Thinking Federalist

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The Green Deal: The Revival of European Federalism?

Ursula von der Leyen’s plan to accelerate the EU’s energy transition, put forward in December, will not be truly effective without a more profound updating of the Union’s governance: one which strives towards a decidedly more federal model. Progress on energy integration With regards to (…)

Friday 24 January 2020

The EU expansion saga continues

On the night of the 17th-18th October, the European Council met to discuss the possible expansion of the EU to include Albania and North Macedonia. Assisted by the Netherlands and Denmark, Emmanuel Macron blocked the process very undiplomatically, provoking the wrath of the Commission, (…)

Monday 9 December 2019

Let’s talk about federalism – an anthropological approach

What is federalism and why are young Europeans attracted to it in 2019? How can this question be addressed through the lens of anthropology? These questions led me to Brussels during my three and a half months of fieldwork on my Master’s program. While my fellow students got away to rather (…)

Sunday 8 December 2019

A Europe of (the) Regions: what do we mean when we speak of subsidiarity?

The concept of subsidiarity seems deceptively simple: decisions should be made as close to those affected by them as reasonably practicable. If there is no added value in dealing with a problem on an EU level, Member States should be left to do so. The Lisbon Treaty (or more precisely, its (…)

Saturday 7 December 2019

Failing to launch accession talks for North Macedonia and Albania is a historic mistake. Here’s how we should move forward

Nikola Donev outlines the history of the Western Balkans and explains what the EU’s failure to launch accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania mean for those countries.

Monday 4 November 2019

Who thought putting a wrecker of European values in charge of EU enlargement was a good idea?

As the incoming President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her team for the next European Commission, Hungary reliably played its usual troublemaker role. The Hungarian nominee was confirmed as László Trócsányi who previously served as the Justice Minister under Viktor Orbán between 2014 and 2019. (…)

Tuesday 17 September 2019

Antifederalists can critique the EU – but only federalists have viable solutions

Juuso Järviniemi comments on Dirk Jörke and Jared Sonnicksen’s paper “Towards an Antifederalist Theory of the EU: Democratic Federal Lessons for the European Union” (JCMS, 2019). Given that federalists speak of a “United States of Europe”, it’s not a surprise many take cues from the American (…)

Friday 16 August 2019

Niyazi Kızılyürek MEP: My campaign “was not federalism in abstract but federalism in practice”

On 26 May, the small country of Cyprus made history by electing, for the first time since 1964, a Turkish Cypriot. This event was only possible in the European elections. Niyazi Kızılyürek, who now sits in the European Parliament with the European United Left, is a professor of political history (…)

Saturday 27 July 2019

Fixing the Spitzenkandidaten system for a more democratic EU

After more or less a month from the elections, the ninth legislature of the European Parliament started the same day as the European Council met for the third time in a row in order to find an agreement on the so called ‘EU top jobs’ package. The most important debate was on the name of the (…)

Monday 15 July 2019

Slaughter of the Spitzenkandidaten system showcases need for democratic EU reform

For the past few weeks, we have been witnesses to what could be characterised as a political blockage which only showcased the weaknesses of the Spitzenkandidaten process and the fact that the leaders of the member states cannot be bothered to look beyond their personal ambitions and interest (…)

Wednesday 3 July 2019

The EU-Switzerland agreement still under negotiation

Switzerland doesn’t belong to the EU but it’s partially integrated to it thanks to different agreements that allow it to have a special relationship with Europe. Surrounded by EU member states that all have the same currency, Switzerland is dependent on access to the European market. Swiss (…)

Wednesday 12 June 2019

An impending constitutional crisis is built into the EU system. Will the Parliament outwrestle the European Council?

Checks and balances are a defining characteristic of Western democracies. Because giving dictatorial powers to one person or group of people rarely ends up well, power is wielded in multiple places at the same time: think of the typical triangle of legislature, executive and judiciary, for example. In turn, this means that there need to be rules for what each of these different institutions can do, and how they hold each other to account – stating these rules is one of the main purposes of a constitution.

Monday 27 May 2019
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