Cohesion & Governance

UK Independence Party renews culture wars

UKIP is just a small part of a broader phenomenon spreading across the developed world that resembles a political backlash against globalization and interdependence. But how should mainstream parties respond?  

Think again: European decline

Although it may seem that Europe is down and out as it struggles with multiple crises, things are in fact far, far better than they appear on the surface.   

The remarkable rise of continental Euroscepticism

A new ECFR analysis shows that trust in the EU has plummeted across the continent. Both southern debtors and northern creditors feel like they are victims.  

Revolt of the technocrats

Does the launch of a new Eurosceptic party in Germany suggest there is fertile ground for a real alternative ahead of elections later this year, despite Merkel's refusal to countenance change?  

For a European Republic

Whether political leaders or citizens, the pragmatics have failed to build a prosperous and wholly democratic EU. The system we live in neither provides for nor admits any legitimate representation for the citizens of Europe. Now it’s the turn of the dreamers. Today, they are the true realists.  

Europe’s misgovernment

The Cypriot crisis has made it brutally clear just how bad misgovernment with the EU – and the eurozone – really is. The only way to fix this is for genuine banking, fiscal, and economic union within the eurozone, backed by legitimate political instruments.  

Europe has lost its citizens

The latest Eurobarometer figures are showing clearly what the election results have been hinting at: hit by the crisis, Europeans have lost their confidence in the EU. After having saved the euro, we must rescue the legitimacy of the EU.  

Why the EU needs Britain

In foreign policy the UK is already far more involved in Europe than its disengaged image would suggest. ECFR's European Foreign Policy Scorecard suggests that the UK is up there with Germany and France as a leader in European foreign policy.  

Britain’s European catharsis

Like Greece, Spain and Germany, Britain now faces a cathartic moment when it needs to decide what price it is worth paying to stay in the European Union: coolheaded rationality must prevail over emotion  

Cameron’s backward looking speech

Cameron's EU speech is a bad miscalculation that underestimates how much the world has changed, and how much Britain needs Europe if it is to retain an influential voice in global affairs.