scholarly journals The EU’s Discourse on Sovereignty: Content and Consequences

2021 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
Tatyana Romanova ◽  

Emmanuel Macron‟s 2017 speeches gave start to the discourse on the European Union‟s (EU‟s) sovereignty. This discourse has been advanced by the national and supranational elite of the EU as well as by its expert community. The article identifies key characteristics of this discourse and its potential consequences for the EU and its relations with Russia. The four ways (attributes) in which sovereignty has been used as identified by Stephen Krasner are used as the theoretical basis of the analysis. With the help of discourse analysis, the author identifies three dimensions in the EU‟s discourse on sovereignty: these are Westphalian, interdependence and domestic sovereignties. The first and the second manifest themselves in the economic field (in particular, in the regulation of the digital sphere), the third one is linked to the discussion on cooperation in the field of security and defence. The discussion on strengthening of the supranational level in the field of security and defence substitutes the absence of the discussion on citizens as holders of domestic sovereignty; it limits the potential of the EU‟s sovereignty. De facto, the discourse on the EU‟s sovereignty is a response to global processes, where the EU finds challenges and threats for itself. References to values and to the EU as its agent form an important component of the discourse on the EU‟s sovereignty. Externally the EU as a result demonstrates both its wish for more independence from external players and its determination to maintain its participation in the globalization processes. The rhetoric of sovereignty also conceptually means the EU‟s refusal of ambitions to be a normative power. Sovereignty has also been an integral part of EU-Russian discussions. Yet the EU‟s discourse on sovereignty does not create any prospects for improving this relationship.

2021 ◽  
pp. 717-778
Author(s):  
Robert Schütze

This chapter assesses the EU competition law on private undertakings. The relevant Treaty section is here built upon three pillars. The first pillar deals with anticompetitive cartels and can be found in Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The second pillar concerns situations where a dominant undertaking abuses its market power and is found in Article 102. The third pillar is unfortunately invisible, for when the Treaties were concluded, they did not mention the control of mergers. This constitutional gap has never been closed by later Treaty amendments, yet it has received a legislative filling in the form of the EU Merger Regulation.


Author(s):  
Jan Komárek

The chapter begins with some reflections on the concept of legitimacy, as it is used in the debates on the EU and its judicial system, particularly the ECJ. In the following section, it seeks to present a framework for studying the ECJ’s legitimacy, which does justice to its dual role: to decide particular cases and at the same time to fulfil much wider functions in the EU political system. The third section then focuses on the perennial problem of judicial legitimacy in the Western legal tradition: how to legitimize creative moments of judicial interpretation of law, which are at the same time unavoidable and deeply problematic for what is sometimes called the liberal doctrine of politics. The fourth section looks in some detail at the recent turn to semantic pragmatism and its relationship to the democratic theory and discusses some of its shortcomings.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicos Souliotis ◽  
Georgia Alexandri

This article traces the transfer of competitiveness and cohesion policies from the European Union (EU) institutions to the national and subnational authorities in Greece, both before and after the sovereign debt crisis. We argue that prior to the crisis, the flexibilities of the EU governance system allowed the Greek central government to use the competitiveness and cohesion agenda, as well as the associated funds, to build a domestic socio-political consensus focused on the idea of ‘convergence’ with Europe. The crisis-induced bailout programme deepened neoliberal policies and reorganised vertical and horizontal power relations: policy-making powers have been upscaled towards the supranational level, while the national authorities have been socially disembedded.


2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-72
Author(s):  
Olivia den Hollander

AbstractCurrently, the European Union is based on both supranational (first pillar) and international (second and third pillar) law. The third pillar signifies police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and although formally based on international law, it has been under increasing "supranational pressure" by the developments in the "Area of Freedom, Security and Justice". This Area is focused on a set of common values and principles closely tied to those of the single market and its four "freedoms". The main argument of this article is that the legal framework of the third pillar is an impediment to judicial cooperation in criminal matters in general, and to the coordination of conflicts of jurisdiction and the principle of ne bis in idem in particular. The legal framework of the third pillar finds itself in the middle of an identity crisis, since it can neither be identified as a traditional intergovernmental, nor as a supranational institutional framework. Criminal law is a politically sensitive matter, which on the one hand explains why the EU member states are reluctant to submit their powers over the issue to the European level and on the other hand, it implies that if the EU member states really want to cooperate on such an intensive level, they will have to submit some of their powers in order to strengthen EU constitutional law. The article suggests a reform of the third pillar through the method of "communitization", which is exactly what will happen in case the EU Reform Treaty will enter into force. This would offer the ingredients for a true international community in which the ambitious agenda of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice can realise its aim of a common set of values and principles which supersedes those of each of the member states individually.


