Tepsa Publications

Memoires published by TEPSA ‘veteran’ Robert Toulemon

Robert Toulemon recently published his memoires ‘Souvenirs Européens (1950-2005)’.

Robert Toulemon is a convinced advocate of European federalism. The book will be of great interest to European historians but also has a relevance to those advocating a federal response to the current crisis. Rober Toulemon is a honorary finances general inspector and was a high official at the European Commission from 1962 to 1973 and worked with Robert Marjolin and Altiero Spinelli. He founded the ‘association française d’étude pour l’Union européenne (AFEUR)’ in 1975, which was in 2004 incorporated in the ‘association ARRI’ (Réalités et relations internationales) as the Club Europe-ARRI-AFEUR of which he is the President. He also taught European economic integration at Sciences Po from 1975 to 1980. He has been one of the founders of the TEPSA network and the book recollects many TEPSA meetings and conferences during the period.

The book (468 p.) can be ordered for € 20 via www.pressefederaliste.eu.

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TEPSA and IAI won a EP’s tender on “Space, Sovereignty and European Security: Building European capabilities in an advanced institutional framework”!

Having won the tender, on 21 March 2013 TEPSA signed a contract with the European Parliament on the external study and workshop on “Space, Sovereignty and European Security: Building European capabilities in an advanced institutional framework“. The study will be delievered by an excellent team of experienced researchers from the Instituto Affari Internazionali (IAI): Stefano Silvestri, Vincenzo Camporini, Michele Nones, Jean-Pierre Darnis, Anna Clementina Veclani and Nicolo Sartori. The study will be published in summer 2013 and available on TEPSA website.

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Policy paper: Democratic Control in the Member States of the European Council and the Euro Zone Summits

A Policy paper has been written as synopsis of the main results of the study “Democratic Control in the member states of the European Council and the Euro zone summits” which TEPSA and Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute have written at the request of the European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, IP/C/AFCO/IC/2012-012.

Authors of the Policy paper: Wolfgang Wessels (Trans European Policy Studies Association), Olivier Rozenberg (Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute), Claudia Hefftler (Trans European Policy Studies Association) and Valentin Kreilinger (Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute).

The study on the Democratic Control in the Member States of the European Council and the Euro Zone Summits was written by a group of researchers from TEPSA and Notre Europe following the request from the Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament.

The European Council is increasingly central to the governance of the European Union. Even if national parliaments have originally focused their involvement in EU affairs on the ordinary legislative process, most of the chambers have started to develop specific activities, before or after European summits. From ex-ante influence to ex-post accountability, seven different models of control have been identified. Beyond their differences rooted in national democratic systems, they call for twelve recommendations listed in this report.

Authors of the Study: Wolfgang Wessels (Trans European Policy Studies Association), Olivier Rozenberg (Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute), Mirte van den Berge (Trans European Policy Studies Association), Claudia Hefftler (Trans European Policy Studies Association), Valentin Kreilinger (Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute) and Laura Ventura (Trans European Policy Studies Association) and many TEPSA and OPAL network experts provided an analysis of the democratic control in each Member State. More information on the project are available here.

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European Parliament’s Study on the Maritime Dimension of CSDP: Geostrategic Maritime Challenges and their Implications for the European Union

The global maritime security environment is in the midst of an important transformation, driven by a simultaneous intensification of global maritime flows, the growing interconnectedness of maritime regions, the diffusion of maritime power to emerging powers, and the rise of a number of maritime non-state actors. These changes are having a profound impact on the maritime security environment of the EU and its member states and require an upgrading of the maritime dimension of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). This study analysis the impact that the changing maritime security context is having on the EU’s maritime neighbourhood and along the EU’s sea lines of communications (SLOCs) and takes stock of the EU’s existing policies and instruments in the maritime security domain. Based on this analysis, the study suggests that the EU requires a comprehensive maritime security strategy that creates synergies between the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy and the maritime dimension of CSDP and that focuses more comprehensively on the security and management of global maritime flows and sea-based activities in the global maritime commons.

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“Britain and the EU: views of members of the TEPSA network”

The benefits and costs of Britain’s EU membership are heavily debated across Britain. Britain’s Foreign Secretary launched a review of EU competences in July 2012 and in January 2013 Prime Minister Cameron delivered a speech about his plans for a referendum on British membership of the European Union by the end of 2017. In the debate on Britain’s EU membership the points of view of Britain’s partners need to be heard. In official forums such as the EU institutions, where government representatives are bound by the conventions of diplomacy, it is difficult to discuss the matter frankly; but in the TEPSA network of European policy research institutes ideas and opinions can be exchanged more freely. Members of the TEPSA network were therefore invited to respond to a series of questions concerning: their perception of Britain’s role in the EU; the consequences of Britain’s possible departure from the EU; their advice to the British people concerning relations with the EU.

The report “Britain and the European Union, views of members of the TEPSA network” summarises the ideas and opinions contributed by 13 researchers together with a view from Dublin and a view from London. This report was compiled by Graham Avery (Oxford) with Brendan Donnelly (London), Dáithí O’Ceallaigh (Dublin) and Mirte van den Berge (Brussels), with grateful thanks for contributions from Gianni Bonvicini (Rome), Roderick Pace (Valletta), Jaap de Zwaan (The Hague), Bernardo Pires de Lima & Tiago Moreira de Sá (Lisbon), Gunilla Herolf (Stockholm), Antonis Papagiannidis (Athens), Juha Jokela (Helsinki), Jean-Marie Majerus (Luxembourg), Krisztina Vida (Budapest), Costas Melakopides (Nicosia), Višnja Samardžija (Zagreb), Otmar Höll (Vienna) and Ramūnas Vilpišauskas (Vilnius).

Read the publication: Britain and the EU – views of members of the TEPSA network.

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EuroMeSCo Policy Brief “Walking a Thin Line: The Role of Think Tanks in Arab Transitions and Foreign Support”

EuroMeSCo Policy Brief no. 51 “Walking a Thin Line: The Role of Think Tanks in Arab Transitions and Foreign Support” by Pol Morillas has just been published. To read the Brief go to EuroMeSCo portal.

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European Parliament workshop’s proceedings on the Role of the European External Action Service in Consular Protection and Services for EU Citizens, January 2013

By Anita Sęk

The workshop concerning the role of the EEAS in Consular Protection and Services for EU Citizens was organised at the European Parliament in Brussels on 9 January 2013. The workshop was chaired by Elmar BROK, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the following speakers took part: Pierre VIMONT, Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS); Charles HAY, Director Consular Services at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Kingdom; Aurora DÍAZ-RATO, Ambassador, Special Adviser at the State Secretariat for EU Affairs, Spain; and Kristi RAIK, Researcher, Finnish Institute for International Affairs (FIIA). Additional remarks were presented by Chiara ADAMO, Head of Unit Union Citizenship and Free Movement, DG Justice, European Commission; and Edit BAUER, Rapporteur from Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.

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News from Marco Siddi, EXACT Fellow

Upcoming publications:

Marco Siddi, Russia and the forging of memory and identity in Europe, Egmont Studia Diplomatica (forthcoming January 2013)

Marco Siddi, Italy-Russia relations: politics, energy and other business’, in: Zsuzsa, Ludvig (ed.), What role for Russia?, Eastern European Studies Series, Institute of World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (forthcoming January 2013)

Conference attendance and paper presentations:

Presentation of a paper on Russia’s role in European collective memory construction at the “Genealogies of Memory” annual conference Regions of memory. A comparative perspective on Eastern Europe (Warsaw, 26-28 November 2012), organized by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.

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Wolfgang Wessels: The Maastricht Treaty and the European Council: The History of an Institutional Evolution, Journal of European Integration, Volume 34, Number 7, November 2012, pp. 753-767.

Since its creation in 1974 the European Council has turned into the key institution in the institutional architecture of the EU polity. The Maastricht Treaty on the European Union was a history-making product of this body of heads of state or government. For the institutional evolution of the European Council itself the Maastricht Treaty confirmed and reinforced trends starting with the Hague summit in 1969. This article covers the pre-history of the European Council as well as the road from the birth of the European Council in Paris, 1974, to the Maastricht Treaty and the next steps via two treaty revisions and the constitutional convention to the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. This article will not only try to satisfy some historical curiosity, but point out fundamental factors, explaining why Union executive leaders have invested time and energy in the labour-intensive and partly frustrating exercise of the making and working of their club: this key institution helped them to emerge as powerful multi-level players in a multi-institutional architecture.

