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Exchanging Ideas on Europe 2006
Visions of Europe: Key Problems, New Trajectories
UACES 36th Annual Conference and 11th Research Conference

Research Session 2

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

Friday, 1 September (09:00-10:30)

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

Allen, Matthew (Manchester Metropolitan University, m.allen@mmu.ac.uk)
Companies and the Open Method of Co-ordination
The open method of co-ordination is usually discussed within the context of national governmental policies. This paper examines the activities of companies that either have an impact upon or are related to the welfare policies of governments. For instance, it examines the extent to which pension and profit-sharing schemes have changed within several EU member states. It then discusses the implications of these changes for national governments. In other words, do such changes represent an opportunity or a threat to national governments in their efforts to pursue the open method of co-ordination?

Bergman, Annika (University of Edinburgh, a.bergman@ed.ac.uk)
The Nordic-Baltic Space and New Conceptions of Political Community: Implications for Europe
The purpose of this piece is twofold, first, to explore  the social construction of  a  Nordic-Baltic sphere of community against the backdrop of European integration, and, secondly, to evaluate its  conceptual implications for  IR debates on new  and more inclusive forms of  political community.  The paper commences by exploring the social construction of the Nordic-Baltic sphere of community. It then explores the extent to which the Nordics have been successful in adopting a new and more all-encompassing sense of obligation and identity to include the three Baltics. A key argument developed throughout the paper is that the creation of such new forms of political community require agents to adjust their national loyalties because they may obstruct the emergence of new spheres of solidarity. This conception rests upon Linklater's (1998) advocacy of  new forms of political community that respect national loyalties while also supporting social and cultural diversity and whereby ethical principles and issues of justice can be negotiated through equal political dialogue. Community building of this kind is in line with wider developments in post-Cold War Europe. A key objective here is to show how the Nordic-Baltic sphere of community can contribute to this theoretical debate.

Billiet, Stijn (London School of Economics & Political Science, s.billiet@lse.ac.uk)
Principal-Agent Analysis as an Integration Theory: The Commission in the World Trade Organisation
The principal-agent (PA) theory has only fairly recently been applied to the study of the European integration process. Despite Mark Pollack’s ground-breaking work on this subject, surprisingly little follow-up research – theoretical or empirical – has been done on this subject. This is even more surprising in the light of the promising potential this approach has as an integration theory. This paper explores how the PA approach can be refined in the context of the EU’s external relations by studying the Commission’s role in the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organisation. It will be shown that, whereas the PA approach arguably offers the most balanced and convincing interpretation of the European integration process, it is nonetheless in need of refinement. In particular, this paper argues that the PA approach is prone to being too inward-looking, thereby falling in the same trap as the more traditional integration theories. This paper offers some suggestions as to how to remedy this problem.

Brouwer, Frank (London Metropolitan University, f.brouwer@londonmet.ac.uk)
The European Union's Sustainable Development Strategy and Trade: Evaluating the Role of Sustainability Impact Assessments on EU Trade Policy-Making
The EU Strategy for Sustainable Development was launched at the Gothenburg Summit in 2002  and, since 2005, has been subject to an ongoing review with new proposals being put forward with the ostensible aim of  'strengthening' the strategy.  Sustainable Development accordingly has become a fundamental objective of the EU and the concept  is meant to permeate all other common EU policies.  This paper evaluates the role of the European Commission in the current WTO Doha Round of trade negotiations and asks to what extent has the EU's trade agenda been influenced by the Sustainable Development Strategy. The focus of paper  is on the development, role and impact of sustainability impact assessments (SIAs) on EU trade policy-making.  In what way have SIAs contributed to integrating sustainable development issues into trade policy? Do trade SIAs provide greater clarity regarding the Commission's position on environmental, social and labour standards in relation to trade? For example, the European Commission supports linking environmental protection with trade liberalisation efforts inside the WTO, but rejects 'eco-protectionism'. Likewise, the EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, argues that social and labour standards are compatible with progressive trade liberalisation, but rejects using labour standards as a cover for protectionism. But when do environmental measures or labour standards become 'protectionist' and are deemed unsuitable for purposes of multilateral trade negotiations or WTO rule-making? Is the EU Sustainable Development Strategy mutually supportive or fundamentally incompatible with current trade liberalisation efforts? If the EU is able to fulfil its objective of 'maximising synergies' between trade and sustainable development, greater transparency is required.

