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In the debate about the integration of refugees in European nation-states, several scholars have recently noted a so-called 'agency paradox' (Klaver et al., 2018), which draws a contrast between, on the one hand, the initiative and inventiveness of refugees during their flight and, on the other hand, an allegedly lethargic attitude upon arrival in a new country. In this paper, we will unpack this paradox in a critical analysis of civic integration in the Netherlands. We shall write 'against integration' (cf. Rytter, 2019) by recovering the muted voices of a group of Eritrean refugees whose future depends on the obligation to complete civic integration exams. Using Dialogical Self Theory (DST), we will demonstrate that a seemingly passive attitude among migrants must not be interpreted as a lack of agency. Instead, we will show that their agency is silenced and subordinated by the integration process, but that they are simultaneously involved in a hidden dialogue with the new society in order to negotiate a future in which their multiple identifications as both Eritrean and Dutch are recognized. By facilitating the recovery and recognition of the muted voices of Eritrean refugees, Dialogical Self Theory contributes to their empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The EFCE 16th Loss Prevention Symposium was held in June 2019 in Delft, NL. • The first symposium of this series was in 1974 at the same location. • A comparison was made what knowledge has been gained in those 45 years. • An overview is given of the many interesting presentations at the current event. • The evolution toward Industry 4.0 presents new challenges to process safety. The first European Loss Prevention Symposium under the auspices of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) took place in 1974 in the then new Aula of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. After the triennial symposium over a period of 45 years having been organized in several European cities, it returned in 2019 to the Delft Aula. Authors of this paper are members of EFCE Loss Prevention Working Party organizing the LP Symposia and after nearly half century, it is therefore worthwhile to look back and also to look forward, following the evolution of process safety. This paper presents an impression of the changes in process safety, risk management approaches, and methods over that 45-year period, while at the same time the last symposium contributions are briefly reviewed and a few highlights, called breakthroughs, are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper explores the different ways in which the EU dimension was contextualised in domestic politics in the 2005 Constitutional Treaty referendums in Spain, France and The Netherlands. It suggests that an ideationally based type of contextualisation dominated the Spanish referendum, in sharp contrast with the materially based mode that was dominant in France and The Netherlands. Variations in the ways in which the EU dimension was structured in domestic politics are largely accounted for by the interplay between the presence of an explicit anti-European agenda and government popularity. The paper shows that in Spain a popular government managed to keep control of the referendum debates, preventing anti-EU campaigners from gaining control of the debate and turning its focus from a symbolic pro-European discourse to materially based anti-European matters. By contrast, increasingly unpopular governments in France and The Netherlands were unable to keep the debate focused away from potential sources of material discontent. By focusing on the modes the EU dimension is framed in domestic politics, the paper aims at making a contribution to the literature on European referendums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volt is a pan-European, Eurofederalist party that seeks to deepen and democratize European Union integration. It participated in elections in nine European countries and won representation in the Dutch Parliament and German constituency for the European Parliament. We examine Volt Netherlands, which studies the possibilities of a pan-European party. We look at the importance of its pro-European positions for voting for this party; this is an issue that all national branches of Volt share. We also examine the specific political opportunity structure of the Netherlands, where pro-nuclear environmentalism was an open niche. In this way, we weigh the importance of the party's pan-European appeal and the country-specific political opportunity structure. We show the importance of the country-specific factors for new party support and thus cast doubt on the ability of pan-European parties to mobilize voters all over Europe with the same message. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Referendums on issues of European integration have become more and more important in recent years, particularly after the failed referenda on the EU Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands. This paper examines the impact of direct democracy in national contexts on the decision of governments and parliaments to conduct EU referendums. The results of a qualitative–comparative analysis of 30 countries since 1945 show that this form of path dependency exists only in part: While some nation states with plebiscitary traditions also grant their citizens direct participation in major EU decisions, others do not convene EU referendums or call for EU referendums even though they have no experience with direct democracy in national politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period since the early 1990s has seen a marked shift in the terms of Dutch European discourse, as dramatically highlighted by the country's 'No' vote in its 2005 referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty. The present paper examines the trajectory of this discursive shift, suggesting that a traditional 'federalist' referential has been replaced by an elite discourse focused primarily on defining the 'limits of Europe' in intersecting substantive and geographical terms. A general framework for the understanding of national discourses of European integration is first set out, highlighting the key role played by national elites as mediators between the European and the national political systems. The Dutch case is then examined against this background, chronicling the general terms of the 'critical turn' in national European discourse, the 2005 referendum campaign, post-referendum party positioning and discussions surrounding the 2007 Reform Treaty. Despite the persistence of strong, underlying support for Dutch EU membership, it is finally argued that The Netherlands has not (as yet) found a stable, cohesive national narrative of its 'fit' and 'place' in the contemporary (post-enlargement) project of European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on relationship satisfaction of European binational unions. Although such couples can be considered icons of European integration, little is known about these partnerships as well as the factors affecting relationship satisfaction. We base our analysis on the Dutch data of the EUMARR-project, a unique data set on European binational unions (n = 898). We reveal that Europeans in binational unions report higher relationship satisfaction compared to Dutch individuals in binational European and uninational partnerships. Furthermore, our analysis shows that married individuals are more satisfied compared to cohabiting individuals. Finally, having children is negatively and the availability of social support positively correlated with relationship satisfaction. The presence of children shows to be especially challenging for Dutch people in binational unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains variation in European citizens' support for common EU immigration and counter-terrorism policies? We advance extant literature that focuses on the utility versus identity debate by focusing on individuals' emotional reactions. Drawing on theories of affect, we show that citizens' emotions about immigration are integral to their preferences for EU cooperation on the dual questions of immigration and terrorism. We hypothesise that while anger about immigration is associated with opposition to cooperation on both policies, fear about immigration is associated with support for a common EU counter-terrorism strategy. Using a large-N cross-sectional survey conducted in Germany and the Netherlands, our analyses confirm our hypotheses. Our findings have implications for the progress of European integration and the scope of public approval of EU common policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent election outcomes in Europe and beyond reflect a growing scepticism of open borders among the public. From the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom to the election of Donald Trump in the United States, rhetoric that is critical of the organizations facilitating policy co-operation and learning across borders as well as international trade and migration is popular among a growing segment of the electorate. Are these recent developments part of a larger trend of party and electoral change? By focusing on changing patterns in party and electoral competition