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European Parliament’s Study on the EU Strategic Framework for the Horn of Africa : A Critical Assessment of Impact and Opportunities, October 2012

Adoption of the Strategic Framework for the Horn of Africa should open new opportunities for successful engagement in the region. More coherent action creates the opportunity for the EU to be recognised in the region as an actor in its own right, and with the influence that the scale of its engagement should bring. The appointment of an EUSR for the Horn of Africa should allow the EU to speak more clearly with one voice in the region. Doing so would allow the EU to exploit more fully its comparative advantage in the region: as a bloc, it is one of the most significant sources of assistance and investment into the region and an important trade partner. The EU is clearly active across the region, especially through high profile engagement in Somalia and the Sudans. However, quiet engagement in Ethiopia and Eritrea presents the greatest new opportunity to influence constructive shifts in regional security and economic dynamics. This was true before the recent death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and is even more the case now. Strengthening IGAD will also be essential if the region’s potential and the EU’s goals are to be realised.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial “Euro zone governance and democratic legitimacy”, October 2012

In its interim report “Towards a genuine Economic and Monetary Union” of the 12nd October 2012, President Van Rompuy devoted few lines in the end to democratic legitimacy. This paragraph gives the impression of paying lip service to the concept, rather than reflections on its applicability in the ‘genuine’ Economic and Monetary Union. The report does nonetheless clearly outline the subject matter. To the extent the core aspects of the Euro zone governance are fulfilled at intergovernmental level, the democratic oversight of the Euro zone naturally lies within the competency of national parliaments. The European Parliament also has a role to play in the democratic oversight of the Euro zone insofar the governance of the Euro zone is governed by the community method . No need to emphasize on this second point, since it clearly emerges from the treaties.

Regarding the role of the national parliaments however, it is interesting to assess to what extent national parliaments actually play a role in the system. After all, the decisions taken at European level have not only an impact on the power of the national parliaments, but also and most of all, on the life of citizens in the member states. The last years have demonstrated that national political debates focused on EU’s economic and monetary activities. The successive austerity plans imposed on some Euro zone members have also compelled these governments to feed these constraints into national debates. Another implication is that national Heads of State and Government individually bear the consequences of the decisions taken by the European Council in Brussels in their national arena.

A study currently elaborated by TEPSA in collaboration with Notre Europe on the role of national parliaments in oversight of the positions taken by Head of State or Government in the European Council shows a remarkable development in this field. The study demonstrates that nowadays in 17 Member States formal rules exist on the participation of national parliaments in the preparation of the European Councils. These rules can be applied mutatis mutandis to Euro zone summits. They vary between the member states and are more developed in those which have already established a system of oversight on the activity of the Council of the EU. There is a tendency that can be observed in favour of a priori control by providing documents and organising debates before European Council meetings. This a priori oversight consists more often of issuing non-binding recommendations than giving a legally or politically binding mandate. Meanwhile, the practice of debates on the outcome of European Councils is maintained. Insofar the Prime Minister personally takes part to the European Council and a Euro zone summit, his participation in debates in the national parliament is particularly important. The future will tell whether this practice will become widespread.

The trend shows it is no longer only about submitting politically binding positions ex post that can be adopted. Instead it is also about orienting the position of the government during the European Council meeting in question. However, this trend has some limitations. First of all, it faces the still largely informal character of European Council meetings. It is difficult to provide national parliaments with comprehensive information on future conclusions which are still under negotiation. It is neither possible nor desirable for national positions to be fully publicly discussed before the meeting or even subject to a national mandate. This would risk to reduce the bargaining power. National parliaments can only shape general recommendations, which will be subjected to the Prime Minister or the President’s interpretation while acknowledging that if it deviates too much from the mandate given by his parliament it could impact on his/her political responsibility. The above mentioned report will suggest in this sense a set of best practices.

However, considering that the Euro zone governance uses both community and intergovernmental methods, it is deemed essential to ensure that the positions of national parliaments and of the European Parliament are not entirely in conflict, otherwise difficulties of implementation would soon arise. For this particular reason national parliamentary debates should initiate an exchange of views between national parliaments and the European Parliament. Article 13 of the Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance provides for cooperation between the European Parliament and specialised committees of national parliaments. It would be advisable that this cooperation is set-up at an early stage and not only focuses on Euro zone summits’, but also on the work undertaken in the framework of the European Semester. A parliamentary network has already been formed in the field of foreign policy, it is essential that a similar network starts to function on Euro zone issues without delay.

One cannot request efforts from the European citizens unless they have the conviction of being listened to and understood. Solidarity is not born spontaneously from a generous feeling, it must be based on the idea that efforts undertaken by everyone will benefit to all. So far we have not found any better way to achieve this outcome than through a debate between representatives of the people. Democratic legitimacy is therefore part of the responses to the crisis.

More Information About Jean-Paul Jacqué, Publications, Tepsa Publications Tagged With: Democracy, Economic governance

“Droit institutionnel de l’Union européenne” by Jean Paul Jacqué, 7e Edition, Cours Dalloz, September 2012

This book focus on the study of institutional law of the European Union as it stands after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. All provisions relating to the EU, its institutions, the decision-making process, the legal order as well as the political and judicial controls are comprehensively addressed.

Students of Law Faculties and Institutes of political studies will find in this book the necessary information in order to prepare their examinations. Practitioners, lawyers and officials involved in European affairs will have a useful tool for their daily work.

To this end, the theoretical developments are illustrated with numerous references to the practices and the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty are analyzed in detail and their scope is studied.

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Engaging external actors: The EU in the geopolitics of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by Marco Siddi, September 2012

For the 2012 September Edition of IEP electronic series, Marco Siddi published on “Engaging external actors: The EU in the geopolitics of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict“, IEP Policy Briefs on Enlargement and Neighbourhood, No. 7/2012, Institut für Europäische Politik Berlin.

The electronic series “IEP Policy Briefs on Enlargement and Neighbourhood” is dedicated to case studies of Europeanization evaluating the power the EU has to transform its neighbouring countries to foster stability, peace and prosperity. It covers the enlargement countries as well as the eastern neighbours and the Mediterranean region. In this series, young researchers inter alia from the Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG) “The Transformative Power of Europe” and the Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP) present the results of their analysis in an abbreviated, user friendly form focusing on policy recommendations.

Marco Siddi is a Marie Curie Researcher, at the University of Edinburgh. His main focus is on EU-Russia relations and Russian foreign policy. Previously, he worked at the Trans European Policy Studies Association (Brussels) and at the Institute of World Economics (Budapest). He studied at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna (MA) and the University of Oxford (BA).

Please click here to read the entire brief and feel free to contact Marco Siddi (siddi•marco©googlemail•com) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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‘The Rule of Law in the EU: Understandings, Development and Challenges’ by Leonhard den Hertog, Acta Juridica Hungarica, September 2012

This article examines the development and particular nature of the rule of law in the European Union against the background of the wider legal and political theoretical debate on the principle. It hence analyses the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the Treaty revisions on the rule of law. It argues that the principle has developed greatly since the first mention of it in the case law of the Court and contends that the principle has a particular focus in the EU on judicial protection in light of human rights. Nonetheless it is hard to apply the dichotomies running through the debates in legal and political theory to the development of the principle in the EU; an idiosyncratic mix of features seems to emerge. Moreover, this article also takes the case study of the external dimension of migration control to assess the current challenges to the rule of law in the EU. It thereby uncovers ways of working in the EU that are hard to reconcile with the rule of law requirements.

Please find more information on this journal article here.

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China in the ‘Great White North’: Explaining China’s politics in the Arctic by Andreas Raspotnik and Malte Humpert, Long-Post European Geostrategy (edited by James Rogers and Luis Simón), August 17, 2012

Today, European Geostrategy publishes its second Long Post, which is co-authored by Malte Humpert and Andreas Raspotnik, who are the Executive Director of the Arctic Institute and a research fellow at the University of Cologne (EXACT Marie Curie ITN), respectively. This Long Post deals with Chinese penetration of the Arctic space, which the authors argue is fuelled less by economic concerns than by geopolitical calculations. They assert that Beijing’s interest in the ‘High North’ – particularly the European dimension – is leading to increased Chinese influence in Northern Europe, the consequences of which are still largely unknown.

Please click here to read the entire article.

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European Parliament workshop report on Nagorno-Karabakh by Marco Siddi, July 2012

The workshop on the security situation in Nagorno-Karabakh took place at the European Parliament, in Brussels, on 20 June 2012. The workshop first introduced the Nagorno-Karabakh security situation, discussed the Countries briefing on Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as presented the EU approach and instruments: a role for the EU.

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Two Boats in the Mediterranean and their Unfortunate Encounters with Europe’s Policies towards People on the Move by Leonhard den Hertog in: CEPS Papers in Liberty and Security in Europe, No. 48, July 2012

This paper examines two recent events in which people on the move making their way from Libya to Europe across the Mediterranean were either abandoned to die at sea or ‘pushed back’ (Hirsi case). It argues that these two cases are not incidental or isolated but rather part of a broader situation of concern in the Mediterranean. The paper highlights this situation and also connects it to Europe’s response to migratory flows during the Arab Spring. On the basis of independent reports, case law and first-hand accounts, it attributes these tragedies to two fundamental structural deficiencies in Europe’s approach to people on the move in the Mediterranean: 1) a general lack of accountability, among the most salient of which are the lack of legal clarity for SAR (search & rescue) and disembarkation obligations as well as a lack of monitoring of what actually happens in the Mediterranean and 2) a lack of solidarity amongst European states as well as across the Mediterranean. The paper then goes on to propose recommendations to correct those cross-cutting deficiencies.

The paper can be downloaded here.

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Further Steps Towards a Comprehensive EU Arctic Policy: Is the EU Getting There? by Andreas Raspotnik, Article for The Arctic Institute (co-authored with Kathrin Keil); July 5, 2012

The European Commission and the High Representative have recently issued the EU’s up-to-date Joint Communication on the development of a coherent and comprehensive EU policy towards the Arctic region. The article offers a spot-on analysis of the EU’s northern approach concluding that the EU’s Arctic engagement still lacks substantial consistency.

