The crisis situation caused by pandemic COVID-19 and the effects of the war between Russia and Ukraine are also affecting the functioning of the European Union. From time to time, voices are raised questioning the existence of democratic legitimacy in the European Union. It is therefore important to examine how the concept of EU citizenship relates to the concept of right to vote, in particular, direct democracy. The institutions of direct democracy, and in particular, referendums, are (...) the most general and most powerful form of direct exercise of power, since they enable the people themselves to decide on a matter directly. When looking at the system in the EU Member States, it is worth examining the issue of referendums at national and local level, in particular the importance of the concept of EU citizenship in determining the voters who participate in the referendum. In this context, it could be asked as a preliminary question whether it would be possible to introduce an EU referendum in which EU citizens could decide on an issue falling within the EU’s competence, or whether, similarly, a cross-border regional referendum could be envisaged in which EU citizens living in several countries could decide on a regional issue affecting several countries. It is also necessary, however, to examine an institution that is already in operation: the past, present and future of the European Citizens’ Initiative, with a view to whether it could become a kind of European referendum in the future. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to discuss the type of attachment and allegiance propounded in the recently proclaimed Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Charters such as Bills of Rights are generally held to be reflective of and evocative of a rights-based constitutional patriotism. The EU is not a state; there are widely different conceptions of what it is and should be, one of which is the vision of a Europe of nation states. Is the (...) spirit of the Charter thus instead that of deep diversity, i.e. reflective of a wide diversity of views, visions and values as to what the EU is and ought to be? The article contrasts constitutional patriotism and deep diversity as alternative underlying philosophies of the Charter and also briefly examines the Charter's presumed ability to produce either type of sentiment of allegiance. (shrink)

Should the EU be a federal union or an intergovernmental forum? Recently, demoicrats have been arguing that there exists a third alternative. The EU should be conceived as a demoicracy, namely a ‘Union of peoples who govern together, but not as one’. The demoi of Europe recognise that they affect one another’s democratic health, and hence establish a union to guarantee their freedom qua demoi – which most demoicrats cash out as non-domination. This is more than intergovernmentalism, (...) because the demoi govern together on these matters. However, if the union aims at protecting the freedom of the different European demoi, it cannot do so by replacing them with a ‘superdemos’, as federalists want. This paper argues that demoicracy does possess distinctive normative features; it claims, however, that an institutional choice between intergovernmentalism and federalism is necessary. Depending on how we interpret what the non-domination of demoi requires, demoicracy will either ground a specific way of practicing intergovernmentalism or a specific form of federalism. It cannot, however, ground an institutional model which is genuinely alternative to both. (shrink)

I outline the current debate over the European Union democratic deficit in terms of differing methodological approaches towards the realization of freedom and basic rights to political participation. Federalists opt for a model of freedom as noninterference and autonomous self-determination by proposing to tie basic rights in the EU to a univocal form of European-wide popular sovereignty. Although skeptics argue that the EU lacks the fundamental basis for such European-wide democratic self-determination, they ultimately defend a similar (...) view of freedom as noninterference with their appeal to the collective will of the member states. Democratic revisionists instead point to the novel democratic potential of institutions in the EU such as the Open Method of Coordination for mediating overlapping sovereignties. I conclude using the example of basic rights to effective participation for immigrants and minorities to illustrate the strengths of the revisionist view over views that appeal to the principle of subsidiarity. (shrink)

The European Union approach to data protection consists of assessing the adequacy of the data protection offered by the laws of a particular jurisdiction against a set of principles that includes purpose limitation, transparency, quality, proportionality, security, access, and rectification. The EU's Data Protection Directive sets conditions on the transfer of data to third countries by prohibiting Member States from transferring to such countries as have been deemed inadequate in terms of the data protection regimes. In theory, each (...) jurisdiction is evaluated similarly and must be found fully compliant with the EU's data protection principles to be considered adequate. In practice, the inconsistency with which these evaluations are made presents a hurdle to international data-sharing and makes difficult the integration of different data-sharing approaches; in the 20 years since the Directive was first adopted, the laws of only five countries from outside of the EU, Economic Area, or the European Free Trade Agreement have been deemed adequate to engage in data transfers without the need for further administrative safeguards. (shrink)

