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This article attempts to explain the variation in post-Maastricht elite attitudes toward the single currency in Western Europe. It concentrates on the British reluctance to join the single currency in the first round as well as the French and German continuing support for it. We argue, first, that explanations based solely on material conceptions of actors' interests — whether economic or geopolitical — are insufficient in explaining the variation in attitudes. There are as many good economic or geopolitical reasons in favour of the Euro as there are against it. In particular, perceived instrumental interests of actors as such do not explain the considerable variation in attitudes. Rather, we claim that actors' perception of their material and instrumental interests with regard to the Euro are deeply influenced by their visions of European political order. Second, the visions about European order which give political meaning to EMU, need to be understood in the framework of identity politics. Differences in the construction of collective elite identities pertaining to the nation-state and to Europe explain the controversies among the political elites in the three countries as well as the variation in attitudes. While the French and German political elites — from the centre-right to the centre-left — have incorporated `Europe' into their nationally defined collective identities, British policy-makers including New Labour remain hesitant. Third, on a more conceptual level, this article does not try to push an `identity versus interest' argument. Rather, we claim that the causal arrows run both ways. Collective nation-state identities define the realm of instrumental or material interests considered legitimate and appropriate in a given political discourse. We claim this to be the case in Britain and Germany. The more identity constructions are contested or in flux in a political discourse, however, the more likely it is that those constructions carry the day which actors see as furthering their perceived instrumental, political or economic interests. We argue that this was the case in France.

La tesi di dottorato "Unione Europea e Sanità" è uno studio sistematico del diritto alla salute e della protezione della sanità pubblica nell'ordinamento giuridico dell'Unione Europea. Il primo capitolo analizza le competenze sanitarie dell'Unione Europea, introdotte per la prima volta dal Trattato di Maastricht e definitivamente sistemate all'art. 168 TFUE. La norma identifica alcuni settori specifici nei quali l'Unione può agire e altri, quali l'organizzazione dei sistemi sanitari e la fornitura di cure mediche, che rimangono in capo agli Stati membri. Il secondo capitolo esamina le deroghe e le esigenze imperative connesse alla salvaguardia della salute nel mercato interno ed è suddiviso in tre sezioni dedicate alla libera circolazione delle merci, al diritto di stabilimento e alla libera prestazione dei servizi. Nella prima ci si è occupati dello sviluppo della legislazione farmaceutica. Nella seconda si sono analizzati il mutuo riconoscimento delle qualifiche professionali e le legislazioni statali che restringono il diritto di stabilimento degli operatori sanitari transfrontalieri. Nella terza si è rivolta l'attenzione alla mobilità dei pazienti che, attraverso la giurisprudenza della Corte di Giustizia, è stata trasfusa in un atto di diritto derivato. Il terzo capitolo si concentra sul ruolo del diritto alla salute nell'ordinamento giuridico dell'Unione Europea in considerazione del valore vincolante della Carta dei diritti fondamentali. Coerentemente, si è scelto di mantenere una struttura tripartita. Nella prima sezione, ci si interroga sull'esistenza di tale diritto alla luce dei pochi casi presenti. Nella seconda, lo si analizza per il tramite delle obbligazioni di proteggere, rispettare ed adempiere, enucleate attraverso alcuni strumenti internazionali e si verifica il ruolo del principio di non discriminazione in relazione all'accesso alle cure. Nella terza, infine, si verifica il ruolo del consenso informato rispetto alla sperimentazione clinica ed alla donazione di materiale biologico. ; The thesis aims at analysing the right to health and its protection in the legal order of the European Union. The first chapter assesses EU's health competences, introduced for the first time by the Maastricht Treaty and now codified into art. 168 TFEU. It identifies some specific sectors in which the EU can act and others, as the organisation of national health systems, that remain on the scope of domestic legislation. The second chapter examines health related derogations and mandatory requirements concerning the free moment of goods, the right of establishment and the freedom to provide services. For this reason it is divided into three sections. The first is devoted to pharmaceutical products. The second analyses the mutual recognition of medical qualifications and the domestic hindrance to the establishment of health operators. The third concerns patients' mobility and how the case law of the Court of Justice has been transposed in a piece of secondary legislation. Taking into consideration the binding value of the Charter of fundamental rights, the third chapter focuses on the role of the right to health in EU law. The structure is thus consistently threefold. The first section, in the light of the few cases so far appeared, questions the existence of the right to health. In the second one, it is analysed using some international conventions in order to assess the impact of the obligations to protect, to respect and to fulfil and, eventually, the link between the principle of non-discrimination vis-á-vis the access to healthcare. The last section examines the right to informed consent in clinical trials and the donation of biological materials.

