Science AI Journal
Social Sciences · Research topic

Open research questions in European Union Policy and Governance

618 gap statements mined from European Union Policy and Governance papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 12,211 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

Choosing where to publish on European Union Policy and Governance? See the ranked Social Science journals.

What the literature leaves open

  • While much of the gloom surrounding Europe’s failure to lead a global green transition is down to poor marketing—the European project’s share of renewable energy in final consumption almost doubles that of the US and was a quarter higher than China’s in 2022—this should not distract from the simple fact that its efforts remain insufficient to address the unfolding climate catastrophe.

    Assembling Eurocapitalism · 2026 · DOI

  • If the political success of this process remains unclear, the CoFoE made it possible to implement a high-level multilingual deliberation system on a continental scale, and its participants had access to high-quality interpretation.

    Using the Conference on the Future of Europe to Consider a Multilingual Continental Deliberative Model · 2025 · DOI

  • Such effects could be investigated in future time series studies or historical analyses. As with the long-term effects, the potential for procedural fairness to play a role should be studied further.

    The role of procedural fairness in EU legitimacy: Lessons from the Spitzenkandidaten process · 2026 · DOI

  • Our study solely focuses on one dimension of the legislative process – the duration of colegislation – and further research on other dimensions is needed.

    In the shadow of the European Council: When and how do national leaders influence everyday law-making? · 2026 · DOI

  • Given the increasing importance of foreign policy in the European Union (EU), it is surprising that the genuinely European foreign policy elites – the ‘Eurodiplomats’ leading the European External Action Service (EEAS) and EU Delegations abroad – have remained largely understudied.

    Who are the European Union’s Top Diplomats? A Cartography of the European External Action Service’s Leadership · 2026 · DOI

  • The core implication is that the EU’s future revenue strategy is likely to remain a politically contested mix of national contributions, tightly circumscribed “tax-like” resources linked to sectoral policies, and carefully designed borrowing instruments whose long-term stabilization remains uncertain.

    Revenue Formation Policy in the European Union Budget · 2025 · DOI

  • The presented findings are derived from the project #STANDFORSOMETHING, coordinated by the European Youth Card Association, funded by the European Parliament, with the aim of thoroughly investigating the perspectives and opinions of European youth regarding the European Union (EU) and its institutions—a historically under-researched cohort—despite their impact on the future policy agenda.

    A Behavioral Algorithm for European Integration: Insights from Youth Attitudes Across the EU · 2025 · DOI

  • Although formal legislative initiatives are lacking, this study explores the impact of the EP on CFSP agenda-setting during the 2019–2024 legislature, focusing on the pilot project initiated by MEP Sánchez-Amor to establish a European Union Diplomatic Academy (EUDA) supported by the European External Action Service (EEAS).

    The European Parliament as an agenda promoter in EU foreign policy: the genesis of the EU diplomatic academy · 2024 · DOI

  • Phenomenon-driven research (PDR) establishes when a phenomenon warrants investigation but offers little structured guidance on diagnosing why a state change occurred or which aspect of the phenomenon drove it.

    Analysing State Changes: A Diagnostic Framework For Phenomenon-Driven Research · 2026

  • Future research should continue to explore the dynamics of European solidarity using panel data and longitudinal designs. The study's findings suggest that transnational political orientation is a key factor in shaping European solidarity, and that future research should examine this factor in more detail.

    What drives European solidarity? Evidence on identity-based, value-based, and utilitarian explanations · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in existing research on European solidarity, which has primarily used single or repeated cross-sectional data. The paper highlights the need to explain why some individuals maintain their solidarity while others change it, particularly in the context of recent crises. The study addresses this gap by using German panel data to examine the dynamics of European solidarity.

    What drives European solidarity? Evidence on identity-based, value-based, and utilitarian explanations · 2026 · DOI

  • The author highlights the need to develop new theoretical frameworks to study the multilateral hub.

    The Multilateral Hub: Brussels as the EU’s Hidden Center · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of engagement with Europe's colonial and racialized constitutive role in sustaining global inequalities.

    Who Is the EU for? Race, Europe, and the Global Order · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of a European Constitution makes it difficult to define the existential identity of the European citizen. The need for a balance between enhancing European citizenship and valuing Europe's diverse identities.

    European Citizenship between Legal Standardization and Identity Factor: Pathways for an Intercultural Citizenship · 2026 · DOI

  • The question of whether we are witnessing the emergence of a genuine European Private International Law. The lack of an autonomous European Private International Law.

    European Private International Law? Landmarks on its Position in the Law of the European Union and the Correlation with International Commercial Law · 2026 · DOI

  • The challenge ahead is to guarantee a uniform level of protection against discrimination for people irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, disability, age, or sexual orientation. Despite these difficulties, there is a renewed determination throughout the EU to advance the fight against discrimination.