The article can be downloaded here

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TEPSA Brief: The issue of solidarity in the European Union, June 2012

by Andreas Raspotnik, Marine Jacob and Laura Ventura

The present paper briefly highlight European solidarity, including its public perceptionregarding three related and interdependent European agendas: 1) financial solidarity 2) asylum and border management solidarity and 3) social solidarity. As an exhaustive synopsis cannot be provided the paper aims to coherently tackle the notion of European solidarity, consequently setting academic and professional thinking.

Please download here below to read the entire brief and feel free to contact Andreas Raspotnik (andreas•raspotnik©tepsa•eu) , Marine Jacob (marine•jacob©coleurope•eu) and Laura Ventura (laura•ventura©tepsa•eu) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial “About solidarity” June 2012

By Jean-Paul Jacqué

At the last Pre-Presidency Conference in Nicosia, TEPSA members took part in a lively discussion on the topic of solidarity. At this occasion, several participants questioned the legal validity of this principle. This editorial aims at providing some information on this issue.

It is perhaps a commonplace to state that once a society decides to set up frameworks in order to achieve a common goal, solidarity represents the cement of it – regardless of whether it is a fisher’s association or a state. From the beginning of European integration, the concept of solidarity was highlighted by Robert Schuman in his speech in the Salon de l’Horloge which referred to the creation of de facto solidarity. From Westphalia to Rome, we have moved from reciprocity to solidarity. The logic of the Monnet method and the spillover effect are based on this idea; when the challenges are beyond the capacity of a single state, it is necessary to address them jointly and the solidarities already created serve as cement for developing new ones. The concept of subsidiarity, as introduced into EU law by the Treaty of Maastricht, is another aspect of this solidarity. For the fields that can be managed by a single state, national solidarity is enough, however when a transnational link is established, solidarity plays a role at European level.

The concept of solidarity is very present in the treaties since there are six references in the TEU and six others in the TFEU. It is noteworthy that the term of solidarity appears as a mantra precisely in those areas where solidarity is weaker (three times in the CFSP, twice in the asylum and immigration). Article 80 TFEU even uses the term “solidarity principle”. One reference relates to energy, a new policy area introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, another to the financial assistance as an exception to a bail-out, and also one related to the overseas territories. Finally, the treaty contains a solidarity clause in case of financial disaster or terrorism. This variety expresses an important aspect of the issue: solidarity is expressed in different ways depending on the policy of the Union in question.

The general reference to solidarity is made in the preamble of the TEU (“Desiring to deepen the solidarity between their peoples”), which comes on top to the classic statement of a ever closer Union. The new element is the one contained in Article 2 on values. Solidarity is not mentioned as a value here but as a feature of European society. This solidarity is not qualified. Is it the solidarity between member states or the solidarity among citizens within the EU or within the Member States? All forms of horizontal and vertical solidarity seem to be covered. Social solidarity is addressed more specifically in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Under these conditions, is solidarity only one element, sometimes even hypocritical, of political discourse or does it have a legal value? The Court does refers to the principle as such, but mainly in infringement procedure cases.

In order for solidarity to be an operating legal principle it would require its content to be sufficiently precise to be legally tested. As noted by the Court in Case C-149/96 “a general principle of law cannot be derived from programmatic provisions that do not contain a specific obligation.” But the concept of solidarity is programmatic. This does not mean that the recourse to solidarity is stripped of any legal significance.

Solidarity is a constitutional principle inherent in the Union as stated in Article 2 TEU, but it is also a constitutional objective. The Union is based on solidarity and aims at amplifying it. The implications are twofold:

1. During the elaboration of the Charter, there were long discussions on the difference between principles and rights. The result of this is that rights are directly justiciable whereas principles are only justiciable through measures to implement them. Once a policy aims at strengthening solidarity, any attack on it is thus justiciable.

2. If a Union act goes directly against a principle or prevents its achievement, it is invalid (ECJ, 6 and 11/69). In this case, the Court stated that the establishment of preferential discount rates for exports constituted an infringement because it was opposed to the principle of solidarity, based on the community system in its whole.

Under these circumstances, the obligation or the objective of solidarity plays a key role when it materializes through positive or negative measures of implementation. It takes two forms: solidarity between member states and solidarity between citizens of the Union.

I. Solidarity between Member States

Without going into detail on all aspects of solidarity in Union’s policies, it suffices to take some examples such as the institutional solidarity and the financial solidarity.

A. Institutional solidarity

This solidarity is primarily expressed in the principle of loyal cooperation between member states and institutions enshrined in Article 3 TEU. This principle of loyalty is the natural outcome of solidarity since there is no solidarity without mutual trust in the compliance with all of its obligations. This aspect of solidarity is the translation of the rule Pacta sunt servanda in an institutionalized context familiar to lawyers in international law. Within the logic of integration, this rule is not left to the discretion of the individual subject to reciprocity. The rule is controlled by institutions and sanctioned by the infringement procedure. The Court does not say anything else in Case 39-72 where it finds that the non-respect by Italy regarding milk quota affects the balance between benefits and costs of the Common Agricultural Policy, calling into question the equality of Member States and therefore constitutes a breach of the principle of solidarity..

The principle of loyal cooperation takes three forms for member states: to take all appropriate measures to ensure the fulfillment of the treaty obligations, to facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and to refrain from breaching the treaty. This latter requirement is not subject to a restrictive interpretation. In case 6 and 11/69 (aforementioned), France argued that contested measures did not fall under Community competence. The Court replied that the principle of solidarity requires that member states refrain from using their own competences to prevent the compliance with the Treaty. This will lead to important case law that subordinates the use of member states’ competencies in respect to the Treaty, on the basis of solidarity.

Similarly, when it comes to facilitating the achievement of the Union’s tasks, the Court considers it appropriate that member states should refrain from taking any measure which could jeopardise the achievement of the Union’s objectives. Consequently, in the case 266/03, Luxembourg was condemned for having concluded negotiations within the framework of a joint agreement while the Community itself had already opened negotiations.

Thereby, the solidarity principle under the form of loyal cooperation nourishes all the implementation mechanisms of EU law.

B. Financial solidarity

Leaving aside the economic and monetary solidarity which are subject of intense debates, the financial solidarity is one of the pillars of the Union. Budgetary solidarity is evident. Unlike the traditional international organisations, the Union’s budget does not cover merely the functioning of the organisation, but also policies that benefit member states in different degrees, particularly with regard to cohesion.

Union’s policies are based on a redistribution which is, by default, a form of solidarity. The extent of redistribution is certainly subject to constant controversies like witnessed by the claims of “net contributors” and the invocation of the principle of “juste retour”. But even in the British case, there is a place to solidarity as the rebate only covers 66% of the amount by which UK payments into the EU exceed EU expenditure returning to the UK.

The extent of solidarity is a political choice to be made at the time of discussing the EU’s own resources in connection with the Multiannual Financial Framework. But once a decision has been made, solidarity fully plays its role as noted by the Court in the case C-239/05 on the duty-free import of military equipment by Italy. The latter invoked Article 296 EC and the necessity to ensure its external security. According to the Court, this argument is not sufficient to evade from “the obligations imposed by financial solidarity as regard the community budget” at the expenses of other states.

Institutional solidarity is not the only one that has to be taken into account by the treaties. The solidarity between citizens plays an increasing role in the European Union.

II. The development of interpersonal solidarity

This type of solidarity finds its main scope of application within social policy. One could find applications in other fields such as the internal market. Yet in the social field, the development of citizenship shows an emphasis of solidarity at the Union level which may undermine the national solidarity.

A. European citizenship, a support for solidarity

European citizenship is reflected in a set of rights and duties both vis-à-vis the political authority and vis-à-vis the citizens. Of course, the first impact has been political (voting rights, consular protection abroad …), but the essential impact, and perhaps unexpected, comes from the combination of citizenship, freedom of movement and non-discrimination.

Freedom of movement gives access to social and health benefits in the host country. This situation was originally restricted to workers and has been extended to other citizens by law. But this extension was multiplied by the Court of Justice when it indicated that “citizenship is the fundamental status of member states to allow those among them, that are in the same situation to enjoy regardless of their nationality … the same legal treatment “(Martinez Sala, C-85/96). The Court’s jurisprudence will become more extensive, allowing family members of a citizen to benefit in some cases from advantages that are normally restricted to citizens when they are not citizens themselves.

European citizenship provides access to national solidarity in the name of European solidarity, but wouldn’t it in some situations represent a risk to undermine national solidarity?

B. Preservation of national solidarity

National solidarity is now the essential element of national identity. Each member state has developed its own system of redistribution citizens rely on. European solidarity complements these systems and does not challenge them. For this particular reason the treaty contains a number of safeguards designed to protect national solidarity. This is the case of the ‘brake’ clause on social security of migrant workers which allow the possibility to refer an act which would affect important aspects of national security system “regarding the scope, the cost or the financial framework, or would affect the financial balance of that system” to the European Council.

Similarly, Article 14 TFEU recognises the role of services of general interest in social cohesion and requires the legislator to take measures to enable them to accomplish their mission.

