The Stability and Growth Pact must be reinforced, have greater automaticity and entail graduated sanctions. Fiscal surveillance must be improved through the establishment of a European Fiscal Stability Agency and the European Financial Stability Facility must be made permanent.
Regardless of whether the global imbalances are seen as a cause, codeterminant or a side-show, the financial crisis has brought back global imbalances on the policy agenda.
In the Lisbon Treaty, the EU committed itself to the creation of a European "social market economy". But the European legislation that would be required to promote this goal still depends on qualified majorities in the Council and will therefore easily be blocked by the veto of member states preferring a "liberal market economy", argues the author of this new analysis within the SIEPS research project Social Europe.
The presumption that undocumented migrants are outside the law is wrong. This is one the conclusions in a new European Policy Analysis, with contributions from six researchers at Lund University.
Circular migration has become a central concept for the future EU migration policy, implying that migrants should be encouraged to move repeatedly between the country of origin and the host country. In this SIEPS report, the author investigates the relevant literature and discusses problems that might arise when forming a migration policy that promotes movement.
During the past months, we have witnessed increasing activity regarding the establishment of a European External Action Service (EEAS) – one of the most emblematic innovations that the Treaty of Lisbon introduces to strengthen the EU external action. While the details of the EEAS organisation and functioning are still under (intense) discussion, this Analysis sheds light on the political and legal contexts in which the EEAS is being set up, and raises some questions as to its possible contribution to the development of a common European diplomacy.
There have been large increases in budget deficits throughout the EU, leading to considerable rises in the stock of public debt as a percentage of GDP. The costs of maintaining high debt levels should not exaggerated.
The current Spanish EU Presidency has faced a number of tough challenges. These include reaching an agreement on an EU strategy for employment and growth (EU 2020), managing the acute financial crisis in Greece and the EU response to the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, argues the author of this mid-term review of the achievements of the Spanish Presidency.
Swedish public opinion on EU Affairs has undergone considerable changes since 1995 and Swedes are gradually becoming more positive to membership. According to the latest survey there is, for the first time since 1995, a majority of Swedes are in favour of membership in the European Union.
The debate about a social Europe has lasted for a long time but led to modest results. The Lisbon Treaty states, for the first time, that the EU is a social market economy.