An Unfair Union?

2020 ◽  
pp. 217-241
Author(s):  
Pavlos Eleftheriadis

Is the Eurozone fair? Since the member states jointly created a structurally flawed Eurozone, they remain jointly responsible for the asymmetric risks they created for the disadvantaged members. When the crisis caused important economic and social losses to the disadvantaged states, all the other states as a whole had a moral obligation to provide redress. The financial assistance programmes can be reasonably seen as the expression of a new form of solidarity generated by European integration and based on the idea of justice in cooperation. This kind of solidarity, however, is transnational, not constitutional and has its origins in corrective, not distributive justice. It is the result of states cooperating, not of citizens setting up common political institutions.

Author(s):  
Philip Lynch ◽  
Richard Whitaker

This chapter examines the difficulties that European integration has posed for the Conservatives under Cameron in the context of modernisation of the Conservative Party. It explores how two familiar problems, albeit in a new form, have reappeared and posed problems for Cameron’s modernisation project. First, the desire of EU Member States to pursue further integration has limited UK influence and second, Conservative divisions have returned with a vengeance, this time between soft Eurosceptics supporting membership of a reformed EU and hard Eurosceptics seeking fundamental renegotiation or withdrawal. The chapter also assesses an important new dimension to Conservative difficulties on the EU issue, namely the rise of UKIP. It looks at the challenge it poses and the Conservative response. The chapter concludes by considering how the EU issue may play out in the post-2015 general election period.


2020 ◽  
pp. 6-24
Author(s):  
Andriy Hrubinko

The article is devoted to study history of formation mechanisms of foreign policy of the European Communities in the period before creation of the European Union (40s – 80s of the XXth century). The dynamics formation of the foreign and security component of European integration from the first postwar projects of political association of the leading states of Western Europe (France and Great Britain) to creation in the early 1970s of a mechanism of European political cooperation (EPC) and its further activity are traced. The article analyzes political and legal status, evolution of the organizational structure, main activities, international achievements and miscalculations in the work of the EPC. Positions of Member States of the European Communities on development of their foreign policy and security components have been taken into account. The conclusions stated that the processes of European integration in the post-war period began precisely from the political sphere. However, due to differences in the strategic views of the states of Western Europe, their unwillingness to surrender state sovereignty in favor of European political institutions, as well as the position of the United States, it very quickly moved into the formation of a purely economic regional association. At the same time, the scale of economic integration and international policy tendencies have led to the formation of the system of political cooperation, which has become commonplace in the work of the Community institutions and the interaction of the Member States. On the whole, the EPC remained a weak and declarative practice of regular inter-state meetings at various levels, because it was outside the system of institutions and the regulatory framework of the European Communities. National ambitions of the Member States, each of which often favored the established priorities of its own foreign policy over the common interests of the union. Achieved level of political unification positions and actions of the Member States of the European Communities did not significantly increase the influence of integration in the international space until the formation of the European Union.


Author(s):  
Friedrich Erlbacher

Article 181a EC Without prejudice to the other provisions of the Treaties, and in particular Articles 208 to 211, the Union shall carry out economic, financial and technical cooperation measures, including assistance, in particular financial assistance, with third countries other than developing countries. Such measures shall be consistent with the development policy of the Union and shall be carried out within the framework of the principles and objectives of its external action. The Union’s operations and those of the Member States shall complement and reinforce each other.


Author(s):  
Jacques Ziller

This chapter covers the Empty Chair crisis, the context of events leading up to the crisis, and its impact and implications on European integration. It begins with an account of the events leading up to the crisis, which was triggered by the 1965 EEC Council meeting. The issue to be solved was that of the financing rules for the common agricultural policy (CAP), although the chapter soon reveals that much more was at stake for France as well as the other Member States. One observer notes that the conflict ‘centred, more fundamentally, on the question of the governance of the Community (to use the modern phrase). The legal basis of the Commission’s activities and its independence were both in the balance’.


2006 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Sándor Richter

The order and modalities of cross-member state redistribution as well as the net financial position of the member states are one of the most widely discussed aspects of European integration. The paper addresses selected issues in the current debate on the EU budget for the period 2007 to 2013 and introduces four scenarios. The first is identical to the European Commission's proposal; the second is based on reducing the budget to 1% of the EU's GNI, as proposed by the six net-payer countries, while maintaining the expenditure structure of the Commission's proposal. The next two scenarios represent radical reforms: one of them also features a '1% EU GNI'; however, the expenditures for providing 'EU-wide value-added' are left unchanged and it is envisaged that the requisite cuts will be made in the expenditures earmarked for cohesion. The other reform scenario is different from the former one in that the cohesion-related expenditures are left unchanged and the expenditures for providing 'EU-wide value-added' are reduced. After the comparison of the various scenarios, the allocation of transfers to the new member states in terms of the conditions prevailing in the different scenarios is analysed.


