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In recent years, the failure of the constitutional process, the difficult ratification and implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, as well as the several crises affecting Europe have revitalized the debate on the nature of the European polity and the balance of powers in Brussels. This book explains the redistribution of power in the post-Lisbon EU with a focus on the European Council. Reform of institutions and the creation of new political functions at the top of the European Union have raised fresh questions about leadership and accountability. This book argues that the European Union exhibits a political order with hierarchies, mechanisms of domination and legitimating narratives. As such, ...
The European Union is facing a profound crisis and is confronted with multiple challenges. Over the last two decades, it has experienced a series of dramatic changes to its powers, its institutional design, its constitutional framework and its borders. At the same time, the uneasy relationship between European citizens and elites has complicated both the reform and the function of the Union. While the Lisbon treaty provided some answers to crucial questions, it did not clarify the nature of the EU, which remains at the crossroads of federal and intergovernmental logic. The current economic and financial crisis puts the EU’s legitimacy further under pressure and creates the impression of a ...
In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty became effective within the European Union, substantially changing the existing institution through its amendments, and this book investigates how the rotating presidency is affected by the Lisbon Treaty and how the Belgian presidency--the first under the new rule book--has implemented changes for the 21st century. It shows that Belgium has created a new style of rotating presidency, going back to the basics of chairing the Council, while adjusting to its new political and institutional environment and setting precedents for the future. This examination will appeal to students and scholars of European Union politics well beyond the Member States.
The book compares EU coverage in main online news forums during the 2009 European Parliamentary campaigns.
Positioned parties: evidence from the crisp-set QCA analysis -- Parties with 'double' positioning and the 'salient' ones -- Interpretation of the results -- Conclusions -- 7 Conclusions -- Approval of anti-crisis measures -- Control and representative functions -- Talking shop or deliberative body? -- Future challenge: national parliaments within the European semester -- References -- Index
The EU plays an increasingly important role in issues such as the fight against organised crime and the management of migration flows, transforming the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) into a priority of the EU’s political and legislative agenda. This book investigates whether institutional change - the gradual communitarisation of the AFSJ - has triggered policy change, and in doing so, explores the nature and direction of this policy change. By analysing the role of the EU’s institutions in a systematic, theory-informed and comparative way, it provides rich insights into the dynamics of EU decision-making in areas involving high stakes for human rights and civil liberties. Each chapter contains three sections examining: the degree of policy change in the different AFSJ fields, ranging from immigration and counter-terrorism to data protection the role of EU institutions in this process of change a case study determining the mechanisms of change. The book will be of interest to practitioners, students and scholars of European politics and law, EU policy-making, security and migration studies, as well as institutional change.
A critical and contextual overview of European environmental law examining today's key environmental challenges alongside traditional topics.
This volume is the first detailed study of the emergence of regular and frequent heads of government meetings (summits), covering the period from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Summit meetings of heads of government have become 'banal' in today's world. Yet they are a relatively recent practice that took off only in the mid-1970s. The aim of the book is to explore the origins of this new feature of global governance in its historical context. Why did heads of Western governments decide to regularly meet up in the European Council and the G7? What were they aiming at? How were these meetings run and what consequences did they have? How did other actors of international relations – states...
Since the early 2000s, reforms in the area of public ethics have represented a significant part in the European Commission's efforts to improve its internal governance and democratic legitimacy, and address the crisis of public confidence in European integration. This book comprises a study of ethics and public integrity issues in the administrative services of the European Commission. The author traces the reforms implemented in this area since the early 2000s, and asks whether and how they have shaped Commission officials’ thinking about appropriate behaviour in public office. Based on in-depth interviews and the use of vignettes, the book reveals that the influence of ethics regulations...