In March, the European Commission released its Europe 2020 strategy proposal, which strives for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and greater policy coordination between the EU and national governments. While the document was greeted with scepticism in some quarters, others believe it lays...

The trade-off between risk reduction and risk sharing has been at the heart of debates concerning EU economic governance over the last five years, but there are few signs as yet of a solution being reached.

In the present context of intensifying competition between the major trading economies and potentially game-changing technological developments, the European Union is generally seen as the weaker party. Lacking the ‘hard power’ derived from military capabilities, it has laid claim to a...