Birmingham 2004

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UACES 34th Annual Conference and 9th Research Conference
The European Union: New Neighbours, New Challenges

The University of Birmingham, Monday 6th – Wednesday 8th September 2004

Research Paper Abstracts G-M

Abstracts for the research papers to be presented at the conference can be found below. The conference also includes Plenary sessions with invited speakers. The abstracts on this page are in alphabetical order by surname.

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Garcia | Gavrilescu | Geddes | Gray | Grosse Huettmann

Garcia, Maria (University of Bristol, mj.garcia@bristol.ac.uk)
Behind the Scenes of the EU-Chile FTA: Who Determines CCP?
In going behind the scenes in the preparation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Chile, this paper aims to further our understanding of EU policy-making processes and of some of the motivations behind EU external relations. The EU-Chile FTA will be used as a case study in which to analyse EU Common Commercial Policy (CCP) formulation. It is hoped that the results will paint a clearer picture of how much independence the European Commission has when conducting negotiations with Third parties, and the extent to which the Member States governments are involved. A liberal intergovernmentalist (LI) approach will be used to analyse the case study. The data for this empirical experiment will be acquired through qualitative methods of primary and secondary source gathering, and analysis of statistical evidence, which will be contrasted and qualified with authoritative comments derived from elite interviews. Finally, the results will be put in the context of current interpretations of EU decision-making, to support or falsify the hypothesis that LI assumptions that economic interests latent behind national interests are the major driving force behind European integration are correct and extend to areas beyond the grand bargaining of Intergovernmental Conferences (IGC).

Gavrilescu, Suzana-Elena (University of East Anglia, s.gavrilescu@uea.ac.uk)
European Security and Defence Policy Accountability: Common Denominators, Shared Values and Norms and the ‘New Neighbours’
The development of ESDP raises questions of democratic oversight at both the national and the European level. As part of the Union’s external relations, the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) reflects externally the Union’s shared norms and democratic values, including standards of democratic control over security and defence decisions.
The paper argues that the Union should look to overcome uneven national scrutiny practise and find common denominators, bridge national and European oversight mechanisms, and ensure that commonly shared values and norms are protected within the Union at the national or the European level. In that way the Union could increase its internal coherence and its external credibility, as well as the possibility of dialogue with countries in its neighbourhood.

Geddes, Andrew (University of Sheffield, geddes@liv.ac.uk)
Europe’s International Migration Relations Old and New
International migration has long impacted upon both politics within EU member states and relations between member states and other parts of the world. For example, the history of post-war migration to Europe is imprinted with the legacy of colonial ties and guestworker recruitment agreements. There has, thus, been an international dimension to migration and migration politics although much analysis has heretofore focused on the domestic political impacts. This paper proposes to look at those elements of international migration relations that are new and distinct in that they are linked to conceptual (new forms of migration, new types of state response) and geo-political (new countries of immigration) widening of the migration issue. The paper focuses, in particular, upon the ways in which we can conceptualise international migration as part of the structured relations between European states and their neighbours in the period since the 1990s. The paper also intends to explore the implication for EU member states, EU institutions and policy priorities, and surrounding states and regions of the new patterns of what the paper characterises as “international migration relations”.

Gray, Emily (University of Leeds, e.gray@leeds.ac.uk)
[Joint paper with Paul Statham, University of Leeds]
Public Debates over Europe in Britain: Exceptional, Path-Dependent or Conflict-Driven?
This paper will investigate the level, degree and form of ‘Europeanisation’ that is evident in the political claims-making by collective actors in the British public sphere, by reference to original empirical data. Political claims-making covers the political demands made by collective actors in a national public sphere. The main theoretical questions to be addressed will be the role of conflict about Europe and the contribution of collective action to the ‘Europeanisation’ of politics. In this way we address both the body of literature on the Europeanisation of national politics, and that on conflict over Europe as a process of Europeanisation through recourse to empirical evidence. The proposed analysis will be comparative across time (1990-2002), across actor types (economic interest groups, non-governmental organisations), and by policy field (European integration, agriculture, immigration) for Britain. A cross-national comparative dimension will be included by incorporating findings from a previous article that compares political claims-making over European integration in France and Britain. Through this comparative dimension, we will also be able to address the issue of ‘British exceptionalism’, i.e. the extent to which the experiences of British collective actors are atypical or generalisable.

