EU institutions & treaties
European governance and the future of the Commission
05 May 2000
No body has been so central to the development of the European Union as the Commission. It has been the architect and driving force behind the EU's greatest achievements, from the single market to the single currency.
The right charter
03 April 2000
The rise of Austria's far-right freedom party has stirred a debate about the EU's commitment to human rights. The EU treaties say that the Union shall, in principle, respect the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
A new economic model
03 April 2000
Slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, the EU is beginning to embrace economic reform. For years America's equity-orientated, shareholder-value-driven economic model appeared anathema to much of the continent.
Europe's revolving door
03 April 2000
The rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers is one of many issues not on the agenda of this year's inter- governmental conference. But the EU's forthcoming enlargement will gravely weaken the presidency.
Issue 11 - 2000
31 March 2000
- A new economic model, Alasdair Murray
- Europe's revolving door, Ben Hall
- The right charter, Ben Hall
- Europe and missile defence, Charles Grant
The treaties need radical reform
01 December 1999
Inter-governmental conferences (IGCs) are insufferably tedious and complex affairs. Each drawn-out negotiation helps to reinforce the popular impression that the EU is irrelevant to ordinary peoples' lives.
Issue 15 - 2000
26 November 1999
- Set a date for enlargement now, Heather Grabbe
- The unholiest of alliances, Charles Grant
- The "open method of co-ordination": Innovation or talking shop?, Kirsty Hughes
Commissioning reform
01 October 1999
For most ordinary members of the public the European Commission is the European Union. The fall of the Santer Commission amidst allegations of corruption and mismanagement plunged the EU into crisis.
Issue 8 - 1999
24 September 1999
- Commissioning reform, Ben Hall
- Britain in Europe , Charles Grant
- Don't forget the shopkeepers, Bernard Hughes
- The case for "Mr Euroland", Steven Everts
A golden opportunity for reform
02 August 1999
It is easy to forget that the Eurosceptical mood of many EU countries is a recent phenomenon. In the late 1980s, when the EU's prime task was the creation of a single market, its popularity grew in every member-state.
Issue 7 - 1999
30 July 1999
- A golden opportunity for reform, Charles Grant
- Entrepreneurial Europe, Kitty Ussher
- Needed: An EU energy tax, Nina Marenzi
- A single market in crime, Ben Hall
Why Europe needs a constitution
01 June 1999
Europe cannot survive as a political entity without being a working democracy. Here are three simple propositions about how it can become one. The first is that nothing which is too complicated for the ordinary voter to understand can ever be democratic.
Issue 6 - 1999
28 May 1999
- The EU needs defence convergence criteria, François Heisbourg
- A mandate for convergence, Kitty Ussher
- What next for Kosovo?, Michael Maclay
- Why Europe needs a constitution, Andrew Marr
Europe's emerging political union
01 April 1999
As many Darwinians believe that evolution has progressed not steadily, but through occasional, sudden spurts. The European Union may be evolving in a similar way.
Issue 5 - 1999
26 March 1999
- Europe's emerging political union, Charles Grant
- The danger of centralisation, Ben Hall
- Europe's wake up call, Steven Everts
The EU budget: An agenda for reform
05 February 1999
The nastiest arguments in the European Union, as in any family, are the ones about money. Communautaire sentiment soon evaporates when prime ministers start to haggle over the budget.
Europe's uncertain identity
05 February 1999
The launch of the euro is a success of historic proportions. It is also the ultimate vindication of the method first sketched out nearly fifty years ago in the Schuman memorandum.
Give on the rebate to gain elsewhere
01 February 1999
At their special summit in March, EU leaders are due to settle the Union's finances for the next seven years. The British government is adamant: the budget rebate won by Mrs Thatcher in 1984 is not up for negotiation.
Issue 9 - 1999
27 November 1998
- The treaties need radical reform, Charles Grant
- Pooling forces, Tim Garden, John Roper
- Transatlantic tensions, Charles Grant
- Europe's new economy, Charles Leadbeater, Kitty Ussher
Transparency is no panacea?
01 October 1998
We all want openness and accountability, but let's be clear that they don't guarantee the most effective method of Government. Several of the objectives we set for the European Union - an efficient single market; a single currency which commands public confidence and proves a reliable store of value; a...