Burns, Charlotte (University of Leeds, c.j.burns@leeds.ac.uk)
‘New’ Governance and Environmental Policy Integration
The EU’s attempts to integrate environmental considerations across a wider range of policy sectors have failed, leading practitioners and commentators to cast around for new ways to promote environmental policy integration (EPI). This paper explores the implications of the Commission’s new governance agenda for EPI. As part of its commitment to promoting new governance in the EU, the Commission is committed to using softer policy instruments to achieve its aims, such as market-based tools, voluntary codes of conduct and policy coordination. The paper will consider theoretically and empirically which policy instruments are likely to be the most promising as a means to deliver better environmental policy integration. Specifically, it will consider if the open method of coordination is an appropriate tool for promoting environmental policy integration within an enlarged EU. The paper will suggest that the emphasis upon softer policy instruments within the current Commission is misplaced as in the sphere of environmental policy some level of regulation is required to prompt change.

Capeta, Tamara (University of Zagreb, tamara@irmo.hr)
ECJ under Attack: Can (and How) the US Debate be used in the EU Context?
Year 2006 began by the political attack on the European Court of Justice. Several European politicians reproached the Court that it systematically expands European competences (Schussel), or that it takes decisions which do not correspond with what politicians have agreed (Rasmussen). While the issue of the ECJ’s decisions legitimacy is everything but new, the new political attack on the Court does invite for the reopening of this ever-existing debate.
The aim of this article is not to try to give answer to the issue of legitimacy of judicial law making, or proper role (if any) of the Court in deciding the federal (i.e. vertical) divide of competencies in the EU. It is rather to try to organise thinking (primarily my own) about these issues in the European framework. To this end I will try to see whether and how the American debate on democratic (i)legitimacy of the US Supreme Court (countermajoritarian difficulty), and the recent debates that emerged after the Supreme Court’s decisions in Lopez and Morrison on federal divide of powers, can be used in the EU.

Cini, Michelle (University of Bristol, Michelle.Cini@bris.ac.uk)
Reforming Ethics in the European Commission: From the 2000 White Paper to the Transparency Initiative
Since the resignation of the College of Commissioners in 1999, the European Commission has turned its attention, if somewhat half-heartedly and tentatively to questions of public ethics, as concerns EU officials (and particularly those working in and for the European Commission). This is a crucial area of public management policy, given the media attention at the European level on cases of corruption, mismanagement, conflicts of interest and so on; and public perceptions of ‘eurocrats’ and the European ‘gravy train’. Yet the bearing that the EU’s public ethics has on EU legitimacy remains largely unexplored. In order to contribute to this new sub-field, this paper draws together the findings of a research project on public ethics in the EU institutions, tracing the way in which the Commission’s regulation of ethics has evolved since 1999, and the form that that regulation has taken. The paper argues that there are multiple objectives emerging in the Barroso Commission’s management of its internal administrative ethics: on the one hand, a crisis-management strand; on the other, public engagement strand. The likely tensions between these two will be analysed within this paper.

Etzold, Tobias (Manchester Metropolitan University, tobias.etzold@student.mmu.ac.uk)
Regional Organisations in North-Eastern Europe: Objectives, Differences, Possibilities of Co-operation
North-Eastern Europe is characterised by an interesting but complicated institutional network of regional organisations. Through EU enlargement the region has seen remarkable changes which challenged the future of several of these organisations, as the EU now can take over many of their tasks. External changes require significant efforts by the regional organisations for them to survive. Having these regional bodies and the EU with partly overlapping interests, foci and tasks creates the risk of duplication of structures. Possibilities exist, nevertheless, for co-operation between organisations, coordination of activities and the creation of synergies. The EU’s Northern Dimension provides a common operational framework for regional organisations.
The paper’s first aim is to analyse the institutional landscape in NE Europe: which important institutions are in place, what are their specific fields of interests and tasks, especially concerning the ND? With the help of several theories (mainly institutionalism and constructivism), the opportunity for persistence of the institutions will be analysed. Activities and objectives of regional organisations are scrutinised and similarities, differences, overlap, co-ordination problems identified, as are efforts to improve cooperation.

