Exploring EU Coalitions

Flexible coalition-building will become a strong instrument in the political management of the European Union. This development is confirmed by the EU 28 Survey, conducted by ECFR among over 400 policy makers across the 28 member states of the EU. The findings suggest that there is little chance of moving ahead collectively with 28 member states on most issues, even if 52% of the respondents hold this an ideal. One third of the respondents approve of either formal or informal coalitions.

The essay collection 'Exploring EU coalitions', co-edited by Josef Janning, Christoph Klavehn and Christel Zunneberg, sketches out the coalition potential for different policy areas, from a common migration and asylum policy, to foreign and security cooperation, to Eurozone reforms.

The essays comprise:

+ Introduction: Exploring EU Coalitions by Josef Janning, Christel Zunneberg & Christoph Klavehn

+ In search of a credible asylum policy by Gerald Knaus

+ Who matters on aid? by Richard Gowan

+ Coalitions for cooperation: The key to a common foreign, security, and defence policy? by Jana Puglierin

+ European policy on Russia: Unity for power, trade-offs for unity by Kadri Liik

+ A common EU China policy: The divided, the ruled, and the united by Angela Stanzel

+ Eurozone reform: Difficult choices for the Franco-German axis by Sebastian Dullien

+ The beginnings of a beautiful friendship? The EU’s energy and climate policies by Marin Lessenski

• Primary Source

ECFR: Flexible Europe – Is it that much of a stretch? [Commentary, September 2017] http://www.europeansources.info/record/flexible-europe-is-it-that-much-of-a-stretch/

ESO: Background information: EU Coalition Explorer (ECFR, 2017) http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-coalition-explorer/

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