EU

Rethinking the European Neighborhood Policy for Ukraine

By Nikki Ikani | 7 October 2012

Motivated by strategic objectives to do with the size and geopolitical significance of Ukraine, the EU opened a political dialogue with Ukraine through the signing of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in June 1994, in which issues such as trade, the movement of capital and the Common Foreign and Security Policy were discussed. This political dialogue was tied to conditionality clauses with regard to political and economic reform, but nevertheless Ukraine’s government felt confident that EU membership would soon be an actual prospect.

Unity in Diversity - and in Erasmus?

By Annamária Tóth | 8 September 2012

 L'Auberge espagnole, the great potluck – all synonyms for the Erasmus programme, which celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. Now probably more than ever, Erasmus is referred to as the facilitator of European identity. Today's students are the new 'Erasmus generation': young, mobile, European – or are they?

Britain must be at the centre of the coming European growth agenda

By Florian Chevoppe | 25 May 2012

It's official: The United Kingdom is now facing its worst double-dip recession since 1975. Figures published just a few days before Queen Elizabeth II's 57th Speech from the throne display the worst economic results for more than a century. However, most British newspapers came to the same conclusion: The Government's programme does not include enough measures to stimulate growth. But growth is indeed at the core of newly elected French president François Hollande's manifesto. Could Britain benefit from supporting his initiative?

How Her Majesty ('s Treasury) is draining Europe's super rich

By Florian Chevoppe | 2 May 2012

A "fair measure". This is the argument brought up by the French Socialist party whose candidate Francois Hollande has recently proposed to set up a new 75% income tax for incomes above 1 million euros (£834,000). This new proposal, by a man almost sure to stand at the second turn of the presidential election has probably upset a few - if not a lot - of people. Indeed, according to a recent study by Credit Suisse published in October 2011, France is the country with the highest number of millionaires in Europe : 2.6 million. But is there really a general trend of raising taxes for the most fortunates across Europe ?

All equal… but some more than the others: The case of homosexual marriage

By Annamária Tóth | 8 April 2012

The European Union is founded on some fundamental values, amongst which we find the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and the freedom to move and reside freely within the Union. However, when we look at homosexual couples, whose status is defined by the Member States, these fundamental rights are often far from being respected…

Herman Van Rompuy: How to be friends with everyone without being liked by anyone

By Annamária Tóth | 7 March 2012

During the meeting of the heads of state and government of the European Union on 1 March 2012, the second, hardly mediatised and yet important, election of the President of the European Council took place. The only candidate was the current president Herman Van Rompuy, of whom we often hear that he is too invisible and his work too inefficient. Why elect him nonetheless?

EU relations with Myanmar: just not enough

By Nikki Ikani | 6 February 2012

In November 2010, Myanmar saw the first poll in 20 years. Even though the main military-backed party claimed victory, for the first time since it came to power the military regime yielded to the opposition forces. A civilian power took over from the Junta, marking the first transition to democracy. This sudden political transition sparked the most significant political and economic reforms that the country has witnessed for the past half decade.

Is populism in Western Europe and Central Eastern Europe the same thing?

By Lise Herman | 9 January 2012

Few scholars have attempted a systematic comparison of populism in Western and post-communist Europe: studies of populism tend to be limited to one region or another, and when pan-European studies do occur, regional specificities disappear in an attempt not to essentialize “east” and “west”. The more theory-driven work on populism, however, offers useful tools to compare the nature and the causes of populist discourse at both ends of the European Union.  

Commemorating the Treaty of Paris

By Florian Chevoppe | 28 December 2011

It has been exactly sixty years since the Treaty of Paris came into force. Nouvelle Europe's Florian Chevoppe and new recruit Sissie Derdelinckx-Furham were invited by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe (CVCE) to attend a day of seminar in the lovely Luxembourgish capital city, here is an account of this nice day of celebrating sixty years of our past.  

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