Belgium's Adaptation to the EU : Does Federalism Constrain Europeanisation ?

Res Publica ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 575-597
Author(s):  
Peter Bursens
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
General Public ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Federal System ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Dominant Focus ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This article starts from the observation that the Belgian level of adaptation to the requirements posed by its membership of the European Union is surprisingly low. Following an institutionalist line of thinking, it is argued that the impact of the European Union is seriously constrained by the characteristics of the Belgian federal system. This results into defining both cultural (1) and structural (2) indicators for the degree of Europeanisation: (1) European opinions and awareness of political elites and the general public and (2) the Belgian domestic organisation of European co-ordination mechanisms. The article more concretely argues that the European opinions and European awareness of the political elites and the public opinion are coloured by an inwards-looking mentality that stems from the dominant focus on the ongoing federalisation process. In addition, it is also found that the limited Europeanised installation and outcomes ofthe European co-ordination mechanisms are at least partly shaped by hard and soft federal elements

The EU’s Stealthy Hegemony and Ambiguous Neighbors

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (824) ◽  
pp. 112-117
Author(s):  
Alexander Clarkson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
European Integration ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Control ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

European integration based on a supranational form of pooled sovereignty has taken on increasingly state-like qualities. With every move toward absorbing additional members, the European Union system has expanded its geographic reach. The state-like power of the EU is apparent in the impact its integration processes have had in societies just outside its borders. Its growing influence is most notable in misfit border territories, from Kaliningrad to Transnistria, and from Cyprus to Northern Ireland, that are tenuously under the political control of neighboring geopolitical powers.

scholarly journals Review of "Uniunea Europeană – un trend în derivă? O analiză a discursului mediatic și a perspectivei tinerilor" (The European Union – a Drifting Trend? An Analysis of Media Discourse and Youth Perspectives) by Oana Ștefăniță, Comunicare.ro, 2017

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Georgiana Udrea
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Southern States ◽  
The Future ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Eu

In recent times, the European Union has been confronted with huge challenges and crises, which, in the absence of prompt and effective measures, call into question the future of the European project itself. The political incongruities, the disintegrating tendencies culminating with Brexit, the divisions between northern and southern states over economic crisis and austerity measures, the refugee waves and their poor integration into society, the rise of populist and extremist currents, etc. have caused anger, confusion and fear among Europeans, influencing the relations between member states and public perceptions. In this unstable context, studying people’s opinion on the EU and its subtle mechanisms becomes an important and pragmatic effort, as the public has the means to pursue action based on its feelings of support or opposition towards the community block. Oana Ștefăniță’s book, Uniunea Europeană – un trend în derivă? proposes such an insight into the world of young European citizens, investigating their interest in European issues, the EU’s place on the agenda of interpersonal conversations, the way they understand and experience the feeling of European belonging, and their perspectives on the future of the Union.

scholarly journals Invitación, desde el realismo, al estudio de la construcción política de Europa = Invitation from the realism, to the study of the political construction of Europe

2013 ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Óscar Alzaga Villaamil
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Financial Policy ◽  
Housing Bubble ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Southern States ◽  
The Eu

La crisis económica española, evidenciada tras el estallido de la gran burbuja inmobiliaria ha dejado sobre la mesa toda una serie de preguntas, que el autor enuncia a los efectos de entender la hondura del problema que llevó a que Europa empujase a España a la reforma en 2011 de su constitucionalismo económico. Esta reforma siguió el camino trazado por las previas revisiones de los textos constitucionales afrontadas en Polonia, Suiza y Alemania. Pero las cuentas públicas de ciertos estados del sur de la Unión Europea han pasado a constituir un problema para la política económica y financiera de toda la UE, cuya solución se ha convertido en una oportunidad para avanzar en su construcción política, trance en que los constitucionalistas deben aportar sus mejores esfuerzos.The Spanish economic crisis, evidenced after the outbreak of the great housing bubble has left on the table a series of questions, which the author states the purpose of understanding the depth of the problem that led Europe push Spain to the reform in 2011 of its economic constitutionalism. This reform followed the path set by the previous reviews the constitutions faced in Poland, Switzerland and Germany. But the public accounts of certain southern states of the European Union have come to constitute a problem for the economic and financial policy across the EU, whose solution has become an opportunity to advance their political construction, situation in which the Constitutionalists should make their best efforts.

