EU legitimacyEU's Rubik's cubeGermany & the EU
  • Can national parliaments make the EU more legitimate?
    Insight by Charles Grant, 10 June 2013
    Can national parliaments make the EU more legitimate?
  • The EU's Rubik's cube: Who will lead after 2014?
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 03 April 2013
    The EU's Rubik's cube: Who will lead after 2014?
  • Germany’s plans for treaty change – and what they mean for Britain
    Insight by Charles Grant, 28 March 2013
    Germany & Treaty change
  • What future for federalism?
    Essay by Gilles Andréani, 06 September 2002

    In the Convention and elsewhere, Europe is once again debating its institutional framework. Gilles Andréani, in this essay provides a valuable contribution to this debate by analysing the steady rise of 'inter-governmentalism' over the last decade.
  • EU enlargement depends on Ireland
    Briefing note by Daniel Keohane, 06 September 2002

    On October 19th the Irish government will hold a second referendum on the Nice treaty. Irish voters – the only people who have been asked to vote on that treaty – voted 'No' to it in June 2001. The purpose of the treaty, agreed in December 2000, is to change the EU’s institutions so that it can cope with up to 12 new members.
  • A 'competence catalogue' is code for protectionism
    Bulletin article by Ulrike Guérot, 03 June 2002

    The European Convention is now in full swing, working on reform options to ensure the EU works better after enlargement. Among the many issues the Convention intends to explore is the question of how better to define the division of 'competences' the right to exercise power between the various levels of government across the EU.

  • Europe's future is in Ireland's hands
    Bulletin article by Daniel Keohane, 03 June 2002

    This autumn the newly elected Irish government faces the major challenge of holding a referendum on the Nice treaty. The point of that document, agreed in December 2000, is to change the EU's institutions so that it can cope with up to 12 new members.
  • Restoring leadership to the European council
    Bulletin article by Charles Grant, 01 April 2002

    Everybody knows the European Commission is in bad need of reform. The problems in the European Council - the regular summits of heads of government - and the Council of Ministers are less widely known but just as serious, and they contribute to Europe's lack of leadership.
  • Preparing the EU for 2004
    Policy brief by Heather Grabbe, 07 December 2001

    The debate about the future of Europe is supposed to consider how the Union will function after enlargement. In practice, the agenda set at Laeken addresses longstanding institutional problems, but does not pay sufficient attention to the qualitative changes that enlargement will bring.

  • Workers are entitled to consultation
    Bulletin article by John Monks, 01 June 2001

    In the last issue of the CER Bulletin, James Wilson argued against the European Commission's proposal for a directive on employee information and consultation. Sadly, in order to do so, he resorted to many of the crude misrepresentations which are common currency among business opponents of the initiative.
  • An EU senate is superfluous
    Bulletin article by Richard Corbett, 02 April 2001

    The idea that the EU should create a second chamber for the European Parliament, composed of representatives from national parliaments, is a perennial favourite of member-state governments.