Dr. Peter Becker
EU/Europe Senior Associate
Areas of Expertise
- EU budget and finances
- EU internal market
- EU regional policy
- EU sectoral policies
- Economic Governance
- Principles of European integration
EU cohesion policy and structural fund, social Europe, German EU policy
Short Curriculum Vitae
Since 2004 at the SWP
2015/16 Secondment to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Management and Planning Department
1998-2004 Officer and Deputy Head of Division in the European Department of the Thuringian State Chancellery and previously in the Thuringian Ministry of Justice and European Affairs, Erfurt
1995-1998 Researcher at the Institute for European Politics, Bonn
1993-1995 Researcher at the Institute for European Integration Studies, Bonn
SWP Publications
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The new E6 format: The EU between unity and fragmentation
In the face of mounting geopolitical pressure, the EU is seeking to regain its capacity to act by bringing together its six largest economies. Can the E6 group genuinely generate political traction within the Union without jeopardising the balance between European unity and operational effectiveness? In which policy areas could this format deliver substantial added value?
360 degrees, 24.04.2026 -
Strengthening Europe’s Defence Capabilities through Clear Tasks and Objectives
To Secure Additional Funding, the EU Must First Define Its Security Priorities
SWP Comment 2025/C 38, 19.08.2025, 7 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2025C38
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Acceding Countries’ Gradual Integration into the EU Single Market
Prerequisites, Opportunities and Hurdles
SWP Comment 2024/C 42, 16.09.2024, 8 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2024C42
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The EU on the Way to a Fiscal Union?
in: German Foreign Policy in TransitionContribution to a Research Paper 2021/RP 10, 13.12.2021, 125 Pages, pp. 25–28
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A European Economic Policy in the Making
Success with Modest Means
SWP Research Paper 2020/RP 13, 29.10.2020, 31 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2020RP13
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The EU Budget As an Opportunity in the Crisis
The EU Commission Proposal for a New Financial Framework and a Reconstruction Fund
SWP Comment 2020/C 37, 07.07.2020, 8 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2020C37
External publications
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Agreeing on the European COVID-19 budget package – multiple streams in the European Union
in: Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 1–17, January 2025doi:10.1080/14782804.2024.2445294
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The Budget of the European Union and German European Policy
Springer Nature, Wiesbaden 2024doi:10.1007/978-3-658-39473-8
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Conditionality as an Instrument of European Governance – Cases, Characteristics and Types
in: JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, January 2024doi:10.1111/jcms.13580
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The negotiations about the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027: what happened when with what result?
in: Sybille Münch and Hubert Heinelt (eds): EU Policymaking at a Crossroads, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham 2022, pp. 30-54.doi:10.4337/9781788977654.00009
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Germany’s U-turn over the EU’s recovery funds was further evidence of its role as Europe’s ‘status quo power’
in: LSE Europe Blog, 01.08.2022 -
Germany as the European Union’s status quo power? Continuity and change in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic
Journal of European Public Policy, June 2022doi: 10.1080/13501763.2022.2085770