Grosse Huettmann, Martin (University of Tuebingen, grosse-huettmann@uni-tuebingen.de)
Framing the Constitutional Debate: The German Länder as Agenda-setters in the European Union
I argue that the German Länder are one of the hidden actors able to frame the constitutional debate in the European Union. An analysis of this discourse based on the framing approach (Entman 1993) helps us to understand the current reform process, and its leading ideas and the proposals evolving from the different levels of the EU system (Kohler-Koch 2000).
The crucial role of the Länder as agenda-setters is part of the European multi-level system resembling an open market for ideas and interests emerging from the powerful ‘constitutional regions’ of the EU. I focus on their role as generators of ideas within the European reform process – covering the period from the IGC 2000 to the European Convention. The analysis is based on our own empirical surveys (Grosse Hüttmann/Knodt 2003).
The paper addresses the question how the German Länder have been dealing with the limitations to their scope of action as a consequence of increased Europeanization (Jeffery 2003). The European policy of the German Länder can be described as “nested games” (Tsebelis). I argue that the Länder are following a ‘strategy of maximizing their options’: All channels of the European multi-level system are used to represent their interests (the strategy of ‘let us in’) as well as to signal political resistance (the strategy of ‘leave us alone’). The full picture of the empirical Länder activities can only be shown when focusing on the European, the national and transnational channels of regional interest representation in the reform debate.

Hammermann, Felix (Kiel Institute for World Economics, Germany, hammermann@ifw-kiel.de)
Evaluating the Role of the Exchange Rate in Inflation Targeting Regimes of Emerging Market Economies
The paper evaluates the role of the exchange rate in a set of Eastern Europe emerging market economies, operating under an inflation targeting regime, using simple Vector autoregressive models (VARs). VARs have proven to be useful for the analysis of monetary policy because they look at the dynamics within the economy and the relations between instruments and targets of monetary policy.

Harris, Geoffrey (European Parliament, gharris@europarl.eu.int)
The Enlargement Process: Interinstitutional Aspects
In this paper I will look at how the different institutions (Commission, Council and Parliament) have perceived their roles in the enlargement process. Concentrating primarily on the 5^th enlargement I will look at how strategic approaches can be compared and contrasted and analyse the extent to which this can be explained by the specific roles assigned to each institution under the Treaties. Given the overlap of the work of the Convention with the final stage of the latest enlargement, I will look also at how the behaviour of institutions evolved once enlargement became associated with an agreed date. Looking ahead to likely further enlargements and the unresolved constitutional issues in the IGC, I will speculate as to how the main institutions may play their roles in the EU of 25.

Helsen, Sarah (University of Antwerp, Belgium, sarah.helsen@ua.ac.be)
[Joint paper with Peter Bursens, University of Antwerp]
Failing Transposition and Output Legitimacy of the EU: The Trade Off Between Indirect and Direct Legitimacy
This paper focuses on the concept of output legitimacy, which refers to the fact that the EU as a political system has to meet certain policy and polity outcomes (performance) in order to be considered legitimate. A major problem in this respect is the transposition deficit of EU directives in many member states. We will argue that this failing transposition by member states causes a serious indirect legitimacy problem because non transposition shows that member states – consciously or unconsciously – deny that the EU is a legitimate source of authority. Given the fact that a ‘zero’ transposition deficit can never be reached by all member states, a possible way out is circumventing the indirect legitimacy through the reduction of the amount of the legal instrument of directives. This would reduce the necessity for transposition and hence decrease the amount of failing transposition cases and ultimately also reduce the indirect output legitimacy gap. The increased use of directly binding legal instruments, however, needs to be carefully evaluated in terms of causing new legitimacy problems, in particular with respect to input legitimacy. The paper will make the evaluation of this trade off between direct and indirect dimensions of legitimacy and will conclude with a balanced view on the use of directives versus regulations.

Hodson, Dermot (European Commission, dermot.hodson@cec.eu.int)
[Joint paper with Servaas Deroose and Joost Kuhlmann, both at European Commission]
Economic Governance in the EU: Lessons from the First Five Years of EMU
On the 25th of November 2003, the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs ECOFIN) voted by qualified majority to hold the excessive deficit procedures against France and Germany in abeyance. In response, the Commission has decided to continue the process of economic and budgetary surveillance for all Member States, to challenge ECOFIN’s conclusions in the European Court of Justice, and to present proposals on the strengthening of economic governance, with a view to achieving a more predictable and transparent framework for economic policy in the EU. This paper concentrates on the final element in the Commission’s strategy. It investigates the definition of, and rationale for, economic governance. It draws lessons about the conduct of economic policy during the first five years of EMU, before considering what steps might be taken in order to improve the functioning of economic governance in the EU.

Holmes, Michael (Liverpool Hope University College, holmesm@hope.ac.uk)
[Joint paper with Nicholas Rees, University of Limerick]
The Debate on the Future of Europe: Irish Responses and Reactions
The paper will examine Irish responses to the debate on the Future of Europe. It will start with a short historical overview of Ireland’s approach to earlier developments in European integration, arguing that Ireland has a long tradition of being very reactive and that Irish opinion-formers have failed to develop visions of the kind of EU they want to see emerging or the kind of EU that would be best for Ireland’s interests. The main body of the paper will then focus on Ireland’s engagement (or lack thereof) with the current debate on the future of Europe and the draft Constitution. This will examine the impact of the referendum rejection of the Treaty of Nice, the Irish Forum on Europe, the Irish contribution to the Convention, and the Irish position in the 2003 IGC. The paper will argue that despite the challenges posed by the initial No vote on Nice, Irish opinion-formers are still failing to put forward an Irish vision of the future of Europe, and that this will in time threaten Ireland’s ability to engage with and influence the overall path of European integration.