Flear, Mark (Queen’s University Belfast, m.flear@qub.ac.uk)
The Implications of ‘New Governance’ for the Free Movement of Persons and its Relationship with Health Care Systems: A Sociological or Constructivist Institutionalist Perspective
This paper proposes to provide a sociological or constructivist institutionalist perspective on the implications of ‘new governance’ for the free movement of persons and its relationship with health care systems. Hitherto the free movement of persons’ most prominent engagement with health care systems has been through Regulation 1408/71 (as amended) and the Kohll jurisprudence on the free movement of patients. However, there have been some tentative moves towards an open method of coordination in order to deal with the real and/or perceived consequences of that jurisprudence. The institutionalist perspective utilised emphasises the potential that this form or process of ‘new governance’ might have to cause change in health care systems on its own and as part of the free movement of persons’ wider engagement. This potential to cause change is not limited to change in formal, legal institutions, but might also extend to change in actors, such as those working in health care systems (especially doctors and administrators) and patients.

Funk, Lothar (University of Applied Sciences, Duesseldorf, lothar.funk@fh-duesseldorf.de)
Social Europe: Is there a better way?
Apart from indirect social effects of other policies, social policy has two main pillars in the European Union. Firstly, a social dialogue between the interest associations of labour and capital as well as the European Commission has existed since 1985. Secondly, in 2000 the European Council of Lisbon introduced the ‘open method of co-ordination’ (OMC) as a new policy instrument to tackle political sensitive social policy areas, namely social inclusion, old-age security, health, and long-term care. The question arises whether these social policy instruments are constructed in an optimal way for the European (Monetary) Union. On the one hand, some critics – social policy integration optimists – say that there are good reasons for an assignment of policies of social protection to the highest tier of government, that is, the supranational level in the European Union level. On the other hand, other critics point out that the principle of subsidiarity, which applies within the EU, means that an active role for the supranational level can only be desirable if it produces advantages for the member states compared with national policy. Centralised social policies beyond a narrow focus on the removal of institutional obstacles to labour mobility may be dangerous according to this approach of social policy integration pessimists.  Based on comparing such different theories of the optimal level of social policy, the paper argues that the current organisation of Social Europe may be a reasonable compromise.

Gallego, Raquel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, raquel.gallego@uab.es)
Public Management Policy Change in Spain, 1996-2000: Issues, Entrepreneurs and (Non)Decisions
Recent research has analysed why Spain was a case of public management policy stability between 1982 and 1996 (Gallego 2003). Hardly any major reform initiatives came about in that period of government by PSOE, despite considerable activity in the policy-making process. This paper examines a subsequent chapter in Spain’s political experience in public management policy domain, when the right wing Popular Party led by José Maria Aznar came into government in 1996. Two aspects of this period are striking. First, a number of initiatives were approved in the first year of the PP government, concerning the regulation of top level bureaucratic and political posts, and the organization of the peripheral administration of central government. Second, policy making activity died down after these initiatives were cleared –except for a statute of the civil service that was developed over the whole legislature without leading to a formal decision-, and did not revive during the second legislative period before the PP was swept from power following the general elections of 2004. This paper offers a historiographic account of this period, focusing on the variation of policy-making dynamics concerning government-wide administrative practices. Specific questions addressed include: Why did the new government –with a new party in office- build a policy cycle right upon the legislative initiatives left drafted by the previous one? Why did this policy cycle have a steady development culminating in decisions for some issues but not for others? Why did no other policy cycle emerge afterwards? The use of theory to address these historical questions provides a basis to consider this experience as a case study of public management policy making and reform. This paper seeks to understand this Spain episode as a case of public management policy change (and stability) in a comparative framework, in order to interpret similarities and differences with other cases. This analysis will contribute to a research programme (Barzelay, 2003, Barzelay and Gallego in press) that intends to critique and extend current middle-range theorizing about process dynamics of public management reform.

