scholarly journals Memory Politics in the European Union: in Search for Common Landmarks

Author(s):  
I.S. Semenenko

The article evaluates the reasons behind the surge of interest in memory politics in EU countries in the last decade. The author analyses the current memory studies agenda, the mechanisms and instruments proposed for use at EU level to promote a common European identity, and the practices of representing a shared European past in public spaces that have emerged over the last few years (such as the permanent exhibition of House of European History in Brussels). The evaluation of new priorities on the memory politics agenda can help shed light on the difficulties and threats to further promote European solidarity based on a common memory, especially having in mind the drastic consequences of the 2020 pandemic crisis. One can foresee the advancement of national and regional models of memory politics to the frontline of identity politics in Europe. The research is based on the analysis of discourses reflecting the changing memory politics agenda aimed at consolidating a common European space where Russia is considered as the alien Other. Empirical data was collected by the author during her visits to European museums and memory sites representing the history and the current state of the European integration project. This was complemented by the analysis of digital library and archive resources and expert reports dedicated to memory politics and identity policies in the EU.

2021 ◽  
Vol 107 (7) ◽  
pp. 18-26
Author(s):  
Lyubov Fadeeva ◽  

The author of the article attempts to use the theories of the European identity, memory politics, identity politics by placing them in the context of the European (international) security. The author considers it fundamentally important to pay attention not so much to the threats to European identity, but to how identity is used to legitimize foreign policy of the European Union. The article highlights such perspectives of this problem as the confrontation inside the EU on the politics of memory and identity and the justification of the EU foreign policy towards Russia by the need to protect the European identity and European values. The author uses the discourse-analysis and identity research methods. The main emphasis is placed on the competitiveness of identity politics and the possibilities of using it for political purposes, to legitimize solutions to ensure the security of the European Union and the world as a whole.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Entin ◽  
Vadim Voynikov

Despite the relatively short history of its development, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is becoming more confident about itself as a successful integration project. At the same time, there is a growing interest in the EAEU by the political elite and scientific community in Russia and abroad. The EAEU is investigated from different points of view, but almost no research is carried out without a comparative legal analysis of the EAEU and the European Union (EU). Both unions belong to the same type of integration organizations; the EAEU was largely created in the image of the EU. However, an analysis of the institutional and legal structure of the EAEU and the EU shows there are fundamental differences between the two unions concerning the principles of their functioning. This article substantiates the fact that supranational constitutionalization within the EU is not typical for the EAEU and is even harmful. At the same time, the technical tools developed by the EU can be useful to the EAEU for resolving current challenges of ensuring sustainability and self-affirmation in the international arena. This experience is of importance in view of the crisis experienced by the EU, since only they were able to manifest what institutional and legal decisions are working within the framework of an integration association, and which should be discarded. It is vital that the EAEU not repeat the mistakes and miscalculations of the EU.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Verdun

This article seeks to shed light on the development over the past decades of the concept of economic governance. It asks what is understood by economic governance and what role the social dimension has played. The article offers an analysis of the problems and possible issues confronting the EU as it seeks ways to address the sovereign debt crisis by embarking on deeper economic integration. The article concludes that from the early days there have been questions about the exact interaction between economic and monetary integration and thus between ‘economic’ and ‘monetary’ union. Despite Delors’ original inclination, few were willing to establish any linkage between EMU and social matters. The crises have again brought out the need to consider the two in tandem. Moreover, with the increased role in economic governance accorded to EU-level institutions, there is a need to rethink the EU democratic model.


