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UACES 35th Annual Conference and 10th Research Conference
The European Union: Past and Future Enlargements

Research Session 1

UACES reserves the right at all times to make changes to the programme where necessary.

Session 1  |  Session 2  |  Session 3  |  Session 4  |  Session 5  |  Session 6  |  Full Programme

Monday, 5 September (11:15-12:45)

The panels listed in the table below are followed by the abstracts for each of the papers.

Albi, Anneli  (University of Kent, a.albi@kent.ac.uk)
Ratification of the European Constitution: The Role of Post-national Perspectives to Constitutionalism in the National Debates
The European Constitution, which was officially signed in Rome in October 2004, is currently undergoing the ratification process in the Member States. Its reception into national constitutional orders raises questions of fundamental importance because constitutions have traditionally been associated with states. However, an increasing amount of post-national literature suggests that constitutions can exist in non-state contexts, such as the EU as a novel sui generis organisation. The central aim of this paper will be to examine to what extent national constitutional doctrine has encompassed these recent theoretical perspectives. To this end, the paper will explore the national constitutional debates regarding the ratification of the European Constitution, with a special focus on the relevant decisions of the constitutional courts.

Baracani, Elena (University of Florence, Italy, elena.baracani@student.unfi.it)
Democracy Promotion in the Context of the European Neighbourhood Policy
This paper wishes to contribute to the debate on the importance of international factors in the internal process of democratization, presenting an empirical assessment of the gravity model variable. At the beginning of the XXIst century the European Union is one of the most important international actor in the field of democracy promotion toward third states, and it is widely recognized that it has succeeded in favouring a fast democratization of Central and Eastern European candidate countries in just over a decade, through the main instrument of political conditionality and the incentive of membership. In this work I will describe main similarities and differences between the strategies of democracy promotion towards candidate and neighbour countries, to assess whether the European Neighbourhood Policy can succeed in democratizing the outer European periphery without offering the incentive of full political integration. In particular, the analysis focuses on the case-studies of Turkey (a candidate country) and Morocco (a neighbour country) and is based on qualitative research methods.

Bickerton, Christopher (University of Oxford, christopher.bickerton@politics.ox.ac.uk)
Enforcing Autonomy: EU Expansion, State-Building and the Limits of Good Governance in Central and Eastern Europe
This paper argues that the process of European Union (EU ) accession shares a number of features with state-building missions carried out by the international community in Kosovo, East Timor and elsewhere.  As a result, accession illustrates trends that go beyond the sui generis features of European expansion, and which tie in with the broader dynamics of contemporary global politics.  What both state-building and EU accession have in common is their attempt to refashion the state and the political sphere in the name of autonomy and empowerment.  However, the attempt to ‘enforce autonomy’, through conditionality in the EU’s case and through international administration in the case of state-building, tends to undermine the very autonomy which the EU and international administrations are seeking to construct.  It follows that neither state-building nor EU accession are particularly useful as models for ‘good governance’ in the wider world.  It also follows that EU membership is not, as is often supposed, the solution to the protectorates in Bosnia and Kosovo.  This paper brings together the literatures of EU enlargement, post-communist transition, and state-building, with the aim of generating new insights on the limits of outside intervention both in Europe and beyond.

Barnes, Pamela (University of Lincoln, pbarnes@lincoln.ac.uk)
Accepting the Unacceptable: The EURATOM Treaty Revisited
The EU 25 is 70% dependent on imported energy supplies. Alternative sources of energy cannot be found which are either technically or economically viable within an acceptable timeframe. The EU states cannot meet their Kyoto Protocol targets for lower emissions as a result of continued fossil fuel use. The US continues to oppose ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and remains the world’s largest producer of Greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is happening. This is not a distant doomsday scenario. This is the reality for the European Union of 25 states in 2005.
What are the alternatives?  The nuclear industry has for a long time and for very good reasons been the subject of suspicion and criticism. First generation reactors are ageing and are due to close in the near future. Prior to their accession in 2005 there was considerable controversy over the state of some reactors in the New Member States. The controversies have not nor will they disappear.  Yet the nuclear industry provides the opportunity for the EU to lower its carbon emissions and secure much needed domestic energy resources. The strategy on Nuclear Safety prepared by the European Commission in 2002 was watered down by the national governments who bowed to the complaints of their national  nuclear industry. This paper argues that the situation with regard to climate change is deteriorating so rapidly, that more not less radical action is needed. Instead of a few articles in the Constitutional Treaty now is the time to negotiate a new Treaty for a European Atomic Energy Community which will take into account the environmental, economic and social realities of the nuclear industry in the twenty-first century.

