scholarly journals Foundations of Regulatory Choice: Precaution, Innovation … and Nonviolence?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Baldoli ◽  
Claudio M. Radaelli
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Dyadic Relationship ◽  
Social Communities ◽  
Eu Governance ◽  
The Eu

Two foundations of regulatory choice, precaution and innovation, co-exist in the political system of the European Union (EU). At the conceptual level the two foundations are complementary, and are both endorsed by the EU institutions, albeit in different ways and with different legal status. In the real-life of EU policymaking processes, however, precaution and innovation often become the terrain of polarised views anchored to technocratic or populist positions that erode trust in EU governance. We propose a way forward to this state of play. Instead of seeing the two foundations as opposite, we explore their dyadic relationship. We show that a conversation between the two is possible via an original reformulation of precaution and innovation. The reconciliation of precaution and innovation, we argue, is effective only in a context of social trust about the reconciled definitions. We propose the analytical and normative framework as seal of social trust. Nonviolence can assist the EU and its citizens in the path towards innovation that is socially responsible, future-proof and accountable, and enhance precaution as internalised commitment of decision-makers as well as scientific and social communities.

Fixing, Adjusting, Regulating, Protecting Human Rights - The Shifting Uses of Regularisations in the European Union

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Kraler
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Irregular Migrants ◽  
National Human ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach ◽  
The Eu

AbstractAlmost all Member States in the European Union currently make use, or in the past have made use of some form of regularisation of irregular immigrants, although to greatly varying degrees, in different ways and as a rule only reluctantly. A distinct feature of recent regularisations has been the shift towards a humanitarian justification of regularisation measures. In this context, regularisation has become reframed as an issue of the protection of irregular migrants’ human rights. As a result, regularisation has to some extent also been turned from a political tool in managing migration into an issue of international, European and national human rights law. While a human rights framework indeed offers a powerful rationale and at times compelling reasons why states ought to afford a legal status to irregular migrants, I argue that a human rights based approach must always be complemented by pragmatic considerations, as a human rights based justification of regularisation alone will be insufficient to find adequate responses to the changing presence of irregular migrants in the EU, not all of which can invoke human rights based claims to residence.

Can the EU be a federal democracy? Assessing the horizontal and vertical dimension of the EU government from comparative perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared Sonnicksen
Keyword(s):  
The European Union ◽  
Democratic Government ◽  
Eu Governance ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
Democratic Character ◽  
Comparative Federalism ◽  
The Government ◽  
Power Arrangements ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe European Union remains an ambivalent polity. This uncertainty complicates the assessment of its democratic and federal quality. Drawing on comparative federalism research can contribute not only to making sense of whether, or rather which kind of federalism the EU has developed. It can also enable addressing such a compounded, but necessary inquiry into the federal and democratic character of the EU and how to ascertain which type of democratic government for which type of federal union may be appropriate. The article first elaborates a framework to assess the dimensions of federal and democratic government, drawing on comparative federalism research to delineate basic types of federal democracy. Here the democratic dimension of government is taken as referring primarily to the horizontal division of powers (among ‘branches’) of government, the federal dimension to the vertical division of powers (among ‘levels’) of governments. The framework is applied to the government of the EU in order to gauge its own type(s) of division of power arrangements and the interlinkage between them. Finally, the discussion reflects on whether or rather how the EU could comprise a federal democracy, especially in light of recent crisis challenges and subsequent institutional developments in EU governance.

State-building and the European Union: Markets, War, and Europe's Uneven Political Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 001041402110473
Author(s):  
R. Daniel Kelemen ◽  
Kathleen R. McNamara
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
State Building ◽  
Legal Authority ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Governance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Eu

The European Union’s institutional development is highly imbalanced. It has established robust legal authority and institutions, but it remains weak or impotent in terms of its centralization of fiscal, administrative, and coercive capacity. We argue that situating the EU in terms of the history of state-building allows us to better understand the outcomes of EU governance. Historically, political projects centralizing power have been most complete when both market and security pressures are present to generate state formation. With the EU, market forces have had a far greater influence than immediate military threats. We offer a preliminary demonstration of the promise of this approach by applying it to two empirical examples, the euro and the Schengen area. Our analysis suggests that the EU does not need to be a Weberian state, nor be destined to become one, for the state-building perspective to shed new light on its processes of political development.

The European Union in Nice: A Minimalist Approach to a Historic Challenge

2001 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karlheinz Neunreither
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Minimalist Approach ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
The Eu

In Early December 2000 The Political Leaders Of The European Union (EU) met in Nice in order to decide on the treaty adaptations needed before the enlargement envisaged for the next decade. The overall goal was to render the EU more efficient and its decision making more transparent. The outcome of this important event was widely considered as disappointing. Some observers even came to the conclusion that there were no leaders of the EU as such, but only rather narrow-minded, egotistical national leaders who did not – with minor exceptions – care about the ‘common good’ at all. Never had it become so evident, in the opinion of some, that the European perspective had been fading away for many years, and that it was being replaced by national considerations which are often short-sighted and limited to the horizon of the next national elections. One of the classical theories on European integration, neo-functionalism, measures the progress of integration in terms of the Europeanization of its political elites. From this perspective, the top decision-makers seem to be on a downward trend. Is it then a case for the opposite theory, that of intergovernmentalism, which claims that national interests continue to be in the centre of EU decision-making and that tough bargaining is of its very nature?

scholarly journals How Sanctions on Russia Impact the Economy of the European Union

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Năsulea ◽  
Beatrice Nicolle Crețu ◽  
Diana Florentina Spînu
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Accurate Assessment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Invaluable Tool ◽  
Crimean Crisis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Although new sanctions have been imposed, to varying degrees, on Russia since the debut of the Crimean crisis, few experts are taking the chance of publishing an assessment of the impact these sanctions will have on Russia or the European Union. On one hand, the complexity of the variables involved makes it extremely difficult to predict the outcome of said sanctions; on the other hand, an accurate assessment would make an invaluable tool in the hands of decision makers, no matter if their decisions are made with regards to foreign policy, public policy or the daily business of private companies. This article sets out to examine the context, some of the variables involved and some of the forecasts that have been put forward by various experts, while trying to provide a simplified model for assessing the impact of sanctions enacted by the EU on its own economy.

