De jure and de facto Openness in South America

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-109
Author(s):  
Andrew Geddes
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Member States ◽  
Regional Migration ◽  
The Eu

Resurgent regionalism since the 2000s in South America brought with it a notably progressive approach to migration at both national and regional level. The emergence and effects of this approach are assessed and also related to wider concerns about governability insofar as they affect responses to migration, but also how they relate more broadly to the operation and effects of political systems in South America. Particular attention is paid to the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and its development of a Residence Agreement that provides rights and protections for citizens of member states and more generally of a regional response that consciously opposed itself to US regional hegemony and to the EU as a template for regional migration governance.

scholarly journals Competition Law and State Aid for Failing Banks in the EU and its Specific Implications for CEE Member States

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (14) ◽  
pp. 145-157
Author(s):  
Virág Blazsek
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Competition Authority ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Bank Bailouts ◽  
The Eu

The bank bailouts following the global financial crisis of 2008 have been subject to prior approval of the European Commission (EC), the competition authority of the European Union. The EC was reluctant to reject rescue efforts directed at failing banks and so it consistently approved all such requests submitted by Member States. Out of the top twenty European banks, the EC authorized State aid to at least twelve entities. In this context, the paper outlines the gradually changing interpretation of EU State aid rules, the “temporary and extraordinary rules” introduced starting from late 2008, and the extension of the “no-State aid” category. The above shifts show that the EC itself deflected from relevant EU laws in order to systemically rescue important banks in Europe and restore their financial stability. The paper argues that bank bailouts and bank rescue packages by the State have led to different effects on market structures and consumer welfare in the Eurozone and non-Eurozone areas, mostly the Eastern segments of the European Union. As such, it is argued that they are inconsistent with the European common market. Although the EC tried to minimize the distortion of competition created as a result of the aforementioned case law primarily through the application of the principle of exceptionality and different compensation measures, these efforts have been at least partially unsuccessful. Massive State aid packages, the preferential treatment of the largest, or systemically important, banks through EU State aid mechanisms – almost none of which are Central and Eastern European (CEE) – may have led to the distortion of competition on the common market. That is so mainly because of the prioritization of the stability of the financial sector and the Euro. The paper argues that State aid for failing banks may have had important positive effects in the short run, such as the promotion of the stability of the banking system and the Euro. In the longrun however, it has contributed to the unprecedented sovereign indebtedness in Europe, and contributed to an increased economic and political instability of the EU, particularly in its most vulnerable CEE segment.

scholarly journals Zastoupení členských zemí v Evropském parlamentu po volbách 2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jakub Charvát
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Member States ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Spatial Aspect ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Eu

Modern democratic political systems are hardly conceivable without political representation. This also applies to the European Union, a unique international organisation with a directly elected and fully-fledged assembly representing the EU citizens. Because geography is central to the operation of almost all electoral systems and the European Parliament is the first transnational assembly based on the Member States representation, the paper explores the spatial aspect of the composition of the European Parliament resulting from the 2019 election. The representation in the European Parliament may be degressively proportional, which implies malapportionment of seats across the EU Member States. The paper, thus, seeks to quantify the malapportionment in the 2019 election at both the aggregate level (by the adaption of Loosemore and Hanby´s distortion index) and individual level (advantage ratio and the value of a vote). It concludes malapportionment was just below 14,5% of the total seats in 2019 while the 2019 election did not bring the degressively proportional representation in the European Parliament as required by the Lisbon Treaty.

Political Agents as Relational Selves

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 493-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Dewandre ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
Political Agents ◽  
The Eu

In this article, I argue that Hannah Arendt’s well-known but controversial distinction between labour, work, and action provides, perhaps unexpectedly, a conceptual grounding for transforming politics and policy-making at the EU level. Beyond the analysis and critique of modernity, Arendt brings the conceptual resources needed for the EU to move beyond the modern trap it fell into thirty years ago. At that time, the European Commission shifted its purpose away from enhancing interdependence among Member States with a common market towards achieving an internal market in the name of boosting growth and creating jobs. Arendt provides the conceptual tools to transform the conceptualisation of relations and of agents that fuels the growing dissatisfaction among many Europeans with EU policy-making. This argument is made through stretching and re-articulating Arendt’s labour-work-action distinction and taking seriously both the biological and plural dimensions of the human condition, besides its rational one. By applying this shift in an EU context, EU policies could change their priorities and better address the needs and expectations of plural political agents and of European citizens.

