5. Germany: A German Europe or a Europeanized Germany?

2020 ◽  
pp. 101-122
Author(s):  
Timm Beichelt ◽  
Simon Bulmer
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Member State ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
European Union Member State ◽  
European Policy ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines Germany’s profile as a European Union member state. It is divided into two parts, looking at EU-Germany relations from both bottom-up and top-down perspectives. The first considers Germany’s increasing influence on the EU, notably during the eurozone and refugee crises. It considers the question of whether Germany has assumed the role of the EU’s hegemon. At the same time the chapter argues that Germany is a very Europeanized member state. It uses the comparative politics paradigm by considering public opinion on Europe, the European dimension of party politics, and the Federal Republic’s major political institutions and their role in European policy. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the two perspectives, seeking a balance between the arguments for a German Europe and a Europeanized Germany.

A Permanent Constitutional Assembly

2020 ◽  
pp. 197-214
Author(s):  
Markus Patberg
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Member State ◽  
Dual Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
Institutional Solution ◽  
The Eu

This chapter presents an institutional proposal for how citizens could be enabled—in the dual role of European and national citizens—to exercise constituent power in the EU. To explain in abstract terms what an institutional solution would have to involve, it draws on the notion of a sluice system, according to which the particular value of representative bodies consists in their capacity to provide both transmission and filter functions for democratic processes. On this basis, the chapter critically discusses the proposal that the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) should transform itself into an inter-parliamentary constitutional assembly. As this model allows constituted powers to continue to operate as the EU’s de facto constituent powers, it cannot be expected to deliver the functions of a sluice system. The chapter goes on to argue that a more convincing solution would be to turn the Convention of Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union into a permanent constitutional assembly composed of two chambers, one elected by EU citizens and the other by member state citizens. The chapter outlines the desirable features of such an assembly and defends the model against a number of possible objections.

France and the European Union

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Lequesne ◽  
Avtansh Behal
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Member State ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Founding Member ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) is a multilevel governance whose dynamics of change cannot be understood outside the perspective of each member state. France has contributed to the politics and policies of the EU, but the EU has also had an impact on French domestic politics and policies. As a founding member state of the European Communities (EC), France has played since the 1950s a major role in the development of European institutions, policies, and reforms leading to the EU. France has also, however, always had a paradoxical position regarding the institutional design of the EU. On one side, France has supported the principle of supranationality in the economic areas of EU integration (market and monetary policy). On the other side, it has preferred the intergovernmental method for foreign policy and defense. France’s influence in the EU was for a long time exercised in co-leadership with Germany. The return of Germany to full sovereignty after its reunification, the enlargements of the EU toward the East, and a growing asymmetry between French and German economies made the Franco-German partnership less central in the 1990s. France’s influence on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has diminished to the benefit of Germany, while it has remained central for the definition of a EU foreign and security policy. Like most of the EU member states, France has also to cope domestically with a growing politicization of the EU issue in the domestic context since the middle of the 1990s. Opposition to the EU has arisen among French public opinion and has restrained the autonomy of the French executive (president of the republic and government) in the EU negotiations. The dominant narrative in France about EU membership has four main components: being a founding member state, being a big member state, co-leading the EU with Germany, and making sure that the EU maximizes the French national interest. The relationships of the main French institutional actors with the EU focus on the president of the Republic, the prime minister, and the National Parliament, as well as major national courts and interest groups. The political debates on the EU in the French public sphere involve the mainstream political parties, the rise of Euroskepticism, the referendum campaigns on EU issues, and general trends in the public opinion. France’s contributions to the main EU policies include membership in the EMU, the commitment to the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the attitudes toward the enlargement processes, and the future of the EU institutional reforms.

scholarly journals Harmonization of chosen excise duty in the EU

2008 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr David
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Member State ◽  
Union Member ◽  
European Union Member State ◽  
Specific Rate ◽  
Trade Barriers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Excise Duty ◽  
The Eu

The level and structure of cigarettes taxation are very much in the news these days. In the field of tax on cigarettes in the European Union there is the question of whether specific rate or ad valorem rate should be used. The choice between these two rates depends on primary aim of tax policy in each European Union member state. The founding is that differential excises could be used as pro­tec­tio­nist trade barriers. Decision about tax rate on cigarettes can bring some other related effects. That is the reason why European Union established some restrictions in the field of level and structure of cigarettes taxation.

4. Germany: In Search of a New Balance

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timm Beichelt
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
European Union Member State ◽  
Policy Performance ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines Germany’s profile as a European Union member state. It first provides an overview of Germany’s trajectory during the history of European integration before analysing the patterns of Germany–EU relations. It then uses the comparative politics paradigm by considering public opinion on Europe, the European dimension of party politics, and the Federal Republic’s major political institutions and their role in European policy. It also discusses Germany’s policy performance as an EU member state, along with the impact of EU membership on German political parties. The chapter shows that, within the framework of international politics, Germany has ceded much of its sovereignty and become ever more integrated into European and transatlantic frameworks. At the same time, German interests in the areas of international security and socioeconomic development have benefited significantly from European integration.

