The EU

The EU’s support for R2P The EU’s engagement with the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) – a principle agreed by UN members in 2005 to prevent and respond to atrocities – reflects a surprisingly mixed record in some respects. The slow pace and, at times, ambivalence with which the EU has explicitly embraced R2P, in spite […]

This Bank Holiday weekend we have celebrated VE Day – Victory in Europe, and the end at last, in May 1945, of our continent’s most devastating and brutal war. We especially remember those who fought so hard and valiantly to save us from the menacing march of the ferocious Nazi war machine. Yes, we won, […]

What factors shape public attitudes toward the European Union (EU)? Observers of public opinion during the early stages of European integration found a stable ‘permissive consensus’ among citizens that allowed elites to pursue the project without deep public scrutiny. Almost everyone supported integration; there was very little variation to explain. Enlargement, deepening integration, and a […]

This post originally appeared on the UK in a Changing Europe website. The return of Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings to Number 10 has seen a significant ramping-up of the British rhetoric on the negotiations around the future partnership with the EU. That’s not merely meant stronger words about refusing an extension of the talks, […]

by Costanza Marcellino On 26 March the Joint Statement adopted by members of the European Council contained firm demands for a coordinated exit strategy, a comprehensive recovery plan and an unprecedented level of investment. It invited both the Presidents of the European Council and Commission, in consultation with the other institutions, and particularly the European Central Bank […]

Sometimes it takes the extreme and sudden loss of something to fully appreciate its true value. When Home Secretary, Priti Patel, gleefully told her Tory faithful at the party’s annual conference last October that she was going to “end free movement of people once and for all” she could hardly have had any idea just […]

The socio-economic effects of the coronavirus requires a massive and coordinated response from the EU. So far, the EU has not been up to the challenge, argues Marco Dani and Agustín José Menéndez.   The coronavirus pandemic has deepened and radicalised a set of crises that the European Union postponed but did not solve in […]

by Chiara Russo On Friday 17th April 2020, little more than one month after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the European Parliament approved the freeing up of €3.08 billion to support member states’ healthcare systems during this time of crisis. The financing of this action is to come entirely from EU budget. The EP and the Council […]

In the Netherlands, the public underestimates how much Southern Europe has already suffered. And how we benefited ourselves, says Joris Melman, analysing the Dutch stance in the negotiations on the EU’s economic responses to the corona crisis. The Dutch stance in the EU negotiations about the economic response to the corona crisis has sparked criticism […]

Although European financial regulation directly affects citizens as consumers, it is only to a limited extent exposed to public debate. There has also been widespread criticism that European regulators were too close to the financial sector, both before and after the financial crisis. The EU introduced permanent advisory councils, so-called Stakeholder Groups, to include more […]