Executive power in the European Union consists of various bits and pieces that have been cobbled together across a spectrum of institutions, sub‐actors, and policy areas. No fewer than three institutions of the European Union and its predecessors can claim to exercise executive authority within the Union, albeit to varying degrees and with varying emphasis: the Commission, the Council, and the European Council. This chapter provides a brief overview of the three core executive institutions, (...) followed by a discussion on recent executive constructions outside the EU legal framework. It highlights the pressing need for accountability mechanisms on all levels of Union governance. The European Council has gradually reinforced its own role, becoming in effect the most important agenda setter of the larger developments of the European Union, in spite of the Commission's monopoly of legislative initiative. (shrink)

This is a review of the books on the European Union by two well-known Italian economists, Luigi Zingales and Giacomo Vaciago. It turns out there is a broad area of agreement and complementarity between them. Their treatments are summarized under the following ten headings: 1) The political genesis of the European Union; 2) the surprisingly narrow range of activities included in the present economic and monetary union; 3) the dubious validity of the “theory of forward (...) reactions”, that should guarantee the forward direction of the unification process; 4) The unsure presuppositions of the Maastricht Treaty, and the reasons why it arose the skepticism of most American economists; 5) the Italian crisis and the European paralysis; 6) Italy stands to Europe as Southern Italy to Italy; 7) Italexit? 8) What brakes the progress of the unification process? 9) What corrections to existing institutions? 10) Is there still a role for a European Federation? (shrink)

Most refugees residing in the European Union (EU) do not retain their voting rights in states of origin or lack the means to exercise them effectively. Most member states of the EU do not extend voting rights to refugees. This leaves a large population of refugees residing within the borders of the EU in a unique state of disenfranchisement. In this article, I consider this problem from a democratic perspective. Should refugees in the EU have voting rights? My (...) answer turns on three aspects characterizing the circumstances of refugees: First, refugees reside in member states for an indeterminate, and typically protracted, amount of time without any exit options. Second, the political governance of the EU and its member states significantly shapes the lives of refugees. And third, refugees lack effective voting rights, and consequently, a meaningful political membership, in any political community across the world. In turn, based on an all-subjected principle of democratic inclusion, I argue that refugees should be secured state-level voting rights in member states, albeit with a condition of the period of residency. Moreover, they should have immediate voting rights at the supranational institutions of the EU such as the European Parliament. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst to build a stronger European Health Union to protect the health of Europeans and to develop a new Global Health Strategy to contribute to global health security. In positioning itself as a key player in global health governance, the EU seeks to assert its responsibility as a global health actor and deepen its leadership in global health law.

Human rights have occupied a variety of roles in the course of history of the European Union. They played a negligible role at the outset, overlooked by the original Treaty of Rome and, even today, the Union's formidable associations with free trade, the single market, and regulation might suggest that it cannot be primarily defined as a human rights organization. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union has at last acquired binding force, provision (...) is made for the European Union to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is to have greater powers of judicial review in the field of police and judicial cooperation in criminal law, an area of obvious relevance to human rights. This chapter highlights some significant developments in the Court's fundamental rights jurisprudence. (shrink)

This chapter first considers whether and to what extent the European Union labors under a democratic deficit. When considering the contending conceptions of democracy in Europe it is needed to keep in mind that there also are analysts who disagree that the European Union suffers from a democratic deficit. The chapter briefly assesses the European Union against the two criteria of autonomy and accountability, in order to get a clearer sense of the Union's (...) democratic deficit, which then appears as a representative‐democratic deficit. The chapter examines the effects of the crisis on the prospects of remedying the European Union's democratic deficit. Most citizens are still exhibiting restraint and there appear to be further crisis handling measures in the pipeline. Many of the proposals for further changes underline the need to strengthen democracy, including measures to reinforce interparliamentary coordination and cooperation. (shrink)