Holtom, Paul (University of Glamorgan, pholtom@glam.ac.uk)
Russian-EU Relations and the Kaliningrad Test
The question of transit access between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of Russia dominated the Russian-EU agenda in 2002. During this period, Russian officials declared that they intended to regard the resolution of the transit question as a ‘litmus test’ for future Russian-EU relations. This paper will explore how the ‘test’ was constructed in publicly announced statements, ideas, commentaries, analyses, reactions and proposals made by Russian politicians, members of the Russian foreign-policy making community and analysts. Particular attention will be paid to the strategies and approaches employed by Russian officials, including the way in which they moved beyond Brussels to the Member States, and future member states of the EU, for eliciting support for their position against what they saw as the intransigence of the ‘Brussels’ bureaucracy’. The Russian framing of the issue as a case of EU infringements on Russian sovereignty and human rights, and the use of Cold War analogies and symbols, will be outlined, as well as Putin’s challenge of a ‘visa-free Russia-EU space’. Therefore, the episode provided Russian officials with an opportunity to test various strategies for negotiating with the EU, but one could also argue that it also provided an opportunity to learn more about the enlarging Union.

Hoppe, Marcus (m.hoppe@ipw.uni-hannover.de)
Sub-State Nationalism and European Integration: Identity Construction and Visions of Europe
What is the impact of the emergence of the European multi-level system on sub-state nationalism? This paper tries to answer this question by employing comparative analysis of nationalist movements in three regions – Scotland, Wales and Northern Italy. In each of these cases regionalist parties strive for greater autonomy for their ‘national’ territories, thus posing a threat to the constitutional integrity and identity of the ‘nation-state’ they belong to. By focussing on the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and the Lega Nord it shall be shown to what extent the aims of the parties and their constructions of regional identity are influenced by the process of European integration. Moreover, attitudes regionalist parties have towards Europe and suggested models of a future European Union, will be analysed. Evidence will be drawn from the analysis of primary sources, like party platforms, newsletters, statements and speeches of party officials and secondary analysis of literature on regionalism, nationalism and European integration.

Howell, Kerry (Anglia Polytechnic University, k.e.howell@apu.ac.uk)
Conceptualising Europeanization and European Integration: Identifying Situation, Process and Content
This paper formulates a conceptualization of Europeanization based on ‘situations’ in terms of up-loading, downloading and crossloading and identifies an interaction between and European integration and ‘situations’ through ‘process’ and ‘content’. Uploading, involves the use of national and sub-national actors in the formulation of EU policy; downloading, identifies the means by which these policies are implemented at the domestic level; and crossloading incorporates policy transfer and the role of this in European integration procedures. Interactions between ‘situations’ and European integration provide ‘process’ and issues such as ‘shared beliefs’ and ‘discourse’ indicate ‘content’. Through ‘process’ the distinction between Europeanization and European integration is also made explicit. Differences exist between Europeanization and European integration although they do continuously interact. In general, Europeanization, involves institutional linkages in terms of governmental activity, interest group intermediation and network interaction up-loading preferences to the EU, which through European integration, downloading and crossloading, impact on the development of member state policy and polity.

Hoyland, Bjorn (London School of Economics & Political Science, b.k.hoyland@lse.ac.uk)
[Joint paper with Giacomo Benedetto, London School of Economics & Political Science]
'Forgive them, for they know not what they do': Institutional Empowerment and the Reform of the EU's Annual Budgetary Procedure
How does the European Parliament gain power? It has been suggested that constitutional reforms need to imply zero redistributional consequences between the existing de facto operation of the old procedure and the new de jure rules, and offer a collective efficiency gain in order for reforms to be acceptable to all veto-players. This hypothesis is tested in the case of the reform of the EU's annual budgetary procedure during the Convention and IGC of 2002-2004. The collective efficiency gain is the only outcome that achieves maximum consensus given the initial tendency of veto-players to act against their own interest by supporting proposals that reduce their powers.

