Suchergebnisse

In the era of Brexit negotiations, which will determine the future of citizens' rights in terms of the bilateral relations between the UK and the EU, EU citizens from different Member States have used the instrument of the European citizens' initiative in order to bring forward their claim for retain-ing the same rights also in the post-Brexit era. The present Article analyses the current legal frame-work for European citizens' initiatives against the benchmark of general principles of EU law, in par-ticular the principles of good administration, legal certainty and legitimate expectations. On the basis of this analysis, the Brexit-related citizens' initiatives are used as a case study marking a change in the Commission's administrative practice, towards more openness and cooperative spirit in the phase of the admissibility check. However, this new approach bears the risk of creating false expectations to organisers and signatories as to the real prospect of an initiative. The Article concludes that, in order to enable the full potential of citizens' initiatives, the Commission should strengthen the cooperation mechanisms when registering initiatives in line with the principle of good administration.

The study presented in the article seems rather relevant due to the fact that the problem of indebtedness in the eurozone members has not been solved yet, and these countries still continue to accumulate debts. Therefore, the eurozone members are expected to find effective ways to restore competitiveness after the crisis of 2009‒2012 without exiting the single currency agreement. The research is aimed at encompassing the relations which come into being as a result of credit use, money circulation, and money transfer payments. Consideration of these issues seems very important since it can help restore the loss of monetary independence. The subject of the article is the ways to denominate debt securities in the currency units under the control of the national governments and the central bank. The main purpose of the paper is to develop the approaches to parallel circulation of a single currency unit which can be devalued to solve the debt problems. The practical significance of the article lies in the possibility to use the European experience in solving the problems of common currency circulation in the process of Eurasian currency and financial integration. In terms of economic theory, the results and general outcomes of the work are important for the development of a concept to rationalize monetary policy and money circulation. In conclusion, the article proposes a parallel currency circulation regime which allows a member country of the currency agreement to stay in the common currency area and retain some functions of the monetary policy which were sacrificed due to the creation and operation of the common central bank.

Main description: Im November 2007 hat Prof. Dr. Wim Kösters sein 65. Lebensjahr vollendet. Dieses Ereignis ist Anlass, ihm die vorliegende Festschrift zu widmen.Wim Kösters wurde am 26. November 1942 in Greven / Kreis Steinfurt geboren. Er studierte von 1963 bis 1968 Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Zum Postgraduierten-Studium zog es ihn 1968/69 mit einem Fulbright-Stipendium in die USA an die Florida State University und an die Harvard University. Von 1969 bis 1982 folgte eine Assistententätigkeit bei Prof. Dr. Hans K. Schneider in Münster und Köln. An der Universität Münster wurde er 1972 mit einer Arbeit zu den "Theoretischen und empirischen Grundlagen der Geldnachfrage" promoviert. 1982 habilitierte er sich an der Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln mit einer Arbeit zur "Theoretischen und empirischen Bestimmung der Vollbeschäftigung".Von 1982 bis 1991 war Wim Kösters Professor für Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Universität Münster, seit 1991 ist er Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Theoretische Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaft der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, der als Jean Monnet-Lehrstuhl in Forschung und Lehre besonders stark europäisch ausgerichtet ist. Von 1996 bis 2002 war Wim Kösters Mitglied des Forschungsbeirats des RWI, seit 2003 ist er dort Mitglied im Vorstand. Von 1992 bis 2000 war er gewählter Fachgutachter für Wirtschafts- und Sozialpolitik der DFG. Schließlich ist er seit 2001 Mitglied der ECB Observer, einer Gruppe von Wissenschaftlern, welche die konzeptionelle und operative Geldpolitik der Europäischen Zentralbank analysieren und kommentieren.Die Festschrift, deren Autoren zahlreiche ehemalige und aktuelle Weggefährten und Kollegen von Wim Kösters sind, würdigt die Leistungen, die er in Forschung und Lehre erbracht hat. Die Themengebiete umfassen (i) die Wechselbeziehungen zwischen der Wirtschaftswissenschaft und der Politikberatung, (ii) realwirtschaftliche Aspekte der europäischen Integration wie Fragen der Steuerpolitik und der Migration, (iii) verschiedene Facetten der Integrationstheorie, der Banken und der Kapitalmarktregulierung sowie (iv) die Geld- und Währungspolitik.Aus dem Vorwort

