Cherry Miller
In the European Parliament, ‘delegations’ are formal groupings of Members who maintain inter-parliamentary relationships. At recently held constitutive delegation meetings, the gendered allocations of leadership positions revealed a complex picture. Cherry Miller and Lorenzo Santini find that, despite initiatives to improve gender representation, there has been a decline in the number of ‘head’ women delegation […] Read more
Catherine E. De Vries
Following the European election results, Ursula von der Leyen faces a rocky road to confirmation as President of the Commission for a second term, writes Catherine E. De Vries. The key question is how she is going to be able to satisfy very different demands from the various groupings. Read more
James F. Downes
James F. Downes argues that elections to the European Parliament will likely lead to record representation for populist far-right parties. Lack of unity and ideological divisions, however, will make it difficult for the far right to wield any real power Read more
Maria Merkouraki
EU digital diplomacy during the Russia-Ukraine war has led to the rise of hard-power discourse, writes Maria Merkouraki. The war has disrupted traditional pro-European soft messaging, and shifted the EU's approach to digital diplomacy Read more
Martin Westlake
The new President of the European Parliament, Maltese Roberta Metsola, was elected as a continuity candidate of the centre-right. Yet, argues Martin Westlake, her election also marks a shift to the young, the left and the south, by a gifted politician who will surely leave her mark A breath of fresh air On 18 January […] Read more
Markus Patberg
The Conference on the Future of Europe aims to produce proposals for EU ureform in a participatory manner. Yet, writes Markus Patberg, its setup suggests top-down steering, and lacks a clear conception of democratic authorisation. The envisaged forms of broad but unsystematic inclusion might even be counterproductive to the declared goal of empowering citizens Read more
Christel Koop
Often labelled technocratic and expertise-driven, the Commission’s ‘unelected bureaucrats’ in fact take public opinion seriously. When facing crises, the Commission uses agenda-priorities to respond to citizens’ cues, write Christel Koop, Christine Reh and Edoardo Bressanelli Read more
The Loop
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