The European Central Bank (ECB) symbolises the strange mix of politics and technocracy that marks EU governance. The bank was pushed to centre stage by the eurozone debt crisis and the unwillingness or…
A European scheme to collect and retain information from all air passengers has resurfaced in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, despite having been rejected by the European Parliament in 2013. The…
Since 2009, the economic situation of Greece has helped expose the architecture and policy regime problems of the European Union and the eurozone. On Sunday the Greek electorate rebelled against the self-defeating…
Winston Churchill’s role in fostering European unity is beyond dispute in Brussels. The European Union’s website lists Churchill as one of 11 founding fathers of the organisation. In Strasbourg, the European…
This Greek election is the most important in recent memory. It appears Syriza has won by a large margin, ending four decades of two-party rule in Greece. Since 2010 – and as a result of austerity measures…
Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
The European Central Bank is due to decide whether and how to undertake quantitative easing (QE) via large-scale purchases of government debt on secondary markets. For Germany - as the Eurozone’s largest…
As investors anxiously await the announcement from the European Central Bank about whether the eurozone will implement quantitative easing (QE), we can tell from the ECB’s track record that it is very…
Food labelling is a contentious topic that has been going through the mincer for decades. Many of the issues have been designed to aid the consumer, such as the traffic light system, and clearer displays…
The New Year always provides an opportunity for both introspection and speculation. So it seems a good time to consider what the big stories are likely to be this year. Some of the five major stories I…
25 years after the beginning of the Romanian Revolution. I am standing in the University Plaza in Bucharest. My memory is channeling echoes of gun shots and student resistance; the smell of perspiration…
After seven years of planning, the South Stream pipeline that would carry gas from Russia to Europe via Bulgaria has been cancelled. After a long-running battle with the EU over the need for the pipeline…
Google’s operations in Europe have come under fire recently, with the UK proposing new corporate tax reforms that are being dubbed a “Google tax” for targeting the multi-national. And this follows hot…
The United States had just gone through a bruising election, but in Congress Democratic and Republican leaders gathered to unveil the bust of Vaclav Havel, the playwright and first post-Communist Czech…
The Rubik’s Cube has confounded millions of people, including myself since discovering it in my uncle’s house as a child. And now the iconic three-dimensional puzzle has been the subject of an EU ruling…
Just how much information Google should remove from its search results when requested is being tested by the European Union which wants to extend its influence beyond its borders. The European Court of…
Before the 2010 General Election, David Cameron promised to reduce net migration to “tens of thousands” and not hundreds of thousands. This pledge is in ruins now that net migration has hit levels even…
Apple’s market value has reached a record-breaking US$700 billion, far outstripping its nearest rival. In a year of superlatives, the company’s shares have risen by 60% and it made its largest ever acquisition…
Whichever way you look at it, the UK is going through a stormy period in its relationship with the European Union. David Cameron has promised to renegotiate the UK’s relations with the EU and to hold a…
The crisis of growth in the eurozone economy is now in its seventh year and the outlook is truly grim. But a new consensus is gradually emerging that could help lift euro countries out of this ongoing…