EU institutions & treaties

European governance and the future of the Commission

European governance and the future of the Commission

Ben Hall
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

The right charter

Ben Hall
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

A new economic model

Alasdair Murray
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

Europe's revolving door

Ben Hall
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.
Bulletin issue 11

Issue 11 - 2000

Charles Grant, Alasdair Murray, Ben Hall
31 March 2000
The treaties need radical reform

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.
Bulletin issue 15

Issue 15 - 2000

Charles Grant, Heather Grabbe, Kirsty Hughes
26 November 1999
Commissioning reform

Commissioning reform

Ben Hall
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.
Bulletin issue 8

Issue 8 - 1999

Charles Grant, Ben Hall, Bernard Hughes, Steven Everts,
24 September 1999
A golden opportunity for reform

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.
Bulletin issue 7

Issue 7 - 1999

Charles Grant, Kitty Ussher, Nina Marenzi, Ben Hall
30 July 1999
Why Europe needs a constitution

Why Europe needs a constitution

Andrew Marr
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 file thumbnail

Issue 6 - 1999

François Heisbourg, Kitty Ussher, Michael Maclay, Andrew Marr
28 May 1999
Europe's emerging political union

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.
Bulletin issue 5

Issue 5 - 1999

Charles Grant, Ben Hall, Steven Everts
26 March 1999
The EU budget: An agenda for reform

The EU budget: An agenda for reform

John Peet, Kitty Ussher
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

Europe's uncertain identity

Gilles Andréani
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

Give on the rebate to gain elsewhere

Kitty Ussher
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.
Bulletin issue 9

Issue 9 - 1999

Charles Grant, Tim Garden, John Roper, Charles Leadbeater
27 November 1998
Transparency is no panacea?

Transparency is no panacea?

Maurice Fraser
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...