Blockmans, Steven (TMC Asser Institute, The Netherlands, s.f.blockmans@asser.nl)
Re-structuring the EU’s Neighbourhood Policies: Sense and Sensibility
From the latest round of enlargement re-emerges the reality that the EU can neither integrate all of its neighbours nor exclude all of them on principle. This begs the question how the Union can best organise relations with its neighbours in order to secure and strengthen its own international position. Up to date, there is no common template for the EU’s engagement with its neighbours, only partly overlapping, partly disconnected initiatives, policies and processes, with different levels of intensity characterizing the sort of each relationship (stabilisation, partnership or integration). The recently adopted European Neighbourhood Policy was an attempt by the European Commission to re-structure some of its neighbourhood policies, but in fact little has changed. The diversity in the Union’s political and contractual relations with countries like Switzerland, Russia, Bulgaria, Israel and Bosnia-Herzegovina attests to the fact that the EU is not (yet) ready to apply its own new motto “United in diversity” to the patchwork of neighbourhood policies.
This paper is to make a further contribution to a legal and policy-relevant assessment of the EU’s external relations with its neighbours rather than to provide new theoretical or conceptual constructs for understanding the existing policies. Through an inductive, bottom-up and “cross-pillar” approach, its aim is to answer the questions whether it would be politically desirable and legally feasible to merge all neighbourhood policies of the EU into one overall framework. In case of a negative answer to the former question, alternative solutions for streamlining will be explored.

Bursens, Peter (University of Antwerp, Belgium, peter.bursens@ua.ac.be)
Joint paper with Marleen Baetens
Belgian Participation in the European Decision Making Process. The Impact of Cultural Aspects of Europeanisation on the Success of Coordination in a Federal Country
Europeanisation has become a current concept among scholars. Authors discuss cultural and institutional implications as well as policy consequences of Europeanisation. One marked requirement is the organisation of national coordination systems. This need is even more stringent in federal countries like Belgium. In the paper we examine the perceived success of the Belgian coordination mechanisms in two policy domains: environment and agriculture. We study whether the outcome of cultural Europeanisation in terms of European expertise, attention for, and opinions about the EU, can explain the existence of a successful strategy of cooperation. In addition, we add some more variables to the model. We expect that the specific characteristics of domestic federalisation in the two policy domains matter, as well as their specificity at the European level. The paper falls within the agenda of top-down Europeanisation research, more particularly within the niche that examines the intermediate role of the domestic level. The attention to federalism is grounded on the assumptions of historical institutionalism. Data stem from a qualitative analysis of Belgian EU co-ordination mechanisms on the one hand and a quantitative analysis of a survey of nearly 150 face-to –face interviews with civil servants on the other hand.

Clifton, Judith (Oviedo University, Spain)
Joint paper with Daniel Diaz Fuentes & Francisco Comin
Public Services in the European Union: Integration, Markets and Social Justice
This paper proposes to analyse the changing policies and policy-making styles towards public services or “Services of General Interest” (SGI) with particular emphasis on the new and prospective Member States. From the post-war model of supply-led, top-down public service provision to all citizens within a national territory, SGI have been significantly affected by policies to liberalise, deregulate, privatise and transnationalise, all of which were accelerated from 1993 with the consolidation of the Maastricht Treaty and the Single Market. These transformations have met considerable concern from the social partners and other interest groups who have demanded protection in the form of a Charter for Public Services. Preliminary findings about public service transformation highlight both advantages (technology, efficiency in certain sectors) and disadvantages (deteriorating universality of service and social inclusion). Given low levels of consumer satisfaction in some New and Future Member States, this deterioration is of some concern. The Commission has responded, most recently, with the White Paper on SGI (2004) and inclusion of rights to SGI in the draft Constitution.
The paper will be divided into three parts. First, the changing policies towards SGIs will be critically synthesised from the 1970s to the present, focusing on the construction of a supranational regulatory framework as supplement to existing (national, subnational) ones. Second, changing policy-making styles will be analysed in particular in regard to the emergence of corporate lobbies at the European and international level. Finally, data on citizen/consumer satisfaction (using Eurobarometer and national consumer organisation data) will be synthesised in current and prospective Member States in order to set the scene for tentative policy recommendations.

