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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 4

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 (15:45-17:15)

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

Buecker, Nicola (International University Bremen, n.buecker@iu-bremen.de)
Imagine Europe: Frames on the European Union in Poland and East Germany
The current crisis of the European Union above all shows that many citizens are not willing to follow the road of integration that ‘Brussels’ considers best for the continent. At the same time the reasons for the end of the often cited ‘permissive consensus’ are hardly understood, and this holds true especially for the new member states from Eastern Europe, where public opinion remains particularly volatile.
Against this background it is more important than ever to find out more about people’s perceptions of the European Union and about the striking differences in attitudes towards the EU that still persist between the various nations. This paper argues that people’s ‘European attitudes’ are influenced by the ways the EU and ‘Europe’ are conceptualized or ‘framed’ in their national cultures. Therefore the paper starts with an overview on public discourses in two Eastern European societies, namely East Germany and Poland. Afterwards the main results of 46 qualitative interviews that have been conducted in both societies in summer 2005 are presented in order to analyse the reflection of these public discussions in ordinary people’s understanding of the European Union.

Clifton, Judith (University of Oviedo, cliftonjudith@uniovi.es)
Joint paper with Daniel Díaz Fuentes and Francisco Comín
Public Services, Civil Society and EU Governance: What Consequences for Democracy?
In the light of the recognition of the so-called ´democratic deficit´ of the EU, Eriksen & Fossum (2004) have proposed three ´ideal type´ strategies whereby the EU can regain democratic legitimacy: 1) it could opt for a less ambitious economic citizenship in a free market: 2) it could forge a European identity via cultural citizenship, or 3) it could opt for a constitutionally enriched democratic political union based on a set of common civil and political rights to empower citizens, who would enjoy a fully-fledged political citizenship. It is this third path that the authors recommend.
In the case of public services, a new layer of governance has been gradually added, in particular from the mid-1990s. This has taken its most solid format in the inclusion of citizen rights to Services of General Interest (SIG) in theTreaty of Amsterdam and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as the publication of the White Paper on Services of General Interest (EC 2004). The re-articulation of public services as citizen-centred SGI seems an interesting empirical case to assess developments in supranational governance using Eriksen & Fossum´s third strategy for legitimacy.
This paper will thus analyse critically the development of the new supranational layer of governance of public services in the light of the third strategy for legitimacy for citizens and civil society. Two main lines of enquiry will be followed. First, what kinds of citizenship are being established in the emerging legislation? Is political citizenship actually on offer, or is this economic citizenship in disguise? What kinds of rights or entitlements are on offer? Are citizen rights being reduced to consumer rights, and what are the consequences for public service provision? Second, the EU has included input from its social partners such as CEEP and the ETUC in order to boost the social dialogue. However, popular critics continue to claim that corporate business is dominating supranational policy (Belanyá 2003, Monbiot 2001). By examining the development of SGI policy, the relative influence of both civil society and industrial lobbies will be assessed and the consequences for democratic governance.

Cottey, Andrew (University College Cork, a.cottey@ucc.ie)
The EU and Non-Proliferation
Since the 1990s preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has moved to the centre of the global security agenda. This paper will assess the EU’s efforts to contribute to this goal. It will explore (i) the extent and nature of the EU’s activities in this area; (ii) to what degree the EU is developing a distinctive approach to non-proliferation (in particular, one which differs from the US); and (iii) the extent to which the EU has the potential to become driving force behind international non-proliferation efforts. The paper will suggest that while the EU has taken some not insignificant steps to support international non-proliferation efforts it is far from playing a leading role in this area and faces significant structural obstacles to further developing its role.

