Search

The 2014 European elections led to a sharp rise in the electoral consensus of parties and independent parliament members perceived as eurosceptic. This paper analyzes the interconnections between distressed economies and the electoral success of hard-line eurosceptic parties. On a panel of 108 elections between 2008 and 2015, the random-effects model shows the relative effect of long- and short-term political trust, economic performance indicators, and institutional variables in determining the rise of hard-line eurosceptic parties. In contrast with previous studies, which have tended to de-emphasize the effect of economic performance in determining the success of eurosceptic forces, the results of this paper detect both a direct and a mediated effect of the economic crisis on the electoral success of hard-line eurosceptic parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Since David Marquand coined his famous phrase ‘democratic deficit’ to describe the functioning of the European Community, the debate has raged about the extent and content of this deficit. However, little attention has been paid to the ambiguous nature of democracy both at the national and supranational levels. This paper argues that dissatisfaction with democracy has to do, at least for a substantial part, with the creeping expansion of constitutionalism and the parallel decline of popular impact on government. This phenomenon is often felt at the national plane and feeds outbursts of populism. But it is even more acute at the European level, which combines weak popular input with the most sophisticated and developed forms of constitutionalism. This imbalance should be redressed both at a national level as well as in the EU, as a nascent polity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on economics and politics in Europe.