AbstractThe article first argues that we live in a neo‐liberal world in that neo‐liberalism has become the economic orthodoxy which informs policy‐making, but that the commitment of the European Union and its Common Agricultural Policy to neo‐liberalism is somewhat ambiguous. It then examines the impact of that ambiguous Common Agricultural Policy on Eastern European rurality in the decade or so since the New Member States joined. In many respects it has resulted in scenarios similar to developments in western Europe, but in one respect a phenomenon that is present throughout the European Union has been amplified dramatically in its eastern half. Overall, the weaknesses that many have identified in the Common Agricultural Policy have been reproduced in the east, but in a more extreme form.

Examines the impact of the EU on the quality of democracy in eight post-communist countries: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, Ukraine and Armenia. Considering both the political and legal aspects, this title focuses on inter-institutional accountability.

"Ranging from influence over world trade laws affecting health to population health issues such as obesity to the use of comparative data to affect policy, the EU's public health policies are increasingly important, visible, expensive and effective. They also provide an invaluable case study for those who want to understand the growth and impact of the EU as well as how states can affect their populations' lives and health. European Union Public Health Policy capitalizes on extensive new research, providing an introduction to the topic and indicating new intellectual directions surrounding the topic. An introductory section and extended conclusion explore the meaning of public health, the relationship of EU public health policy to health care policy, and the place of public health in the study of European integration and Europeanization. Divided into three substantive parts, focusing on health system transformation, global health governance and population health, the chapters each address: Relevant policy issues and EU policies; Effects of the EU policies on practice or outcomes; An explanation of the policy trajectory; Current issues and likely future directions or conflicts. Drawing together an international and multidisciplinary selection of experts, this volume is an important contribution for all those interested in public health policy, EU health policy and EU governance"--Provided by publisher.

Transnational Western Europe since 1945 : integration as political society formation / Wolfram Kaiser -- Transnational networks : informal governance in the European political space / Karen Heard-Lauréote -- Transnational socialization : community-building in an integrated Europe / Frank Schimmelfennig -- Transnational business : power structures in Europe's political economy / Bastiaan van Apeldoorn -- Trade unions as a transnational movement in the European space 1955-1965 : falling short of ambitions? / Patrick Pasture -- The alliance of European Christian Democracy and Conservatism : convergence through networking / Karl Magnus Johansson -- German political foundations : transnational party go-betweens in the EU enlargement process / Dorota Dakowska -- Transnational actors in the European Higher Education Area : European opportunities and institutional embeddedness / Erik Beerkens -- Copweb Europe : venues, virtues and vexations of transnational policing / Monica Den Boer -- Transnational consensus building in EMU economic governance : elite interaction and national preference formation / Daniela Schwarzer.

European integration has had, and is continuing to have, an enormous impact on the state of Europe: through transforming the nation-state; creating new supranational institutions and joint policy-making; integrating markets and liberalizing trade; fiscal redistribution; and through fostering the formation of transnational elite networks and growing identification with Europe; but also through accentuating social friction; raising concerns about the remoteness of supranational policy-making and serving as a focal point for 'Eurosceptic' political mobilization. Thus, it is increasingly crucial for researchers, students and citizens to understand the complex history of the present-day European Union. This book provides them with a highly accessible state of the art introduction to how historians and social scientists have conceptualized, written about, and debated this increasingly shared contemporary history of Europe since World War II.

In January 1995, four Latin American countries, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay joined their destinies within a common and ambitious enterprise called MERCOSUR. MERCOSUR, the Common Market of the South, represents an important economic integration area that generates a GDP of $US 600 billion, providing a market of 200 million people spread over an area of 12 million square km. Initially, MERCOSUR performance has been more than successful, as intra-MERCOSUR trade has increased significantly. However, the elimination of intra-MERCOSUR tariffs will not be efficient if at the same time the sharp variability of nominal exchange rates artificially affects the relative prices of different products. The question as to the choice of the optimal exchange rate system to be adopted among MERCOSUR countries becomes critical if MERCOSUR states attempt to go further along the path of increasing their trade flows of goods and services. The study contributes to filling this gap by providing some alternative answers to this issue. The analysis has been based on three pillars: a theoretical review of exchange rate systems; a review of the European experience; and an analysis of the Latin American experience.

This paper examines the role of the European Union (EU) in influencing employment in the tourism industry of its member states. Tourism in EU accounts for about 5% of GDP and approximately 7.4 million persons are directly employed in tourism. The figure of persons directly employed in tourism varies from 1.7 to 7.8 depending on the member state. Due to the potential of EU tourism for generating jobs in this paper undertakes a review over the problems related to tourism employment in member states and analyses the formation and development of EU policies and initiatives towards tourism employment. Finally, this paper discusses the implications of the findings for torism employment in EU and provides the conclusions of the study.