News
New publication: The Ever-Changing Union - An Introduction to the History, Institutions and Decision-Making Processes of the European Union
February 12, 2009. "The Ever-Changing Union" provides a concise overview of the EU’s history, institutional structures and decision-making processes. As such, its aim is not to cover the breadth or complexity of information that can now be found in EU text books, but to provide the reader with all the information required to gain access to a complex institutional system that has been changing ever since its creation. The publication is co-authored by Clingendael Fellow Louise van Schaik and published at the renown Brussels-based think tank Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). It covers the historical development of the European integration process from its beginnings in the early 1950s to the current ratification problems of the Treaty of Lisbon.
A second part presents the EU’s main institutions with their distinct features and a third explains how these institutions interact within the European decision-making process as a whole. Additional parts cover fundamental principles of the European integration process, and describe the basic features of the EU budget and the key innovations to be introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon. The reader is written for those with an initial or occasional interest in European policies and politics. More particularly, the authors believe it to be useful for civil servants, diplomats, businesses, NGO representatives as well as students and scholars who encounter the European Union in their work.
The publication can be found here.