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07.01.2012
 The economic and financial crisis of Europe, as serious as it is, is not the ultimate or even the defining threat to the European project – it is only one of its faces, according to a new report by the Open Society Institute – Sofia . The report is based on the newly released Catch-Up Index that measures the performance of 35 countries – the EU member states, the candidate and potential candidate countries across four categories: Economy, Quality of Life, Democracy and Governance. Each category is measured by 47 indicators using standardized scores from 0 to 100 (lowest to highest), allowing for further observations and analysis to be made.
The cracks within Europe are much more diverse and run deeper than the economic crisis suggests. Europe is very much divided along different levels of democracy and good governance, quality of life and economic performance.These divergences separate the European countries into six distinct clusters of states with similar characteristics. The placement of a European country in a cluster may be fundamentally more important than their membership of “political groups” such as the Eurozone.
“The North–South division is gradually replacing the East–West rift and is signaling that the post-Cold War legacy is all but superseded by new factors. There is a new reality in Europe, but at the same time there are older historiccultural patterns – that can be traced back as far as the age of empires – that are visible on the new map of the continent drawn from the index findings”, said lead researcher Marin Lessenski.
8.12.2011
 The European leaders are meeting on December 9, 2011 in order to forge a common solution to the debt crisis in Europe – or as doomsayers predict – witness a disaster of catastrophic proportions. A new EuPI policy brief puts forward the opinion that the crisis in Europe is not only a debt crisis and there are multiple forces at work here – so the responses could not include only economic and financial measures.
“The Combo Meal that Europe Should Rethink: The Debt Crisis as a Crisis of Governance?” claims that:
- The exposure of a European country to the crisis seems to depend on both its debt level and its governance performance as there is a specific interplay of the two factors.
- The debt ceiling of 60% of GDP of the Maastricht criteria cannot be a universal measure and the safe debt level ceilings seem to be country specific, defined by particular debt to governance ratio of a country.
- Countries with poorer governance performance are closer to the danger zone even in case they have low debt levels.
- The crisis in Europe is not only a debt crisis and there are multiple forces at work here – so the responses could not include only economic and financial measures.
Based on the “debt vs. governance” assumption, the policy brief identifies the “proximity” of a country to a crisis, the probability of country reaching a crisis debt level and outlines the maximum debt ceilings each country can withstand before plunging into a serious trouble. Finally, the brief puts forward recommendations within a matrix for developing country-specific recovery packages. The policy brief is based on findings of the forthcoming Catch-Up Index of the Open Society Institute – Sofia.
30.11.2011
 A new report of OSI-Sofia provides a review of available information on the basic characteristics of Bulgarian labour migration, as they evolved over the last few years, in an attempt to establish how and to what extent labour migration is influenced by the transitional arrangements restricting access to the labour market of certain EU Member States. The report says that Bulgaria is still one the poorest countries in the European Union, hence emigration to Western Europe remains an attractive solution for part of the population. However, the appeal of emigration is gradually declining, as unemployment rate in Bulgaria is now comparable to Western European levels, while differences in income have decreased: in the 1990s per capita income in Western Europe was 4 times higher than that in Bulgaria, while one decade later this ratio is 2.5 measured by purchasing power parity. As a result, emigration of Bulgarians has gradually declined.
29.09.2011  Bulgaria and Romania played for either a victory (full membership) or a draw (phased-in membership) for Schengen entry in 2011, but so far they suffer defeat after defeat. The Council of the EU on September 22, 2011 failed again to grant entry of Bulgaria and Romania into Schengen due to the unwavering opposition of the Netherlands and Finland. But there are wider ramifications of these events that have to be considered and a new EuPI policy brief looks into these issues:
- The opposition to enlarging Schengen is part of the list of stalled large-scale projects that come to define the EU and keep it moving. The EU is reconfiguring as certain states are trying to keep to peers and to isolate from members they consider problematic in some aspect – to their financial stability (in the Eurozone) or their security (in the Schengen).
- The EU may be having a major problem as key states do not respect the rules they have written themselves and even if – assumingly – they have a point, the changes should be properly and orderly debated and introduced. The current Schengen situation left the bitter taste of arbitrary decisions.
- Bulgaria and Romania have to more convincingly deal with corruption and crime as their image of problematic countries leave them vulnerable to criticism, but at the same time they have to insist on the obvious fact that the existing Schengen criteria have been met and they are not fairly treated.
19.09.2011
A new EuPI policy brief by Georgi Angelov looks into the issue of changing public attitudes and perceptions about the Eurozone enlargement and the euro as an anchor of stability. According to the latest data of a public opinion poll by the Open Society Institute – Sofia, there is a growing strong majority in Bulgaria, which is opposing the entry into the Eurozone and replacing Bulgaria’s lev with the euro. There is even firmer position against Eurozone membership if Bulgaria has to participate with substantial funds in saving Western European countries. In public perceptions the euro might be turning from a source of stability into a source of burdens. | | |
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As Bulgaria and Romania are looking to resolving the impasse to their Schengen membership bid in 2011, an EuPI policy brief released in June illuminates the broader context and challenges to Schengen transformation and enlargement. The brief sheds a light on the facts and common (mis)conceptions about Schengen’s accession of the two new EU members. The brief also touches upon the changes in the thinking and policy planning in the EU following the critical transformations in its southern neighborhood. You can download the policy brief here
The EC has released a new report dated March 17, 2010, which assesses the stability and convergence programs of fourteen EU Member States, saying among all that "[R}eflecting the working of automatic stabilisers and discretionary stimulus measures ... to cope with the exceptional economic circumstances, a large majority of Member States is currently subject to the excessive deficit procedure..." Click here to continue reading..
Article in the EUOBSERVER quotes George Soros statement on the New Member States of the EU, saying "the European Union must do more to help its struggling eastern region, including a fast-tracking of member state applications to join the euro currency."
In an interview with EUobserver on Thursday (12 November), he also called
on the EU to develop a dedicated strategy to alleviate the difficulties
faced by the region's Roma population.
The World Bank has released a new report on eve of 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall, focused on Emerging Europe and Central Asia. The report says structural reforms are now necessary to protect hard-won gains.
As Bulgaria is heading to a single party minority government in July 2009, EuPI has prepared a fact sheet with the longevity of governments, including type of govenment, in the new EU member states in CEE prior and after accession. | |
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The European Catch-Up Index The new European Catch-Up Index redefines the current notions about the state of the EU, Europe and the economic crisis by analyzing the performance of 35 countries in Economy, Democracy, Governance and Quality of Life.
A series of monitoring reports on the progress of Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to join Schengen were prepared and released in October 2010 and February 2011 in cooperation with the Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE).
23.07.2009
“The Unfinished Business of the Fifth Enlargement Countries” analyzes the problems faced by the ten new member states after their accession to the EU in eleven policy areas including political development, the economy, the healthcare system and education.
EuPI has released a series of reports within the project "The EU New Member States as Agenda Setters in the Enlarged European Union", with the "Not Your Grandfather’s Eastern Bloc" comparative policy report.
EuPI has contributed to a major report on EU-Russia relations by ECFR's Mark Leonard and Nicu Popescu | |
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