EU leaders have had much to contend with in 2020 – coordinating efforts to deal with the economic fallout of a global pandemic and tackling democratic backsliding in EU countries, with a backdrop of a retreating US from the global stage and complicated relations with Russia and other states. Amidst this, it may seem that…
Introduction With the approval of the Programme for Government (PfG) by Fianná Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party, the three parties now enter a coalition government, over 20 weeks after the general election on 8 February 2020. Since then, the EU has come under pressure with regard to its response to Covid-19, the stalling of…
Introduction With Portuguese Minister of Finance Mário Centeno announcing in June 2020 that he will not seek a second terms as president of the Eurogroup, the 19 finance ministers of the EU’s single currency began searching for his replacement. What does the role of President of the Eurogroup involve and who are the three candidates…
Introduction: Overhauled by Covid-19 Back in February 2020, the EU was unable to reach agreement on the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027. The key issues that shaped the debate then were the loss of the UK’s contribution to the MFF of around €75 billion, climate change and migration. Now, following an unprecedented period of…
The onset of the Covid-19 crisis saw the European Commission set out ambitious plans to not only mitigate the economic fallout from the pandemic, but also to map the way ahead for the eventual recovery. In this Just the Facts, we take a look at what the EU has done to assist Member States during the pandemic and what has been planned for the economic recovery of the EU. Introduction: First…
The tourism sector has been one of the hardest hit by the Coronavirus lockdowns. The European Commission has estimated severe loss of revenue in European tourism that supports some 27 million jobs across in the EU. But how is the EU providing support for this important European sector? This Just the Facts in our series…
Introduction: While the course navigated so far in Brexit is incomplete, the knotted issue of fisheries has being climbing the political ladder. Michel Barnier has stated that an EU – UK trade deal cannot be agreed without an agreement on fisheries. In this Just the Facts, we will explore why the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) may cause Brexit talks to run aground. What is the Common Fisheries Policy? The CFP, an exclusive competency since 1983, has four pillars…
Introduction As the COVID-19 crisis developed across the EU in February and March, much attention has been given to the closure of land border crossings and to the suspension of air travel across the EU. The European Commission has responded by introducing measures to mitigate this, as explored in a recent EM Ireland ‘Just the…
AS COVID-19 APPEARS to have reached its peak in many countries across the EU, governments are now examining ways in which current restrictions can be lifted without risking a second wave of infections. In its ‘roadmap’ for a pan-European exit strategy, the European Commission made a series of recommendations to the 27 EU member governments in advance of lifting current restrictions. One recommendation is that countries…
Europe Day, 9 May, is extra-special this year as it is also the 70th anniversary of the Schuman declaration, which created the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Then French foreign minister, Robert Schuman’s big idea was to generate economic interdependence to make war between France and Germany impossible, hence sharing coal and steel production,…