The European Commission recently launched a discussion on the architecture of direct payments, with a view to rethinking the philosophy of agricultural regulation within the EU. The debate has been pursued under the Swedish EU Presidency.
In order to better understand the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, SIEPS invited a number of experts on the European Union from different member states. They were asked to write short analytical texts on how the Presidency has succeeded in relation to expectations and ambitions.
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. The basic purpose is to utilise international labour mobility to make both countries’ economies more efficient.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) was launched in May this year as a strengthened policy framework between the European Union and six countries in Eastern Europe and southern Caucasus. The overall aim of the partnership is to ensure stability and prosperity in a region that is characterized by stalled socio-economic and democratic reforms as well as ethnic tension and even armed conflict.
The automotive industry has been hit hard by the global economic crisis and governmental financial support and rescue packages have been launched in different countries. This European Policy Analysis by Rikard Forslid discusses the economic arguments for governmental support of the car industry.
This European Policy Analysis tests the common proposition that flexible integration imposes significant costs on those member states that opt out of further integration within specific policy fields. The analysis presents data on network capital in the working groups and committees of the Council of the EU which indicate that the Euro-outsiders are in fact doing well in the informal networking in the Council.
In the wake of the economic and financial crisis, a Swedish membership to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has returned to the domestic political agenda. Although the issue has been politically dead since the referendum on the euro in 2003, public opinion in support of EMU has increased the past year as the Swedish krona has continued to depreciate.
The common currency, the euro, and the common monetary policy were introduced in the EU in 1999 to improve the internal market, under the slogan “One Market, One Money”. It was expected that the common currency would promote more trade and investment between the countries that joined the European currency union.
The extent to which low-wage trade competition in the service sector with posted workers should be allowed in the EU has been a hot issue recently. In Sweden, the so-called Vaxholm conflict has become the symbol for this debate.
Despite substantial changes since its inception the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) remains the most extensive common policy, accounting for almost half of the EU’s budget and almost half of the legislation. The CAP was a decisive component of European integration in the past; but what role should it play in the future? This European Policy Analysis aims at providing a vision for the CAP after 2013.