Suchergebnisse

This paper analyses the perception of the new member states of the EU (the 2004 and 2007 entrants) by the old member states' representatives. The text utilizes an updated version of image theory and it is based on 24 interviews with diplomats from permanent representations of the old member states in Brussels. It argues that the mutual perception between the EU member states has an impact on coalition building and thus also on the decision-making process of the EU. Although the newcomers are perceived positively in general terms, there are several differences between them in terms of their activities and behaviour at the EU level as well as in the cultural area. The paper therefore divides the newcomers into groups according to the image that is ascribed to them (the four general images are those of a close ally, a passive ally, a distant ally, and a detached ally). Adapted from the source document.

Within the context of the ongoing scholarly debate on post-accession compliance in the Central and Eastern European new member states, this paper examines the implementation of EU environmental policy in the Czech Republic since 2004, focusing on the transposition and application of six EU directives. It argues that, while the Czech Republic has had some difficulty complying with EU environmental law since becoming a member state, overall its performance in this area does not conform to pessimistic scenarios, but instead presents a more complex and differentiated picture. It also discusses the main factors inhibiting and supporting the implementation of EU environmental policy in the Czech Republic, showing that these tend to vary according to the specific issue or directive concerned. Adapted from the source document.

The article analyses the changes in norm enforcement in the EU that were triggered by the Eurozone crisis. It attempts to demonstrate that the Eurozone crisis contributed to a 'transplantation' of conditionality instruments (which traditionally exist within the EU's external relations) into the internal operations of the European Union. In particular, the article identifies which new internal rule-enforcement mechanisms of the EU share common structural features with the external EU conditionality (e.g. a vague legal framework; the use of the expertise of non-EU actors; an excess of competencies conferred to the EU; the institutional weakening of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice; the format of the sanctions). The article comes to the conclusion that the formation of the EU's internal conditionality occurred mainly within the instruments aimed at the crisis management of public finances of the Eurozone states (the EFSF, the EFSM, and the ESM), but it also concludes that there was an expansion of the new EU conditionality into other areas of the European integration, such as the Schengen cooperation and cohesion policy. Adapted from the source document.

"Was tut die EU tatsächlich für die Bürger? Der Europäische Sozialfonds (ESF) ist eine der Antworten auf diese Frage, denn er investiert jedes Jahr in rund zehn Millionen Menschen in allen 27 Mitgliedstaaten. Dieses Buch erzählt die Geschichte von 54 Personen (zwei pro Mitgliedstaat), die die Möglichkeiten, die aus ESF-Mitteln finanzierte Initiativen bieten, wahrgenommen haben. Es wurden Frauen und Männer aller Altersstufen (von Jugendlichen bis Rentnern) in städtischen und ländlichen Gemeinden in allen EU-Ländern befragt."--