This chapter analyzes European social policy as a test case to comment on both the originality and the weakness of a unique supranational legal order, such as the one created in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome. Regulatory measures in social policy, related to equal treatment, nondiscrimination, and working conditions were implemented via hard law measures aiming at the harmonization of standards. The chapter also looks at the latest innovations in social policy brought about by the Lisbon Treaty. Article (...) 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) mentions full employment among the objectives to be pursued in a social market economy. The economic and financial crisis has accentuated the problems of supranational coordination versus national initiatives and has given rise to exceptional austerity actions that have departed from the methods provided for in the treaty. (shrink)

Recent years in Europe have generated situations requiring the European Union to take extra-coordinated action in the field of asylum policy. The sudden and growing influx of refugees to Europe in 2015 and 2016 has caused the collapse of the previous common European asylum system. The European Union has taken a number of measures to resolve this crisis situation. When the situation seemed to be under control, a new challenge emerged in early 2020. The first (...) COVID-19 infectious disease case was reported in Europe, and on 13 March 2020 the WHO reported that Europe had become the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic. The measures taken by individual countries and the European Union to limit the spread of the virus have had a significant impact on many spheres of state and individual functioning, including the situation of persons seeking international protection. This publication consists of three parts. The first part discusses actions taken by the European Union in the face of the migration and refugee crisis that emerged in 2015 and 2016. The second part presents one of the limitations introduced in connection with preventing the spread of COVID-19, which has a huge impact on persons wishing to seek international protection, i.e., changes in the regime of crossing borders and entering the territory of particular countries. The third one points out selected problems experienced by persons seeking protection who already stay in the territory of EU Member States. (shrink)

This book examines the role of the EU in ensuring privacy and data protection on the internet. It describes and demonstrates the importance of privacy and data protection for our democracies and how the enjoyment of these rights is challenged by, particularly, big data and mass surveillance. The book takes the perspective of the EU mandate under Article 16 TFEU. It analyses the contributions of the specific actors and roles within the EU framework: the judiciary, the EU legislator, the independent (...) supervisory authorities, the cooperation mechanisms of these authorities, as well as the EU as actor in the external domain. Article 16 TFEU enables the Court of the Justice of the EU to play its role as constitutional court and to set high standards for fundamental rights protection. It obliges the European Parliament and the Council to lay down legislation that encompasses all processing of personal data. It confirms control by independent supervisory authorities as an essential element of data protection and it gives the EU a strong mandate to act in the global arena. The analysis shows that EU powers can be successfully used in a legitimate and effective manner and that this subject could be a success story for the EU, in times of widespread euroskepsis. It demonstrates that the Member States remain important players in ensuring privacy and data protection. In order to be a success story, the key stakeholders should be prepared to go the extra mile, so it is argued in the book. The book is based on academic research for which the author received a double doctorate at the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels. It builds on a long inside experience within the European institutions, as well as within the community of data protection and data protection authorities. It is a must read in a time where the setting of EU privacy and data protection is changing dramatically, not only as a result of the rapidly evolving information society, but also because of important legal developments such as the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation. This book will appeal to all those who are in some way involved in making this regulation work. It will also appeal to people interested in the institutional framework of the European Union and in the role of the Union of promoting fundamental rights, also in the wider world.. (shrink)

The European Union (EU) has become a community of citizens whose fates are massively affected by socioeconomic institutions they share in common. For this reason, the European Union will need to be governed not quite like a nation—which it will never be—but far more like a nation than like a mere international organization (IO)—which it no longer is and will never be again. That is, it should be governed far less through bargaining between member-states and far (...) more through arguing between citizens and their representatives. This requires strengthening a common demos through such means as the pan-European election of some members of the European Parliament and the democratization of English as a lingua franca, while never losing sight of the fragmented nature of this demos. In this respect, the Swiss model should provide, if not guidance, at least inspiration. (shrink)