The Legal Institutionalization of Public Participation in the EU Governance of Technology

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Eu Governance ◽  
Technological Complexity ◽  
Legal Contexts ◽  
The Eu

This chapter explores the tension between the expectation of ‘public participation’ in areas of high technological complexity, and sometimes limited engagement with the results of participatory exercises by decision makers. The chapter examines in particular the ways in which legal contexts (eg narrowly drawn legislative objectives, judicial preference for certain types of evidence, free trade rules) can tend to incentivize a decision explained on the basis of ‘facts’, as determined by expert processes. Broader public contributions may find it difficult to be heard in this context. This chapter argues that an expansion to the legal framework, so that a broader range of public comments can be heard by decision makers, is both desirable and, importantly, plausible—albeit extraordinarily difficult.

scholarly journals The European Citizens’ initiative: too much democracy for EU polity?

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Longo
Keyword(s):  
European Convention ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Governance ◽  
Political Unity ◽  
European Institutions ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
Eu Commission ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis Article analyzes the state of democracy in the EU through the study of the European Citizens’ Initiative. The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) represents one of the main ways the European institutions chose during the making of the European Convention, and then reproduced in the Lisbon Treaty, to beat populism by bringing decision-making closer to the citizens and promoting a new legitimization of Europe’s political unity. This Article starts by arguing that if one wants to understand European versions of populism it is necessary to pay attention to the reason why “democratic deficit” and “Euroscepticism” are predominant problems that the European Union is facing. It then analyzes the implementation of the ECI and the main issues of this instrument of democratization pointing at three flaws: a) the problem of e-democracy; b) the difficulty of stimulating large participation of civil society and people for the purposes of the ECIs; c) the cumbersome role of the EU Commission and the difficulties to ensure a real participatory instrument for the European citizens. From the analysis of the ECI this Article first advocates for a more robust public sphere in Europe as indispensable ground for a supranational democracy; second, it supports the revision of the ECI procedural aspects to transform it into a viable channel for amending EU policies in a more democratic way; third, this Article participates in the debate over the brand of democracy most suited to EU governance and polity.

scholarly journals Global action on the urgency of climate change: Academic and research libraries’ contributions

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Madeleine Charney ◽  
Petra Hauke
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
European Union ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Global Action ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Waking Up ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Eu

At the time of this writing, Australia’s bushfires are raging, Jakarta is experiencing massive flooding, and waves of earthquakes are devastating islands in the Caribbean. Hundreds of thousands of people and living creatures are being torn from their homes. The mind reels at the intensity and scale of these climate change-induced disasters. At the same time, the world’s leading decision makers seem to finally be waking up to the emergency. For instance, the European Union (EU) just announced 1 trillion euro plan to support the European Green Deal, including a mechanism designed to help regions (e.g., coal-dependent Poland) that would be most disrupted economically by the transition to cleaner industries. Moreover, with the aim to make Europe the world’s first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, the EU pledges a just transition, that is to “leave no one behind.”

scholarly journals International cooperation in conducting procedural actions during the pre-trial investigation in the countries of the European Union and perspectives of its use in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleksandr I. Kozachenko ◽  
Volodymyr Zarosylo ◽  
Mykola O. Gelemei ◽  
Mykhailo I. Stankovych ◽  
Mykola M. Yatsun
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Life Imprisonment ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Content Ratio ◽  
European Arrest Warrant ◽  
Security Levels ◽  
The Eu

The article analyzes some areas of cooperation between law enforcement agencies of the European Union in the field of pre-trial investigation. Particular attention is paid to the European Arrest Warrant and its application. Ukraine aspiring to become a member of the EU must take into account all issues related to the issuance and execution of these warrants. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of more specific problems related to criminal-executive criteria for the perception of life imprisonment as subspecies of imprisonment for a certain period; systemic content ratio of general penitentiary norms, which determine the legal status of convicts sentenced to life imprisonment, and special ones, which should reproduce peculiarities of regime requirements of penitentiary institutions of different security levels (in particular, medium and maximum). It is proved that clarity, completeness and system-legal balance will be facilitated by the formal reproduction in the law of classification of all criminal-executive norms of Chapter 22 of the Criminal Executive Code (hereinafter–CEC) (based on a certain criterion) into norms of general and special significance, which in turn should be divided into the following subtypes. Moreover, the EU countries do not yet have the appropriate practice in the application of these warrants.

scholarly journals Farewell to the EU Charter: Brexit and Fundamental Rights Protection

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-52
Author(s):  
Marco Galimberti
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Charter Of Fundamental Rights ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Twenty years after its drafting and more than one decade after its entry into force, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union has ceased to be part of British law as a consequence of Brexit. Looking into this issue raised by the UK withdrawal from the European Union, the essay sheds some light on the legal status and impact of the EU Bill of Rights in the British legal order. Against this background, the article detects a connection between the UK Supreme Court’s case law and the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the direct effect of the Charter. From this perspective, the analysis highlights the implications of the UK departure from the Charter and disentanglement from the Luxembourg case law, thus arguing that they may weaken the standards of fundamental rights protection.

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