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In the last twenty-five years the European Union (EU) has gradually developed an international, albeit ambiguous, identity that has greatly enhanced its leadership role in the international environmental arena. The leadership offered by the EU has been largely shaped by its unique institutional structure, but also by such factors as the changing nature of international environmental issues. In this essay we contrast the traditional role of the United States with that of the EU in global climate change negotiations and comment on the future role of both actors in the international environmental arena. An understanding of the institutional structures of the EU and the changing nature of international environmental issues helps to explain the EU's ascendant role as a leader in multilateral environmental politics.

Translated from the French by Anthea Mills.

Ombudsman, unlike the court, cannot make binding decisions, but usually public authorities follow its recommendations, otherwise he may bring the case to the attention of politicians and the public by informing Parliament. The link between the two fundamental European institutions, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Ombudsman, may be defined as a strong direct link between the problems of EU citizens. Requests to each institution represent an interest of each petitioner, which is intended to be solved by matching laws with moral rules and general principles of law.

In this paper we attempt to explain the evolution of the vote share and the number of populist parties running for legislative elections in the European Union. We build a database of 276 elections since 1976 until 2018 and account for 285 populist parties of both political spectrums. We run two sets of models to show the different variables that explain the behavior of the populist vote share and the number of populist parties and a third model to assess the dynamics of both types of dependent variables.

EU social policies should be complemented by contributing to a harmonious development of society, by reducing structural and regional imbalances, developing a balance between the a localized community and the national society, and improving the living standards of citizens and families of member states (Garrido 2002). Such important social policy principles as freedom and justice are addressed and represented in family laws in the EU regulations introduced during the period of 2000–2016. In this article, we studied the EU's legal solutions in reference to national (Spain) laws on these matters: children and parental responsibility (adoption, child abduction, family benefits) and couples (matrimonial, regimes, prenuptial agreements, provisional measures). This legislation is necessary in the face of the proliferation of families whose members have different nationalities, and even in the mobilization of residences. Cooperation has intensified between national judicial authorities to ensure that legal decisions taken in one EU country are recognized and implemented in any other. This is highly important in civil cases, such as divorce, child custody, maintenance claims, or even bankruptcy and unpaid bills, when the individuals involved live in different countries. The development of family laws is one of the most important factors of family welfare in European countries.

The European Union member states are dramatically vulnerable in fisheries management and related issues of market and trade policy. The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is designed to promote sustainable fishing following principles of both environmental safety and economic stability over the long-term perspective. The CFP was first introduced in 1970 and since that time went though several updates. The most recent reform took effect on January 1st, 2014. This article seeks to analyse new practices and principles of CFP in the framework of multilevel governance concept. The reform has changed the way in which the CFP is managed, giving EU members greater control at national and regional levels which does not affect established principles of supranational governance in fisheries policy. As a major fishing power and the largest single market for fisheries products in the world, the EU also plays an important role in promoting better governance through a number of international organisations. The examples of "herring wars" and "tuna wars" give understanding of CFP decision-making process on international level and dispute settlement procedure through WTO. While analyzing both cases one may conclude that the EU is likely to handle trade conflicts through negotiations and consultations rather than through litigation. However, due to emerging trade conflicts with the third parties and further dispute settlement in the WTO the Eropean Union has to temper its ambitions and adjust its approach and pathway of global governance. Before pretending to being a true international actor the EU would better reconcile all the contradictions between its member states in order to be able to manage emerging crises and fully implement its decisions. Acknowledgment. The article has been prepared in the framework of the grant of Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fund, no. 14-07-00046.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01956663 International audience In less than a decade, European food institutions have gone through a period of important reform. This reform was intended to address new challenges posed by a succession of food safety crises, the entry into the world markets of novel foods, and general public distrust of the actions of the European Commission. This paper sketches the most salient institutional changes that have occurred in the history of the European Union (EU). It also maps the redistribution of responsibilities in the European food system. After years of harmonisation in the name of free trade, in the mid-1990s food safety and consumer protection became the guiding principles of European food policy. Having described these changes, the paper suggests that a specifically European food policy style is emerging in juxtaposition with 'transatlantic' food policy.

Since its seminal origins in the European Coal and Steel Community, EU market integration has been advancing in the field of energy as in the wider economy. However, Russian gas cutoffs to Europe in 2006 and 2009 served as a stark reminder that many member states remain vulnerable in terms of the physical security of their foreign energy inflows, a glaring Achilles heel of the EU that has risen to unprecedented prominence on its policymaking agenda. Turkey, an EU candidate member, has been emerging as a new and potentially more stable and independent 'corridor' for a wider diversity of pipeline-based hydrocarbon exports to the European market. This book offers a freshly provocative look at the nexus linking EU security, trans-Turkey energy supply routes to Europe and Turkey's EU membership negotiations, arguing that Europe's collective energy security prospects have become increasingly tied to Turkey's progress towards joining the EU.