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German Constitutional Court

European politics 21st April 2021

The German Constitutional Court Has Unblocked Germany’s Ratification Of The Next Generation EU Fund

The German Constitutional Court has unblocked Germany’s ratification of the Next Generation EU, the €750 billion European recovery fund with which the Union aims to boost the European economy. The German TC has dismissed the appeal lodged by a group of German citizens because it considers that the consequences of the preliminary blockage would be more serious if it were subsequently declared constitutional than if it were to go ahead and eventually be found to be unconstitutional.

Carbon emissions

European politics 18th April 2021

The EU Wants A Carbon Tax On Imports – But Would It Be The Climate Solution Officials Expect?

Timothy Hamilton via The Conversation | The European Union is considering a new tax on imports as it tries to fight climate change, and the U.S. is raising concerns about it. At issue is what’s known as a border adjustment carbon tax. The tax is designed to level the playing field for European companies by holding imports responsible for their greenhouse gas emissions the same way domestically produced products are.

europe vaccination

European politics 17th April 2021

What Led to Europe’s Vaccine Disaster?

By Hans-Georg Betz | The COVID-19 pandemic has not only brutally exposed Europe’s unpreparedness to confront a major crisis, but it has also shown the parochial state of mind of significant parts of the European population.  Much has been written over the past year about American science skepticism and conspiracy theories, held partly responsible for the toll that COVID-19 has taken on the US population. Yet Europeans are hardly any better.

Cities are leading refugee integration efforts

European politics 10th April 2021

Germany’s Refugees Face a Future Without Angela Merkel

Kiran Bowry | In 2015, the European refugee crisis awoke Germans from a long and comforting slumber that Angela Merkel had lulled them into with her political style. The term “asymmetric demobilization” came to be known as a way of describing the German chancellor’s shrewd strategy of sitting on the fence and thereby winning elections. Merkel weakened her political competitors by avoiding controversial issues and, in doing so, choking off debate. Simultaneously, she adopted popular policy stances of her opponents and demobilized their potential voters.

Rutte

European politics 5th April 2021

Rutte’s Opponents Smell Blood in the Water

Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | After eleven years in power, Mark Rutte is suddenly vulnerable. The long-ruling Dutch prime minister won his fourth election in a row in March, but botched coalition talks have thrown doubt on his future. What started with suspicions Rutte had tried to get rid of a critical lawmaker turned into a wider question about his credibility. But discontent in other parties about Rutte’s longevity also plays a role. Before I dive in, let me remind you I’m a member of Rutte’s political party and voted for him in March. So this is not going to be an unbiased analysis, and the reason I’m publishing it as an opinion story…

Germany labour market

European politics 16th March 2021

Germany’s Handling Of The Pandemic: A Model Of Incompetence?

Hans-George Betz (Via Fair Observer) | There is an unwritten rule in politics: If you are incompetent, at least you should not be corrupt. It seems nobody ever informed the German Christian Democrats that this was the way of things. How else to explain why Christian Democratic MPs thought it was perfectly fine to take advantage of Germany’s COVID-19 crisis to line their own pockets? In German, we have a word, “Raffzahn,” to refer to somebody who cannot get enough, never satisfied with what they have. In the concrete case, a member of the German Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) pocketed €250,000 ($298,000) in commissions for brokering a deal involving the procurement of FFP2 face masks by the federal and the state governments.

EU enlargement package

European politics 6th March 2021

EU Enlargement – A Moving Target That Is Moving Further Away

Dina Bajramspahic via Macropolis | In 2020, none of the six countries of the Western Balkans has made progress in the process of European integration. It is true that they could have done more, but this still begs the question of whether the process itself “is working” if no one is making progress, and many countries have not been making progress for years, decades even. Bad moves on both sides have led to mutual mistrust, which is reflected in reforms.

Borrell

European politics 18th February 2021

Kremlin And Brussels At Boiling Point

European Views | With EU-Russia relations at rock bottom following the arrest of dissident politician Alexei Navalny, a vicious crackdown on protesters, and the expulsion of several EU diplomats from Russia, imposing sanctions on the country should be a no-brainer for Brussels. Indeed, the Kremlin’s chronic flouting of international rules and norms, particularly as regards human rights, presents a fitting opportunity to put the EU’s newly minted Magnitsky-style sanctions regime to good use for the first time.

Germany

European politics 17th February 2021

The Upcoming Fiscal Debate In Germany

Intermoney | Days ago, Helge Braun, a close associate of Angela Merkel, proposed reforming Germany’s constitutional limit on public debt. This is an issue facing great resistance within key sectors of the CDU/CSU, making it difficult for it to go beyond the status of a mere proposal, but whose mere proposal represents a turning point. This debate will gain momentum after the September elections.