of this announcement imply for the climate dialogue? How can we position ourselves in a green dynamism and common ground to give access to these green technologies in all countries? What are… Read more
Economic recovery, energy and ecological transitions in China and Europe 19 October 2020 Minister Brune Poirson, Ding Yifan from the State Council of China, Thomas Melonio, Director at AFD and Raphael Schoentgen, former President of Hydrogen Europe explored the very strong potential for ecological, industrial and financial cooperation between China and the EU, fuelled by existing trade partnerships and China's massive holding of… Read more
Forum on Sino-European Relations and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic 16 October 2020 Irina Bokova, former Director General of UNESCO, Joël Ruet and Jean-Claude Beaujour, lawyer and Vice-President of the France-Americas Foundation, were among the keynote speakers of the Bridge Tank’s forum on the Sino-European relations and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on them. This event, co-hosted with the Chinese Embassy to… Read more
Hybrid Forum – The Bridge Tank gathers 30 personalities & experts to explore EU-China relations and engage with 150 practitioners 16 October 2020 The Bridge Tank gathered Irina Bokova, former Director General of UNESCO, Brune Poirson, Vice-President of the United Nations Environment Assembly and former Secretary of State to the French Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Edmond Alphandery former Minister for the Economy, François Loos, former French Minister for Industry and… Read more
The Bridge Tank hosts a working lunch on EU-China relations 15 October 2020 The panelists of the Bridge Tank’s forum took part in a working lunch on the 15th of October 2020. Among them were Sylvie Bermann, former French Ambassador to China, the United Kingdom and Russia, François Loos, former French Minister Delegate for Industry and former Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, Joël… Read more
An internal work meeting on China’s future & the evolution of Sino-European relations 5 October 2020 On October 2, 2020, François Quentin, former head of the Huawei France Board and President of the Mines-Telecom Institute, General Eric de la Maisonneuve, Founder and President of the Strategy Society, and Alain Frachon, journalist at Le Monde and former foreign correspondent in Washington D.C., joined The Bridge Tank’s team… Read more
Forum on the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals 18 September 2020 Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General, Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General, Justin Yifu Lin, honorary Dean of the National School of Development under Peking University and former Senior Vice-President of the World Bank, Yves Leterme, former Belgian Prime Minister, James Kimonyo, Rwanda Ambassador to China, Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and professor… Read more
Around George Papandreou, Madeleine Albright and several Foreign Affairs and Prime Ministers, the 22nd Symi Symposium invented the “Hybrid Forum” 30 July 2020 July 26th-30th, the progressive family resumed meeting, to discuss the current global and US situation, the future of Europe, and topics such as the lifelong learning systems, narratives of wars and progressive movements of care, energy renaissance, the Balkans, the BRICS. Striking a balance: both in person, the good old… Read more
The joint launch of the EU Hydrogen and EU energy integration strategies, along the industry’s clean hydrogen alliance, suggest Europe is ready to build a world-class energy transition advantage 25 July 2020 EU's Policy making seldom shows such a great coordination across the Union, member states, regions, across different policies and between policy makers and the industry. The 8th of July of 2020 was a landmark announcement that could face up Asian leadership ambitions. This demonstrates the cohesive strength of the European construction,… Read more
Analysing EU’s Hydrogen strategy 20 July 2020 By Joël Ruet & Antoine Goutaland - On 8th July 2020, the European Commission unveiled a 3-phases plan for Hydrogen. This is a landmark announcement for European industry with a common industrial project that could face up Asian leadership ambitions. The 3 phases consist in: (1) Enabling framework conditions for… Read more
Meeting of the Task Force on Fighting global warming in the EU through carbon pricing targeting, coupled with border adjustment mechanism 2 July 2020 The Bridge Tank contributed to the Task Force on Carbon Pricing in Europe working group led by former French Minister of the Economy Edmond Alphandéry. With the support of Pascal Canfin, Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, it brought together ministers, members… Read more
T20 Web Conference: Policy Recommendations for a Post-COVID-19 World 16 June 2020 Joel Ruet presented the views of the Bridge Tank-convened working group on Promoting Southern actors' direct access to the Green Climate Fund to de-risk projects and raise additional climate finance flows, written by Joël Ruet, Alessia Ameghini, Adel Ben Youssef, Ban Le, Celine Bak, Alexandre Borde, Paolo Giudici, Axel Michaelowa, Kang… Read more
Exchanges and proposals on industry with the Chinese Embassy in Paris 11 June 2020 On June 11th, Joel Ruet exchanged views on the international situation with the Chinese ambassador in Paris and French personalities including former ministers Hubert Védrine and François Loos, former Elysée diplomatic advisers Maurice Gourdault-Montagne and Jean-David Levitte, experts Emmanuel Dupuy, Barthelemy Courmont and General Jean-Bernard Pinatel. Several speakers pointed out… Read more
How does the pandemic impact the competition between the United States and China? 30 May 2020 An Issue Brief, by Ambassador Philippe COSTE. Tensions between the two competitors are escalating, China’s situation vis-à-vis the United States is likely to strengthen and global governance is even more severely lacking than in the past, calling for more of European contruction. Download the French text ► Not only the… Read more
Flattening Curves & Lifting Lockdowns in EUROPE – A better method for estimating infection rates 28 April 2020 This paper presents a comparative analysis of the COVID-19 outbreak across ten major European countries. It identifies the best and worst performing countries in flattening the curve and promotes a new statistical method for estimating the ‘reproduction rate’ (known as ‘R0’) to analyse individual countries and specific regions, to better… Read more
On Africa and the “Pangolin effect” 20 April 2020 Issue Brief, by our Board Member, Mamadou Lamine Diallo, former Head of Political Cabinet to the President of the Commission of the African Union. Diallo sets out directions for African leaders framing their destiny, in contrast with China's vision for the Continent, with the backdrop of a note by the… Read more
FLATTENING THE CURVE – A pan-European comparative analysis of the COVID-19 outbreak 15 April 2020 A new report published by the Bridge Tank compares the outbreak of COVID-19 across ten major European countries. This ground-breaking analysis identifies the best and worst performing countries in Europe, and the reasons behind their respective performance in flattening the curve. Italy, Spain, France, UK, The Netherlands and Belgium are the most… Read more
Coronavirus Shows Healthcare Needs Global Governance 12 April 2020 BY IRINA BOKOVA, HAKIMA EL HAITE, GEORGE PAPANDREOU, JOËL RUET We firmly believe it is time to re-consider every country’s health security, using global governance tools that already exist. If we have the will and resources to invest into financial stability or limit global heating, why is health security not… Read more
African solutions for the African lockdown 5 April 2020 Hakima el Haite, President of Liberal International, Joël Ruet and Iman Zbib wrote together and article for La Tribune entitled “African solutions for the African lockdown” on the 4th of April 2020. They highlighted the importance of African initiatives to help population go through lockdown, so that the important solidarity… Read more
Healthcare needs global governance 19 March 2020 By Irina Bojova, Hakima El Haite, George Papandreou, Joël Ruet. Irina Bokova, former Director-General of UNESCO, Hakima El Haite, President of Liberal International, George Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece and President of Socialist International, and Joël Ruet co-published an article in Diplomatic Courier and La Tribune. It was entitled… Read more