The European Parliament at 40: A More Mature Institution? Evolution of the EP committees’ size

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AFET meeting © European Union (2015) – European Parliament

By Piotr Maciej Kaczyński*

For many years, the size of parliamentary committees has reflected the political choices of the Parliament. The bigger the committee – the more relevant the committee, this is the common understanding. The size of the committees stems from two sources. First is their popularity with elected Members (MEPs). Continue Reading

This is why the EU lacks a position on the Middle East crises

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Qatar responded to the ultimatum imposed by other Gulf countries, as the tensions in the region keep escalating. While the US is very active, the EU seems to lack the ability to have a coherent position on these developments. Why? This report shows how key European political actors have different preferences for their coalition partners in the Middle East, which leads to the EU as a whole having an ambiguous response when these regional crises occur. Continue Reading