European Union

The Council reached agreement on measures to strengthen administrative cooperation in order to better prevent VAT fraud.

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

The Council adopted a directive making the 15% minimum standard rate a permanent feature of the new VAT system

The Council approved an agreement with Norway on VAT cooperation, the prevention of VAT fraud and the recovery of VAT claims.

Main agenda items, approximate timing, pubic sessions and press opportunities.

Remarks by President Centeno following the Eurogroup meeting of 21 June, including on Greece and preparations of the Euro Summit of 29 June 2018.

The Venice Commission, a body of constitutional law experts, on Friday said Hungary should repeal its so-called 'Stop Soros' legislation on illegal migration which threatens jail for people and organisations helping migrants. The law, adopted on Wednesday, seriously impairs legitimate NGO work, unfairly criminalises activities not directly related to illegal migration, and constitutes illegitimate interference with freedom of expression, the experts said in their report for the Council of Europe.

US president Donald Trump on Friday threatened to put a 20 percent tariff on imported cars from the EU. Trump said in a tweet that unless the EU removes "tariffs and trade barriers" he will introduce the new levy. The warning comes as the EU's retaliatory measures to counter new US steel and aluminium tariffs kick in on Friday with 25 percent duties on some €2.8bn-worth of US imports.

The Brexit poll was billed by David Cameron as the once-in-a-generation opportunity to resolve Britain’s tortured relationship with the EU. It hasn’t worked out that way. Instead, it appears to have condemned Britain to a tortured conversation with itself.

EU leaders will try to tackle key migration issues and help save Merkel from a full-blown government crisis at one and half EU summits this week.

If European leaders won't agree on a working intra-European solidarity mechanism, Europe's free movement zone will be at risk and many more children will lose their lives trying to reach safety and shelter in Europe, writes Karen Mets.

The possibility of the German chancellor's fall or lasting weakening is 'the elephant in the room' in all current EU discussions.

There is not a single European company among the world's top 10 computer hardware companies. Within the EU, Germany and Sweden rank among world leaders, but Bulgaria and Slovakia among the worst-performing developed nations.

Poland’s bid to scupper the EU’s recently-updated Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was thrown out by the bloc’s highest court, which ruled on Thursday (21 June) that the advantages of the new system far outweigh the disadvantages.

European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans insisted on the need to implement full transparency about lobbying in all European institutions, including the Parliament and the Council, at a conference on Thursday (21 June).

In January 2018, the European Union adopted a new package as part of a broader Circular Economy action plan launched in 2015.

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EU-India Agenda for Action-2020 is the common roadmap to jointly guide and strengthen the India-EU Strategic Partnership in the next years. The agenda further builds upon the shared objectives and outcomes of the Joint Action Plans of 2005 and 2008.

Download this video here.

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

© stadtratte / Fotolia

Next week, European Union Heads of State or Government will discuss the politically charged issue of reforming the EU’s migration and asylum policies. Divisions among EU members over how to handle migrants were exposed again earlier this month when Italy’s new government tightened its migration policy, while the German ruling coalition faced a potentially destabilising rift over the issue.

The EU’s southern borders remain under pressure from irregular migrants escaping poverty and war in the Middle East and Africa. Although the 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey significantly slowed the influx of migrants into Europe, the problem continues to be used for political gain by nationalist, anti-immigrant and populist movements across the EU.

This note offers links to commentaries and studies on migration by major international think tanks. Earlier papers on the same topic can be found in a previous edition of ‘What Think Tanks are Thinking’, published in March 2018.

Merkel’s options, Europe’s future
Carnegie Europe, June 2018

The Conte government: Radical change or pragmatic continuity in Italian foreign and defence policy?
Istituto Affari Internazionali, June 2018

Flexible solidarity: A comprehensive strategy for asylum and immigration in the EU
Centre for European Policy Studies, June 2018

Italy’s new maverick government: Mixed signals for the EU, bad news for asylum seekers
Finnish Institute of International Affairs, June 2018

Social innovation for refugee inclusion conference report: Maintaining momentum and creating lasting change
Migration Policy Institute, June 2018

Africa-Europe ties need a reset, but not just because of migration
Friends of Europe, June 2018

Refugees are a ‘win-win-win’ formula for economic development
Brookings Institution, June 2018

Syrian refugees in Turkey: Beyond the numbers
Brookings Institution, June 2018

Annual report on migration and asylum EU 2017
European Migration Network, May 2018

Refugee integration: Millennials do it differently
Friends of Europe, May 2018

Calls to begin returning refugees to Syria must be resisted
Chatham House, May 2018

Plugging in the British: EU justice and home affairs
Centre for European Reform, May 2018

Cinq thèses sur la ‘crise des réfugiés’ en Allemagne
Institut français des relations internationales, May 2018

On the way to a global compact on refugees: The ‘Zero Draft’, a positive, but not yet sufficient step
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, April 2018

EPIM policy update
European Policy Centre, European Programme for Integration and Migration, April 2018

L’impact budgétaire de 30 ans d’immigration en France: (I) une approche comptable
Centre d’études prospectives et d’informations internationales, April 2018

Avoiding the sandstorm in the Sahel: A reflection on security, migration and development
Istituto Affari Internazionali, April 2018

La politique migratoire de l’UE, facteur d’instabilité au Sahel?
Confrontations Europe, April 2018

Europe’s great challenge: Integrating Syrian refugees
Rand Corporation, April 2018

Social distance, immigrant integration, and welfare chauvinism in Sweden
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, April 2018

Intelligente Grenzen und interoperable Datenbanken für die innere Sicherheit der EU
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, April 2018

Migrationsprofiteure? Autoritäre Staaten in Afrika und das europäische Migrationsmanagement
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, April 2018

The cost of remittances
Bruegel, April 2018

The EU remains unprepared for the next migration crisis
Carnegie Europe, April 2018

Responding to the ECEC needs of children of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe and North America
Migration Policy Institute, April 2018

It’s relative: A cross-country comparison of family-migration policies and flows
Migration Policy Institute, April 2018

Leading the way? Italy’s external migration policies and the 2018 elections: An uncertain future
Istituto Affari Internazionali, March 2018

The future of the Schengen Area: Latest developments and challenges in the Schengen governance framework since 2016
Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2018

Complaint mechanisms in border management and expulsion operations in Europe: Effective remedies for victims of human rights violations?
Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2018

Les partenariats entre l’Union européenne et les pays africains sur les migrations: Un enjeu commun, des intérêts contradictoires
Institut français des relations internationales, March 2018

Scaling up refugee resettlement in Europe: The role of institutional peer support
Migration Policy Institute, March 2018

Balanced migration: A progressive approach
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, March 2018

Oversight and management of the EU Trust Funds: Democratic accountability challenges and promising practices
Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2018

On International Women’s Day: More focus needed on integrating migrant women
Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2018

Cracked foundation, uncertain future: Structural weaknesses in the Common European Asylum System
Migration Policy Institute, March 2018

Read this briefing on ‘The migration challenge‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

In the run-up to the EU summit at the end of June leading politicians are searching for a solution to the refugee dispute. EU Council President Donald Tusk has proposed setting up centres for processing asylum applications outside the EU. Commentators are sceptical that this will deliver the all-important compromise in the escalating dispute over whether to open or close doors to refugees.