Due to the financial crises in several EU member states, the EU has constructed a scoreboard of economic indicators to be used as an early warning system; future financial crises must be revealed at an earlier stage. The new scoreboard follows a ‘one size fits all’ approach, but research shows that country specifics makes early warning systems more accurate if they allow for different thresholds.

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.

Differences between capital exporting and capital importing countries are decreasing, which may facilitate an agreement on international investment rules. This has been an aim of EU policy for some time.

There have been several attempts to assess the economic impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, both at the EU-wide level and for some of the EU countries. However, these studies do not pay any attention to the potential impact of the TTIP on the EU regions.

The prospect of inclusion of the investment-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), gave rise to heated debate and strong criticism in many EU countries. The initially much polarised either-or discussion has recently gained a more nuanced tone with Trade Commissioner’s Cecilia Malmström’s opening up for a reform of ISDS.

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.

Russia is the largest non-EU country with borders to several EU countries; a very significant supplier of energy to the EU; and an important destination for exports from the EU. The Russian economy is now facing serious challenges as a result of falling oil prices, sanctions and several years without reform.

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.