During the Intergovernmental Conference of1996, the European Union's institutional structure should be adapted, most notably in preparation for the Union's enlargement with the Central and Eastern European countries. The IGC's institutional debate will befar from easy. This is not surprizing since the institutional discussions during the IGC will reflect the grave substantive policy differences between the Member States on the Union's functions in the economy and on the Union's foreign policy role. The IGC is, (...) indeed, largely a position game during which the Member States attempt to create a congenial institutional framework, favourable to their substantive policy preferences. (shrink)

This book analyses EU and Member State decision-making through a constructivist perspective and claims that a kind of latent, intellectual "phantom war" is going on in Western societies. This war is fought through social practices, political debates, and policy choices for and against the values and ideals of the Enlightenment. The book accurately describes how the values of the Enlightenment and a contrary tradition, the anti-Enlightenment tradition, shape and reshape law and public policy choices in Europe, both at the level (...) of the European Union, and its member states. The hidden war among historical phantoms affects European integration, the values, practices, and policies (including the legal background) of democracy, and the rule of law in our societies. These traditions also affect how we think about humanism and universalism, so they affect EU policies on refugees and other migrants, the role of rationality in public decision-making, and the weakening and defense of checks and balances, only to mention some crucial examples. (shrink)

The European Union, a pioneer in gender equality policies, is moving from predominantly attending to gender inequality, towards policies that address multiple inequalities. This article argues that there are tendencies at EU level to assume an unquestioned similarity of inequalities, to fail to address the structural level and to fuel the political competition between inequalities. Based upon a comparison of specific sets of inequalities, this article explores where and how structural and political intersectionality might be relevant. It argues (...) that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to addressing multiple discrimination is based on an incorrect assumption of sameness or equivalence of the social categories connected to inequalities and of the mechanisms and processes that constitute them. Focusing on similarities ignores the differentiated character and dynamics of inequalities. It also overlooks the political dimension of equality goals. Moreover, it has become clear that attention to structural mechanisms and to the role of the state and the private sphere in reproducing inequalities is much needed. The final part of the article presents constructive ideas for a more comprehensive way of addressing multiple inequalities. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence (AI) appears to be an unstoppable phenomenon that will increasingly conquer more areas of our lives and in a more intimate way. One of the areas where this disruptive technology could have a major impact is the field of law. Numerous studies already support the enormous advantages that AI could have on citizens’ right of access to justice. However, like all technological advances, it has uses, both current and future, that could be “unacceptable” or “high-risk” in any democratic (...) country governed by the rule of law that holds human dignity as a supreme value. In these cases, only adequate regulation can establish the scope and limits of the use of this technology. Thus, in this paper, we analyze the current state of AI in the administration of justice in Ibero-America at the regulatory level and explore the different tools that are already being applied in this field in the region. The European Union’s AI Law will be taken as a reference. (shrink)

Translated by Ciaran Cronin. In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail the historical project of European unification, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the most perceptive critics of the ineffectual and evasive responses to the global financial crisis, especially by the German political class. This extended essay on the constitution for Europe represents Habermas’s constructive engagement with the European project at a time when the crisis of the eurozone is threatening the very existence (...) of the European Union. There is a growing realization that the European treaty needs to be revised in order to deal with the structural defects of monetary union, but a clear perspective for the future is missing. Drawing on his analysis of European unification as a process in which international treaties have progressively taken on features of a democratic constitution, Habermas explains why the current proposals to transform the system of European governance into one of executive federalism is a mistake. His central argument is that the European project must realize its democratic potential by evolving from an international into a cosmopolitan community. The opening essay on the role played by the concept of human dignity in the genealogy of human rights in the modern era throws further important light on the philosophical foundations of Habermas’s theory of how democratic political institutions can be extended beyond the level of nation-states. Now that the question of Europe and its future is once again at the centre of public debate, this important intervention by one of the greatest thinkers of our time will be of interest to a wide readership. (shrink)