The jurisprudence of the Court has also expressed the will to preserve national solidarity. It is willing to do so by requiring the existence of a genuine link with the state of residence to receive certain benefits or by restricting the access to health services by the imposition of a permit from the state of origin to benefit from the reimbursement of certain hospital services delivered in another member state. Or by agreeing that one could limit the enrollment of students from another member state if the recruitment for a profession or the system’s financial balance is put into question.

There is a balance that requires an appreciation of solidarity. But one could question whether it is the judge should make that assessment, or whether the legislator should intervene.

Conclusion

Solidarity is a founding principle that nourishes the entire system. It is a source of rights in many policies, but has direct effect essentially only through its various implementations.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as June 2012 Newsletter.

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European Parliament’s Study on CSDP Missions and Operations – Lessons Learned Processes, June 2012

The first Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) mission was launched in 2003. Since then the EU has launched 24 civilian missions and military operations. Despite the tendency of military operations to attract more attention, the majority of CSDP (Common Security and Defence Policy) interventions have been civilian missions. Since the beginning the actors involved in CSDP recognised the need to learn from the different aspects of missions and operations. The tools and methodologies to guarantee a successful learning process have evolved over time together with the evolution of CSDP. This study represents a first stock-taking exercise of the lessons learned processes at the EU level. The study is divided in three major components. The first component looks at the available literature on the subject of knowledge management with regard to CSDP missions and operations. The study then draws upon short case-studies from the 21 missions and operations to-date with a specific focus on the lessons identified and (possibly) learned in practice. The study concludes with a number of recommendations targeted at how the lessons learning processes could be improved including specific recommendations on the role of the European Parliament.

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European Parliament workshop’s proceedings on the EU and China: strategic partners or global rivals?, June 2012

At the request of the European Parliament Committee’s on Foreign Affairs which is preparing an own-initiative report on ‘EU-China relations’, the Policy Department of DG External Policies has organised a workshop on ‘The EU and China: strategic partners or global rivals?’ on 21 June 2012. The workshop goal was to analyse in the context of growing interdependence between the two sides, the impact of China’s policies, on bilateral relations and on EU interests. Its main objective is to provide a clearer picture of the current state of play of China-EU relations and their future.

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Reflections on the Schuman Declaration by Jean Paul Jacqué, May 2012

9 May 1950 – 9 May 2010

On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Schuman Declaration Professor Jean Paul Jacqué, Secretary General of TEPSA, has analysed the Schuman Declaration and its significance both to the process of European integration over the past sixty years as well as to the way ahead for the further development of EU’s institutional structure.

Please click here to download the publication.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on the EU’s accession to the European Convention of Human Rights, ‘Still one more effort, comrades…’, April 2012

by Jean Paul Jacqué

The endless saga of the EU’s accession to the European Convention of Human Rights seemed to have come to an end. The expert group in charge of preparing a draft agreement seemed to have achieved its goals and had transmitted its text to the Steering Committee of Human Rights of the Council of Europe. Yet, the aforementioned Committee has faced some difficulties mainly coming from EU member states. Being unable to tackle them, the issue was transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. However, the United Kingdom holding the biannual presidency of the Committee of Ministers didn’t seem eager to address the issue. Instead, the UK favored focusing on a reform of the Strasbourg Court in a narrower sense as part of a conference to be held in Brighton. It is true that at the Council of the EU thanks to the Commission, negotiations continue in order to cope with this issue.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as April Newsletter.

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European Parliament workshop report on the Responsibility to Protect, March 2012

By Marlene Gottwald

Since its endorsement in the UN World Summit Outcome Document in 2005, the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) principle remains rather weakly defined in international law. However it has made some political and institutional progress within the United Nations (UN) system. Most recently, it has been applied in practice with regards to the military operation in Libya.

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TEPSA Brief: Libya: A wakeup call for CSDP?, March 2012

By Nicole Koenig

In the past couple of years, there has been recurrent talk of ‘CSDP fatigue’. In the wake of the Libyan crisis, some even declared the death of the CSDP. Current developments indicate that the CSDP is not dead, although the Libyan crisis highlighted some of its existing flaws. These flaws include the lengthy and cumbersome planning process, the continued reticence of the Member States to use the EU’s rapid reaction instruments, internal coordination problems and military capability gaps. The on-going lessons learnt processes should be seen as an opportunity to tackle some of these weaknesses and to circumvent existing obstacles. This brief proposes measures to:

(1) increase the EU’s capacity for comprehensive, timely, and rapid planning;
(2) encourage a more proactive use of the EU’s rapid reaction instruments;
(3) learn the lessons for internal coordination; and
(4) ‘get real’ about pooling and sharing military capabilities.

If the EU misses this opportunity, there is a real risk that the CSDP will go back to sleep.

Please feel free to contact Nicole Koenig (nicole•koenig©coleurope•eu) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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TEPSA Brief: Options for EU engagement in post-conflict Libya, March 2012

By Marlene Gottwald

The EU’s response to the Libyan crisis has been weak and divided. The EU failed to speak with one voice and to get its act together in the field of military crisis management. While the UN and NATO have been the main players in the first months of the Libyan civil war, the EU is expected to step up to the plate for civilian support to a post-conflict reconstruction. This policy brief analyses the most serious medium- and long-term challenges for the (re-)building of a functioning Libyan state. On this basis it examines options for EU engagement in the area of security sector reform taking into account lessons learned from previous CSDP missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The policy brief concludes that the establishment of a civilian CSDP mission providing training mainly outside Libya will be the most feasible option.

Please feel free to contact Marlene Gottwald (Marlene•Gottwald©tepsa•be) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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European Parliament’s study on Towards a More Comprehensive, Strategic and Cost-effective EU Foreign Policy : The Role of National Parliaments and the European Parliament, March 2012

This study explores the powers of the EP and six selected national parliaments (the British, Danish, French, Irish, Italian and Polish) in setting, amending and scrutinising budgets. It then considers European engagement in three conflict regions – Libya, Palestine and Afghanistan – assessing how the selected parliaments have overseen various aspects of foreign policy, including finance for core activities and responses to sudden crises, and considers whether there are possible synergies between national and European budgets in foreign policy broadly defined.

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TEPSA Brief: Time for a new generation of Trade Agreements?, February 2012

by James Nyomakwa-Obimpeh

For the past 9 years, the European Union (EU) has been negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with economic blocs of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. The aim has been to ensure that trading with the region is compatible with rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and to promote regional integration among the ACP states as a means to integrate them into the global economy.

Although there has been some progress, the states of negotiations are far below expectation. Almost a decade of preparations and negotiations has resulted in the conclusion of only one regional EPA – the EU-CARIFORUM EPA adopted in October 2008. There remain six regional negotiations which have been stalled for the past 111 months due to unambiguous disagreements on several issues. Despite the efforts of the EU to push the negotiations ahead, there is still little hope for the conclusion of the regional EPAs in their existing forms any time soon. It is therefore recommended that the EU reconsiders the currently deep and comprehensive EPAs in favour of specific sector agreements. The EU could recognize its now WTO-compatible trade relations with the ACP region and faction specific Special Trade Agreements as a stepping stone towards a new generation of comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the region in the future, but only when the conditions are ripe.

Please feel free to contact James Nyomakwa-Obimpeh (James•Nyomakwa-Obimpeh©tepsa•be) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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Two final commentaries on the reform of the EU courts

The reform of the EU courts

Texte EN - JV avec en-tête TEPSA

Last year, the Court of Justice has proposed to add twelve new judges (and cabinets) to the General Court, to eliminate its growing backlog. This is the first implementation of the new provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, which has submitted most of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union to the ordinary legislative procedure. The TEPSA/EGMONT comment aims at observing the next context of judicial activities at the EU level and at analyzing the available options and the various possibilities to reduce the growth of costs in the EU courts’ system.

Different contributions will be made in that context. The first ones come from Franklin Dehousse and Jean-Victor Louis. Franklin Dehousse is Professor of European Law (in abeyance) and Judge at the General Court since October 2003. This publication is written on his personal title and does not represent the views of the General Court. Jean-Victor Louis is Emeritus Professor of European Law at the University of Bruxelles and former Secretary General of TEPSA.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “The Architects in the Kingdom, governance of the euro zone”, February 2012

by Jean Paul Jacqué

The Lisbon Treaty has attempted to establish mechanisms for the euro area governance, but the resistance of member states not sharing the common currency had greatly limited the progress in this field. It left a trace in the Protocol No. 14 that foresees informal meetings of euro zone ministers (Euro Group) chaired by an elected president. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Junker has taken up this responsibility. The difficulties of managing the crisis demonstrated this structure to be insufficient. Tensions notably rose between the President of the Euro Group and the Heads of State and Government concerning the competent authority in charge of the economic management. Indeed, the direct intervention by the Heads of State or Government of the euro zone, meeting in special bodies, has been hardly approved by some finance ministers. Some have suggested creating a finance minister of the Union, yet this wouldn’t solve the problem. It was deemed necessary to restructure the system.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as the February Newsletter 2012.