David, Maxine (University of Surrey, m.david@surrey.ac.uk)
Values in Russian Foreign Policy: Consequences for the EU-Russia Relationship
This paper examines the EU-Russia relationship after 1991, arguing that an emphasis on values allows us to better understand the potential for the relationship.  Few doubt the existence and projection of values in EU policy but little examination is made of Russian values and their external manifestation.   The paper begins by identifying and describing Russian foreign policy values after 1991, then moves on to examine the enactment of values.  This shows that Russian values are applied differently depending on whether interaction is with states/organisations occupying a central place in the international system or whether it is with marginalised states.  With “context” identified as a key variable, other variables include: available resources; opportunities; “rules” of the game and; perceptions of other actors.  This reveals a Russia operating foreign policy in a climate of: a strong and influential EU, a relative paucity of resources, limited opportunities, the failure to become a “”rule-setter” in the new European security architecture and a suspicion of American motives and actions with consequences also for the NATO relationship.  The paper concludes that the EU is currently faced with an incomparable opportunity to bring Russia firmly into a European society of states.

Flynn, Brendan (National University of Ireland, brendan.flynn@nuigalway.ie)
Salvaging Subsidiarity: The Role and Significance of the subsidiarity Concept for the EU’s Constitution (Dis)Order
With the rejection of the Constitution for Europe by French and Dutch electorates, it would appear the scope for further constitutional innovation of the EU is limited. There is instead speculation about a partial implementation of key elements of the Constitutional text, although much remains unclear. In particular what bits should be scrapped and what should be saved? This paper examines the case for salvaging the concept of subsidiarity from the existing constitutional wreckage. It explains what exactly the original subsidiarity reforms offered: a significant legal clarification of the concept. Moreover, the Constitution’s linking of the subsidiarity concept with a greater role for national parliaments in the scrutiny of EU legislation is also an innovation well suited to an extra-constitutional evolution. However, I caution against the dangers of a re-opening of the subsidiarity issue more generally. Any attempt to switch the suggested ‘yellow card’ procedure, whereby national parliaments could express reasoned opinions about Commission proposals, to a ‘red card’ procedure whereby they could veto such, would be unwise. As risky, would also be any attempt to conflate subsidiarity with cost/benefit analysis or efficiency criteria in evaluating legislation. In conclusion, it is argued a reformed subsidiarity based on the draft Constitution(2004) could be applied to the existing constitutional (dis)order relatively easily and has much to commend it. However, such a process does risk reopening the subsidiarity debate to less welcome suggestions.

Hervey, Tamara (University of Nottingham, tamara.hervey@nottingham.ac.uk)
Health Law and the EU's Constitutional Dialogue
The EU has been developing an increasingly coherent set of policies concerned with human health. These pose fundamental challenges for national health systems in the Member States, founded on state-based principles of solidarity. The involvement of the EU in the health field thus tests the EU's constitutional foundations, in terms of the place of the 'European social model' within the core EU legal construct of the internal market. The explicit constitutional narrative (clear statements in the existing 'constitution', often articulated position of the ECJ and the failed Constitutional Treaty) fails to map to the emerging constitutional reality. This paper explores that disjuncture, and considers the implications for law and legal scholarship.

