The increased influence of the European Union in world politics has sparked a lively debate on what influence it actually has, its degree of coherence and on the qualities that characterise its behaviour. This report assesses how the EU is perceived by other states in international multilateral negotiations.
International agreements are one of the principal foreign policy tools of the European Union. The use and scope of agreements have increased over the last decades resulting in a highly complex situation not least due to the different level of cooperation and integration between the EU and its neighbours entailed in these agreements.
In 2004 the European Union (EU) gained ten new Member States. However in many of the old Member States there were increasing concerns about the implications of this particular enlargement.
In 2005 the stability pact of the EU was reformed. The revision followed upon violations of the EU fiscal rules by several countries and the breakdown of the pact’s enforcement mechanism.
This report concerns the role of the national courts in the application and enforcement of Community law. According to the author the European Union is presently under a "constitutional momentum".
In discussions on priorities in the European Union, a formula often invoked is that of European added value. The present study seeks to shed light on this concept by tracing its intellectual origins, examining its use in three policy areas and suggesting ways of converting it from an all-purpose mantra into an efficient tool for priority-setting and policy choices.
This study investigates the nature of the relationship between small states and the European Commission, posing the question whether the Commission is a small state's "best friend". Focusing in particular on the Belgian, Greek, Finnish and Hungarian experience, the key findings indicate that the small state-Commission relationship is not as straightforward as the "best friend" analogy may suggest.
The countries in "the class of 2004" are now full-fledged members of the European Union, with equal rights to participate in the policy process shaping its future. This implies a quality leap in their political status.