After the European elections last year, during these January days when temperatures are quite low in Brussels, the atmosphere among the commissioner-designates and their staff, Members of the European Parliament and the political public is becoming overheated. At first we were witness to a very wide range of atmospheres during hearings, ranging from relaxed to uncomfortable; both for candidates and for the audience alike. The speeches and answers of commissioners–designate often emphasised the common values of the European Union. So, what are these exactly? Read the rest of this entry »

If one was asked this question, the answer appears to have been answered already: no, there can be no sustainable peace in Europe without the future enlargement, there can be no stability in Europe without the Western Balkans. But, with popular anxiety over further enlargements on the rise and with the unexpected difficulties facing the Union as it endeavours to reform its institutions, it is worth asking ourselves what is at stake, and why it is so important that the Western Balkans countries not be “left behind” in the European integration process.

After the accession of Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January 2007, ensuring the success of the enlargement process has become one of the EU’s major political priorities. And indeed, the very essence of European integration is to overcome the division of Europe and to contribute to the peaceful unification of the continent. The Western Balkans region is essential to the EU’s security and peace project. Read the rest of this entry »

The release of a much anticipated EU-commissioned  report  into the causes of the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008 predictably spread the blame for the conflict around. Georgia got its share of the blame, but the text of the report is devastating to Russia’s narrative of the conflict. The Report faulted Georgia for its attack on Tskhinvali; but summarily and bluntly dismisses the entire Russian justification for its subsequent invasion, as well as its recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Importantly, the report also warns against the dangers of the accepting rhetoric of ‘spheres of influence’. Whether this will result in any tangible implications remains more doubtful.

BACKGROUND: Assisted by a small army of experts, Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini has spent close to a year investigating the origins and course of the Russian-Georgian war.  Tagliavini’s report itself is moderate in size, consisting of 40 pages, but it is supplemented by a 450-page addendum of historical, humanitarian, legal and political analyses by members of her group, as well as a further 600 pages of appendices (mainly documents provided by the conflicting parties). Given its size and the subject matter, the report will undoubtedly be the subject of great debate and controversy.

  Read the rest of this entry »

European issues directly affect every single moment of our daily lives and the future Europe we will give our sons and daughters. Although European governance may appear distant from the everyday reality of European citizens, we shouldn’t become trapped by euro-scepticism. 

The EU is not an impenetrable ‘Kafkian castle’, but an evolving tangible reality that we, as the electorate, have the opportunity to shape according to our needs and values. It is most unfortunate that it is still evident that Europeans have widely not taken advantage of this opportunity, as more than half of citizens did not exercise their democratic right in the Parliamentary elections last week. Criticisms of the EU’s shortcomings, as of many national and supranational institutions, are well-circulated and, in certain cases, quite valid. However, this article is devoted to acknowledging the undeniable achievements the EU has ensured for its citizens. Read the rest of this entry »

The European Parliament relentlessly tries to inform citizens about the reasons for voting in the upcoming elections. As on the previous occasion, the EP this time around is running an information campaign to reach citizens and hopefully thereby increase turnout. Similar tasks are fulfilled by many NGOs, which in different countries organize information campaigns regarding the EP and the elections.

What is still missing, however, among other things, is a reliable set of information regarding party programmes. In an idealized version of the democratic electoral process (often referred to in political science as the ‘responsible party government model’), voters make an informed choice between the competing parties both on the basis of their programmes and on their government or opposition record. Most observers doubt that this is the case nowadays, both in relation to national and European elections.

Voters simply do not read parties’ programmes, and instead rely on other sources to make their judgment about which parties to vote for, such as the media. In the European Parliament elections, this problem is further exacerbated by the fact confirmed by many opinion polls, namely that the EU citizens are not fully aware of the nature of the EP elections, let alone their lack of knowledge about party programmes. So what can be done to get voters interested in these elections?

One way of doing this is through developing Internet-based voting aid applications, which aim both at informing the citizens about party programmes on various issues, but which also are able to show which political party is closest to a given voter. This task is an ambition of the revolutionary voting aid application created for the European Parliament elections – EU Profiler (www.euprofiler.eu), launched on 23 April. Read the rest of this entry »

The importance of the religious factor today from the lives of millions of individuals up to global dynamics does not need to be pointed out any longer. Neither does it need to be argued that our world is affected by many kinds of violence from the domestic to the global level. The link between religion and violence, conflict, extremism and terrorism gets a lot of attention, is extensively reported, researched and increasingly taken into account in policymaking and international relations. However, the other side of the coin, namely the link between religion and peace, gets far less attention. Given the obvious presence of religion on the world scene today and its role in stimulating, supporting or legitimizing conflicts and violence, it is rather surprising that within the international community and the academic world attention is rising so lately and sporadically to the role of religion in peacebuilding.

  Read the rest of this entry »

Eurothinkers is  the blog of the Centre for European Studies, the official think-tank of the EPP.   

Currently citizens are engaging in alternate methods of participation in politics. Protest votes, citizen abstention and the increase of voter distrust towards politics mark this phenomenon.

The Centre for European Studies aspires to be  a vital tool in connecting citizens with the policy makers, this blog being a perfect example.

These trends proliferate from the disaffection which citizens feel towards the traditional forms of political participation.  Social mobilization has thus become a day-to-day phenomenon in the media and politics. Do these changes translate into a growing disinterest of the citizens towards politics? Rather do they not reveal a certain disenchantment with the current organisation of representative democracy? In this campaign, Europeans must be informed through numerous modes of communication, of the policy issues being tackled on European level particularly in terms of the concrete solutions and concrete achievements Europe can offer.   Read the rest of this entry »