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Exchanging Ideas on Europe 2007
Common Values - External Policies
UACES 37th Annual Conference and 12th Research Conference

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 | Session 7 | Main Programme

Monday, 3 September 2007 (13:45-15:15)

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

Bache, Ian (University of Sheffield, i.bache[a]sheffield.ac.uk)

Joint paper with Andrew Geddes, Charles Lees & Andrew Taylor

Multi-level Governance in South East Europe: Institutional Innovation and Adaptation in Croatia, Greece, Macedonia and Slovenia

This paper introduces a new project which asks if political engagement with the European Union (EU) has changed the nature of domestic policy-making and promoted ‘multi-level governance’ in South East Europe. The project examines developments between 1995 and 2007 in four south east European countries, whose engagement with the EU is at different stages: one that one state that has been a member of the EU throughout the period (Greece); one that joined roughly mid-way through the period being studied (Slovenia), another that is projected to join (Croatia); and one that has a prospect of membership (Macedonia). It compares the changing nature of policy-making in relation to three areas of policy: social and economic cohesion; environment; and migration and population movement.
This paper presents the conceptual approach to the project, developing a framework for analysing the extent to which there is evidence of a growing interdependence between governmental and non-governmental actors across from national, subnational and international levels (i.e., multi-level governance) and the extent to which this can be attributed to engagement with the EU.

Blease, Dennis (Joint Force Command, Naples, Italy, dblease[a]afsouth.nato.int)

NATO and the EU: Security Sector Reform Partners or Rivals Within the Western Balkans?

NATO and the EU have cooperated closely on the ground within the Western Balkans for a number of years. Each organization has used the prospect of closer relations and ultimately membership as a lever to advance reforms, including within the security sector. The tools used have been different but there has been a common desire of both NATO and the EU (and of course the respective host nations) in seeing stable, secure, democratic, prosperous and peaceful countries in the Region. Unfortunately, the key limitation to their cooperation appears to have been their institutional rivalry in Brussels. This paper seeks to provide the context for this rivalry, the roles that each organization currently plays within Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Region, and will offer some suggestions for improving their cooperation as the organizations develop their future SSR policy and roles. Particular note will be taken of their respective approaches within Kosovo as the international community seeks to resolve its future status.

Butler, Eamonn (University of Glasgow, e.butler[a]lbss.gla.ac.uk)

Assessing Accession: Hungary and the Promotion of Minority Rights within the EU

According to Hungary’s 2004-2006 Government Programme, (New Dynamism for Hungary!), the key aim of Hungary’s EU accession is to ‘exploit’ its membership to ‘enforce’ its national interests. One of Hungary’s main national interests is to ensure the rights of ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring states. Hungary recognises that the promotion of minority rights within the EU provides it with a useful political and legal mechanism to ensure the rights of ethnic Hungarians ‘beyond the borders’. Prior to accession, Hungary actively promoted minority rights within the EU, as evidenced by its championing of the inclusion of minority rights in the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. Although the Constitution currently lies dormant, Hungary continues to regard the EU as the most effective means of promoting the minority rights issue. However, not all EU members support this potential deepening of EU policy into the area of minority rights. Taking into account Hungary’s three years of EU membership, this paper will firstly examine the extent to which Hungary has managed to exploit its membership to promote minority rights within the EU as a means to ‘enforce’ its nation policy. Secondly, it will question what this means for Hungary’s power position not only within the regional context of Hungary and its near neighbours, but also as a relatively new member state attempting to position itself within a much larger and increasingly dynamic EU.

