Research
Britain, Ireland and Schengen: Time for a smarter bargain on visas
28 July 2011
Travellers to the Schengen area – the EU's passport-free travel zone – can move freely between most EU countries but need separate visas for Britain and Ireland, which maintain their own border controls.
Bulletin Issue 79 - 2011
22 July 2011
- Was the euro summit a game changer?, Philip Whyte
- Europe's date with destiny, Hugo Brady
- Britain draws the wrong lessons from Libya, Clara Marina O'Donnell
Marine Le Pen and the rise of populism
20 July 2011
Marine Le Pen's anti-EU populism resonates in much of northern Europe. Debating the CER's director, Charles Grant, she claimed she was neither left nor right.
Repowering communities: Small-scale solutions to large-scale energy problems Energy policy is at a crossroads
11 July 2011
Attempts to meet targets for carbon emissions, energy security and affordable energy for vulnerable households are all on a trajectory to failure.
The new EU budget: A missed opportunity
11 July 2011
The Commission's proposals for the EU's 2014-2020 budgets are a missed opportunity, representing no substantial change. Spending on agriculture should be greatly reduced, that on cohesion re-focused and that on climate greatly increased.
Innovation: How Europe can take off
08 July 2011
Every EU government supports innovation, believing that it will help Europe to meet the numerous economic, social and environmental challenges that it faces.
Germany's brief moment in the sun
27 June 2011
Four years ago, Germany was widely seen as the sick man of Europe, beset by weak economic growth, a fast-ageing population and a pervasive sense of angst about the future.
Financial regulation: Britain the perennial outlier?
20 June 2011
Back in 2007, when the Labour government had abolished the business cycle and the City of London was booming, British policy-makers liked to vaunt the merits of ‘light touch’ regulation.
Thorium: How to save Europe's nuclear revival
15 June 2011
The EU should continue to support nuclear power. Existing technologies should generally be used. But thorium liquid fuel reactors – which cannot melt down – should be an exception.
Carbon capture and storage: EU advancing, but not fast enough
03 June 2011
TGAE report
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an essential low-carbon bridge technology, to be used in the several decades it will take before Europe can be totally reliant on renewable energy.
Trio leadership: The need to liberalise the European defence market
03 June 2011
TGAE report
Over the last year, renewed defence spending cuts in many EU member-states have increased the need for closer EU defence co-operation. European governments have long acknowledged that significant savings could be gained through more common procurement in defence, joint logistics and common ownership of the most expensive military capabilities. In...
EU ministers tackle defence austerity
01 June 2011
How do you do more with less? The EU defence ministers agreed last week that the way to limit the impact of the economic crisis on their defence budgets lies in more co-operation.
Eurozone debt crisis: To restructure or not?
01 June 2011
In March, European leaders agreed a 'grand bargain' that was designed to restore flagging confidence in the eurozone. The deal, they hoped, would return the most troubled countries – Greece, Ireland and Portugal – to debt sustainability and prevent catastrophic contagion to other, larger economies such as Italy and Spain.
The politics of European justice
01 June 2011
The EU's least understood institution is its Court of Justice, which is seated in a stockade-like building in Luxembourg. For over half a century, judges there have quietly adjudicated, mainly between European governments, institutions and businesses.
Palestinian reconciliation is an opportunity for peace
01 June 2011
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict risks deteriorating further amidst the upheaval in the Arab world and Palestinian efforts to gain recognition at the UN. But one glimmer of hope has emerged.
Issue 78 - 2011
27 May 2011
- Eurozone debt crisis: To restructure or not?, Philip Whyte
- The politics of European justice, Hugo Brady
- Palestinian reconciliation is an opportunity for peace, Clara Marina O'Donnell
Financial regulation: Will British euroscepticism collide with European populism?
21 May 2011
When EU finance ministers met in Brussels on 18 May, many observers expected sparks to fly. The reason? This was the first EU meeting that Britain’s newly-elected government would attend.
Press freedom – the new accession criterion?
16 May 2011
Countries that want to join the EU need to show that their democracies work well. However, press freedom – a key ingredient of any pluralist democracy – is under threat in most of the countries that are now queuing for accession.
Debt restructuring will not end the euro crisis
09 May 2011
Even as the ink is still drying on Portugal’s EU/IMF ‘bail-out’ agreement, it is becoming clear that Greece’s 2010 bail-out has failed to improve the sustainability of its public finances.
Surviving austerity: The case for a new approach to EU military collaboration
22 April 2011
A wave of budgetary austerity is weakening Europe’s defences. The armed forces of Europe will lose important skills and capabilities unless they can find ways of saving money through collaboration. Tomas Valasek examines previous efforts at pooling and sharing, and explains why some succeeded better than others. The formation of...