Regional Differentiation

2020 ◽  
pp. 156-175
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig ◽  
Thomas Winzen
Keyword(s):  
European Countries ◽  
Regional Differentiation ◽  
Member States ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Regulatory Standards ◽  
Differentiated Integration ◽  
Governance Quality ◽  
And Migration

This chapter offers a regional perspective on differentiated integration. It shows that the EU has developed a variegated set of membership grades, cross-cutting the formal boundary between member and non-member states. The chapter shows that internal and external differentiation are driven by the logics of instrumental and constitutional differentiation. In the EU’s internal differentiation, poorer (new) member states are more likely to experience differentiation because of weak governance capacity, low regulatory standards, budgetary competition, and migration pressure. The chapter extends this reasoning to European countries with comparatively weak governance quality. The lower the governance quality of a country, the earlier it is refused further integration on the EU’s ladder of graded membership. The more its governance quality improves, the better are its chances to advance towards full membership. In turn, as their governance quality surpasses that of EU core members, countries become increasingly likely to refuse integration.

Does Europeanization Foster Constructive Individualization?

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai Genov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Longitudinal Studies ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Acquis Communautaire ◽  
Member States ◽  
Governance Indicators ◽  
Governance Quality

This paper aims at explaining changes in the conditions for individualization in ten central and eastern European (cee) countries after they have joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007. The expected changes had to follow the transfer of theeu’sacquis communautaireto theceeand the accompanying Europeanization understood as upgrading of governance. Indicators used in longitudinal studies are identified in order to test the assumption. Synchronic and diachronic comparison of outcomes of studies on the topic is carried out. The results don’t support the hypothesis about relevant changes in the conditions of individualization in theceecountries due to their Europeanization. The upgrading of governance quality affects the individualization in the old and neweumember states similarly. Declining quality of the conditions for individualization appears in both groups of countries with the same frequency and intensity too.

scholarly journals The Impact of Corruption and Rent-Seeking Behavior upon Economic Wealth in the European Union from a Public Choice Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6870
Author(s):  
Gheorghița Dincă ◽  
Marius Sorin Dincă ◽  
Camelia Negri ◽  
Mihaela Bărbuță
Keyword(s):  
Public Choice ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Economic Wealth ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Governance Quality ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Choice Approach ◽  
Public Choice Approach

The current paper evaluates the impact of corruption and rent-seeking behaviors upon economic wealth in the European Union states using a public choice approach. The period of study is 2000 to 2019. To measure this impact, the present study uses a regression with variables reflecting governance quality and considered relevant, from a public choice approach, to corruption and rent-seeking. The main results of this study show a negative relationship between the level of corruption and economic wealth for all analyzed countries, especially for the ones that compose the new member states group. For all the EU member states, the variables capturing governance quality seem to have a positive impact on economic wealth. The higher levels of governance performance, synonymous with lower levels of rent-seeking, personal interest, and political pressures on state administrations, contribute to economic wealth, as public choice theory emphasizes. There is a need for reform and an increase in the efficiency of public institutions, especially in new member states.

scholarly journals FROM FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOM TO POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ‘HOT POTATO’ IN 50 YEARS: LABOUR MOBILITY AND MIGRATION WITHIN THE EU

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Dobson ◽  
Irina Sennikova
Keyword(s):  
The European Union ◽  
Labour Mobility ◽  
Fundamental Freedom ◽  
Member States ◽  
East European ◽  
New Member States ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Registration Scheme ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

The free movement of labour and the creation of a European Labour Market have been the objectives of the European Union since its creation, but it is only with the 2004 enlargement that this has started to become a reality, with substantial numbers of East European workers seeking employment in the old member states. This paper uses the data from the UK Worker Registration Scheme and that compiled by the European Commission to examine the nature of this movement and its impact on the economies of both the existing and the new member states.

