Doing more with less: The future of the Common Agricultural Policy post-2020

On May 2 the European Commission released a Communication that outlined the Union’s overall budgetary plan for the 2021 – 2027 Multiannual Financial Framework …

London’s Global Reach and the Half a Trillion Dollars Equity Prize

As the world’s leading international financial centre, London faces fascinating opportunities as well as some significant challenges in coming years. This is as a …

Basel regulations: a danger for European banks

The ongoing Basel IV discussions seek to impose additional capital requirement on banks, a move that would disproportionately affect those in Europe.
Whilst the …

Employment in privatised utilities

On 15 June 2017, the Directorate General for Internal Policies published a report which maps the recent history of privatisation and examines the risk …

How Economically Free are the EU Member States?

The Heritage Foundation recently posted its Index of Economic Freedom for 2017, the 23rd annual index of its kind. The Member States of the …

Mercantilist arguments in the Union

Over the last few years, prominent economists, think tanks and business newspapers have come to the consensus that Germany’s trade surplus is a problem …

Greece – the conundrum of currency and institutions

(Part 1)
 
It appears to many that Greece is a lost cause and a country that can maybe only survive outside the euro. …

The spectre of another lost decade

On Sunday night, following a shock negative result in a referendum on the constitutional reform he had championed, Matteo Renzi, Italy’s Prime Minister, announced …

The CAP and the struggle for development policy coherence

Since the 1992 MacSharry reform, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has undergone substantial changes. However, despite a noticeable move towards less market- and trade- …

The precautionary principle and the GMO paradox

 
Since the adoption of the 1990 Directive 90/220/EEC the EU has “de facto” imposed a moratorium on cultivating GM crops.
As the European …

The Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base relaunched

 
The European Commission has rebooted its proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. The CCCTB aims to tax multinationals operating in more …

Prospects for agricultural reform in the EU

6 April 2016
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is today the EU’s most expensive policy, taking up almost half of the annual budget. It …