Jenkins | Jones

Jenkins, David (University of Birmingham)
The Potential for an EU Supracapitalism
The uniqueness of the European Union (EU) is the drive to achieve economic and political integration. This sets it apart from the other major trading blocs such as ASEAN, NAFTA and Mercusor. As the EU prepares for significant enlargement in May 2004, the existing, and potential, relationship between its supranational polity and individual national capitalisms is brought sharply into focus.
This paper argues that there is a need for considering the potential development of a federal capitalism or EU ‘supracapitalism’. In turn, this demands that the existing theories of capitalism, preference theory, and path dependency analyses should be revisited. A consequence of this is will require an exploration of the interface between Comparative Political Economy and International Political Economy, hitherto disciplines that have been somewhat polarised.
A four-country policy area case study is proposed to determine the extent to which an EU ‘supracapitalism’ may develop in an era of EU political divergences soon to be complicated or exacerbated by the accession of the ten new member states.

Kaarlejarvi, Jani (University of Sheffield, j.kaarlejarvi@sheffield.ac.uk)
The Europeanisation of European Economic Policy Coordination: Uploading German Interests into the Stability Pact
1. Academic Motivation - The direct and indirect impact of the European integration on European political and economic order and cooperation is unparalleled. Academically this European ‘project’ has been analysed through the concept of Europeanisation. Europeanisation as a ‘two-way’ process has a significant impact on national governments to adapt common European policy objectives effectively. Firstly, the bottom-up process in European economic policy can be characterised in an interesting way for example through the role of German economic interests in the formation of the Stability and Growth Pact in 1997. Germany contributed significantly to uploading its national preferences into the Stability Pact, which introduced strict fiscal policy coordination and a substantial sanction procedure in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Secondly, there are policy areas in the European Union that are almost completely harmonised and within which Europeanisation as a top-down, downloading process has its strongest effects on national levels. Examples of these are the common monetary policy and the common fiscal policy guidelines under the Stability Pact in the context of EMU. The future of the Stability Pact has become one of the most challenging topics in EMU studies and in particular, whether the national economies of the Member States can stay within the fiscal rules of the Stability Pact.
2. Research Questions and Design - According to the standpoint of Europeanisation, the bigger role a Member State has in forming (uploading) European common policies and policy coordination structures, the less national adjustments it has to make when implementing (downloading) common policy objectives. In order to test this hypothesis this conference paper provides an empirical analysis of the fiscal policy of Germany when forming (uploading) the Stability and Growth Pact for EMU. In particular, this paper studies how and to what extent the economic preferences of Germany in the post-unification era affected the formation of the Stability Pact, that is the uploading dimension of Europeanisation. In order to fully understand the current role of the Stability Pact it is essential to analyse those ultimate preferences and objectives on which the Stability Pact was based in the first place. Therefore this empirical study focuses on the German economy in the period from its unification to the introduction of the Stability Pact in 1997. By using the economic databases of the German government, the Bundesbank, the Eurostat and the Commission the German economic position and the developments of national fiscal policy strategy are analysed. The first section of the paper examines the fiscal challenges of the German economy after the German unification. The German macroeconomic framework is analysed in relation to monetary and fiscal policy developments in the EMU economy. The second aspect of the paper studies national fiscal adjustments for the increasing policy coordination in EMU. Third, this paper then proceeds to an evaluation of the German fiscal position under the Stability Pact in the third stage of EMU. The focus of the paper is thus on the German economy, and how and to what extent Germany, as the biggest European economy, affected the formation of European policy coordination, in other words the uploading process of Europeanisation.

Karyotis, Georgios (University of Edinburgh, g.karyotis@sms.ed.ac.uk)
Irregular Migration in Greece: Sacrificing Xenios Zeus on the Altar of Security
The events of September 11 have underlined the ‘security logic’ of migration and have reinforced the security-migration nexus. This paper examines the securitisation of migration in Greece, a new immigration country, and explores the reasons and the ways through which irregular migration was constructed as a security threat and its consequences. Since the early 1990s, Greece became host to a large number of immigrants, the vast majority of which were undocumented. Their presence was perceived as a threat to the state, to the economy and to society and was discursively constructed as an existential security threat by the ruling political elites. Subsequently, the policies introduced did not only enhance border controls but also reduced health and social benefits for the undocumented immigrants, institutionalising the discrimination and the distinction between ‘us’ versus ‘them’. The paper argues that the threats posed by irregular migrants to Greece have been vastly and deliberately exaggerated by the political elites. It concludes that the securitisation of irregular migration in Greece was influenced by European norms and perceptions but was also supported by the Greek elites in order to protect their legitimacy, to increase their power, to maintain the homogeneity and identity of society and to promote national foreign policy objectives.

