Anthony Salamone takes a look at the week in Brussels blogging

The EU centre and the crisis

Ian Crowther at the Manchester Policy Blogs writes that despite the numerous reforms put forward to fix Europe’s banking system, the root problem of systemic risk is not being addressed. He notes that the ECB’s current review of bank supervision policy does not include the key issue of the separation of retail and investment banking.

Elsewhere, Agata Gostyńska and Roderick Parkes write at Policy Network that European political groups face a number of challenges in deciding how to nominate a ‘lead candidate’ for European Commission president ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2014.

On the OUP blog, David Bartam reports that economic migration may not lead to greater personal happiness. In studies of people who moved from eastern to western Europe, it was shown that most of the migrants found themselves in a lower economic status in their new country, and that economic status rather than gross wealth is a stronger indicator of happiness.

Across Europe

Jonas Christoffersen at the OUP blog discusses reform of the European Court of Human Rights. He writes that reform is urgently needed, and that the Court could be significantly more effective in protecting human rights in Europe.

Tina Schivatcheva at Open Democracy argues that people in Germany are faced with ‘spying on all fronts’. She notes that the Snowden leaks have revealed monitoring of communications in Germany, while the details of the Euro Hawk drone project symbolises a lack of accountability in German defence spending.

Meanwhile, Víctor Pérez-Díaz at Project Syndicate writes that universities in Europe have no idea as to whether they should focus on teaching, research or social inclusion. He argues that European universities are currently facing an identity crisis over what their primary focus should be.

The European neighbourhood

Dimitar Bechev on the European Council on Foreign Relations blog writes that the European Union still has great appeal to some new members and countries in the region, such as Bulgaria and Ukraine, despite the recent controversy over Ukraine’s refusal to sign an Association Agreement with the EU.

Ahead of the European Council summit on 19-20 December, Daniel Keohane at FRIDE assesses potential agreements on EU defence policy which may be made during the discussions.

In a similar vein, Carola Van Rijnsoever at the Strategic Europe blog writes that the future of EU foreign policy is up to the member states. She reasons that while in some foreign policy areas the EU is strong and in others it is not, this is entirely down to the will of the EU’s members.

And finally…

Dylan Kissane at e-International Relations discusses the merits of using Twitter to disseminate academic research.

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Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.

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