Carl, Jenny (University of Southampton, jcarl[a]soton.ac.uk)

The EU and Sub-State Parliaments: Discursive Links between European Integration, Questions of Sovereignty and Constitutional Status

This paper derives from a study of plenary debates of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish regional parliaments during their first term of office, 1999-2004, and it looks at representations of the general principle of European integration and EU affairs in those debates.
It argues that debates focus on the general principle of European integration, its desirability, and questions of sovereignty, good governance and constitutional design rather than the mundane aspects of day to day EU affairs. This enables political actors to deliberate on democratic representation and conduct and achievements of the respective regional executive, Central Government and EU institutions, to sharpen their political profile, and to stake claims to legitimacy of government both among ruling parties and the opposition.
In particular, the subject discourse on European integration has two functions. First it allows for expressions of idealistic identification with Europe and the EU; second, it supports and strengthens the institutional discourse about the legitimacy of the regional parliaments’ existence and functioning. Both spheres of discourse are intertwined and influence one another rather than merely coexisting with each other. This may have implications for the future of the UK’s constitutional arrangements, even though the extent of identification with European integration differs between Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Daddow, Oliver (Loughborough University, o.j.daddow[a]lboro.ac.uk)

Finding New Labour Through Discourse: Perspectives, Problems and Opportunities

The 1997 New Labour government set about modernising British foreign policy by devising new ways of conceptualising, making and talking about Britain’s role in the world. First, in May 1997 Foreign Secretary Robin Cook famously announced that he wanted to give British foreign policy an ‘ethical dimension’. Second, in April 1999 the Prime Minister set out his ‘doctrine of the international community’ in which he spelt out the multifarious security challenges posed to individual nation states by global interdependence and the ‘circumstances in which we should get actively involved in other people’s conflicts’. Finally, Chancellor Gordon Brown has returned time and again to the potential gains to be had from exploiting what he calls the ‘British genius’ on the world stage.
New ways of representing foreign policy, together with a sophisticated communications strategy on the part of the government since 1997 demands new ways of researching British foreign policy. In this paper I consider two questions arising from this challenge: first of all, what can discourse analysis contribute to political research in general? Second, how can we design a workable research programme into New Labour’s European policy that has discourse analysis at its very centre?

Davies, Bleddyn Rhys (University of Liverpool, bleddyn.davies[a]liv.ac.uk)

The Future of Judicial Protection in the Third Pillar of EU Law?

The third pillar of European Union law has been criticized for its lack of a strong judicial protection regime. The constitutional framework surrounding the EU law governing police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters is severely lacking in the kind of protections traditionally associated with any form of criminal justice system, and has most recently come under fire from the Adovcates General of the Court of Justice.
This paper will argue that the opinions of the Advocates General in two recent cases, C-354/04 P Segi and Case C-303/05 The European Arrest Warrant Case, are beginning to point at the evolution of a highly peculiar legal sub-order within the European Union. While it is acknowledged that it is essential to reform the third pillar in order to properly safeguard human rights, it must be done properly. The Treaties must be reformed to give effect to a democratically sound system, based on fundamental rights and the rule of law. The intention of this paper is to give some thought to the way in which that might be achieved and the extent to which it will prove both possible and appropriate to seek reform through secondary legislation and judicial creativity.

Flood, Chris  (University of Surrey, c.flood[a]surrey.ac.uk)

Joint paper with Stephen Hutchings, Galina Miazhevich & Henri Nickels

Framing Islam as Security Threat in British, French and Russian TV News Broadcasts

This paper analyses preliminary results from the first phase of a three-year, AHRC-funded project based on regular monitoring of the main evening news bulletins and other current affairs programmes on France 2, BBC 1 and Russia’s First Channel. The paper examines the framing of Islam as security threat both in connection with the international ‘war on terror’ and with domestic issues concerning immigration/integration of Muslim ethnic minorities, as well as the perceived linkages between these two spheres. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods to compare similarities/differences in discursive and visual coverage on the three channels (relative salience, recurrent themes, naming of actors/roles, interpretation, etc.) the paper will highlight the distinctive characteristics of each, while at the same time pointing towards shared European perceptions and representations of Islamic social groups within and outside Europe’s borders. The central question underlying the paper will be to enquire how, and to what extent, the three countries define themselves as European in contra­distinction to the Islamic Other.

