ODI Europe

Yesterday, ODI Europe's Director, Dora Meredith, moderated the event "The EU's Approach to Fragility in a World of Compounding Crises" organized by the EGMONT - Royal Institute for International Relations and the International Rescue Committee.   The event featured keynote speeches Hadja Lahbib, Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness, and Crisis Management and David Miliband, CEO and President of the International Rescue Committee. A dynamic panel discussion followed, bringing together key voices: Hans Das, Deputy Director-General and Chief Operations Officer, DG ECHO. Martin Seychell, Deputy Director-General for Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace, and Resources, DG INTPA. Barry Andrews MEP, and Chair of the European Parliament DEVE Committee. Heidy Rombouts, PhD, Head of the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, Belgium MFA. Camilla Brückner, Director of the UN/UNDP Office in Brussels and UN System Representative to the EU.   Key takeaways include: >Europe's security relies on broader security issues, we cannot neglect global crises; > We are in a moment of great disruption, we must make a new case for why aid/assistance is vital; > The EU's engagement in fragile contexts is a crucial consideration in the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) discussions. With decreasing budgets, increasing humanitarian needs, and shifting political attention, it is crucial for the EU to maintain its commitment to fragile and crisis-affected regions; >While the EU has a broad range of tools and instruments, there is a need for stronger coordination between EU institutions, Member States, and international partners to ensure a coherent approach; >The EU's response to fragility must be comprehensive, addressing not only immediate humanitarian needs but also long-term solutions, sustainable development, peacebuilding, and resilience efforts; >We must focus on delivering concrete action and impact on the ground. Thanks to the IRC and Egmont colleagues for the opportunity to collaborate on this event.

Important discussions at the first 2025 edition of the “Gender Talks” in Brussels which ODI Europe co-host with UN Women Europe and Central Asia. The topic was “Gender in the EU’s foreign policies: expectations for the new commission.” Thank you to our fantastic panel, including: Carlien Scheele, Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Julia Koch - de Biolley, Head of Task Force Gender & Diversity @ EEAS, Chiara Adamo, Head of the "Human Rights, Gender and Democratic Governance" unit in DG INTPA, European Commission, Noel Gonzalez, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Mexico to Belgium & Luxembourg - Mission of Mexico to the European Union, Caroline Harper, Director of the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Programme, ODI Global, and Florence Raes, Director UN Women Brussels. Great work by my colleagues Aline Burni, Youssef R., Claire Kumar, Maggie McNulty, Emilie Tant with Sofie Haljan Schoors, Saskia Müller and Julia Mironenko. Looking forward to the next one!

Yesterday, ODI Europe and UN Women Europe and Central Asia hosted the first edition of 2025 of the Gender Talks. We had a vibrant discussion on “Gender in the EU’s foreign policies: expectations for the new Commission.” The key takeaways were:  · The political landscape has changed and the "old script" won't work against this context. · Europe needs to work with new partners, and employ new methods to promote gender equality and uphold international commitments. · Important aims include enabling the equal representation of women in decision-making, securing sufficient budgets for gender equality globally, ensuring gender equality across the green and digital transitions, tackling gender based violence, delivering the wps agenda and addressing disinformation and online hate. · New ways of working could include more strategic diplomacy around gender issues, exploring legal action, and collaborating with new partners. As we look ahead, despite the growing challenges, there’s a political necessity to stand firm on gender equality. #GenderEquality #ODIEurope #UNWomen #GenderTalks #FeministForeignPolicy

Urban fragility is a multidimensional challenge. It is an urgent moment for Europe to be thinking through its engagement in these contexts. I was delighted to moderate a panel in Brussels today at a great event organised by Cities Alliance UNOPS and Habitat for Humanity International. Thank you for the engaging political debate from Jean Van Wetter, Jonathan Reckford, Greg Munro and Julia Iversen, and the opening remarks of María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, former president of the United Nations General Assembly and Erica Gerretsen, Director at the European Commission. Looking forward to further insight on these ideas from ODI Global and ODI Europe with my colleagues Jago Salmon, Surer Mohamed, PhD and Anushka Sisodia.

