The debate on reform of the EU budget has hitherto primarily centred on how EU money should be spent. But a true reform calls for serious handling of the financing of the budget as well, argues the author of this new analysis.
The process of reforming the legislation in the area of financial services in the EU has been going on since the late 1990´s. This analysis presents a brief history on that process.
The presumption that undocumented migrants are outside the law is wrong. This is one the conclusions in a new European Policy Analysis, with contributions from six researchers at Lund University.
Swedish public opinion on EU Affairs has undergone considerable changes since 1995 and Swedes are gradually becoming more positive to membership. According to the latest survey there is, for the first time since 1995, a majority of Swedes are in favour of membership in the European Union.
In October 2010 the European Commission finally released the communication on the 2008/9 review of the EU budget. Professor Iain Begg concludes in his analysis that even though the political obstacles to EU budget reform are formidable, there should be plenty to debate in months to come, for example which expenditures to cut; what to do with the CAP; and a number of aspects related to Cohesion policy.
The Lisbon Treaty has profoundly changed the judicial foundation of the so called comitology. What previously was enclosed in a single treaty article, is now divided in two separate articles and the idea is that the comitology will remain in only one of them.
The debate about a social Europe has lasted for a long time but led to modest results. The Lisbon Treaty states, for the first time, that the EU is a social market economy.
Despite ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, renewable energy use and energy efficiency, the EU was unable to play a central role in last year´s climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Lack of internal coordination was one reason, the EU budget not being adapted to the climate goals another.
There have been large increases in budget deficits throughout the EU, leading to considerable rises in the stock of public debt as a percentage of GDP. The costs of maintaining high debt levels should not exaggerated.
The economic and financial crisis was one of the most important issues handled during the Swedish EU presidency. The outcome, preceded by at times difficult negotiations, was a political decision concerning a new framework for supervision of the financial market in the EU.