“Pressure pushing down on me

Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure – that burns a building down”

When Queen and David Bowie released their number 1 hit “Under Pressure” in 1981, they didn’t know how applicable their opening lines would be for the state of the EU thirty years later. There is no doubt that the roof of the European building is already – or better: for months now – on fire. The question rather seems to be if it will burn down completely, or if the European fire brigade will be capable of controlling and forcing it back at the next European Council meeting taking place on Thursday and Friday this week. more

The last weeks were not easy ones for the European Union: Besides a growing uncertainty about the Greek tragedy, it was mainly the Schengen discussion dominating the headlines. By the beginning of September it became clear, that it would be highly unlikely to reach a compromise regarding the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area in the next Council for Justice and Home Affairs. Although the two countries met the technical requirements, Finland and the Netherlands decided to block their accession – a clear breach of the EU’s own rules.

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