Mapping the European Negotiation Landscape: Insights from the 2025 European Negotiation Conference

Abstract

This paper examines how geopolitical disruption is reshaping the European negotiation landscape. Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pressure on the rules-based international order, and growing political polarisation, it explores how practitioners perceive current changes in Europe and the European Union. The study draws on 19 semi-structured expert interviews conducted at the 2025 European Negotiation Conference with practitioners, researchers, and educators. Using abductive qualitative content analysis, it focuses on two interconnected levels: macro-level geopolitical and normative shifts, and meso-level institutional and organisational dynamics. The findings indicate that the EU’s normative and value-based framework remains a strategic asset in an increasingly transactional and authoritarian environment, supporting its position as a credible long-term partner. Yet this advantage depends on internal consistency: gaps between proclaimed norms and operational outcomes weaken credibility, trust, and bargaining power. The analysis also shows that the EU’s consensus-oriented, multi-level governance architecture generates legitimacy but, under crisis-driven time pressure, often produces delay and incrementalism.