Worth, J. (2014) “The next President of the European Council and High Representative for Foreign Affairs: a final look at the candidates“, LSE EUROPP, 15 July.   The European Council will meet on 16 July with the aim of deciding who will replace Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council and Catherine Ashton as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs. Jon Worth takes a final look at …Read More

Merritt, G. (2014) “Juncker’s Make-or-Break Presidency“, Project Syndicate, 09 July.   Some say that political theater, not policies, drives democracies, and that’s certainly true of the drama – with comic overtones – that has been playing out in the European Union. The European Parliament elections in late May highlighted the “big picture” of the EU’s accelerating unpopularity; yet that warning was quickly eclipsed by the much smaller question of who …Read More

Innerarity, D. (2014) “EU democracy should be based on the principle of respecting diverse identities, not uniting through the creation of a European demos“, LSE EUROPP, 09 July.   Is the development of a European ‘demos’ necessary for the EU to be democratic? Daniel Innerarity writes that while a shared demos is often put forward as a fundamental aspect of democracy, it also entails certain negative developments, such as a …Read More

Mitchell, B. (2014) “Italy should lead the way out of the euro-zone“, Bill Mitchell Blog, 08 July.   One of the major demands that the Germans made on its partners leading into Maastricht in 1991 was the need for a politically independent central bank that was focused on price stability alone. This was claimed to be essential because it would stop politicians imposing so-called short-termism onto monetary policy (read: caring …Read More

Aldea. E. (2014) Five minutes with Eva Aldea: “A ‘Fortress Europe’ accessible only to those within would be as much of a failure of the European project as dissolution of the Union”, LSE EUROPP Interview, 07 July.   Can philosophy offer practical solutions to some of the key issues faced by the European Union? In an interview with EUROPP’s editor Stuart Brown, Eva Aldea discusses the role of philosophy in …Read More

De Grauwe, P. (2014) “Revisiting the pain in Spain“, VoxEU Organisation, 07 July.   There has been a stark contrast between the experiences of Spain and the UK since the Global Crisis. This column argues that although the ECB’s Outright Monetary Transactions policy has been instrumental in reducing Spanish government bond yields, it has not made the Spanish fiscal position sustainable. Although the UK has implemented less austerity than Spain …Read More

Tzogopoulos, G. (2014) “Britain Outside Europe? The Greek View, Athens will only have to lose with Brexit“, IP Journal, German Council on Foreign Relations, 25 June.   A country suffering an unprecedented economic, political, and social crisis and struggling to find its way out of the labyrinth this has created naturally seeks to avoid additional trouble at the European level. A potential Brexit might not only put Grexit back on …Read More

Aizenman, J. (2014) “The euro crisis: Muddling through, or on the way to a more perfect euro union?“, VoxEU Organisation, 03 July.   After a promising first decade, the Eurozone faced a severe crisis. This column looks at the Eurozone’s short history through the lens of an evolutionary approach to forming new institutions. German dominance has allowed the euro to achieve a number of design objectives, and this may continue …Read More

Melitz, J. (2014) “Why Europe Needs Two Euros, Not One“, VoxEU Organisation, 02 July.   As the Eurozone cautiously implements stabilising reforms, Germany is forced to go further with concessions than it would prefer. This column suggests that it would be beneficial for discontented members to consider the formation of a second monetary union. The second euro can be constructed better than the first, bringing the discontented members exchange-rate adjustments …Read More