Czech Debate on the EU Multiannual Financial Framework

Democracy Delayed: Obstacles in Political Transition

This collection of articles, compiled by Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and Institute for European Policy EUROPEUM, responds to requests made by some Arab reformers to deepen their knowledge of how political change in Eastern Europe unfolded. Rather than focussing on the successful transitions, it presents case studies which recall the difficulties, pitfalls and political missteps which jeopardised these countries’ transitions and even caused some of them to fail.

The publication is available to download here.

The Czech and Slovak Parliaments After the Lisbon Treaty

The publication you are about to open is an output of a project called New role of the national parliaments in the EU decision-making processes: previous experience and new challenges pursuant to the Lisbon Treaty, undertaken by EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy together with the Institute of Public Affairs in Warsaw and Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin with the financial support of Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Publication is available to download here.

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TGAE - The Contribution of 16 European Think Tanks to the Polish, Danish and Cypriot Trio Presidency of the European Union

The publication is the outcome of an international project Think Global, Act European III in which EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy was involved. Led by a prominent French think tank Notre Europe, 16 think tanks took part in TGAE III.  The aim of the project and the publication was to formulate recommendations for the following trio presidency - Poland, Denmark and Cyprus.

Publications can be downloaded here.

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Poland and the Czech Republic: Advocates of the EU Enlargement?

Until recently the EU enlargement used to be the most effective instrument in the EU foreign policy. Thanks to this policy at the turn of the 20th and 21st century profound and positive changes took place in the Baltic countries, Central Europe, Balkans and Turkey. Nowadays, however, the enlargement is facing a serious crisis. This publication is an outcome of a common Czech-Polish initiative with the European dimension (more information here).

The publication is available to download here.

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Kosovo Debate on European Issues - A compilation of eight Policy Papers in the area of education, rule of law and economy

Research repeatedly confirms that investment in education is an important source of sustainable economic growth of a country. A quality education increases the opportunities of new generations for better employment and thus a higher living standard. In Kosovo, with the smallest economic growth in the region of 3.9 % and the highest unemployment rate of 43.6 % on the one hand, and on the other with the highest birth rate of 1.6 % and more than 33 % of the population under 15, the investment in the quality of education has to be taken seriously and user as a tool to change the current situation. 

The publication is available to download here.

Eastern Partnership in Context of European Neighbourhood Policy and V4 Agenda

The publication The Eastern Partnership in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy and V4 Agenda initiated by The Kosciuszko Institute and prepared jointly with the consortium of European think tanks – the Europeum Institute for European Policy and Centre for EU Enlargement Studies with invited experts, aims to present a project of the European Union – the Eastern Partnership (EaP) as an initiative actively supported by the Visegrad Group (V4) countries. This project has been co-funded by The International Visegrad Fund.

The publication is available to download here.

Transatlantic Relations 2009: A Chance for a Fresh Start?

The initial versions of nearly all contributions to the fi rst part of this publication saw the light of day during the international conference “Transatlantic Relations 2009 – A Chance for a Fresh Start?” held in Prague in May 2009. The second part of this publication consists of policy papers, developed by leading EU and US experts in the framework of the Transatlantic Policy Forum project, focusing on the following issues: Trade, Energy and Climate Change, Democracy Promotion and EU Neighbourhood.

Publication is available to download here.

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Finding Common Grounds - Rediscovering the Common Narrative of Turkey and Europe

The collection of essays offered in this volume contains some of the ideas that came out of the brainstorming and the long and insightful conversations that were held in various European cities. Whether it was in Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and of course Istanbul, the authors engaged in a process that could best be described as looking for a way out of the Turkey-EU drama. The authors could be compared to a very atypical group of passengers who found themselves in the same carriage of a train that was speeding towards a point where the track might end.

The publication is available to download here.

The 2009 Czech EU Presidency: Contested Leadership at a Time of Crises

A new publication assessing the mid-term performance of the Czech EU Presidency, written by Vladimír Bartovic, David Král (ed.) and Věra Řiháčková and published by Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS), in the framework of its project on EU Presidencies. The report can be downloaded here, as well as from the Sieps website. The report was presented at the seminar in Stockholm on 14 May 2009, by David Král and Vladimír Bartovic, with comments on the report presented by Ingrid Hjelt af Trolle and the Czech Ambassador to Sweden Mr Jan Kara.

Not Your Grandfathers‘ Eastern Bloc

The publication is a product of the Open Society Institute – Sofia within the European Policies Initiative (EuPI, www.eupi.eu) and the project The EU New Member States as Agenda Setters in the Enlarged European Union. This EuPI project has been implemented in close partnership with EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, with funding provided by the Open Society Institute – Sofia.
The report is based mainly on in-depth country reports from the ten New Member States. You will find the comparative study here. To access the individual country reports for the 10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, please follow this link.

