integration

This article argues that the lack of identification with the European Union by its citizens is more due to the lack of democratic practice than its institutional structure. The former is, according to Chantal Mouffe, marked by disputes about...

On 23 June 2016, the British citizens decide about their country’s EU membership. In order to gain a majority in favour of the EU membership the British Prime Minister David Cameron negotiated further opt-outs from EU law for Great Britain, in...

The relations between Switzerland and the European Union have not made substantial progress for years. The hitherto ongoing bilateral process has stalled. Switzerland is asking for further bilateral negotiations, if applicable in a new package of...

This article embeds the EU’s attempts to reform its asylum policy in the context of the refugee crisis in a more longitudinal analysis. It focuses on the question of how the EU has sought to achieve more solidarity between states with high and...

Given the number of challenges the EU faces today the fundamentals of European integration are in danger for the first time in EU history. But let us be clear: the EU is not the problem but the solution to the given problems! Europe is at...

Not the least during the Euro crisis, the European Union has become subject to open public contestation. This politicization creates opposition to European institutions and their policies, but it also raises public awareness about the relevance and...

Disputes between a foreign investor and a host country arising out of governmental meas­ures regarding foreign investments have been resolved by intergovernmental arbitration for several decades. Triggered by TTIP, investor-state dispute settlement...

The creation of the European Stability Mechanism and the Fiscal Compact in 2012 was intended to stabilise the Euro zone permanently. In the public debate, both institutions represent different concepts of the Economic and Monetary Union: On one...

The first year of Jean-Claude Juncker’s presidency of the European Commission has now passed. With reference to the institution’s history, its current political environment and its internal organization, this article provides a preliminary...

Even though the topic of European identity was intensively discussed following the Treaty of Maastricht, it hardly receives attention today. That is not without reason. The European Union faces not just a number of crises, but it is threatened by...

The pre-eminent issue in British European policy since the general elections returned a Conservative majority government in May 2015 is the ‘in-or-out’ referendum on Britain’s European Union membership which will take place before the end of...

Despite the deteriorating relations between Russia and the West during the past years, the author supports a European perspective of Russia. The country is an essential part of European politics, economy and culture. But being an integral part of...