in the Netherlands, this article suggests that they are. Relying on expert and voter data, it argues that party and electoral politics in the Netherlands are increasingly characterized by both an economic left-right as well as a cosmopolitan-parochial divide. While the former relates to issues of state intervention into the economy, the second refers to stances on European integration, migration and national control in international affairs. This cosmopolitan-parochial divide has become largely independent of the economic left-right dimension, and influences people’s voting decisions independently of their left-right views. Interestingly, the cosmopolitan-parochial divide in the Netherlands should not necessarily be understood as a cultural backlash, but rather seems a reflection of increased economic insecurity. Although the evidence stems from the Dutch case, I suggest that the cosmopolitan-parochial divide is a useful lens through which we can understand political change in Europe more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that voter and party positions on economic items do not conform to a left–right dimension. This article proposes that in Northern Eurozone states voter policy positions on economic issues are characterized by two dimensions: A redistribution dimension that consists out of views on income equality and a reform dimension that divides those who favour reform of the welfare state to ensure its long-term sustainability and those who oppose such reforms because they would hurt those who need the welfare state now. It examines to what extent voters positions on economic issues conform this two-dimensional pattern, employing the 2012 Dutch Election Survey; to what extent positions on these dimensions reflects voters’ attitudes on other issues and demographic characteristics; and to what extent these two dimensions help to understand voting behaviour. It shows that indeed a multidimensional approach to economic issues is justified; that voters who oppose reforms are characterized by higher levels of Euroscepticism; and that this reform dimension helps to understand voting behaviour, in particular preferences for the socialist, social-democratic and social-liberal party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU regulatory regime and employers’ cross-border recruitment practices complicate unions’ ability to represent increasingly diverse and transnationally mobile workers. Even in institutional contexts where the industrial relations structure and labour law are favourable, such as the Netherlands, unions struggle with maintaining labour standards for these workers. This article analyses Dutch union efforts to represent hyper-mobile construction workers at the Eemshaven construction sites. It shows that the nexus of subcontracting, transnational mobility, legal insularity and employer anti-unionism complicate enforcement so that even well-resourced unions can, at best, improve employment conditions for a limited set of workers and only for a limited period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how European welfare states respond to reform pressures arising from European integration. We focus on the field of public pensions and examine the impact of two institutional variables that mediate the impact of reform pressures: the extent of public pension provision and the number of national political veto points. We argue that, all else equal, member-states with few veto points and a relatively small public pension sector are the most likely cases of policy change in response to Europeanization, whereas member-states with a high number of veto points and extensive public pension commitments are the least likely candidates for policy change. We test these arguments in four cases of Europeanization in three countries ( Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national health care service is one of the central pillars of the welfare state in Europe. Recent moves to modernise health care, alongside introducing efficiencies through competition have resulted in experimentation and a re-organisation of national health care systems. The experimental nature of the reforms has brought health care into the focus, but uncertain territory, of EU economic law, especially competition law. Added to these pressures, the new EU fiscal measures oblige Member States to avoid excessive budgets and macro-economic imbalances. One constraint on an EU-based system of competition in health care is the effect of decentralisation, resulting in variations at the national level. Thus a case study is taken of the experience in The Netherlands. From this case study, we argue that a new form of Euro-national competition law is emerging for the health care sector with national authorities taking the lead in shaping the contours of this law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article investigates variations in the domestic impact of the European Union's largest financial instrument, the European Social Fund (ESF), in The Netherlands and Spain. We find that, despite the large differences between the two countries examined in terms of ‘goodness of fit’, the ESF had significant effects on both The Netherlands and Spain. These effects, however, occurred through rather different dynamics: intermediate variables such as leverage, learning and aid conditionality determine how the ESF actually ‘hits home’, in addition to the degree of institutional, political and policy (mis)fit. At the same time, we qualify our analysis by exploring the role of countries' past experiences with the ESF, their problem load, the availability of (European Union and domestic) resources and member states' uploading capacities. The ‘goodness of fit’ literature has suggested that these factors may be important, but they have not yet been sufficiently explored for the ESF. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The role of national parliaments in European integration is a topical issue in current political and academic debates. This article aims to contribute to these debates by formulating three hypotheses on the differences in parliamentary scrutiny between member states. It is hypothesised that due to differences in the structure of political systems, the British and Dutch Upper and Lower House hold their respective governments to account in different ways. The hypotheses will be discussed in light of empirical findings on the EU regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restriction of chemical substances (REACH). The empirical evidence provides a mixed picture with regard to these claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent does the European Union (EU) affect national governments? This article seeks to answer this question by assessing the Europeanization of Dutch central government. Using data from a large-scale survey among civil servants, we assess to what extent the EU affects the structure and culture of governmental organizations, as well as the activities of individual civil servants. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that the impact of the EU both on individual civil servants and on organizations in Dutch central government is two-sided: a small core of civil servants and organizations are deeply involved in EU-related activities and this exists alongside a much broader base of civil servants and organizations that are less affected by the EU. These differences appear more clearly on the level of daily working practices than on the level of formal organizational structures. Nevertheless, the impact of European integration on government organizations remains limited to particular organizations and particular civil servants within central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of domestic politics on the implementation of European Union (EU) directives in the Netherlands. Its central argument is that member states can change their views on EU policies during the implementation of the directive. The resulting new mismatch between domestic and European policies can cause a divergence in policy outlook among EU members, deadlock situations and attempts to change or reverse the directive. Thus far, EU implementation studies consider mismatches between EU and domestic norms mainly as a problem of delayed implementation and assume that governments eventually achieve full compliance. In contrast, we argue that domestic responses to EU directives could cause a continuous flow of severe criticism at the domestic level. This feedback could lead to a reinterpretation of the directive at the national level, but also to attempts to change the directive at the EU level. We use the EU directive on Foot and Mouth Disease as a case study to illustrate how shifting values in Dutch politics have caused such strong feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the issue on integrating water management and spatial planning in Netherlands. According to the author, a close connection is going forth between water management and spatial planning in the country as a result of a new acceptance of water on land, and the European Union's recent emphasis on managing water at the scale of entire river basins. Dutch and European trends in water management are reviewed and four potential approaches to integrating water management and spatial planning are identified.

