Labour Immigration Policy in the European Union: How to Overcome the Tension between Further Europeanisation and the Protection of National Interests?

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-223
Author(s):  
Jean-Baptiste Farcy
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Added Value ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Labour Immigration ◽  
Eu Directives ◽  
The Eu

Abstract This article critically assesses EU harmonisation in the field of labour immigration. It argues that EU directives are limited both in scope and intensity which explains their relatively low effectiveness and added value. Given the current political and institutional context, the article claims that a truly common labour immigration policy is unrealistic. Labour immigration remains a predominantly national prerogative and EU rules have done little to overcome normative competition between EU Member States. Looking forward, the EU should adopt complementary measures to Member States’ policies. The role of the EU in this sensitive policy area should be better defined and justified, in particular in relation to the principle of subsidiarity.

scholarly journals Intergovernmentalism: Old, Liberal, and New

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Verdun
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Eu

European integration theories help us understand the actors and mechanisms that drive European integration. Traditionally, European integration scholars used grand theories of integration to explain why integration progresses or stands still. Born out of assumptions that are prevalent in realist international relations theories, intergovernmentalism was first developed as a theory in opposition to neofunctionalism. In a nutshell, intergovernmentalism argues that states (i.e., national governments or state leaders), based on national interests, determine the outcome of integration. Intergovernmentalism was seen as a plausible explanatory perspective during the 1970s and 1980s, when the integration process seemed to have stalled. Despite the fact that it could not explain many of the gradual incremental changes or informal politics, intergovernmentalism—as did various other approaches—gained renewed popularity in the 1990s, following the launch of liberal intergovernmentalism. During that decade, the study of European integration was burgeoning, triggered in part by the aim to complete the single market and the signing of the Maastricht Treaty that launched the European Union (EU). Intergovernmentalism also often received considerable pushback from researchers who were unconvinced by its core predictions. Attempts to relaunch intergovernmentalism were made in the 2010s, in response to the observation that EU member states played a prominent role in dealing with the various crises that the EU was confronted with at that time, such as the financial crisis and the migration crisis. Although intergovernmentalism is unable —and is not suited—to explain all aspects of European integration, scholars revert to intergovernmentalism as a theoretical approach in particular when examining the role of member states in European politics. Outside the EU, in the international arena (such as the United Nations), intergovernmentalism is also observed when studying various forums in which member states come together to bargain over particular collective outcomes in an intergovernmental setting.

scholarly journals Inequalities in the European Union—A Partial Order Analysis of the Main Indicators

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6278
Author(s):  
Lars Carlsen ◽  
Rainer Bruggemann
Keyword(s):  
Indicator System ◽  
Partial Ordering ◽  
Disposable Income ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Educational Aspect ◽  
The Eu

The inequality within the 27 European member states has been studied. Six indicators proclaimed by Eurostat to be the main indicators charactere the countries: (i) the relative median at-risk-of-poverty gap, (ii) the income distribution, (iii) the income share of the bottom 40% of the population, (iv) the purchasing power adjusted GDP per capita, (v) the adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita and (vi) the asylum applications by state of procedure. The resulting multi-indicator system was analyzed applying partial ordering methodology, i.e., including all indicators simultaneously without any pretreatment. The degree of inequality was studied for the years 2010, 2015 and 2019. The EU member states were partially ordered and ranked. For all three years Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, and Finland are found to be highly ranked, i.e., having rather low inequality. Bulgaria and Romania are, on the other hand, for all three years ranked low, with the highest degree of inequality. Excluding the asylum indicator, the risk-poverty-gap and the adjusted gross disposable income were found as the most important indicators. If, however, the asylum application is included, this indicator turns out as the most important for the mutual ranking of the countries. A set of additional indicators was studied disclosing the educational aspect as of major importance to achieve equality. Special partial ordering tools were applied to study the role of the single indicators, e.g., in relation to elucidate the incomparability of some countries to all other countries within the union.