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Views on American Foreign Policy - The Atlanticism of Political Parties in Central and Eastern Europe

This publication is an outcome of a year-long project on the foreign policy agenda, positions, orientation, and behaviour of political parties in selected Central and Eastern European countries. The research was funded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and co-funded by the Konrad- Adenauer-Stiftung. The interviews were held under Chatham House Rules. Any errors of the analysis or the factual interpretation are the authors’ sole responsibility. The authors would also like to thank the US Embassy in Prague for additional financial assistance, which allowed for the publication of this book.

The publication is available to download here.

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Democracy´s New Champions - European Democracy Assistance After EU Enlargement

This publication is an output of international research project co-ordinated by PASOS - Policy Association for an Open Society. There were four PASOS members from the Visegrad countries participating at this publication, namely EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic, the Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University, Hungary, the Institute of Public Affairs, Poland, and the Institute for Public Affairs, Slovakia. The project was made possible with the financial support of the International Visegrad Fund, the Open Society Institute Think-Tank Fund, and the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of the Open Society Institute.

The publication is available to download here.

Bulgaria, Romania...and who next?

The rejection of the EU Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands in 2005 has cast doubts about the future direction of the European Union, including the future of one of its most successful tools – enlargement. The link between widening and enlarging the European Union comes to the fore again and the argument that further EU expansion should be slowed down or halted altogether without institutional reform gains salience across the EU. Still, the enlargement process has technically not stopped, but surely is going through diffi cult times. Although Turkey started accession negotiations in October 2005, the talks almost collapsed in 2006 due to the failure to settle the extension of the customs union to Cyprus. Despite the existing commitments of the EU to integrate the countries of Western Balkans, only Croatia is currently negotiating its accession and only Macedonia enjoys the candidate status whereas there is very little progress in sight regarding the rest of the region. 

                                      The publication is avalaible to download here.

Visa policies of the European Union and the United States – Challenges for Transatlantic partners; Counterterrorism policies in Central Europe

This publication represents an outcome of the second research project awarded to EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The overarching aim of the research was to look into some issues regarding the internal security milieu in the post 9/11 environment both in the United States and the European Union, and to identify where there are possible areas for co-operation and controversy of both partners. Particular attention was paid to the attitudes in the new EU member states, especially in Central Europe, that were faced with the challenges of accommodating themselves in the dynamically developing policy in the area of freedom, security and justice in the European Union. One of the report here.

The publication is available to download here (only in Czech language). 

The Fight Against Terrorism: Global Challenge of the 21st Century

The initial versions of nearly all contributions to this publication saw the light of the day during the international conference „The Fight Against Terrorism – Global Challenge of the 21st Century?“, organised by EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in co-operation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the British Embassy, the American Information Center, and held under the patronage of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in September 2006 in Prague. This publication includes all conference contributions. They appear here in a number of different forms; keynote speeches are almost verbatim transcripts of what was said at the conference, some speakers made minimal follow-up changes to their contributions before publication, and others chose to turn them into articles (complete with references in footnotes).

The publication is available to download here.

Turkey and Ukraine: Wanted of Not?

This publication is the output of the project Analysis and Promotion of Policy Debate on the European Future of Turkey and Ukraine in Four Central European States that examined the Czech attitudes towards the EU membership prospects of two countries: Turkey and Ukraine. It deals with the attitudes of the political representation, including the political parties, government and diplomatic service (the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs) and other governmental stakeholders. Furthermore, it tried to give an account of how the issue has been treated in the media, especially in the major opinion-shaping newspapers. In addition, it tried to assess who the other stakeholders in the process are, especially within the ranks of the civil society, and how they are likely to shape the public debate.

Enlarged European Union and its Foreign Policy: Issues, Challenges, Perspectives

This paper looks at the impact of new member states in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It makes reflections on the track record of those states in the period since they joined the Union. However, it tries to look beyond that and sees what will be the likely path of their involvement in the domain of CFSP in the future, with reference to the EU’s “near neighbourhood”.

The publication is available to download here.

From Policy Takers to Policy Makers

After accession of ten countries of Central and Eastern Europe to the EU there was no significant changes in setting EU Structural and Cohesion Policies. The main question which this comparative study strives to answer is to which extent current framework of these EU policies suit the needs of new member states. This preliminary version (final version is expected to come out in September) has been elaborated by experts of the independent institutes from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Latvia and Austria in co-operation with Swedish policy institute SIEPS as a leader of this project.

Publication is available to download here.

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SAPARD Review

This publication provides an overview of implementation of the Sapard program in seven countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) focusing both on success and problematic issues.

download in PDF (5.5 MB)

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