integration

The relationship between the European Union and Russia has reached a new low in the course of the ongoing Ukraine crisis. The question of how Europe should behave in this crisis vis-à-vis Russia is still under debate between politicians and...

The article raises the questions whether the European Union can - according to its own claim - profile itself as a liberalising force in the WTO, and if the Union can enforce its specific interests in the WTO agenda setting. Special focus is put on...

The deep crisis in the euro zone influenced the recent reform of European cohesion policy for the funding period 2014-2020. The policy has to obey the constraints of tight budgets. The Commission reacted to this challenge by implementing new...

Although EU enlargement policy is of utmost strategic importance for the European Union, it is not being shown the necessary attentiveness by the European public, which has its eyes set on internal crises. This has created the impression amongst the...

The office of the High Representative was created in order to increase the visibility and the coherence of EU external relations. Based on foreign policy statements, this article analyses to what extent the first High Representative after the Lisbon...

Greece elected a new government on January 25, 2015, led by SYRIZA, a radical leftist party, which formed a coalition with ANEL, a populist rightist party. SYRIZA had promised during the election campaign that it will offer the Greeks, who have been...

With the European Central Asia Strategy of 2007, the EU’s relations with the region have experienced a dynamic development. This applies to both the trade and the increase in development aid, as well as to contractual relations, sectoral...

Following a short overview of the main elements of Banking Union, this article analyses the positions of Germany, France and the EU institutions with regard to the negotiations on two of the most important elements agreed: the Single Supervisory...

The Lisbon Treaty introduced a small but significant change to the appointment procedure of the European Commission President, namely the requirement for the candidate proposed by the European Council to be elected by the European Parliament. Even...

At present the European Union is in the process of negotiating a series of Free Trade Agreements with the USA (TTIP), with Canada (CETA) as well as with 22 other WTO States (TISA) - all of which contain Investor-to-state dispute settlements (ISDS)....

Productivity growth in Europe has trailed other leading economies since the 1990s, undermining the ability of European firms to compete in the global marketplace. Competitiveness depends on the capacity of firms to drive and adapt to change through...