Furness, Mark (Free University Berlin, Germany, m.furness[a]jmc-berlin.org)

Joint paper with Thilo Bodenstein

The Edges of External Governance: Europe and its Mediterranean Neighbours

The launch of the ENP in 2004 followed the disappointment of a decade of Euro-Mediterranean relations under the Barcelona process. This paper asks whether the new policy represents a major departure from the old, and consequently whether the ENP can be expected to succeed where the EMP has failed.
The main part of the paper discusses four key areas where the Barcelona Process struggled. In each case the paper identifies where EU policy has changed and where it has not, and offers five policy recommendations for increasing the prospects of success.
The paper finds that the ENP has introduced minor changes in all four areas, but is still plagued by weaknesses that undermine its effectiveness. The most striking changes – the sidelining of the multilateral track and the introduction of a single concept (the ‘ring of friends’) for a vast region – have not been complemented by significant improvements in rewards or conditionality, an outcome of an EU decision-making process which has also not improved. On balance, the ENP has potential to develop into a successful framework, but there is work to be done.

Knudsen, Ann Christina (University of Aarhus, Denmark, alknudsen[a]hum.au.dk)

Delegating Budgetary Authority to the European Parliament, 1965-1970

Principal-agency theory is useful for analysing why states delegate powers to EU institutions, and the degree to which the member states seek to control the European agents that they create. The question of who should be given budgetary authority is often a contested one in political systems. This was certainly also the case in the discussions over the degree of budgetary authority to be given to the supranational institutions settled in April 1970. It was a complex discussion for several reasons. In focus was the highly controversial model for financing the Community through ‘own resources’, i.e., the proposal to create autonomous financial revenue. Moreover, the delegation issues involved both the future roles of the Commission and the EP, and their authority over the Community’s own resources. Based on extensive new primary archival sources, this paper examines the arguments by the main political actors from 1965-1970 over delegating budgetary authority to the supranational institutions. The purpose is to nuance the way in which principal-agency theory can be applied to the study of the supranational institutions, and to provide new insights into the negotiation of the EU’s fiscal constitution, as the April 1970 is also called.

Kocak, Yaman (University of Sheffield, pop04yk[a]shef.ac.uk)

Multi-level Governance through Europeanisation? The Establishment of Regional Development Agencies in Turkey

Since Turkey gained EU ‘candidate status’ with the decision of Helsinki Summit in 1999, legal and institutional reforms have proceeded rapidly. The prospect of EU membership has marked a significant increase in the influence of EU policies on domestic economic, political, legal and institutional changes in Turkey. Turkey has committed itself to the necessary adjustments necessary to meet EU criteria and to comply with the EU acquis. This has raised much interest in the extent to which a process of Europeanisation is taking place in Turkey.
In the field of regional policy, the EU requires that candidate countries have or develop sufficient governance capacity for effective policy delivery at the regional level. In response to this requirement, Turkey established regional development agencies (RDAs) for the first time in January 2006. This paper considers whether the creation of RDAs provides evidence of multi-level governance in Turkey and assesses the extent to which this should be understood as a process of Europeanisation.

Kochenov, Dimitry (University of Groningen, The Netherlands, d.kochenov[a]rug.nl)

Citizenship, Participation, and Exclusivity: The Mutating Essence of the European Citizenship Status in the Light of Directive 2003/109/EC and Case C-145/04 Spain v. UK

