Minority Actorness Through a Non-Europeanised Policy Area

Author(s):  
Ali Huseyinoglu ◽  
Tamara Hoch

Abstract By bringing together the literatures on Europeanisation and minority studies, this article illustrates the centrality of actors representing national minorities as a key to understand Europeanisation of minority politics today. Minority politics is becoming Europeanised indeed, however, not in the ways commonly expected. And although the EU repeatedly fails to develop a clear minority policy, an actor-centred approach adopted in this study helps to reveal how minority actors extend their political strategies to the European level through different channels and how they exploit various opportunities stemming from European-level politics. Jacquot and Woll’s concept of ‘usages of Europe’ not only enables us to trace how actors multiply channels and arenas of participation, but it also helps to spot the emergence of tactics of experimentation with European-level norms and rules, contributing to an acquisition of new roles among minority actors and supporting an actorness formation among those active. As the actors engage in criticising EU institutions, they develop tactics of responsibilising which in turn affects their minority agendas and the actors themselves. In this respect, this study contributes to developing the weakly studied literature about minority agency and Europeanisation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 650-672
Author(s):  
Josef Weinzierl

AbstractQuite a few recent ECJ judgments touch on various elements of territorial rule. Thereby, they raise the profile of the main question this Article asks: Which territorial claims does the EU make? To provide an answer, the present Article discusses and categorizes the individual elements of territoriality in the EU’s architecture. The influence of EU law on national territorial rule on the one hand and the emergence of territorial governance elements at the European level on the other provide the main pillars of the inquiry. Once combined, these features not only help to improve our understanding of the EU’s distinctly supranational conception of territoriality. What is more, the discussion raises several important legitimacy questions. As a consequence, the Article calls for the development of a theoretical model to evaluate and justify territoriality in a political community beyond the state.


Modern Italy ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Foradori ◽  
Paolo Rosa

SummaryThe article looks at the role of Italy in the decision-making arena of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), analysing the initiatives it put in place to address and influence the construction of a common defence. The article aims to explain the ability or inability of Italy to build up a consensus around its proposals. By studying two initiatives in the field of European defence and security, it seeks to determine the factors which resulted in the differing outcomes of Italian actions at the European level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 78-94
Author(s):  
Giorgio Oikonomou

The purpose of this study is to explore the evolution of EU administration by focusing and critically examining the role of EU agencies in advancing the European integration project. The research question deals with identifying the factors that account for the formulation of EU agencies and the reasons behind their sharp increase in numbers since the 2000s. The tasks are to analyse critical EU agencies’ parameters such as their typology, the policy area they deal with, origin of their resources and funding, and their output. In addition, transparency and accountability issues accompanying the proliferation of EU agencies are also considered. Emphasis is placed on the evolution of the European administration as expressed by the establishment of various types of agencies since 1975 thereafter. Methodologically, the research utilizes quantitative data based on annual EU budgets as well as official reports and policy papers issued by main EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, European Court of Auditors) and agencies, analyzing them from a historical perspective. As a result, it is argued that the proliferation of EU agencies has advanced the process of European integration, namely the EU enlargement and expansion in new policy areas following successive reforms of the Treaties. However, concerns regarding accountability and transparency issues remain in place.


Muzealnictwo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margherita Sani

The role of museums in society has expanded significantly in the last decades: from temples of knowledge to forums for debate and discussion, from repositories of objects to people-centred institutions with social responsibilities and functions. This shift reflects an ongoing trend to democratise museums and make them more accessible to wider audiences and responsive to the public’s changing needs, in particular the interests of local communities, whose composition has changed in recent years to include migrants and people of different ethnic backgrounds. With annual migration flows to the EU as a whole projected to increase from about 1 043 000 people in 2010 to 1 332 500 by 2020, the question of how cultural institutions can contribute to effective integration and dialogue has become more relevant than ever. Funders and society at large expect museums to play their part in facilitating the integration and peaceful coexistence of newcomers, with financial resources being made available, also at the EU level, to support them in this effort. Many questions can be raised as to whether it is right and appropriate to charge museums with these responsibilities and whether this would push the boundaries of their work too far and give the social function an exceedingly prominent role over the traditional conservation and educational tasks museums already fulfil. But this discussion seems to be already obsolete in the light of the growing body of evidence on good practices available at the European level. This essay aims to illustrate some of them, as well as to discuss some underpinning theoretical issues and methodological approaches.


