A presente dissertação tem como objetivo analisar o contexto constitucional da integração Europeia, tendo como base as Constituições dos Estados Membros da União Europeia (UE).(1) O tema O Direito da Integração nas Constituições dos Estados Membros da União Europei pode ser visto por dois caminhos principais. O primeiro deles tem como foco o direito europeu, o direito comunitário, e a análise dos textos normativos que os compõem. (2) Para isso, seria necessário analisar com profundidade os principais tratados que constroem o direito europeu (notadamente, mas não apenas, os Tratados de Roma, Maastricht, Amsterdã, Nice e Lisboa) para em seguida discorrer sobre a possibilidade de atribuição de caráter constitucional a essa série de tratados que, ao abordar temas diversos e simultaneamente complementares, criaram e vêm construindo o que hoje é a União Europeia. Na tentativa de integrar o conceito de União Europeia e o de direito constitucional, optou-se por tratar do aspecto estatal da dimensão constitucional da União Europeia. O foco dessa dissertação é saber de que modo ocorre, ou se ocorre, a previsão da União Europeia nas Constituições dos vinte e sete Estados que a compõem. Serão destacadas, na medida do possível...

A presente pesquisa tem por pano de fundo o debate sobre a legitimidade do processo de integração da Europa, iniciado na década de 1950. Uma das principais expressões desta seara corresponde ao contemporâneo tema das assimetrias entre as expectativas das populações nacionais sobre a condução do processo de integração e o procedimento decisório verificado na praxis comunitária. O variado rol de limitações à ação participativa dos cidadãos no cerne deliberativo da União Europeia é reunido doutrinariamente sob a alcunha de déficit democrático. Mote frequente das análises de Filosofia Política e assunto recorrente dos estudiosos de Relações Internacionais, a existência de um déficit democrático na principal iniciativa de integração regional da Europa encontra escassos trabalhos sedimentados em uma abordagem jurídica. Deste modo, o principal escopo deste estudo é aclarar de que forma o Direito contribuiu para o advento do déficit democrático europeu e como são articuladas, pela via jurídica, as tentativas atuais de combate a este fenômeno. Para tanto, há de se demarcar o referencial teórico utilizado pela pesquisa, essencialmente no tocante a) à possibilidade de se aproximar regionalismo e democracia; b) à influência das teorias da integração no tema de estudo e c) à versão do conceito de democracia eleita no trabalho. Ademais...

Esta pesquisa levanta os elementos formadores da identidade nacional croata; faz um acompanhamento das conquistas da União Europeia; analisa os atores sociais que se posicionam a favor da Croácia como membro da União Europeia, bem como o posicionamento daqueles que são contra o ingresso da Croácia na União Europeia. Os posicionamentos teóricos, entrecruzados com os dados práticos coletados, faz-nos refletir sobre ganhos e perdas dos croatas em sua relação com a União Europeia. Há tendências negativas da União Europeia, aqui expostas, que não estão explícitas em seus tratados, nem expressos por suas instituições. Importa, nesta pesquisa, alcançar um posicionamento crítico com relação aos atos econômicos, políticos e sociais relacionados com a soberania nacional dos países periféricos do Leste Europeu. Este trabalho coloca em discussão as estratégias dos países ricos da Europa no sentido de perseverarem competitivos em âmbito global, incorporando o mercado do Leste Europeu. Por isso, este estudo se debruça sobre o Alargamento e acordos assinados entre os países-membros da União Europeia; mudanças na legislação croata; influência estrangeira no desenvolvimento humano da Croácia, dados estatísticos da Croácia e de países da União Europeia que espelham fatores positivos e negativos relacionados com a sustentabilidade da soberania nacional.; This research raises the formative elements of Croatian national identity; makes a follow-up to the achievements of the European Union; it analyzes the social actors that are positioned in favor of Croatia as a member of the European Union...

The prevalence of either Ricardian or non-Ricardian fiscal regimes is important both for practical policy reasons and to assess fiscal sustainability, and this is of particular relevance for European Union countries. The purpose of this paper is to assess, with a panel data set, the empirical evidence concerning the existence of Ricardian fiscal regimes in EU-15 countries. The results give support to the Ricardian fiscal regime hypothesis throughout the sample period, and for sub-samples accounting for the dates of the Maastricht Treaty and for the setting-up of the Stability and Growth Pact. Additionally, electoral budget cycles also seem to play a role in fiscal behaviour.

It is common today, even in the European media, to treat the current crisis of the European Union almost exclusively as an economic crisis. The present article pretends to show that such a focus is not only wrong but is indeed dangerous for the future development of the European Union as a whole. The article will argue that the present economic crisis simply aggravated – and a lot – a crisis of legitimacy through which the European Union has been passing for some time. Showing that the anti-European tendencies which are spreading throughout the countries of the continent threaten the very future of the European project, the article will make suggestion on reforms for the future development of the EU, alerting to the necessity to finally elaborate once again a coherent argument for the continuation of the European integration process which puts the European population at the heart of the political process instead of just austerity.

