Itinera Europea

2021 ◽  
pp. 139-154
Author(s):  
Adrienne Héritier
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Interaction Analysis ◽  
Strategic Interaction ◽  
Federal State ◽  
External Shocks ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Future ◽  
Institutional Architecture

Based on strategic interaction analysis, the chapter assesses the plausibility of the future paths of development of the European Union: a federal state, a differentiated and flexible union, covert integration, or disintegration. Systematically varying either the preferences of the main actors or the macro decision-making rules and external shocks/crises, the analysis comes to the conclusion that a differentiated and flexible union and covert integration are the most likely paths of development. The chapter discusses implications of specific scenarios, such as a possible popular backlash against ‘covert integration’ and elaborates on the desirability of practical proposals of a change in the European institutional architecture.

Rethinking Europe, Rethinking Regions

2021 ◽  
pp. 219-242
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
European Governance ◽  
The Future

The question of the limits of Europe as a political community has been one of the most persistent questions in European debates. This question cannot be answered with simple references to Europe’s physical geography, its cultural values and practices, the formal rules of the European Union, nor the commercial or security interests of its member states. This chapter offers concluding observations on the book’s findings and their implications. It first summarizes the book’s quantitative and qualitative findings regarding the evolution of EU membership norms since the late 1950s and their contribution to EU decision-making on the enlargement of the community during this period. It then considers the study’s general lessons for our understanding of regions and regional integration. And finally, it combines normative critique and historically-informed speculation in a discussion of salient issues in the future of European governance.

Accountability

2020 ◽  
pp. 144-175
Author(s):  
Pavlos Eleftheriadis
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Federal State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Multilateral Cooperation ◽  
Institutional Architecture

Accountability is the most fundamental principle of the European Union. By offering practical assurance that agreements will be enforced, that the Union’s institutions will not go beyond their enumerated powers and the division of competences will be respected by all, the Union’s legal framework makes long-term multilateral cooperation possible. However, the European Union does not follow the pattern of accountability through the separation of powers in the way of a federal state. The distinction between the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary does not work in the same way because of the role played by the member states. Many important decisions are made by the states’ institutions, not the Union’s institutions. The institutional architecture of the European Union is thus unfamiliar. It is impossible to compare it to that of a constitution. The European Union is divided between the institutions of the EU and the institutions of the member states. The fragmentation of accountability in the European Union among the EU’s institutions and the various member states (in various combinations, e.g. the members of the Eurozone) is a principled position. It does not mean that the relations between the states and the Union are unregulated or merely transactional.

12. The Institutional Architecture

2020 ◽  
pp. 205-237
Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Owen Parker ◽  
Ian Bache ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Charlotte Burns
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Legislative Procedures ◽  
Differentiated Integration ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Committee Of The Regions ◽  
Institutional Architecture ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the pattern of European Union (EU) institutions and the formal rules that govern them. It first considers the Treaties that form the founding ‘constitutional’ documents of the EU, from the Treaty of Paris to the Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the economic and monetary union (EMU), before turning to the main institutions involved in the processes of decision making, namely: the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Parliament, plus two consultative committees, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. The chapter proceeds by analysing the Union method of decision making, focusing on the budgetary and legislative procedures, as well as the process on the Common Foreign and Security Policy. It also discusses the implementation of EU decisions once they have been made, and concludes with some reflections on the post-Lisbon institutional architecture of the EU, including differentiated integration.

