About: future of EU
Europe’s Franco-German ‘motor’ sputters back to life
President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel have jump-started the Franco-German "motor" at the heart of Europe by jointly pitching a hugely ambitious economic recovery plan, even if it faces a bumpy road ahead.
COVID-19 and the need for deep EU reform
The management of COVID-19 cases seems to be working more on the basis of Darwin's well-known theory of natural selection, where the strong survive, rather than on any European strategy, writes Bashkim Smakaj.
Pope Francis: EU is facing epochal challenge on which depends the future of the world
Pope Francis prayed for tens of thousands of coronavirus victims in an unprecedented livestream Easter Sunday message delivered from a hauntingly empty Vatican to a world under lockdown.
Portugal’s Costa criticises Netherlands over commitment to EU
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Friday (10 April) that the Netherlands' attempt to block economic support to fight the coronavirus raised questions about the future of the European Union.
Italy PM warns virus puts EU project at stake
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned Thursday (9 April) that the European integration project was at risk if EU member states do not find an economic response to the coronavirus crisis.
Avanti, von der Leyen!
Playtime is over, so Ursula von der Leyen and her Commissioners better take out the big guns and follow in the footsteps of the Delors Commission, writes Guy Verhofstadt.
Return to borderless Europe after COVID-19 will be difficult but not impossible.
If we do not start creating the conditions for the return to a border free Schengen zone now, the temporary measures introduced to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic risk becoming permanent, writes Alena Kudzko.
Prominent Europeans call for EU answer to coronavirus threat
A number of prominent figures are calling for a "European response" to the coronavirus threat, with strict containment measures of the pandemics, and an EU-wide plan to re-start the European economy afterwards.
Future of Europe: What happens if a majority of citizens asks for ‘less Europe’?
“That’s a very interesting question. If there will be a majority of them, we will follow”, Commission Vice President Dubravka Šuica said on Wednesday (22 January), on what would happen if a majority of citizens would ask for “less Europe”.
The EU now needs a fully-fledged #EUCitizenCommissioner
We should never forget that democracy is not just about voting: citizens also want their voices heard between elections, write Roger Casale and Verena Ringler.
Champions grow through competition
Instead of letting governments picking ‘champions’, the EU should strengthen the single market, invest more in innovation and “assertively” pursue fair and equal trade policies, argue Dutch ministers Eric Wiebes, Sigrid Kaag and Mona Keijzer.
Tusk addresses Poles on Constitution Day
Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish Prime Minister who is at odds with the populist government of the Law and Order party (PiS), addressed a series of messages to his compatriots on 3 May, Constitution Day.
Macron prepares to launch ‘Act 2’ of his presidency
French President Emmanuel Macron will on Thursday (25 April) reveal his long-awaited response to almost half a year of street protests in a reform plan that could prove decisive for his presidency and long-term political future.
EU27 is now free to hold summits without the UK
The EU27 will be free to hold official Council meetings and make decisions without the UK despite the country still being a member of the Union, in a move seen as a success for France’s President Macron, who led calls for the restrictions.
Joining forces for Europe’s public sphere
The EU’s tropism towards business and technology comes at the price of neglecting its most precious realm: Europe’s public sphere, the precondition of its very existence, write Pieter Boeder, Christiane Lötsch and Péter Techet.
Citizens’ expectations for Europe focus on climate and social issues
The common expectations of Europeans are actually far from the divisions fuelled by politicians. This was highlighted by the WeEuropeans initiative, which managed to mobilise 2 million people and generate 30,000 proposals. EURACTIV France reports.
Merkel distances herself from Macron’s Europe vision
Less than two months after celebrating a new Franco-German treaty, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are diverging on the future of Europe in the run-up to European Parliament elections in May.
Merkel’s successor responds to Macron’s Europe vision
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's anointed successor outlined her vision for Europe, a German paper reported Saturday (9 March), aligning with recent French proposals on security but disagreeing on key social issues.
Czech PM raps Macron’s call for EU reforms
A call by French President Emmanuel Macron for reforms of the European Union to pave the way to a "European renaissance" won polite support in several capitals on Tuesday (5 March), but Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called it “divorced from reality’.
Macron makes EU-wide appeal ‘for European renewal’
French President Emmanuel Macron made an appeal to all Europeans on Monday (4 March) to re-launch the EU project by holding a conference "without taboos" before year's end that could possibly lead to a new treaty.
Macron warns Europe of a return to 1930s
French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Europe of a return to the 1930s because of the spread of a nationalist "leprosy" across the continent, in an interview published Thursday (1 November).
In the next seven years Central Europe will determine the future of Europe
Central Europe could become more positive to the core EU in the likely case of another major economic crisis, which would oblige them to marry the eurozone family, writes Wojciech Przybylski, who also looks at several other, more dramatic, scenarios for the region.
Czech MEP: I want to be ECR’s lead candidate, not an EU top job candidate
Czech MEP Jan Zahradil has recently announced his intention to become the ECR's lead candidate for the 2019 European Elections. He is a supporter of a multi-speed Union, with freedom for member states to pursue a foreign policy that best suits their own interests.