Gaining in importance as a meaningful legal status, the citizenship of the EU is simultaneously losing in exclusivity: more and more rights that previously were reserved for the EU citizens are now enjoyed by those who are not in possession of such status. How exclusive should EU citizenship remain? Should the body of EU citizens cover all those who presently de facto enjoy some of EU citizenship rights? Notwithstanding its derivative nature, EU citizenship is linked to a number of important rights, especially free-movement and political participation. The development by the ECJ of remarkable citizenship case-law has proven citizenship’s potential to influence ratione personae of European law and be a source of meaningful rights for EU citizens, marking the first phase of European citizenship development. The second phase started very recently with the adoption of Directive 2003/109/EC, granting limited free-movement rights to the third country nationals residing in the Union. Further development came with the ECJ ruling in Spain v. UK decided in September 2006, where the Court clarified that the Member States themselves are free to determine the scope of persons able to take part in the elections of the EP, not constrained by the scope of EU citizenship. Coupled with the rights to participate in municipal elections enjoyed by permanently resident third country nationals in a number of Member States, these developments mean that the exclusivity of EU citizenship is fading away. Adopting Arendt’s view of citizenship as a ‘right to have rights’, EU citizenship rights are not anymore uniquely attached to the status of an EU citizen, bringing residence to the fore. Non-citizens permanently resident in the EU also have (albeit limited) right to have rights. This amounts to a revolution in the understanding of citizenship in Europe. The legal status of up to 30.000.000 persons who reside in the EU and are not in possession of the nationality of any of the Member States is gradually changing. How important is exclusivity for the creation of a meaningful citizenship status? Should the boundaries of European citizenship be reassessed in order to welcome all those who already enjoy certain key citizenship rights as new citizens of Europe? What is the potential of such development? Numerous arguments for such redefinition of post-national citizenship will be presented.

Hammermann, Felix (Kiel Institute for the World Economy)

Joint paper with Mark Flanagan

Law, David (Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Switzerland, d.law[a]dcaf.ch)

A Concept Makes its Way through the Institutions: SSR at the OECD, the EU and the UN

Since 2004, several intergovernmental organisations have taken steps to integrate Security Sector Reform (SSR) in their activities in developing, transition and post-conflict countries. Primary among them have been the OECD, the EU and the United Nations. This paper will review and compare the reasons for their interest in SSR as well as the approach they have adopted towards the concept and the norms for security sector governance they have developed as part of this process. The paper will also offer a provisional assessment of the organisations' attempts to mainstream SSR in their activities in the field. The conclusions will focus on additional measures they may need to envisage in order to optimise their work on the ground.

Leontitsis, Vasilis (University of Sheffield, v.leontitsis[a]sheffield.ac.uk)

Promoting Multi-Level Governance Type I in Greece: The Lessons of Learning

The paper explores the territorial restructuring that has taken place in Greece since the beginning of the 1980s. Specifically, it investigates the mechanisms of change and the role of Europeanisation in the whole process. Europeanisation must be taken into account in order to understand the unfolding of the phenomenon. However, it should be co-examined with other, mainly domestic, factors. Learning has been a crucial aspect of the phenomenon. More importantly, the way it has taken place (i.e. whether it has taken the form of single-loop or social learning) has been of paramount significance for the final outcome of the reforms and their longevity. Thus, it is important to try to identify patterns of single-loop or social learning and where they derive from. A more complete picture of the territorial restructuring in Greece should discuss issues of learning, the way they have fed into decentralisation and the role of Europeanisation and of other causal factors in triggering the whole process.

McGowan, Lee (Queen’s University Belfast, l.mcgowan[a]qub.ac.uk)

War and Peace: An Assessment of the Commission’s Strategic Approach Towards International Cartels with Reference to Competition Policy and Industrial Policy Considerations

Fewer areas of contemporary European public policy may appear so initially unappealing than the study of both competition and industrial policy. Both, however, are fascinating in their own right and go to the very heart of economic governance. They matter and when considered together reveal the different strategies that have been pursued by Western European governments since 1945 to bolster economic growth and competitiveness. Accounting for the misfit between significance and actual interest may find explanation in a variety of factors: Partly in the substantial volume of material on both; partly, the more dominant presence of other academic disciplines, notably economics and law, in these two areas and partly, the salience of more seemingly attractive policy areas. Competition and industrial policies matter. They have been en vogue at both different time periods and deployed to varying degrees across states. Which approach is better served to promote employment and secure prosperity has until recently been a major bone of contention in the respective views of capitalism and government/industry relations in the states of Western Europe (consider the contrasting position in France and the United Kingdom). The assumption is that competition policy has gradually exerted itself as the dominant force while industrial policy considerations have diminished. Do such views hold? This paper explores both policies and accounts for the rational behind them at the European level in relation specifically to cartels and sets their changing fortunes within the context of an increasingly globalized environment

