Search results

Abstract
This article provides an overview of cases decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning contract law. The present issue covers the period between the beginning of February and the end of June 2019.

AbstractThis section provides an overview of cases in front of the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning contract law. The present issue covers the period between the beginning of April 2015 and the beginning of January 2017.

National courts have been key players in the legal push for Europe, though notably to varying degrees. This paper examines the persisting variations in the referral rates of national courts and the underlying causal factors, aiming to better understand why some member states' courts have been more reluctant to join in the legal push for Europe. By using econometric methods, it challenges the modified neofunctionalist argument that the extent of intra-EC trade explains the referral practice of the individual member states. Majoritarian democracy is hypothesized as a causal factor in the low referral rates for some of the EU member states. Key characteristics of majoritarian democracy versus constitutional democracy are outlined and the former is further detailed by means of two case studies: Denmark and the UK. Finally, a panel data analysis is conducted and finds evidence of a negative impact of majoritarian democracy on the number of referrals. The paper concludes that, owing to the uneven legal push for Europe, some member states and their citizens remain at arms' length from the legal integration process — and, in consequence, from the full impact of European integration.

After more than a decade of consecutive crises, the issue of transnational solidarity is becoming increasingly relevant for the European Union. This research note compares the current coronavirus disease-2019 crisis to previous ones and investigates the willingness of European Union citizens to show solidarity towards fellow member states. We test the influence of socio-political attitudes of citizens on solidarity preferences in three crisis scenarios. We analyse Greece and Germany as cases differently affected by the past decade's crises and cases that chose different crisis management strategies when facing the novel virus. Our findings indicate that solidarity is highest in a pandemic, while for all crisis scenarios it is higher in Greece than in Germany. Despite variations in the degree of solidarity associated relationships with socio-political attitudes remain consistent.

This article analyzes electoral cycles in distributional bargaining in the European Union. The author argues that governments attempt to increase their EU membership benefits above average levels in the preelection period, hoping to appear politically competent to voters. The theory discusses when and how EU members can increase these gains before elections through negotiations in the Council of Ministers. A time-series cross-sectional analysis of EU member states' annual budget negotiations from 1977 to 2006 supports the existence of conditional electoral cycles in distributional bargaining and generally points to the importance of accounting for such cycles when analyzing patterns of international cooperation.

Discusses immigration and emigration, focusing on history of nationalism and xenophobia towards guest workers, refugees, and asylum seekers, EU citizenship rights and privileges, and expansion of EU membership to Eastern European countries.

In this paper we distinguish two rival theories on the relationship between European citizenship in the sense of a legal construct on the one hand and a European collective identity on the other hand. According to the first theory a collective identity is a necessary condition for the development of a legitimate European political community. The second theory claims that there is indeed an empirical relationship between these two concepts, but the causal sequence is not necessarily unidirectional. Once a political community is established it can breed a sense of community. In this paper we test the hypothesis that formal citizenship breeds both a sense of European citizenship and a sense of European community. Our analyses do not offer firm evidence in support of the hypothesis in either case. The time of entry of the Union rather than the length of membership as such explains differences in the sense of European citizenship. A similar conclusion applies to the development of a sense of European community. Trust in the people from the new member states in Central and Eastern Europe among the citizens of the older member states is very low. The 2004 enlargement therefore meant a serious blow to the development of a European community.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of EU support between 2006 and 2015, and of electoral behavior during the European Parliament elections. In light of the Eurozone financial and debt crisis, it also examines how political and economic turbulences have affected EU citizens' stance on democracy and their support for EU institutions. It explores measures taken in the context of the Euro crisis management and the reactions of EU citizens, in order to shed new light on the determinants and developments of EU support. The author highlights the heterogeneity of the developments between the member states and identifies social, political, and economic facets of the crisis that have changed the ways citizens form their political attitudes towards the EU. The book delivers a profound account of the Euro crisis, integrating approaches from political economy, psychology, sociology, and public opinion research. It will appeal to scholars and anyone interested in learning more about the declining citizen support in the EU and the heterogeneous developments in the member states, which may significantly endanger the long-term existence of the European Union

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Council Presidency in EU studies: what have we learned and what has changed in the decade of crises? -- Chapter 2: Theorising the presidency of the Council -- Chapter 3. The legal regime applicable to the Council Presidency: competing conceptual approaches and pragmatic solutions -- Chapter 4. The Procedural Legacy of Two Years of Covid-19 pandemic. How the Temporary Modification of the Council's Rules of Procedure Became Permanent -- Chapter 5. The 2009 transition from the rotating to the permanent presidency of the European Council -- Chapter 6. The European Council and the rotating EU Council Presidency: patterns of cooperation and rivalry beyond the formal treaty rules -- Chapter 7.From mediator to crisis manager: evolving relationship between the Council Presidencies and the European Parliament in times of crisis -- Chapter 8. The Commission is always ready to help': the ambiguous relationship between the European Commission and the Council Presidency in the Ordinary Legislative Procedure -- Chapter 9. Presiding in the shadows. The rotating Council Presidencies as structures of opportunity for the legitimization of the European Union -- Chapter 10. Still the Dealmaker? The Council Presidency in EMU Michele Chang and Raquel Ugarte Díez -- Chapter 11. Article 7 TEU on the agendas of the Council's rotating presidencies: Still a "nuclear option" or rather "a talking shop"? -- Chapter 12. How does the Council legitimise the EU's response to international crises? Emotion Discourse Analysis of the High Representative's communications on Russia's war of aggression -- Chapter 13. Does the Presidency of the Council still have the means to achieve its ambitions? The French Presidency 2022 and the promotion of EU sovereignty -- Chapter 14. Rotating Presidencies, Rotating Sponsors? Corporate Sponsorship of the Presidencies of the Council of the EU under Scrutiny -- Chapter 15. Conclusion. The rotating presidency of the Council: a major actorof the EU that is here to stay.

Although member states are obliged to transpose directives into domestic law in a conformable manner and receive considerable time for their transposition activities, we identify three levels of transposition outcomes for EU directives: conformable, partially conformable and non-conformable. Compared with existing transposition models, which do not distinguish between different transposition outcomes, we examine the factors influencing each transposition process by means of a competing risk analysis. We find that preference-related factors, in particular the disagreement of a member state and the Commission regarding a directive's outcome, play a much more strategic role than has to date acknowledged in the transposition literature. Whereas disagreement of a member state delays conformable transposition, it speeds up non-conformable transposition. Disagreement of the Commission only prolongs the transposition process. We therefore conclude that a stronger focus on an effective sanctioning mechanism is warranted for safeguarding compliance with directives. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]

Citizen support for EU membership in Turkey is an area where to date little research has been conducted, although Turkey has been an EU candidate since 1999. Drawing on pooled Eurobarometer data from 2001, 2002 and 2003, this study examines to what extent attachment to Islam, utilitarian considerations and national identity explain individual support for Turkey's accession to the EU in a possible membership referendum. Logit analyses reveal that attitudes toward the EU do not vary with one's devotion to Islam. This finding implies that Islamic values are not incompatible with being part of the West and attachment to Islam does not affect attitudes toward the West, as has been suggested especially after the attacks of 11 September 2001. When it comes to joining the EU, people evaluate accession on the basis of its influence on national identity and contributions to the national economy in Turkey.