TY - RPRT A1 - Redeker, Nils T1 - Brexit: Bereit für Phase 2? Wie es nach dem Austritt weitergeht N2 - Fast fünf Jahrzehnte nachdem das Vereinigte Königreich der Union beigetreten ist und dreieinhalb Jahre nachdem sich die Briten in einem Referendum mit knapper Mehrheit für den Brexit entschieden haben, beendet Großbritannien am 31. Januar um Mitternacht deutscher Zeit offiziell seine Mitgliedschaft. Die direkten Folgen des Austritts halten sich dennoch zunächst in Grenzen. Noch bis zum Jahresende läuft eine Übergangsfrist, während der sich Großbritannien weiterhin an alle EU-Standards halten muss, Teil des Binnenmarkts und der Zollunion bleibt und Beiträge in den EU-Haushalt zahlt. Erst am Ende dieser Frist wird Großbritannien nicht nur formal und institutionell, sondern auch faktisch aus der EU ausscheiden. Beiden Seiten bleiben damit elf Monate, um ihre künftigen Beziehungen zu regeln und ein umfassendes Freihandelsabkommen zu vereinbaren. Gelingt das nicht, drohen die Einführung von Zöllen, Importquoten und anderen Handelsbeschränkungen. Die wirtschaftlichen Folgen wären mit denen eines No-Deal Brexits durchaus vergleichbar. Das Ringen um den Brexit geht also in die nächste Runde. Drei Fragen werden dabei in den kommenden Monaten entscheidend sein. Erstens, ist ein Abkommen innerhalb der gesetzten Frist überhaupt zu erreichen? Zweitens, wie breit könnte so ein erstes Abkommen werden? Und drittens, wie geschlossen wird die EU in den kommenden Verhandlungen auftreten können? Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-32875 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Guttenberg, Lucas T1 - We Don’t Need No Institution - What the Eurozone requires is not a treasury but a common fiscal policy N2 - Does the Eurozone need a “treasury”? The answer is no: The Eurozone needs a common fiscal policy to complement the ECB’s monetary policy. But it does not need a new institution to take fiscal policy decisions or to execute such decisions. The EU institutional framework is well-equipped to perform these functions. Hence, the focus of political energy should be on getting the right policies and instruments in place, not on building new shiny institutions. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-32881 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Koenig, Nicole T1 - Qualified Majority Voting in EU Foreign Policy: Mapping Preferences N2 - The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is one of the EU’s last bastions of unanimous decision-making. The idea of introducing qualified majority Voting (QMV) is as old as the policy area itself. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-32897 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Dittrich, Paul-Jasper T1 - Data sharing: A European challenge? Why the EU should make data sharing a piority N2 - Data sharing refers to transactions in which personal or nonpersonal data from the public or private sector is made available for other organisations (public or private) for use and re-use. Data sharing can occur for free or data can be made available for profit. Data sharing in the EU has a lot of untapped value potential both for individuals and for the economy at large. New rules and institutions that can enable data sharing in a trusted manner and give citizens more control over when and how they share their private data need to be built at the European level. The question is how? The EU should work towards a stronger culture of data sharing and help build the necessary infrastructure with a focus on two areas: Building infrastructure for data sharing and access for companies and extending the right to portability of personal data (Art. 20 GDPR). Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-32902 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Kask, Maarja A1 - Feller, Nils T1 - Digital Education in Europe and the EU’s role in upgrading it N2 - A key political priority of Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission is making Europe fit for the digital age. It promised to create playing rules for Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the first 100 days of its mandate. This urgency underlines the importance of digital transformation for the Commission. We have not seen the same sense of urgency regarding digital education, however. In this policy brief, Nils Feller and Maarja Kask explain why stronger EU engagement in digital education and upskilling is crucial not only for the Union’s labour market but its overall competitiveness. They show where the Commission stands, what challenges it faces and how they can be addressed. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-37323 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-3732 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Beyond transparency: Getting serious about greening Europe’s financial system N2 - The financial sector must divest from unsustainable business. This is imperative to achieve a climate-neutral economy and to safeguard financial stability. The European sustainable finance regulatory agenda of 2018 launched important initiatives that increase transparency on climate risks. Now it is time to move to the second stage and incorporate climate risks in the risk models and capital requirements of banks, pensions funds and insurance firms. This will reduce their exposure to potential losses from climate risks and at the same time render sustainable investment alternatives more attractive. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-37334 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-3733 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Koenig, Nicole T1 - Time to go beyond the meta-debate on EU strategic autonomy in defence N2 - EU member states have been debating the notion of European strategic autonomy in the field of defence for decades. The election of US President Donald Trump in 2016 revived this debate and his administration’s negative attitude towards EU defence cooperation initiatives rendered it highly emotive. With Joe Biden’s victory, the debate is apparently ready to enter the next stage. In this policy brief, I argue that a Biden administration represents an opportunity to go beyond terminological debates onto two more substantial questions that represent two sides of the same coin: how can Europeans shape a more balanced transatlantic security and defence agenda and how can they defend their own security interests? Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-37142 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/de/publikationen/detail/publication/default-f0d46889ce ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Koenig, Nicole A1 - Nguyen, Thu T1 - Five takeaways from the German “Corona Presidency” N2 - On 31 December 2020, Germany’s rotating EU Council presidency will come to an end after a particularly difficult term. Corona burst upon an already crowded policy agenda, including the negotiation of the EU’s next seven-year budget, rule of law conditionality and the finalization of the Brexit negotiations. On top of a packed agenda, the German presidency faced considerable institutional and corona-related constraints. In this Policy Brief, Nicole Koenig and Thu Nguyen look back at the German presidency and develop five key takeaways for the upcoming corona presidencies, notably Portugal (first half of 2021) and Slovenia (second half). The German presidency has shown that they should prepare for more corona crisis management,internal divisions and unexpected crises. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-37166 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/de/publikationen/detail/publication/five-takeaways-from-the-german-corona-presidency ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Knudsen, Edward L. T1 - No going back? A transatlantic cooperation agenda under Biden N2 - If Joe Biden is elected US President in November, will he restore the preTrump era of transatlantic relations? While some Europeans may wish for that, it is neither feasible nor desirable, as Edward Knudsen argues in this policy brief. A changing geopolitical landscape and declining economic conditions mean that new solutions are needed. Instead of focussing on traditional forms of cooperation like liberalising trade and bolstering defence, the US and EU should work together to tackle inequality and corruption, address the climate emergency, and defuse geopolitical tensions. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-36871 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Guttenberg, Lucas A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Building EU green bonds that deserve their name N2 - The EU should seize the day: It should issue parts of the Recovery Instrument debt as green bonds and thereby boost that burgeoning market. But it is important to manage expectations: Issuing green bonds alone will not ‚green‘ recovery spending. This will depend on the criteria for climate-friendly spending in the legal texts governing the Recovery Instrument – and these so far lack teeth. So, there is a substantial risk that EU green bonds will set the wrong precedent now if backed by weak criteria. This would pre-empt future legislative work on the final EU green bond standard. If the criteria for climatefriendly spending are not strengthened, the Commission should scale back its ambition and should only issue green bonds for measures that fully match the criteria set out in the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-36885 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Nguyen, Thu A1 - Heimbach, Henriette T1 - Time to unlock the potential of bi-parliamentarism - The Franco-German model N2 - The inception of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly in January 2019 marked an important step towards the institutionalization of Franco-German relations on a parliamentary level. The Assembly provides a forum for binational debate and democratic scrutiny, and has the potential to strengthen Franco-German cooperation and leadership at EU level by fostering practical compromises and solutions bilaterally before they are being brought to Brussels. The Assembly nevertheless falls short of its potential. In their policy brief, Henriette Heimbach and Thu Nguyen assess the Assembly’s shortcomings and provide suggestions for improvement. Apart from enhancing the transparency of its work, the Assembly should focus on addressing concrete bilateral problems and channeling them into concrete demands. At the same time, the Assembly should act as coordination forum for Franco-German positions at EU level to foster common positions. The authors conclude that despite its shortcomings, the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly can serve as a role model for other member states to establish and institutionalize similar forms of bi-parliamentarism. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-36899 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Kask, Maarja T1 - A European approach to regulating AI - The Commission’s AI strategy N2 - The European Commission’s AI strategy was released just a few short weeks before the global pandemic hit Europe. In her policy brief, Maarja Kask argues that AI can only be expected to help us through this pandemic and on a path of economic recovery if the upcoming legislation resolves the issues evident in the white paper. Not only does the Commission need to explain what it means when it talks about AI, but also be clear about its investment plan. The member states will also need to pull their weight when it comes to funding for the strategy to succeed. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-36904 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Guttenberg, Lucas T1 - Time to come home - If the ESM is to stay relevant, it should be reinvented inside the EU N2 - When restarting work on reforming the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Eurogroup should heed the lessons of the pandemic: The ESM has become politically unviable while there is apparently a lot more flexibility within the EU treaties than previously thought. Therefore, this policy brief argues that the old reform plans should be put to one side and the ESM should be reinvented inside the EU legal order if it is to remain relevant. Such a reinvention would create a coherent crisis management framework that would be politically sustainable in the long run. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-36962 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Guttenberg, Lucas A1 - Hemker, Johannes A1 - Tordoir, Sander T1 - Everything will be different: How the pandemic is changing EU economic governance N2 - The pandemic will completely shake up the EU‘s economic governance in five ways: EU debt is possible and will become a reality; the EU and the Eurozone get a fiscal capacity; the European Semester will be history; the crisis managament architecture is politically questioned; and the Eurozone loses its relevance for EU decision-making. Taken together, these five lessons from the pandemic will render the old pre-pandemic Eurozone reform agenda obsolete. EU institutions should use the coming 18 months to prepare a new reform agenda for EU economic governance that can deliver tangible results before the next EU long-term budget will be negotiated. