“These values are not idealistic”: can the EU still defend its principles? | Dr Berit Ebert

In this episode of The Intelligence Spotlight, Qais Alamdar speaks with Dr Berit Ebert, a political scientist and academic specialising in European Union law, with a particular focus on gender equality, democracy, and the rule of law. Dr Ebert is a faculty member at Bard College Berlin, a liberal arts university in Berlin, where she also serves as Director of Public Programs and Strategic Initiatives. Together, they discuss the European Union’s core values, the pressures facing democracy across Europe, the rule of law, migration, political polarisation, information warfare, and the limits of EU foreign policy in moments of international crisis. From Hungary and Poland to wider questions of trust, rights, and institutional resilience, this episode examines whether the EU can still defend its foundational principles in practice, not just on paper.