Giuffrida, Iria (Queen Mary, University of London, i.giuffrida@qmul.ac.uk )
Accountability in the Context of Comitology and Regulatory Agencies: The Case of GMOs
This paper is part of the flourishing debate on the governance of the European Union. The first section explores the notion of accountability; a concept that appeared as one of the five principles of good governance enunciated by the Commission in its White Paper on European Governance in 2001. For having such a prominent role, accountability is a remarkably convoluted concept. Its definition and application are complicated by the existence of numerous modes of governance, levels of governance and governance actors. With the help of multi-level governance literature, this section proposes a conceptualisation of accountability as a continuous and dynamic process of interactions of actors, responsibilities and control mechanisms.
The second section is built to illustrate some of the issues explored in the first part by using a case study. The proposed model of accountability is applied to the regulation of genetically modified food, feed and other organisms (in short, GMOs) in order to evaluate whether and to what extent the system of regulation of GMOs can be said to be characterised by accountability. This case study is interesting because it tackles important and currently hotly debated questions on the governance by committees and regulatory agencies. Can independent expertise coexist with accountability and, if so, how? Are agencies a model of accountability? And finally, can the law by imposing legal standards reinforce political accountability? Governance by committees and agencies poses tough challenges to the traditional notion of accountability. Here it is argued that the conceptualisation of accountability as a clear process may offer a useful key for reading the democratic problems caused by committees and agencies.

Goldner Lang, Iris (University of Zagreb, igoldner@pravo.hr)
Free Movement of Services and Healthcare: Can EC Law Undermine Member States’ Planning of Healthcare Expenditures at National Level?
Cases such as Kohll, Decker, Geraets-Smits and Peerbooms, Müller-Fauré and van Riet and, the most recent, Watts testify that Member States' competence to organise their healthcare systems does not diminish their obligation to comply with fundamental freedoms in situations involving cross-border medical treatment. The special nature of social security services does not remove them from the scope of the principle of free movement. According to settled case-law, the fact that the patient does not pay for hospital care himself does not deprive healthcare services of their economic character, necessary under Article 50 EC. It seems that EC Treaty provisions on services alter the only express provision regulating cross-border medical treatment contained in Regulation 1408/71, which authorises the sickness fund to decide whether treatment abroad is necessary or not. The paper will try to explore the contradictory relation between the free movement of services and healthcare. Is the ECJ's approach opening up the healthcare market, previously left in Member States' competence and possibly undermining Member States' painstaking planning of healthcare expenditures at national level? How to reconcile free movement of services with the need to protect the welfare state and the population of the host state as a whole?

Hodson, Dermot (European Commission, dermot.hodson@cec.eu.int)
EU Economic Governance and the Reform of the SGP and Lisbon Strategy: A Principal-Agent Perspective
This paper examines EU economic governance from a principal-agent (PA) perspective. Following Schuknecht (2004), Schelkle (2005) and Blom-Hansen (2005), it examines delegation from the European to the national level rather than, as is more traditional, the other way around. It makes three main points. Firstly, EU economic governance can be viewed as an attempt by a principal – i.e. the Council of Ministers – to impose its preference for fiscal discipline and structural reform on multiple agents i.e. the individual Member States. The European Commission assumes the role of delegated monitor, assessing compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and the Lisbon Strategy and reporting back to the Council. Secondly, the budgetary laxity shown by some Member States over the last seven years and the general lack of progress towards structural reform can be diagnosed in PA terms as resulting from shirking by agents, shortcomings in the framing agreement, informational asymmetries and deficiencies in ex-post sanctions. Thirdly, from a PA perspective, recent reforms to the SGP and the Lisbon Strategy constitute an attempt to refocus the framing agreement between the Council and the Member States, promote a closer alignment of their interests and bolster oversight mechanisms at the national level.

Kenner, Jeff (University of Nottingham, jeffrey.kenner@nottingham.ac.uk)
Sustainable Development and Empowerment through Transnational Labour Law: The EU’s Contribution to the Transformation of Global Social Governance?
This paper is concerned with the transformative potential of labour law as a dimension of the global drive to eradicate poverty. Compliance with global labour standards is now recognised as an integral part of the concept of sustainable development that forms the cornerstone of this agenda. The European Consensus on Development draws on Sen’s theorisation of capabilities that transform the life chances of individuals who are able to exercise social rights. Within this framework the EU has declared that it has a vocation to secure more effective governance of the social dimension of globalisation. In practice this requires the strategic delivery of EU’s policies, competences and resource allocations in the areas of foreign policy, trade, development, environment and social policy.
For these actions to contribute towards this transformation the EU must, firstly, forge an effective alliance with the ILO (and ensure that its Member States are in compliance with global labour law) and, secondly, recognise that when it seeks to promote sustainable development through unilateral measures and multilateral agreements it not only has to secure the support of partner governments and institutions but also, empower individuals and social movements in local communities by guaranteeing their participation in securing labour rights.