The lack of transparency in European Union (EU) decision-making and integration has been a long-standing concern in academic and public debate. Perhaps paradoxically, parliamentary oversight of executive power in the EU is also increasingly taking place behind closed doors. This closed oversight results from internal rule-making and interinstitutional agreements established by the European Parliament and executive actors without a public debate and is primarily aimed at safeguarding EU official secrets. This paper examines the role of the European Parliament in oversight in the context of EU executive secrecy. The paper argues that, although the European Parliament asserts its prerogatives for gaining access to EU official secrets, its current practice of closed oversight does not facilitate public deliberation. The European Parliament is yet to make serious efforts to develop its public deliberation function and, in doing so, to also bring attention to possible extensive secrecy practices.

What kind of public sphere is possible in the European Union? Against the backdrop of debates on the transformation of democracy beyond the nation-state, this study explores daily newspapers' role in providing forums for transnational debate in the presumed absence of an overarching European collective identity. It uses empirical means to reconsider the question of the supposed co-constitutiveness of the public sphere and political community. In Habermasian discourse theory, the deliberative public sphere is thought to bridge gaps in social integration, while communitarians claim that normative debate can only draw on pre-existing communal values. But if the public sphere has a social integrative function, how can we then conceptualize the minimum level of social integration that allows individuals to initiate a deliberative search for solutions – in our case in the European Union? This study contends that efforts to conceptualize this minimum level of social integration as an "identity light" fail to distinguish clearly between the identity of the community (even in a thin form) and recognition of affected parties on a given issue. Drawing on social constructivism, constitutional patriotism and Deweyan pragmatism, the study argues that affectedness ultimately determines recognition of legitimate participants in any political debate. Yet affectedness is constructed in framing processes. On this basis, the study explores whether transnational debate hinges on daily newspapers' perspectives and preferences on European integration and EU democracy. Daily newspapers are here presented not only as important framers of public debate, but also as bearers of normative views regarding the level at which democratic opinion formation on European issues should take place. Do newspapers with a pronounced preference for more democracy beyond the nation-state play a more active role in providing forums for transnational debate? The empirical analysis of debates on EU constitution making indicates that newspaper framing and transnational engagement follow cross-national patterns linked to newspaper orientations. This empirical finding suggests that despite the presumed absence of a thick sense of European community, lively transnational debate is possible even in newspapers favoring intergovernmental integration. On the other hand, the empirical also indicates that the inclusion of non-domestic speakers as authors presents a challenge for a European public sphere understood as a shared communicative space.

