Despite ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, renewable energy use and energy efficiency, the EU was unable to play a central role in last year´s climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Lack of internal coordination was one reason, the EU budget not being adapted to the climate goals another.
There have been large increases in budget deficits throughout the EU, leading to considerable rises in the stock of public debt as a percentage of GDP. The costs of maintaining high debt levels should not exaggerated.
The economic and financial crisis was one of the most important issues handled during the Swedish EU presidency. The outcome, preceded by at times difficult negotiations, was a political decision concerning a new framework for supervision of the financial market in the EU.
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.
The new U.S. administration inherited a formidable set of international challenges including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the prospect of a nuclear Iran and a resurgent Russia. Moreover, a deep economic crisis has radically changed the preconditions for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy and the international status of the USA during the previous president reached unprecedented low levels.
The intention of the ongoing review of the EU budget is to create a budget that is better adapted at facing future challenges. At the same time it raises fundamental questions about what the EU is and should do.
The external dimension of the European Union’s policy on migration and asylum has become an increasingly important feature of the Union’s relations with third countries. It is shaped not only by the foreign policy interests of the member states but also by changes in internal politics of the member states.
National courts are Community courts and as such they should do everything needed to make sure that the preliminary rulings procedure functions as efficiently as possible. The effectiveness of this system is obviously based on a healthy dialogue (discourse) between the two main protagonists: the Court of Justice and the national court.
The latest poll of the Swedish public opinion regarding the EU shows that the levels of support are at an all-time high since the membership in 1995. There is now almost a majority supporting the EU.
The Czech Presidency of 2009 inherited a fully charged agenda after France. Three severe external crises confronted the Czech government as it took over at the helm of the EU: the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia; renewed hostilities in the Gaza Strip; and the deepest global economic crisis since the Great Depression.