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Two commentaries on the reform of the EU courts, December 2011

In 2011, the Court of Justice has proposed this year to add twelve new judges (and cabinets) to the General Court, to eliminate its growing backlog. This is the first implementation of the new provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, which has submitted most of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union to the ordinary legislative procedure. The TEPSA/EGMONT comment aims at observing the next context of judicial activities at the EU level and at analyzing the available options and the various possibilities to reduce the growth of costs in the EU courts’ system.

Please read here the commentary of Franklin Dehousse

The reform of the EU courts

and here the commentary of Jean-Victor Louis

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “Towards a two-speed Europe?”, December 2011

by Jean Paul Jacqué

The last summits of the Eurogroup and the European Council of 9-10 December paved the way for a new start in the debate on a two-speed Europe. Both President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel envisaged the settling of a Europe composed of a core group around the eurozone within a Europe of twenty-seven. The meeting ended up with the decision to conclude an intergovernmental agreement in which the United Kingdom will not take part. In an article published on 4 November 2011 entitled “Save Europe, divide Europe,” the former legal counsel of the Council Jean-Claude Piris, favored openly a two-speed Europe. It would be set up either in a smooth manner with the use of exemption clauses offered by the treaties, or with the conclusion of a treaty compatible with the Lisbon Treaty in which eurozone members would set up a closer cooperation managed by specific institutions with a separate executive commission and a parliamentary assembly representing national parliaments.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as the December Newsletter 2011.

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European Parliament’s study on Space and Security : The Use of Space in the Context of the CSDP, November 2011

Space applications are best suited for dealing with an increasingly expanding concept of security. If, on the one hand, traditional customers are military users, on the other, a wider security and civilian community benefits from space services which are being developed in Europe in line with the evolution of Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civilian and military missions. The study includes a twofold analysis. First, an analysis of CSDP missions and their operational context to be matched with the main space-based applications. Of course, the EU flagship programmes GMES and Galileo are taken into consideration. Second, an overview of the state-of-the-art of the different space programmes in Europe based on their compatibility with CSDP missions is provided. Building on this analysis, conclusions on the use of space in the context CSDP are drawn, focusing on strengths and weaknesses emerged. Finally, some recommendations addressed to the European Parliament are provided.

Authors: Jean-Pierre Darnis and Anna Veclani, Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI)

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European Parliament’s Study on The EU Foreign Policy towards the BRICS and other Emerging powers: objectives and strategies, October 2011

Five years after the launch of the ‘BRIC’ acronym, Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006 started a process of political dialogue, with South Africa being admitted as a new member in 2011 – leading to the transformation of ‘BRIC’ into ‘BRICS’. This study demonstrates that the BRICS countries are not acting systematically as a coherent bloc in the UN and other international forums. However, their coordination within the BRICS framework as well as within other forums such as the G20 have an impact upon international negotiations – leading to negative effects for the EU’s ability to pursue its interests. This also points to the major failure of the EU’s ’strategic partnerships‘ with the individual BRICS countries. The strategic partnership concept has been mainly important in rhetorical terms. The EU has not been able to use these partnerships to substantially upgrade its relations with the BRICS countries or to prepare itself to the shifting balance of power to the South and the Asian-Pacific region. This study presents several options for the EU to further develop the strategic partnerships and with policy recommendations to engage more actively with new and emerging powers.

Authors: researchers from the University of Leuven, Belgium and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Helsinki

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European Parliament’s Study on the Galileo Programme : Management and Financial Lessons Learned for Future Space Systems Paid Out of the EU Budget, October 2011

Galileo is the first large space programme and system managed and owned by the European Union (EU). Its strategic value rests on the political, operational, industrial and technological independence that it will guarantee in the field of global navigation and positioning. Although Galileo represents a priority for the European space policy, more than ten years on the declaration of its feasibility, the programme is still far from completion. Galileo has experienced a slow and problematic development due to concurrent and different factors, among which the failure of the envisaged public-private partnership (PPP) approach to financing, the ever increasing costs, the diverging opinions among EU Member States (MS) and within EU institutions, governance problems, and complex international negotiations still ongoing. Given the new shared competence of the EU in space matters established by the Treaty of Lisbon, which paves the way for new EU space activities, the purpose of the study is first to examine specific and characterizing issues related to the management and financing of the Galileo programme, then to draw lessons learnt for future space systems funded out of the budget of the EU.

Authors: Anna C. Veclani, Jean-Pierre Darnis and Valérie V. Miranda

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “The current state of EU Affairs”, August 2011

by Jean Paul Jacqué

Since this newsletter is published after the summer break, I seize the opportunity to wish you all a good return back to work – despite a difficult climate in the Union. Our Polish Pre-Presidency Conference of last 30 June and 1 July 2011 in the Natolin campus, generously hosted by Paul Demaret and in close cooperation with the European Institute in Lodz, has indeed showed that the economic problems of the Union were far from being solved and that the new institutional architecture has not yet enabled Europe to speak with one voice. We will see whether the request of the Heads of State and Government of the eurozone to President Herman Van Rompuy will bring innovative new initiatives. Also in the field of external relations, the slow implementation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) has not yet fully achieved its objectives.

Please click here to read the entire Editorial as well as August Newsletter 2011.

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TEPSA Brief: The review of the European Neighbourhood Policy: Increasing the coherence and coordination of EU external action?, July 2011

By Simon Stroß,

The recent events in the Arab world triggered a call for more democracy in the Southern Neighbourhood and, together with the stagnating reforms in some of its Eastern neighbours, forced the European Union (EU) to thoroughly review its European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Criticised for focusing on the political stability of neighbouring countries rather than on the promotion of democracy, the EU acknowledged that its former approach “has met with limited results”. The newly established European External Action Service (EEAS), which brings together officials and diplomats from the Commission, the Council and the member states and directly serves its head Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy/Vice President of the Commission (HR/VP), was supposed to play a key role in the review process. Ashton and her EEAS officials repeatedly stated that the ENP review is among the top three priorities of the service in its first year. In this context the question arises if the EU will use the chance to achieve one of the major objectives of the Lisbon Treaty, namely increasing the coherence of its external action. This concerns both how coherent ENP policy formulation is carried out in the EU system and to what extent the output of the review is coherent.

Please click here to read the entire brief and feel free to contact Simon Stroß (simon•stross©tepsa•be) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “The European Union and the constitutional identity of its member states”, June 2011

by Jean Paul Jacqué

Debates on the relationship between EU law and national constitutional law have been around since the beginning of community integration. Throughout history, member states wanted to preserve principles that they considered as the foundation of their national identity. For this particular reason, even with the primacy of EU law over national legislation recognized by all national courts, this primacy over national constitutions has always been left open. Certainly, it is often said that “the wisdom of judges” both European and national, have prevented the conflict from degenerating and eventually undermining the whole community construction.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as June Newsletter.

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A series of short essays with fresh thinking on the European Union: What the European Union Did Next

“What the European Union Did Next” addresses the intrinsic quality of European cooperation and it finds reason to be cheerful. Each of the essays collected identifies one undervalued quality of the EU’s modus operandi and shows how that quality could revitalise the Union. By reference to a whole range of policy areas, from foreign policy to social exclusion to constitutional policy, the eleven contributions make the case for the EU’s strengths – and its limitations. Edited by Almut Möller and Roderick Parkes, it includes the following contributions on The Involuntary Union: European Economic Governance and the Union State by Cornelius Adebahr; The Strategic Union: Rising to the Multipolar Challenge by Thomas Renard & Sven Biscop; The Unromantic Union: Give and Take in EU Home Affairs by Roderick Parkes; The Learning Union: EU Social Inclusion Policy, Lessons from Eastern Europe by Irena Cerovic; The Flexible Union: Rethinking Constitutional Affairs by Almut Möller; The Democratic Union: Strengthening Democracy in the Wider Europe by Deniz Devrim & Jordi Vaquer; The Substantial Union: Recasting the EU’s Middle East Policies by Timo Behr; From Inspiring to Declining Union? Europe at the Tipping Point and the Turkish Solution by Nora Fisher Onar; The Delivery Union: How the 27 Strengths of the EU Can Lead to Better Regulation by Mirte van den Berge; The Sustainable Union: Towards a European Energy Community for the 21st Century by Sami Andoura; and The Restrained Union: Has EU Counter-Terrorism Policy Become More About Having an EU Policy Than About Countering Terrorism? by Toby Archer.

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European Parliament’s Study on the impact of the financial crisis on European defence, May 2011

The financial crisis may pose a risk as well as offer an opportunity for the European defence sector: on the one hand, it sounds plausible that shrinking budgets increase the pressure on member states to cooperate and thus overcome the EU’s problems related to capability development and restructuring of the defence industries and markets. On the other hand, national prerogatives still dominate despite a decade of rhetoric and initiatives for more cooperation and less state in EU defence. If this national focus continues to dominate under current financial circumstances, EU member states run the risk to implement cuts in their Armed Forces in an uncoordinated way. As a result, member states might end up with potentially even bigger capability gaps than they have today and hence even less opportunities to implement the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). This study provides a comprehensive and detailed overview on the ongoing impact of the financial crisis on EU Member States defence spending. In addition, it examines the potential of overcoming the need to cut defence spending by greater cooperation in the framework of the European Union and by drawing upon the innovations in the Lisbon Treaty. The study highlights the need to address the challenges of the economic crisis, a growing number of initiatives by various EU countries as well as the opportunities the Lisbon Treaty offers for pursuing an effective defence sector strategy that goes beyond the current incremental approach. The study has been requested to provide Members of the European Parliament, broader defence policy community and European public a first comprehensive overview of the impact of the financial crisis on European defence and at the EU level, as well as its wider impact on the future of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). It includes recommendations to be developed by the European Parliament and decision makers at the national and EU level in order to address the economic crisis whilst ensuring Europe retains defence capabilities to respond to future security challenges.

