Democracy Impacts

EU Seeks Standardized Asylum Rules

July 20, 2016

Politico reports that a European Commission proposal for reforming the EU's Common European Asylum System includes measures to standardize rules for dealing with asylum seekers across member states and using financial incentives for countries as part of a permanent refugee resettlement system.
UK Minister Floats EU Migrant Cut-off

July 20, 2016

The BBC reports that, in order to prevent a migration "surge," UK Secretary for Brexit David Davis has suggested that the UK might provide in the future for a migration cut-off that only permitted EU migrants entering the UK before a certain date to remain following Britain's exit from the bloc.
Activist Calls for Post-Brexit UK Socialist Model

July 19, 2016

Social and environmental activist George Lakey has published a piece calling on Britain to embrace new opportunities, unavailable under the EU system, to move toward "social democracy" and strong environmental policies following its vote to leave the bloc.
EU Official Declines Changes in Migration Program

July 18, 2016

Setting aside evidence that the bloc's migration policies were a major factor in Britain's vote to exit the EU, European Commissioner for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has pledged to continue the EU's program on mandatory resettlement of refugees and implementing "comprehensive" reforms strengthening the Common European Asylum System.
Corbyn Seeks End to EU Market-Oriented Policies

July 15, 2016

UK Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn has published an op-ed in which he calls for a new relationship with the EU in the wake of his country's Brexit vote that retains EU social and employment rights but cuts off "EU-enforced liberalisation and privatisation of public services."
MPs Split with UK Policy on EU Residents

July 15, 2016

The BBC reports that UK Members of Parliament have voted for the British Government to reconsider its policy of refraining from assuring migrants from other EU countries that they will be permitted to remain in the country before negotiations over Britain's exit from the EU begin.
EU Parliament Agrees to Border and Coast Guard

July 15, 2016

The European Parliament has agreed to a proposal from the European Commission to build on the EU's current border agency, Frontex, to create an EU Border and Coast Guard that will collectivize management of EU external borders and monitor the performance of national border authorities.
Dutch PM Warns Against Post-Brexit EU Federalism

July 14, 2016

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte has called on EU leaders to recognize the discomfort many Europeans have with Brussels centralization and warned against using the UK vote to leave the EU as a reason "to rush blindly forward towards more political integration and a more federal Europe" among the remaining EU member states.
Bundesbank Chief Calls for Fair Deal with UK

July 14, 2016

In response to the UK vote to leave the EU, the President of the German Federal Bank, Jens Weidmann, has called for a fair "Brexit" deal from EU leaders and asserted that "neither side has an interest in putting up trade barriers."
Eavis: EU Inflexibility May Lead to Disintegration

July 13, 2016

Peter Eavis writes in The New York Times that the UK's exit from the EU demonstrates the EU's inflexibility when faced with challenges and opposition to large agenda items, such as a single currency and free movement, and could signal the cause of a future break-up of the bloc.