Renewing the European Answer
Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Almut Metz
EU Reform Spotlight 02/2006
Munich/Guetersloh 10/2006
Key points:
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The European Union (EU) must be able to shape developments in a new political and economic global environment that is more and more determined by events taking place far beyond its borders.
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Europe's ability to exert its influence both internally and externally requires a renewal of the European integration project. This task elicits three strategic responses:
(1) A strategy of institutional efficiency that entails two things: First, the elaboration of a "Treaty Amending the Treaty of Nice", that incorporates the central innovations of the Constitutional Treaty into the existing primary law. Second, the heterogeneity of an EU-27+ requires a higher level of differentiation among member states, that will lead to divergent leadership coalitions and not to a core Europe.
(2) A strategy for shaping global politics that begins in the EU's immediate geographic vicinity. The possibility of joining the EU must remain open to all European states even if the prospect of membership is (very) distant. However, the Union should, in the immediate perspective, not grant any further accession offers beyond Turkey and the Western Balkans. In the international arena, the assertion of global interests requires a more determined effort to pool European defence capabilities by creating a European Army.
(3) A strategy for the promotion of European self-assurance that requires two things: First, a gradual politicization of European policy-making on both the national and the European level. Second, the definition of a new raison d’être underpinned by a grand project in the field of security.
Latest publications
Reactions to the next Commission
Fabian Zuleeg & Janis A. Emmanouilidis, EPC Flash Analysis, Brussels 09/2024
Confronting the permacrisis: Time for a supra-governmental avantgarde
Fabian Zuleeg, Almut Möller, Janis A. Emmanouilidis, EPC Discussion Paper, Brussels 07/2024
Eight structural innovations for the EU’s next politico-institutional cycle
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Fabian Zuleeg, EPC Discussion Paper, Brussels 06/2024
Participatory democracy at the EU level: How to break the invisible ceiling?
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Corina Stratulat, Observatory Report, EPC & EU Democracy Reform Observatory 03/2024
Europawahl 2024 – was für die EU und Deutschland auf dem Spiel steht
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Johannes Greubel, Brussels 01/2024
Turning Fear Into Hope
Herman Van Rompuy | Fabian Zuleeg | Janis A. Emmanouilidis | Jacki Davis, EPC 11/2022
Overcoming the ambition-unity dilemma
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Fabian Zuleeg, Brussels 10/2022
The Future is Now – What next after the Conference on the Future of Europe?
Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Taking Stock, Moving Forward: Reflections Following the Conference on the Future of Europe, Hanns Seidel Foundation & ELIAMEP, Athens 08/2022
Europe’s moment of truth: United by adversity?
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Fabian Zuleeg, Brussels 07/2022
The von der Leyen European Commission at midterm: Same priorities, different reality
Corina Stratulat, Johannes Greubel, Perle Petit, Danielle Brady, Silvia Carta, Simon Dekeyrel, Francesco De Angelis, Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Melanie Fessler, Emily Fitzpatrick, Andrea García Rodríguez, Tommaso Grossi, Annika Hedberg, Elizabeth Kuiper, Marta Mucznik, Laura Rayner, Stefan Sipka, Brussels 06/2022