Suchergebnisse

When states engage in negotiations in the Council of the European Union, the position of actors relative to their negotiating partners has a substantial impact on outcomes. Those with extreme positions will experience difficulty in winning support, while those in the centre will find states more amenable to their perspective regardless of their actual negotiating power. The bulk of the literature on bargaining in the Council has tended to assume that this form of 'luck' will balance itself out across negotiations, but is this actually the case? Using the DEUII dataset I show that certain states consistently adopt 'luckier' positions than others and that this effect appears to benefit smaller states. The clear implication of this finding is that we require a better understanding of the preference formation stage if we are to capture fully the dynamics of EU decision-making.

What do we know about the relationship between Europe, the European Union and European identity? While national identity is a multifaceted phenomenon, European identity has been linked to the growth of the European Union. This article attempts to analyze some of the attributes of individuals with European identity in central and eastern Europe prior to EU accession by applying existing hypotheses on correlates of European identity. The phenomenon of identification with Europe prior to EU accession provides a window into understanding the identity mechanisms that inform the concept of European identity. The first Eurobarometer surveys measuring European identification in central and eastern accession states reported a puzzling finding: that more people, not less, identified with Europe than in existing EU states. An analysis of the Eurobarometer results provides counter-intuitive comparisons and contrasts between eastern and western Europe and uncovers potential mechanisms illustrating the content of contemporary European identity. Adapted from the source document.

Does domestic contestation of European Union legitimacy affect the behaviour of the European Commission as an economic and fiscal supervisor? We draw on theories of bureaucratic responsiveness and employ multilevel and topic modelling to examine the extent to which the politicisation of European integration affects the outputs of the European Semester: the Country-Specific Recommendations. We develop two competing sets of hypotheses and test these on an original large-N data set on Commission behaviour with observations covering the period 2011–2017. We detect a twofold effect on the Commission's recommendations: member states that experience greater politicisation receive recommendations that are larger in scope but whose substance is less oriented towards social investment. We argue that this effect is best explained as an outcome of the Commission's institutional risk management strategy of regulatory 'entrenchment'. The supranational agent issues additional recommendations while simultaneously entrenching on a stronger mandate substantively, which allows it to maintain its regulatory reputation and signal regulatory resolve to observing audiences.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, an increase in the number of fixed-term employment contracts has been apparent in a number of free-market-oriented economies. This has been accompanied by amendments to the pertinent legislation. From the early to mid-1980s, a number of EC countries initiated legislation with the object of facilitating the conclusion of fixed-term contracts. How is this development to be assessed from an economic point of view?

With the end of the Cold War, states and international organisations have systematically mainstreamed good governance in their development strategies for third countries. The European Union is no exception. The promotion of good governance ranks particularly high in the EU's "near abroad", which has become a focal point for EU foreign policy making since the 2004/2006 enlargement rounds. This paper seeks to systematically compare the EU's approach to promoting good governance in the Southern Caucasus. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are equally marked by bad governance. Arbitrary rule and pervasive corruption are common in all three countries. Nonetheless, they significantly vary with regard to the degree of statehood, and the quality of the political regime. Our aim is to explore to what extent these variations have affected the EU's strategy of promoting good governance. Looking at the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), a rather recent policy framework, we seek to give some answers to the question whether the EU sticks to a "one-size-fits-all" approach, or whether it has started to practice some differential treatment.

Once we acknowledge that disintegration of the EU is a "thinkable" option, it becomes important to grasp what "the collapse of the Union" would mean. How can the "disintegration" of the Union be defined or conceptualized? Would the departure of just one country from the eurozone or from the EU itself amount to "disintegration"? Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the "democratic deficit" of European institutions. Nor will it be saved by the democratic mobilization of civil society. Paradoxically, it is widespread disillusionment with democracy -- the shared belief that national governments are powerless in the face of global markets -- that may be the best hope for reconciling the growing tension between the goal of further European integration and the goal of deepening democracy in Europe. Adapted from the source document.

The member-states of the European Union have always recognized the need for acting together in the foreign policy, but this proved as a difficult challenge to be achieved. The principle of the common foreign and security policy for the first time was formalized in 1992 with the Contract from Maastricht, but there was the need for formation of formal secondary instruments for diplomacy and intervention inspired by the regional conflicts in 1990. Such a decisive action is the European Union. With the adoption of the Lisbon treaty, for implementation of its provisions the treaty determines the existence of the European Foreign Service with the task to work in collaboration with the diplomatic service of the member-states in order to ensure consistency and coordination of the external action of the Union. During their mandate, the High representative is assisted by the Institutions which are responsible for foreign and security policy such as administration of the Council and the Commission. In this context, the purpose of the research paper is to explore the development of the institutions responsible for the Common foreign policy of the European Union. Key words: European Union, Institutions of the Common foreign and security policy

8:1, pp. 59-69 ; This article uses the analysis of the 2004 European elections in the Spanish press as a case study that can be broached from the agenda building and framing theoretical frameworks. We seek to compare the media agenda in the 2004 and 1999 European elections by use of a content analysis in order to evaluate the impact of new real-world conditions (the March 11 Madrid bombings)and new strategies of political actors after the March 14 general elections concerning foreign affairs on the news coverage. The research also aims to advance framing research by identifying news frames (as the ``conflict frame?? and the ``political game frame??) that can link this study with prior ones. ; Ciencias de la Comunicaci?n II

Despite the existence of some efforts that are developing at the international, European and national levels in order to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, it is expected that Climate Change will cause both internally and cross-border population displacements in the near future. This is likely to intensify migratory flows to European countries mainly from the western, eastern and central Mediterranean routes, as well as from the Atlantic route from the North African area. Given this circumstance, it is convenient to reflect on whether European Union law provides adequate solutions that adapt to this incipient reality by providing a protection framework for this new category of migrants, or whether, on the contrary, it is necessary to adopt a new regulatory framework that addresses specifically this issue ; Pese a la existencia de algunos esfuerzos que se vienen desarrollando a nivel internacional, europeo y nacional a la hora de reducir la emisión de gases efecto invernadero y abordar los efectos negativos derivados del cambio climático, se prevé que el avance del mismo origine desplazamientos poblacionales tanto a nivel interno como a nivel transfronterizo en un futuro próximo. Es probable que ello intensifique los flujos migratorios hacia países europeos principalmente provenientes de las rutas del mediterráneo occidental, oriental y central, así como del atlántico desde la zona del norte de África. Ante esta circunstancia conviene reflexionar si el Derecho de la Unión Europea proporciona soluciones adecuadas que se adapten a esta realidad incipiente proporcionando un marco de protección para esta nueva categoría de migrantes, o si, por el contrario, es preciso adoptar un nuevo marco normativo que aborde de forma específica ésta cuestión