Democracy Impacts

UK Official: Scotland Will Leave EU

March 01, 2017

The Daily Telegraph reports that, in a recent committee hearing at the Scottish Parliament, UK Scottish Secretary David Mundell stated that there would be "no circumstances" under which Scotland, whether independent from the UK or not, would remain in the EU after the UK leaves the bloc.
ECB Leader Seeks "Sustainable Globalisation"

March 01, 2017

At a recent workshop in Maastricht, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank Benoît Cœuré sets out a case for the EU to use what he deems to be its experience with "sustainable globalisation" - an "efficient, enduring and equitable" form of global governance - to promote lessons on the phenomenon within global institutions.
EU Prepares Demand for Brexit Payments

February 27, 2017

The Daily Telegraph reports that, according to sources from a meeting of the European Commission's top Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and representatives from EU member states, EU leaders are planning to call on the UK to pay approximately 60 billion euros in installments until 2023 to fill EU budget gaps created by Britain's departure from the bloc.
Solana: Put EU Ahead of National Interests

February 27, 2017

Former EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and Secretary-General of NATO Javier Solana calls for European countries to adopt a "European Union first" policy that would "compel" national officials to consider factors outside of "narrow national interest" in making decisions affecting their people and to help "consolidate" EU institutions.
EU Official Pushes for Eurozone Finance Minister

February 27, 2017

Reuters reports that, in a recent speech in Vienna, European Commissioner for economic and financial affairs Pierre Moscovici called for the creation of new eurozone institutions, including a finance minister who would administer a common eurozone budget, in the wake of the UK's departure from the EU.
EU Aims to Retain Fishing Access After Brexit

February 24, 2017

The Guardian reports that, in a warning signal to British voters who chose to leave the EU in part to permit the UK to take back control of its fishing policies, a leaked negotiating document from the European Parliament shows that EU officials are seeking to retain the current UK-EU balance on fishing quotas in exchange for British access to the "single market."
EU Members Fear Impacts of "Two-Speed" Bloc

February 24, 2017

The Guardian reports that officials in the Central and Eastern European Visegrad Group - Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary - are increasingly opposing proposals from Western Europe to form a "two-speed" EU permitting a core area of member states to rapidly transfer their sovereignty to the EU without the interference of governments on the periphery of the bloc.
EU Committee Ramps up Vehicle Standards Testing

February 24, 2017

The European Parliament's Internal Market Committee has approved legislation, aimed at preventing a recurrence of the recent Volkswagen emissions scandal, that ramps up EU auditing of vehicle testing and the establishment of "national market surveillance programmes" to ensure adherence to the bloc's environmental and safety standards.
Committee Calls for EU-wide Alcohol Strategy

February 23, 2017

Lamenting that, so far, "alcohol policy has been left entirely to member states," the European Committee of the Regions has published recommendations calling on EU institutions to develop a Europe-wide strategy on combating the harmful impacts of alcohol.
MEPs Vote for EU Centralization Measures

February 22, 2017

Doubling down on the idea of forming "a more perfect Union" in Europe in the face of Brexit and rising nationalism, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have passed a set of resolutions calling for more muscular EU centralization policies, including through the creation of an EU finance minister and a common eurozone budget.