Michel Rose, (2018), “Macron’s strategist says goal is to reshape fracturing EU politics”, Reuters, 31 October Europe’s fragmenting political landscape is an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron to blow apart Brussels’ traditional left-right duopoly in next year’s European election, the newly appointed head of the French president’s EU campaign said. In his first interview since his appointment this week as top strategist in Macron’s En Marche party, Stéphane Séjourné says the …Read More

Cohen-Setton J.and Leandro A., (2018), “Could Sanctions against Italy Be Imposed Earlier than Expected?”, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 30 October Ιtaly may soon find that time is running out if it wants to escape swift punishment for violating the European Union’s tough rules against excessive budget deficits.[1] The nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 130 percent is well above the EU debt limit of 60 percent. In the past, …Read More

Kirkegaard J.F., and Zettelmeyer J., (2018), “The Merkel Era Is Ending—What It Means for the German Government”, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 30 October Chancellor Angela Merkel’s abrupt announcement that she would not seek reelection as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) constitutes the beginning of the end of the Merkel era. What does this mean for the German government? Contrary to what one might expect, it is more …Read More

Kathleen R. McNamara, (2018), “Authority Under Construction: The European Union in Comparative Political Perspective”, Journal of Common Market Studies, Volume 56, Issue 7, 23 August Moravcsik’s liberal intergovernmentalism irrevocably upgraded the rigour of European Union scholarship by categorizing the EU as an international organization, and analyzing it in terms of general theories of international relations. The deepening of European governance has meant, however, that the EU today is better understood …Read More

Andrew Moravcsik, (2018), “Preferences, Power and Institutions in 21st‐century Europe”, Journal of Common Market Studies, Volume 56, Issue 7, September 2018 After twenty‐five years, few scholars still dispute the leading role of Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI) in theorizing EU history. Yet some question whether it can explain Europe’s recent evolution. This article argues that LI retains its place as a ‘baseline’ integration theory. It is uniquely able to provide credible micro‐foundations …Read More

Joschka Fischer, (2018), “Europe’s Coming Year of Reckoning”, Project Syndicate, 30 October It is no exaggeration to say that 2019 will be the year that makes or breaks the European Union. As if Brexit and a mounting Italian debt crisis were not enough, European voters will also go to the polls to decide whether to hand over the reins of the EU to nationalists who would destroy it from within. …Read More

Paul De Grauwe, (2018), “The European Commission should accept democratic change in Italy”, VoxEU, 30 October 2018 Since the euro area’s debt crisis in 2010, the European Commission has seen a dramatic increase in its power to supervise and control national budgets. This development was motivated by the will of the creditor countries to impose budgetary discipline on the debtor countries, such as Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. As a …Read More

Tim Haughton and Anand Menon, (2018), “Brexit: The next big 5 things to watch”, Washington Post, 29 October However, the actual prospect of Brexit may start to sharpen minds. A punitive Brexit could have long-term political and economic consequences not just for relations between the E.U. and Britain but also the wider geopolitical and security landscape in Europe. If the British people felt they were being punished by the E.U., …Read More