The end of globalisation? CEPS Commentary, 10 March 2016

China has just announced that its exports declined on an annual basis last year, for the first time since the country began opening up its economy to the world at the end of the 1970s. And that is not all; in value terms, global trade declined in 2015. The obvious question is why?

Scotland and the European Union. EPC Policy Brief, 14 July 2016

Britain’s referendum on EU membership revealed a country divided; while the United Kingdom voted to leave by 52%, Scotland voted by 62% to remain in the EU, putting the question of Scottish independence back on the table. The Scottish government says that Scotland should not be taken out of the EU against the will of its people, and that a second referendum on independence is “highly likely”. Although the Scottish people voted against independence in a referendum in 2014, opinion polls currently suggest that a majority in Scotland wants another referendum, and would vote for independence. In this Policy Brief, Graham Avery looks at how the Scottish question relates to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU; what factors have changed since the Scottish people voted against independence in 2014 and what Scotland‘s chances are of remaining in the EU.

Commission on the Loose? Delegated Lawmaking and Comitology after Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon has altered the institutional mechanism of the European Union. The introduction of formal hierarchy of legal acts has important implications for the balance of power among the EU institutions. This paper argues that the Commission is likely to enjoy some discretion in delegated lawmaking while remaining in the shadow of the legislators’ activism. The Commission has also successfully positioned itself to diminish the influence of comitology committees on the adoption of implementing acts, though a new layer of complexity was added. The possible outcomes of this new institutional battle are analysed in the context of the new challenges to the Community method. Some important inferences of this institutional shift for the debate on the democratic deficit in the EU are also drawn up.