Interview: EU budget rapporteur Siegfried Mureşan on the future of EU money

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Negotiations on the EU budget are not the easiest, in particular at a time of rising political fragmentation and polarization. For the first time ever, the yearly EU budget did not draw the support of the second largest political family in the European Parliament, the Socialist and Democrats. Still, a centre-to-the-right majority of policymakers managed to push the 2018 budget through the plenary of the EP. Continue Reading

France more likely than Germany to lead the EU Council after Brexit, voting records in the Council show

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with special thanks to professor Simon Hix and research assistant Davide Ferrari

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First published on July the 17th 2016, this article has been updated to take into account the latest political developments. 

While Theresa May is expected to trigger Article 50 today, on Wednesday, March 29, many observers wonder how the equilibrium of powers in the EU Council will change without the UK at the negotiations table. Continue Reading

How will the new Romanian government impact the EU?

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Against the background of rising nationalism in many Member States, the 7th largest EU member and the fastest growing EU economy in 2016 (5.2%), Romania, held its parliamentary elections this Sunday. The Social-Democrats (S&D) won by a landslide, taking advantage of the fragmentation and lack of a clear message by the center-right camp.

While no proper anti-EU party made it into the new Parliament, nationalistic sentiments do exist within the ranks of the winning party and the elections’ results do indicate a shift in the policies of Bucharest’s next government, which is more likely to play hard ball in Brussels than the outgoing one. Continue Reading

Top 10 most influential Romanian MEPs (September 2016)

Leave a comment Published in: Constitutional affairs, Influence Assessment, Insights, Politics & Institutions

Note: this country-based report is part of the broader study that measured the influence of MEPs from all 28 EU Members States. To consult the methodology and cross-country comparisons read the full “Who holds the power in the European Parliament?” study.

At the top of our list on the most influential Romanian MEPs in the European Parliament we find one of the two Romanian vice-presidents of the European Parliament: Ioan Mircea Pașcu from the Social Democrat Party (S&D). Continue Reading

Survey results: how does Brexit impact on EU initiatives and politicians?

2 Comments Published in: Constitutional affairs, Council, Insights, News, Policy, Politics & Institutions, Pollls, Varia

There is a lot of uncertainty about how Brexit will impact on the current EU initiatives and its highest level politicians. Various officials are trying to spin the narrative so that they can leverage Brexit to back their agendas. But will this work? How will Brexit actually influence the commitments to the EU integration of the remaining Member States? How will it affect TTIP negotiations, the REFIT, digital single market, or the relations with Russia and China? Continue Reading

Who is the new Romanian PM (and former EU Commissioner), Dacian Ciolos?

Leave a comment Published in: Council, Insights

by Doru P. Frantescu, director & co-founder of VoteWatch Europe

Dacian Ciolos, a 46 years old technocrat, has been appointed as caretaker prime-minister of Romania by president Klaus Iohannis. This move follows the resignation of the socialist-led Ponta government, against the background of massive protests that are asking for the modernisation of the political class. Continue Reading

MEPs approved aid to redundant workers in Spain, Netherlands, Romania and Greece

Leave a comment Published in: Budget, EP Plenary, Insights, News, Varia

MEPs approved aid to redundant workers in Spain, Netherlands, Romania and Greece 

MEPs voted in favour of the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help redundant workers to find new jobs for five applications coming from Greece, Romania, Spain (Aragón & Castilla y León) and the Netherlands, and for a technical assistance application at the initiative of the European Commission. Continue Reading