ÖZETBu tezin amacı Türkiye'deki KOBİleri AB'ye entegrasyon sürecinde İtalya ile karşılaştırmalı olarak incelemektir.Öncelikle KOBİ tanımının netlik kazanması için girişimcilik kavramı üzerinde durulmuştur. Girişimciliği oluşturan temel taşlar anlatılmış, girişimcilik ile KOBİler arasında pozitif ilişki olduğu belirtilmiştir.Daha sonra AB'nin KOBİ tanımı yapılmış, Türkiye'deki KOBİ tanımlarından örnekler verilmiştir.Türkiye ve AB'deki şu anki KOBI yapısı sergilenmiş, KOBİlerin sorunları, güçlü ve zayıf yönleri, avantajları, dezavantajları üzerinde durulmuştur. Yasal açıdan KOBİlerin maruz kaldığı sorunlar detaylı olarak incelenmiştir.KOBİlerin tarihsel gelişimi, önem kazanmasına neden olan olaylar ve gelişmeler üzerinde durulmuş, özellikle KOBİlerin önem kazanmasındaki üç stratejik sebep belirtilmiş ve açıklanmıştır.AB tarihinde sanayi ve KOBİ politikalarının gelişimi anlatılmış, dünü, bugünü, yarını kapsayacak biçimde gösterilmiştir.İkinci bölüm daha çok KOBİleri destekleyen teşviklere ayrılmıştır. AB'nin çokyıllı programı başta olmak üzere, çeşitli konu başlıkları altındaki teşvik araçlarına,girişimlere ve fonların açıklanmasına yer verilmiştir.Daha sonra AB'nin Türk KOBİlerini yararlandırdığı teşvik enstrümanları açıklanmıştır.Diğer bir önemli konu da KOBİlerin finansmana erişimidir. KOBİlerin finansmanı dışsal finans ve içsel finans olarak ikiye ayrılmıştır. Dışsal kaynaklar da banka ve banka dışı olmak üzere iki bölümde incelenmiştir.Gümrük Birliği'nin KOBİler üzerine etkileri altı başlık altında anlatılmıştır.Üçüncü bölüm olan karşılaştırma bölümünde ise belirlenen oniki karşılaştırma kriteri üzerinden İtalya ve Türkiye KOBİleri incelenmiştir.Son olarak tüm bu yapılanlar sonuç bölümünde toparlanmış ve görüşler belirtilmiştir. ABSTRACTThe main aim of this thesis is to analyse Turkish SMEs, in the integration process of Turkey to the EU and to make a comparison with the case of Italy.First of all, in order to clarify the definition of SMEs, the researcher has aimed at explaining 'entrepreneurship' concept together with the basic elements of entrepreneurship. It is asserted that there is a positive relation between entrepreneurship and SMEs.Then; EU's SME definition has been made and some definitive examples from Turkey have been provided.Afterwards; the recent structure of SMEs both in the EU and in Turkey has been analysed. The problems, weaknesses, strengths, advantages and disadvantages of SMEs have been explained; and the problems deriving from legal points, have been analysed in detail.Later on; the historical development of SMEs and the reasons which made SMEs important, have been discussed. Some reasons increasing the importance of SMEs have been displayed in particular.The development of the industry and SME policies in the history of the EU has been explained including the strategies of past, present and the future.Following chapter has mainly focused on incentive mechanisms about SMEs. Funds and all other incentive mechanisms under different headings have been explained in detail. Then, instruments of the EU for Turkish SMEs have been explained.Another important issue is the 'access of SMEs to finance'. The finance of SMEs has been divided into two: External Finance which has also been divided into two, as; financing from banks and financing from other external sources, and Internal Finance. Following this section, the effects of Customs Union on Turkish SMEs has been explained under six headings.The last chapter deals with the comparison of Turkey with Italy. In order to compare these two countries, twelve criteria have been used. Finally, all these topics have been compiled up and various opinions have been provided about the issue.

The paper deals with prospects of the developing common EU defense
procurement market and policy with a view to strengthening the defense
identity of the European Union as well as to promoting its external profile
and international role. Despite of the European Union?s overall GDP, the
Union is not considered a serious military power. The EU processes of market
integration and rationalization have bypassed European defense industries,
which are fragmented and increasingly losing ground to their American and
some Far East Asian competitors. This has prompted calls for introducing the
supranational defense procurement and defense industry policies. The analysis
focuses on functioning of the European Defense Equipment Market via
application of the EU Code of Conduct on Defense Procurement and reviews EU
prospects for establishment of a single defense market from the policy,
organizational and commercial perspectives. The authors conclude that in the
long run, the voluntary intergovernmental defense procurement regime
established between some EU members will open prospects of cutting national
defense spending, fostering the global competitiveness of the defense
industries of EU member states and building up a respectable military
capacity to additionally support the Common Defense and Security Policy.

This book - which features a foreword by Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, and a Preface by Professor Harold James (Princeton Unviersity) -examines the European vocation and achievements of Pierre Werner (1913–2002),former Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, unanimously recognized as one of the architects of the Economic and Monetary Union. The author makes extensive use of Pierre Werner's previously unpublished archives belonging to the Werner family, opened for the first time for research purposes. The book analyses the Werner Report, negotiations within the Werner Committee, the emergence of the Committee's views on EMU, their political commitment to a European currency, the similarities and differences between their ideas, their personal networks, the influence of the states they represented, their theoretical and methodological input and their contribution to the political consensus. Chapters shed new light on various aspects of the European integration process and also on the role of Luxembourg and its European policy. In addition, the author has carried out a series of original interviews with Luxembourg and European figures who share their memories and thoughts concerning Pierre Werner, his achievements and his views on the European integration process, and also other topics such as the Economic and Monetary Union and Luxembourg's European policy. This book will be of interest and value to researchers, EU policy makers and students in the fields of political economy, political science, economic history and history of economic thought.