Kingah, Sevidzem (Free University Brussels, skingah@vub.ac.be)
Trading Preferences for Political and Economic Accountability: Good governance from the Yaoundé to the Cotonou Agreements between the EC and ACP Countries
This paper is a study of the evolution, nature and effects of provisions on good governance that are included in the Cotonou Agreement that sanctions political, trade and development cooperation ties between the European Community (EC) on the one hand and the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states on the other. Good governance relates to a number of elements. However this presentation considers four, to wit, constitutional probity (rule of law), the protection of human rights, economic accountability (transparency) and political accountability (participation). It is argued that the EC has increasingly used these elements of good governance to determine which countries accede to the benefits of trade preferences. This preference for the policy of “governance for development” or “governance for trade” could be efficient in terms of reforming renegade regimes. However it has a debilitating effect on two counts. First, in some of these countries, (the leaders of which are considered transgressors of basic tenets of good governance), conditioning trade on good governance exposes the people rather than targeted leaders to unjust treatment. Secondly, using trade for political ends is not always an optimal strategy. By inundating the trade regime with non trade considerations the former will end up in a tail spin. In order words political sanctions and economic sanctions should remain what they are meant for. Cross sanctions need to be limited if the entire world trading system is to be what it is meant to be: which is ensuring freer trade. Many political sanctions exist that can be used to target leaders. Economic sanctions for political reasons, it is argued, are comparable to unguided missiles.  

Lamoreaux, Jeremy (University of Aberdeen, j.lamoreaux@abdn.ac.uk)
Joint paper with David Galbreath
The Baltic States as ‘Small States’: Coming to Terms with the Dynamics of the Baltic Sea Region
Analysing size in international relations is difficult. Analysing the impact of size on foreign policy is even more so. In nearly every dimension possible, the Baltic states are ‘small states’. Traditional small state theory offers an initial insight as to how small states behave. If we come at the Baltic Sea region as a regional sub-complex using regional security complex theory as described by Buzan and Waever, the Baltic states have limited choices as ‘rim’ states on the border of the EU and Russia. Olav Knudsen has offered an initial look at the Baltic States as small states in the Baltic Sea sub-region. However, the difficulties of measuring smallness means that a new conceptual framework for small state analysis requires that we revisit the Baltic States using Baldur Thorhallson’s recent essay on ‘action capacity’ and ‘vulnerability’ as measures of smallness. An initial investigation into the Baltic States and ‘smallness’ illustrates both the contribution that Thorhallson has made to the study of state-size while at the same time leaving out the importance of organizational burden-sharing as a key variable for size. We argue that organizations do influence size and we account for this by attuning Thorhallson’s framework to account for regional organizations in the context of the Baltic Sea region.

Leucht, Brigitte (University of Portsmouth, brigitte.leucht@port.ac.uk)
Measuring Impact? Transatlantic Policy Networks in the Creation of the ECSC, 1950-51
The paper focuses on the role of transatlantic policy networks in the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1950-51. More specifically, the paper will demonstrate that the institutional and antitrust provisions of the ECSC treaty were the result of a complex negotiation process that involved individual and collective actors from both sides of the North Atlantic. In discussing the impact of these policy networks on decision making, the paper will utilize the policy network concept which was developed by the social sciences. To this date, historical research has portrayed the negotiations on the ECSC treaty as a multinational conference of European states. Drawing on primary material from various governmental archives as well as private papers, this paper provides empirical evidence to show that it is insufficient to describe policy making in terms of inter-state bargaining of governmental actors of European states, exclusively.