Komorek, Ewa (Trinity College Dublin, komoreke@tcd.ie)
The European Union and the Regulation of Media Concentration in the Era of Convergence
The phenomenon of convergence has been one of the main driving forces behind the recent changes in the media sector. The coming together of traditionally separate media, resulting in text, sound, video and voice becoming one “multimedia” product, has created wide possibilities for media companies.
This has lead to a “merger mania” in the media sector in the 1990s, which crossed the national borders leading to the internationalisation of media concentration problem. As noted by the former Competition Commissioner Mario Monti “the sector has moved towards the concentration which seems inevitably to accompany globalisation” (Mario Monti, Commissioner for Competition Policy, “Does EC competition policy help or hinder the European audiovisual and telecoms industries?”, British Screen Advisory Council, The Cavendish Conference Centre, London, 26 November 2001) Convergence allows media companies to seek not only the economies of scale but for the first time also the economies of scope which create a possibility to use the same product in a number of different ways. In the era of “dotcom bubble” the “Create once, Place everywhere” motto dominated the media sector. Media companies embarked on unprecedented process of horizontal as well as vertical integration with content providers and telecommunications companies.
Growing concentration in the media sector posed a challenge for the European Union’s lawmakers. In the 1990s the European Commission explored the possibilities of introducing a legislation aimed at controlling media concentration levels in Europe. However, the Commission proved to be a battlefront of priorities. Calls for liberalisation in the 1997 Green Paper on the “Convergence of the Telecommunications, Media and Information Technology” (Commission of the European Communities, Green Paper on the Convergence of the Telecommunications, media and Information Technology, and the Implications for Regulations, towards an Information Society Approach”, COM(97)623) clashed with the desire to secure smooth functioning of the Internal Market and the political and cultural concerns caused by growing media concentration (two proposals for a media ownership directive in mid 1990s).
Failure to reach consensus resulted in the current lack of any positive EU legislation in the field. It seems that the arguments for liberalisation have succeeded in the European Commission and the prevailing policy direction nowadays is deregulation of media markets to facilitate convergence.
EU competition law remains the only tool available to tackle media concentrations having European dimension. The renowned convergence-driven mergers between Kirch and Bertelsmann, AOL and Time Warner, Vivendi and Universal, Vivendi and Vodafone or Endemol and Telefonica, provide a possibility to check how this tool is used to solve competition problems posed by vertical integration of media companies.
Non-economic concerns of growing media concentration in Europe are left for the Member States to solve. The question is – “is this enough”? And if the answer is “No” – what the European Union could and should do.
In summary, convergence has triggered a wave of concentration in the media sector in Europe. Current liberal approach of the European Union aims at facilitating the progress of convergence. Thus, the issue of threats posed by media concentration, other than those which may be solved by applying EC competition law, is conspicuously missing from the debate. This should be viewed as a serious omission.

Kostakopoulou, Dora (University of Manchester, dora.kostakopoulou@manchester.ac.uk)
The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and the EU's Constitutional Dialogue
The paper will map the evolution of justice and home affairs cooperation by paying attention to the process of incremental-transformative change culminating in the provisions of the Constitutional Treaty. By bringing JHA cooperation in line with the Community method, the Constitutional Treaty brought about the most significant institutional innovations in this area. It has redesigned Justice and Home Affairs, boosted the efficiency and effectiveness of cooperation and has addressed important deficits with regard to democracy, judicial supervision, transparency, coherence and complexity. Although the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty has stalled, it is, nevertheless, the case that its provisions have made an important contribution to the constitutional dialogue surrounding the area of freedom, security and justice. It is true to say that preserving these institutional innovations will not be easy. Nor could possible activation of Article 42 EU provide a comprehensive and  viable solution. And although it would be wrong to assume that the absence of a Constitutional Treaty will lead to either stagnation or inaction in this area, its provisions are bound to exert a deep influence on the continuing conversation about institutional reform in the area of freedom, security and justice. By setting up a pattern of institutional reform within the bounds of possibility, the Constitutional Treaty is very likely to prompt a close reflection on the procedural, institutional and substantive weaknesses of AFSJ, thereby making the retention of the Treaty of Nice framework a problematic option. Whether these ideas and institutional reforms will find their fullest and lasting expression in a treaty amendment or a constitutional treaty in the future remains to be seen.

Mac Sithigh, Daithi (Trinity College Dublin, macsithd@tcd.ie)
Web Media: Without Frontiers, Without Borders, or without law?
The European Union's Televsion Without Frontiers (TWF) Directive, adopted in 1989, has been the subject of academic analysis within many disciplines, including law, economics and sociology.  As originally adopted, it attempted to create a single regulatory system for television broadcasting across the then EC.  It is one of the most significant examples of cross-border media regulation in the world.  In December 2005, after lengthy consultation, the European Commission put forward a proposal to modify the TWF Directive which would include expanding its remit to now regulate certain 'webcasting' and online audiovisual activities. 
I will discuss the consequences of this proposal as a case study on how existing regulatory structures can be applied to Web-based content, and also compare this sector with online radio, which raises many interesting issues but is primarily regulated through copyright law.  The experiences of the past 17 years of TV regulation, as interpreted by media scholars in particular, will be summarised, and the different role of the US Federal Communications Commission will also be presented.  Finally, I will be considering the technological problems faced by regional regulatory systems on the Internet.

