Think Tank

Uncertainty is growing over the recovery of the European economy from the recession generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The European Commission has painted an optimistic growth scenario in its most recent forecast, with the economy expected to expand by 5 per cent and 4.3 per cent in 2021 and 2022 respectively. However, an increasing number of analysts see the potential for growth dampened by new restrictions in the run-up to Christmas this year given a fourth/fifth wave of the pandemic currently ...

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was one of Europe's leading figures in the generation which came after that of the founding fathers. He was close to Jean Monnet, but he himself said that his main source of inspiration was Robert Schuman. For both Schuman and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, their relationship with Germany was a thread running through their lives. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was born in Koblenz, Germany, where his father had been posted in the French administration after the First World War. Giscard ...

The year 2019 provided a respite for the European Council from crisis management, but was not without major challenges. Three stood out: the Spitzenkandidaten process for selecting the next President of the European Commission; Brexit, which unexpectedly remained on the agenda of the European Council throughout the year; and policy towards climate change. The European Council had mixed feelings about the Spitzenkandidaten process, with one of its leading members being adamantly opposed. That set ...

This study develops on the status quo in relation to the assessment of resolvability of credit institutions and banking groups in the Banking Union and the removal of substantive impediments to their resolvability under the EU legal framework governing banking resolution, as in force, taking due account of the policies developed in that respect by the Single Resolution Board within the Single Resolution Mechanism.

The IA undertakes a quantitative assessment of the economic, social and environmental impacts of strengthening the CO2 targets for cars and vans, using modelling tools with proven track record in supporting EU policy-making. It identifies and quantifies the costs and benefits of the combination of preferred options and qualitatively describes indirect costs and benefits. Despite the related considerable effort, the IA seems to define the problem at a rather aggregated level and does not provide further ...