The European Court of Justice is one of the most important actors in the process of European integration. Political science still struggles to understand its significance, with recent scholarship emphasizing how closely rulings reflect member states' preferences. In this book, I argue that the implications of the supremacy and direct effect of the EU law have still been overlooked. As it constitutionalizes an intergovernmental treaty, the European Union has a detailed set of policies inscribed into its constitution that are extensively shaped by the Court's case law. If rulings have constitutional status, their impact is considerable, even if the Court only occasionally diverts from member states' preferences. By focusing on the four freedoms of goods, services, persons, and capital, as well as citizenship rights, the book analyses how the Court's development of case law has ascribed a broad meaning to these freedoms. The constitutional status of this case law constrains policymaking at the European and member-state levels. Different case studies show how major pieces of EU legislation cannot move beyond case law but have to codify its principles. Judicialization is important in the EU. It also directly constrains member-state policies. Court rulings oriented towards individual disputes are difficult to translate into general policies, and into administrative practices. Policy options are thereby withdrawn from majoritarian decision-making. As the Court cannot be overruled, short of a Treaty change, its case law casts a long shadow over policymaking in the European Union and its member states, undermining the legitimacy of this political order.

This article examines the individual, collective, and social emotions embedded in media discussions of the financial crisis. Emotional experiences toward crises and the political institutions associated with them serve as valuable tools for understanding how citizens think and feel in the public sphere. We highlight over-time links between individual, collective, and social emotionality as we analyze the content of UK media representations of the European financial crisis from 2009 to 2012. We code editorials from journalists and commentaries from experts, public figures, and opinion leaders published in four UK newspapers and identify the valence and affective tone of individual, collective, and social expressions of anger, fear, disappointment, hope, pride, and compassion. We also examine how these interlinked levels of emotional talk underpin blame attributions. This article advances the systematic understanding of the impact of the financial crisis on public opinion and considers its contribution toward European integration attitudes as Brexit was introduced in public debates during this time.

This article aims at problems of legitimacy, sovereignty & decision-making process in the context of European integration. Several concepts of legitimacy & sovereignty are introduced & subsequently analyzed in the context of latest development of the European Union. Adapted from the source document.

The labour market integration of refugees represents a key challenge for policy makers and has emerged as one of the most divisive topics in public debate. European countries have been pressured to establish fair and transparent methods of placing asylum seekers among the European states and into different regions within their national borders. In this paper, I highlight the unsurprising yet unintended consequences of following the most neutral placement mechanism: random assignment. The natural experiment of placing refugees randomly across different language regions in Switzerland results in substantially higher probabilities of finding employment when asylum seekers are placed in regions with a lingua franca that matches their individual language skills than when they are placed in regions speaking unfamiliar languages. Additionally, the findings suggest that language course participation can offset the reduced likelihood of employment in cases of a language mismatch. While random placement of refugees may be desirable for political reasons, it is detrimental to the economic integration process of these immigrants. Due to its strong subnational entities and clearly defined borders of language regions, Switzerland can function as a laboratory for European policy. This study also provides new empirical evidence for a positive and significant language proficiency effect.

The concept of `societal security' has been formulated to account for the phenomenon of societal identity as a source of instability. This article discusses the concept as articulated by Buzan et al. and applies it to the post-Soviet experience of the Baltic States. It examines the process of Sovietization and the way in which migration and horizontal and vertical competition created tensions and stresses between societies in the Baltic States which then carried over into and shaped the first decade of restored independence. The reasons for and nature of the state-building policies in the three states, particularly the formulation of citizenship policies and the emergence of classic societal security dilemmas, are analysed. Within an empirically based section, the authors then explore the way in which the prospect of European Union membership has impacted on the societal security sectors in Estonia and Latvia. It argues that the normative power of the EU has prompted Estonia and Latvia to resolve their societal security dilemmas in a manner acceptable to the EU, but that the `magnetic attraction' of EU membership increasingly has the power to repel within an emerging post-sovereign security order.