Since the euro crisis, protest movements present the European Union as a neoliberal hegemony that undermines democracy and prevents progressive reforms. They call for acts of resistance and partial disintegration to force a renegotiation of the treaties. In this article, I ask whether these ‘disruptive’ political strategies can be defended as a democratic practice of constitutional politics. To that end, I turn to the notion of destituent power, according to which opposition to or withdrawal from public authority can (...) function as a legitimate trigger for constitutional change. I systematise the emerging debate on destituent power and discuss the plausibility of competing approaches. I argue that destituent power is best understood as grounded in popular sovereignty. It denotes the right to dismantle constitutional orders without the intention to construct new ones. While this idea supports some of the acts of contestation proposed by European protest movements, it faces a lure towards the jurisgenerative dimension of constituent power. Ultimately, the potential of a purely negativistic logic of constitutional politics is limited. (shrink)

The present paper examines, in a historical and systematic manner, the fundamental principles of Kantian philosophy that have contributed and continue to inspire the idea of the European Union, with particular emphasis placed primarily on the definitive articles of Perpetual Peace. Kant presents his vision of creating a federalism of free states, guaranteed by republican institutions, which alludes to the current European Union. He also emphasizes the importance of hospitality through encouraging inclusive policies. Furthermore, it is (...) important to note that by enshrining the legal protection of freedom of speech, he aims to uphold and reinforce political ties, safeguard human rights, and facilitate a free exchange of ideas. In brief, Kant argues that establishing an ideal political constitution is contingent upon resolving the issue of legal relations between states. Thus, the former cannot be successfully addressed without first resolving the latter. (shrink)

After countless somber warnings of a democratic recession, we have seen glimmers of democratic renewal, especially in the European Union (EU). As an illiberal government in Poland was voted out of office in autumn 2023, scholars and policymakers began debating how to restore liberal democracy after competitive authoritarianism and what role the EU should play. We answer this call by theorizing “democratic frontsliding” – the piecemeal restoration of liberal democratic institutions and practices after a period of democratic erosion (...) – and explain how obstructions to frontsliding can be overcome by leveraging Poland and the EU as a case study. Poland illuminates how frontsliding confronts the fundamental problem of “autocratic enclaves:” illiberal elites who survive a democratizing election and wield their institutional powers to obstruct democratization. To break up autocratic enclaves and avoid losing democratic momentum, we argue that a government may need to adopt transgressive acts of defiance and conscientious rule-breaking, which we call “restorative disobedience.” We develop normative criteria for restorative disobedience to prevent its abuse and explain how the EU can legally mandate, materially incentivize, and institutionally support restorative disobedience in member states like Poland. (shrink)

Global regulatory interdependence is increasingly prevalent, with decision makers often affected by choices of jurisdictions in faraway places. Anu Bradford’s The Brussels Effect makes a significant contribution to our understanding of power in contemporary societies, which extends beyond military and normative power to power defined by regulatory capacity and market forces. Bradford empirically traces the global regulatory power of the European Union, which affects foreign business practices and policy choices, and theoretically identifies the prerequisites for the emergence of (...) this phenomenon. This review article further situates the Brussels effect, perceived by Bradford as a passive process, within the context of other kinds of unilateral mechanisms that actively extend EU regulation beyond EU borders. This contextualisation demonstrates that law is a significant explanatory factor for its emergence. Both the legal design of measures with extraterritorial reach and the Court of Justice’s permissive stance often determine the extent of the Brussels effect. Also, analysing the Brussels effect alongside more active mechanisms of the extraterritorial reach of EU law reveals important normative questions regarding the legitimacy of the EU as a global regulatory power. (shrink)

