Democracy Impacts

EU Border Agency Plans to "Stress Test" Members

July 13, 2016

Fabrice Leggeri, executive director of the EU border agency Frontex, has announced plans to "stress test" the response of EU member states to various migration scenarios as part of the overhaul and massive expansion of Frontex in the coming months.
Hungary Sets Referendum on EU Refugee Plan

July 13, 2016

AP reports that the office of Hungarian President Janos Ader has announced the scheduling of an October referendum on whether Hungary should accept refugees to be sent to Hungary under the EU's refugee resettlement plan.
Politicos Disagree on Solution to EU Challenges

July 11, 2016

An article in The Economist considers how politicians in the EU institutions and its member states are calling for contradictory responses to Britain's exit from the bloc, ranging from returning more authority to the national governments to speeding along EU federalization.
EU Leaders Head off "Copycat" Referendums

July 11, 2016

The Economist reports that leaders of EU member states are reacting to the recent UK vote to leave the EU by seeking to prevent referendums in their own countries in which their citizens decide whether they remain part of the bloc.
Letts: UK Leaders Must Respect Vote for Sovereignty

July 01, 2016

Quentin Letts of The Daily Mail writes that the vote for Brexit was UK citizens' rebellion against their leaders in asserting the national sovereignty which British officials had declined to protect.
Academic: Brexit Shows Power of "Left-Behind"

July 01, 2016

Professor Matthew Goodwin of the University of Kent writes that, rather than focus on personalities dominating the campaign for the UK to leave the EU, observers should seek to understand the cultivation of euroskeptic views among British blue collar workers and the "left-behind" as an explanation for Brexit.
Farage Warns of Brexiter "Backslide" on Migration

July 01, 2016

Leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage has warned that some leaders of the "Brexit" campaign set to take new posts in the British Government may, in his view, defy the decision of the voters to oppose "free movement" by negotiating continued open borders with the EU.
Brexit Campaigners: UK Must End "Free Movement"

July 01, 2016

Multiple leaders of the campaign for the UK to leave the EU have asserted that an end to the application in Britain of the EU principle of free movement is a "red line" that the country's new leadership must respect in the negotiations over Brexit.
Verhofstadt: Brexit Permits Stronger EU

June 30, 2016

Former Prime Minister of Belgium and current Member of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt writes that European leaders should use Britain's exit from the EU as an opportunity for closer integration of EU security powers and foreign policy.
Franco-German Plan Adjusts EU Balance of Power

June 30, 2016

Politico reports that, following the UK's vote to leave the EU, details have emerged regarding a plan between French and German officials that would return some authorities from the EU to national governments but consolidate EU power over broad foreign policy and immigration issues.