Infelise, F. (2014) “Supporting Access to Finance by SMEs: Mapping the initiatives in five EU countries“, Financial Markets, ECMI Research Reports, CEPS, 23 April.   This paper maps the initiatives to support access to finance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that were available at national level in 2012 in the five biggest European economies (Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain). This mapping distinguishes initiatives promoted and financed primarily …Read More

Piedrafita, S. & Renman, V. (2014) “The ‘Personalisation’ of the European Elections: A half-hearted attempt to increase turnout and democratic legitimacy?“, Politics and Institutions, EPIN Papers, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), 11 April.   On May 22nd to the 25th, elections to the European Parliament are taking place throughout the European Union. Following a recent EP initiative, most of the European political parties have selected top candidates for the position …Read More

Hobolt, S. B. (2014) “Ever closer or ever wider? Public attitudes towards further enlargement and integration in the European Union“, Routledge Publications, Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 664-680, 28 April.   Proponents of the European project often portray further enlargement of the European Union as a complement to the process of building an ever closer union. The eurozone crisis, however, has highlighted the risks associated …Read More

Minas, C., Jacobson, D., Antoniou, E. & McMullan, C. (2014) “Welfare regime, welfare pillar and southern Europe“, Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 24, No. 2, May, pp. 135-149.   This paper uses a variety of methods of statistical cluster analysis to examine how EU countries (other than the new East European members) are grouped. Using the four dimensions, family, market vs state, religion and clientelism, the results of the …Read More

Castro-Conde, C. A. (2014) “The positions of European political parties offer a clear choice to voters over what type of Europe they would like to see“, LSE EUROPP, 08 May.   European Parliament elections have often been criticised from the perspective that they fail to engage voters. Cristina Ares Castro-Conde presents a comprehensive comparison of the positions contained within the manifestos of all of the main European political parties. She …Read More

Kelemen, R. D., Menon, A. & Slapin, J. (2014) “The European Union: wider and deeper?“, Routledge Publications, Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 643-646, 28 April.   What is the relationship between widening and deepening in the European Union (EU)? Does the addition of new member states affect the process of centralization – that is to say, whether and how member states transfer ever more authority …Read More