Melnykovska, Inna (Free University Berlin, Germany, inna.melnykovska[a]ifw-kiel.de)

Who You Gonna Call? Tycoons as Driving Forces of Institutional Change towards Democracy and Market Economy in Ukraine

Although the EU was successful in shaping institution building in most central and eastern European countries the limits of EU capacities to accept new members are evident. The “carrot” of membership could not be used any more to push for the institutional development in the post-Soviet countries. As a consequence, external incentives for institutional reforms as a “top-down” process are much weaker for the countries falling under the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy. Only institutional reforms implemented by domestic forces in a “bottom-up” way are possible. Taking into account the increasing trade between the EU and the European CIS countries, the economic actors could become driving forces of institutional development towards the EU standards.
Ukraine is a case in point. The economic actors ̶ called oligarchs, ̶ who have blocked reforms in post-Soviet countries either through their influence on or direct involvement in political power, are the driving force behind the regime change and implementation of reforms during and after the Orange Revolution. The paper defines preferences, behavioural rules and strategies of the economic actors driving the institutional change in Ukraine.
The paper argues, that the economic actors in Ukraine transform through learning processes away from the insecurities of informal institutions and under the pressure of the new global rules from roving to stationary bandits. They are striving for good institutions like political stability and security of property rights.

Miettinen, Samuli (Edge Hill University, miettines[a]edgehill.ac.uk)

Joint paper with Peter Langford

Extradition, the European Arrest Warrant and Fundamental Rights: The Perspectives of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights

The process of extradition through which an individual who resides within a state is at the request of another state surrendered and transferred to that other state to face criminal proceedings, is intimately connected with the wider questions of common values and external policies within Europe. The process of extradition as a formal legal procedure recognises that the relationship between the extraditing state and the individual cannot simply be reduced to a process of communication between states. It is the regulation of this process by a formal legal procedure which represents the acknowledgment that certain fundamental, individual rights are embedded within the process of extradition. Despite this, the European Arrest Warrant has been interpreted as a procedure that is based on mutual recognition and a strong if not absolute presumption that few, if any, possibilities exist for the judicial scrutiny of a surrender request made under that procedure.
The purpose of this paper is to examine recent decisions of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights to identify the extent to which the formal legal procedure of extradition is considered to be shaped and underlain by notions of fundamental individual rights. In relation to the European Court of Justice, the focus will be upon the European Arrest Warrant, and its relationship with fundamental rights arising from the general principles of Union law. These will be compared with decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the field of extradition.

Papadopoulos, Anestis (London School of Economics and Political Science, a.papadopoulos[a]lse.ac.uk)

EU Competition Policy and the Possible Adoption of a Multilateral Agreement on Competition

The paper discusses the role of the EU competition policy with regard to the negotiations for a competition related multilateral agreement. In particular, it discusses the reasons that led to the proposal by the EU for a competition agreement within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) context in the mid 1990s. Furthermore, the paper observes the policies followed by the US and developing countries on this issue, and the way that the EU has responded to these policies by altering its initial proposal. Finally, the paper concludes by putting forward alternative solutions with regard to multilateral cooperation on competition, and especially the development of the debate in the context of the International Competition Network (ICN).

Phinnemore, David (Queen’s University, Belfast, d.phinnemore[a]qub.ac.uk)

Joint paper with Erhan Icener

Beyond 27: The Changing Dynamics of EU Enlargement and Lessons for Turkey

Analyses of the EU’s past enlargements, particularly the 2004 enlargement, have offered explanations of the rationales behind and the dynamics of enlargement with reference to a range of variables that draw on a mix of rationalist and constructivist perspectives. Comparative work on successive enlargements remains limited however, particularly where the dynamics of the process – questions of to whom and when – are concerned. Using the variables identified in existing works, notably geopolitics, state preferences, conditionality, identity, capacity, but with the addition of a further variable – the narrative frame – the paper compares the enlargements of 2004 and 2007 to produce an assessment of how the relative importance of the variables shifted during the course of what was presented as a single enlargement. In a second part, the paper provides an assessment of how the significance of each variable has shifted further in the context of the EU’s handling of enlargement beyond 27, notably where Turkey is concerned. The paper argues for a multi-dimensional approach to understanding the dynamics of EU enlargement.

