Tag: Europp
The EU should set explicit press freedom requirements for candidate countries
Despite being viewed as a key component of European democracy, media freedom varies significantly across EU states. Based on the annual ‘Freedom of the Press’ report produced by Freedom House, Jennifer Dunham assesses media freedom in EU candidate countries. She notes that seven of the eight candidate or potential candidate states considered have press freedom […]
Scotland and Catalonia would face very real challenges in making a seamless transition to EU membership after independence
Independence campaigners in both Scotland and Catalonia have advocated retaining their EU membership post-independence. Merijn Chamon and Guillaume Van der Loo assess the legal basis on which subnational entities could maintain EU membership after declaring independence. They write that while the EU treaties make no explicit reference to this situation, it would be difficult for a seamless transition to […]
The West should rethink its approach for promoting gay rights abroad and instead focus on strengthening democracy and civil society
How should Europe and the United States seek to promote gay rights across the world? Omar G. Encarnación writes that while the West has tended to adopt a model which seeks to ‘shame’ states that discriminate against homosexuals, in many cases this may be self-defeating and could even increase the prevalence of discrimination within the target country. […]
With less than 36.8% of MEPs being women, raising the number of female representatives should be a key priority for EU democracy
Procedures for raising the number of female politicians in parliaments and governments have been a key focus in several European states over recent decades. Máriam Martínez-Bascuñán writes that the issue should be seen not simply as a procedural one, but as a fundamental element of democracy. She argues thatthe issue of women’s representation is an indicator of […]
Globalisation has contributed to declining levels of religious freedom across the world
What factors affect religious freedom? As Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom and Gizem Arikan write, there is evidence that restrictions on religious freedom have increased globally in recent decades. Using data from a recent study, they highlight the role that processes of globalisation have had on this trend. The results indicate that globalisation is a contributing factor to the increase in […]
Attempts to measure UK influence within the EU are admirable, but it is questionable whether they really influence the public debate
UK citizens are traditionally considered to have an uneasy relationship with Europe. Prompted by the growing debate around the upcoming European elections, Giulia Pastorella reviews the 2014 Scorecard published by the pro-EU pressure group British Influence, which aims to provide an objective assessment of the British government’s influence in the EU. She writes that while this and […]
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