Austerity and Solidarity in Europe: No Zero-sum Game

Launch of Brussels Beacon Series

The Brussels Office of the Bertelsmann Stiftung has started a new publication series. The first "Brussels Beacon" came forth on January 30, 2012, setting into perspective the results of the EU special summit that has agreed on the new Fiscal Pact on that day. With the series we will periodically analyse and comment on developments in the European Union. In our view the EU's future should be everyone´s concern. That is a lesson to be learned from the euro crisis. For us there can be never enough ideas and initiatives to stimulate and broaden the debate on the European integration project. For many the United States of Europe might be a faraway vision. But what would be the alternatives? To include ever more people into this debate we will launch a facebook site on the occasion of our next "Brussels Beacon" issue.

In our first edition we explore why member states have such a hard time in finding a way out of the Euro-Crisis. It is true that this crisis needs solidarity. But it is equally true that this solidarity comes at a price: it is the price of restoring sustainable public budgets. To meet this double requirement in a credible way, Europe's policymakers will have, according to the authors, to embark on far-reaching EU Treaty reforms and strive for the United States of Europe in the longer run.

The Open Method of Coordination. A Governance Mechanism for the G20?

As the world's political leaders prepare for the Cannes G20 meeting on November 3rd/4th, bold solutions to global economic problems are once again on the agenda. The global economic circumstances require concerted actions and policy solutions from the world's most important economies. But is the G20 in its current form able to deliver, even when there is agreement amongst political leaders? The evidence so far suggests a dilemma: Global policy issues require the G20 but the institution lacks implementation capabilities to really address the tasks it finds itself confronted with. Against this backdrop, the recent study by Henning Meyer, Stephen Barber and Chris Luenen seeks to use the European Union's experience with the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) to develop a new governance mechanism that would help to turn the G20 into a more effective global governance institution by improving its implementation capabilities.

The EU-Budget 2014-2020: Can the EU help its Member States to Save Money?

All over Europe governments have to tackle the key challenges of budget consolidation and restoring sound public finances. This also applies to the current negotiations on the future EU budget. It is not only the member states but also the EU that is in financial dire straits and has to spend its money in a more efficient way. Against this backdrop the Bertelsmann Stiftung kicked off a series of expert meetings on September 21^st / 22^nd at its Brussels office to discuss the issue of the EU budget's added value and its measurability.

2011 CEPI Fellows Hit the Ground in Brussels

The Bertelsmann Foundation North America and the Bertelsmann Stiftung Brussels office brought together 20 US Congress and the European Parliament staffers for the first conference of the 2011 class of the Congressional European Parliament Initiative (CEPI).  The gathering took place 18-22 June in Brussels.

Integration in Comparison - A German-Belgian Exchange of Experiences

Where do successful approaches towards social integration start? How could politics and policies, religion and education contribute to a broad public awareness that in times of demographic change and globalization the cohesion of society heavily depends on the willingness to regard diversity as opportunity instead of threat? What claims to the readiness of fellow citizens with migration backgrounds to integrate are legitimate and can help to avoid the emergence of parallel societies? Where is the Rubicon for the populist call for assimilation and denial of identity for migrants and their families? These questions were raised and discussed in a comparative way at the Second German-Belgian Conference hosted by the Bertelsmann Stiftung in cooperation with the German and the Belgian Foreign Ministry, on the 13./14. of January  2011 in Berlin.