scholarly journals El modelo de ayudas directas en la PAC post-2013: análisis de impactos de escenarios potenciales

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Blanco Fonseca ◽  
Sol García-Germán Trujeda ◽  
Isabel Bardají
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Common Agricultural Policy ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Agricultural Markets ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Common ◽  
Direct Payments ◽  
Redistributive Effects ◽  
The Eu

<p>Following their introduction in 1992,direct payments have become one of the main instruments of the Common Agricultural Policy. The aim of this study is to analyse potential scenarios of harmonization of direct payments in the CAP post-2013. In doing so, we use the CAPRI model, which represents the functioning of agricultural markets at the global level and simultaneously models CAP measures at the EU regional level. Results suggest that while a flatter rate of direct payments would have minor impacts on agriculture at the EU level, it would imply substantial redistributive effects, both across regions and Member States.</p>

scholarly journals Harmonisation of social policy in the European Community

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 913-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl-Jürgen Bieback
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Member States ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ec Law

With the completion of the Common Market by the end of 1992 the issue of harmonisation of EC law and the Member States is being intensively discussed. Most articles concentrate on discussing the direct effects that EC law has on the law of the Member States. However, in the field of social policy EC competences are very limited as this is still within the prerogative power of the Member States. This paper analyses the problem that the regulatory power and weight of the EC are much greater than its direct competences and regulations mainly through the legal, economic and social influences a common market will exert on the legal order of the Member States. One point is the "natural" tendency of (con-)federated political systems to extend the existing limited competences of the centre. This is not only a matter of "implied powers" granted to the larger political unit, but also of the predominance of EC competence to establish a free market over the Member States' competence to regulate their social policy. The second point is the various influences the free market of the Community will have on the structure of the respective social policies of the Member States : social dumping ; limits to national regulations of social services which disturb the free market for services and goods ; the mobility of labour and the exports of social benefits. Although most mechanisms of harmonisation are illustrated by examples of German labour and social security law, the problems apply to all other Member States of the EC and even to a country, like Canada, which is part of a larger zone of free trade and which itself forms a federal system with a fragile balance between the competences of the Federation and the Member States.

scholarly journals Evaluation of EU Activities to Strengthen Democracy in Member States of the Last Waves of Enlargement

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-16
Author(s):  
Nataliia Khoma ◽  
Ihor Vdovychyn
Keyword(s):  
Political Systems ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Member States ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
European Democracy ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Eu

The article’s purpose is to assess the effectiveness of EU policies concerning strengthen the quality of democracy in the member states. The research methods are aimed at proving the hypothesis about a decrease in impact (initiatives, control, etc.) of EU institutions on deepening democratic modernization, as a result of a discrepancy on debatable issues between the “young” democracies of the EU (like the Baltic States) and the liberal democratic course of the EU. The research is based on the methodology of neo-institutionalism, value approach and political comparative studies. The results of the study have led to the conclusion that the current goals of the EU are not sufficiently focused on the issue of the quality of democracy in the member states. The need to revitalize the EU in the direction of monitoring the observance of democratic standards is explained by the stagnation/regression of the quality of democracy in these states of the latest EU expansion. The actions of EU institutions in relation to member states, where stagnation/regression of democracy has been manifested, were assessed as inappropriate regarding the possible consequences of this destructive process. Insufficient attention by the EU to strengthening its values on which the EU is based was noted, that is seen as the main reason for the current deterioration in the quality of democracy. The urgency of this new format for European democracy, of really effective mechanisms for ensuring its quality was stated. The authors mentioned a number of open questions that require further study, in particular: 1) are EU initiatives able to reduce the democratic deficit in its member states?; 2) how strong should the EU's control be over the observance of these standards and values of democracy so that it does not contradict the principles of democracy? Attention is drawn to the need of further clarifying these mechanisms which the EU should implement in relation to its member states in order to strengthen the quality of national democratic political systems.