McCauley, Darren (Queen’s University Belfast, dmccauley03@qub.ac.uk)
Responding to Europeanisation? French Environmentalism and an ‘Excluding’ State
This paper will examine changes in environmentalism in France through applying notions of Europeanisation. In prelude to empirical research in this area, it will be argued that ideas of ‘pressure’ and ‘usage’ from literature on Europeanisation are fundamental to understanding the activities of French environmental groups. 
In the 1970s, environmentalism was an area of significant interest within the context of a French environmental community militantly opposed to a state program for nuclear power. The catastrophic failure of budding environmental groups to campaign successfully resulted in the emergence of an overbearing centralised state within environmental policy and the consequent absorption of environmental representation by mainstream parties. Yet, environmental groups in France are becoming professional strategic lobbyists, as well as avid campaigners in ‘altermondialiste’ (anti-globalisation) and anti-GMO activities. Firstly, this paper will argue that the four key models of French state-group relations (pluralism, corporatism, policy networks and protest) have largely become insufficient. Drawing upon elements found within these traditional models, it will maintain, secondly, that combining notions of Social Movement Theory and Europeanisation may prove insightful to understanding how French environmentalism is dealing with an ‘excluding’ state.

McGowan, Lee (Queens University Belfast, l.mcgowan@qub.ac.uk)
Theorising Regional Integration in the European Union: Does Competition Policy Represent an EU Prototype or just an Exception?
When Ernst B. Haas presented neo-functionalism as a theory of regional integration in the late 1950s in his analysis of the European Coal and Steel Community his approach seemed both highly innovative and plausible. However, events in the 1960s and 1970s dulled both interest in this approach and led to subsequent revisions and reinterpretations. Although it enjoyed a renaissance in the wake of the single market in the 1980s it is generally regarded in retrospect, that Haas’s approach, although intriguing, was overambitious. It did not fully account for member state preferences and is in essence a theory of elite integration. Yet, although no serious commentator on EU affairs endorses the 1950’s definition of NF in its entirety it should not be dismissed so casually. Something was happening and radical and revolutionary advances were being in terms of supranational governance. This paper explores the evolution of competition policy against the backdrop of the neo-functionalist literature. It seeks to advance a stronger awareness of competition policy among regional integration theorists as this policy has long served as the best example of regional and supranational integration and also, to encourage competition policy researchers to delve deeper into regional integration theories. At its core this paper considers whether EC competition policy is an exception or a prototype for other aspects of regional integration.

Monaghan, Elizabeth (University of Nottingham, liz.monaghan@nottingham.ac.uk)
Organised Civil Society and Communicating Europe to the Citizens
The Commission’s 2006 White Paper on Communication is the latest in a series of high profile, rhetoric-heavy documents outlining the importance of connecting the EU institutions with citizens, and the involvement of civil society in this endeavour. The use of communication, and more specifically the need to raise awareness of EU issues among citizens, as a means of closing the gap between the EU and its citizens is nothing new, and was a feature of the post-Nice ‘debate on the future of the EU’ initiative. Here too, organised civil society was identified as an agent for this awareness-raising process. Furthermore, contemporary democratic theories outline the importance of an informed and educated citizenry to a healthy democracy. This paper examines the proposals set out in the White Paper and analyses their prospects for success by drawing upon research into the role of civil society organisations in the post-Nice, pre-Constitution debates. It examines the perspectives of the organisations themselves on their capacity and willingness to ‘communicate Europe to the citizens’, and compares this with their capacity to encourage democratic linkage using alternative mechanisms of participation and representation. It concludes that whilst certain organisations have the potential to play an important awareness-raising role there are limitations on the grounds efficiency and democracy.