Diaz Fuentes, Daniel (Universidad de Cantabria, Spain)
Joint paper with Judith Clifton & Francisco Comin
Public Services in the European Union: Integration, Markets and Social Justice
This paper proposes to analyse the changing policies and policy-making styles towards public services or “Services of General Interest” (SGI) with particular emphasis on the new and prospective Member States. From the post-war model of supply-led, top-down public service provision to all citizens within a national territory, SGI have been significantly affected by policies to liberalise, deregulate, privatise and transnationalise, all of which were accelerated from 1993 with the consolidation of the Maastricht Treaty and the Single Market. These transformations have met considerable concern from the social partners and other interest groups who have demanded protection in the form of a Charter for Public Services. Preliminary findings about public service transformation highlight both advantages (technology, efficiency in certain sectors) and disadvantages (deteriorating universality of service and social inclusion). Given low levels of consumer satisfaction in some New and Future Member States, this deterioration is of some concern. The Commission has responded, most recently, with the White Paper on SGI (2004) and inclusion of rights to SGI in the draft Constitution.
The paper will be divided into three parts. First, the changing policies towards SGIs will be critically synthesised from the 1970s to the present, focusing on the construction of a supranational regulatory framework as supplement to existing (national, subnational) ones. Second, changing policy-making styles will be analysed in particular in regard to the emergence of corporate lobbies at the European and international level. Finally, data on citizen/consumer satisfaction (using Eurobarometer and national consumer organisation data) will be synthesised in current and prospective Member States in order to set the scene for tentative policy recommendations.

Fatić, Aleksandar (Institute of International Politics & Economics, Serbia & Montenegro, fatic@diplomacy.bg.ac.yu)
The Criminal Syndicate as a Para-State in the Balkans
Traditional definitions of organised crime depict organised crime as an alternative industry based on the stable supply of a criminal market, characterised by the use of force or threat by it, and motivated by illicit profit or a quest for political power. More recently, in the European Union definition, the quest for institutional power has been recognised as a motivating factor for organised crime equal to that of generating illicit profit. In the Balkans, this new moment in defining organised crime appears to have been tested particularly directly through a growing influence of organised crime on the political elites in some countries, and the propensity of organised criminal syndicates to apply extreme violence against politicians, which became particularly evident in the assassination of one Head of Government in the Region during 2003. The ambition of organised crime to influence the political process is a challenge both for security theory and for policy, and the considerable experience gained in the region in trying to address the emergence of what has recently become known in the criminological discourse as a “New War-Making Entity” opens up new ways of thinking about soft security problems in a European perspective. This paper explores the key features of organised crime against the background of Balkan circumstances, and draws conclusions as to how these experiences can be useful Europe-wide.

Galent, Marcin (Jagiellonian University, Poland, mgalent@hotmail.com)
Unconvincing Anxieties: Eastern European Workers and the European Union Labour Market
It has been almost one year since the last European enlargement took place. Although, the whole process has been accommodated relatively successfully there are still certain areas, which wait to be fully incorporated. One of the most important issues is the question of implementing fully unrestricted free labour movement across the European Union. Immigration from Eastern Europe to the countries of the so-called ‘Old Europe’ was one of the greatest fears among Western European societies on the eve of the enlargement. To prevent a sudden and unwanted inflow of new guests most members of the European Union introduced transitional periods, which rang from 2 up to 7 years. Only three countries: Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom have opened their labour markets fully.
This paper intends to examine the impact of such decision on the British public opinion. I will start with a short overview of forecasts on this issue produced before 1 May 2004 and show to what extend they proved to be correct. Then I will focus on describing the actual numbers of immigrants coming to Britain and explaining the differences between the predictions and the real trends. Finally, I will reconstruct the main themes standing behind the press coverage of the issue in the current socio-political context in the UK.

Goldner, Iris (University of Zagreb, igoldner@pravo.hr)
Transitional Periods in the Enlarged European Union: How Free is the Free Movement of Workers?
On 1 May 2004 eight Central and Eastern European Countries became EU Member States and, as such, have to abide to the acquis which applies to them, as equal partners with the old Member States. However, in certain areas, such as free movement of workers, the eight new Member States are subject to special transitional arrangements. In the transitional period, the old Member States are allowed to apply their domestic laws to the workers coming from the new Member States and thus, treat them less favourably than the nationals from the old Member States, if they so choose.
This paper questions the legitimacy of transitional periods and addresses the issue of free movement of labour in the enlarged Union as a political rather than an economic or social question. It provides a brief account of the developments in the field during the accession negotiations and offers a critical overview of the present state of affairs. Present transitional arrangements are contrasted with other solutions (such as the one allowing immigration quotas), which would be politically fairer and psychologically wiser in opposing the arguments about the division between a “first class” and a “second class” EU membership.

