Suchergebnisse

The European Union (EU) has shown considerable interest in receiving the Western Balkan countries into the EU, as did the mentioned countries show considerable interest to join the EU. Although this is a historically very turbulent region, the EU has clearly, unambiguously and unanimously expressed the political attitude towards the Western Balkans:"The Future of the Balkans is in the European Union". In addition to goodwill, the EU is also ready to assist in this process but also each country must do its part of the job in the accession process. The very process of EU accession means defining and meeting necessary criteria for potential new EU members, as well as the process of accession negotiations for the full membership of the new member states. The main objective of this article is to indicate which expansion criteria or Copenhagen criteria will be the most critical to achieve for Bosnia and Herzegovina(B&H), as one of the Western Balkan countries, in the process of access into the EU. In the process of meeting Copenhagen criteria, unlike other Western Balkan countries, B&H shows the least success. In our research, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a problem primarily by satisfying political Copenhagen criteria and then meeting economic and legal criteria. The lack of meeting Political Copenhagen criteria is found primarily in the absence of political consensus in B&H, which stems from the special features of the Government in Bosnia and Herzegovina (two entities and Bosnia's three main ethnic populations). With the lack of political unity in B&H, it is not possible to establish stable institutions that ensure democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the right to protect minorities (Sejdić and Finci case, corruption, non-transparent elections, nondependent media and labour unions) Fulfilling the Copenhagen Economic Criteria - a functioning market economy is also dependent on political influence (which is also fractured). The economy of B&H is structurally unregulated and is based on the processing of basic raw materials without the high-tech industry in order to deal with the competition of the European Single Market. During the research, the used scientific methods (analysis and syntheses, descriptions and classifications, historical and comparative, induction and deduction, and quantitative analysis) showed that it would be most difficult to achieve the political and economic Copenhagen criteria for the above reasons.

This book studies the role of the EU in peace and security as a regional actor with global aspirations, in the context of challenged and changing multilateralism. Multilateralism, governance and security are three concepts that have attracted a great deal of attention in the past decade and attempts to redefine them have produced lively conceptual debates. More recently, different strands of the literature have found common ground in the investigation of the EU's role in what has been labelled 'multilateral security governance'. Despite being frequently used, the term is yet to be fully clarified, and empirically explored. To contribute further our understanding of it, this book presents a conceptual and empirical exploration of 'multilateral security governance' and the EU's role in it. Expert contributors in the field analyze both traditional and non-traditional security areas, to investigate if and how multilateral security governance functions, and how the EU contributes (or fails to contribute) to the functioning of multilateral governance. The EU and Multilateral Security Governance will be of interest to students, scholars and practitioners of EU politics, security studies and governance.

Das Buch schlägt eine tiefgreifende Reform der EU vor. Defekte der EU werden identifiziert. Die Vorschläge basieren auf den Konzepten begrenzter Supranationalität und einer ausgewogenen Sicht des Nationalstaats. Die EU wird vor allem gebraucht für Frieden, Wohlstand, Kompensation der relativ geringen Größe und begrenzten Macht ihrer Mitgliedstaaten und zur Bewahrung grundlegender Prinzipien der westlichen Zivilisation. Eine ausgewogene Sicht des Nationalstaats bedeutet Erhaltung der Vorteile des gut gestalteten Nationalstaats im Vergleich zur EU sowie Vermeidung von Nationalismus und Krieg. Das Buch schlägt u.a. eine Neugestaltung der EU-Rechtsetzung und der EU-Verträge, eine untergeordnete Rolle der Europäischen Kommission, einen Court of Appeal und eine geänderte Zusammensetzung der Europäischen Zentralbank vor. Möglichkeiten des Überlebens der Eurozone werden diskutiert. Bei praktischer Realisierung dieser Vorschläge könnte sich die EU zukünftig in einem besseren Zustand befinden.

This highly topical book examines the development and future prospects for economic and monetary union in Europe. European Monetary Integration examines the background to economic and monetary union from a historical perspective that distinguishes between national and supranational currency areas, and an optimal currency area theory. The gradualist transition process is also considered

Der Verfasser dieser Habilitation wurde für die außergewöhnlich hohe Qualität seiner Publikation am 11.02.2013 in der Handelskammer Hamburg mit dem mit 20.000 € dotierten Kurt-Hartwig-Siemers-Wissenschaftspreis 2012/2013 der "Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Stiftung" ausgezeichnet.

This book analyses the European Union's common institutions and procedures and critically discusses its ability to pursue its vital interests as a unified actor in world politics. Though considerable progress has been made in its quest for collective external action, the EU´s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as well as ist Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) continue to be strictly guided by the principles of intergovernmental coordination and unanimity. A comprehensive introduction to and analysis of CFSP and CSDP by examining their structures and fields of action – that's what this volume offers. From the Contents: Part 1: History and Institutions Part 2: EU Foreign Relations: Organisations, Regions and Countries Part 3: Current Issues Conclusions/Outlook

We analyze the effect of European Union (EU) membership on financial dollarization for the Central and Eastern European countries. Using a unique monthly dataset that spans about two decades, we find that both the accession process toward EU membership and EU entry have a direct impact on deposit and loan dollarization. EU membership reduces deposit dollarization while it increases loan dollarization. The negative effect on deposit dollarization captures the increased confidence of the private sector in the domestic currency as they consider the EU admission process to reflect their government's commitment in promoting policies of long-run currency stability. The positive impact on credit dollarization is the outcome of a greater convergence of exchange rates to the euro and the subsequent anticipation for a lower currency risk, which diminishes the cost of foreign currency borrowing.

The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the international development policies of ten Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU between 2004 and 2007. The contributors offer the first thorough overview of the 'new' EU member states' development cooperation programmes, placing them in a larger political and societal context

After a short description of the theoretical and philosophical background of the notions of citizenship and nationality, the contents of European Union citizenship will be described. This notion of European Citizenship will then be compared to the notions of citizenship and nationality in several countries. In this way, it will be possible to comprehend the scope and implications of European Union citizenship.