EU institutions & treaties

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European referendum

The case for a Europe-wide referendum

Steven Everts
01 October 2002
It is time for pro-Europeans to face up to the uncomfortable truth that the EU has a serious legitimacy problem. The anti-Europeans' most persuasive claim is that the EU is an elite project over which 'the people' have virtually no influence.
Bulletin issue 26

Issue 26 - 2002

Steven Everts, David Hannay, Daniel Keohane
27 September 2002
EU enlargement depends on Ireland

EU enlargement depends on Ireland

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...
What future for federalism?

What future for federalism?

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.
Issue 25 - 2002 file thumbnail

Issue 25 - 2002

Heather Grabbe, Alasdair Murray
26 July 2002
Europe

A 'competence catalogue' is code for protectionism

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

Playing the European game

Antonio Missiroli
03 June 2002
Football is the most European, and simultaneously, the most global of sports. The British Empire spread the game throughout Europe, and then worldwide.
Ireland

Europe's future is in Ireland's hands

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

Restoring leadership to the European council

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.
Bulletin issue 23

Issue 23 - 2002

Charles Grant, Alasdair Murray
29 March 2002
Preparing the EU for 2004

Preparing the EU for 2004

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.
EU presidency

Time to abolish the EU's rotating presidency

Steven Everts
03 December 2001
The EU performance in foreign policy in the aftermath of September 11th has been underwhelming. European leaders have maintained unity on the substance of policy - a major step forward compared with the situation a decade ago.
Workers are entitled to consultation

Workers are entitled to consultation

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.

We...
An EU senate is superfluous

An EU senate is superfluous

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.
The stockholm scorecard

The stockholm scorecard

Edward Bannerman
02 April 2001
The Stockholm European Council was supposed to focus on Europe's "new" economy and the goal of creating "the world's most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010".
Bulletin issue 17

Issue 17 - 2001

Edward Bannerman, Richard Corbett, James Wilson
30 March 2001
What comes after Nice

What comes after Nice

Heather Grabbe
02 February 2001
Both the outcome at Nice and the methods used to achieve it have left widespread dissatisfaction. Any deal would have been good for enlargement, in allowing the EU to move ahead. But the unseemly spectacle of 15 countries scrambling for position was hardly a shining example of inter-governmentalism at work....
Lisbon strategy

Making Lisbon work in Stockholm

Alasdair Murray
01 February 2001
Even by the standards of the EU's often optimistic policy aspirations, the decade-long economic reform process initiated at the Lisbon summit last March represents an ambitious programme.

The distinctive feature of the Lisbon conclusions is not the pledge of EU leaders to create "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge...
Bulletin issue 16

Issue 16 - 2001

Edward Bannerman, Carl Bildt, Alasdair Murray
26 January 2001
Institutions

The unholiest of alliances

01 December 2000
Yes, there really are some people who believe in a federal super-state. They want the EU to evolve into something like the USA, with a strong central government responsible to the European Parliament.