Author(s):  
Esin Candan Demirkol

This chapter addresses the changes through the years in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), one of the oldest and most established policies of the European Union, within the framework of the sustainability and environment, and evaluates the impacts of this change within the Turkish agricultural policies. The chapter has three sections. The introduction offers a background knowledge about CAP. In the second section, the reform progress of the CAP is examined through the years. The third section compares economic data on agriculture in Turkey and the EU. Results of the chapter highlight restructuring of CAP towards policies towards sustainability.


Author(s):  
Barbara Guastaferro

Article 4 of the Treaty on the European Union is a core provision to understand the ‘federal’ nature of the European Union. It is composed of three paragraphs, any of which tries to strike a balance between the constitutive units of the composite legal order, namely the EU, on the one hand, and the Member States, on the other. The first paragraph enshrines the so-called ‘principle of presumed Member States competences’, according to which competences not conferred upon the EU remain to the Member States. The second paragraph requires the EU to respect Member States’ national identities, inherent in their fundamental political and constitutional structures. The third paragraph enshrines the principle of sincere cooperation. In this respect, all the paragraphs express a sort of ‘federal concern’. Article 4(1) TEU is devoted to the vertical division of competences and strengthens the respect of the principle of conferral, Article 4(2) TEU is devoted to the identities of the Member States of the EU thus protecting diversities in the composite legal order, and Article 4(3) TEU is devoted to loyalty, which, like in many federal or compound legal orders, should inform the cooperation among levels of government.


2020 ◽  
pp. 194-216
Author(s):  
Pavlos Eleftheriadis

This chapter argues that fairness is a fundamental principle of the EU treaties. It means that under the EU treaties obligations of solidarity from one state to another are real. Their rationale, however, is not one of fair distribution. States may seek redress for unfairness on the basis of a conception of corrective, not distributive justice. Solidarity in the European Union is a matter of bilateral corrective justice, which informs the established treaties and gives them meaning. This is not just a moral interpretation, but also a legal interpretation, manifested not only in the practice of the member states but also in the judgments of the Court of Justice. Fairness, understood as justice in cooperation, is the third fundamental principle of the European Union as a Union of Peoples.


2021 ◽  

The monograph is dedicated to a comprehensive study of the development trends of the European Union and NATO, with particular emphasis on the policy and role of Germany. The evolution of the attitudes of the main political parties, the approaches of the German expert community to main foreign policy problems and initiatives to modernize the European Union in the context of protracted crises, new threats and challenges is analyzed. The peculiarities of Berlin`s course towards strengthening the unity of the EU, in tandem with Paris, advocating the strengthening the European sovereignty not only in foreign and defense policy, but also in the spheres of healthcare, climate, ecology, high technologies, are considered. At the same time, both allies see strategic autonomy as strengthening NATO`s European pillar and building a transatlantic partnership based on a more equal basis. The factors determining the policy of Berlin towards the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space are studied. The dynamics and content of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the EU with the Russian Federation have been investigated, which makes it possible to make predictions about the possibilities of building the potential of their cooperation, restore dialogue based on mutual interests, and make appropriate recommendations. The publication is intended for Russian politicians and the expert community, university professors and graduate students, as well as for the general public.


2019 ◽  
pp. 115-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja A. Börzel ◽  
Diana Panke

The first section of the chapter explains what Europeanization means and outlines the main approaches to studying this phenomenon. The second section describes why this concept has become so prominent in research on the European Union (EU) and its member states. In the third section, the chapter reviews the state of the art with particular reference to how the EU affects states (‘top-down’ Europeanization). It illustrates the theoretical arguments with empirical examples. Similarly, the fourth section examines how states can influence the EU (‘bottom-up’ Europeanization) and provides some theoretical explanations for the empirical patterns observed. This is followed by a section that presents an overview of research that looks at linkages between bottom-up and top-down Europeanization, and considers the future of Europeanization research with regard to EU’s recent and current crises and challenges. The conclusion argues that Europeanization, despite the crises the EU has been facing, will remain an important field of EU research for the foreseeable future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bakyt Ospanova ◽  
Houman A. Sadri ◽  
Raushan Yelmurzayeva

This paper explores the mass media perception of the European Union (EU) in Kazakhstan by utilizing the content analysis of the major mass media outlets. The authors examine news reports and periodical articles from four major national Kazakh newspapers using three measurement points. The first measurement point covers the early 1990s when Kazakhstan declared independence and began to establish its foreign relations. The second measurement point covers the periods before and after introduction of the EU Strategy for Central Asia (2006–2008). The third measurement point covers the years (2011–2013) associated with implementation with the EU Strategy and assessing its results. Our main findings suggest that Kazakhstan's mass media positively perceives the role of the EU in the region. Moreover, they tend to portray the EU mainly as an economic powerhouse. Our findings support some suggestions by similar studies of the EU's external perception.


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