Beyond the Bosphorus?

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Wimmel

This article examines the impact of national borders on public discourses, based on a case study of the struggle surrounding Turkey’s application to join the European Union (EU). Comparing opinions, reasons and interpretation patterns in quality press commentaries about enlarging the EU beyond the Bosphorus, the article confirms the importance and robustness of national cleavages between the German and the French public spheres on the one hand and the British public sphere on the other. Whereas Turkish membership was predominantly rejected on the continent, the British commentators strongly and almost unanimously supported Ankara’s request. These similarities and divergences, I argue, are first and foremost the result of competing visions of Europe’s finality, especially regarding various constitutional ideas and cultural principles. Against this background, the Turkey question was partly exploited as an instrument to advance or to suppress different concepts on the future of European integration.

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1187-1220
Author(s):  
Francisco de Abreu Duarte

Abstract This article develops the concept of the monopoly of jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) through the analysis of the case study of the Investment Court System (ICS). By providing a general framework over the criteria that have been developed by the Court, the work sheds light on the controversial principle of autonomy of the European Union (EU) and its implications to the EU’s external action. The work intends to be both pragmatic and analytical. On the one hand, the criteria are extracted as operative tools from the jurisprudence of the CJEU and then used in the context of the validity of the ICS. This provides the reader with some definitive standards that can then be applied to future cases whenever a question concerning autonomy arises. On the other hand, the article questions the reasons behind the idea of the monopoly of jurisdiction of the CJEU, advancing a concept of autonomy of the EU as a claim for power and critiquing the legitimacy and coherence of its foundations. Both dimensions will hopefully help to provide some clarity over the meaning of autonomy and the monopoly of jurisdiction, while, at the same time, promoting a larger discussion on its impact on the external action of the EU.


Author(s):  
Federico Fabbrini

This chapter focuses on the European Union after Brexit and articulates the case for constitutional reforms. Reforms are necessary to address the substantive and institutional shortcomings that patently emerged in the context of Europe’s old and new crises. Moreover, reforms will be compelled by the exigencies of the post-Covid-19 EU recovery, which pushes the EU towards new horizons in terms of fiscal federalism and democratic governance. As a result, the chapter considers both obstacles and opportunities to reform the EU and make it more effective and legitimate. On the one hand, it underlines the difficulties connected to the EU treaty amendment procedure, owing to the requirement of unanimous approval of any treaty change, and the consequential problem of the veto. On the other hand, it emphasizes the increasing practice by Member States to use intergovernmental agreements outside the EU legal order and stresses that these have set new rules on their entry into force which overcome state veto, suggesting that this is now a precedent to consider.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Năsulea ◽  
Beatrice Nicolle Crețu ◽  
Diana Florentina Spînu

Abstract Although new sanctions have been imposed, to varying degrees, on Russia since the debut of the Crimean crisis, few experts are taking the chance of publishing an assessment of the impact these sanctions will have on Russia or the European Union. On one hand, the complexity of the variables involved makes it extremely difficult to predict the outcome of said sanctions; on the other hand, an accurate assessment would make an invaluable tool in the hands of decision makers, no matter if their decisions are made with regards to foreign policy, public policy or the daily business of private companies. This article sets out to examine the context, some of the variables involved and some of the forecasts that have been put forward by various experts, while trying to provide a simplified model for assessing the impact of sanctions enacted by the EU on its own economy.


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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 63-80
Author(s):  
Alice Leal

The tension between unity versus multiplicity seems to be at the heart of the European Union (EU) and of translation studies (TS). Indeed, a significant parallel between the two is the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF). The EU appears to be torn between a notion of language as a crucial element of one’s identity on the one hand, and a predominantly instrumental, Lockean view of language, on the other. A similar dynamic appears to take place in TS, an area that is par excellence heterogeneous and in which the notion of difference plays a paramount role. Indeed, at times TS appears to be afflicted by a sense of self-consciousness regarding its lack of unity and homogeneity. According to some, the solution is to foster the standardisation of its methods and terminology. But would proposing standardised terminology in a standardised language for the area not inevitably entail repressing different approaches in different languages? The paper explores this question in the context of the use of English as a lingua franca, and proposes various ways out of the dilemma both for the EU and TS.


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):  
Barbara Guastaferro

Article 4 of the Treaty on the European Union is a core provision to understand the ‘federal’ nature of the European Union. It is composed of three paragraphs, any of which tries to strike a balance between the constitutive units of the composite legal order, namely the EU, on the one hand, and the Member States, on the other. The first paragraph enshrines the so-called ‘principle of presumed Member States competences’, according to which competences not conferred upon the EU remain to the Member States. The second paragraph requires the EU to respect Member States’ national identities, inherent in their fundamental political and constitutional structures. The third paragraph enshrines the principle of sincere cooperation. In this respect, all the paragraphs express a sort of ‘federal concern’. Article 4(1) TEU is devoted to the vertical division of competences and strengthens the respect of the principle of conferral, Article 4(2) TEU is devoted to the identities of the Member States of the EU thus protecting diversities in the composite legal order, and Article 4(3) TEU is devoted to loyalty, which, like in many federal or compound legal orders, should inform the cooperation among levels of government.


Author(s):  
Eleonora Rosati

Compared to other areas of intervention at the European Union (EU) level, copyright harmonization is a relatively recent phenomenon. Compared to other areas of intellectual property law, copyright harmonization has not been as complete as with other rights. Yet, two phenomena may be observed: one the one hand, copyright policy and legislative initiatives have intensified over the past few years; on the other hand, the large number of references to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has substantially shaped the EU copyright framework and, with it, also the copyright framework of individual EU Member States....


Author(s):  
Nanopoulos Eva

This chapter explores the European Union’s relationship and contribution to the international law of global security through the lens of ‘ambivalence’. The reasons for this approach are threefold. First, that relationship oscillates between symbiosis and friction. On the one hand, the European Union (EU) has been gradually integrated into the global security architecture. On the other hand, the EU, as a power bloc and ‘autonomous’ legal community, also provides a source of conflict with, disassociation from, or destabilization of, global security arrangements. Second, the interaction between EU law and global security law, as well as the substantive contribution of the EU to the law of global security, produces mixed results. Finally, the ambivalence of the EU as a ‘global security provider’ has also explanatory value when it comes to contemporary developments and challenges, particularly as they emerge from the EU’s response to the increased ‘questioning’ of the European project and the global liberal order more generally, and that cut across several aspects of global security.


1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luděk Urban

The Czech economy is undergoing two dominant processes: on the one hand transformation process which is far from being finished, on the other hand the Czech Republic is preparing its legislation and takes other measures to be ready for accession to the EU. The process of EU accession is a relationship of two partners who are not in quite an equal position. One party, an associated country aspiring to join the EU, tries to demonstrate that it fulfills the laid down conditions of accession and that it is ready for this act.


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