Hammermann, Felix (Kiel University, Germany, felix.hammermann@gmx.de)
Monetary Policy Options for Ukraine
In this paper we develop a dynamic macro model with three countries – Ukraine, the euro area and the rest of the world – to trace the welfare effects of the real exchange rate changes after different shocks and assess their implications for monetary policy. A three-countries model is particularly suitable for investigating the options and the corresponding implications of monetary and exchange rate policy in Ukraine such as inflation targeting with flexible rates in contrast to an exchange rate peg. Enriched by features like a high degree of financial exposure and financial fragility the model allows us to evaluate the potential of emerging market economies for the adaptation of monetary strategies that were originally developed for industrialized countries. The model builds on Galí and Monacelli (2005) for a small open economy and Monacelli (2001) for two countries. These models start from explicit microfoundations, i.e., they take into account dynamic and intertemporal effects. Further, these models incorporate Keynesian building blocks with nominal rigidities in prices and monopolistic competition in goods and factor markets. The advantage of this class of models is that the underlying utility function will allow us to do a welfare analysis of different exchange rate and monetary policies.

Johnson, Debra (University of Hull, d.johnson@hull.ac.uk)
Trans-European Networks: Where Public Policy and Corporate Strategy Meet
Much of the research in European integration is on how decisions are taken and how policy is formed. This paper focuses more on the objectives and effects of public policy once it has been formulated. Trans-European networks (TENs) are used as a case study to explore these issues. Since the policy parameters were established for TENs, TENs has attracted relatively little attention as a policy issue (the emphasis has been on building the networks within the policy framework established). However, enlargement and liberalisation have given renewed emphasis to the need to build physical infrastructure to support European integration, the European economy and European business. A key objective of TENs is to provide the physical networks to support the market-led growth brought about by freer markets and integration. This paper is based on an embryonic framework that is being developed to explore the relationship between public policy and corporate strategy. As such the paper draws upon international political economy literature (specifically that relating to states and markets) and upon corporate strategy literature. In particular, it looks at how public policy and market forces have come together to shape strategy in individual network sectors. The electricity networks provide the main case study material.

Jørgensen, Knud-Erik (University of Aarhus, Denmark, kej@ps.au.dk)
Research on EU External Relations / Foreign Policy: Progress, Deadlock, Futures
In order to present a state of the art argument, the paper critically reviews the literature on EU external relations/foreign policy. By the notion ‘external relations/foreign policy’, the paper understands the comprehensive port folio of international policies, ranging from development, climate change, trade, enlargement, neighbourhood, EPC/CFSP to ESDP and promotion of European values and principles. In this fashion, the paper connects compartmentalized islands of research that traditionally have been unconnected, aiming at reaching a more general understanding of the dynamics of EU external relations.

Jozon, Monika (Sapientia-Hungarian University of Transylvania, monika_jozon@hotmail.com)
Legislative Harmonisation versus Regulatory Competition on the Enlarged Internal Market
The specific regulatory needs of the Enlarged EU will be highly demanding testing grounds for the economic policy foundation of the Internal Market’s current regulatory approach. The years coming will increase the actuality of several questions raised by economists and lawyers, proponents of regulatory competition in Europe, concerning the regulatory efficiency of the harmonized rules in assuring the “level playing field” on the Internal Market. The paper is an attempt to propose such regulatory solutions that are able to cure the externalities of trans-national market creation and to reduce the risks and costs of domestic political market failures at the level of the Member States. The strengths and weaknesses of harmonisation versus regulatory competition are debated in the context of the specific economic, social, and legal-cultural conditions of the new regulatory environment in the enlarged EU. Two regulatory fields are in the focus of the analysis: environmental protection and consumer protection. The paper is an interdisciplinary, economic and legal, approach on optimal regulatory intervention on a common market, faced by an increasing scale effect of diversity, brought into the EU by the Eastern European Member States.