The article critically examines the issue of “constitutional identity” in the European Union through a methodological approach articulated in five decisions, which makes it possible to reach some substantive conclusions about what “constitutional identity” is and what it should be in the legal practice of European courts. European law is a peculiar creature, as it is the product of both case law and legal scholarship. Its teleological nature, oriented toward the efficiency of the single market, has (...) led to a jurisprudential evolution that is often creative, at times even contra legem, with profound effects on national legal systems and on the tradition of the ius privatum europaeum. In this context, the clause on national identity as constitutional identity set forth in Article 4(2) of the Treaty of Lisbon is interpreted as a principle that limits the expansion of the European economic constitution, acts as a brake on supremacy, and ultimately functions as a “reservation of interpretation”. (shrink)

English has become the first global language of international com- munication during the last decades. It is dominant in many fields as science, technology, transportation, business and tourism and diplomacy. The European Union with law applicable directly on individuals is officially multilingual. English is, however, preferred in internal communication and in communication with national experts. National laws are closely related with particular states. Related discourse is therefore realized mostly in national language. Legal education and research are thus less (...) anglicized than other university education and research. Nevertheless, increasing importance of international and supranational rules for harmonization and coordination, growing demand for comparison, pres- sure to publish in internationally recognized journals, Europe-wide research projects and rising numbers of exchange of students cause widespread resort to English also at schools of law. Unfortunately, English is language of countries with Anglo-American law which differs significantly from continental law existing in most European and other countries. Therefore, it is difficult to find adequate English words for phenomena of civil law and to stabilize their use in international discourse. (shrink)

rgen Habermas' response to the European Union democratic deficit calls for a minimal threshold of democratic legislation through an explicit constitutional founding. He defends a model of freedom as autonomous self-determination by proposing to tie basic rights in the EU to a univocal form of European-wide popular sovereignty. Instead of constructing a common European political identity, I appeal to the novel democratic potential of institutions in the EU such as the Open Method of Coordination for mediating (...) overlapping sovereignties in accord with freedom as non-domination. The concluding example of basic rights to effective participation for immigrants and permanent minorities illustrates the strengths of Iris Young's and James Bohman's republican views of non-domination over Habermas' call for a European-wide collective willing. Key Words: James Bohman • democratic deficit • European Union • freedom • Jurgen Habermas • non-domination • Open Method of Coordination • republicanism • sovereignty • Iris Young. (shrink)

This article is a comment and reflection on Joseph Weiler’s essay ‘The Political and Legal Culture of the European Union: an Exploratory Essay.’ The article responds to Weiler’s argument by sketching a philosophical framework within which we may understand the moral distinctness of the European Union. The argument is informed by the international political theories outlined by Kant and Rawls, according to which the domain of international institutions is distinct from that of domestic politics. If the (...) European Union is an international project for the achievement of international and cosmopolitan objectives, then the virtues that it ought to promote are not those of the state. Instead, the relevant virtues are outward looking in that they require respect to other nations and citizens as equal members of the society of peoples. (shrink)

What role do rules really play in shaping the behaviour of legislative actors? In theory, competences and procedures provide a framework within which ministers, members of parliament, and senators draft and bargain over legislative proposals. This book looks at competence rules as possible objects of political contestation in the European Union (EU). While competences and procedures are often viewed as fixed constitutional features, this study shows that they are frequently contested and reimagined in practice. Drawing on both historical (...) records and quantitative data, the book demonstrates how the European Commission, Parliament, and Council strategically reshape legal competences to advance their institutional and political goals. Such competence contestation highlights that the questions of who decides, and in accordance with which procedure, are often as contentious as the policy issues themselves. Far from simply following the rules, EU actors adapt their application in response to political pressures, with the Court of Justice providing limited and selective oversight. This dynamic results in recurring legal disputes which, while reducing efficiency and diluting policy focus, have become a stable feature of EU governance. The book offers a comprehensive theoretical and empirical account of these processes, providing new insights into the flexible, political nature of lawmaking in the EU. (shrink)