Keating, Avril (University of Cambridge, aak32@cam.ac.uk)
The Role of Europe in the (Re)Construction of Citizenship and National Identity in Irish Education
In the past decade there has been much discussion about European citizenship and a ‘European dimension’ to education. In particular, academic and policy-makers’ attention has focused on analysing recent EU policies in this area, devising ‘appropriate’ education policies to foster European citizenship, or describing the response of member-states to EU efforts. In this paper, I extend the scope of this academic perspective to critically analyse the impact of the EU both as a political actor and a symbolic force in the reconstruction of citizenship and national identity, and the subsequent implications for national (and nationalist) education projects. I argue that, over time, the idea of Europe (albeit mediated and re-framed by national concerns) as well as EU policies can be instrumental in the re-definition of official constructs of national identity and citizenship. This argument is illustrated through a Foucauldian discourse analysis of national education policy reforms in the subject areas of citizenship, history and geography and using (the Republic of) Ireland as a case study.

Kennard, Ann (University of the West of England, Bristol, ann.kennard@uwe.ac.uk)
New EU Neighbour Kaliningrad: From Cooperation to Partnership?
After the latest enlargement of the EU in 2004, the Kaliningrad Oblast (region) will become one of a number of somewhat problematic 'New Neighbours' to the east of the new Union. A region which is part of, but detached from mainland Russia, its relationship with the EU is already a complex one with many political and economic ramifications.
The paper will build on recent work on cross-border cooperation at the new eastern edge of the EU, using interviews carried out with political and other actors in the region in order to consider to what extent Kaliningrad is becoming part of the European project. Efforts to transform Kaliningrad, with the help of the EU, into a showcase or 'pilot region' for Russia as a whole will be analysed, in order to assess their likely effect on both Kaliningrad and its EU neighbours, both new and old, around the Baltic Sea. The question must then be asked as to whether Kaliningrad's more cohesive approach is compatible with the divergence of EU and Russian positions in general on other issues. A successful Russia-EU partnership in Kaliningrad might in fact help to improve bilateral relations as a whole.

Khosla-Stevens, Neelam (University of Westminster, n.khosla-stevens@westminster.ac.uk)
The Balance of Internal and External Influence in Determining the Hungarian Transition
I am working on the role of epistemic communities within the Hungarian Transition from 1989 to 2000. This paper provides a brief summary of my chosen framework for analysing the key players in the transition process, followed by an examination of the roles played in this by both the external and internal actors. I am using Haas’s model which offers a framework that “examines the role that networks of knowledge-based experts – epistemic communities - play in articulating the cause-and-effect relationships of complex problems, helping states identify their interests, framing the issues for collective debate, proposing specific policies, and identifying salient points for negotiation.” This approach provides an ideal framework for not only determining how the transition was initiated and developed, but also, who were the key actors in influencing the Hungarian transition.
The general research methodology is within the qualitative methodological perspective. The methodology section of the paper examines the appropriateness of the selected data analysis process, the framework approach, for the recently conducted in-depth interviews. This section is used to demonstrate the importance of matching the appropriate data analysis technique to the data utilised resulting in achieving the initial research goals.

Lazowski, Adam (TMC Asser Instituut, The Netherlands, a.lazowski@asser.nl)
The Non-Judicial Remedies at the EU Level: The Accidental Jigsaw Puzzle or Attempt to Create the Coherent System?
The non-judicial remedies at the EU level are definitely not an evergreen in academic literature, however they create numerous legal problems, which definitely require attention. The main argument of the paper is that currently non-judicial remedies at the EU level are not forming a coherent system of remedies but rather colourful accidental jigsaw puzzle that can be improved in the future. The aim of the paper is to analyse different types of non-judicial remedies, i.e. right to submit complaint to the European Ombudsman or variety of complaint rights to the European Commission. The paper will analyse their legal basis, scope and position in relation to other remedies. Theoretical comments will be supplemented by considerable amount of practical information. Such approach will allow drawing conclusions on the effectiveness of non-judicial remedies and their function in the EU law. It will be argued that in some cases they may only support domestic litigation (i.e. domestic action for state liability may be supported by complaint to the European Commission on infringement of Community law by the Member State), they can also be an alternative (i.e. in the competition law) or the only remedy available (antidumping). On the base of the analysis the answer to the title question will be provided.

Leczykiewicz, Dorota (University of Oxford, dorota.leczykiewicz@law.ox.ac.uk)
The Role of the European Civil Code in the EC Internal Market Integration
The paper considers the role of private law harmonization in the EC common market integration. Especially, it focuses on the creation of the European Civil Code as a necessary step towards abolishing market distortions stemming from the existence of various dissimilar legal systems regulating the sphere of market exchange. It will be also argued that only through regarding the future European Civil Code as a means of improving the functioning of the common market one can justify the competence of the European Community to regulate the substantive private law in other fields than consumer contracts, unfair competition and company law. Thus, necessary legal analyses will be performed in order to establish the scope of potential codification and possible alternative routes and their impact on the market integration. Comparative method will be applied in order to depict the existing divergence between legal systems. Some examples will be given to illustrate in what ways the European Civil Code can facilitate the operation of the internal market and promote the further integration among the Member State of the enlarged European Community.

