The Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies (SCEUS) is an enterprise geared towards research as much as towards education of a new generation of academics.

The creation of a priority programme in European Union Studies was particularly propitious at this time given a series of developments. The European Union has become the crucial factor in the constitution of Europe’s political and socio-economic order. It represents a unique peace project that has succeeded in integrating a multitude of former opponents and enemies into one new community of law. Yet, the general “success story” of European integration has repeatedly shown signs of stalemate and rupture. After the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005 and the difficult ratification process of the Treaty of Lisbon offering new instruments of decision-making the EU incurred a financial and economic crisis that arguably calls for greater leadership and supranational economic governance. SCEUS in its research tackles questions of the institutional set-up and the economic governance of the European Union, as well as broader social aspects of European integration and the role of the European Union as global actor.