Levy, Roger (Glasgow Caledonian University, r.levy@gcal.ac.uk)
Joint paper with Anne Stevens
The Modernisation of the European Commission: Promoting Equal Opportunities for Women in the Commission Services
The European Commission has proclaimed the active promotion of equal opportunities for women in its services since the 1980s, and has been setting and monitoring targets for over a decade. This agenda formed an important plank in the Kinnock reforms of Commission management after 2000. In the context of the theorisation of women in the bureaucratic work environment generally, his paper explores the development of the Commission’s commitment to equal opportunities in its services over recent years, and reviews its targets and performance. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data are reported, and the paper assesses this evidence against practical problems and theoretical explanatory models.

Maher, Imelda (University College Dublin, imelda.maher@ucd.ie)
Accountability, Control and the Rule of Law: The European Competition Network
The paper builds on principal-agent theory to explore the European Competition Network (ECN) through the lens of the rule of law examining how legitimacy is achieved in particular in relation to accountability. The European Competition Network seeks to operationalise the decentralisation of the enforcement of the European competition rules governing private market behaviour. The Network is a soft law response designed to overcome shortcomings in predictability stability and clarity in the legal architecture. It is a second best solution in that there is little scope for traditional accountability mechanisms to operate in the context of such an elite and necessarily closed body. Instead, alternative control and accountability mechanisms are necessary. These mechanisms are all nested within the rule of law. The relationship between accountability, control of agencies and the rule of law is explored noting that procedural concerns encapsulated within the rule of law can be used in an instrumental fashion to improve accountability. The rule of law however should not be seen purely in instrumental terms and compliance with it is also important in underpinning the legitimacy and credibility of the agency.

Mele, Valentina (Bocconi University, valentina.mele@unibocconi.it)
Public Management Policy Change in Italy, 1993-2003: Issues, Entrepreneurs and Signals
Reform efforts in the Italian public sector have received a low but increasing attention both in the comparative literature (Pollit and Boukaert, 2004, Wolmann, 2003) and in journal articles (Capano 2003, Lippi, 2003, Panozzo 2000).
The paper takes Italy as a case of public management reform which can be compared with cases of public management reform, and is part of a research programme led by M. Barzelay  and R Gallego (Barzelay 2003; Barzelay and Gallego forthcoming). In order to do so, it focuses on two attempts to change the government-wide institutional rules and organisational routines in the domains of electronic government and innovation in public sector (1993-2003), comparing similarities and differences in the two policy cycles.

Meyer, Jan-Henrik (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, jhmeyer@gmx.de)
Tracing Transnationalism in the European Public Sphere: The Summit of The Hague 1969
In the debate about a European public sphere, transnational exchanges have been highlighted a key factor facilitating the emergence of a public sphere beyond national borders. Still, although journalists' transnational interaction is part of their professional practice, it is often invisible in the news coverage. Thus, transfers are difficult to detect in newspaper-based research. A more sophisticated operationalisation is suggested here: transfers can be elicited by examining the ways in which non-national actors and their opinions are included in the argument. A European public sphere across borders is moreover socially constructed in the rhetorics of transnational inclusion, an explicit awareness of the European partners' problems and – at times – a call for solidarity. The coverage of transnational civil society actors' activities – such as the European federalists – provides evidence of their transnational outreach. This paper attempts to trace to what extent and how such interaction took place in the media across national borders during a major event in the history of European integration: the Summit of The Hague in 1969 which was marked by a new enthusiasm for European integration.

Nielsen, Steen (Copenhagen Business School, sn.ikl@cbs.dk)
The EU-ACP Partnership: A Case Study of Europe's Economic and Political Capacity to Narrow the North-South Divide
With the Cotonou Agreement of 2000, is the European Union currently turning post-colonial ties with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries into a viable and sustainable inter-regional partnership, a partnership capable of more than commercial exchange and trade liberalisation? In other words, will Cotonou turn out to be the chief political, diplomatic and economic instrument which allows the European Union to play a leading role as an intermediary with the capacity to bridge the growing economic and political gap between North and South? This problem is part of my on-going research on the development strategies of the European Union. The relationship between the EU and the ACP has since Lomé been the cornerstone in Europe’s foreign economic relations with developing countries and will therefore in my paper be treated as an important facet of the overall problem of defining the role for Europe in global economic and political affairs. My paper will focus on the EU-ACP partnership, which will be treated specifically as a case study, an inherent part of the EU’s overseas relations.