Don't miss our ODI Europe - UN Women event 'Gender in the EU’s foreign policies' this Thursday, where we will discuss about opportunities and challenges to advance gender equality globally, and expectations for the new European Commission. There are still some spots available to join us in person or virtually, please register here: https://lnkd.in/eUxWb2ZS

The EU's Competitiveness Compass framework sets out to reposition the EU as a competitive global economy alongside the US and China. This roadmap addresses the EU’s labour shortages and the urgent need to meet the demands of the EU’s labour market.   We raise this issue in our recent report by Claire Kumar, 'Expanding legal pathways for labour immigration.’ The report sets out that increasing labour immigration will be an essential element in the EU’s drive to maintain its economic security and competitiveness. Whilst immigration is on the rise across the EU, our report notes that to date, Member States’ reforms to attract foreign workers tend to be fragmented and often biased towards attracting highly skilled workers. Tracing the underfunding of legal migration programmes within the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the report calls for a rebalance in investments to prioritise labour mobility.   Key recommendations include enhancing visa pathways and recruitment for low- and mid-skilled workers, particularly those with technical and vocational skills, scaling refugee labour mobility programmes, and providing tailored support for SMEs in sectors such as transportation and construction to expand their use of immigration systems and their access to much needed foreign workers. Read the research report and policy brief here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gUT45RS4 #CompetitivenessCompass #migration

We're looking forward to participating in this event and sharing ODI Europe's experience from our work on migration including the series: public and political narratives and attitudes towards refugees and other migrants Event registration link 👇 ... and read more on the public narratives series here: https://lnkd.in/eKMQDvgk #migration #displacement

NEW EVENT 🎉 Europe has increasingly established itself as a global leader in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, core objectives of the European Union’s external action. The current global context is marked by a rising backlash against equalities and democracy. Despite this, gender equality and women’s empowerment are vital means of achieving durable peace, prosperity, and security and strengthening democracy in a world increasingly shaped by difficult geopolitical dynamics. With a new European Commission in place, this event brings together a panel of experts to discuss how Europe can safeguard and promote feminist-inspired foreign policies at a national, EU, and global level. We’ll explore questions such as: ➡️To what extent is a gender lens adopted when tackling the EU’s key foreign policy issues – such as the conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, addressing misinformation, trade, and climate? ➡️How could the EU work more effectively as a multilateral actor on gender issues, and who could be its main allies? ➡️What strategies can the EU, Member States, and civil society actors adopt at both national and international levels to protect progress on gender equality and the rights of marginalised groups against the increasing resistance they face across the EU? Register to attend online here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gDyTCH8M UN Women Europe and Central Asia, Hivos, Equipop, Jim Monkel, Bruna Martinez (she/her), Gates Foundation, Marinke van Riet, Carlien Scheele, Caroline Harper, Florence Raes, Dora Meredith

"The EU’s arsenal of defensive trade weaponry lacks an instrument ready to counter systematic, high-impact, and non-coercive trade law violations by the largest economies of the world in real time. The time is now for the institutions to consider adding a more robust instrument of general application to its armoury to equip the Union for the coming era of trade wars." As President Trump’s inauguration is underway, in this latest Insight piece, ODI Europe Senior Research Associate David Kleimann analyses how the European Union might respond to Trump's tariffs. Read the Insight piece in full here 👉https://lnkd.in/e8pbn-Fd #tradetariffs #USEuropetrade #Trumppresidency

NEW PUBLICATION 🆕       Hungary has not traditionally been a country of immigration but, over the last decade, it has received increasing numbers of foreign workers. Political narratives around immigration are extremely xenophobic, racist and Islamophobic. Orbán’s Fidesz party has monopolised the issue, sidelining the far right and turning the most anti-migrant political rhetoric in Europe into a highly successful electoral strategy. As such, all parties across the political spectrum are now adopting an anti-migrant rhetoric. Public attitudes towards immigration are broadly negative and yet, our findings show small positive attitudinal shifts, most notably in personal comfort levels with immigrants as friends, neighbours and in professional settings. Given Hungary's lack of independent media and space for alternative voices, as the need for foreign workers grows, we predict that any significant narrative shift on immigration will fall to the private sector. Read this latest research report from Amanda Gray Meral and Claire Kumar here 👉 https://lnkd.in/epndumSD #immigration #Hungary #labourmigraiton ECDPM 🌍, European Think Tanks Group ETTG, EPIM (European Philanthropic Initiative for Migration), IOM Hungary, Dr. Lenka Schillaci Dražanová