European Policy Institutes Network

The European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN) is a network of 31 think tanks from most EU member states and beyond. Its main focus is on current EU and European political and policy debates. EPIN aims to contribute to the debate on the future of Europe through up to the minute, expert analysis and commentary and through providing easy access to understanding the different national debates. EPIN is coordinated by the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Belgium. History EPIN is a network of European think tanks and policy institutes with members in most member states and candidate countries of the European Union. It was established in 2002 during the constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe with partial funding under the PRINCE 'Future of Europe' programme of the European Commission. Then, its principal role was to follow the works of the Convention. More than 30 conferences in member states and candidate countries were organised in the following year. Since its founding CEPS has served as the network's coordinator. With the conclusion of the Convention, the funding ended. Yet, CEPS and other participating institutes decided to keep the network in operation. Since then CEPS provides financial support to the network. EPIN has continued to follow the constitutional process in all its phases: (1) the intergovernmental conference of 2003–2004; (2) the ratification process of the Constitutional Treaty; (3) the period of reflection; and (4) the intergovernmental conference of 2007. EPIN continued to follow (6 ) the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty and currently entered into the next (6) phase on the implementation of the Treaty.