Ramos, Cláudia Toriz (Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Portugal, cramos[a]ufp.pt)

The Construction of the European Polity: Theoretical Frameworks for the Analysis of Political Legitimation Discourse

This paper presents the goals, the theoretical inputs and the empirical focus of one of the two parts of an ongoing research project called «The construction of the European polity: a survey on theories of European integration».
First, it briefly addresses the guidelines of the project. Then, after presenting an overview of existing theories of European integration, the core of the article discusses the epistemological grounds created by the aforementioned theories for the delimitation of the discourse of political legitimation as a subject, as well as for the definition of an adequate research methodology. At the outset, it could be hypothesised that whereas classical theories allocated scarce causal potential to ideational dimensions in explaining European integration, recent contributions have broadened perspectives on the role of ideas and their constitutive effects, in the creation of the new polity. Furthermore, the philosophical grounds and methodological tools of discourse analysis shed new light on the subject as such. The paper ends by presenting the forthcoming steps of the research and the expected outcomes.

Rasmussen, Morten (Copenhagen University, mr[a]ifs.ku.dk)

Incipient Political System: Conceptualising Early EU History

Historical literature on European integration has until recently been dominated by a state-centred realist, approach. By drawing on recent institutionalist theory from the social sciences, this paper will reconceptualise the early history of the EU from 1952 to 1973 as an incipient political system. It sets out a new agenda for historical research on the EU which could constitute a basis for fruitful interdisciplinary cooperation between the social sciences and history. By asking questions inspired by social science theory and concepts, historians could make a major contribution with interesting empirical case study that refine and substantiate the often highly abstract social science terminology.

Rechel, Bernd (University of Birmingham, bernd.rechel[a]gmail.com)

Minority Rights and Conditionality: Why was the Impact of the EU on Accession Countries so Limited?

Using Bulgaria as a case study, this paper investigates what has limited the impact of the European Union (EU) on minority rights in accession countries. It is possible to identify a number of factors. They include the lack of internal minority rights standards, the emphasis on the acquis, the missing expertise on minority issues, the superficial monitoring of candidate states, the lacking concern for human rights, and the failure of addressing public attitudes towards minorities. The case of Bulgaria differed from its neighbors in the lacking involvement of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In the absence of HCNM recommendations, the EU refrained from pressing the minority rights agenda to the same level as in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Rye, Lise (University of Trondheim (NTNU), Norway, lise.rye[a]hf.ntnu.no)

The Origins of EC Information Policy (1958-1966)

Today’s Directorate General Communication may be traced back to 1953, when the High Authority began to publish monthly reports to inform about its activities. Five years later, the executives of what had then become three European communities decided that the Information service of the ECSC should be developed into a joint service for press and information. This paper analyses the events that took place in the wake of this decision. It argues that the early years of the common service were characterised by disagreement between the three executives, each eager to remain in control of information regarding their specific activities. Nevertheless, the service concentrated on communicating the idea of integration as a political project to unify Europeans. From 1958 onwards, the Hallstein Commission communicated this view rigorously, aggravating the tense institutional relationship between the Commission and the French President Charles de Gaulle.

Seidel, Katja (University of Portsmouth, katja.seidel[a]port.ac.uk)

Establishing an Economic Constitution for Europe: DG IV and the Origins of a Supranational Competition Policy

The European Commission has extensive powers in the field of competition policy. This paper focuses on the Directorate-General for Competition (DG IV) in the EEC Commission during the 1960s, in particular institutionalisation and socialisation processes. Identifying an institution’s (administrative) culture can help to explain its policy preference formation. The first Commissioner responsible for competition policy, Hans von der Groeben, developed a holistic competition concept in cooperation with expert networks, corresponding to the ordo-liberal notion of a Wirtschaftsverfassung, or economic constitution. Competition policy was seen as the coordinating instrument in the common market. Young officials entering DG IV had to familiarise themselves with this concept of competition and in particular, the ordo-liberal Freiburg School. The paper seeks to demonstrate that the officials’ adoption of von der Groeben’s ordo-liberal competition concept impacted in the long-term on the evolution of the EU’s competition policy.

