The Spitzenkandidaten system was meant to enhance the democratic legitimacy of the European Parliament. But that wasn’t why more citizens voted in May.

Economists have been pretty silent over the summer. It has probably been too hot to come up with new ideas. Generally speaking, most of them are more passionate about 2% inflation or ½% growth and other economic key figures than about the 2% rise in the Earth’s temperature. This summer, wildfires spread all over Europe […]

The new European Commission company mobility package is unbalanced. It aims at establishing European rules for business mobility in three areas: company conversions, mergers and divisions (corporate break-ups). On one side, there is a threefold delivery to the business community in terms of replacing national by European rules to facilitate cross-border company activities. But, on the […]

While Europe found itself in a new triangular relationship and holding more and more divergent views with the USA’s Trumpism on one side and Russia’s Putinism on the other, the composition of fish fingers and chocolate spread became a popular discussion topic in the press and amongst EU Member States. The increasingly tense global debates […]

The French ‘patronat’, the business lobby group aka Medef, had for a long time the reputation of being the most stupid in the world. Today, the French political right is on the way to taking its place. Even a superficial analysis of the Brexit referendum and the US elections shows that the losers of unfettered […]

Tech giants like to be regarded as unicorns. Since the late 1300s, the unicorn has been the national animal of Scotland. Believed to be the natural enemy of the lion – a symbol that the English royals adopted around a century earlier –it is clear to every Scot that the mythical animal is stronger. Tech […]

True believers in globalisation can be recognised by the following simple characteristic: They are convinced that it benefits all. This credo is being queried since Brexit, and some intelligent authors now recognise that the UK vote may well be linked to the fact that many people see themselves as losers of globalisation who are now […]

A lot of hype has built up around digitalisation, in some Member States as well as in Brussels. On one side, the over-enthusiastic camp bases its assumptions on wishful thinking: digitalisation will bring a circular economy with less waste, better use of resources, fantastic opportunities for information, communication, connectedness and transparency, easier reconciliation of life […]

Brexit is marginal; the real danger for Europe lurking around the corner would be Frexit. Marine Le Pen’s Front National was stopped at the regional elections but she got the highest number of votes ever: 6.8m. Will she be stoppable in the race to the presidential elections? She has promised to organise a referendum on […]

The first industrial revolution was based on the transition from manual production methods to machines and the use of steam power (from 1800), the second industrial revolution was based on mass production and electrification (from 1840/60), and the third referred to computerisation (lean-production, kaizen). The new challenge is the digital revolution, in other words: fourth […]

1. A more business friendly environment is needed. In reality, thanks to the manifold activities of the Barroso Commission and the “better regulation” agenda, the balance between stakeholders has shifted substantially in recent years in favour of the business side. The Barroso Commission even proposed a new company form for Europe called the SUP which […]

It is quite amazing that the European Commission has never really addressed the question of European democracy. Neither a White Paper nor a Green Paper has been issued to reflect upon the concept of supranational democracy that has been under discussion since the very foundations of the European Community/Union. The issue of a democratic deficit […]

Does the Commission take unemployment as a serious challenge? What future for the Europe 2020 strategy? A few comments on European Commission: “Results of the public consultation on the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” This new note from the European Commission is clearly a step further down the road towards marginalising […]

The European Commission has once again issued a legislative proposal which jeopardises workers’ rights. The proposal for a “single-member private limited liability company” (SUP in European jargon) would create a 29th regime in company law. It goes down the same road as those previous company law proposals (like the European Private Company) which bypass rules […]

After the European elections, the World Cup became the new hot topic. Only insiders were interested enough to follow closely the selection process of the new Commission President. Nevertheless, there were some quite interesting developments which are worth noting: the European elections were the most European in the history of the directly elected European Parliament […]