Author(s):  
Sharon Pardo

Israeli-European Union (EU) relations have consisted of a number of conflicting trends that have resulted in the emergence of a highly problematic and volatile relationship: one characterized by a strong and ever-increasing network of economic, cultural, and personal ties, yet marked, at the political level, by disappointment, bitterness, and anger. On the one hand, Israel has displayed a genuine desire to strengthen its ties with the EU and to be included as part of the European integration project. On the other hand, Israelis are deeply suspicious of the Union’s policies and are untrusting of the Union’s intentions toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the Middle East as a whole. As a result, Israel has been determined to minimize the EU’s role in the Middle East peace process (MEPP), and to deny it any direct involvement in the negotiations with the Palestinians. The article summarizes some key developments in Israeli-European Community (EC)/EU relations since 1957: the Israeli (re)turn to Europe in the late 1950s; EC-Israeli economic and trade relations; the 1980 Venice Declaration and the EC/EU involvement in the MEPP; EU-Israeli relations in a regional/Mediterranean context; the question of Israeli settlements’ products entering free of duty to the European Common Market; EU-Israeli relations in the age of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP); the failed attempt to upgrade EU-Israeli relations between the years 2007 and 2014; and the Union’s prohibition on EU funding to Israeli entities beyond the 1967 borders. By discussing the history of this uneasy relationship, the article further offers insights into how the EU is actually judged as a global-normative actor by Israelis.


Author(s):  
Eli Gateva

Enlargement has always been an essential part of the European integration. Each enlargement round has left its mark on the integration project. However, it was the expansion of the European Union (EU) with the 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), Cyprus, and Malta, unprecedented in scope and scale, which presented the EU with an opportunity to develop a multifaceted set of instruments and transformed enlargement into one of the EU’s most successful policies. The numerous challenges of the accession process, along with the immensity of the historical mission to unify Europe, lent speed to the emergence of the study of EU enlargement as a key research area. The early studies investigated the puzzle of the EU’s decision to enlarge with the CEECs, and the costs and benefits of the Eastern expansion. However, the questions about the impact of EU enlargement policy inspired a new research agenda. Studies of the influence of the EU on candidate and potential candidate countries have not only widened the research focus of Europeanization studies (beyond the member states of the Union), but also stimulated and shaped the debates on the scope and effectiveness of EU conditionality. Most of the analytical frameworks developed in the context of the Eastern enlargement have favored rational institutionalist approaches highlighting a credible membership perspective as the key explanatory variable. However, studies analyzing the impact of enlargement policy on the Western Balkan countries and Turkey have shed light on some of the limitations of the rationalist approaches and sought to identify new explanatory factors. After the completion of the fifth enlargement with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the research shifted to analyzing the continuity and change of EU enlargement policy and its impact on the candidate and potential candidate countries. There is also a growing number of studies examining the sustainability of the impact of EU conditionality after accession by looking into new members’ compliance with EU rules. The impact of EU enlargement policy on the development of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and comparative evaluations of the Union’s performance across the two policy frameworks have also shaped and expanded the debate on the mechanisms and effectiveness of the EU’s influence. The impact of the Eastern enlargement on EU institutions and policymaking is another area of research that has emerged over the last decade. In less than two decades, the study of EU enlargement policy has produced a rich and diverse body of literature that has shaped the broader research agendas on Europeanization, implementation, and compliance and EU policymaking. Comprehensive theoretical and empirical studies have allowed us to develop a detailed understanding of the impact of the EU on the political and economic transformations in Central and Eastern Europe. The ongoing accession process provides more opportunities to study the evolving nature of EU enlargement policy, its impact on candidate countries, the development of EU policies, and the advancement of the integration project.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Marco Mazzeschi

<p>A worldwide shortage of about 38-40 million highly skilled workers is forecast by 2020. Many countries are implementing policies to attract workers with special skills and knowledge. What is the European Union doing to face this challenge? In 2009 the EU adopted the so called Blue Card Directive (n. 2009/50) to attract highly qualified workers from abroad, address labour and skills shortages and strengthen the EU’s competitiveness and economic growth. The Directive was implemented by most EU countries during 2012 but has proven to be insufficiently attractive and underused, with only a limited number of Blue Cards issued. For these reasons, the EU Commission has announced some proposed changes to the Blue Card Directive. The specific objectives are, amongst other things, to increase the numbers of third-country highly skilled workers immigrating to the EU and simplify and harmonise admission procedures for third-country highly skilled workers.</p><p>The article also outlines a summary of the current state of implementation of the Directive in the following countries: Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soetkin Verhaegen ◽  
Marc Hooghe ◽  
Ellen Quintelier

