The research agenda of the EU/Europe research division reflects the relevance of the EU as a framework for German policies and politics.
Specific fields of research comprise the following:
The legal and socio-political foundations of the EU
- Capacities and democratic legitimacy of European institutions, instruments and procedures
- Necessities and options of reforming EU primary law
- Differentiation and flexibility inside the EU
- Democratic legitimacy and the participation of the European Parliament and national parliaments in the EU
- Populist, nationalist, and Eurosceptic parties in Europe
- Securing the rule of law
- The EU as guiding framework for German politics
Decision-making, negotiations and implementation in central areas of EU politics
- Developing the Economic and Monetary Union
- European financial constitution and the EU budget
- European energy, climate and environmental policies
- Justice and Home Affairs, including migration, asylum and border management policies
- Trade and external economic policies of the EU, including development policies
EU Foreign and Security Policy
- The EU as an international actor
- Developments in CFSP and CSDP
- Strategic action in civil and military EU missions and operations
- Strategic partners of the EU
- EU-US relations
- European and transatlantic cyber security policies
EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy
- EU accession negotiations with the Western Balkans and Ukraine
- Freedom of media and expression in accession countries
- The development of the European Neighbourhood Policy
- Alternatives to EU membership and integration capacity of the EU
EU, domestic and economic policies of selected European states
- France
- United Kingdom, Poland, Central Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
- Southern Europe