Pardo, Sharon (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, pardosharon@yahoo.co.uk)
Israel and the European Union: Approaches and Principles for an Israeli Grand-Strategy towards the EU
Israel has been weak in developing long-term and holistic grand-strategies. Weaknesses in grand-strategic thinking in Israel are also evidenced by inadequate Israeli policies towards the European Union.
Israel looks up to distant America and keeps its political distance from nearby Europe. Israel behaves as if it were an island in the Atlantic Ocean rather than a nation neighboring the enlarged EU.
Yet, the EU is Israel's economic, cultural and, in many respects, political hinterland. Israel enjoys special status in the EU, a status that grants Israel extensive rights in many areas such as research and development and economics.
Lack of a grand-strategy towards the EU is a serious omission, which can easily carry a high cost for Israel's international standing and security, as well as damage to Israel's scientific-technological, and economic development.
This paper tries to help meeting this Israeli need by suggesting some foundations for an Israeli grand-strategy towards the EU. It does so by exploring the main misperceptions in Israel and the EU, analysing deep disagreements and suggesting some principles for an Israeli grand-strategy towards the EU. Hopefully, this paper can also help the EU to develop a high-quality grand-strategy towards Israel, which can advance the values and interests of both sides.

Perišin, Tamara (University of Zagreb, tamara_perisin@yahoo.com)
Interfaces Between Fundamental Market Freedoms and Fundamental Rights: Constraining the States or the Community?
Ever since the ECJ announced that fundamental rights are a part of general principles of Community law, it has been controversial whether that could be a mechanism for controlling the activities of the Community through the pressures from Member States (Solange I, II) or, on the contrary, whether it would be a tool for limiting the regulatory autonomy of States (ERT).  The paper will analyse more recent cases on interfaces of market freedoms and fundamental rights, while focusing on the novelties and modifications in the Court’s approach. It will discuss two connected categories of cases. One category is represented by cases of conflict between market freedoms and fundamental rights where the Court showed deference to national choices (e.g. Schmidberger, Omega). The second category consists of cases where the synergy of mutually enhancing market freedoms and fundamental rights was used to significantly constrain other State policies (e.g. Carpenter). Both categories of cases involve important balancing of interests of free trade with the protection of (other) values. This balancing has significant constitutional implications since it affects one the one hand, the interaction between national and Community authorities and on the other hand, the division of power between judicial and political institutions.

Steinnes, Kristian (Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Trondheim, kristian.steinnes@hf.ntnu.no)
Alternative Agendas? Transnational Socialism in Northern Europe 1959-72
The paper focuses on how the social democratic parties in Britain and Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) perceived, (re)conceptualised and dealt with the European integration process from when the EEC was set up until its first enlargement. It will demonstrate the role of a well-established transnational political party network for the development of alternative perceptions and policy ideas to those of ‘core Europe’, with implications for national policy formation. The historical empirical research draws its conceptual inspiration from the study in the social sciences of policy networks to which shared values, a common discourse, and dense exchanges of information are central. So far, the role of transnational networks has not been sufficiently researched and taken into account in analysing either political communication in peripheral Europe about the integration process or the process of wider incipient European political society formation.

Yollu, Aysel (University Koblenz-Landau, yollu@uni-landau.de)
Joint paper with Gabriele Somaggio
The Role of the Open Method of Coordination for the Unemployment Insurance
The majority of the EU Member States are faced with an increasing structural and institutional unemployment. To reduce the unemployment, the European Employment policy attempts to change the basic national parameters to improve the situation on the labour markets and to create more growth in the long-term. As the basic national parameters are set nationally, they can hardly be re-regulated on the international level. Therefore the EU intends to reach its aim by setting a frame for actions on national level. By the so-called Open Method of Coordination, instruments of different types of the European welfare states get integrated in the national systems with consequences for the labour and social policy in the single EU Member States. Thus the European welfare states will converge. The paper discusses the role of the Open Method of Coordination for assignment to the national system of unemployment insurance in Germany (given as example), representing the continental European type of welfare states. The focus is whether the last reforms of unemployment insurance in Germany meet the requirements of the Open Method of Coordination or whether further reforms are crucial.

Last modified: Friday, 11 August 2006
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