On the path towards the UK’s upcoming in-out referendum, the UK faces three dilemmas: first, they seek shallower integration at a time when their peers want to deepen it; second, the antagonism to deepening may obstruct what is considered to be necessary changes for the EU and the Eurozone to function effectively; and third, the UK’s demands may spur similar initiatives from other member states who are discontent with aspects of their membership. The author of this European Policy Analysis warns that too far-reaching demands may cause other members to conclude they are better off without the UK.
The European Union has no direct competence in the field of housing policy, at least not as it is conventionally defined. Housing issues have however become increasingly important across the Union, especially since the global financial crisis.
The Lisbon Treaty clearly expresses that the EU should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). Nonetheless, the Court of Justice ruled, quite unexpectedly, in December 2014, that the draft agreement on the accession is not compatible with EU law.
The big regional trade agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, could significantly affect the world trading system. How and to what extent will these agreements generate gains from trade and reduce transatlantic trade costs? And what will they mean for third parties? This policy brief reviews some of the recent analyses and discusses how the TTIP could usefully draw on the experience in the World Trade Organization, WTO, to enhance transparency, and the scope for third parties to raise issues related to regulatory barriers to trade.
There has been a fall in investments in several EU member states and the need to revive economic growth is often highlighted. Therefore, the European Commission has presented a plan for 315 billion euro of new investment.
Expanding international exchange generates new collective needs that the nation states cannot satisfy, but also new sources of revenue from the digital economy and from the struggle against fiscal evasion. In this analysis, the author argues that to fund the provision of European collective goods, the EU must identify and pursue mobile tax bases that are not within the reach of the individual member states.
Two years ago Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to renegotiate the United Kingdom’s EU membership and then hold a referendum if reelected. The date of the election, 7 May, is approaching and the question of who will win the election and what that will mean for the relationship to the EU is of interest to many Europeans.
The euro crisis has left no EU member state unaffected. European cooperation and solidarity has for many years been put to the test in a way which has no parallel in the post-war period.
Sexual orientation and gender identity have been more and more identified as grounds of discrimination in European as well as in national legislation. Today, the situation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer persons in the EU is considered a human rights concern.
EU enlargement into Central and Eastern Europe intensifies debates mired in the past. A forgotten source is the earlier stability strategy by Western powers: the shift to homogeneous nation-states and ethnic unmixing.