Patents and Competition Law—United Kingdom and European Union

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip W. Grubb ◽  
Peter R. Thomsen ◽  
Tom Hoxie ◽  
Gordon Wright
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Competition Law ◽  
The Uk ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Paris Convention ◽  
The Eu

This chapter focuses on competition law in the UK and EU. Most countries, as well as the EU, have developed a body of competition law to provide countermeasures against what are regarded as abuses of monopoly by patentees. Abuse of monopoly is the use of a patent simply to exclude others, while not working the invention oneself. Provisions of the Paris Convention enable compulsory licences to be granted if the patent is not worked within a certain time. In the UK, they may also be granted if the patentee is preventing the working of a dependent patent by refusing to grant a licence. In the EU, competition law for the internal common market is within the exclusive competence of EU institutions; the national governments of member states only assist these institutions when it comes to implementation of the legislation. The remainder of the chapter explains EU patent licence agreements.

COVID Pandemic and its Influence as Fragmentation of EU Market and Security

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-198
Author(s):  
Nikolay Marin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Effects ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
Health Economy ◽  
Member States ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe prevalence of the COVID 19 virus from an epidemic evolved into a pandemic and that was proclaimed by the WHO. Managing health problems has inherently come in a direct connection with a range of systems and industries such as health, economy, and national security. The measures that are taken to curb the virus have had an extremely adverse effect on the EU and its Member States, which are among the most affected ones. Achievements such as the common market and internal security that are built on the free movement of the four freedoms are limited for the first time in a way that affects the whole Union and its Member States. In most of the EU Member States state of emergency is established and the governments apply restrictive measures. The article examines the impact of the health problem and the achievements of the common market and concludes further normalization of free movement in the EU. The economic effects of the COVID pandemic will prevent emerging countries from providing key services. This will lead to trust undermining in government and internal security challenges.

scholarly journals Article 260 TFEU Sanctions in Multi-Tiered Member States

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-162
Author(s):  
Werner Vandenbruwaene ◽  
Patricia Popelier ◽  
Christine Janssens
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Regional Governments

Abstract The question at hand is located at the intersection of EU law and national constitutional law, and aims to answer the following problem: namely, how to mitigate federal concerns in the context of infringement procedures and financial sanctions under art. 260 TFEU. This article approaches this question both from the perspective of the Commission and the Court of Justice, as well as from the vantage point of the central and regional governments involved. After analysing the composition of the financial sanctions, we cover the involvement of subnational entities in the infringements proceedings in six tiered Member States (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) and the relevant national provisions for the partition of financial sanctions. The conclusions pertain to both the central and regional level and the EU institutions concerned, adhering to the multi-level relationship subjacent to this article.

scholarly journals The Limits of EUropean Legitimacy: On Populism and Technocracy. Introduction to the Special Issue

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Foster ◽  
Jan Grzymski ◽  
Monika Brusenbauch Meislová
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Era ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Eu

This article introduces the special issue on populism and technocracy in the integration and governance of the European Union (EU), framing these opposing approaches in the context of polarised debate on the (il)legitimacy of the EU. The special issue was conceived as an interdisciplinary approach to questions of the EU’s legitimacy in the aftermath of structural crises (the eurozone, sovereign debt and the election and appointment of governing agents) and spontaneous crises (migration, external state and non-state security challenges, Brexit and Euroscepticism). Since the special issue’s conception the unanticipated Covid-19 pandemic, and responses from the EU and its member states (current and former) starkly illuminated debates on how the EU should operate, the limits of its power and the limits of its popular legitimacy. The era of passive consensus has been replaced by claims of legitimacy based on active expert-informed intervention, alongside populist claims of the EU’s inherent illegitimacy as an undemocratic technocracy. As such the special issue’s objective is to critically analyse manifold ways in which the populist-technocratic divide is narrated and performed in different regions, disciplines, and social and political systems in an era of growing internal and external challenges to the Union. We observe that the EU’s institutions remain highly adaptable in responding to challenges, but that member-states have continued and accelerated a tendency to nationalise success and Europeanise failure, with the EU acting as a perennial scapegoat largely due to the ease with which it can be narrated as a site of projection for mistrust, resentment, and social grievances. We argue that the relationship between populism and technocracy is rapidly evolving from an imagined binary into a much more fluid, overlapping, and reversible set of political narratives. We conclude that despite the changing nature of populist-technocratic debates and the resilience and adaptability of the EU, it faces accelerating challenges to its legitimacy in the new era of ‘politics of necessity’.

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