Kaunert, Christian (University of Wales, Aberystwyth, cck01@aber.ac.uk)
How Rational are Decision-Makers in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice?
This paper analyses in how far rationalist approaches are able to explain the agency delegation and the institutional mechanisms in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice over the years. Five different stages of development are analysed, i.e. the pre- and post Maastricht, the Amsterdam, the Tampere, and the Constitutional Treaty phases. The main argument of the paper is that norms have been constructed over the last years in such a way that Justice and Home Affairs has become the next ‘Single Market project’ in the EU. At the core of this is a single market of asylum and migration. This has significant implications for academic research, as it confirms doubts over the suitability of dominant rationalist approaches to explain this development. The paper suggests that a sociological or constructivist institutionalist approach may be best suited to explain these developments. From a methodological point of view, it draws on the analysis of the relevant official documents and legal texts as well as data gathered through interviews with officials from the EU institutions and the Permanent Representations of the Member states.

Laulhe Shaelou, Stephanie (University of Leicester, laulhe.s@intercollege.ac.cy)
Strategies Towards Cyprus Full Membership of the European Union: Trade, a Case Study
The aim of this paper is to analyse the approach of the EU towards Cyprus, through the review of the latest acquis communautaire specific to Cyprus, focusing in particular on the implementation of the principle of free movement of goods in Cyprus.  Although the ‘catalyst proposition’ has been developed in International Relations and political sciences to address the issue of the resolution of the Cyprus problem through EU involvement, it is argued that the ‘catalyst’ effect of EU membership also has a legal dimension and that this concept could be transposed within a socio-legal context as a technique of analysis of the ‘Community method’ of Cyprus’ integration to the EU.  It is submitted that the ‘Community method’ can be used to address the wider issue of how the EU engages into national affairs.  In the case of Cyprus, it is contented that the EU has built up a ‘three pillar approach’, which forms its integration strategy towards Cyprus.  This paper provides a comparative analysis of the various components of this ‘three-pillar approach’ to the implementation of the principle of the freedom of movement of goods in Cyprus.  The objective is to determine whether the EU strategy towards Cyprus, with a view to its integration into Europe, has been efficient and coherent throughout.  In particular, some variations in the scope and the position adopted by the EU institutions under the various components of this approach will be identified, as far as trade is concerned.  But are such variations reconcilable?

Lazowski, Adam (TMC Asser Instituut, The Netherlands, a.lazowski@asser.nl)
Switzerland and European Union: Inevitable Partners?
Relations between Swiss Confederation and European Union are undoubtedly very peculiar and characterised with multiplicity of political and legal factors. In institutional terms Switzerland remains at the outskirts of the main integration paths. It is neither member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area. However, in legal and economic terms it can be considered as one of the players in the process of integration. As noted by Laurent Goetschel it ‘is economically more integrated within the European Union (EU) than many of the EU’s own Member States.’ With the two packages of bilateral treaties Switzerland has secured its participation in the key elements of the internal market as well as area of freedom, security and justice, albeit without the political and institutional involvement in the decision making. After decades of troublesome relationship the concept of enhanced bilateralism in the Swiss-EU relations paved its way and can be considered as operational and fruitful for both sides. At this stage it remains questionable whether those developments open gates for the potential membership of the European Union. Unlike many European countries Switzerland is not considering its membership of the European Union as a panacea for domestic problems and challenges. To the contrary, Swiss public and some political elites remain very sceptical when it comes to the potential accession and its consequences. Still though, potential membership in the long term perspective is (at least officially) a goal of the Swiss foreign policy.
The purpose of this paper is to take under closer scrutiny Swiss-EU relations in the last decade. The main argument is that both parties are inevitable partners due to variety of geographic, economic and legal factors. This co-operation of co-existence has shifted into co-operation of integration over the last decade. Two packages of bilateral treaties create a very peculiar framework which brings many advantages of the internal market to Switzerland and requires application of selected acquis in bilateral relations. The paper will explore potential possibilities of further co-operation, including hypothetical accession to European Union.

