27 January 2022
ELF’s EU Policy Review is a collection of papers published by the European Liberal Forum in course of the past year.
This review encompasses a wide range of contributions in which experts from academia, policymaking, and industry critically discuss topics of crucial relevance for current EU policies and politics. The scope of topics is as diverse as was the EU policy agenda in 2021. The issues raised vary from foreign policy to digitalisation, from climate to culture, from disinformation to nutrition standards. Apart from the variety of topics, this publication is marked by a variety of formats, namely: discussion papers, policy briefs, policy papers, research papers, and books reviews. These formats serve different purposes: from sparking discussion to providing background information to suggesting concrete ways of dealing with a problem.
This was a year in which the political debates were preoccupied with the ongoing pandemic, external threats, internal crises, engaging Europeans into co-creating the face of Europe, and preparing the legislative ground for the EU’s long-term transition towards a digital, sustainable, and more just future. Each of these topics inspires debates and contradictory positions, both within the liberal family itself and vis-à-vis its ideological competitors. In this context, the role of the ELF as a think tank is to provide liberal-minded policymakers, experts, and people at large with a reliable point of reference and innovative expertise. Our mission here is dual: to supply much-needed expertise for addressing urgent concerns, while also spotting and raising the issues and trends that are yet to come.
As a result, this review is an insight into both current and upcoming debates. What unites all the contributions is their topicality, evidence-based judgement, and liberal standpoint. Engaging scholars and practitioners from across Europe aim to make complex subjects accessible and theoretical ideas fit for practical implementation. High-level research and visionary insights are refracted and presented in ways that match policy needs and that can be readily adopted by policymakers. In this way, we provide scholars with a platform for sharing their findings, policymakers with a solid background for informed decision-making, and all others with food for thought and clarification of complex and controversial matters.
You can access the full publication here.