When the NOs become YESs
European Liberal Forum
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Romania’s unruly rule of law??
EU auditors criticised the European Commission's annual rule of law reporting for its flawed methodology that doesn’t bring a lot of value for increasing transparency and accountability. Despite being an essential tool for scrutinising the democratic health of EU countries, the European Parliament, in its February 28 resolution, also criticised the Commission’s rule of law reporting. The resolution stated that the reports are sometimes too diplomatic and vague in identifying specific rule of law problems in certain countries.?
Romania has been under a special rule-of-law surveillance programme for 15 years. While a lot of progress has been made thanks to the bottom-up efforts of citizens and civil society, Romania’s hard-won democratic foundations are at risk due to the policies of the current government, such as disregard for civil society, meddling intelligence services, media independence infringements, and aggressive intimidation of the democratic opposition through the selective use of the judiciary. Check out our paper ‘The State of Democracy in Romania: A Future Problem on the EU Agenda’ for more insights on Romania’s evolving political landscape and the decay in Romania’s hard-won democratic foundations.?
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Nuclear energy is coming into the limelight??
On 21-22 March, the first-ever Nuclear Energy Summit will take place in Belgium, co-organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Belgium, with the participation of 30 countries. The Summit itself is proof of the growing momentum for nuclear energy on the European continent. The EU’s commitment to reducing dependence on fossil fuels and achieving net-zero emissions within 30 years will be achieved only by acknowledging the central role of technological innovation and a diversified approach beyond traditional strategies. There are many “Roads to Net Zero”: integrating nuclear energy as a transitional zero-carbon source is essential for balancing renewable energy fluctuations and advancing towards a sustainable future.?
While all of us know about the history of nuclear power as well as the controversies surrounding it, few have familiarised themselves with nuclear microreactors (NMRs) and their potential to help bring climate goals to fruition. In our TechnoSustainability series policy papers, authors Francesco Cappelletti and Matei Stefan describe possible applications of this carbon-free ‘small size, big impact’ energy source and how it can contribute to the transition to a sustainable future.?
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Bosnia and Herzegovina’s belated Christmas miracle??
In December 2023, one year after getting the EU candidate status, the European Council decided it would open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria was achieved. Last week, the European Commission finally recommended opening EU accession talks with Sarajevo eight years after the country applied for EU membership.??
While there is a lot of work involved, Bosnia and Herzegovina?are?much luckier than its Western Balkan counterparts. Until Russia’s war in Ukraine, European enlargement was in a deep stalemate. With increased security risks for the continent, EU candidate countries now have an undeniable momentum to push for reforms and achieve more substantial progress on their accession path. With a renewed model of ‘staged integration’ proposed by the European Liberal Forum, the candidate countries will be able to get more tangible rights, benefits and access for their countries and citizens on the way to their desired EU membership.?
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