3. The European Council:

This chapter discusses the central role of the European Council in European Union (EU) politics and policymaking. Even though it was not listed among the EU’s core institutions until the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Council regularly intervenes in EU decision-making to make other institutional actors follow its guidance. Initially, it was meant to be predominantly an informal institution for direct exchanges between the heads of state or government of the member states. Yet it assumed responsibility for landmark decisions which paved the way for key steps in integration, such as EU enlargements and the euro. The European Council has arguably saved the Union from break-up by acting as its ultimate crisis manager and, at times, has skirted the boundaries of EU law by finding institutional compromises and fixes. The institution plays a guiding role, especially in relation to the Commission and the Council of the European Union, which was formerly known as the Council of Ministers. The European Council devises strategic guidelines for policy development, shapes processes of institutional reform, and breaks impasses when agreement cannot otherwise be found. Since the Treaty of Maastricht, European Council intervention has become a routine in new EU policy areas, such as euro area economic governance and foreign policy. The Treaty of Lisbon assigns the European Council its own full-time president and places the institution right after the European Parliament (EP) in the list of EU institutions. Even though it has shaped European integration since 1975, the European Council did not find much recognition in traditional theories of European integration. This has changed more recently, with renewed debate about intergovernmentalism in EU politics.

Tra natura e storia: conoscere per valorizzare La Ensenada de Bolonia

The adoption of the European Landscape Convention has required a process of revision and adaptation of national and local laws. In Spain, despite the difficulty in reorganising European standards at all levels of territorial administration, this adoption has resulted in a number of remarkable landscape valorisation projects, including the Guide to the Cultural Landscape of the Ensenada de Bolonia supplemented by the Implementation Plan, as an outcome of research carried out by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage (IAPH). The projects have been nominated for the European Council Landscape Prize for 2018-19, a reward granted to outstanding projects, for achieving high-quality landscape goals.

Report on the 24th meeting of the ECCR 8th-9th October 2021

The 24th meeting of the European Council for Cardiovascular Research (ECCR) was virtual and held online on October 8th and 9th, 2021. Over 130 participants including trainees, early career researchers (ECR) and established investigators from eleven European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, U.K.), and participants also from Canada, Chile, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S.A. connected to enjoy two days of outstanding research. The meeting was opened by its president, Professor Marisol Fernandez-Alfonso from the Complutense University in Madrid and covered several topics of cardiovascular research: from vascular and metabolic aspects to novel immunological mechanisms of cardiovascular disease.

Holding our breath

Werner Droste delivers news from the European Council of Enterostomal Therapy

The European Council as a Transformative Force

The puzzle of my chapter is to explain an astonishing transformation of the European Union over the last 60 years. Faced with dramatic challenges in their international, economic, social, and political environment, the member states, as masters of the treaty, have taken considerable steps to widen, deepen, and broaden their common system. In an unconventional explanation, the chapter argues that the European Council, as the regular summit forum of national and European leaders, generally characterized as the apex of the intergovernmental nature of the EU’s architecture, has been the dynamic driver of this remarkable process. In analysing the specific functions of the European Council as the constitutional architect, I identify a typical four-step pattern in its power of transformation. The result is a fusion of intergovernmental and also strong supranational features which explains a considerable resilience to deep and varied crises.

SLOVENIAN DOCUMENT ON DISMEMBERMENT OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA CONFIRMS THE NECESSITY OF CONTINUATION OF PIC-OHR-BONN POWERS

In our recent AVIM analysis titled "Why Should the Role of the Peace Implementation Council and OHR Continue in Bosnia And Herzegovina?", we asserted the view that the continuation of the powers of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), including the Bonn Powers, is essential for the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) within the framework of its constitution.Before the ink of our analysis dries up, we came across an irritating press report claiming that Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has sent a document to Charles Michel, President of the European Council, proposing the redrawing BiH's borders. The EU has not denied the existence of the report to date. However, the US has rejected this Slovenia-linked plan to break up Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is worrisome that such a malicious plan has been prepared and studied in the EU. It is also alarming that the name of a NATO member country that will assume the EU presidency is associated with this plan.There is no doubt that Turkey will continue to defend in every platform, including the PIC Steering Board, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Bosnia-Herzegovina.It is believed that it would be useful that Turkey opens this issue up in the PIC Steering Board meetings and ask for clarification from the EU representatives.

The European Council, the Council, and the European Green Deal

We assess the response of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (hereafter the Council) to the emergence and development of the European Green Deal (EGD). First, we conduct a literature review of the historical role of the two intergovernmental institutions in EU climate policy development, drawing inspiration from new intergovernmentalism, historical institutionalism, and discursive institutionalism. Next, we provide an overview of the EGD itself and three of its core elements: (1) the ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2050; (2) its systemic and integrative nature; and (3) the just transition approach. We then present the results of a qualitative content analysis of all Council and European Council Conclusions from 2018 to 2020. Our findings show that the European Council and the Council have declared support for the EGD and its underlying principles. The European Council engaged with all three elements but mentioned the objective of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 most frequently and with growing intensity over the years studied. The Council similarly discussed the three elements of the EGD and gave increasing focus to the integrated/systemic transition over the course of the years 2018–2020. Our empirical analysis suggests that, on paper, the Council and the European Council may manage to govern through the organisational turbulence of member state divisions on climate governance. Furthermore, environmental turbulence arising from external contexts (e.g., economic and health crises) did not dampen their declared support towards the goals of the EGD.