European Union

The protests in Bulgaria have been going for almost two months now. As the government has failed to provide a meaningful alternative that could satisfy the demands of the demonstrators and thus solve the ongoing political crisis, let us examine the root causes that have driven it.

The Council of the European Union as voice of the member governments and as main legislative body of the EU alongside with the Parliament, had a key role in these debates which worth to recall.

The Magnitsky Law can serve not only as a strong political message, but also as a keen deterrent to international bullies, big or small. Ultimately, whom else but the people of CEE, having suffered for decades under different autocratic regimes could better understand the significance of human rights?

The transfer of data from the EU to the US violates the right to privacy as well as European data protection laws because data are not sufficiently protected against interception by US agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) or the FBI.

In Poland’s Presidential election, Andrzej Duda, the incumbent with strong ties to the Law and Justice (PiS) party, secured his re-election by a tiny majority of just 1.2% over his liberal rival, Rafał Trzaskowski.

As an accumulation of national interests, a treaty is a disbanding thing if Member States consider that their national interests are being harmed. Result: a disunion.

We, the eleven undersigned think tanks from ten Member States, call on the EU leadership to rise up to today’s challenges and embrace the declared principles of effectiveness, fairness, subsidiarity, transparency and democratic accountability so that the new EU budget maximizes the added value of the taxpayers’ money in the pursuit of the common goals of the EU and its Member States.

In terms of its expenditure and revenue, the draft EU budget continues to diverge significantly from what would appropriately address current challenges facing the EU27 and contribute to its economic dynamism, welfare and security.

The European Commission has announced its proposal for a recovery plan with a total budget of 750 billion euros, called Next Generation EU. It is based on the new Instrument for Recovery and Sustainability, with a proposed resource of EUR 560 billion.

Only a federal Europe connects, while preserving the sovereignty of the member states. Only federalizing Europe can save Europe.