1. The European Union and its Member States: An Overview

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Christian Lequesne
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Member State ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

This chapter provides an overview of the European Union and its member states. It first explains why the member states matter in the EU before discussing the role of member states in the EU, with particular emphasis on three approaches to understanding member state-EU relations: intergovernmentalism, institutionalism, and governance approaches. It then examines the Europeanization of the member states as well as the domestic politics approach, which claims that it is impossible to understand the EU without considering domestic politics. It concludes by presenting the logic and structure of this volume: how the relationship between the EU and its member states will be portrayed in the chapters that follow.

7. Sweden: From Scepticism to Pragmatic Support

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Michalski
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Administrative System ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the adaptations that have occurred in Sweden’s political and administrative system following its admission to the European Union on 1 January 1995. Sweden became a member of the EU on 1 January 1995 after a long period of hesitation. After fifteen years of membership, reticence has given way to a more positive stance, best characterized as pragmatic support. The chapter first considers patterns in Sweden’s membership in the EU before discussing Swedish public opinion towards the EU and the impact of Sweden’s EU membership on the country’s political parties, political institutions, public administration, and sub-national actors such as the civil service. The chapter goes on to explore Sweden’s approach to EU public policy and concludes by comparing its experience with those of other member states, including Austria and Finland.

15. Citizens and Public Opinion in the European Union

2019 ◽  
pp. 219-232
Author(s):  
Simona Guerra ◽  
Hans-Jörg Trenz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
National Government ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Mass Opinion ◽  
Cognitive Mobilization ◽  
The Eu

This chapter provides an overview of trends in public opinion toward the European Union. The chapter also discusses the key factors thought to explain differences in mass opinion regarding the EU. These include political economy and rationality; that is, opinions stemming from calculations about the costs and benefits of the EU; perceptions of the national government (domestic proxies); the influence of political elites; political psychology, including cognitive mobilization (attentiveness to politics) and concerns about the loss of national identity; and finally, the role of the mass media in driving opinions regarding the EU.

1. The European Union and its Member States: An Overview

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Christian Lequesne
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Member State ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

This chapter provides an overview of the European Union and its member states. It first explains why the member states matter in the EU before discussing the role of member states in the EU, with particular emphasis on three approaches to understanding member state–EU relations: intergovernmentalism, institutionalism, and governance approaches. It then examines the Europeanization of the member states as well as the revival of domestic politics approaches, which claim that it is impossible to understand the EU in light of its politicization during the 2010s. It concludes by presenting the logic and structure of this volume: how the relationship between the EU and its member states will be portrayed in the chapters that follow.

Northern Ireland and the EU: applying a theory of multi-level governance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Member State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
British State ◽  
Supranational Institutions ◽  
The Eu

Chapter eight analyses the relevance of the theory of multi-level governance (MLG) to explain the role of the European Union (EU) in Northern Ireland and contends that the EU successfully engages Northern Ireland as a region of a member state without threatening that state’s sovereignty or power. The EU has increasingly become successful because of its accommodation with the British state, and the British state allows the EU as a mechanism to reconcile communities in Northern Ireland. MLG emphasises the multi-level nature of EU politics and attaches significance to the role played by subnational units and supranational institutions in the policy process. The model also proposes new forms of governance which offers a specific conception of EU politics based on an altered relationship between state and non-state actors, where the latter have become increasingly influential. The MLG model may not fully capture some of the internal constraints, complexities, and divisions which are characteristic of Northern Ireland’s recent political experience and which are reflected in its evolving relationship with the EU.

Examining and Explaining the Northern League's ‘U-Turn’ from Europe

2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj S. Chari ◽  
Suvi Iltanen ◽  
Sylvia Kritzinger
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Potential Influence ◽  
Northern League ◽  
Domestic Level ◽  
The Eu

AbstractSet in the context of the larger literature on regionalist parties and specifically on the Italian Northern League, this paper examines and explains why the party moved from Euro-positivism to Euroscepticism. Drawing on concepts raised in the larger comparative politics literature, five explanations of this U-turn towards Europe are evaluated. It is argued that, despite the strength of explanations that focus on the desires of party supporters, the role of public opinion, the potential influence of economic investors or the role of EU-level institutions in shaping party preferences, a more cogent explanation focuses on domestic-level developments. The conclusions will underscore the general implications of this research for the study of parties, particularly regionalist ones in the EU, highlighting that a party's changing stance towards supranational integrationist polices can be best understood as a consequence of its experience in a political system's electoral system.

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