    Non-Discrimination in the Current Digital Era in Relation to the Legal Framework of the European Union · 2026 · DOI

  • Ensuring human dignity requires not only robust legal frameworks but also a clear understanding of how it is experienced by individuals. The conditions for dignity are at risk in some areas. There are gaps in justice and fundamental rights across EU Member States.

    Using Empirical Data to Diagnose Gaps in Justice and Fundamental Rights in the EU · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap is in the understanding of how human dignity is experienced by individuals in their everyday lives. The gap is in the operationalization of human dignity in people's daily lives.

    Using Empirical Data to Diagnose Gaps in Justice and Fundamental Rights in the EU · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of clear-cut power to regulate human or individual health.

    The Promotion of Human Dignity Through the Envision of an EU Legal Framework on the End-of-life: An Impregnable Matter or a Concrete Possibility of Legislation for the Union? · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of standardised guidelines and proper legal acts on end-of-life matters in the EU. The need to clarify the EU's power to regulate end-of-life matters.

    The Promotion of Human Dignity Through the Envision of an EU Legal Framework on the End-of-life: An Impregnable Matter or a Concrete Possibility of Legislation for the Union? · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could explore the impact of the EU's conditionality framework on other Western Balkan countries. Future research could also examine the role of domestic reform capacity and external conditionality in shaping the pace and credibility of European integration in other regions.

    Same Path, Different Destiny? The European Integration Journey of Albania and North Macedonia (2001–2025) · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could explore the long-term implications of Brexit for the EU's CSDP. Future research could also examine the potential for the EU to develop a more robust and autonomous defence capacity.

    Security without London: EU Army Debates, Evolution of CSDP and Brexit · 2026 · DOI

  • Speculation about future developments is always delicate, yet the likelihood that the problem of algorithmic discrimination will continue to raise attention is high.

    Non-Discrimination in the Current Digital Era in Relation to the Legal Framework of the European Union · 2026 · DOI

  • Further research on the EU's role in the global order and its implications for how we think about Europe's political and economic order. More work on the decolonial analytic of the EU's globality. Research on the ways in which the EU's externalization policies interact with and reinforce anti-Black racism via its externalization policies.

    Who Is the EU for? Race, Europe, and the Global Order · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the literature on the European integration of the Western Balkans, particularly in terms of the comparative analysis of Albania and North Macedonia's integration trajectories.

    Same Path, Different Destiny? The European Integration Journey of Albania and North Macedonia (2001–2025) · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in European Union Policy and Governance

Most recent work

Find a gap in your own European Union Policy and Governance sub-topic

This page shows what the European Union Policy and Governance literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, search the Research Gap Finder: the search is free with a free account and lists the papers closest to your topic first. Unlocking that topic (50 credits, charged once) fills the comparison table from our 7.9M-paper local library and writes the gaps from its rows.

Open the Research Gap Finder →

Related topics in Social Sciences

Legal Issues in Turkey
2,143 open questions
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
2,104 open questions
Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
2,009 open questions
Impact of Technology on Adolescents
1,855 open questions
Higher Education Research Studies
1,841 open questions
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
1,768 open questions
Global Educational Policies and Reforms
1,735 open questions
Urban Transport and Accessibility
1,724 open questions
Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Future research should continue to explore the dynamics of European solidarity using panel data and longitudinal designs (“What drives European solidarity? Evidence on identity-based, value-based, and…”, 2026); (2) The lack of engagement with Europe's colonial and racialized constitutive role in sustaining global inequalities (“Who Is the EU for? Race, Europe, and the Global Order”, 2026); (3) The lack of a European Constitution makes it difficult to define the existential identity of the European citizen (“European Citizenship between Legal Standardization and Identity Factor:…”, 2026); (4) The lack of an autonomous European Private International Law (“European Private International Law? Landmarks on its Position in the Law of the…”, 2026); (5) The lack of clear-cut power to regulate human or individual health (“The Promotion of Human Dignity Through the Envision of an EU Legal Framework on…”, 2026). 618 gap statements have been mined from European Union Policy and Governance papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 12,211 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

Tools for your next paper

Gaps & Literature SearchFind open questions in any field — 1,100,000+ open gaps mined from our own library.Pre-CheckIs your paper ready? Acceptance odds for top, mid and open/emerging journals, in seconds.Journal FinderA ranked shortlist of target journals from a 17,500-venue index.Duplicate Publication CheckerCheck for prior publication across 7 sources and our local library.Citation GeneratorFreeA DOI or title → APA, MLA, Vancouver, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS. No signup.Graphical Abstract MakerFreeTurn your findings into a colorblind-safe graphical abstract.

How Pre-Check worksHow AI Review works

Compare the category — Honest roundups of the AI research tools, ours listed alongside the alternatives.

Command palette

Jump anywhere, run any action.