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The last winter months have demonstrated the unreliability of many of the old coal power plants in Bulgaria. For a few weeks this winter, some of the plants failed to switch on due to frozen coal supplies or frozen cooling water. These power plants receive capacity payments to be ready to switch on in precisely these situations. However, the thermal power plants Bobov dol and Brikel failed to do it.

Will the EU move at the pace of its slowest members?

By: EBR | Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Bulgaria is trying desperately to save its coal industry from tighter pollution standards at the last minute

One thing is clear: Europe needs Germany in its unavoidable role on the bridge – and needs it more than ever. This also includes building France’s new President a useful bridge. To see through his structural reforms at home, he will need a German partner that is prepared to make some corresponding economic moves, too, that Berlin has resisted so far.

The EU: Like building a cathedral

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Will the “cathedral” – aka the EU – ever be completed? Is it worth the effort? Or might it fall down and bankrupt its builders?

Macron favours transforming Europe’s bailout fund, the ESM, into a full-blown European Monetary Fund, an idea that has supporters in Berlin. He also favours a euro zone budget and finance minister, ideas less popular within Merkel’s entourage.

Europe’s populist wave crashes as Macron sails into French runoff

By: EBR | Monday, April 24, 2017

The populist tsunami that slammed into Britain last year, before sweeping across the Atlantic to the United States, may have faded on the shores of France on Sunday (23 April)

The least educated citizens, who feel left behind by globalisation and are worried about immigration, are most likely to vote for Le Pen, while the better-off, better-educated urban voters will turn to Macron. But the rising star of French politics will have to broaden his appeal beyond the cities if he is to win in a vote where the abstention rate looks set to be high and could therefore be the determining factor in electing France’s new president.

Historic French election upheaval sets up second round clash over EU

By: EBR | Monday, April 24, 2017

The first round of France’s presidential election on Sunday (23 April) reduced the traditional political parties to insignificance, in a vote that exposed the country’s deep social divisions and set up a second round clash over the EU

On a global level, Hoyer said that strong multilateral institutions will be needed to support sustainable growth. “If the US weakens its commitment to multilateralism and its institutions by seeking out bilateral agreements and enforcing protectionist measures, then this will make the global cake smaller, not larger. If you leave a group of strong friends you don’t get stronger - you get a little more lonely. An agenda where protectionist measures, such as tariffs, are used to promote domestic investment would deal a severe blow to the progress made over recent decades. To us in the EU, which is based on multilateralism and freedom of movement, this is anathema.”

Werner Hoyer: Open markets and societies will fail if people are left behind

By: EBR | Monday, April 24, 2017

Werner Hoyer, the President of the European Investment Bank, today underlined the value of multilateralism in tackling the world’s challenges and demanded a more inclusive economic policy

The departure of the UK from EU decision-making will thus provide a boost to its more heavily regulated major member economies, such as France

Post-Brexit Europe: population and economic policy

By: EBR | Friday, April 21, 2017

For the EU, Brexit means a shift toward smaller countries and less free-market countries

Theresa May’s bombshell announcement coincided with the International Monetary Fund’s release of its latest analysis of the UK economy. It underlined the widespread consensus among experts that leaving the EU will in the longer term deal a body blow to British living standards, although it sugared the pill by revising its forecast for this year’s GDP growth upwards to an EU-beating two per cent.

It’s up to the EU to ensure May’s ‘softer Brexit’ ploy pays off

By: EBR | Thursday, April 20, 2017

“It’s about getting the best possible deal” on Brexit – that is British Prime Minister Theresa May’s new mantra to explain the surprise general election she has called for 8 June

A “multi-speed Europe” would allow members to selectively participate in various initiatives, while allowing them to opt out if they choose. In this way, the system could be more effective to cure the division in the eurozone and the challenges new members face.

EU at 60: Common sense will prevail

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The recent 60th anniversary celebrations in Rome were justifiably optimistic. The European Union may well have negotiated its rough patch and from here on out it could prove to be smooth sailing

“We can invest money in research and in infrastructure, as well as redirecting EU money to support the process of convergence. But how can we avoid what we already seen and make sure we retain human capital in those countries?” asked Fabio Pammolli from the Polytechnic University of Milan.

Recent EU enlargement led to brain drain in new members

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Instead of increasing cross-border cooperation, the enlargement of the European Union has resulted in an exodus of human capital from the eastern member states to the west of the continent, according to a new study

Both Mélenchon and Le Pen see globalisation as a false dogma and the root cause of France’s economic ills. Mélenchon, a forthright critic of the European constitution that was rejected by French voters in 2005, argues that the European Union has failed to protect workers from the effects of hypercapitalism, and has become a ‘market space’ instead of a social project. If elected, he would renegotiate the treaties before holding a referendum on continued membership. For her part, Le Pen has promised an autumn 2017 referendum on France’s EU membership. Le Pen’s rhetoric relies on her role as perennial outsider: the ‘victim’ of a system that has always manoeuvred to exclude her in the same way it did her father.

The French election is a battle of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ populism

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Is there ‘good’ and ‘bad’ populism?

Biotechnology is the use of living systems or organisms in the creation of industrial products. The growth of the biotechnology industry is “important for Europe” and created 10,000 new jobs and 93 medicines recommended for market authorisation by the European Medical Agency in 2015, according to the EBE.

