The Euro Crisis: the Greek Run

Article published on The Economist, 19 May 2012
It is not a good idea for Greece to leave the euro. But it is time to prepare for its departure.
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The Greek People Now Face a Stark Choice: in or out?

Article by Timothy Garton Ash, published on The Guardian, 17 May 2012
It’s just another election in the birthplace of democracy, but the future of Europe may turn on this one.
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From European Crisis to European Democracy

Aritcle published by Francesca E.S. Montemaggi, on Open Democracy, 16 May 2012
European politicians are seeking to follow the moods of the public rather than to shape them. Europeans do not want Europe to fail, but Europe cannot rest solely on the actions of the German Chancellor, the French President, or the President of the European Central [...]

Democratizing the Eurozone

Article by Vivien Schmidt published on the European Social Journal, 15 May 2012
In recent months, more and more attention has been focused on the failure of the Eurozone leaders’ policies of fiscal consolidation, with growth presented as the alternative. The problems for the Eurozone stem not just from the policies, however.  They also come from the governance [...]

The Extinction of the Greek Dinosaurs?

Article published by Takis S. Pappas on Open Democracy, 11 May 2012
The collapse of the two formerly dominant Greek parties, PASOK and New Democracy, has left a gaping void in the center of the political competition space waiting to be filled by liberal forces.
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How to Negotiate under Co-decision in the EU: Reforming Trilogues and First-Reading Agreements

CEPS Policy Brief by Lukas Obholzer and Christine Reh , 8 May 2012 
The Constitutional Affairs Committee is currently reviewing the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure to increase the effectiveness, transparency and inclusiveness of first-reading agreements under co-decision. This policy brief takes a stand as to which rules should be adopted to achieve these objectives. Given the steep rise of [...]

The Paradox of the EU and Democracy

Article by Andrew Lilico, published on The Telegraph, 9 May 2012
Following recent anti-austerity votes in France and Greece and the fall of the Dutch government, some folk have begun to ask whether the euro is really compatible with democracy. It is of interest to reflect upon the paradoxical relationship between the EU as a whole [...]

Europe Day: Hard Challenges, Soft Democracy

Article by Bruno Kaufmann published on the EUObserver, 9 May 2012
There is no doubt that history was made on Europe Day in 2012. It marked the first time a direct, transnational and digital tool of formal citizen participation came into operation. But the first European Citizens Initiative (ECI) risks setting a poor precedent for subsequent [...]

Those Revolting Europeans

Article by Paul Krugman, published on The New York Times, 6 May 2012
The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it’s about time.
Both countries held elections Sunday that were in effect referendums on the current European economic strategy, and in both countries voters turned two thumbs down. It’s far from clear how soon the votes [...]

Stop Fretting about a French Revolution

Article by Philip Stephens published on the Financial Times, 3 May 2012

France’s presidential election has offered a glimpse of Europe in revolutionary mood. Yet it would be a mistake to draw the conclusion that the Fifth Republic is poised to elect a revolutionary president.
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Professionalization and Individualized Collective Action: Analyzing New ‘Participatory’ Dimensions in Civil Society

Jan W. van Deth

Jan van Deth summarizes for EUDO Café the core argument of the volume he recently edited: Jan W. van Deth & William A. Maloney (eds), Professionalization and Individualized Collective Action: Analyzing New ‘Participatory’ Dimensions in Civil Society (Routledge, 2012).
Two observations of recent changes related to the junction of democracy and participation [...]

After the Third Way. The Future of Social Democracy in Europe

Olaf Cramme

Olaf Cramme summarizes for EUDO Café the findings of his book After the Third Way. The Future of Social Democracy in Europe  (edited by Olaf Cramme and Patrick Diamond, I.B. Tauris, 2012).
The global financial crisis has struck like an earthquake at the heart of the institutions, practices and beliefs of the last decades. [...]

How Citizens’ Initiatives Influence the Patterns of Political Agenda-Setting in Europe

Maija Setala

Maija Setälä summarizes for EUDO Café the findings of her book Citizens’ Initiatives in Europe: Procedures and Consequences of Agenda-Setting by Citizens (edited by Maija Setälä and Theo Schiller, Palgrave MacMillan, 2012).
There has recently been an increasing interest in so called democratic innovations, which provide new channels of citizen engagement. Citizens’ initiatives allow [...]

Learning from the EU Constitutional Treaty

Ben Crum

Ben Crum summarizes for EUDO Café the core argument of his recent book: Learning from the EU Constitutional Treaty. Democratic Constitutionalization beyond the Nation-State, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2012
My book Learning from the EU Constitutional Treaty provides a comprehensive analysis of the rise and fall of the [...]

Neglected Democratic Dilemmas in the Case Law of the European Court of Justice?

Christoffer C. Eriksen

Christoffer C. Eriksen summarizes for EUDO Café the core argument of his recent book: The European Constitution, Welfare States, and Democracy : the Four Freedoms vs. National Administrative Discretion, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2012
How do the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital in the [...]

Cultural Diversity, European Identity and the Legitimacy of the EU

Dieter Fuchs

Dieter Fuchs summarizes for EUDO Café the core argument of his recent book: Dieter Fuchs, Hans-Dieter Klingemann,  Cultural Diversity, European Identity and the Legitimacy of the EU, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011
The debate about the state and the development of the EU has been characterized by several assumptions. First, further integration of the EU is [...]

Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy

David Farrell

David Farrell summarizes for EUDO Café the core argument of his recent book: Russell J. Dalton, David M. Farrell and Ian McAllister, Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2011)
In the academic literature on political parties (including important contributions by the late Peter Mair), which argues that political [...]

Europe Without Thresholds: The Decision of the German Constitutional Court Against the “Five Percent Threshold” (Cases BVerfG of 9 November 2011, 2 BvC 4/10, 2 BvC 6/10, 2 BvC 8/10)

Marcus Hahn-Lorber

On 9 November 2011, the German Constitutional Court delivered a far-reaching judgment on European electoral law as it has been concretised by German legislation. The Constitutional Court declared the so called “five percent threshold”, which is provided by s. 2(7) Europawahlgesetz unconstitutional and therefore void. In order not to interfere with EU electoral [...]

The Democratic Deficit – Can the European Union Bridge the Gap?

Shirley Williams

When George Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece, proposed a referendum on the Greek austerity programme, the chanceries of Europe quailed, and the European Union’s leaders collectively denounced the idea. But George Papandreou’s proposal was not absurd. It was rooted in the belief that the Greek people needed to own the painful austerity [...]

The Case Law of the ECJ on the Principle of Transparency and the Right to Access the Documents of European Institutions

Paolo Ponzano
The Lisbon Treaty has placed a new emphasis on transparency. Transparency is ancillary both to representative and participatory democracy (articles 10(3) and 11(2) TEU) and is, as such, at the democratic foundations of the Union. This has consequences both for the EU legislator and, indeed, for EU administration. By Treaty provisions, the European Parliament [...]