Lefevre, Silvere (Cardiff University, lefevres@cf.ac.uk)
Interpretative Declarations and Unanimous Voting in an Enlarged European Union
“The more Members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes (…)”. As this quotation from the acclaimed BBC series “Yes Minister! “ demonstrates, the size of an organisation is often assumed to be in inverse proportion to the efficiency of its decision-making process. Somehow caricatural this view still retains an element of truth, as the risks of opposition and conflicts of interest increase with the number of members. In this perspective it seems necessary that the rules regulating the decision-making process “fit” with the size of the organisation, in order to allow it to work efficiently. This explains why numerous Member States urged a several occasions the European Union to make some radical reforms to its the decision-making process prior to its enlargement. This is a specifically true when it comes to the issue of voting requirements. If unanimous voting was problematic in a European Union of 15 Member States, then situation seems impossible in a Europe of 25 Members.
This paper wonders whether a change in the case-law of the Court of Justice in relation to the effect of the “interpretative declarations” the Member States may put forwards while adopting a directive of a regulation may not provide a solution to this particular problem. “Interpretative declarations” are well known and accepted in Public international Law. They make it possible for a State to ratify or adopt a treaty while indicating the view which it holds about the substance of a given provision. They facilitate the adoption of international treaties and hence are considered as rather useful. In the European Union “Interpretative declarations” exist in the practice of the Council. However the Court of Justice accepts to take them into consideration in very limited circumstances only. This position is motivated by the need to ensure a uniform application of Community law. However one may wonder whether it still the right approach in the light of the potential difficulties to achieve unanimity among 25 Member States.

Leonard, Sarah (University of Wales, Aberystwyth, lll02@aber.ac.uk)
What Happened to Refugee Protection in the European Union? The Debates on the Creation of ‘Asylum Camps’
In recent months, the idea of establishing so-called ‘asylum camps’ to process asylum claims outside the European Union has occupied a prominent place in the debates on the development of the EU asylum policy. Drawing on an interpretive and narrative approach to public policy analysis, this paper aims to explore this highly controversial concept. In its first part, it examines the origins of this idea, before analysing its evolution in the current EU debates (the so-called “Blair proposal”, the UNHCR “Convention Plus” initiative, and the Communication of the European Commission “Improving Access to Durable Solutions”). It also analyses the role played by different actors at the EU level in that respect.
The second part of the paper examines both the legal and normative challenges inherent to the setting up of such ‘asylum camps’. Would it breach international protection instruments such as the Geneva Convention? Would it worsen or, on the contrary, improve the access of asylum-seekers to international protection?
From a methodological point of view, this paper draws on the analysis of the relevant official documents and data gathered through interviews with officials from the EU institutions, the UNHCR, and the Permanent Representations of the Member states. 

Liebert, Ulrike (University of Bremen, Germany, liebert@uni-bremen.de)
Postnational Constitutionalisation and Citizenship Discourses in the Enlarged Union
It is still an open ended historical experiment whether the 2004 “Treaty on a Constitution for Europe” will succeed and thus, among others, reconstitute the European Union of states as a ”Union of citizens and states”. This paper argues that the extent to which citizens and their representatives will approve this move towards democratising the non-state, non-federal polity of the EU directly (in ten Member States by referendum) or indirectly (by parliamentary ratification), or opt against it, depends, among others, on two empirical questions: first, how the past constitutionalisation of EC-law has impacted on citizenship practices in the Member States; and, second, how these impacts as well as the EU’s present engagement with postnational constitutionalism are reflected and debated in the various public spheres. To develop this claim, the paper suggests to adopt a comparative Europeanisation approach, drawing on citizenship research, on the one hand, and empirical studies of the public sphere, on the other. Preliminary empirical data from different types of Member States are used to illustrate this model and predict (or explain where already concluded) the outcomes of ratification. In the conclusion it is discussed how this novel framework could become a tool for better explaining the discontinuities of European integration, in general, and the unevenness of postnational constitutionalisation, in particular.

Ozer, Yonca (Marmara University, Turkey, yoncaozer@hotmail.com)
The EU as a Civilian Power: The Case of the EU’s Trade Policy
This study generally addresses one of the most questioned issues, which is the EU’s role in the changing world, by assuming “civilian power Europe” role concept as a fruitful point of departure. As an analytical instrument, this role concept could make a valuable contribution to the analysis of Europe’s role in the world. The study argues that the scope of the civilian power Europe concept should be broadened from a narrow focus on the “civilian versus military” debate to other characteristics of a civilian power Europe. More specifically, it argues that EU’s trade policy by definition corresponds to the civilian power role of the EU since it concerns one of the most obvious examples of non-military means of power. Therefore, examination of the Union’s trade policy seems indispensable to answer the question if and to what extent the EU constitutes a civilian power since this is Europe’s most long-standing and most powerful external policy realm. Accordingly, the study aims at examining the contribution of EU’s trade policy to the explanation of its international role in terms of civilian power role concept. Briefly, the study, after analysing the ideal typical elements of a civilian power Europe, makes an empirical analysis of Europe’s role in the world from a civilian power Europe perspective.

