AbstractThis paper sheds new light on the policy reality of the European Energy Union on the example of the EU natural gas market. The paper argues that, as the energy union preserves the treaty‐based parallelism between the competences of the EU and the member states, the resolution of conflicts between individual preferences and shared priorities has emerged as a measure of consolidation in the EU energy domain. Which logic prevails: the common good or the consensus will? The paper applies the concept of international society to test key hypotheses related to the pluralism/solidarism nexus in the European Energy Union.The paper concludes that individual interests and collective decision‐making in the EU natural gas market are reconciled along the premises of pragmatic solidarism with demonstration effects for the regional energy system, indicative of the EU's vanguard role as a regional regulator setting the rules of energy investment and trade in Europe.
This study approaches the problems of the environment from a complex perspective, focusing on the legal response provided by the European Union to climate change. For this purpose, it initially considers the greenhouse effect, and then analyzes the serious risks of climate change. It also inquires about international juridical instruments, in particular the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Finally, it thoroughly examines the Scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading, in force in the European Union after the Directive 2003/87, its amendments and complementary norms. In conclusion, the research aseverates that emission allowance trading is the main tool available for the integrated block in order to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/derecho.v0i17.1577 ; El presente estudio aborda desde una perspectiva compleja la problemática del ambiente, focalizándose en la respuesta jurídica que brinda la Unión Europea ante el cambio climático. A tal fin, se detiene inicialmente en el fenómeno del efecto invernadero, para luego analizar los graves riesgos del cambio climático. Indaga asimismo sobre los instrumentos normativos que rigen en el ámbito internacional, en particular la Convención Marco sobre el Cambio Climático y el Protocolo de Kioto. Finalmente, examina exhaustivamente el Régimen para el comercio de derechos de emisión de gases de efecto invernadero, vigente en la Unión Europea a partir de la Directiva 2003/87, sus normas modificatorias y complementarias. Como conclusión, la investigación afirma que el comercio de derechos de emisión constituye la herramienta fundamental con que cuenta el bloque integrado para mitigar los efectos adversos del cambio climático.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/derecho.v0i17.1577
The European Union (EU) has been involved in influencing major infrastructure in the fields of transport and energy mainly by means of the Trans-European Networks (TENs) programme begun in the 1990s. Other macro-planning and wider spatial planning exercises, including the European Spatial Development Perspective, made reference to such infrastructure systems, particularly in relation to the need for connectivity and mobility, but normally did not attempt to intervene in an area seen as one of the prerogatives of national states. Much more important have been the wider programmes of liberalization pressed by the EU since the 1980s, but these have had no specific geographical content. A revision of the TENs programmes since 2008 has led to proposals to increase the role of the EU, by drawing up continent wide schemas indicating needs for future investment in many fields of both transport and energy, and introducing new procedures to streamline decision-making by designating projects as of European interest. The initiatives in transport and energy are described here, including the two Regulations currently under discussion within the EU institutions. These include major proposals for cross-European multi-modal transport corridors within an EU core network, and regional schemas for energy drawn up primarily by energy industries and government counterparts. Both are likely to be of real significance for spatial planners throughout the continent, and have major impacts on the shapes of future infrastructure networks. These proposals are analysed, as cases of the rescaling and re-ordering of government, giving more force to the EU in these fields, and reinforcing sectoral- or silo-based decision-making. It is argued that somewhat different outcomes will result in the few areas, such as the Baltic, where long-term macro-regional collaboration has been present, from the rest of Europe, where these sectoral programmes may complicate further the mix of planning impacting on each region, making even more confused the accountability of governance. Suggestions are made for the careful assessment of these schemas by national and regional governments, and for the creation of some spatial planning analytical capability at the EU level, which could examine this type of proposals, with powerful spatial impacts.
This article analyzes the development of parliamentary institutions in processes of regional integration. Its focus is on two cases, the European Union and MERCOSUR, and their respective parliamentary bodies: the European Parliament and the Joint Parliamentary Commission of MERCOSUR. The article looks into whether and how ongoing processes of regional integration are transforming the historical role performed by parliamentary bodies, and evaluates the degree to which path-dependency impinges on such transformations ; El trabajo analiza el rol de las construcciones parlamentarias en los procesos de integración regional a partir de los casos de la UE y el MERCOSUR, es decir, de la trayectoria político-institucional del Parlamento Europeo y de la Comisión Parlamentaria Conjunta del MERCOSUR. Asimismo, da cuenta de hasta qué punto el marco regional lleva a una transformación del rol históricamente asumido por Parlamentos y Congresos a nivel nacional y regional, así como de qué forma la transformación institucional y política de aquellas construcciones se encuentra condicionada por su propio sendero.
This study analyses the activities of the local and regional authorities (LRAs) from EFTA countries in Brussels. It generates new and up-to-date knowledge on the mobilisation in the EU by LRAs from EFTA countries; it enriches the literature on multi-level governance in the EU, so far mostly confined to the mobilisation of LRAs from EU countries; and it contributes to the debate on lobbying in the EU by third-country actors. This research identifies three scenarios of engagement with the EU institutions: the first in which the Brussels offices predominantly engage in information-gathering and networking/liaison activities; the second in which the LRAs also engage in lobbying the EU; and the Swiss Cantons, that are fully integrated in the Swiss Mission to the EU.
Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die ungarische EU-Ratspräsidentschaft in der ersten Jahreshälfte 2011. Die ungarische Vertretung hat versucht, die Politik in drei wesentlichen Bereichen zu prägen: (1) die Stärkung der wirtschaftlichen Zusammenarbeit in der EU; (2) die Verbesserung regionaler Kooperation in Mitteleuropa und (3) die Annahme einer europäischen Roma-Strategie. Der Autor kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die ungarische Ratspräsidentschaft insgesamt als Erfolg gewertet werden könne, da die angestrebten Ziele erreicht oder zumindest angestoßen werden konnten. (ICD)