Europe’s biotechnology potential hindered by investment fears

By: EBR | Thursday, April 6, 2017

In terms of pure biotechnology, Europe has embraced innovation. However, it cannot compete with the US yet because it cannot drive private investment in the field, as well as open up the market to new products

The coal industry though was sceptical about the utilities’ announcement. Brian Ricketts, the secretary-general of the Euracoal trade group said: “Steam engines were replaced by something better, cheaper and more productive – electric motors and diesel engines. When we see a new energy system – with lots of energy storage – that works at an affordable price, then coal, oil and gas will not be needed. In the meantime, we still rely on conventional sources.”

The end of coal: EU energy companies pledge no new plants from 2020

By: EBR | Thursday, April 6, 2017

Companies from every EU nation except Poland and Greece sign up to initiative in bid to meet Paris pledges and limit effects of climate change

The implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and the robotics revolution are especially unsettling for Europe. Debate about the march of the robots has so far centred on whether or not they will destroy jobs and usher in an era of massive long-term structural unemployment. But we should instead be worrying about an opposite effect.

The tax shortfall of the robots

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 5, 2017

At a recent Friends of Europe roundtable on the 4th Industrial Revolution, Estonian MEP Kaja Kallas put her finger on one of the most alarming threats confronting Europe

The campaign aims at unifying voices among different educational stakeholders, raise awareness, provide policy solutions and asks for recognition by the education systems of the study period spent abroad. The lack of recognition in many European countries often obliged students to attend an additional year of school, once back in their home country.

Why the EU needs Union-wide recognition of study diplomas

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The EU is about inclusiveness, tolerance and promoting values such as democracy, education and meritocracy

The EU’s internal open borders scheme may also prove to be a case of over-reach. Abolishing borders and border controls between the 26 members of the Schengen system provided a tremendous sense of freedom. But this has not been accompanied by a proper scheme for reinforcing external border controls. So when the system came under pressure in 2015 from one million asylum seekers and economic migrants from Syria and other war-torn or impoverished countries, it crumbled, and it remains partially suspended.

As the UK prepares to leave, is Europe disintegrating after 60 years?

By: EBR | Wednesday, March 29, 2017

The EU will not necessarily disappear, but it badly needs leaders who would avoid empty slogans, which merely repackage the status quo, and instead propose tangible solutions to everyday problems

The scope of the definition affects the range of lobby activities and financial spending declared. If the Commission gets its way and limits the definition of lobbying to only direct interactions with decision-makers, campaigners fear that a vast swathe of activity and expenditure will escape disclosure, while some ‘intermediaries’ such as lobby consultancies who only conduct indirect lobbying services on behalf of clients, could disappear entirely.

Lobby transparency reform: Here we go again

By: EBR | Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Scandals from Dieselgate to tobacco, glyphosate to high finance, have contributed to widespread public cynicism over the power of lobbyists in the EU. Campaigners are facing the upcoming EU lobby transparency negotiations with a mixture of weary resignation and apprehension

However, apart from the Anglo-Saxon attacks and Brexit, the Eurozone receives also intolerable trade pressure from China, which keeps its national currency devalued -with all that this implies through the competitive perspective for the European industry and employment. Unfortunately, while the American deficits are abysmal, the currency war worldwide will be silent, but rather hard for the European economy and the advanced social background. And in this respect, the positions of President Donald Trump as expressed to the Chancellor Angela Merkell, mean a lot. They foreshadow tensions that are difficult to predict how they will be interpreted by the markets.

Europe and its enemies

By: Athanase Papandropoulos | Monday, March 27, 2017

Sixty years after the Treaty of Rome, the Union of the 27 member states has to decide its destination and its goals

The House of Commons has many MPs who are hardline supporters of Brexit and who look forward to shutting Britain borders to stop Poles and other European Union citizens coming freely to live, work, love and settle as free Europeans in a free Britain.

London terror and Poland’s utter disgrace

By: EBR | Monday, March 27, 2017

Poland’s Prime Minister (ab)uses terrorist act to settle political scores and trumpet her government’s message of utter divisiveness

Intelligent specialization should be reflected in the region’s education systems as well as in its legislative frameworks. I sincerely believe that Central and Eastern Europe can empower a better future for the old continent. I believe in the human potential of this region that remains untapped. For me, our countries have a future that is much brighter than being among the top outsourcing destinations. And with joint efforts of policy makers, academics and business leaders, we can draw this future together.

Poland’s unicorn, Slovakia’s flying car, and the future of Europe

By: EBR | Friday, March 24, 2017

The future of Europe is at stake, and the reasons extend far beyond obvious challenges such as the migration crisis and the political turbulence that led to Brexit

The relationship between unemployment and happiness raises a question regarding the usefulness of the so-called universal basic income (UBI). While the UBI is supposed to help the losers from globalisation and technological progress, it may not fully work. If UBI recipients only get income, but not jobs, they may feel socially excluded and dissatisfied.

Does money really make Europeans happy?

By: EBR | Thursday, March 23, 2017

Economists care about economic growth; the man or woman in the street wants to be happy. But to what extent are income and happiness related?

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EU Actually

Ukraine may buy for 6 billion euros Chinese drones with EU money

N. Peter KramerBy: N. Peter Kramer

In his weekly column, N. Peter Kramer writes about the Ukraine buying for 6 billion euros drones in China with EU money. Is it a threat for Taiwan?

Europe

Diplomacy intensifies over Cyprus

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United Nations secretary-general envoy Maria Angela Holguin will be in Brussels on Wednesday for meetings seen as important to European Union preparations for a possible revival of Cyprus reunification talks ahead of an expected visit by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Cyprus next week.

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How Much Pressure Can European CEOs Take?

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There was a time when the job of the CEO was difficult but relatively clear: grow the business, beat the competition, manage costs, satisfy shareholders, inspire employees and avoid major reputational mistakes. That world has disappeared.

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