The article examines the agenda for the future structure and direction of the European Union. France and the Netherlands voted against the European constitution project in 2005. But this does not mean the Union will be reduced to a state of political crisis. Constitutional treaties can be calculated in both material and symbolic terms and social effects in terms of political morality. The Amsterdam and Nice treaty left unfinished institutional business in the face of the pending European Union enlargement.

The article examines the 2005 rejection of the European Constitution Project in a referenda held in France and the Netherlands. For those who voted against the project, it was an awareness that the European Union's free market system was not favoring Europe's middles and working classes. The perception was that Europe's elites were using EU policies to destroy national welfare systems, privatize public services and weaken regulatory devices. The approval of the constitution would have accelerated enlargement of the Union to include Turkey.

The article reflects on the seeming inattention of the world outside the European Union to the negative results of the referendum conducted by France and the Netherlands on the proposed European Constitution. The indifference of nations like Israel may be indicate that institutionalized Europe has moved beyond the objective of its formation and must now address the social question, which has been the core conflict of most of Europe's nation states since the 19th century. The no vote has sent a signal to the European political elites relaying anger about an unknown and socially risky future.

Recent EU legislation enforces the integration of European balancing markets, with harmonized products and international platforms for the procurement and activation of reserves; nonetheless, different power balancing strategies remain. The Netherlands and Belgium encourage market participants to support balancing the control block by publishing real-time information. This article refers to such concepts as smart balancing, and a market simulation tool was developed to assess the relevant market parameters for effective smart balancing. This shall contribute to the true integration of real-time balancing energy markets. The scope of the assessment of relevant market parameters was Germany, and the results showed that a pricing scheme had less impact on the results, as currently is understood by European TSOs and regulators. Moreover, the accuracy and frequency of real-time publication indicate the effectiveness of smart balancing and the associated reduction of the activation of balancing energy and associated costs. Consequently, this article proposed a road map for Germany to introduce an adapted smart balancing approach, starting with a simple traffic light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Treaty of European Union and the future of Europe. The treaty was signed at Maastricht, Netherlands on February 7, 1992 and details the responsibilities of the Union in relation to all the major functions of a modern sovereign state. The Maastricht treaty has extended procedural diversity quite significantly and maintains stability of business responsibility with appropriate institutions. According to the author, the articles of the treaty that outline a common foreign and security policy are important for several reasons, including defense.

The article reflects on the negative results of the French and Dutch referenda on the treaty establishing a European Constitution. It is speculated that the negative outcome may precipitate a political crisis within the European Union (EU). The exercise is deemed to be similar to the regular activities of the European Union, including the generation of new policies and the passage of laws, which have not resulted in a political crisis. A documentary constitution was not immediately necessary to the EU and therefore did not cause anything that could escalate into a crisis.