O’Loghlin, Sinéad (Trinity College Dublin, sinead.ologhlin@dilloneustace.ie)
The EU Framework for Content Regulation in a converged Media Market
Communications is a connective infrastructure underpinning the EU’s economy. Its efficient regulation at EU level is central to any regime created to guarantee the interstate free movement of information and media services.
The regulation of media services poses significant challenges to Europe’s legislators given the rapid technological advancement in an ever converging market for electronic communications and broadcasting services. The regulatory framework also has to take account of the traditional market for hardcopy media.  These challenges include the conflicting interests of Member State and supranational jurisdiction particularly concerning plurality and cultural diversity while not distorting competition between hardcopy and electronic means of communication.
I propose to discuss the EU’s early legislative approach to the regulation of media content and in particular the delivery of content over broadcasting technologies and to examine the policies and laws which currently underlie the EU’s strategy for regulating media content in a modern society.

Pedersen, Frands (University of Westminster, pedersf@wmin.ac.uk)
The Cartoon Controversy: The Failure Danish and/or EU Public Diplomacy?
Public diplomacy has been conceived as the public face of traditional diplomacy (Ross 2002).  It includes government sponsored activities intended to inform and influence, i.e. to cultivate, public opinion in other countries. More broadly defined public diplomacy may include the interaction between private individuals and interests, and the activities of mass communication media. This area of activity has become increasingly important, indeed critical, for the successful achievement of state foreign policy goals.
On 30 September 2005 a Danish daily newspaper published 12 cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. Danish Muslim organisations organised protests. The Danish government refused to apologise on the grounds of free speech. By February 2006 the protests had spread to more than 40 countries. Foreign ministries of eleven Islamic states had demanded the Danish government take action against the newspaper, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference had called for UN sanctions, several Danish embassies (along with some other Scandinavian and EU embassies) had either been closed or set ablaze by protesters, and Danish exports were facing an unprecedented consumer boycott.
The paper critically discusses the Danish government’s public diplomacy strategy in relation to the cartoon controversy. It argues that the principled stance of the Danish government only in part explains the deterioration in Denmark’s diplomatic relations: the Danish authorities (and the public alike) also failed to anticipate the strength of the anti-Danish sentiment that would follow the publication of the deliberately insensitive cartoons, as well as the controversy the issue would cause throughout the European Union. Furthermore, they failed to appreciate the risks the publication posed to Danish interests by the interaction of domestic and foreign actors opposed to the Danish government’s position. However, a question remains: should the European Union have played a more active role in defusing the controversy?

Rees, Wyn (University of Nottingham, wyn.rees@nottingham.ac.uk)
Externalising the EU’s Internal Security Regime
The EU has been engaged in the process of constructing an internal security regime. This regime has been aimed at countering a variety of threats including international crime, drug trafficking and, particularly after 9/11, international terrorism. The EU has sought to use a range of policy instruments such as law enforcement, judicial action and intelligence sharing. It has come to find that its internal security activities have important external dimensions. This paper will investigate these issues.

Sfaelos, Panagiotis (psfaelos@yahoo.co.uk)
The EU Anti-Terrorist Legislation and its Implications: Enhancing Security or Limiting Democracy?
This paper is concerned with the anti-terrorist legislation adopted by the EU in order to respond to the international fight against terrorism. The increasing terrorist activities over the last five years (New York, Madrid, London) have led the EU to intensify its anti-terrorist agenda. The question here is whether these anti-terrorist laws could compromise the values upon which the Union has based its very existence: ‘respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights’ (EU Constitution, Article I-2). The existence of democracy and civil liberties has meant that state power is exercised without interfering with individual rights and freedoms. After long struggles and conflicts, civil liberties are now codified in the constitutions of liberal democracies. The protection of human rights has also been a crucial accomplishment in post-war Europe, as the atrocities of World War II reinforced the need for human rights protection at international level. The EU has shown its respect for the above values by adopting the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, included in the EU Constitution, and by consistently defending human rights on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the constitutional traditions of the Member States. In order to preserve the above values, which have been consistently defended for the last 60 years, the EU’s anti-terrorist agenda has to find a balance between security and democracy. The need to fight terrorist activities is rightly a priority today. Nevertheless, efforts should be made so that democratic rights and freedoms are not violated. All the recent legislative developments in the area of security and terrorism, including the relevant provisions of the Schengen Information System II, are discussed in this paper in order to assess their implications for the Union and its people.

