This report analyses how far the EU is integrating its energy and climate change policies. The report focuses on identifying possible synergies and trade-offs between the EU’s most recent package of legislative measures to combat climate change and its energy security objectives.

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 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.

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.

This publication is the outcome of a seminar on democracy promotion in a transatlantic perspective organized jointly between the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies and Sweden’s Democracy Ambassador, Maria Leissner on 29 September 2008 in Stockholm. The aim of the publication is to make public the wealth of ideas and experiences that were presented at the seminar which deserves to be brought into the debate about democracy assistance and the possibility of enhanced future transatlantic cooperation.

This article argues that the current EU regulatory system in the field of food safety fails to live up to the objectives it has set for itself. The existing decision-making scheme is based on a classic risk analysis model that relies heavily on scientific risk assessment.

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.

Lars Calmfors discusses how the strength of various arguments for and against a EMU membership has changed over time. From a Swedish utility perspective, there are more arguments for joining today compared to ten years ago.

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.