Samenvatting

The geopolitical situation has changed dramatically over the past six months. After the Russian Federation brutally
invaded its neighbor Ukraine, the EU has, for the first time in its history, announced drastic sanctions in several steps.
The Atlantic cooperation within NATO has improved significantly, despite the French President, Emmanuel Macron,
having declared the alliance brain-dead in 2017. In fact, almost all NATO member states have indicated that they will
pursue the agreed 2 percent standard soon, whereas for years this was a point of discussion within NATO. Sweden and
Finland are in their final stages of joining NATO, which would expand the alliance to 32 member states. And on June
23 Ukraine and Moldova were granted EU candidate status.