Pardo, Sharon (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, pardosharon@yahoo.co.uk)
Joint paper with Lior Zemer
Towards a New Euro-Mediterranean Neighbourhood Space
This paper is a comparative study of the Conference/Organisation on Security and Co-operation in Europe (C/OSCE) as a system-transforming mechanism for the promotion of peaceful change in the Mediterranean and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as a regional regime.
In line with Monnet’s statement that ‘great ideas and principles either take firm shape in the form of institutions, or disappear into rhetoric and finally die’, our research demonstrates that for the establishment of a genuine Euro-Mediterranean Neighbourhood Space (EMNS) there is an urgent need to develop an institutional structure of the ENP.  The ENP should not be left alone for the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers for Foreign Affairs, as there is a real risk that the ENP would become political, rather than desired partnership, and eventually would die, as did its predecessors.  Therefore, the ENP should urgently ‘take firm shape in the form of institutions’.
We then move to introduce a new institutional mechanism for the EMNS. Our proposed model is based on the institutional framework as established by the Barcelona Declaration and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the Common Strategy on the Mediterranean Region's associate institutional structure, the ENP, inspired by the C/OSCE structures and supported by the agreements reached between the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers for Foreign Affairs at the recent Ministerial Conferences with regards to institutional changes.
In addition we examine the possibility of creating a Euro-Mediterranean ‘capital’ for the EMNS and conclude that Valletta should be declared as the new capital of the EMNS and the institutional and administrative system of the ENP should be relocated from Brussels to its natural capital Malta, in the heart of the EMNS.

Pereira, Alvaro (University of York, asp500@york.ac.uk)
Joint paper with Alina Stoia
Primus Inter Pares? The Balance of Power Between Small and Large States in the European Union
This paper analyzes the relative power position of small and large member states in the European Union. The power distribution is analyzed by comparing the various changes in the voting weights and rules in the Council as well as power indices. The paper also considers the patterns of coalition formation in EU negotiations, the bargaining behaviour of member states and the role of the European Commission as a neutral supranational institution and possible ally of smaller states. Using a game-theoretical setting, the paper shows that big countries have stronger incentives to defect on bargaining rules, since they cannot suffer significant retaliations from other countries. In contrast, small countries have an incentive to follow the bargaining rules, due to the threat of retaliation from the bigger countries. Small countries only defect on bargaining rules when the big countries also defect and/or they manage to form a coalition of small countries in order to review the rules of bargaining. The paper also argues that bargaining asymmetries were and will be further exacerbated after the last and forthcoming enlargements.

Piedrafita Tremosa Sonia (National University of Distance Education, Spain, spiedrafita@bec.uned.es)
The Timing of Eastern Enlargement: Rationalist and Sociological Explanations of Spanish Attitudes Towards the Entry of New EU Member States
When the issue of Eastern enlargement first came on the EU’s agenda, some member states, in particular Spain, had to anticipate that the accession of new member states would offer them relatively few gains and impose significant costs. However, there never seems to have been any serious opposition to the basic question of whether Eastern Enlargement should occur. Instead, much of the debates and the bargaining over enlargement concerned detailed and practical issues. It was in this arena of questions like how and when, rather than if, that member states expressed their concerns and sought to defend their interests.
This paper addresses the question of how Spain developed its position on the timing of Eastern enlargement and, subsequently, bargained over this issue at the European level. The research on which this paper is based compares and contrasts rationalist and sociological approaches in an attempt to understand the relative validity of either in the explanation of this particular process.
I will use the method of triangulation: interviews with policy-makers, minutes of meetings and official documents, and the public discourse in the press, the Parliament…
Having conceptualised the question of the timing of Eastern Enlargement in terms of the explanations offered by the two approaches, the paper will then offer empirical insights in order to establish whether the attitudes in a member state like Spain were governed by a logic of consequences or rather by a logic of appropriateness.