Smismans, Stijn (University of Trento, smismans@libero.it)
Joint paper with Nieves Pérez-Solórzano     
The European Union and the Promotion of Social Dialogue in the New Member States
The development of social dialogue is an integral part of the acquis communautaire.  The Treaty requires that social dialogue be promoted and gives additional powers to the social partners.  Therefore, the new Member States (NMS) are expected to develop autonomous and representative social dialogue at the national level while ensuring that the social partners are able to undertake their responsibilities at the EU level.  Since 1991 all NMS have changed the regulatory framework of their social dialogue procedures.  Yet these do not guarantee sufficient independence on the part of the social partners and are heavily influenced by a long-standing tripartite tradition.  This paper will discuss the initiatives launched by the European Union and the European social partners to strengthen social partnership in the New Member States from Central and Eastern Europe.  Specifically, this paper will seek to determine the success of these initiatives in assisting social partners in their capacity building efforts; in developing an autonomous, representative bipartite social dialogue in the region; and in supporting the involvement of the NMS' social partners in the social dialogue activities at the European level.

Stegmann McCallion, Malin (University College Dublin, malin.mccallion@ucd.ie)
Multi-Level Governance in Sweden? An Analysis of the Regional Growth Programmes
This paper will examine changes in Swedish regional policy through the multi-level governance perspective. Regional partnerships have, since Sweden took on EU membership, been brought into the national regional policy with the creation of a new regional industrial policy. Thus, multi-level governance (MLG) as a practice has been established in Sweden. Adopting MLG as a conceptual framework, this case study then paints a picture of an evolving polity where powers between actors are uneasily shared.
This case study of decentralisation of regional policy in Sweden can provide evidence of some utility to the current literature on multi-level governance; regional-level actors mobilised to access EU funds and to gain a greater role in national decision-making because they perceived both an unfair domestic distribution of resources and an insufficient level of willingness to redress this situation at central government level. Second, the present study provides some evidence regarding the inter-linkage of change at different levels of governance though its identification of a network of actors that sought and secured change. It does so by answering the questions posed by dividing the multi-level governance concept into both vertical and horizontal dimensions, where multi-level refers to the increased interdependence of governments operating at different territorial levels, while governance has signalled the growing interdependence between governments and non-governmental actors at various territorial levels.

Stoykova, Pavlina (The University of Manchester, pavlina.stoykova@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk)
Europeanisation of Policy-Making in South-Eastern Europe: The Case of Bulgaria
Over the past two decades the established patterns of executive-legislative relations in the European Union member states has been challenged by the realities of Europeanisation. Subsequently, this stirred vigorous academic debate. Recently, substantive amount of studies have shifted their attention to the impact of European integration on the former communist accession countries. However, as yet, their findings are confined to the first wave of applicants from East Central Europe and the case of the South-East European countries remains largely unexplored. In this paper, therefore, I shall seek to open up this debate through an empirical study of how and why their national polity actors incorporate the impact of the EU accession process. More specifically, using the Republic of Bulgaria as a case study, I examine why the leverage of the parliament and government on the national policy-making process has been particularly susceptive to the effects of Europeanisation. The paper draws on in-depth interviews with Bulgarian government officials, MPs, academics and on substantive research in the archives of the National Assembly. Its findings could contribute to the analysis of the CEECs dynamics in a comparative perspective and could help us to understand the processes of Europeanisation of national polities in general.

