What think tanks are thinking

Written by Marcin Grajewski

Fridays are a good time to gather some reading material on major topics for those quiet moments over the weekend, and the European Parliamentary Research Service weekly publication ‘What think tanks are thinking‘ aims to supply exactly that. To provide comprehensive research and analysis, we comb the websites of dozens of EU-focused think tanks, in Brussels, in Member States, on the other side of the Atlantic, and elsewhere, to check for interesting material covering a broad range of topics. We select recent material, on the economy and politics, from social problems to geostrategic issues and regulation, both to inform our own research, and to share with Members of the European Parliament.

‘What think tanks are thinking’ thus offers links to blogs, commentaries, reports, studies and analyses published by major international, or national, think tanks, writing on European or global issues during the past year on a particular topic. As an example, our first issue featured the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme, and was published on 22 January 2015, the day the ECB announced its plans for unconventional monetary policy measures. Other topics have included: EU-Russia relations, migration, anti-terrorist policies, and major EU anti-trust cases.

The EPRS philosophy is to provide independent, objective and authoritative information, we therefore aim to avoid lobbyists ‘disguised’ as analysts, and favour non-partisan think tanks. Each ‘What think tanks are thinking’ provides links to around 30 papers, from sharp one page commentaries to in-depth 150 page reports, to complement the briefings, analyses and impact assessments published by EPRS.

If you need more substance than airport novels usually provided during your summer break, and want to hit the ground running in September, browse the selection of 20 published ‘What think tanks are thinking’ on our website.