Latest Blog Posts

By Claudia Hillebrand Since March 2010, the first meetings of the somewhat mysterious Standing Committee on operational cooperation on internal security (COSI) have taken place. This body, set up within the Council by a Council decision of 25 February 2010, is a crucial product of the changing EU working structures concerning matters of Justice and […]

I cannot help feeling that it is not only Angela Merkel, the Greek state, and Eurostat who have plenty of egg on their faces after the events of the last year. But also European Studies as a discipline with public responsibility has some hard questions to answer about why it has on the whole failed […]

By Claudia Hillebrand On Monday night, a contested transatlantic counter-terrorism agreement jumped another hurdle. In an extraordinary meeting in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE Committee) accepted a recommendation suggesting that the plenum of the European Parliament (EP) should approve the revised EU-US Agreement on SWIFT bank data […]

By Scott James Now that the sense of anti-climax surrounding the appointment of Herman van Rompuy as the new President of the European Council has subsided, it is worthwhile casting a critical eye over the likely role and powers of the new permanent president. Putting contingent factors (such as personality and leadership style) to one […]

What the hell do we need embassies between EU member states for today? You can hear this question from finance ministers and ordinary citizens alike. Clearly, the role of bilateral embassies between EU member states has been affected by European integration and the global technological revolution. Internet resources, secure e-mail and video-conferencing have enabled instant […]