In recent years, the European Court of Justice has strengthened the rule of law as a binding value within the EU. This change is the result of several landmark rulings in the period 2018 to 2021, which should be seen in the context of the decline of the rule of law in some Member States. Professors Laurent Pech and Dimitry Kochenov unveil a profound change of the EU as a constitutional system.
Is there sufficient political accountability in the EU’s multilevel governance system? Are the public and their representatives able and willing to have decision-makers answer for their decisions? In this report Professor of Public Policy Yannis Papadopoulos examines the mechanisms of horizontal and vertical accountability vis-à-vis the EU institutions and assesses their effectiveness.
In response to rising antisemitism the European Commission has presented the first EU Strategy on Combatting Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life. Ned Hercock, Research Assistant at SIEPS, reads between the lines of the strategy and considers its historical and political context.
The European Green Deal could accelerate convergence between newer and older member states. But if its implementation is badly managed, argues Julian Popov of the European Climate Foundation, it will instead widen the economic and social gap between East and West.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most EU Member States found themselves obliged to derogate from certain civil and political rights. Even though these derogations differed in both style and extent, they have had implications for the democratic systems in the Member States. But what are the implications of these derogations for the EU legal system? Valeriia Varfolomieieva, Research Assistant in law at SIEPS, raises this issue by analyzing the European and EU legal framework for human rights derogations.
The concept of strategic autonomy has been a frequent topic in the EU in recent years. The continuous management of political crisis has expanded the discussion beyond security and defence. How do the Nordic countries relate to this pursuit of sovereignty and capacity to act? This anthology explains and analyses how Denmark, Finland and Sweden view strategic autonomy, what similarities and differences exist between the countries' attitudes and how they view their and the EU's role in a polarized world.
In this policy overview Katarina Engberg, senior advisor at SIEPS, investigates the likelihood that a European Defence Union will be created by 2025, the proclaimed goal of the European Commission. The overview combines an inventory of current and evolving elements of the EU’s defence policy with a framework for understanding the drivers behind a potential European Defence Union.
With growing global competition and less respect for the rules-based world order, the EU’s lack of an industrial policy has become problematic. This mismatch calls for explicit EU competences in order to strengthen the competitiveness of European companies globally, writes Jörgen Hettne, Associate Professor in EU Law.
China’s economic development and global impact are tilting the economic, political and military balances that have shaped the world since the end of the cold war. One fundamental step in China’s global strategy is the infrastructure project BRI. In this report, Svante E. Cornell and Niklas Swanström analyse its impact on the EU’s neighbourhood as well as on the European project.
The banking union was created to protect public finances against failing banks. Membership is mandatory for euro countries and voluntary for others. Outside of the euro area, the legal acts on supervision must however be implemented through national decisions. This and other legal differences are analysed by Dominique Ritleng, Professor of European Law.