Authors: Christian Mölling and Sophie-Charlotte Brune, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik – German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Germany

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TEPSA Brief: EU energy security – the Russia factor and future prospects for the Southern Corridor, May 2011

By Marco Siddi

In the wake of both the uprisings that have destabilized Northern Africa and the nuclear disaster in Japan, future prospects for EU energy security look less and less promising. The rapidly growing public opposition to nuclear power and the current insecurity concerning energy supplies from Northern Africa are only the two latest elements of a series of factors that seriously challenge the European Union’s objectives in the energy field. EU domestic production of all fossil fuels has been decreasing for more than a decade. At the current rate of extraction, oil reserves will be depleted within eight years, which will make the Union more dependent on its Russian, Middle Eastern, Norwegian and North African suppliers. Domestic production of natural gas has been decreasing since 1996, while demand increased greatly in the last 15 years. Dependency on gas imports will increase further to reach an estimated 73-79% of consumption by 2020 and 81-89% by 2030, mostly due to the depletion of indigenous resources. Prospects look bleak also for nuclear power, particularly after the Fukushima accident in Japan has led some of the largest EU countries, notably Germany and Italy, to reconsider their policies in this respect.

Please click here to read the entire brief and feel free to contact Marco Siddi (marco•siddi©tepsa•eu) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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European Parliament’s study on Impact of sanctions and isolation measures with North Korea, Burma/Myanmar, Iran and Zimbabwe as case studies, May 2011

The present study explores how the introduction of targeted sanctions has transformed the practice of international organisations, looking at the examples of North Korea, Burma/Myanmar, Iran and Zimbabwe. Although the ultimate effectiveness of the individual sanctions measures can hardly be ascertained, not least due to their co-existence with unilateral sanctions proactively enforced by the US, the analysis demonstrates that the character of sanctions measures, and the changing nature of the international system, has put the use of sanctions and isolation measures in different terms than was the case just a couple of decades ago. While it is beyond the scope of this study to reframe the scholarly and policy controversies on the use of sanctions, it is posited that such debate should shift from the “whether” sanctions should be used to the “how” sanctions should be employed, and that the quality of the public debate would benefit from enhanced public awareness of the EU’s policies in this regard. Finally, the study concludes that despite the absence of formal decision making powers over EU sanctions policies, the European Parliament can play a decisive role in their formulation building up on its proactive record in the scrutiny of EU foreign policy. It should enhance its contribution by requesting from the Council to report regularly on the design of sanctions, their use in negotiations with the target, their role in supporting reformists within the elites and the position of democratic forces, their conformity with human rights and their ultimate political efficacy.

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European Parliament’s Study on Cybersecurity and Cyberpower: Concepts, Conditions and Capabilities for Cooperation for Action within the EU, April 2011

The study analyses policy options for strengthening cybersecurity within the EU and examining potential points-of-entry, including within the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The study provides an overview of the principle concepts and definitions of cyber security and cyber war, drawing attention to the complexity and cross-jurisdictional nature of the field. In addition to examining current cyber threats to the EU, the study also analyses the capacity of the EU to address more sophisticated cyber-attacks within a common framework. In this respect the study offers important insights into the political, operational and structural challenges that need to be addressed in order to protect the EU and its citizens as well and to exercise “cyberpower” on the international stage. The study takes-stock of the existing NATO and EU capabilities related to cyber security and highlights the added value of the EU in applying a diverse range of policies that can help enable it to comprehensively tackle the increasing range of cyber threats. The study has been requested to introduce Members of the European Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE) to the current issues in cyber security and cyber warfare, as well as to provide a selection of policy recommendations, including within the CSDP context. The study also provides innovative conceptual understanding on what might constitute EU “cyberpower”.

Authors: Alexander Klimburg (Austrian Institute for International Afffairs – OIIP, Austria) and Heli Tirmaa-Klaar (Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, Estonia)

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European Parliament’s Study on the Role of Private Security Companies (PSCs) in CSDP Missions and Operations, April 2011

While the hiring of Private Security Companies (PSCs) such as Blackwater by the United States (US) has been the most widely reported and debated, the European Union (EU) and its member states are increasingly relying on private contractors in multilateral operations. Among others, the EU has employed private security guards to protect the EUPOL headquarters in Afghanistan, to secure the premises of the EULEX mission in Kosovo and to guard the EUPOL mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Due to the growing roles of PSCs in Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) operations, the EU and its member states urgently need to consider the possible impact that armed and unarmed security contractors can have on missions and the achievement of mission objectives. This report demonstrates that potential negative effects range from decreased democratic accountability and governmental control to the perceptions of contractor impunity and insecurity among the civilian populations of host states. There is no catch-all solution to these problems, and for many governments the advantages of hiring private security contractors, such as the ability to fill urgent capability and personnel gaps, cost-efficiency and specialist expertise, outweigh the disadvantages. Given the current financial and personnel constraints in Europe, it is likely that the use of PSCs will further increase. It is therefore imperative to develop appropriate mechanisms to address the possible problems of such use before they occur. This report develops five specific recommendations for EU action that would help address risks associated with the increasing use of Private Military and Security Companies.

Authors: Elke Krahmann (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt – PRIF, Germany and University of Bristol, UK) and Cornelius Friesendorf (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main / Peace Research Institute Frankfurt – PRIF/HSFK, Germany)

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European Parliament’s study on The EU as a Global Actor : Its Evolving Role in Multilateral Organizations, March 2011

This study explores ways through which the EU could meet ifs full potential as a global actor and, specifically how it can act more effective in the multilateral organizations and forums. The main obstacle for the EU is the fragmented and divergent positions among the member states that occasionally arise over major international issues, and prevent the Union from acting with speed and determination required in international affairs. The departure point of this analysis is a thorough assessment of the Lisbon Treaty. The latter provides the EU with legal personality and with new tools and competences that, if there was enough political will, could enable it to maximize its current capacity to act. Assessed against the division of competences between the EU and its Member States enshrined in the Treaty, the study looks at the current status of the EU in the most important multilateral organizations that form the central nucleus of the world governance, both in the political, defense and economic realms. For each of those organizations, the report proposes ways and means to enhance the membership status and influence of the Union. At the same time, it is recognized that the international architecture is clearly imperfect and unsuitable for global governance, often reflecting the old order and powers that emerged from World War II. Therefore, this report also provides suggestions on how to reform the system for global governance if it is to be more representative and efficient while allowing a more adequate insertion of the EU.

Authors: Vicente Palacio (Fundación Alternativas), Manuel V. De La Rocha (Fundación Alternativas), José Luis Escario (Fundación Alternativas) and Doménec Ruiz (Fundación Alternativas)

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “The state of play of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI): the birth of participatory democracy”, February 2011

By Jean Paul Jacqué

Under the Belgian Presidency, the European Parliament and the Council reached agreement in first reading on the modalities of the citizens’ initiative. This new initiative allows, under Article 11, paragraph 4, TEU, a million citizens “citizen of a significant number of Member States” to invite the Commission to bring forward legislative proposals in areas where the Commission has the power to do so. With this vagueness in the Treaty, descretion was left to the legislator to determine what exact percentage of the Member States represent a significant number of Member States.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as the February newsletter.

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TEPSA Brief: Obstacles to overcome in EU’s accession to the European Convention of Human Rights – December 2010

by Agathe Fadier

The Lisbon Treaty entailed important evolution in the field of Human Rights protection in the EU. In addition to the establishment of a legally binding EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the treaty commits the EU to accede to the European Convention of Human Rights.

While the negotiations are currently ongoing, this TEPSA brief provides an analysis of the issues raised by the EU accession to the ECHR. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the accession process enters in the final phase of a process that began thirty years ago. However, while there is a political consensus concerning the necessity of the accession, numerous legal, institutional and technical questions need to be clarified. It concludes that the outcome of the negotiations will be decisive for the representation of the EU in the international system as a new legal entity.

Please click here to read the entire brief and feel free to contact Agathe Fadier (agathe•fadier©gmail•com) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “Enhanced cooperation”, December 2010

By Jean Paul Jacqué

Enhanced cooperation was introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 and responded to the request of many politicians who, pointing out that the continuous EU enlargement would make more and more difficult the step forward on integration, wished to create a special arrangements to enable a group of Member States to move forward without being prevented from doing so by the absence of interest or the hostility of other Member States. Some expressed the idea of a “core group” pre-composed of Member States which would constitute a kind of European avant-garde.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as the December newsletter 2010

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “The role of the European Council on the future of the CFSP”, September 2010

By Jean Paul Jacqué

Since the beginning of his mandate, the President of the European Council had pointed out that foreign policy is one of the fields the European Council would give priority to work on. He was determined to put fully into practice article 22 TEU which entrusts the European Council to determine the strategic objectives of the Union in the context of the CFSP to the same extent as the Community external policies. The economic crisis had delayed the prioritisation of this matter. It has henceforth been done since the European Council of 16 September 2010.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as the September Newsletter 2010.