scholarly journals The EU budget and UK contribution

2016 ◽  
Vol 236 ◽  
pp. 39-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Begg
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Fiscal Federalism ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Range Of Functions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

The European Union budget is small and fulfils only a limited range of functions, yet it provokes regular disputes among the Member States and institutions of the Union. This paper describes the structure of the budget and shows that standard theories, such as fiscal federalism, are not well-suited to analysing how the EU budget operates or the political economy behind it. The paper then looks at how much the UK contributes towards the EU budget and explains why some of the claims made about it in the public discourse are inaccurate.

scholarly journals Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Spasimir Domaradzki ◽  
Ivana Radić Milosavljević
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This article explores how national executives in Serbia and Bulgaria address European Union (EU) rule of law conditionality by framing it within the populism/technocracy dichotomy. The rule of law remains one of the main problems of EU relations with the two countries. While acknowledging the nuances of pre- and post-enlargement Europeanisation, this article explores the technocratic and populist narratives exploited by the national executives in their interactions with the EU and their domestic public. Rather than positioning the current executives unequivocally either as populist or technocratic, we argue that the political elites act strategically in using both populist and technocratic techniques towards their publics when explaining interaction with the EU. We explore the extent this type of executive behaviour is determined by the countries’ formally different status. While we look for the levels of possible similarity and distinction in the two cases/countries stemming from their different EU membership status, our findings confirm the existence of strategic defensive populist and technocratic techniques applied towards the EU and the national public in both countries The aim of this strategy is to mitigate the impact of the EU rule of law pressure and to secure the persistence of the existing rule of law shortcomings within the process of European integration. Interestingly, our research did not identify substantial impact of the formally different status towards the EU of the two countries.

scholarly journals Politicization and conflict in the relationship with the European Union: an analysis of Italian Prime Ministers' parliamentary speeches

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Eugenio Salvati
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sharp Criticism ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

Abstract In recent years, the relationship between Italy and the European Union (EU) has worsened due to the emergence of an increasingly negative attitude towards the question of European integration. The growth in citizens' disaffection with, and hostility towards, the political elites is part of a more general trend witnessed throughout the EU. From this point of view, an understanding of whether, and in what way, the role of Prime Minister (PM) has been affected by this change of perspective, especially following the various crises affecting the EU in the last 10 years, would be worthwhile we believe. This article examines the political positions of all PM during the so-called Second Republic (1994–now), by means of a longitudinal content analysis. This analysis reveals that after 2008, and for the first time in the history of the Italy–EU relationship, PMs' speeches have included sharp criticism of the EU. In particular, two PMs (Renzi and Conte) have clearly rejected those conditionality mechanisms implied by the EU. The results of this study confirm the start of a phase of strong conflict/politicization in regard to the EU and its institutional functioning. This article contributes to the broader literature concerning the study of the relationship between political elites and the EU, by focusing for the first time not simply on party leaders but on one of the most important institutional roles in the Italian political system (the Presidenza del Consiglio).

Russia - European Union: The continuation ofthe sanctions standoff

2017 ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
M. Klinova ◽  
E. Sidorova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
Current Data ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Year 2013

The article deals with economic sanctions and their impact on the state and prospects of the neighboring partner economies - the European Union (EU) and Russia. It provides comparisons of current data with that of the year 2013 (before sanctions) to demonstrate the impact of sanctions on both sides. Despite the fact that Russia remains the EU’s key partner, it came out of the first three partners of the EU. The current economic recession is caused by different reasons, not only by sanctions. Both the EU and Russia have internal problems, which the sanctions confrontation only exacerbates. The article emphasizes the need for a speedy restoration of cooperation.