Explaining Differentiation in EU Treaties

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig ◽  
Thomas Winzen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
National Identity ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
Member States ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Differentiated Integration ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Over Time

This chapter offers an empirical analysis of the conditions under which member states negotiate opt-outs from EU reform and enlargement treaties, covering all treaties since the Maastricht Treaty on European Union. The analysis suggests that constitutional and instrumental logics of differentiation co-exist in European integration. In reform treaties, differentiated integration tends to be driven by wealthy member states with Eurosceptic governments and populations that hold comparatively exclusive national identity conceptions. In contrast, in enlargements, comparatively poor member states that cause distributional concerns, have weak governance capacity, and require help in meeting the competitive pressures of membership are the main source of differentiation. The chapter also shows evidence of path-dependent differentiation. Once countries have opted out of a policy area, these initial opt-outs trigger further differentiation over time.

scholarly journals Quality of Life Indicators in Selected European Countries: Hierarchical Cluster Analysis Approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 42-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berislav Žmuk
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
European Union ◽  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster Analysis ◽  
Union Member ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Union Member States

Abstract The average expected duration of human life is rising because of different reasons. On the other hand, not only the duration, but the quality of life level is important, too. The higher the quality of life level, the citizens’ happiness and satisfaction levels are higher, which has positive impact on the development and operating of an economy. The goal of this paper is to identify groups of European countries, using statistical hierarchical cluster analysis, by using the quality of life indicators, and to recognise differences in quality of life levels. The quality of life is measured by using seven different indicators. The conducted statistical hierarchical cluster analysis is based on the Ward’s clustering method, and squared Euclidean distances. The results of conducted statistical hierarchical cluster analysis enabled recognizing of three different groups of European countries: old European Union member states, new European Union members, and non-European Union member states. The analysis has revealed that the old European Union member states seem to have in average higher quality of life level than the new European Union member states. Furthermore, the European Union member states have in average higher quality of live level than non-European Union members do. The results indicate that quality of life levels and economic development levels are connected.

Normalization

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-119
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig ◽  
Thomas Winzen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
European Market ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Differentiated Integration ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

Focusing on the 2004 and 2007 Eastern enlargement of the European Union, this chapter traces the ‘normalization’ of differentiated integration after new countries become member states. The chapter explains pre-accession tensions between demands of member states to limit the membership benefits of the applicant countries, and demands of the applicants to help them deal with the burdens of joining a competitive European market. It also explores the post-accession process in which new member states are in a better position to avoid discriminatory differentiation but still have to cope with the repercussions of accession differentiation. The empirical analysis shows that almost all accession differentiation—both preferential and discriminatory—disappears within ten to fifteen years of membership.

Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 20-46
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig ◽  
Thomas Winzen
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Core State ◽  
Member States ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Differentiated Integration ◽  
Supranational Integration ◽  
Distributional Conflicts

This chapter theorizes differentiated integration based on the major schools of thought in the study of European integration: liberal intergovernmentalism, neofunctionalism, and postfunctionalism. The chapter distinguishes differentiation from uniform integration and non-integration. It explains demand for differentiation on the basis of cross-national heterogeneity in member state preferences and capacities. It then explores the effects of externalities, decision rules, supranational actors, and integration norms on the supply of differentiated integration. Finally, the chapter distinguishes two logics of differentiation. Constitutional differentiation arises in the context of EU treaty reforms and is driven by resistance to the supranational integration of core state powers among the Union’s Eurosceptic and wealthy member states. Instrumental differentiation is predominantly a feature of enlargement negotiations and results from distributional conflicts and differences in governance capacity and wealth between existing and prospective member states.

scholarly journals Does migration depress regional human capital accumulation in the EU’s new member states? Theoretical and empirical evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-122
Author(s):  
Sascha Sardadvar ◽  
Elena Vakulenko
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Member States ◽  
Migration Rates ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Net Migration ◽  
Capital Growth ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Eu

AbstractDuring the first decade of the present century the countries which accessed the EU were characterised by high GDP growth rates while most of their regions displayed negative net-migration rates. At the same time, the new member states’ human capital endowments were high relative to their GDP levels, creating incentives to emigrate. The present paper takes a detailed look at the interplay of regional human capital endowments and migration. First, by theoretically examining migration’s determinants and second, by testing the corresponding findings via panel econometric regressions for the EU’s new member states’ regions. The results display positive impacts of net-migration on regional human capital growth rates, improving the economic potential of thriving regions but possibly increasing disparities within countries.

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