EU institutions & treaties

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Global challenges will drive European reform

Global challenges will drive European reform

Nick Butler
02 October 2006
When the first CER bulletin was published, almost a decade ago, the emphasis was firmly on the word ‘reform’. The EU had fulfilled its original purpose. Western Europe was an area of security, peace and, in the main, prosperity.
Towards an environmental union

Towards an environmental union

David Miliband
02 October 2006
When I was involved in the creation of CER in 1994 I hoped it would become an important source of ideas and debate about the future of Europe.
Democracy in Europe

Democracy in Europe: How the EU can survive in an age of referendums

Mark Leonard was director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform (2005-2007).
05 May 2006
The European Union has never been loved, but for most of the last 50 years it has been accepted. Voters thought that as long as it made them richer and safer they were happy to leave the precise details of treaties to bureaucrats and politicians.
Services

What future for free trade in services?

Simon Tilford
03 April 2006
The controversy that has engulfed the Commission’s draft services directive is hardly surprising: the establishment of a single EU market in services was always going to generate more opposition than the liberalisation of trade in goods.
New budget, old dilemmas

New budget, old dilemmas

Iain Begg
22 February 2006
After months of fierce haggling, the UK government managed to broker a deal on the EU's new budget at the Union's summit in December 2005.
EU 2010: A programme for reform

EU 2010: A programme for reform

Charles Grant, Hugo Brady, Katinka Barysch, Simon Tilford, Daniel Keohane, Mark Leonard, Aurore Wanlin
03 February 2006
The European Union is suffering from a profound malaise. There have been difficult times in the past – such as the 'empty chair' left by General de Gaulle in the mid-1960s, the rows over the British budget contribution in the early 1980s, and the struggles to ratify the Maastricht treaty...
The Austrian EU presidency and the future of the constitutional treaty

The Austrian EU presidency and the future of the constitutional treaty

Katinka Barysch
24 January 2006
Austrians heaved a sigh of relief when the UK presidency brokered a last-minute deal on the EU budget in December 2005. The Austrian government hoped that the agreement would free its hands to focus on more rewarding issues during its presidency.
Why Europe deserves a better farm policy

Why Europe deserves a better farm policy

Jack Thurston
01 December 2005
The prospects for radical CAP reform look bleak. At the time of writing (December 2005) neither the arguments over the EU budget nor pressure from major farm exporters at the world trade negotiations look likely to force the EU to reform.
A 'smart growth' strategy for sustainable development

A 'smart growth' strategy for sustainable development

Iain Begg
01 November 2005
Amid the insults and recriminations which followed the collapse of the EU budget negotiations last June, few people noticed that EU leaders succeeded in reaching agreement on a new sustainable development strategy.
CAP reform can reshape the EU budget

CAP reform can reshape the EU budget

Lord Haskins
03 October 2005
France and Britain appear irreconcilably divided over the future of the EU budget. But the arguments posed by both countries in support of their contrasting positions are flawed.
The EU budget: A way forward

The EU budget: A way forward

John Peet is Europe editor of The Economist.
01 September 2005
Many of the bitterest arguments in the European Union have been about money. That is partly because the budget is inherently a zero-sum game: more for one country means less for others.
Europe’s social dilemma

Europe’s social dilemma

Alasdair Murray
01 August 2005
Of all the items on the agenda of the British EU presidency, perhaps the least expected is a debate on ‘social Europe’. Tired of being crudely caricatured as ‘neoliberal’, Tony Blair has invited EU leaders to an informal summit in October to discuss the future of Europe’s social model.
A bad European dream

A bad European dream

Daniel Keohane
01 August 2005
On a grey Thursday morning in June 2006, Lee Barker, a 29-year-old Midlands businessman, was packing his bags to go to Germany.
Liberal versus social Europe

Liberal versus social Europe

Katinka Barysch
01 August 2005
Europe is in the grip of a fundamental debate about its economic future, or at least that is what some politicians and many journalists would have us believe.
Bulletin issue 43

Issue 43 - 2005

Katinka Barysch, Daniel Keohane, Alasdair Murray
29 July 2005
When the dust settles

When the dust settles

Alasdair Murray
03 June 2005
The French and Dutch rejections of the constitutional treaty throw into stark relief the divisions between two groups of EU countries. On one side are countries - including Britain, Ireland, the Nordic three plus the majority of the new member-states - who (crudely put) favour a more economically liberal and diverse European Union.
Europe beyond the referendums file thumbnail

Europe beyond the referendums

01 June 2005
The French and Dutch have not only stopped the passage of the constitutional treaty, but also, quite probably, the wave of European integration that began 20 years ago with Jacques Delors, the single market and the Single European Act.
The June European Council: Fear and loathing in Brussels?

The June European Council: Fear and loathing in Brussels?

Hugo Brady
01 June 2005
The French and Dutch No votes on the EU constitutional treaty have rocked Europe's political establishment. The EU's heads of government will debate the future of the document at their summit – and the equally fractious issue of the EU's budget – in Brussels on 16 June 2005.
Bulletin issue 42

Issue 42 - 2005

Charles Grant, Digby Jones, Alasdair Murray
27 May 2005