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  • 14. července 2017

Think Tank Review - Issue 48/2017

Welcome to issue 48 of the Think Tank Review compiled by the EU Council Library (click to share on Twitter). It references papers published in June 2017. As usual, we provide the link to the full text and a short abstract.

This TTR has a special focus on education and its links with migration both within and into the EU.  Based on the papers featured in this issue, the research into the relationship between the age of arriving migrants and their educational attainment is particularly important. So, too, are the articles on how education can make integration more successful, and how integration makes it necessary to look at education from an entirely different angle. 

In the 'EU Politics and Institutions' section, readers will find articles on the existential challenges facing the EU, the role and powers of the European Parliament in the Brexit process, and lobbying in the EU.

A substantial 'Economic and Financial Affairs' section provides readers with articles ranging from a paper about the EU budget to one about the risks and opportunities of establishing a European Monetary Fund. We would also like to point out two articles related to economic diplomacy.

The 'EU Member States' section shows that similar issues are of concern in different parts of the EU. The selection of articles covers a range of topics from arms exports to finance, migration, energy and employment. In view of the current news coverage of Brexit, our readers might be interested in our selection of articles on the topic, especially the paper about Brexit and the European Court of Justice. Staying on the topic of Brexit and the challenges arising from the general election, we would like to mention Pierre Vimont's opinion, shared in an online article entitled "Bringing Brexit back to reality".

In the 'EU Policies' section, the topic of migration features heavily, with think tanks in several southern European countries focusing on the subject from a variety of angles. In the energy sector, the dichotomy between fossil fuels and green energy is examined with a view to determining whether the two forms can coexist. In the section on employment and social affairs, readers will find articles discussing trade unions, extremism and solidarity, while the environment section takes a look at the effects of the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

In the 'Foreign Affairs' section, articles examine the EU's security policy both by itself and vis-à-vis NATO. The Trade section focuses predominantly on the various trade agreements and negotiations the EU is currently partaking in. Further outside Europe, think tanks focus on the role of Trump in the Middle Eastern peace process, the positive impact and necessity of electrification in Africa, the EU's 'quiet diplomacy' in Asia, protectionism in China and its ramifications for EU businesses, and the current state of EU-Russia relations. 

Finally, we would like to wish our readers a nice and relaxed summer holiday! And remember: the Think Tank Review will be back in September, with what we expect to be a rich harvest of papers published during the summer.

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