Author(s):  
Suzana Mehmedi Ph.D ◽  
Ilir Mehmedi Ph.D

The problem of research is very current for several reasons. Namely, the dominant approach on the basis of which are based all have developed and established theories of European integration, developing modern theories of international relations is a realistic basis. Neo-functionalism, inter-guvernmentalism, neo-liberalism, institutionalism (in most of its variants) as the most developed branches of the theory of European integration, despite differences in their settings to keep the basic premise that states are rational, unitary actors, whose interest stems from the assessment of their position in the system of states. For our study caused a special interest model of constructivism using Habermas theory of communicative action according to which entities in mutual interaction is open to other arguments and their validity appreciate having regard to the outgoing reasons and norms on which they are based, thereby seeking consensus as a common goal. Apply to the European Union, this approach allows European institutions were perceived as a place of discussion to reach consensus on solving common problems, rather than just the arena for bargaining. Functional adaptation to the numerous petitions which sets the European Union, requires thorough and integrated activities in the economic, institutional, administrative and legislative spheres. This process should be understood as a continuous, painstaking and long process, not a single radical surgery. Republic of Macedonia, as countries aspiring for membership in the European family must meet the political and economic criteria and to adapt political institutions in the country with those of the European Union and their needs and requirements. The aim of this paper is to perceive the key features and trends in the politics of enlargement and to make a comparison between the policy of expansion applied in the process of accession Central and Eastern Europe and the policy of expansion in the process of stabilization and association, with special emphasis on the Republic of Macedonia. Of course, previously been necessary to develop theoretical and practical approach to the concept of policy integration, development and its major elements and modalities.


Author(s):  
Natalia Popova

The concept of Europeanization has become quite fashionable in EU studies in recent years. It is often used for the analysis of the relations between the EU and non-member states. The aim of the article is to examine the possibilities of its application in explaining the relationship between the EU and Ukraine. The structure of the article is as follows: firstly, the concept of Europeanization is defined considering such two disputable issues as distinguishing among concepts of Europeanization and European integration as well as Europeanization and EU-ization. Next, the evolution of the theoretical research of Europeanization and definition of this concept are analyzed. Two main mechanisms of Europeanization (conditionality and socialization) are examined. The author considers main approaches to the analysis of the "external" Europeanization emphasizing the concept of "external governance". Three groups of factors which influence the effectiveness of Europeanization are briefly analyzed. And finally, the peculiarities of application of the Europeanization concept to the Ukraine-EU relations are outlined. Keywords: EU, Ukraine, Europeanization, EU-ization, ‘external’ Europeanization, conditionality, socialization, concept of ‘external governance’


Author(s):  
Samuel Freeman

This chapter argues that distributive justice is institutionally based. Certain cooperative institutions are basic: they are necessary for economic production and the division of labor, trade and exchange, and distribution and consumption. These background institutions presuppose principles of justice to specify their terms, allocate productive resources, and define fair distributions. Primary among these basic institutions are property; laws and conventions enabling transfers of goods and productive resources; and the legal system of contract and agreements that make transfers possible and productive. Political institutions are necessary to specify, interpret, enforce, and make effective the terms of these institutions. Thus, basic cooperative institutions are social; they are realizable only within the context of social and political cooperation—this is a fixed empirical fact about cooperation among free and equal persons. Given the nature of fair social cooperation as a kind of reciprocity, distributive justice is primarily social rather than global in reach.


Author(s):  
Marcin Rojszczak

Foreign surveillance as a means of circumventing existing legal safeguards – Different perspectives on the problem of the extraterritorial application of fundamental rights in US and EU legal models – The limited usefulness of effective control tests for establishing the responsibility of states for action taken in cyberspace – Judgment of Bundesverfassungsgericht in the BND Act case as an interpretative guideline for the regulation of foreign surveillance in EU member states – Electronic surveillance as a threat to European integration process.


Author(s):  
J S LIPTRAP

Abstract This article explores the European Parliament's July 2018 non-legislative resolution proposing to the European Commission a directive for facilitating social enterprise companies’ cross-border activities. The proposal is first situated within the context of the social economy and how the sector has grown in importance to European integration. The proposal and the European Commission's response are then examined. Although the European Commission was not convinced that Member States would be amenable to the proposal, a consensus may already exist that is sufficient to garner their support. Even if this prediction is wrong, however, it is argued that there are reasons to surmise that the proposal will likely be reassessed and ultimately successful at some future point. Finally, the proposal is viewed with a reflexive harmonisation lens. Through the analysis, regulatory issues are identified, and a solution is then suggested.


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