Ukraine, migration, and the economy were uppermost on the agenda of the European Council in 2023 as EU leaders sought to maximise support for the victim of Russia's military aggression, cope with a rising number of refugees and asylum seekers and halt the EU's declining global competitiveness....

The beginnings of the European Union date back to the 1950s, when six countries devastated by the Second World War committed themselves to working together to prevent further conflicts and build their joint future in a new era of ever closer cooperation in Europe. At the core of the EU are its...

The beginnings of the European Union date back to the 1950s, when six countries devastated by the Second World War committed themselves to working together to prevent further conflicts and build their joint future in a new era of ever closer cooperation in Europe. At the core of the EU are its...

The European Parliament is vested with powers of democratic oversight and political scrutiny vis-à-vis the European Commission. These powers of Parliament enhance the democratic legitimacy of the EU as a whole, and help increase the transparency and accountability of the Commission as the EU's...

Developing the European Education Area (EEA) as a genuine, common space for quality education and lifelong learning for all is the overarching political objective of the 2021-2030 strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training. The EEA is a comprehensive EU policy and...

Originating in national police and intelligence circles in the early 2000s, the concept of 'radicalisation' quickly attracted the attention of EU policymakers and became the preferred framework for analysing what it is that brings individuals and groups to terrorism. There is no uniform...

Although the new EU fiscal rules improve the macroeconomic logic and differentiation, they offer very little leeway for urgently needed, debt-financed defence spending. However, the EU Commission's proposal to solve this via flexible escape clauses undermines the credibility of the rules. A new...

Die im März 2025 beschlossenen Änderungen bei der Schuldenbremse eröffnen erhebliche zusätzliche Kreditfinanzierungsspielräume. Allerdings muss die deutsche Finanzpolitik nicht nur die Regelgrenzen des Grundgesetzes beachten. Auch die europäischen Vorgaben im Rahmen des Stabilitäts- und...

Germany’s international and European policy environment is changing drastically. This necessitates a reorientation of Germany’s European policy. The European Union (EU) is becoming increasingly important for Germany as a powerful community of action and should be further developed into an...

The third monitoring exercise of the European Heritage Label (EHL) Action, aimed at assessing sixty designated Sites, took place in 2024. The key outcome of this monitoring is that all sixty Sites-twenty of which were monitored for the third time, eighteen for the second time, and twentytwo for...

Would you like to know how the EU addressed the challenges of 2024 and what it achieved during the year? Are you curious about the main policy developments and how citizens benefited from them? You can find the answers to all these questions and more in The EU in 2024.

Would you like to know how the EU addressed the challenges of 2024 and what it achieved during the year? Are you curious about the main policy developments and how citizens benefited from them? You can find the answers to all these questions and more in The EU in 2024.

The third monitoring exercise of the European Heritage Label (EHL) Action, aimed at assessing sixty designated Sites, took place in 2024. The key outcome of this monitoring is that all sixty Sites-twenty of which were monitored for the third time, eighteen for the second time, and twentytwo for...

Would you like to know how the EU addressed the challenges of 2024 and what it achieved during the year? Are you curious about the main policy developments and how citizens benefited from them? You can find the answers to all these questions and more in The EU in 2024.

The European Council and the Council of the European Union are the two institutions representing the Member States in the European Union. They bring EU countries' leaders and ministers together to shape the European Union's future. They both play an essential role in EU decision-making. This...

The European Council and the Council of the European Union are the two institutions representing the Member States in the European Union. They bring EU countries' leaders and ministers together to shape the European Union's future. They both play an essential role in EU decision-making. This...

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the military build-up before the invasion began on 24 February, dominated every one of the nine meetings of the European Council in 2022. It affected most issues with which the European Council dealt during the year, ranging from energy policy to the...

Would you like to know how the EU addressed the challenges of 2023 and what it achieved during the year? Are you curious about the main policy developments and how citizens benefited from them? You can find the answers to all these questions and more in The EU in 2023.

Would you like to know how the EU addressed the challenges of 2023 and what it achieved during the year? Are you curious about the main policy developments and how citizens benefited from them? You can find the answers to all these questions and more in The EU in 2023.

Would you like to know how the EU addressed the challenges of 2023 and what it achieved during the year? Are you curious about the main policy developments and how citizens benefited from them? You can find the answers to all these questions and more in The EU in 2023.

Most of the legislative output of the Council of the European Union is processed by a little-known preparatory body, functioning under the acronym COREPER I. The author, a former practitioner, lifts the lid a little on this powerful body's role and working methods, pointing the way to future...

Die vorliegende Studie zeigt auf Basis der IW-Personenbefragung 2024, dass rund 62 Prozent der Deutschen die Wahl des Europäischen Parlaments für wichtig halten. Dies ist das Ergebnis unter rund 5.200 Befragten. Der Anteil liegt damit in etwa so hoch wie die Wahlbeteiligung im Jahr 2019. Die...

In this paper, we comment on the debate about guidelines for Art. 102 TFEU in the face of the challenges brought by digital ecosystems and abuse of dominance in related markets. We take the perspective of dynamic competition economics and derive four recommendations for the future enforcement of...

The weaknesses of the Common European Asylum System have led to conflicts of interest between the EU's external border states and the main destination countries, such as Germany. After years of negotiations, the reform of the European asylum policy was formally adopted by the European Parliament...

Over the past decade, crises have shaped public perceptions of the EU. This article examines the question of trust in a (democratic) institution by combining two large-scale surveys, the World Value Survey and the European Value Survey. Although the data do not include the most recent crisis,...

This paper delves into the diverse conceptualizations of the "common good" within the economic discourse and scrutinizes their implications for European integration during the pressing COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a comprehensive literature review, policy analysis, and case study examination, it...

As forest management is increasingly influenced by climate change and climate change policy, among other factors, assessing carbon budget dynamics is essential to forecast the impacts of future wood consumption on carbon sequestration. To assess plausible future forest management options at EU...

This collective IDOS Discussion Paper seeks to inform the incoming EU leadership and member state capitals about the EU's role in a changing world, main internal and external influences, as well as the prospects and expected challenges in the new legislative period. The primary focus of this...

The Samoa Agreement in November 2023 marks an expansion of the EU's core areas of development cooperation. This article shows how climate change affects other priority areas of economic, political and social development. Two adaptation measures deserve more attention: The EU development policy...

The housing crisis is present across the whole of the EU, with some Member States facing it more starkly than others. Many Europeans struggle to find affordable and decent housing. Housing is not only a question of bricks and mortar. It impacts our communities and our social cohesion. The right...

We propose an EU Safe Generative AI Innovation Program to address a market failure in generative AI development. While developers can capture significant value from generative AI capability improvements, they bear only a fraction of potential safety failure costs, which leads to underinvestment...

The economic strategy being defined by the 2024-2029 European Commission seems to follow the prescriptions on innovation and single market reform, and the expansive approach to industrial policy, set out by Mario Draghi in his September 2024 report on European Union competitiveness, with two...

The European Council is the institution that defines the general direction and priorities of the European Union (eu). It consists of the Heads of State or Government of the 27 eu Member States, together with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission. The...