European Union (EU)

In a year full of elections and decisions that may strongly impact on the future shape and direction of European integration, we aim, together with you, to discuss the most relevant challenges facing Europe. We cordially invite you to engage in this year’s European Youth Conference.

On April 2, 2017 Parliamentary elections took place in Armenia. These were the first national elections after the Constitutional Referendum of 2015 which transformed the country from a Presidential into a Parliamentary Republic. An analysis.

Sixty years after the signing of the Treaties of Rome, Europe finds itself at a crossroads. Understanding what this wake-up call means for a liberal Europe was the subject of discussion at an international conference titled “Moving Forward with Europe!”.

Ágnes Heller is one of the most prominent philosophers of our time. We talked with her about her experiences during the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, about the crisis in Europe and its future, and about coping with the past.

There’s an active interplay between anti-liberal movements and political parties within the EU and an authoritarian challenge from the outside, Ralf Fücks told EurActiv Czech Republic.

The victory of Donald Trump and the way his election campaign was conducted will have multiple effects on politics in the EU, sleepless nights are already one of them.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán and his ruling party Fidesz failed with their referendum to obstruct the EU’s effort to impose an obligatory quota scheme for the resettlement of refugees. However, they could benefit from this defeat in domestic policies. A commentary.

The government’s hate campaign against the refugees will soon achieve its goal: on October 2, Hungarians will cast their votes in an unnecessary, expensive and inhumane referendum.

The big challenge facing the EU is how it can reconcile its new policy of promoting stabilisation and security in the Middle East with human rights and democratisation.

The gas pipeline Nord Stream II should double the existing natural gas transport capacity from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea. Juraj Mesík explains why the Kremlin will be the biggest winner of this project.

After the UK vote for leaving the European Union, India, with historically close ties to Britain has to reassess its relations with both sides. A weakening of either the EU or the UK is against India's interests, which could lead to a revivification of the Commonwealth and to new multilateral free trade areas.

On 1 July 2016 Slovakia assumed the Presidency of the EU Council. The government had been planning to implement the agreement reached between the UK and the EU in February 2016. But now they have to deal with the fact that Great Britain is leaving the European Union.

The government accepted the result with disappointment, while many in opposition saw it as an inspiration. Yet the post-Brexit debate might just as well be an opportunity to anchor the Czech Republic more deeply in the European Union.

While Great Britain’s future departure from the European Union is a sizable loss to Hungary in both political and economic terms, the Hungarian government is trying to cash in on increasing popular dissatisfaction with Brussels.

The energy sector in Ukraine is undergoing a fundamental transition. Yet, to overcome old structures and deep-rooted corruption, Ukraine needs a clear long-term strategy on the transition to green economy and sustainable energy. German and the EU technical support can play a key role in this process.

What will Brexit mean for European climate and energy policy? How will it affect the dynamics of greater climate protection that we are taking pains to maintain in the wake of Paris?

The referendum on UK's membership in the EU marks a unprecedented turning point in the history of the EU. Its effects cannot entirely be foreseen but it shows the current problem areas of the European integration project.

Great Britain will leave the EU. What does that mean for European Union going forward? What can be done to strengthen political unity within the Union? A commentary by Ralf Fücks.

We cannot quarantine ourselves from the instability that reigns south and east of Europe. Europe must strike a new balance between idealistic foreign policy and realism. The opening address of the 17th Annual Foreign Policy Conference. 

The Heinrich Böll Foundation focuses in its work programme 2016 on the impacts of the fossile ressource coal, and on ideas and opportunities a European energy union could offer to its citizens.