European Union Rights and Values in Human Health

2019 ◽  
pp. 16-51
Author(s):  
Anniek de Ruijter
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
European Union ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Eu Fundamental Rights ◽  
The Eu

This book looks at the impact of the expanding power of the EU in terms of fundamental rights and values. The current chapter lays down the framework for this analysis. Law did not always have a central role to play in the context of medicine and health. The role of law grew after the Second Word War and the Nuremberg Doctors Trials (1947), in which preventing the repetition of atrocities that were committed in the name of medicine became a guidepost for future law regarding patients’ rights and bioethics. In the period after the War, across the EU Member States, health law developed as a legal discipline in which a balance was struck in medicine and public health between law, bioethics, and fundamental rights. The role of EU fundamental rights protections in the context of public health and health care developed in relation with the growth of multilevel governance and litigation (national, international, Council of Europe, and European Union). For the analysis here, this chapter develops an EU rights and values framework that goes beyond the strictly legal and allows for a ‘normative language’ that takes into consideration fundamental rights as an expression of important shared values in the context of the European Union. The perspective of EU fundamental rights and values can demonstrate possible tensions caused by EU health policy: implications in terms of fundamental rights can show how highly sensitive national policy issues may be affected by the Member States’ participation in EU policymaking activities.

scholarly journals Analysing the Power of the European Union’s Diplomatic Service: Do the eu Member States Control the European External Action Service?

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hrant Kostanyan
Keyword(s):  
External Action ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Agent Model ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Principal Agent Model ◽  
European Union Member States ◽  
The Eu

By applying the rational choice principal–agent model, this article examines the European Union member states’ principal control of the European External Action Service (eeas) agent. More specifically, the article applies mechanisms of agency monitoring, control and sanctions that are inherent in the principal–agent model to analyse the establishment and functioning of the eeas. These mechanisms aim to ensure the eeas’s compliance with its mandate, thereby curtailing its ability to pursue own objectives that are independent from the principal. The findings reveal that the eeas is tightly controlled by the eu member states. Moreover the European Commission has tools to exercise horizontal checks vis-à-vis the eeas. The application of the principal–agent model to control the eeas is not without its limits. The model falls short of conceptualizing the role of the European Parliament, which remains an outlier to this model.

scholarly journals Instrumental Europe

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marysia Galbraith ◽  
Thomas M. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Anthropological Study ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Eu

Religious organisations that secularise their community outreach to gain European Union (EU) funding, border-city residents whose consumption practices exploit cross-border economic disparities, EU member states that protect their domestic labour market by restricting access to legal work and medical care for citizens of new member states, recently admitted citizens who nevertheless take advantage of increased opportunities for mobility to improve their economic and social standing, and even in some cases use their scepticism about membership to promote their personal or national interests within the EU – all of these examples point to the complex and varied ways in which instrumentality figures in day-to-day dealings with the European Union. This special issue of AJEC seeks to contribute to the anthropological study of the European Union by examining ways in which various individuals, groups and institutions use the EU to pursue their political, economic and social goals at local, national and transnational levels within Europe.

scholarly journals Immunity of States and International Organizations in the Court of Justice of the European Union Practice and its Significance in the Implementation of Megascience Projects

Lex Russica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 112-129
Author(s):  
A. O. Chetverikov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Hadron Collider ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Attorneys General ◽  
The Eu

In recent years, Russia has invested significant assets in unique scientific facility of the “Megascience” class that are being built or are already operating on the territory of foreign countries, mainly member states of the European Union: the International Thermonuclear Research Reactor-ITER (France), the European X-ray Free Electron Laser-European XFEL, the Large Hadron Collider (Switzerland and France), etc.How reliable and safe are such investments in the context of the sanctions policy of the West, including the EU, against our country? To what extent are they protected by the principle of immunity of states and international organizations, which is generally recognized, but is not interpreted and applied in different legal systems? The paper considers these issues in the context of the development of the judicial practice of the supranational institution of the judicial power of the EU, namely the Court of Justice of the European Union and the concept of relative immunity (immunité relative) formulated herein.Having conducted a comparative legal review of the current state of the sources of law and doctrine on the issues of immunity of states and international organizations, the author analyses and evaluates the decisions of the EU Court of Justice and the legal positions of its attorneys General: — Mahamdia v. Algeria, 2012: for the first time ECJ formulates the concept of relative immunity in relation to states;— "Rina" and "Suprim" cases, 2020: EU Court clarifies the interpretation of the concept of acta iure imperii (acts of public authority), in respect of which states retain immunity in the EU, and extends its concept of relative immunity to international intergovernmental organizations.The final section deals with legal issues that yet to get a clear answer in the practice of the EU Court of Justice. In this regard, the author highlights possible directions of its evolution, and studies other recent decisions of the EU Court of Justice that may affect Russia’s national interests in the context of cooperation with EU member states in the scientific and technical sphere, including megascience, and in other areas.