Sydorak, Anna (University of Sussex, a.sydorak[a]sussex.ac.uk)

European Cooperation in Competition Policy: Efficiency and Public Interest vs. Bureaucratic Politics in Transatlantic Relations

Given their close trade and investment links EU-US antitrust relations are both highly developed and controversial. Disagreements between the EU and the US on the creation of a multilateral agreement on trade and competition at the WTO contributed to the failure of the talks to start negotiations. Notorious clashes between the EU and US authorities in merger cases such as GE-Honeywell, and Boeing-McDonnell Douglas are signs of rivalry between the two. Paradoxically, however DG Competition and US competition authorities say that their day to day cooperation is extremely good. Looking closer at this relationship one discovers, however, that extensive exchange of information in merger cases appears to be driven by waivers from firms wanting their merger to go through quickly. But despite being known as cartel enforcers, the EU and the US have not had such effective cooperation on international cartels. It remains to be explored whether this relationship is as idealised as the protagonists claim.
The paper discusses transatlantic antitrust cooperation from the perspective of two theoretical models-Public Interests and Public Choice. It attempts to answer whether these liaisons present a comprehensive collaboration or the motives of competition authorities for an ‘exchange’ are largely bureaucratic.

Usherwood, Simon (University of Surrey, s.usherwood[a]surrey.ac.uk)

Developing a European Media Space? Discourse Markers in France and the UK

Underpinning many models of European integration is a notion of an incipient common political space at the popular level, which in turn supports and enriches the growth of common political institutions. This paper will consider one aspect of this, namely the extent to which national media spaces have become synchronised in their coverage. Using frequency analysis of various discourse markers in national newspapers in France and the UK since the mid-1990s, the paper explores the still limited degree to which synchronisation has taken place. While there have been increasing levels of coverage over time of events relating to the European Union in both countries, this masks the extent to which that coverage is driven by, and framed within, national political events and systems. In addition, it is evident that this is a process that is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future, given the failure of top-down efforts to generate a pan-European discussion and debate, as evidenced by the coverage of the Convention on the Future of the EU.

Vila-Maior, Paulo (Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Portugal, pvm[a]ufp.pt)

A Theoretical Approach of Economic and Monetary Union: Does Practice Vindicate Liberal Intergovernmentalism?

The paper presents the goals, the theoretical inputs and the empirical focus of one of the two parts of an ongoing research project called “The construction of the European polity: a survey on theories of European integration”.
The literature strongly suggests that the creation of EMU was largely influenced by the “power of ideas”, an accommodation to international markets challenges. The outcome was EMU’s political-economy inspired by the monetarist school: in theory, a considerable disempowerment of national governments. Put in the perspective of European integration theories, EMU (as a project) thus seemed to reject liberal intergovernmentalism claims that while member states’ interests are the major input to European integration developments the output reinforces national governments’ power. However, since EMU became operational several episodes showed how national governments re-captured the influence they theoretically lost with EMU’s template. Notably the persistent breach of the Stability and Growth Pact might be the evidence that EU institutions and other societal actors lost ground to national governments. The paper asks whether the operation of EMU reflects a paradigm change in terms of European integration theories: of how liberal intergovernmentalism (and, in terms of International Relations theorisers, realists) are the net winners from EMU in motion.

