Politics and Institutions

• Staff

Piotr Maciej Kaczyński, Research Fellow
Mike Beke, Research Assistant
Maja Kluger Rasmussen, Visiting Research Fellow
Peadar ó Broin, Associate Research Fellow

• Achievements 2009

The Politics and Institutions unit aims to monitor development of the EU institutions and to contribute to the general debate about the future of the EU. It also provides legal expertise to the work of other policy units within CEPS.

Following previous studies on the impact of the 2004 enlargement on the functioning of the Council of Ministers (2007) and the European Commission (2008), in 2009 CEPS researchers focused on the functioning of the European Parliament on the eve of the 7th European elections held in June 2009. The main finding of the research was that the legislative body’s main challenge remains legitimacy, while the integration of newer member countries’ MEPs into the system had proceeded relatively smoothly.

The second research priority was on the ratification and implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Researchers gave many presentations on the subject to various groups from most EU member countries and beyond. CEPS researchers travelled to Ireland ahead of the second Irish referendum on the treaty ratification to get a first-hand impression of the campaign. Numerous publications were published on the ratification process in Ireland and the Czech Republic by CEPS and other institutes within the EPIN network.

The third research priority was on the European Commission. In one paper, the researchers (Kaczynski et al.) assessed the Commission’s position within the institutional triangle. In another (edited by Gros and De Clerck-Sachsse), recommendations were formulated for the incoming European Commission.

The unit’s researchers focused also on two other areas: i) improvements in the decision-making process of the European Union and ii) the EU Presidencies’ activities. Within those two areas researchers have prepared papers.

Through EPIN – the European Policy Institutes Network, which consists of 31 think tanks from 26 countries, including 24 EU member states – the unit actively promotes interaction among citizens and researchers. Since its establishment in 2002, EPIN has proven to be a very useful forum for the exchange of different national views on issues of common European interest, thus bringing together the ideas and concerns from the enlarged European Union. In 2009 there were three EPIN events: in Budapest, Bratislava and Brussels. EPIN also published six working papers and three commentaries.

• Priorities 2010

With the new Lisbon Treaty finally approved, the unit’s research programme is essentially dictated by the set-up of new institutions. The following issues suggest themselves as the main research focus in the upcoming years:
-    Implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon
-    Functioning of the European Commission in the new institutional set-up
-    Functioning of the Council and the European Council
-    Functioning of the European Parliament
-    Other institutional innovations in the Lisbon Treaty, especially the role of national parliaments; the European Citizens Initiative; the passarelle clause; enhanced cooperation and the new simplified treaty revision procedure.

The research focus in 2010 will be the update and finalisation of the Institutions after Enlargement project into one paperback publication. A major research focus will be put on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. There will also be work on a report on the role of national parliaments in the European decision-making system and lobbying in the European Parliament.

This unit also provides extensive visibility to CEPS through the researchers’ media outreach and external speaking engagements.

• EPIN network

EPIN is a CEPS-led network of 31 research institutes from almost all EU member states and candidate countries. It is guided by a ‘steering committee’ composed of seven member institutes. EPIN provides a platform for researchers and policy analysts to establish personal links, exchange knowledge and collaborate on EU-related issues and consists of. Members bring their national perspectives to bear on the issues tackled and through collaboration, they contribute to establish a 'European added-value' (e.g. on EU communication, flexible integration). For 2010, EPIN aims to maintain its current level of activity (8 Working Papers a year and three events), communicating electronically on a regular basis with the 3,500 individuals in its online database.

• Participation in Ph.D. programs

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