Thread by @Usherwood

A quick run-through on our new @UACES @UKandEU report on "The state of the EU"

1/ ukandeu.ac.uk/research-paper…

On this 6th anniversary of #EURef, @anandMenon1 and I thought it'd be good to reflect on the EU side of things, especially in light of the invasion of Ukraine

Our authors point up the wide-ranging impacts of that war, in addition to the other challenges facing the EU

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As you'll see from our contents page, we've covered a huge range of topics, bringing experts from across the Continent to the discussion

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More on our contributors here, all doing a great job of translating often complex detail into accessible text, ably abetted by @UKandEU's team

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Will walk through key findings in a bit, but firstly wanted to thank all involved and I look forward to more joint @UACES @UKandEU projects

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Some top lines from our new @UKandEU @UACES report, starting with some oh-so-timely perspectives on key member states from @FrancoBrit @PDaehnhardt @DPhinnemore @nat_styczynska
#EUCO
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Both France & Germany are at tricky points: former because of elections, latter for more fundamental reasons. As @FrancoBrit says "what France wants for EU isn't what it'll automatically get", so how far the classic motor can drive things is unclear

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Ireland, meanwhile, is moving beyond Brexit to focus on "ensuring EU works effectively", even if it still has to navigate the Protocol and keep other member states on-board with that
@DPhinnemore

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The Ukraine war might be shifting Polish attitudes/actions, writes @nat_styczynska, through the strong humanitarian response, although there's still clearly a way to go

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Swinging round to the EU's institutions, @PierreHaroche @sarahagemann @DarrenHarvey_ & Claudia Torres Ramos take us through it all

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Von der Leyen's plans for a 'geopolitical' Commission have been boosted by Covid and Ukraine, says @PierreHaroche, even that will also generate new tensions with member states

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Ukraine has also made #EUCO even more important, albeit while trying to manage the on-going internal challenges on Rule of Law and the shifting cast of leaders
@sarahagemann

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.@DarrenHarvey_ points out the difficulties the Court faces as it gets into every more politicised questions and as it gets more public attention

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On a positive note (if you teach the EU), Claudia Torres Ramos thinks treaty change is still not on the cards, even if more pragmatic reforms will continue
#NoNewTreatyArticleRenumbering

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A bit part of our @UKandEU @UACES report deals with politics and policy

ukandeu.ac.uk/research-paper…

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EU economy recovery from Covid has been pretty good, writes @roryshand, if fragile: again, Ukraine looms large, both directly and indirectly

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This is underlined by Maria-Luisa Sánchez-Barrueco's piece on #NextGenEU - it's been a good piece of crisis management, but with some longer-term issues

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The reconfiguration of economic and social around new technologies also requires more EU attention, not least because of the security implications
@jshahin

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Those security questions obviously loom very large in general for the EU. @JocelynMawdsley notes the short-term improvement in cooperation over Ukraine, even if the longer-term picture remains underdefined

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.@drsarahwolff picks over the EU's migration policy, with its numerous problems and made only more ambiguous by Ukraine

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If it's not Ukraine, it's Covid. @Ellie_Brooks looks at the emerging European Health Union, which might end up more modestly than some expect

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And if it's not Covid, it's climate change. The EU's leadership role requires constant attention, esp. as external effects of decarbonisation build up
@Cladupont

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Gisela Hernandez Gonzales walks us through the various Rule of Law problems. Ukraine might have shifting some of these, but it remains one of the more basic threats to the EU's long-term future

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.@kslootmaeckers highlights how LGBTIQ rights are caught in tension between the EU's declared values and the situation on the ground, just as @shada_islam finds the same on racism

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That conditional nature of integration is also reflected in @ggbenedetto's piece on euroscepticism: things might be better than they were, but the underlying dynamics remain, ready to return in times of challenge

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We wrap up this section with me, writing about how the EU has been change by the UK's exit: it's so powerful and incisive, you'll just have to read it in full yourself

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The final section of our @UACES @UKandEU report on the EU looks to key relations with other parts of the world

ukandeu.ac.uk/research-paper…

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.@Bentonra shows how Ukraine has demonstrated the value of the EU-US link, albeit one with a big Trump-shaped cloud over it. In any case, more attention to this will be needed to keep it fit for purpose

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Relations with Russia are very much worse, for obvious reasons, but @MaxineDavid rightly stresses the need to find ways to build a long-term environment in which EU and Moscow can live non-antagonistically with each other

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China might not be high on the EU's list of Things To Do, but @KaminskiTomas points to the difficult balance between cooperation and rivalry and how unstable that has been, and will be

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And to wrap it all up, we got some bloke (thankfully more than ably supported by @SophieStowers) to write on EU-UK relations

It's tricky, apparently

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And that's your lot. Great people, great pieces, obviously released at the optimum time and not at all almost completely rewritten after Russia invaded Ukraine

Do have a proper read and share widely!

ukandeu.ac.uk/research-paper…

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Finally, huge thanks to @joelreland @SophieStowers for doing the hard work of herding colleagues, and to @anandMenon1 (currently tied up with @UKandEU annual conference) for welcoming @UACES colleagues to this all

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