Las funciones del interregionalismo en la relación UE-CAN

Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Olga María Cerqueira Torres
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Present Article ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Political Rationality ◽  
Article Analysis ◽  
Andean Community ◽  
The Eu

RESUMENEn el presente artículo el análisis se ha centrado en determinar cuáles de las funciones del interregionalismo, sistematizadas en los trabajos de Jürgen Rüland, han sido desarrolladas en la relación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones, ya que ello ha permitido evidenciar si el estado del proceso de integración de la CAN ha condicionado la racionalidad política del comportamiento de la Unión Europea hacia la región andina (civil power o soft imperialism); esto posibilitará establecer la viabilidad de la firma del Acuerdo de Asociación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones.Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Comunidad Andina, interregionalismo, funciones, acuerdo de asociación. Interregionalism functions in the EU-ANDEAN community relationsABSTRACTIn the present article analysis has focused on which functions of interregionalism, systematized by Jürgen Rüland, have been developed in the European Union-Andean Community birregional relation, that allowed demonstrate if the state of the integration process in the Andean Community has conditioned the political rationality of the European Union towards the Andean region (civil power or soft imperialism); with all these elements will be possible to establish the viability of the Association Agreement signature between the European Union and the Andean Community.Keywords: European Union, Andean Community, interregionalism, functions, association agreement.

An Ever Further Apart Union? National and European Attachments in the European Union

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Raney
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Identities ◽  
Political Identification ◽  
The Eu

This paper is about the ways that citizens perceive their place in the political world around them, through their political identities. Using a combination of comparative and quantitative methodologies, the study traces the pattern of citizens’ political identifications in the European Union and Canada between 1981 and 2003 and explains the mechanisms that shape these political identifications. The results of the paper show that in the EU and Canada identity formation is a process that involves the participation of both individuals and political institutions yet between the two, individuals play a greater role in identity construction than do political institutions. The paper argues that the main agents of political identification in the EU and Canada are citizens themselves: individuals choose their own political identifications, rather than acquiring identities that are pre-determined by historical or cultural precedence. The paper makes the case that this phenomenon is characteristic of a rise of ‘civic’ identities in the EU and Canada. In the European Union, this overarching ‘civic’ identity is in its infancy compared to Canada, yet, both reveal a new form of political identification when compared to the historical and enduring forms of cultural identities firmly entrenched in Europe. The rise of civic identities in both the EU and Canada is attributed to the active role that citizens play in their own identity constructions as they base their identifications on rational assessments of how well political institutions function, and whether their memberships in the community will benefit them, rather than on emotional factors rooted in religion or race. In the absence of strongly held emotional identifications, in the EU and Canada political institutions play a passive role in identity construction by making the community appear more entitative to its citizens. These findings offer new theoretical scope to the concept of civic communities and the political identities that underpin them. The most important finding presented in the paper is that although civic communities and identities are manufactured by institutions and political elites (politicians and bureaucrats), they require thinking citizens, not feeling ones, to be sustained.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v2i4.179

Human rights restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and Russia. Legal and comparative aspects

2021 ◽  
Vol 2(24) ◽  
pp. 323-340
Author(s):  
Marta Pietras-Eichberger
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
The Impact

The study analyzed selected issues related to the scope of human rights and freedoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and Russia. The author wanted to compare the regulations issued by a Member State of the European Union and a country outside the European Union, often using undemocratic methods of exercising power. The work focuses on research problems related to the principles of protection, the confrontation of individual interests with the public interest, and the impact of the regimes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic on human rights law in both countries. The thesis of the study is that in the event of a threat to public health, analogous restrictions on human rights are introduced both in an undemocratic country and in a country belonging to international structures identifying with democratic values. The state of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed, and in some area even contributed to the creation of mechanisms reserved for crisis situations, posing a direct and real threat to public safety and health.

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