The economic and financial crisis opened a window of opportunity to place the Single Market back on top of the European agenda as part of a two-tiered crisis response, which also included reinforced financial supervision and economic co-ordination. We argue that the Commission acted as a 'purposeful opportunist' in both tiers; but whereas in economic governance issues there was breakthrough change in the Commission's achievements and competences, in the Single Market realm policy change was fairly modest. Using process tracing analysis our goal is to explain why the Commission did not succeed in furthering a genuine Single Market reform. Our findings suggest that the Commission's entrepreneurship was constrained by the limited salience of Single Market issues in the crisis context and by the lack of actual political commitment from the other relevant stakeholders. Thus, our research highlights the limits of the Commission's opportunistic behaviour in less advantageous circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a structural vector autoregression model to identify and compare demand and supply shocks between euro area countries and central and eastern European countries (CEECs). The shocks and the shock adjustment dynamics of these countries are also compared to western European EU countries that have not yet adopted the euro. Focusing on the period 1993-2001, we find that there are still considerable differences in the shocks and in the adjustment process to shocks between the euro area and the CEECs. However, there are indications that the differences between several individual CEECs and the euro area have declined recently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research suggests that political factors bias the domestic allocation of the European Structural and Investment Funds (SIF) in ways that may not be in line with EU goals. This article offers the first systematic and comparative analysis of the role of electoral institutions in shaping county-level allocations of SIF. Drawing on theories of distributive politics and federalism, this article argues that electoral institutions provide politicians in the executive branch of national government with incentives to use at least a part of the SIF to buy votes in NUTS 3-level counties, whereby vote-buying is more common under majority voting than under proportional representation. The results of a statistical analysis of SIF allocations across 202 Italian and French NUTS 3-level counties during 2007-13 confirm this argument. The article concludes by discussing the findings and their implications for future research on EU budgetary implementation and cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post- Maastricht period is marked by an integration paradox. While the basic constitutional features of the European Union have remained stable, EU activity has expanded to an unprecedented degree. This form of integration without supranationalism is no exception or temporary deviation from traditional forms of European integration. Rather, it is a distinct phase of European integration, what is called 'the new intergovernmentalism' in this article. This approach to post- Maastricht integration challenges theories that associate integration with transfers of competences from national capitals to supranational institutions and those that reduce integration to traditional socioeconomic or security-driven interests. This article explains the integration paradox in terms of transformations in Europe's political economy, changes in preference formation and the decline of the 'permissive consensus'. It presents a set of six hypotheses that develop further the main claims of the new intergovernmentalism and that can be used as a basis for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU enlargement continues in the Western Balkans in the 2010s because the underlying dynamics remain largely unchanged: EU Member States still see enlargement as a matter of national interest, bringing long-term economic and geopolitical benefits. The risk of instability in the Western Balkans has made the dividends from the EU's 'democratizing effect' especially substantial. I argue that the enlargement process continues to have a 'democratizing effect,' as Western Balkans candidates and proto-candidates respond to the incentives of EU membership: political parties have changed their agendas to make them EU-compatible, and governments have implemented policy changes to move forward in the pre-accession process. Yet the EU is taking on candidates with difficult initial conditions. I explore the changes the EU has made in order to exercise its leverage more effectively in the Western Balkans and check whether these helped overcome the pre-accession process' earlier problems with expertise, consistency and legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we investigate the determinants of US outward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the European Union for the period 1982–2002. The data set allowed us to discern differences in the pattern of US FDI between EU core and EU periphery countries, as well as over different time periods during the last two decades. The results indicate that the US FDI pattern varies among different groups of countries and that there was a restructuring in multinational firms' investment activity after the implementation of the single market plan. Agglomeration factors, market size, qualified and productive labour and cost efficiency of local production seem to dominate in the location choice of US investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Employment Strategy (EES) is the employment policy of the European Union. According to its 2000 orientations, the EES was to promote ‘more and better jobs’. In fact, the EES has not lived up to this promise. First, the EES has not been able to put the quality of jobs firmly on its agenda. On the contrary, the EES argues in favour of more flexible jobs. Second, the EES criticizes countries such as Sweden and Denmark for their high levels of taxes and unemployment benefits, despite the results these countries achieve in terms of employment. The orientations of the EES can be understood as deriving from mainstream economics; it is argued that they go against the European social model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European integration is going through difficult times. Poor economic performance and the growing feeling of insecurity among many Europeans play a major role. So does the weakening of the old political consensus. More clarity and realism about what Europe can deliver would help enormously: the Lisbon process and further enlargement are good examples. Economic liberalization also creates losers. This problem needs to be tackled at both national and European levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European integration has created a constitutional asymmetry between policies promoting market efficiencies and policies promoting social protection and equality. National welfare states are legally and economically constrained by European rules of economic integration, liberalization and competition law, whereas efforts to adopt European social policies are politically impeded by the diversity of national welfare states, differing not only in levels of economic development and hence in their ability to pay for social transfers and services but, even more significantly, in their normative aspirations and institutional structures. In response, the ‘open method of coordination’ is now being applied in the social–policy field. It leaves effective policy choices at the national level, but tries to improve these through promoting common objectives and common indicators, and through comparative evaluations of national policy performance. These efforts are useful but cannot overcome the constitutional asymmetry. Hence there is reason to search for solutions which must have the character of European law in order to establish constitutional parity with the rules of European economic integration, but which also must be sufficiently differentiated to accommodate the existing diversity of national welfare regimes. The article discusses two such options, ‘closer co–operation’ and a combination of differentiated ‘framework directives’ with the open method of co–ordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the possible institutional implications which stem from each scenario established for the European Monetary Unification (EMU). Establishment of each scenario using the optimal currency area literature; Ramifications which stem from the institutional development of EMU for Member States; Implications for the development of European Union institutions.

The performance of the European Monetary System is still being debated. On the subject of exchange rate characteristics it has been claimed that evidence from looking at the statistical properties of the exchange rate distribution indicates an increased risk for agents. Others argue that the apparent success of the EMS is illusory, as it has not performed better than other currencies over the same period. We analyse these propositions by searching for trends in risk of EMS exchange rates and comparing them to outside benchmarks. We find properties indicating decreasing risk and these results also hold when structural breaks are considered. Moreover, this decline seems to be faster than for world benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the political economy of integration in Europe. Albert and Ball's report in the economic policy in the European Community (EC); Laisser-faire attitude of some liberal economists; Social-market economy; Tendency of governments that adhere to liberal economics to emphasize completion of the internal market.