Suchergebnisse

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.

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.

This article examines the European Trade Union Federations' (ETUFs) role within the European polity in representing the interests of their affiliates vis-à-vis decision-makers at European level. In order to influence processes at European level, however, ETUFs need to aggregate and coordinate the often heterogeneous interests of their affiliates. This dual focus of the ETUFs' activities is captured in the article by using the concept of the 'logic of membership' and 'logic of influence' to investigate how changes in their internal and external environment have affected the ETUFs' capacity to act within the institutional structures and decision-making processes that constitute the European polity. A key finding of the article is that the European Commission's renewed focus on strengthening the social dimension in principle opens up new opportunities for ETUFs to increase their influence at European level. The analysis, however, also shows that this is only possible if the ETUFs manage to mobilise the support of their affiliates for joint European strategies. This in turn requires national trade unions to overcome their tendency to retreat to the national level to cope with transnational challenges.

"This book presents the findings of new empirical research regarding shifts in public discourses and attitudes in Greek society as a result of the crisis. These findings have shown different shades of Euroscepticism and anti-German sentiments, but they have also revealed a normative conflict within Greek society itself. The book shows how economic crises and strict policy conditionality, causing or deepening economic recession in the countries receiving it, has the potential to set in motion a fragmentation process, which transcends standard material stratification and relates to broader political and even cultural rifts among the population. With this, the book serves as a case study of the impact of wider pressures and shifts weighing upon the EU and the way European societies perceive the integration process. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Union politics, Greek and Southern European Studies and more broadly to Cultural and Comparative Politics and Political Economy and European Politics"--

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.

The concept of citizenship in relatively new legal order of the European Union has its own meaning and dynamics compared to national citizenship. One of the important questions regarding this transnational form of citizenship is how to place this European citizenship in a constitutional context in the European Union. In that context, this thesis, examines the main research question: How does European citizenship affect the process of constitutionalisation of the European Union? This question implies that European citizenship is of a constitutional nature and affects the characteristics of the European Union, transforming from an international organisation cooperating on economic aims towards a more constitutional legal order. Constitutionalisation of the European Union is regarded as the process in which the European Union acquires more features that are commonly found in a constitution, and which is explored through the prism of four constitutional elements: the vertical division of powers, the existence of a common ideology (democracy and fundamental rights), justiciability and constitutional primacy. The effect of European citizenship on each of these constitutional elements is analysed in this thesis.

The EU and China are often characterised as parties whose bilateral political differences remain too large to bridge, so that they have failed to convert rhetorical promises into tangible results of cooperation, particularly with regards to the international security. Yet in terms of their bilateral interaction on security risk management in Africa; EU and Chinese naval officers jointly brought down the number of Somali pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and to a lesser extent were involved in seeking a resolution to the lingering conflict in Darfur. This book asks how we can make sense as a whole of this relatively sudden shift in regards to the dealings between their respective officials on the topic of security risk management. It argues that the outcomes of Sino-European bilateral dealings on are above all determined by the ability/inability of these officials to build political trust as a complex and cognitive social phenomenon. Consequently, the book applies an innovative conceptual framework on political trust to explain why EU and Chinese officials bridged their 'endemic' political differences to cooperate on Somali piracy but were unable to do so when it came to their interaction on Darfur. To conclude, it examines the longer term impact of this bilateral trust-building process by covering more recent examples of engagement in Libya and Mali and aims to show that although this trust-building process may be case specific, ramifications may go beyond the realm of their dealings on security matters in Africa, to impact wider issues of international security. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of African and Chinese politics, EU politics, security and maritime studies, and more broadly of international relations and to governmental actors.--Publisher's summary.