The "pause for thought" decreed by the heads of state and government for themselves and their citizens after the voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe has been extended for at least another year. The European Council meeting on 15th and...

France's President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz have stressed the geopolitical emergency of re-designing the European Union's relationship with its neighbourhood. Both acknowledge that EU enlargement is necessary, but also emphasise that profound EU institutional reform...

The euro area is still negotiating its future framework for sovereign debt crisis management and prevention. This study suggests what such a framework should look like. As a basic rule, it should distinguish between liquidity problems and solvency problems. In cases of liquidity problems,...