Last time the EU agreed on its seven-year budget was in December 2005, at a summit hosted at the time by the UK Presidency, under Tony Blair. Reading back into our archives, it is surprising how relevant the debates have remained today. Based on the 2005 experience, we could also risk making one prediction: The [...]

Guest post by Andy Langenkamp, political analyst for ECR Research and Interest & Currency Consultants. Unemployment in the eurozone is at historic highs. Economic growth data are equally depressing while confidence is low among producers and consumers. In short, the stock market rallies of recent months are premature. The European “patient” will not get better [...]

Guest post by Dan Luca & Nienke van Leeuwaarden. An interesting approach is taken by Stefan Lehne, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, about the European External Action Service (EEAS). The big paradox seems to be that since the EEAS has become active – European foreign policy is less visible and effective than before its existence. [...]

Guest post by Katheryn Rivas Copenhagen has been bustling and buzzing this past week with formal induction ceremonies as Denmark for the seventh time takes the helm of the EU. The Danish government has put concentrated most of their six-month rotating presidency agenda this term in what they call “green growth” — even the Danish [...]

Guest post by Fitch F. RICH, Croatian Blogger- Blog: Croatia Calling After parliamentary elections which haven’t really changed anything despite the defeat of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the time has come for us to decide whether we would like to be a part of (Dis)United Europe. The breaking news is that the referendum on our [...]

The heat is on in the debate on Europe. Across different member states, the intensity and type of manifestations varies substantially. In the UK, MEPs even decided to dress up as chickens. This to protest against the European Parliament ‘disallowing a popular vote’ on the Lisbon Treaty. But could the chickens not be ostriches in [...]

As John Doe scooped here a couple of days ago, the heads of state and government will be signing a Globalisation Declaration’ at the end of this week along with the Reform Treaty. This chimes with the report released by the Commission today, as reported on EurActiv.com (my emphases): EurActiv.com – Commission hails EU reform progress, [...]

The EU is determined to ensure that globalisation is a source of opportunity rather than a threat, a declaration to be signed at the end of the week by heads of state and government states. Read the document here (500 kB pdf): eu-declaration-on-globalisation.pdf The two-page document explaining what the Lisbon Reform Treaty – and at [...]

A few days before the signature of the Lisbon Treaty, participants of the Plan D Citizen’s Project have called for a more social Europe that takes a more consistent approach to migration issues, teaches democracy and citizenship in schools and fosters diversity while it recognises common European values. In an Open letter to the EU [...]