2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-103
Author(s):  
Herwig Verschueren

Abstract This article examines the compatibility of national measures taken to stimulate non-active people to enter the labour market (the so-called activation measures) with European law on the free movement of workers and jobseekers. It will first give a short overview of the objectives of the European employment strategy, more specifically with regard to the activation of workers. Subsequently it will sketch the European legal context of the free movement of workers and jobseekers, with special attention for the measures taken at the European level to enable and stimulate labour migration within the EU and thus create a European labour market. In the third part, by way of example, we will have a closer look at a number of activation measures taken in Belgium and examine which problems could arise in cross-border applications from the point of view of European law.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Čavoški

Although the implementation of the acquis is a crucial element of the EU integration process, it is recognised as its ‘weakest link’. The implementation deficit is especially apparent with the EU environmental acquis, both in the existing member states and the accession countries. Most recently, following the accession of Croatia, the EU faces prospective enlargement to other Western Balkans countries. The author argues that there are specific problems in implementing the environmental acquis in accession countries and that the case of Serbia, or other countries of the Western Balkans, is not particularly unique. The case study used to support this argument is the implementation of the waste acquis in Serbia as it represents a highly demanding and costly policy area for national authorities and the country faces extensive legal, institutional, economic and financial challenges in implementing the environmental acquis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
E. Dovbysh

Local authorities have to deal with a large part of practical work in promotion of the European integration project. Today, cities together with other actors are involved in the EU political process. This involvement leads to modification and enrichment of the European political space and increases the viability of supranational institutions. Cities extend the range of available channels for representation of citizens’ interests. Participation of cities in the decision-making improves the quality of these decisions and the legitimacy of supranational institutions, which is especially important in the context of the debate on the democratic deficit in the EU. Cities and other subnational actors can be active at the pan-European level and national levels. They use different "access points" at the European level, such as the Committee of the Regions, the European associations of cities, representations of local authorities in Brussels. The role of cities is especially evident in the Europe 2020, Cohesion Policy and the European Neighborhood Policy. European cities are involved in the elaboration of national reform programs. Cities and their associations can offer their assessments and visions of development to the Commission. Participating in the elaboration of national reform programs cities get a chance to influence the agenda of national development. This can indirectly affect the implementation of the Europe 2020 and dynamics of the European integration process as a whole. The participation of subnational actors – regions and municipalities – is important for realization of the Cohesion Policy objectives. Cities are particularly relevant for this policy, because they can become a ground for social conflicts and unrest. New tools, such as JESSICA and Integrated Territorial Investment, pay significant attention to local level politics in Europe. The European Neighborhood Policy has an important local dimension. There are such city-oriented programs as COMUS, The Covenant of Mayors, CIUDAD and projects of cross-border coordination. Examples show that cooperation between cities is successful, if it is based on the mutual interest in solving common problems. The Treaty of Lisbon has opened new opportunities to cities' participation. European institutions are now obliged to consult with the Committee of Regions on the issues that have a strong effect at the local and regional level. However, the involvement of cities into integration practices of the EU is still limited. This is due to both, the fundamental problem of the EU organizational design, and the lack of effective channels for representing urban interests at the European level.


Author(s):  
Katrin Voltmer ◽  
Christiane Eilders

This chapter investigates whether the assumption that the media contribute to the communication deficit of the EU is reflected in the empirical pattern of political coverage. In particular, it explores the extent to which German media take a Europeanized perspective on political affairs and whether or not they promote the politics of European integration. The study is based on a content analysis of the editorials of German national quality newspapers covering the period between 1994 and 1998. The findings show that the media under study devote only a very small portion of their attention to European issues, thus marginalizing Europe to an extent that is not warranted by the significance of the European level of governance. If the media do focus on European issues, they predominantly address them in terms of national politics, which is interpreted as a ‘domestication’ of Europe in public discourse. At the same time, the media unanimously support the idea of European integration. This pattern of communicating Europe reflects the élite consensus on European matters in Germany and may have contributed to the alienation of the general public from European politics.


Author(s):  
Justine Pila ◽  
Paul L.C. Torremans

This chapter offers an outlook to the future of IP at the European level. The EU and its legal instruments primarily approach IP from a utilitarian free market perspective and that applies also to the way they look at the future. The chapter focuses primarily on that angle when it looks at how the European IP system could and should function in the future and which direction it is taking. In a sense it offers an opportunity for reflection and attempts to enhance the reader's insight in and understanding of IP by wrapping the critical analysis of its technical rules up in a more theoretical analysis.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 823-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Faure ◽  
Franziska Weber

Traditionally in the division of labor between the European level and the Member States it was, roughly, the European legislature that set the norms and the Member States that took care of enforcing these norms. In various policy areas, an implementation deficit has been observed, which is said to be partly due to the Member States facing difficulties with the choice of procedural options. For that reason, among others, the European legislature increasingly prescribes the enforcement approach to the Member States to back up national legislation that implements European law. This Article examines the incoherence of the EU's approach to law enforcement in the areas of consumer, competition, environmental, and insider trading laws. After setting out the EU's legal competences with a view to law enforcement, the rather diverse picture—mixes—of private, administrative, and criminal law enforcement in the four areas will be illustrated. The authors then ask the question of whether this divergence can be explained by an economic reasoning with respect to law enforcement. The analysis, however, identifies substantial differences between an ideal enforcement mix and the current enforcement approaches used in EU law. Moreover, it is suggested that the economic approach could be employed to provide more consistency to the use of enforcement tools in EU law.


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