In the last three years I have visited Warsaw regularly. It is interesting to follow the evolution of this country and its connection to the mechanism of the European Union. In Poland, the leaders of the institutions, corporations, unions, media, NGOs and think-tanks are concerned and discuss topics such as the euro in 2016, the [...]

Vital in any campaign, a political party cannot exist without its activists. It is necessary that the majority of the party members (the activists) understand the importance of each campaign – whether the elections are local, regional, national or European. They want to and need to be involved, as well as to be treated with [...]

For already more than 20 years Romania has adopted the European way – there is no doubt about that. The declaration signed on June 21 1995 at Snagov by representatives of all political parties at that time in Romania, clearly expressed its intention to support European integration. It was a huge step on the road [...]

By Jana Hainsworth At least the EU institutions have understood the urgency of the issue: child poverty is rising and we need to invest now to avoid long-term social and economic decline. Today one in four children in the EU is at risk of poverty or already experiencing it. That equals 25.3 million children. The [...]

Although the European elections will only take place in more than a year’s time, in May 2014, the subject already deserves attention now. Today’s exercise aims to present a possible but undesirable scenario. The financial crises we’ve lived with for the last 5 years have an impact on our European construction too. It appears that [...]

Over the next three years we will witness an intense debate about the future of the EU, which could probably result in an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in 2015, in preparation for a new EU treaty. How Member States position themselves is crucial to this debate. 2013 is a year of thinking in terms of how [...]

According to a publication, recently released by the European Commission, Romania ranks 3 on the list of energy independent countries among the 27 states, after Denmark and Estonia. This performance was achieved as the country only imports 21% of the energy it consumes, while the EU average reaches somewhere around 53%. “From a strategic perspective, [...]

Romania is one of the 25 EU member states that decided to sign the Fiscal Treaty. But where is Romania placed in the debate about the future of the European institutions and the European Union in general? What will it mean for Romania, as an EU member state, when a new EU treaty is negotiated? [...]

By Guntram B. Wolff, for Bruegel. The Big Mac Index offers some quick insights into the state of currencies around the globe by comparing the price of Big Macs across countries. Of course, the Big Mac index was never intended as a precise gauge of currency misalignment, as the Economist has just reminded us in [...]

The Romanian government has called issues of regional elections and decentralization in Romania into question, especially the issue of better absorption of EU funds. Let’s remember that a few years ago, when discussing options on how to choose the MEPs in Romania, Vasile Puscas even proposed regional constituencies elections. Views of politicians and experts are [...]