This chapter first addresses the standard definition of international organizations and the theory of functionalism. Then, it examines why the status of international organization may be deemed attractive. Functionalism appears highly plausible when it suggests why international organizations are set up since, obviously, a single state will be unable to guarantee the accurate delivery of mail abroad or provide for collective security. The chapter also focuses on the European Union, which can be regarded as possessing international legal personality. (...) The European Communities were all individually granted legal personality, and this was construed as including personality under international law. Functionalism finds its normative justification in the contribution of organizations to the common good, and the Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU), in similar spirit, has placed considerable weight on the public nature of the tasks of an international organization, both in SAT Fluggesellschaft and in Vardakas. (shrink)

Since 2001, the Commission of the European Union has instigated Peer Reviews to help countries preparing to accede to the European Union. Added to this has been the provision of workshops and individual expert inputs. This article recounts the experiences of the author in this process. It focuses on how a single directive has revealed major ethical challenges for nurses, their national associations and state governments as they seek to implement the changes required. In particular a (...) sub-agenda has emerged relating to general education, access to higher education and the position of women in these countries. The ethical challenges include freedom to practice and creation of competent authorities to provide proper oversight of the health care professions. In 2011, the directive is being reviewed and this article offers arguments for its continuation, even in an unreformed state. (shrink)

This paper attempts to explore the underlying nature and terms of Higher Education policy. Higher Education policy cannot be viewed outside the changing conditions of the state especially when the inquiry centres on Europe. In the European context, policy making, in order to be efficient, seems to be conducted on two levels, the supranational and the regional. This change in the structure of Higher Education policy making can be considered as an outcome of globalization and the current market economy. (...) The EU's Higher Education policy may be expected to go beyond the national into the supranational level of cooperation with the launching of new initiatives resulting from the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area. These initiatives are reshaping the role and responsibilities of Higher Education Institutes towards society and the market. The new role that these institutes are called upon to play indicates a clear tendency towards dissemination and the growing need for cooperation at the regional level. (shrink)

This paper examines the extent to which gender mainstreaming is constitutionally embedded in the legal framework of the European Union. Within the framework of that broad question it examines three sub-questions concerning the robustness and constitutionalised nature of the E.U.'s `equality regime', the extent of adaptation to mainstreaming methodologies by supranational institutions such as the Court of Justice, and the extent of the gender dimension in the debates which are shaping the future of the European Union, (...) especially the 2002–3Convention on the Future of the Union and the Commission's Governance White Paper of 2001.The E.U. is analysed in this article as an emergent, non-state, postnational constitutionalised polity. The first section presents this perspective, and the succeeding three sections engage with the three` sub-questions' outlined above. The conclusion suggests that as yet, while gender concerns maybe constitutionally embedded in the Treatyframe work, they are less prominent in the constitutional politics of the Convention and the Governance White Paper. (shrink)

Solidarity is a key concept in the European Union. However, the concept of solidarity lacks systematic theoretical examination to enable a sufficient understanding of its contextual meaning and to provide an operationalisable benchmark for analysis. To address this research gap, I propose an analytical framework for solidarity in the European Union that features four necessary conditions: particularity, instrumentality, reciprocity, and responsibility. I develop the framework through a transdisciplinary conceptual history approach, substantiated with a thorough document and (...) legal analysis of European integration and CJEU case law. I demonstrate the robustness and validity of the proposed framework by using EU asylum policy as a test case, a field where the question of solidarity is notoriously salient, which is exemplified by an area-specific expression of the concept: fair sharing of responsibility between the EU member states. Moreover, I show that the EU’s solidarity principle is necessary to maintain the bloc’s raison d’être. (shrink)