Please read the conclusions of the European Council of the 16th of September and the remarks made by Herman Van Rompuy at the press conference following the meeting of Heads of State or Governments.

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TEPSA Brief: European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) – September 2010

by Laura Ventura

The Treaty of the EU introduced a new dimension of participatory democracy for European citizens. With its proposal, the European commission aims at enhancing citizens’ right to participate in the democratic life of the Union by enabling them to bring forward their concerns at the EU level.

This TEPSA brief intends to provide a description of this ongoing initiative while comparing it to initiatives at national level and assessing its democratic power.

Please click here to read the entire brief and feel free to contact Laura Ventura (laura•ventura©tepsa•be) to discuss and to learn more on the future developments about this issue.

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European Parliament’s Briefing on Impact of EU policies on the High North, August 2010

The EU has an increased interest towards the Arctic. Whether the EU is a relevant actor in this respect, and how this role should be developed in future, is still under political debate. Against this background, the present paper outlines the general external competences of the EU in the field of climate change and fisheries, taking into consideration the specific relationship between the EU and the Arctic states – characterized by its externality in legal and geographical terms – as well as the relevance of EU climate change and fisheries activities towards this region. From these findings, options for EU activities concerning climate change, fish capture and trade in relation to the Arctic are then developed.

Authors : Antje Neumann, LL.M. and Dr. Bettina Rudloff – Associates, EU-External Relations Division, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin

Please download the briefing Impact of EU policies on the High North.

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European Parliament’s Briefing on Geopolitical assessment of existing data on natural resources, August 2010

The paper assesses the importance of Arctic resources from geopolitical, economic and legal perspectives. It examines estimates of oil and gas deposits; the outlook for exploitation; jurisdictional and maritime claims; questions of governance, and the potential for geopolitical friction. While the Arctic is estimated to contain about 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30% of its gas, the extraction viability – in the foreseeable future – is questionable. This applies especially to gas because of the shale gas “revolution” and high development and production costs. Overlapping territorial claims do not require urgent solutions; they are more likely to postpone resource development than to create inter-state conflicts. There is, however, ambivalence about governance due to the absence of a UN enforcement mechanism to resolve disputes; the Arctic Council’s lack of political influence; and uncertainty over whether the meetings of the Arctic Ocean states will be turned into an institutionalized decision-making venue. This ambiguity – when coupled with increased pressure by actors, such as the European Union and China, for increased internationalization of the Arctic – could produce friction among the Arctic states and between them and non-Arctic states and organizations. Thus, while the Arctic is currently a low tension area, the long-term geopolitical conflict risks are much greater.

Author : Valur Ingimundarson, University of Iceland

Please download the briefing Geopolitical assessment of existing data on natural resources.

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European Parliament’s briefing on Opening of new Arctic shipping routes, August 2010

Neither the Northwest nor the Northeast Passage has so far become important in international shipping. Nevertheless, the prospects should be re-assessed in light of new circumstances in the Arctic, especially the changing ice situation which makes it possible to envisage a future with drastically increased shipping activity. This paper argues, however, that developments on the two sea routes in question today are not straight forward. In the case of the Northwest Passage, ice problems are expected to remain a major limiting factor for many years and the Canadian authorities are not actively promoting international usage of the route, something which is partly related to legal controversies over the status of the passage. In the case of the Northeast Passage, Russia actively advertises its Northern Sea Route, seeing rapidly improving ice conditions. However, the commercial conditions remain uncertain and necessary investments in icebreakers and infrastructure are so far missing. The Northern Sea Route may, besides its regional usage, especially in the western part, have the potential for limited transits in the most favourable season. The Russian vision of year-round transit traffic seems quite unrealistic within the perspective of this decade.

Authors : Arild Moe and Øystein Jensen, Fridtjof Nansen Institute

Please download the briefing Opening of new shipping routes.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial on “The European External Action Service”, July 2010

By Jean Paul Jacqué

With only two months delay from the original schedule, the European External Action Service (EEAS) has just been established. This delay is due essentially to the negotiations with the European Parliament (EP). The latter linked its consultative opinion on the service to the proposals on the needed adjustments of the Financial Regulation and the staff status, for which it possessed codecision power. This allowed the EP to check all the texts.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as the July newsletter 2010.

Please read the Council Decision.

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Liber Amicorum Professor Jacqué

We congratulate warmly Professor Jean-Paul Jacqué who received the Liber Amicorum on Monday 14th June, “Chemins d’Europe – mélanges en l’honneur de J.P. Jacqué”.

The first hommage was written by Jean-Claude Piris, Director General of the Legal service of the Council of the EU who emphasizes Jean Paul Jacqué’s successful academic career, his valuable contributions notably to the Council as well as his human qualities.

Other authors are Olivier De Schutter, Loïc Azoulai, Ami Barav, Florence Benoît-Rohmer, Frédérique Berrod, Roland Bieber, Thérèse Blanchet, Claude Blumann, Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen, Florence Chaltiel, Jean Charpentier, Vlad Constantinesco, Jacqueline Dutheil de la Rochère, Jean-François Flauss, Jean-Claude Gautron, Constance Grewe, Joël Rideau, Robert Hertzog, Robert Kovar, Hans Christian Krüger, Marie-Françoise Labouz, Koen Lenaerts, Jean-Victor Louis, Alfonso Mattera, Valérie Michel, Dietmar Nickel, Fabrice Picod, Dominique Ritleng, Patrice Rolland, Allan Rosas, Lucia Serena Rossi, Jürgen Schwarze, Antonio Tizzano, Bruno Gencarelli, Françoise Tulkens, Stefano Piedimonte, Georges Vandersanden, Blanca Vila, Patrick Wachsmann, Jean Waline, Joseph H.H. Weiler, Wolfgang Wessels, Jacques Ziller.

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European Parliament’s Briefing on Strengthening the EU’s external representation: the role of the European external action service, May 2010

This report examines areas that require further consideration in the development of the European External Action Service (EEAS). The report considers six key challenges and explores the extent to which these have been adequately addressed by the October 2009 Presidency report on the EEAS. The first of these is the creation of a distinctive institutional identity that needs to overcome the challenges of integration and inter-institutional competition. The EEAS also needs to address two sets of putative tasks if it is to be effective: those of internal co-ordination and external representation. Further key areas to which consideration need to be given are the composition of the service, including the role of EU delegations and the EU’s Special Representatives. Finally, the report explores the relationship between the responsibilities of the Parliament and the EEAS.

Author: Richard G. Whitman, University of Bath

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European Parliament’s Briefing on Global challenges: navigating a way for the EU as a Global Actor, May 2010

We live in an age of deep transformation of both the global and human condition. The driving forces are essentially technological, but they have profound ecological and social consequences. (See for instance Toffler, Dickens, Friedman in the attached list of select literature.) On the deepest level, the post-industrial revolutions in science and technology are further multiplying our power to manipulate our physical environment, both by increasing our understanding of the world about us, and by giving us ever more powerful technological and economic This can be either good or bad, depending upon how we use our increased power. Here the record from the industrial age is mixed and depends upon one’s perspective. Socially some 15% of the world’s population – including the EU – have reached historically unparalleled standards of living, while almost all other societies in the world have had their traditional forms of livelihood disrupted and some 20% are now helplessly uprooted. Ecologically the legacy of the industrial revolution is disastrous, but it has also led to advances in science and technology that enable us to address our current problems. Humanity – or the elite portion of humanity to which the EU belongs – is empowered as never before.

Author: Tomas Ries

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Recommendations to the Belgian Presidency, May 2010

During the Belgian Pre-Presidency conference organised in cooperation with the EGE network on 20-21st May 2010, TEPSA Network presented the Recommendations to the Belgian Presidency.

These recommendations were drafted by representatives from TEPSA member institutes: Iain Begg (LSE, London), Christian Franck (Catholic University of Louvain, Jean Monnet Chair), András Innotai (IWE HAS, Budapest), Mathias Jopp (IEP, Bonn), Ignacio Molina (Elcano, Madrid), Višnja Samardjija (IMO, Zagreb), Marjan Svetlicic (CIR, Ljubljana), Fabrizio Tassinari (DIIS, Copenhagen).

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European Parliament’s Briefing on consolidating the EU’s Crisis Management Structures: Civil-Military Coordination and the Future of the EU OHQ, May 2010

The performed move from ESDP to CSDP in the Lisbon Treaty is desirable for an increase of coherence in EU’s external action, including its crisis management efforts. The coherence is further reinforced by its institutional innovations, namely the double-hatted High Commissioner and the European External Action Service which is uniquely positioned to play the role of a principal agency in the field of crisis management. EU’s use of the concept of crisis management is underdeveloped and overused simultaneously. Several key trends in this field are discerned and they all indicate that the EU has been moving in the direction towards more complex and hybrid operations for which comprehensive planning and conduct strategies need to be used. The need for more intensive intra-EU coordination as well as external cooperation of the EU with other actors involved in crisis management is recognised.