Verges-Bausili,  Anna (University of Manchester, anna.verges@manchester.ac.uk)
Joint paper with Aileen McLeod
Legitimating EU Governance through National and Devolved Parliaments in the EU: The Case of the UK Parliament and the Scottish Parliament
This paper seeks to examine the institutional role of domestic legislatures in the legitimation of EU policy at national and devolved levels of governance and in particular it seeks to consider the development of democratic institutions and issues of influence/impact by examining various structural changes that have been introduced to try and encourage active engagement by national and devolved parliaments in EU governance.
The paper will adopt a case study approach with the focus primarily on the UK Houses of Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. Using empirical evidence it will examine:
(1) mainstreaming EU issues into the UK & Scottish domestic agendas
(2) development of mechanisms for influencing & engaging with the EU, e.g. COSAC, opening of parliamentary offices in Brussels, role of MEPs

(3) institutional development at the pre-legislative stage of the EU policy process, and in particular the implications for domestic legislatures of the introduction of deliberative-like tools such as impact assessments, the appraisal of subsidiarity, etc.

Vykoupilova, Hana (Masaryk University, Czech Republic, vykoupilova@fss.muni.cz)
Political Parties in the Czech Republic and their Attitudes to European Federalism
The issue of European federalism is deeply discussed by social scientists as well as by politicians from EU-member states. In respect to the process of European constitution ratification it is obvious that the EU integration trajectory is not clear in these days. Attitudes to European federalism vary across Europe as well as across political parties within one country. Czech political parties´ attitudes to the European federalism are interesting for numerous reasons. Firstly, the Czech Republic represents a new member state in the EU. Second, the Czech Republic is one of the states with its own experience with federalism, which was finished in the beginning of 90. Third, the Czech Republic is a state with deep tradition of European federalism thinking.
The paper deals with several questions. First, how important is the issue of European federalism for Czech political parties? Second, are the parties’ attitudes to European federalism based rather on an ideology or on a strategy? Third, how do the parties define the European federalism?
For answer the research questions were used following methods: parties’ programs analysis, parties experts’ judgments as well as methods of description and comparison.

Wilk, Katarzyna (Yale University, katarzyna.wilk@yale.edu)
What is Responsible for Variation of Citizens’ Attitudes to the EU: Country Pre-Accession Situation, Social Determinants or Social Mechanisms?
This paper offers a general theory of citizens’ attitudes towards the EU and its empirical test for 20 European countries, including transitional and non-transitional ones. A multilevel cross-national analysis, based on a European Social Survey data, takes into account a path-dependency argument and shows that a country pre-accession situation, such as different types of transition or a lack of transition, matters for citizens’ attitudes to the EU. It demonstrates that among societies that experienced a transition, the split between transitional winners and losers remains a significant factor in formation of opinions about the EU. However, not all transitional winners are fond of the EU and not all losers oppose it. This relationship depends on a type of transition experienced prior to the EU accession. This paper, in addition, to uncover mechanisms responsible for formation of attitudes to the EU focuses on two dual transition countries -- Hungary and Poland. A qualitative analysis indicates that for those two countries, despite a similar pre-accession situation and a similar level of opposition towards the EU among different social categories, mechanisms shaping citizens’ opinions on the EU are different.

Wilkinson, Mike (University of Manchester, michael.wilkinson@manchester.ac.uk)
Sovereignty, Constitutionalism and Constitutional Dialogue in the EU
The history of post-war European integration has witnessed a precarious balancing act on core constitutional questions raised by the 'new legal order of the EU' and the process of constitutionalisation. This is a process that is reflected 'juridically' in the dialogue between constitutional courts and the ECJ on the one hand and 'politically' in the dialogue between political actors and the general public on the other.
From a theoretical perspective there is an oscillation between political questions of sovereignty/authority and legal questions of constitutionalism/rule of law. The question this paper seeks to explore is the extent to which these should be seen as separate or interconnected phenomena.
For instance, since Maastricht in particular there has been talk of a crisis of legitimacy in the EU, much of which focused on the question of the 'demos'. How does this affect the legal questions raised by the supremacy of EU law with regard to its putative authority? Or, in light of the recent troubles facing the Constitutional Treaty, what are the implications, if any, for the authority of European law or European constitutionalism of failure to ratify a European constitution?

Last modified: Thursday, 24 August 2006
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