This article aims to make a contribution to the conceptualization of mainstreaming gender equality promoted by the European Union. It starts by exploring the historical periodization of equal opportunities delivery strategies and challenging the compartmentalization of these developments. It suggests that equality policies can better be conceptualized in terms of a `three-legged equality stool', which recognizes the interconnectiveness of three perspectives — the equal treatment perspective, the women's perspective and the gender perspective. The article argues that the gender (...) perspective has been closely associated with strategies for mainstreaming gender equality, but that this association is misleading. As a result mainstreaming has remained a `fuzzy' concept, which in turn has led to many different styles and forms of practical implementation in European member states. (shrink)

In an increasingly globalised and technologically dynamic landscape, ethics councils and committees play a crucial role in navigating the complex ethical challenges posed by emerging technologies. This study examined the capacity and emerging approach of ethics councils and committees in the European Union (EU) to address those challenges by analysing their composition, functioning, financing, independence, and strategies for leveraging policy-relevance and uptake of their work (e.g., in the form of recommendations, advice, or opinions). We conducted a cross-sectional study (...) targeting the EU National Ethics Councils (NECs) that have participated in the National Ethics Councils Forum (NEC Forum) meetings over the last 10 years. The survey aimed to encompass eight thematic categories for NECs, with further questions targeted at council members, staff, and representatives. Responses were received from the National Ethics Councils (NECs) of 23 (85%) of the 27 EU countries. For some countries, more than one NEC responded to the survey. Findings revealed high heterogeneity in mandates and organizational procedures across EU NECs. Their independence is largely safeguarded by some legal act, and most of them operate without a formal obligation to consult governmental bodies before issuing opinions, and their positions generally cannot be revised by external entities. While most NECs are tasked with advising the government, parliaments, and public institutions, only a few NECs hold formal roles in legislative processes. Furthermore, some EU countries do not have an ethics body with an advisory mandate but rely on institutional structures for research ethics and research governance. Additionally, the study highlights persistent financial constraints and operational challenges of EU NECs, resulting in significant challenges to build critical levels of outreach and impact. This study sheds light on the institutional roles of ethics advisory bodies and related structures in the EU, their capacity to address the ethical dilemmas associated with technological advancements, and their role and contributions to relevant policy debates and decision-making. It further provides the background for promoting coordination, collaboration, and mutual learning among NECs in the EU, while also emphasizing the need for support of EU NECs to enhance their operational capacity and expertise, particularly in addressing ethical dilemmas associated with technological advancements as well as with new and emerging technologies. (shrink)

A comienzos del siglo veintiuno, la independencia y la soberanía absolutas de los estados son asuntos acuciantes. La emergencia de entidades supranacionales como las Naciones Unidas y la Unión Europea tras las Segunda Guerra Mundial plantea nuevos retos a la hegemonía política y la soberanía de los estados. De hecho, el proceso de integración europea obliga a reconsiderar conceptos y procedimientos básicos de la democracia representativa y de la ciudadanía más allá del marco del estado-nación. Este artículo se centra en (...) la dimensión cívica del proceso de integración europea y discute los logros y debilidades de la Unión Europea con respecto a la libre circulación de ciudadanos y el desarrollo de una ciudadanía europea. (shrink)

. Transparency and the European Union. Cultural Values: Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 387-392.

The Eastern Enlargement of the European Union: Challenges to Democracy?1 Recent scholarship assesses the impact of the European Union's conditionality on democracy in Central and Eastern Europe in a contradictory way. On one hand, the EU is perceived as a key agent of successful democratic consolidation and on other hand, the return of nationalist and populist politics in new member states has been explored in the context of the negative consequences of the hasty accession that undermined (...) government accountability and constrained public debate over policy alternatives. This article explains this puzzle of the ambiguous effects of the EU's politics of conditionality, which promoted institutions stabilizing the horizontal division of powers, rule of law, human and minority rights protection, but which neglected norms and rules of participatory and/or popular democracy. (shrink)