This European Policy Analysis looks at the balance of powers between the European Parliament and the EU governments in the EU budget negotiations. The next long-term EU budget, covering the years 2014–2020, shows that its content is heavily constrained by how the decision process takes place.
As a consequence of the economic crisis, a series of measures have been undertaken in order to strengthen the economic-political coordination in the EU. This development raises several questions in relation to the Swedish EU membership.
The European economic crisis revived the discussion on future treaty revision. However, stringency of the revision procedure based on unanimity requirement presented an obstacle to fast resolution of complicated problems posed by the crisis.
The global financial crisis has led to a substantial rise in youth unemployment in Europe. Furthermore, young people are today increasingly excluded not only from the labour market, but the education system as well.
National parliaments are often thought of as having lost substantial powers due to European integration. In what way has the rapid decision-making of the EU during the Eurozone crisis affected national parliaments within the Union? In this publication, political scientists Katrin Auel and Oliver Höing present their analysis of activity within the national parliaments of the EU during the Eurozone crisis.
Economic growth has been high on the European agenda for quite a while, with initiatives such as the Europe 2020 strategy and, more recently, the Compact for Growth and Jobs. The initiatives are numerous, but they do not necessarily lead to enhanced growth.
Cyprus assumed the EU presidency in the midst of the economic crisis. The presidency has been a challenging task, not the least since Cyprus itself has been severely hit by the crisis and is subject to austerity measures
Energy has always had a prominent place in the European integration process. And yet, the establishment of an EU energy policy is relatively recent, particularly in its external dimension.
Sweden's capacity to implement EU law in a swift and efficient way has varied through the years. A sizeable amount of the complaints and lawsuits against Sweden are indeed caused by delays and other shortcomings in implementing EU directives and regulations.
In light of volatile and highly uneven distribution of asylum applications across the European Union, the European Commission issued a communication in December 2011 “on enhanced intra-EU solidarity in the field of asylum” that seeks to create “an EU agenda for better responsibility sharing and more mutual trust” between Member States. In this European Policy Analysis the authors argue that even though many of the recommendations made by the Commission should be encouraged, they fail to address the structural, institutional features of the system ‒ namely the distribution key for financial responsibility sharing and the responsibility allocation principle underlying physical responsibility sharing ‒ which are perpetuating existing inequalities.