scholarly journals CONTRACTUAL DELEGATION OF SOVEREIGNTY IN SUPRANATIONAL ENTITIES

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Zhanna Zavalna ◽  
◽  
Mykola Starynskyi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Legal Intervention ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Intervention Measures ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
The Eu

The article analyses the agreement basis for state sovereignty as established and implemented in the European Union. The research aims to study the agreement-based regulation used by the EU Member States to create a stable position of Ukraine on its way to becoming a member of the European Union. The research allowed finding out that the member states do not transfer their powers in their economic and social fields but only delegate them. The analysis of the treaties concerning the establishment and functioning of the European Union proves the existence of specific organisational and legal intervention measures that the countries agree to when joining the treaty union. The agreement-based rearrangement of powers between the EU and its member states lets the latter obtain their special legal personalities regarding the conclusion of agreements among themselves and at the same time preserve complete economic sovereignty in their relations with the countries that are not member states of the EU. When joining the European Union, its member states voluntarily and on a negotiable basis agree to certain restrictions and prohibitions binding in their economy. Furthermore, the EC Treaty provides for the improved protection of interests for the economic community as compared with the protection of national interests of the member states though it is not excluded that the latter can be taken into consideration when adopting the national laws of a member state to the EU legislation.

scholarly journals The role of renewable energies in the new EU member states

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-25
Author(s):  
Natanya Meyer ◽  
Robert Magda ◽  
Norbert Bozsik
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Renewable Energies ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
New Eu Member States ◽  
The Eu

This article provides an overview of the structure and utilization of the new EU member states (EU-13) energy consumption. During the analysis, it was determined which non-renewable energy carriers were replaced by renewables ones. The replacement of energy sources with each other was analyzed by means of a correlation matrix. Results indicated that coal was replaced by renewable energies in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Furthermore, the renewables basically replaced oil in Malta and gas was replaced by renewables in Lithuania. In other countries the relation between renewables and non-renewables could not be detected. The structure of energy production in the EU countries were different due to the differences of natural endowments. The main goal of the European Union energy policy is to reduce the CO2 emission by decreasing the fossil fuel consumption and this finding new ways to replace traditional energy sources is of utmost importance.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN HANDLING SYRIAN REFUGEES

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Ria Silviana
Keyword(s):  
Arab Countries ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Safe Area ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
European Regional ◽  
The Eu

The EU is a European regional organization which was initially formed due to the economic issue. After that, the EU’s focus expanded to the issue of refugees. Nowadays, the EU’s problem of refugees was caused by the phenomenon of the Arab Spring or Arab revolution that occurred in several Arab countries. Including Syria, which is part of this phenomenon. As a result of the rebellion against the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria, then causing humanitarian problems made the Syrian people feel unsafe to live in their own country, so they sought protection in various countries, including going to European countries. They thought that Europe is a safe area and looks better to provide protection for them. But not all of the EU Member States are able and willing to accept the number of refugees that arrived in their country, even though the EU has the regulations regarding refugees protection. So, the EU’s role is needed to handle the Syrian refugees in its Member States.

scholarly journals Regional public affairs activities in The Netherlands: How to gain ground in the national and European arena

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L Figee ◽  
Jordy F Gosselt ◽  
Paul Linders ◽  
Menno DT De Jong
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Regional Authorities ◽  
Regional Interests ◽  
The Eu

The role of regional authorities is undeniably increasing in Europe. Due to increasing regionalism efforts within European Union (EU) member states and to the fact that EU legislation is affecting subnational authorities more and more directly, these authorities are not only striving for influence in the national arena, but in the European arena as well. The primary task of a public affairs (PA) practitioner working for a regional government in the EU is placing regional interests on national and European political agendas. However, since regional PA is a rather young discipline, opposite to PA in the private sector and in national government, much is unknown about the way regional PA practitioners are operating in the national and European political arenas, and how these arenas are receiving the subnational PA practitioners. In this study, 41 Dutch PA practitioners and PA receivers were interviewed about their opinions on and experiences with regional PA in both arenas: What are the relevant characteristics of these arenas for regional PA activities, and how are regional PA practitioners managing arena characteristics? The results show that at the national level, it is a struggle to find recognition for regional issues, due to dominant high-profiled regions, centralisation tendencies at the national level and a more general non-subnational attitude. At the European level, regional issues are more welcome, but regional PA practitioners have to overcome the dominant national interests of member states.

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