Raviv, Or (University of Sussex, o.raviv@sussex.ac.uk)
Governing the Integration of CEE Enterprises into Western European Value-adding Chains: Some Lessons from the Recent Past
The integration of Central and Eastern European (CEE) Enterprises into the Western European value-adding (production) networks is likely to be one of the most prominent features of the economic integration, and is thus also at the focus of this paper.   Recent research undertaken under the auspices of the "One Europe or Several" Programme confirmed that static trade effects, economic rationalization of scale economies and liberlisation through competitive policies are unlikely to yield any substantial welfare benefits particularly for the newcomers   (Dryker, 2000).   The one aspect of integration which is likely to yield substantial welfare benefits for CEE Economies is the transfers of Capital, Intellectual Property, and Technology.   The socially constructed space where these transfers take place is the process of production.   However, we cannot assume that these transfers will take place in a manner conducive to local development automatically.   In fact, this is highly contingent on the role played by the various social actors involved in the governance of this process.   Through the use of a value-chain analysis, this paper will aim to reflect on how the EU Commission, the particular governments, and involved Western European corporations have influenced the trajectory of this process as it takes place within the three "best performing" new members (Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland).

Schweickert, Rainer (Kiel University, Germany, schweickert@ifw.uni-kiel.de)
Joint paper with Lucio Vinhas de Souza
A Crisis ‘Early Warning System’ for Ukraine
Ukraine experienced several speculative attacks during its transition, some of which developed into currency crisis. This paper examines vulnerability periods in the Ukraine using an early warning system based on Markov regime-switching with time-varying transition probabilities.

Smith, Michael (Loughborough University, m.h.smith@lboro.ac.uk)
EU Enlargements and EU-US Relations: 2004 in Perspective
The aim of this paper is to analyse the implications for EU-US relations of EU enlargements, with particular reference to questions of European and global order. The paper will begin by describing and evaluating the issues surrounding past enlargements of the EC/EU, with reference to political/security and political/economic dimensions, and will identify a number of continuing strands in their implications for the relations between European integration and the United States. On the basis of this historical review, the paper will propose a framework for analysing the impact of EU enlargements on EU-US relations and on related issues of European and world order, focusing on five elements: the structure of EU-US relations; issues of negotiation and cooperation; issues of cost and risk; processes of governance and institution-building; the discourse of EU-US relations. The paper will then go on to apply this framework to the process of EU enlargement that culminated in 2004, and to suggest implications for future processes of enlargement.

Usui, Yoichiro (Niigata University of International & Information Studies, Japan, usui@nuis.ac.jp)
The Roles of Soft Law in EU Environmental Governance: Bridging a Gap Between Supranational Legal Processes and Intergovernmental Political Processes?
The White Paper on European Governance systematically proposes new modes of governance, which modifies the legislative policy pursuing an EU-wide legal harmonisation based on the Community method. In some degree, this non-legalistic orientation is followed by the Sixth Environmental Action Programme, which states that ‘[o]ther options [than legislation] for achieving environmental objectives should also be considered’, and advocates that ‘[a] strategic integrated approach, incorporating new ways of working with the market, involving citizens, enterprises and other stakeholders is needed. In legal terms, the introduction of new modes of governance for establishing flexible and horizontal institutional arrangements, including market-oriented instruments and civic participatory schemes, implicates in part the installation of soft legal arrangements. The paper will theoretically consider the significance and problematique of soft law and empirically examine the instances thereof in ‘environmental priorities for a Community response’ (the Sixth EAP) such as climate change and biodiversity. The hypothetical viewpoint is that, while the softer legalisation driven by the Commission and the Council may undermine the capacities of the Parliament and the Court of Justice, soft law can also be expected to bridge a gap between supranational legal processes and intergovernmental political processes in terms of normative evolution and consensus building.

Widgrén, Mika (Turku School of Economics & Business Administration, Finalnd, mika.widgren@tukkk.fi)
Joint paper with Richard Baldwin
The Impact of Turkey's Membership on EU Voting
We investigate the decision-making impact admitting Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia to the EU25, focusing on the EU’s ‘capacity to act’ and the power distribution among members. The enlargement is projected to have relatively little impact on the capacity-to-act, as long as the Constitutional Treaty (CT) voting rules come into effect, but the CT is rejected, enlargement would cripple EU decision making. Turkish membership is calculated to have a big impact on the power distribution among members. Under the Nice or CT voting rules, Turkey would be the second most powerful EU29 member. Under the CT rules, Turkey would be substantially more powerful than France, Italy and Britain, while under the Nice rules the power differences among the 50-million-plus members would be small. Plainly, this might decrease the acceptability of the Constitutional Treaty and/or Turkey’s membership.

Last modified: Wednesday, 31 August 2005
idD410501ProgrammeR1  +10Mar2005  ©UACES 2005