EU/Europe

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