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-37344 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-3734 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Rasche, Lucas T1 - EU Talent Partnership - Fit for Purpose? N2 - On 11 June, the Commission presented its proposal for so-called “Talent Partnerships” as a framework for member states to engage strategically with selected third countries on legal migration. Based on several pilot projects, the Talent Partnerships should allow member states to address their skills needs whilst improving cooperation in areas such as readmission or migration management. This Policy Brief takes a closer look behind the illusive terminology and asks: what exactly are Talent Partnerships? After discussing their major challenges and opportunities, the Policy Brief outlines three principles that should guide the Partnerships’ implementation: clear and realistic objectives, a focus on countries beyond the EU’s immediate neighbourhood, and avoiding negative conditionality Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-40171 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-4017 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Nguyen, Thu A1 - Redeker, Nils T1 - Check yourself before you wreck yourself N2 - Strengthening the EU’s capacity to act in economic policy making has become a fashionable talking point on the European policy agenda. At the same time, there is little debate about the institutional preconditions to be able to live up to these ambitions. In this policy brief, Nils Redeker and Thu Nguyen argue that the combination of grand policy ambition and institutional neglect constitutes a dangerous mix. Without new financial tools and decision-making procedures, the agenda is bound to disappoint. The authors argue that the debate on EU economic sovereignty needs to start talking about real reforms or else stop raising false expectations. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-40183 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-4018 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Nguyen, Thu T1 - The Commission is political: Time to act upon this truth in the run-up to 2024 N2 - How ‘political’ can and should the European Commission be? This question is a long-standing one. On the one hand, European integration demands more and more political and distributive choices to be taken at European level. On the other hand, there is the fear that a political Commission would undermine its own role as the neutral, objective guardian of the Treaties. In this policy brief, Thu Nguyen revisits the concept of a ‘political Commission’ and argues for a reinforcement of its political character in the run-up to the 2024 European elections. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/the-commission-is-political U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-4025 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Rasche, Lucas T1 - Ukraine: A paradigm shift for the EU’s asylum policy? N2 - This Policy Brief maps the EU’s immediate response to the arrival of more than three million Ukrainian refugees. While the decision to grant them immediate access to protection by activating the Temporary Protection Directive has raised the question whether current events will lead to a paradigm shift in EU asylum and migration policy, the EU’s greater test is what member states and the Commission will do next. The Policy Brief discusses why a mechanism for the fair sharing of responsibility is urgently needed and outlines what such a scheme could look. It closes by arguing that the current welcoming of Ukrainian refugees is less a paradigm shift in EU asylum and migration policy than an example of an increased politicisation of access to protection. KW - EU Migration; Ukraine; Responsibility Sharing Y1 - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-43456 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/ukraine-a-paradigm-shift-for-the-eus-asylum-policy ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Schneemelcher, Pola T1 - Taxation to the rescue? A tax reform to support EU economic recovery post-COVID-19 N2 - The COVID19 – crisis puts a strain on public households in the EU, not only because of necessary rescue packages, but also due to a drop of tax revenues in the face of an economic downward spiral. A European tax reform to support the economic recovery without putting an extra burden on companies s thus in strong need. One solution is to secure corporate taxes that formerly slipped through public budgets due to tax avoidance. In this Policy Brief, Pola Schneemelcher argues that the EU must now focus on the already proposed international minimum tax rate. Member states will not be able to implement it on their own; consensus at international level is necessary, but noncommittal. A legally binding solution can therefore only exist at EU level. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-35574 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/de/publikationen/detail/publication/taxation-to-the-rescue ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Guttenberg, Lucas A1 - Nguyen, Thu T1 - How to spend it right - A more democratic governance for the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility N2 - The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will be the core of the EU’s new Recovery Instrument to fight the economic fallout of the pandemic. Under the RRF, 310 billion euros in additional EU spending will be allocated by the European Commission to member states based on individual Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs). In this Policy Brief, we argue that the proposed governance to decide on the assessment of RRPs lacks democratic elements as parliaments are largely sidelined. This should be changed to ensure necessary political ownership at national and European level; to include a second pair of European eyes to prevent misspending; and to avoid a roll-back of EU democracy. Therefore, we propose that the European Parliament get a veto over the Commission decision assessing individual RRPs and allocating funds. National parliaments should also have a say in the adoption of the RRP of the respective member state. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-35594 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/de/publikationen/detail/publication/how-to-spend-it-right-a-more-democratic-governance-for-the-eu-recovery-and-resilience-facility ER -