The future of Europe: a political discussion of prospects of the European Union integration project

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 15-41
Author(s):  
Andrey Medushevsky ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Sustainability ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The Future ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Entire History ◽  
Integration Project

The European integration project as designed by its founders seventy years ago is experiencing difficulties in the current conditions of globalization, confronting challenges which were unpredictable beforehand. Many of these are of crucial character for the European Union, putting in question its constitutional organization, institutional structure, and political sustainability in the international balance of power. The list of most important issues includes ones like the yet incomplete character of the Union’s legal construction, which is balanced between supranational and national forms of regulation; the erosion of legitimacy of European institutions; the growing democracy deficits in transnational and national governance; the decline of solidarity in inter-governmental relations; and the falling level of accountability and decision-making mechanisms in Europe. The very natural response to these problems was a Pan-European discussion, stimulated by European elites after Brexit, on the future of the European project in order to frame existing opinions, provide a fresh start to “the European dream”, and possibly find appropriate solutions to legitimacy problems. An analysis of this ongoing discussion is the main subject of this article. This analysis involves such key issues as the future role of the EU founding agreements, as to keeping them or amending them in order to reconstruct the European constitutional settlement. It demonstrates the complex nature of the basic communitarian concept, in view of its various interpretations by different ideological trends such as cosmopolitism and confederation and federation movements. It explores the current agenda of institutional reforms involving parliamentarian and presidential strategies and reviews proposed solutions of the European leadership problem. The conclusion of the article makes it clear that the European Union is confronted today with the most dramatic challenge in its entire history. It consists in the necessity of making a decisive choice between two polar options — to preserve an amorphous conglomerate of states or to establish a new federal state. This must be done in a rather short period in order to avoid falling apart and to become a full-fledged and independent global political player.

The Law & Politics of Brexit: Volume II

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Financial Settlement ◽  
The Eu

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to create the legal framework for Brexit. Building on a prior volume, it overviews the process of Brexit negotiations that took place between the UK and the EU from 2017 to 2019. It also examines the key provisions of the Brexit deal, including the protection of citizens’ rights, the Irish border, and the financial settlement. Moreover, the book assesses the governance provisions on transition, decision-making and adjudication, and the prospects for future EU–UK trade relations. Finally, it reflects on the longer-term challenges that the implementation of the 2016 Brexit referendum poses for the UK territorial system, for British–Irish relations, as well as for the future of the EU beyond Brexit.

Instituting Europe: Germany, the Union, and the Legacy of the Short Century

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Michael Werz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Federal Structure

Recent debates about the future of the European Union have focusedin large part on institutional reforms, the deficit of democratic legitimacy,and the problem of economic and agrarian policies. As importantas these issues may be, the most crucial question at the momentis not whether Europe will prevail as a union of nations or as a thoroughlyintegrated federal structure. What is of much greater concernis the fact that political structures and their corresponding politicaldiscourses have lagged far behind the social changes occurring inEuropean societies. The pivotal transformation of 1989 has not beengrasped intellectually or politically, even though its results areincreasingly visible in both the east and west.

INTRODUCTION: HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Banta ◽  
Wija Oortwijn
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Level

Health technology assessment (HTA) has become increasingly important in the European Union as an aid to decision making. As agencies and programs have been established, there is increasing attention to coordination of HTA at the European level, especially considering the growing role of the European Union in public health in Europe. This series of papers describes and analyzes the situation with regard to HTA in the 15 members of the European Union, plus Switzerland. The final paper draws some conclusions, especially concerning the future involvement of the European Commission in HTA.

A Constitutional Court for Europe?

2004 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Anthony Arnull
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
European Council ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Future ◽  
Draft Constitution

The purpose of this article is to consider the effect of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe on the European Court of Justice (ECJ). At the time of writing, the future of the draft Constitution is somewhat uncertain. Having been finalised by the Convention on the Future of Europe in the summer of 2003 and submitted to the then President of the European Council, it formed the basis for discussion at an intergovernmental conference (IGC) which opened in October 2003. Hopes that the text might be finalised by the end of the year were dashed when a meeting of the IGC in Brussels in December 2003 ended prematurely amid disagreement over the weighting of votes in the Council. However, it seems likely that a treaty equipping the European Union with a Constitution based on the Convention’s draft will in due course be adopted and that the provisions of the draft dealing with the ECJ will not be changed significantly. Even if either assumption proves misplaced, those provisions will remain of interest as reflecting one view of the position the ECJ might occupy in a constitutional order of the Union.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document