Democracy Impacts

EU Parliament Agrees to Border and Coast Guard

July 15, 2016

The European Parliament has agreed to a proposal from the European Commission to build on the EU's current border agency, Frontex, to create an EU Border and Coast Guard that will collectivize management of EU external borders and monitor the performance of national border authorities.
Dutch PM Warns Against Post-Brexit EU Federalism

July 14, 2016

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte has called on EU leaders to recognize the discomfort many Europeans have with Brussels centralization and warned against using the UK vote to leave the EU as a reason "to rush blindly forward towards more political integration and a more federal Europe" among the remaining EU member states.
Bundesbank Chief Calls for Fair Deal with UK

July 14, 2016

In response to the UK vote to leave the EU, the President of the German Federal Bank, Jens Weidmann, has called for a fair "Brexit" deal from EU leaders and asserted that "neither side has an interest in putting up trade barriers."
Eavis: EU Inflexibility May Lead to Disintegration

July 13, 2016

Peter Eavis writes in The New York Times that the UK's exit from the EU demonstrates the EU's inflexibility when faced with challenges and opposition to large agenda items, such as a single currency and free movement, and could signal the cause of a future break-up of the bloc.
EU Border Agency Plans to "Stress Test" Members

July 13, 2016

Fabrice Leggeri, executive director of the EU border agency Frontex, has announced plans to "stress test" the response of EU member states to various migration scenarios as part of the overhaul and massive expansion of Frontex in the coming months.
Hungary Sets Referendum on EU Refugee Plan

July 13, 2016

AP reports that the office of Hungarian President Janos Ader has announced the scheduling of an October referendum on whether Hungary should accept refugees to be sent to Hungary under the EU's refugee resettlement plan.
Politicos Disagree on Solution to EU Challenges

July 11, 2016

An article in The Economist considers how politicians in the EU institutions and its member states are calling for contradictory responses to Britain's exit from the bloc, ranging from returning more authority to the national governments to speeding along EU federalization.
EU Leaders Head off "Copycat" Referendums

July 11, 2016

The Economist reports that leaders of EU member states are reacting to the recent UK vote to leave the EU by seeking to prevent referendums in their own countries in which their citizens decide whether they remain part of the bloc.
Letts: UK Leaders Must Respect Vote for Sovereignty

July 01, 2016

Quentin Letts of The Daily Mail writes that the vote for Brexit was UK citizens' rebellion against their leaders in asserting the national sovereignty which British officials had declined to protect.
Academic: Brexit Shows Power of "Left-Behind"

July 01, 2016

Professor Matthew Goodwin of the University of Kent writes that, rather than focus on personalities dominating the campaign for the UK to leave the EU, observers should seek to understand the cultivation of euroskeptic views among British blue collar workers and the "left-behind" as an explanation for Brexit.