Leucht, Brigitte (University of Portsmouth, brigitte.leucht@port.ac.uk)
Transatlantic Policy Networks and the Formation of the ECSC (1950/51)
Recent theoretical developments in EU research underline the desirability of a closer collaboration between contemporary history and the social sciences. While historical institutionalism emphasizes the path-dependency of institutional change and policy developments, constructivist approaches highlight the importance of cultural influences that only change slowly over time.
Adopting a transnational approach to studying the role of transatlantic policy networks and epistemic communities (P. Haas) in the formation of the ECSC, 1950/51, this paper challenges the liberal intergovernmentalist explanation of 'grand bargains.' Based on extensive primary source research, it sheds new light on the origins of European integration. Accordingly, the paper develops the following arguments:
-- Explaining preference formation in a purely national context, intergovernmentalism falls short of showing how individual and collective actors have contributed to initiating the process of European integration in 1950/51.
-- Transnationalisation, featuring prominently in contemporary discourse on the EU, precedes European integration. This opens new perspectives on institutionalist theory that has emphasised the role of central EU institutions in the convergence of ideas and policies.
-- The importance and influence of transnationalism in 1950/51 must be viewed in transatlantic terms. This sheds new light on the neo-functionalist model that portrays European transnationalism as a sui generis phenomenon.

Liha, Aida (Institute for International Relations, Croatia, aida@irmo.hr)
European Partnership and the CARDS Programme: Instruments for Croatia's Adjustment to the EU?
In 2003 European Commission proposed introduction of European Partnership for the countries of Western Balkans, a new policy instrument to be tailored by the specific needs of each of county and inspired by the Accession Partnership signed with the EU candidate countries. The paper firstly gives an overview of the recent developments in EU policy towards the WB countries and explores incentives introduced by the Thessaloniki summit in the year 2003. It goes on elaborating the main political and economic objectives of European Partnership proposed for Croatia's adjustment to the acquis.
In view of the need for adequate adjustement, the paper presents the main objectives of CARDS, the programme of the EU financial and technical assistance to Croatia and examines briefly if its objectives are in compliance with the objectives proposed by the European Partnership. Furthermore, based on the first Commission's Evaluation report on use of assistance by WB countries, it draws on experiences gained in use of CARDS programme in Croatia. It is one of the central contentions of this paper that the CARDS as today does not match the defined priorities of Croatia's adjustment to the EU. In order to become an appropriate accession instrument, CARDS should become an accession-oriented programme adjusted to the newest dynamics of the EU-Croatia relations.

Loisel, Sébastien (Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, sebastien.loisel@sciences-po.org)
The Securitization of EU Development Cooperation toward ACP States and the EU Crisis Management Policy in African Regional Conflicts
The recent developments of ESDP have clearly focused the European influence on conflict prevention and management. The European Strategic Security stresses in particular the need to mobilise the “full spectrum of instruments for crisis management and conflict prevention at the [EU’s] disposal, including political, diplomatic, military and civilian, trade and development activities” (Council, 2003: 13). Such a joint use of economic and military instruments however needs to be precisely assessed, especially in the case of development cooperation.
The EU-ACP relationship provides a good illustration of the challenges of coordination between development cooperation and CFSP/ESDP. The Cotonou Agreements (2000) have established a permanent EU-ACP political dialogue encompassing issues of peace-building, conflict prevention, corruption and migrations (Loisel, 2003). It has thereby securitised the relationship and turned development cooperation into a full-fledged “instrument” of the EU conflict prevention policy.
The Cotonou Agreements have also favoured EU-ACP regional cooperation, both in their objects (financing of transnational projects, communication infrastructures and regional peacekeeping forces), in the political conditions they impose (good relations with neighbours), and in the regional scope they adopt (formulation of regional economic partnership agreements). This paper will apply recent findings on border conflict transformation (Diez, Stetter, Albert, 2003) to the EU development cooperation and argue that its regional scope can help impede and modify logics of conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Great Lakes regional conflict during the 2003 Operation Artemis will be used to demonstrate both the capacity of development cooperation for the prevention of regional conflicts and the lack of coordination between the different instruments at the EU’s disposal.

Maes, Ivo (National Bank of Belgium, ivo.maes@nbb.be)
Macroeconomic and Monetary Thought at the European Commission in the 1960’s
This paper discusses macroeconomic and monetary thought at the European Commission in the 1960s. It is based on an analysis of public documents, archival research, as well as a large scale programme of interviews. The paper starts with an overview of the economic philosophy of the Rome Treaties and developments in the 1960s, followed by a presentation of senior macroeconomic policy-makers at the Commission. Thereafter, the focus is on three crucial macroeconomic policy documents of the period: the project of a European Reserve Fund in 1958, the Commission's Action Programme for the Second Stage of 1962 and the Barre Memorandum of October 1969. The objectives of the Commission were both more defensive, preserving the "acquis communautaire", especially avoiding the recourse to the safeguard clauses, as pro-active, stimulating the process of European integration. From an analytical point of view, the Commission focussed on the linkages and interdependencies between the Member States and the compatibility of policies. Gradually, a typical Commission analysis developed, based on a blending of German convergence ideas with the French medium-term approach. The paper also illustrates the ascension of the Commission as an actor in the monetary area, notwithstanding the rather limited provisions of the Rome Treaty.

