Hollande & GermanyPolitical Union EU & corruption
  • Hollande, the Germans and 'political union'
    Insight by Charles Grant, 25 September 2012
    François Hollande
  • Alice in euroland: What political union for the single currency?
    Insight by Philip Whyte, 09 October 2012
    Alice in euroland: What political union for the single currency?
  • The EU must fight corruption and defend the rule of law
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 14 June 2012
    EU & corruption
  • EU politics after the elections
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 10 June 2009

    EU policies were not the issue that guided most voters in last week’s elections to the European Parliament. The economic crisis and job safety were uppermost in people’s minds.
  • Why the European elections matter
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 29 May 2009

    Between June 4th and June 7th, Europeans will cast their votes to elect a new European Parliament (EP). Recent opinion polls indicate that they will do so without much enthusiasm.
  • Making a success of the EAS
    Insight by Charles Grant, 21 May 2009

    If the Irish people vote yes to the Lisbon treaty at the second attempt, and the Czechs, Germans and Poles also ratify, the EU will set up an ‘external action service’ or EAS. This new institution promises to make the Union’s common foreign and security policy more effective.
  • The French, the European Commission and the Tories
    Insight by Charles Grant, 29 January 2009

    One Frenchman, Jean Monnet, invented the European Commission, and another, Jacques Delors, was its greatest president. Yet the French are increasingly hostile to this Brussels institution.
  • What the summit says about the EU
    Insight by Katinka Barysch, 16 December 2008

    The EU summit on December 10th-11th 2008 was a success in so far as EU leaders managed to agree on all major agenda items. The fact that there was a lot of bitter wrangling and a big dose of compromise was only to be expected against the backdrop of a rapidly worsening European economy.
  • The Irish send out good vibrations on Lisbon
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 08 December 2008

    Ireland’s parliament – the Oireachtas – recently published a lengthy report on where the country’s relationship with the EU stands after the country’s rejection of the Lisbon treaty by referendum.
  • The Commission's economic forecasts are still too complacent
    Insight by Simon Tilford, 07 November 2008

    On the face of it, it appears churlish to accuse the Commission of complacency when it is forecasting no growth in the eurozone economy in 2009 and a deep recession in the UK.
  • How a new Irish government might save Lisbon
    Insight by Hugo Brady, 24 October 2008

    The financial crisis is challenging many of our assumptions about the course of politics and world affairs. Gordon Brown – only weeks ago portrayed as nearing the end of his time as UK prime minister – has been elevated to European, even global leadership status.