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Ben Crum

www.bencrum.nl

Commented on EU affairs for a.o.

CNBC, BBC, Le Monde, AFP, WDR, Deutsche Welle, Tagesspiegel, Rzeczpospolita, Helsingin Sanomat, Morgenbladet, Jyllands-Posten, NL Radio 1 Journaal, De Volkskrant, Elsevier, Radio Free Europe, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal Europe, Newsweek, Reuters.

As the European Union moves from unconvincing damage control to finding a new way forward, few people agree on the solutions--or even the problem. "The 'no' forces said they were not against Europe, just against this Europe," says Ben Crum, a political scientist at the Free University of Amsterdam. "The problem is, it isn't clear what 'Europe' means. Some want a retreat, others want to move forward in a different direction. But I don't hear many people saying we should stay where we are."

Newsweek, 'Europe's Dream Deferred', 13/6/05, p.34.

Europa kan volgens politicoloog Ben Crum een nieuw startsein dan wel de doodsteek krijgen. [...] volgens Crum zijn de referenda toch een teken dat het klimaat verandert. Tientallen jaren werd het Europese project voortgestuwd door politici, zonder dat de burgers naar hun mening werd gevraagd. 'Er is nu een groeiend besef dat we het integratieproject niet kunnen voortzetten zonder betrokkenheid van de burgers', zegt hij. 'Vooral met de uitbreiding zijn de twijfels over de EU onder de burgers toegenomen.' [..]

'Er is geen flexibel recept om te reageren op een negatieve uitslag', zegt Crum. Hoe de reactie zal zijn, hangt af van de vraag welk land dwarsligt. 'Is het een klein land of een groot land? Is er een aanwijsbare reden, zodat je er iets aan kunt doen? Of gaat het om een diep geworteld wantrouwen tegen Brussel? Dan heeft het geen zin om een nieuw referendum te houden'
De Volkskrant, 'Gewijzigd EU-klimaat dwingt tot referenda', 16/6/04, p.5.

Public Engagements

- Co-author of A Citizens Compact: Reaching out to the Citizens of Europe, An initiative of the European Policy Institutes Network, September 2005. [Dutch Summary] ; [German Version] ; [Spanish Version]

- Signatory of 'L'Europe attend La France', Open letter.

- Co-author of Beyond the European Constitution, Memorandum of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Scientific bureau of the German Green Party), Berlin/ Brussels, February 2004.

- Co-drafter of Making It Our Own. A trans-European proposal on amending the draft Constitutional Treaty for the European Union (Version 3.0, May 2004).

Ben Crum, a senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, said: "In some countries there was, some time ago, a feeling that European collaboration was good in itself, but perhaps that was rather naive. Now there is more realism. Most mainstream parties tend to be pro-European, but most have come to a point where it is not unconditional."

The Times, 'Sceptics set for big gains in European elections', 14/05/04, p.15.

"It's one of the few Parliaments that lives up to its role as a legislature," said Ben Crum, an expert on the Union's institutions at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. [...] Unlike many national Parliaments in Europe that pass the laws formulated by the governments, Crum said, the European Parliament often significantly rewrites laws before approving them.

International Herald Tribune, 'Big issue in EU voting: Who cares?', 1/6/04.

A recent article by Ben Crum, a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels think tank, argues however that EU leaders should use the present impasse to take a break from negotiations and engage in a debate with citizens about the draft constitutional treaty's proposals.

Irish Times, 'Selling an EU deal to its citizens is the hardest part', 2/3/04, p.7.