Marzinotto, Benedicta (London School of Economics & Political Science, b.marzinotto@lse.ac.uk)
At the Forefront or at the Back of Europe? Public Finance, Wages and ECB Credibility from a German Perspective
With the introduction of the single European currency, the EU has been going through a dramatic macroeconomic regime change. Now, EMU is mostly afflicted by problems of coordination between monetary, fiscal and wage policies. In the new context, Germany seems to be an interesting case study. As the EMU set-up was designed, the German model of fiscal governance had surged to major source of inspiration. Yet, now that the system is in full operation, the country figures as one of the laggards. This paper analyses to what extent the current situation in Germany is due to the existence of 1) a single monetary policy in Europe; 2) the Growth and Stability Pact; and 3) an ECB whose credibility is not always in best shape. In particular, I will look at the micro-foundations of fiscal and wage politics in Germany focusing, among others, on relations between German unions and ECB. The study is based on an analysis of the domestic discourse and on interviews with unions’ and employers’ representatives.

Mawdsley, Jocelyn (Universite libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, jocelyn.mawdsley@ulb.ac.be)
Explaining the Arms Dynamic in European Security and Defence Policy
The development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) has thus far been situated almost entirely within an armaments framework by the policy-makers. The emphasis put first on capabilities and then on the need for a European Armaments Agency has left many important questions about European understandings of security unanswered. Even when Solana’s Security Strategy was under consideration this wider debate remained muted. Drawing on Buzan and Herring’s work (1998) explaining the possible causes of the arms dynamic in world politics, this paper will examine the reasons why ESDP discourse has been so rooted in the armaments logic.
It will argue that French concepts of the political economy of defence, which are still based on a primary rather than secondary arms dynamic (Hébert, 1991; Kolodziej, 1987; Serfati, 2001) have come to dominate the discourse, notably within the European Commission, and that therefore Buzan and Herring’s domestic structure model provides useful insights into the evolving arms dynamic of ESDP. Methodologically, the paper will be based on a mixture of documentary analysis and insights gained from meetings with key officials.

Mayes, David (Bank of Finland, david.mayes@bof.fi)
[Joint paper with Matti Virén, Bank of Finland]
Policy Asymmetries in the Euro Area
Using panel data for the period since 1985 for euro area countries we explore the extent to which monetary and fiscal have been asymmetric and how this interacts with asymmetries in economic behaviour. We show that monetary policy has tended to be much less responsive in the region of price stability but more responsive to large departures from the target, particularly in face of inflation. Fiscal policy on the other hand has shown asymmetry of a different sort, tending to be optimistic in its structure and ease too much in the favourable phase of the cycle, a problem that is more acute for taxation than expenditure. This helps explain the pressures on the SGP. Automatic stabilisers appear symmetric. We suggest that the approach to monetary policy is consistent with recent recommendations for policy-making under uncertainty – a lesson that many governments could learn in setting fiscal policy.

McGowan, Lee (Queen’s University Belfast, l.mcgowan@qub.ac.uk)
The Europeanisation of Competition Policy: An Investigation of Cartelbusting
Competition policy represents one of the most significant of all the policy activities of the EU in terms of both integrating markets and in terms of governance. In political science terms, however, the area remains rather under researched. This is regrettable given its salience but also given that it represents a clear case of top-down Europeanisation. This paper sets the study of competition policy within the rubric of the Europeanisation debate and aims to illustrate how national competition policies have become Europeanised in both the EU15 and the candidate countries. The paper focuses specifically on one aspect, namely cartel policy which forms the backbone of DG COMP’s activities. Part I begins with a brief conceptualisation of Europeanisation, before going on in part 2 to provide a brief overview of the Commission’s cartelbusting activities; the powers provided to DG COMP under Regulation 17/62; some of the latest attempts to eradicate the backlog of cases; the leniency programme and increasing financial penalties for and applying it to competition policy. Most importantly, part 3 lays emphasis on the degree to which member states have adapted and adopted in most instances the rules of the EC cartel policy and part 4 will explore how national authorities will increasingly play an important role after the radical overhaul of the competition decision making machinery in May 2004.

