Studies show that the media report more negatively than positively on the European Union (EU). This ‘negativity bias’ is often used by journalists to attract audiences, but can also reduce public support for the EU. In this study, we explored media coverage of EU Cohesion policy – the largest EU investment policy for reducing economic, […]
On 30 October 2019, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) published its Work Programme for the year 2020, listing all the upcoming priorities, main challenges and key concerns for the EU’s finances. The 2020 Work Programme covers a wide range of areas and related problems the EU is currently facing, among them: the sustainable use of natural resources, migration, […]
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the euro area slowdown was the result of EMU-induced domestic deflation. EU3D researcher Simona Piattoni offers a different reading of Italy’s disappointing economic performance. Since 2011, Italy has been considered the single largest threat to the stability of the euro. Italy’s high and growing debt (€2300 bn, some 135% of […]
The Franco-German Covid-19 recovery plan marks a shift in Germany’s EU policy, but the German public might not be on board, argues EU3D researcher Dirk Leuffen. The European Covid-19 recovery plan jointly proposed by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel on May 18th is widely considered to mark a turning point in Germany’s more recent EU […]
The German Constitutional Court is stuck on an ideological position that prevents it from understanding the substantial difference between the German situation and European integration, argues Sergio Fabbrini and takes a closer look at some of the court’s rulings over the last decades. The judgment on 5 May by the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht or […]
The European Union’s founders learned about, long before democracy became the touchstone for legitimacy. In the words of Jean Monnet, the behind-the-scenes organiser of the treaties, ‘I thought it wrong to consult the peoples of Europe’ since they had no practical experience of diplomatic negotiations and politics (1978: 367). European institutions agreed between national governments […]
The accusation of Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator on Brexit, that the Prime Minister is backsliding on his commitments rests on a false premise: it assumes that Boris Johnson knows his back from his front. In fact, the Prime Minister has slid into a half-circle position that is 180 degrees distant from that of […]