Outside the box: Innovative ideas from CEPS Ideas Lab

An AI Liability Regulation would complete the EU’s AI strategy By Kai Zenner In its 2025 work programme, the European Commission effectively scrapped the AI Liability Directive (AILD) – a move that threatens to unravel trust in the EU’s burgeoning AI policy landscape. This abrupt decision strips away potential critical protections for victims of AI-related harm and denies businesses the legal cert...

To connect the dots, how about an EU Digital Clearinghouse to coordinate across EU digital law? By J. Scott Marcus The complexity of EU law dealing with digital services has exploded over the past five to 10 years, both in the sheer number of laws that have come into force, and in how complicated they are. Under these circumstances, the task of ensuring consistency across these laws – not only in...

To finally defeat neglected diseases, the EU needs to really lead in global health By Lisa Goerlitz and Rosa Castro The EU’s ambitions must be supported by adequate resources. This is particularly true for global health, where uncertainty stemming from the new US administration and other geopolitical shifts highlight the urgent need for the EU to step into the leadership role it has long sought. N...

Enough is enough – why the EU needs sufficiency to thrive By Patricia Urban and Luca Nipius We are depleting our planet’s finite resources at a dangerous pace, driven largely by overconsumption in the Global North. This fuels emissions, pollution and biodiversity loss, despite efficiency gains. And regardless of lower net emissions, EU consumption shifts environmental harm abroad, worsening global...

Why Europe needs a climate bad bank to avoid a ‘green swan’ By Nicole Reynolds In the age of the poly-crisis, the world is constantly lurching from one disaster to another – from unprecedented flooding in Spain to a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, from new bouts of political instability to ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Indeed, the poly-crisis has morphed into a ‘permacrisis’ and the impacts of...

We should revise the GDPR to unlock Europe’s digital future By Axel Voss The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was initially heralded as a ground-breaking legal framework for data privacy. However, in its current form and application, it has become a roadblock to digital progress, stifling innovation, impeding AI development and hampering essential research. A review of the GDPR is no...

To be a true global leader in research and innovation, the EU needs to get FP10 right By Andrea Renda In an ever uncertain and increasingly dangerous world, the EU must lead the way in tackling global challenges, using science and technology for the benefit of humanity. European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, has vowed to make this happen, publicly proclaiming that the EU ‘aims to put...

A bold proposal to build the ‘EuroStack’ – because doing nothing isn’t an option anymore By Francesca Bria and Andrea Renda In a time of increasingly pervasive digital technologies and the gradual disruption of the multilateral order, policymakers have at least one certainty – every single country needs a sovereign digital infrastructure encompassing compute resources, a resilient supply chain for...

It’s time to launch an Ecological Impact Fund By Thomas Pogge The virus of national selfishness is degrading international relations towards distrust, hostility and confrontation. In response, we need a highly visible multilateral initiative that clearly promotes justice and the common good of humankind rather than merely the self-interest of those who launch it. One promising area for such an ini...

With EU renewable policy, it’s time to focus on industrial demand instead of aggressive support for supply By Christian Egenhofer and Francesco Gazzoletti The transition to a cost-effective net-zero economy by 2050 is essentially about electrification. Electricity is relatively easy to decarbonise – it can be produced domestically and is up to three times more efficient than combustion. As in othe...

Pardon my ethics – why we need to rethink ethical oversight in the EU By Julia Pocze It’s a common misconception that institutional ‘ethics’ is a question of morality. Believing that ethical misconduct – such as conflicts of interest – is a ‘necessary’ trade-off inherent to a functioning political system is just as misguided. The reason why we need to urge a sweeping reform of ethical oversight is...

Europe needs a revolutionary digital platform to spearhead its Innovation Renaissance By Guus Keder As Europe stands at a critical crossroads, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Our research paints a stark picture – without decisive action, Europe faces a staggering EUR 40 trillion wealth gap with the US by 2032. The recent Draghi and Letta reports underscore this urgency. The time has truly come for...

It’s finally time to leverage pension funds to foster EU productivity and benefit pensioners By J. Scott Marcus Why does the EU fail to produce its own Google, Amazon or Facebook? Is Europe lacking entrepreneurship, technical savvy or simply imagination? Contrary to what many think, in every year for the past five years, the EU has created more high-tech start-ups than the US; however, many Europe...

For structurally increasing EU competitiveness, civil law is one of the EU’s hidden treasures By Donald Kalff A consensus is now building that structurally improving EU competitiveness is a condition for protecting and enhancing the EU’s geopolitical position, for implementing the twin green and digital transitions and, in general, for preserving the European way of life. At a corporate level this...

Participatory democracy in the EU should be strengthened with a Standing Citizens’ Assembly By James Mackay and Kalypso Nicolaïdis EU citizens have multiple participatory instruments at their disposal, from the right to petition the European Parliament (EP) to the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI), from the European Commission’s public online consultation and Citizens’ Dialogues to the role of t...

Why the EU should have a dedicated Commissioner for Implementation and Enforcement By Ursula Pachl Despite a 30-year-old Single Market, enforcement remains a key EU weakness, with national authorities largely in charge of implementing EU laws, with very few – and often scattered – EU competencies. EU laws that give people rights and ensure that businesses can trade freely and fairly across borders...

With EU enlargement, it’s two big steps forward for Ukraine, but a more dubious one for the Western Balkans By Michael Emerson The EU’s enlargement process has been the constant talk of the town since the European Commission delivered its annual Enlargement Package in November 2023. There have been three significant developments of real significance to acknowledge, two on Ukraine which are excelle...

Rapidly including the Western Balkans into the EU ETS is the only effective way to phase-out coal and exclude Russia By Christian Egenhofer The Western Balkans power sector is close to collapse. Approximately two-thirds of the Western Balkans’ electricity is generated by lignite, most often by power plants that have operated for over 40 years. The carbon intensity of the region’s electricity secto...

The EU-US Data Privacy Framework is a sitting duck. PETs might be the solution By Camille Ford In July 2023, the European Commission published an adequacy decision on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) – the third attempt to broker a lasting agreement on transatlantic data transfers. While the DPF has made important strides compared to its predecessors, it’ll likely face yet another challenge...

Launching an ‘AI moonshot’ to develop a European large language model is the game changer that Europe needs By Robert Praas The changes in society being led by Artificial Intelligence (AI) are immense. Among the available AI technologies, language models are right now most universally beneficial for citizens, industry and governments. Yet the most powerful language models are being developed outsi...