Merkl, Christian (Kiel Institute for World Economics, merkl.ch@web.de)
[Joint paper with Lúcio Vinhas de Souza and Akram Esanov, both Kiel Institute for World Economics]
EU Enlargement: Effects on CIS Countries and the Export of Institutional Frameworks
The paper reviews the recent conduct of monetary policy and the central bank’s rule-based behavior in Russia. Using different policy rules, we test whether the central bank in Russia reacts to changes in inflation, output gap and the exchange rate in a consistent and predictable manner. Our results indicate that during the period of 1993-2002 the Bank of Russia has used monetary aggregates as a main policy instrument in conducting monetary policy.

Monaghan, Liz (University of Nottingham, liz.monaghan@nottingham.ac.uk)
Can Deliberation Bring the EU Closer to its Citizens?
An important aspect of improving the governance of the European Union, as perceived by the Commission, is the need to 'bring [the EU] closer to the citizens of the Member States' (Treaty of Nice, Declaration 23). This rhetoric is echoed by governments and other political actors. Greater participation and openness are identified as aspects of good governance and fundamental goals in their own rights. The 'deliberative turn' currently dominating democratic theory in political science, places a similar normative emphasis on these features of democratic systems. However, as Rawls points out, in order for deliberative democracy to function effectively, publics must be informed about the problems for debate. Numerous NGOs operate in the member states, many of which have the aim of promoting public debate, particularly on the economic and monetary issues associated with the EU. There are, however, questions of whether mass participation in debate on European issues can be engineered by NGOs, given such low (albeit varying) levels of public interest. Furthermore, some deliberative democracy theorists suggest that deliberation should be confined to pre-defined locations and to limited actors, posing questions of whether mass participation is either feasible or desirable, and whether it will ever become a feature of EU politics.

Mordonu, Aurora (United Nations University, Belgium, amordonu@cris.unu.edu / auroramam@hotmail.com)
Impact of EU Enlargement on Russia: Consequences for Bilateral Trade Flows
This essay is an attempt to evaluate the impact of EU enlargement on Russia in terms of bilateral trade flows. Most studies on this subject have found little consequences of the EU expansion, mainly due to a low Common External Tariff (CET) employed by the EU. Either based on ex-ante analysis using general equilibrium modelling or ex-post using the gravity model, the literature is biased towards the moment when the factual enlargement will take place. However, in between lines, it is acknowledged the fact that the Association Agreements between EU and the candidate countries constitute the starting point of trade diversion for the Russian Federation. The paper will assess the impact of enlargement, since the Central and Eastern European countries have been granted preferential trade treatment. The methodology rests on a gravity model, enriched with some other calculations of the static effects and evidence for the Dutch disease.

Müller-Wille, Björn (Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, b.muller-wille@uea.ac.uk)
Democratic Accountability of EU Intelligence
Since 1992 the Union has equipped itself with four intelligence agencies: Europol, the Satellite Centre, the Intelligence Division within the EU Military Staff and the Joint Situation Centre. Following a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the four agencies’ formal institutional regulations concerning the hierarchical, financial, legal, as well as the performance accountability, conclusions are drawn concerning possible improvements.
The paper argues for the benefits of accountability for all parties involved, including the agencies. It clarifies that national agencies will pose the main threats to civil liberties of EU citizens as long as EU agencies are not involved with the collection of intelligence. The risks of deliberate misuse and manipulation (‘sexing-up’) of EU intelligence by decision-makers are also put into perspective. The paper identifies quality control as the main accountability deficit at EU level. Apart from arguing for a clarification of mandates, the building of trust within the EU intelligence community and the use of intelligence as a means to verify compliance with international agreements, the paper proposes the establishment of an independent oversight body to scrutinise the agencies’ activities and products.

Müntel, Guido (Queen’s University Belfast, g.muentel@qub.ac.uk)
Europeanisation of Environmental Governance in Kaliningrad? Domestic Conditions for Change and Adaptation
The proposed paper is developed from current PhD research on ‘Europeanisation of environmental policy in Kaliningrad’. It asks for a possible EU impact on structures, processes and outcomes of environmental policy-making in this Russian exclave, to be surrounded by EU member states soon.
It starts with outlining the potential influence external actors have on post-communist transition processes. Further, it will be asked to what extent a ‘European’ model of environmental policy exists and by what means (e.g., specific programmes and policies) the EU promotes this in Kaliningrad. Main focus is on the changes in the environmental field that have been taking place in Kaliningrad, and the question to what extent the EU has contributed to those. It will be argued that the EU has a potential and factual, but limited impact on environmental policy.
The analytical framework for the study is a combination of rationalist, historical and sociological institutionalisms. Aspects of Soviet legacy, contemporary Russian federalism, and regional actors’ interests as well as perceptions and ideas in the environmental field are, hence, considered as factors for or against processes of change and adaptation. By this, the study intends to contribute to the increasing research on ‘Europeanisation’ across EU members as well as candidates.