Walsh, Declan (University College Cork, declan.walsh[a]ucc.ie)

From Green to White: Competing Interests in EC Competition Policy

On the 13^th of July 2006 the European Court of Justice gave its decision in the Manfredi case in which it reemphasised the importance of individuals having effective rights of action for damages resultant from breaches of E.C. competition law. This follows the publication in December 2005 by the Commission of a Green Paper on damages actions for breaches of the European Community Competition Rules.
In its policy statements on the goals of competition law the Commission regularly speaks about the welfare of consumers yet its proposed retreat from the front line of enforcement must raise questions as to the attainment of such a goal. In its decision in Manfredi the Court stresses the importance of ensuring that redress at national level is fully effective, yet the Green Paper and many of the submissions on it point out the difficulty in ensuring effective redress for consumers.
Commissioner Kroes has committed to bringing forward a White Paper in 2007 which is likely to see concrete proposals on damages actions which will speak much about consumer rights while providing little effective comfort to those who have suffered economic loss. The adoption of a clear policy of private enforcement may well be heralded as complementary to public enforcement but in reality may see the Commission reneging on its goal of defending the rights of consumers.

Welch, Anthony (University of Portsmouth, anthony.welch[a]port.ac.uk)

Creating Security: A Holistic Approach to SSR - The Kosovo Experience

The European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) interest in Security Sector Review (SSR) as a policy instrument in its work in developing and transitional countries has grown substantially in recent years. In 2005, the European Council agreed to an approach that provides a framework for the Union’s second pillar SSR activities The UN continues to grapple with the concept of SSR and where it should lie in its institutional framework. However, argument continues over how deeply SSR should concern itself with the concept of human security as apposed to concentrating on institutional frameworks.
Paris suggests that the academic world has often greeted human security with scepticism or worse, silence. Buzan is more doubtful, believing that if the referent job of human security is the individual then little differentiates its agenda from that of human rights. Practitioners, on the other hand, have embraced the concept of human security as a basis for SSR but remain unsure of how far it should be taken.
This Paper describes the process used in the Internal Security Sector Review (ISSR) conducted in Kosovo during 2006. The holistic approach to the ISSR took the hypothesis of local ownership and the inclusion of human security to a new level. The Paper outlines the methodology used then poses the question if this broad approach is helpful to international organisations in framing their concept of security reform.

Wright, Alex (University of Dundee, a.wright[a]dundee.ac.uk)

Territorial Parliaments in the EU: Challenges and Opportunities

The paper starts with an overview of the ramifications of Europeanisation for state parliaments. In so doing, it will consider whether the process of Europeanisation has contributed to ‘deparliamentarization,’ and, that as such parliaments in general, potentially, have lost a measure of power as a consequence. However it also points out that some parliaments have retained a degree of influence over EU matters.

The paper then turns to the challenges facing sub-state parliaments. In so doing, it raises the thesis that, politically, they are so far removed from policy-making in the EU, that their influence over European matters is quite modest and that from a territorial perspective, potentially, their executives stand to be in stronger position.
The final section of the paper examines the thesis that sub-state parliaments could still capitalise on the opportunities, which are open to them. The paper then ends with a summary of the opportunities and constraints, which territorial parliaments face as a result of Europeanisation.

Wunderlich, Daniel (University of Sheffield, d.wunderlich[a]sheffield.ac.uk)

The Iraq Conflict in the News: What do we Learn about Europe?

This paper seeks to address the media framing of external crisis in a comparative manner. The crisis analysed is the debate on the legitimate basis for military intervention in the wake of the Iraq Crisis in late 2002/early 2003 that raised questions about US-European, and intra-European relations. Moments of crisis seem to be significant for analysis because they are based on contested normative evaluations in a context which presses for political action. The public salience of the events furthermore brings about a considerable amount of news coverage in short periods of time in a constant interplay of political actors and journalists. What kind of framing of the crisis and the political actors involved did occur? Were there overlapping or conflicting perceptions of the crisis across Europe? And does this framing reveal something about shared normative evaluations? The discussion of these questions is based on data from a qualitative framing analysis combined with elements of quantitative content analysis covering the reportage of broadsheets in Spain, France, Germany and the UK. Early findings show a surprisingly homogeneous evaluation of the conflict in contrast to the divide between the national governmental positions. The Europe shown in the media was a complex source of identification of a community of shared values and interests which dominated over national points of reference.

Last modified: Monday, 13 August 2007
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