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.
The EU budget review will enter a new phase this autumn when the European Commission presents its long-awaited proposals for budget reform. At this seminar SIEPS will publish a new report, How to Reform the EU Budget? A Methodological Toolkit, in which EU spending is examined in detail.
The current European Policy Analysis focuses on legal and institutional issues relating to the financial crisis from an EU perspective. The text contains a brief assessment of some elements of the plan agreed at the London Summit of the so called G20 and a discussion on the possible impact of the financial crisis on the future development of the EU.
The EU is about to adopt a comprehensive strategy for the Baltic Sea region. While intuitively attractive, the idea of the strategy nonetheless gives rise to a set of critical questions.
The outcome of the European Parliament elections made majorities uncertain. The first sessions in July ended with a comprehensive deal by the three main party groups concerning important posts.