Author: Nik Hynek, Institute of International Relations (IIR)

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Recommendations to the Spanish Presidency, November 2009

On the occasion of its Pre-Presidency Conference on 24-25 November 2009 at the Spanish Senate, organized by TEPSA’s Spanish member Elcano, again recommendations to the Spanish Presidency were presented. These were elaborated by Michele Comelli (IAI, Rome), Gunilla Herolf (SIPRI, Stockholm), Visnja Samardzija (IMO, Zagreb), Krisztina Vida (IWE, Budapest) and Jaap de Zwaan (Clingendael, The Hague). The recommendations can be found here.

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TEPSA Brief on the Recommendations to the Czech Presidency, December 2008

TEPSA has a long tradition in offering recommendations to future Presidencies. TEPSA Brief No. 4 thus presents the recommendations from TEPSA Board members Iain Begg (LSE, London), Nikos Frangakis (EKEME, Athens), Gunilla Herolf (SIPRI, Stockholm) and Hanna Ojanen (UPI-FIIA, Helsinki) to the Czech Presidency.

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Human Rights in Europe

Speech by Mr. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, given on 10th March to TEPSA friends.

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Declaration published by TEPSA in view of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, and its own 33rd anniversary

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Revising the European Security Strategy: Arguments for Discussion

by Stefano Silvestri, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome, May 2008

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“Constitution plus” – Renegotiating the Treaty

by Andrew Duff

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Synopsis in English and in French

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TEPSA Brief: Energy Agency

The second issue is dedicated to the proposal for the establishment of an Agency for Cooperation on Energy Regulators.

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Un passo avanti per la politica estera comune

by Michele Comelli

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TEPSA Brief: Recommendations to the Swedish Presidency – June 2009

The Swedish Pre-Presidency Conference took place on 28 and 29 May 2009 at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) in Stockholm. The conference was organised by TEPSA’s Swedish Member Institute, the SIIA, and the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS) in cooperation with TEPSA and the EU-CONSENT network and Stockholm Forum for Security Studies (SFSS).

Entitled “Swedish Presidency 2009: Finding Solidarity in the Face of Crises” the conference brought together senior scholars and high-level practitioners from across Europe to focus on the Swedish Presidency of the EU. It examined the prospects for improving European solidarity in the face of existing and emerging challenges.

During the conference, Petr Kratochvil has presented the Recommendations to the Swedish Presidency to Cecilia Malmström, Minister for EU Affairs.

These recommendations to the Swedish Presidency of the European Union were drafted by Brendan Donnelly (The Federal Trust for Education and Research), Hanna Ojanen (The Finnish Institute of International Affairs) and Petr Kratochvíl (The Institute of International Relations, Prague).

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Il nuovo Trattato di riforma UE e la Politica estera e di sicurezza europea: cosa cambia?

by Michele Comelli, in Contributions from specialised Research Institutes, n. 78, October 2007, Service of Affari Internazionali, Senate of Italian Republic

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TEPSA Brief: EU’s Baltic strategy

EU’s Baltic strategy: realities of the crisis and the vision of a region

by Vadim Kononenko, Finnish Institute of International Affairs (vadim•kononenko©upi-fiia•fi)

How is the global economic crisis shaping the dynamics of cooperation around the Baltic sea? The

region’s image of “success story” quickly gave place to worries and doubts as the economies of the

Baltic countries plunged into recession. The crisis puts under question various ambitious plans and

strategies for the region’s development as a role model for global competitiveness, innovation and

cooperation. More importantly, the crisis reveals that “region-building”, which has been one of the

trademarks of EU’s policy-making, becomes increasingly problematic for both Brussels and national

governments.

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Adapting to Enlargement of the European Union: Institutional Practice since May 2004

by Professor Helen Wallace

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TEPSA Brief: European Leadership

The events of January 2009 reveal a picture which could hardly be more confusing: Whereas in the United States Barack Obama’s inauguration as President of the United States of America seems to demonstrate the maximum leadership possible, the European Union is currently led by a Presidency which puts own national considerations first. Both the positions of the President of the Commission and the High Representative – which will be merged with the Commissioner for External Relations when the Treaty of Lisbon will come into force – are subject to their five-yearly revisions in 2009. Thus, where is European leadership heading?

TEPSA Brief 1/2009 discusses in this context the topic of European leadership.

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TEPSA Brief: Eastern Partnership, July 2008

TEPSA Brief N° 1 summarizes the main findings and positions regarding the Eastern Partnership.

Please download the TEPSA Brief Eastern Partnership.

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Intégrer l’Europe: dans quel but?

Speech of Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, at a Colloquium organised by TEPSA & CIFE in Rome

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Crossfire in the Parliament: The Commission’s hearings

The new year in Brussels begins right away with a series of events, which many people have been waiting for for a long time. Commissioner-designates have been preparing – helped by their staff – over Christmas in order to be ready for the questions of the European Parliament. While the most part of the hearings will take place during the week of 11-15 January, some (future) Commissioners will have the joy of travelling to Strasbourg in the following week.

The European Parliament has acquired a certain measure of routine by now in the holding of hearings: Already for the Commission of Jacques Santer hearings were undertaken – although when consulted on this issue the leaving Commission President Jacques Delors expressed his strong dislike. However, the Santer Commission agreed, and since then parliamentary hearings on the future Commission constitute a central part – though without treaty base – of the Commission’s appointment, injecting some of the Parliament’s legitimacy into the Commission. Andrew Duff, the EP’s rapporteur on the hearings even stated in his press conference that this task is picturing the “European Parliament as it ought to be”, with the goal to “have at the end a top-class Commission”.

Hearings, which are to assess a candidate’s general competence, his or her European commitment and personal independence as well as the knowledge of the prospective portfolio and the communication skills have been prepared by written questionnaires. They follow a clear structure: The Commissioner-designate opens after the technical introduction of the committee chair of the committee-in-lead the hearing with an opening statement, and then faces questions of the Parliamentarians. Hearings are restricted to three hours. After the public hearing the committees meet in camera to discuss the appearance of the Commissioner-designate; a letter with the committee’s opinion is then sent to the President of the EP. Hearings are not without their pitfalls: In 2004, Italy and Latvia had to send new candidates; Hungary received a new portfolio.

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Lisbon Treaty

Overview of Publications prepared by the team of Professor Wolfgang Wessels at the University of Cologne.

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TEPSA Brief: Conclusions of the European Council

On 15/16 October 2008 the European Council met for the second time under the French Presidency. While the focus of the meeting was clearly placed on solutions for the financial crisis, also topics such as climate change and energy security were touched upon, as well as the follow-up to the crisis in Georgia. TEPSA Brief No. 3 summarizes the conclusions of the summit of 15/16 October 2008.

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The European Neighbourhood Policy. Challenges and Prospects.

by Graham Avery and Yvonne Nasshoven (eds.), Trans European Policy Studies, Brussels, December 2008

The publication represents a collection of TEPSA’s briefings for the European Parliament’s AFET Committee.

If you want to order a printed copy of the book please contact us.

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TEPSA Brief

TEPSA Brief is a monthly policy brief, which informs concisely about current and ongoing policies and developments in the European Union.

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Assessing the Common Spaces between the European Union and Russia

by Krassimir Nikolov (ed.), BECSA in cooperation with TEPSA, Sofia, February 2009.

Analyses in this volume are based on research assigned for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) by the Policy Department of the EP’s General Secretariat.

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TEPSA Newsletter Editorial “Descartes revisited:The Reflections on the Method”, April 2011

by Jean Paul Jacqué

Since the Treaty of Lisbon has entered into force, one witnesses the revival of the classical debate between the Community method and the intergovernmental method. The establishment of the European Council as institution of the Union is certainly a change largely symbolic, nevertheless the innovation of the creation of the fixed Presidency of the European Council seems to have changed the situation to the disadvantage of the Commission. Member States show greater confidence in their President than in the President of the Commission. The Council is in charge of study tasks and proposals which, in the time of the Delors Commission, were entrusted to the Commission President.

Please click here to read the entire editorial as well as the April Newsletter 2011.

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Background papers THESEUS Conference “France and Germany in the EU – 50 years after Elysée, December 2012

The THESEUS Conference “France and Germany in the EU – 50 years after Elysée. The couple viewed by their European partners”, co-organised by TEPSA and the University of Cologne, took place at the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the EU in Brussels on 6 and 7 December 2012.

Conference background papers were drafted in the context of this conference “ The Franco-German couple: Potentials and limitations” by Peter Valant, Marie Curie EXCAT Fellow and “Which Future for the EU: Political Union, Directoire or Differentiated Integration?” by Laura Ventura, Project Officer, TEPSA.

For the detailed programme and further information, please visit the THESEUS website. See also the Conference report.

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Enlarging the European Union: Effects on the new member states and on the EU

by Graham Avery, Anne Faber, Anne Schmidt (eds.) Trans European Policy Studies Association, Brussels, August 2009

The publication represents a collection of contributions from TEPSA’s conference on “Effects of EU enlargement”.

If you want to order a printed copy of the book please contact us.

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Author:	Franklin Dehousse
Category:	Publications
Date:	27/05/2012

Category:	Publications
Date:	27/05/2012

Author:	Franklin Dehousse
Category:	Publications
Date:	27/05/2012