In the literature, two approaches toward the development of a European identity can be distinguished. Society-based approaches assume that the most important foundation for the development of a European identity is trust toward other European citizens as this allows Europeans to identify with the European Union as a community of citizens and values. The institutional approach, on the other hand, assumes that a shared European identity is predominantly based on trust in political institutions. In this paper, we use the results of the IntUne Mass Survey 2009 (n=16,613 in 16 EU member states) to test the relationship between social and political trust on the one hand, and European identity on the other. The results suggest that trust in other European citizens is positively associated with European identity, but trust in the European political institutions has a stronger relation with European identity. This could imply that efforts to strengthen European identity cannot just rely on a bottom-up approach, but should also pay attention to the effectiveness and the visibility of the EU institutions and the way they are being perceived by European citizens.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 439
Author(s):  
Ievgenii Shulga ◽  
Volodymyr Kurylo ◽  
Inna Gyrenko ◽  
Serhii Savych

Nowadays in Ukraine there is no single view on understanding of the strategy of development of energy safety, which profoundly and negatively affected the general state of national safety of the country. The purpose of the article is to analyze the current state of legal security of energy safety in Ukraine, check it for compliance with its obligations under the Association Agreement with the EU and other EU acts that proclaim the standards in the field of energy safety. This paper refers to the experience of the EU energy safety legislation. Furthemore, this study provides analysis of Ukrainian legislation in this field, draws attention to the existing conflicts and gaps, emphasizing the need to optimize legislation of Ukraine's energy safety according to the EU standards. Keywords: energy safety, energy law, the EU energy safety, energy safety of Ukraine, legislation of energy safety, adaptation of Ukrainian energy legislation to the EU standards.


Author(s):  
Ariane Bogain ◽  
Florence Potot

In an era of increased globalisation, the need for a sense of belonging and an identity is becoming more pressing. The way nations form images of others and, conversely, conscious or unconscious images of themselves is becoming increasingly important as these images impact on public opinion and on political and decision-making discourse. With the development of supranationalism in Europe, the age-old notion of European identity has come more and more to the fore. Conflicting interpretations and a general disinclination to consider the matter leave the notion of European identity as polysemic as ever. Furthermore, the expansion of the EU has contributed to blurring this notion, so much so that in the collective psyche, it has become closely linked to the membership of the European Union and it is proving sometimes difficult to dissociate one from the other. In this context, the debate surrounding Turkey’s membership of the EU gives an insight into prototypical and stereotypical representations of Europe. As the controversy has been particularly salient in France, the aim of this study is to explore the European self-conceptions and images of the other through the example of France’s opposition to Turkey’s membership of the EU. For this purpose, opinion polls and the Press will be used as forms of narrative in order to highlight these representations and how they have evolved in time. The first part of the study will concentrate on the arguments put forward to justify the opposition to Turkey joining the EU. The second part will then evaluate how the image of the other contributes to the prototypical representation French citizens have of Europe.


Author(s):  
S. P. Mitrakhovich

The article using “A Just Russia” case deals with the party strategies of the Russian left political forces for the creation of the relations with party structures of the European Union. Similar party strategy is at the same time a part of domestic policy and development of the Russian political processes, and at the same time, they are a part of the relationship with the European Union which is built up by Russia. Consequently, that is de facto a part of foreign policy activity. The novelty of the research consists in a combination of the research approaches used in a “partology” while considering a party to be a rational actor acting in conditions of a country political environment and the research approaches accepted in modern European studies. Parties act as internal political players, but at the same time and as contractors of foreign elite, in this case — party elite of the European Union, members of party groups of European Parliament, party Internationals, “the European parties” (earlier known under the term of “party at the European level”). From the Russian parliamentary political forces of several last electoral cycles “A Just Russia”, using a discourse of modern socialism, could establish more actively than others cooperation with European left, including influencing adoption of significant decisions in the EU, for example, on reform of the EU Gas Directive and the Third Energy Package of the EU. The party, through the prism of socialist ideology, is trying to bring together certain positions of the party elites of the Russian Federation and the EU, bringing differences on social avant-garde and identity politics out of the brackets. Therefore, it focuses recently on the problems of sanctions issues, considering its communication with the Party of European socialists and socialist groups in the European Parliament as another potentially popular diplomatic track for the country.


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