Introduction:.....This paper will illustrate in a most relevant and painful way the paradoxes of European liberal democracy. The argument is approached by firstly examining the extent to which the rise of the Far or Populist Right has pressurised the European Union into becoming more intolerant, and then it proceeds to examine to what extent the threat of terrorism has undermined the liberal democratic consensus (outlined above). The argument is therefore pitched at two levels: the effects of domestic politics on the national policies of Member States and the inputs of Member States on the joint policies of the European Union. Elsewhere I have used this argument as an illustrative case study in the wider debate about the nature of multi-level governance in the European Union and the associated debate about the extent to which the European Union had taken on the attributes of a sovereign nation-state. Here I can only declare my interest, but of course this interest does shape the way I will pitch my argument.; no

Mit dem Ende des Kalten Krieges und der deutschen Wiedervereinigung wurde nicht nur in der Politikwissenschaft, sondern auch einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit diskutiert, ob das größere Deutschland seinen vereinigungsbedingten Machtzuwachs in eine machtbewusstere Außenpolitik verwandeln würde. Die vorliegende Arbeit nimmt diese Frage zum Ausgangspunkt und untersucht mit Hilfe von drei konkurrierenden Außenpolitiktheorien – der neorealistischen, utilitaristisch-liberalen und der konstruktivistischen Außenpolitiktheorie –, ob sich in einem bislang weniger erforschten Politikfeld, der auswärtigen Kulturpolitik und hier der Politik zur Förderung der deutschen Sprache, ein solcher Wandel in Richtung einer machtbewussteren Politik feststellen lässt. Die vorliegende Dissertation ist im Bereich der empirisch-analytischen Außenpolitikforschung angesiedelt und zielt auf die theoriegeleitete Erklärung der deutschen auswärtigen Sprachpolitik nach 1990. Untersucht wird mittels einer Kongruenzanalyse und weiterer Beobachtungen, wodurch sich das sprachpolitische Verhalten der Bundesrepublik nach 1990 am besten erklären lässt: Veränderungen in der relativen deutschen Machtposition, den durchsetzungsfähigen gesellschaftlichen Interessen oder der Kraft innergesellschaftlicher und transnational geteilter sozialer Normen. Zur Analyse wurden zwei zentrale Felder der deutschen auswärtigen Kulturpolitik als qualitative Fallstudien im Zeitraum 1985 bis 1998 untersucht: 1) die Politik zur Förderung der deutschen Sprache in Mittel- und Südosteuropa und 2) von Deutsch als Arbeitssprache in der Europäischen Union (EU)...

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has been issuing judgments since 1954. It is beyond doubt that this body has, in these judgments, influenced the nature of European integration, indeed the nature of Europe itself, in a far reaching manner. Over the years, this Court has been called upon many times to judge in cases and claims originating in wartime Europe. The first of these occurred in 1975 and there are still, in 2008, several cases rooted in the Second World War awaiting judgment. In other words, the legacy of what happened in Europe between 1933 and 1945 is very much a live, if not very well known, issue before the judges of the European Union. This paper examines how the European Court of Justice responds to wartime based claims and how its jurisprudence deals with the history of the Member States of the EU. It is, in other words a specific analysis of the Vergangenheitsbewältigung (the management of the past) by one institution of the Union. This analysis is framed within an appreciation of the difficulties inherent in confronting memories within the European Union. The Court of the Union is no different in this respect and it emerges as closed and restrained when faced with wartime narratives. This struggle to judicially handle its own history...

The main objective of this study is to examine the phenomenon of dual nationality in the European Union (EU), particularly against the background of the status of European citizenship - a status that is linked to the nationality of each EU Member State (Article 20(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides that ‘citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship’). The study consists of two parts. The first part (Chapters 1 and 2) sets out the approach towards (dual) nationality in Private International Law and EU Law, in particular by analyzing the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The second part (Chapters 3- 6) consists of an overview of the dual nationality regimes in four EU Member States - France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain -, and their possible effects on the EU as a whole. Chapter 2 of the thesis is entitled the ‘intra-EU context’, since it primarily deals with the ECJ’s approach towards a dual nationality consisting of two Member State nationalities. The country reports, on the other hand, deal with the ‘extra-EU context’ because the dual nationality policies of the countries under consideration predominantly affect non-Member State nationals. Thus...

This paper looks at the mandate of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), established in 2007, from the perspective of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which entered into force in 2009. It explores the relationship between FRA and the Charter by looking at the agency’s institutional practice, its founding regulation and its Multiannual Framework, on which the Council of the European Union agrees every five years. The Florence-based European University Institute (EUI) proposed some 15 years ago an European Union (EU) human rights agenda for the new millennium. Many of the agenda’s policy proposals have materialised ever since, including the establishment of a ‘European Human Rights Monitoring Agency’. The Charter was not part of this set of proposals. However, this prominent bill of rights and the new Agency in Vienna are obviously closely related to each other. The author concludes that the agency, despite certain limitations in its mandate, is a ‘full-Charter-body’ which could unfold its potential better following a revision of its founding regulation. Such a revision should reflect that the EU Charter for Fundamental Rights has entered into force in the meantime. The author identifies two additional key elements for the need of revision: FRA’s mandate should include the possibility for the agency to deliver opinions on proposed EU legislation on its own motion...

RESUMEN: Las situaciones de pobreza y exclusión social y las medidas necesarias para superarlas han sido percibidas por la Unión Europea como una de las prioridades a las que debe enfrentarse de un modo más activo. A lo largo del presente trabajo, y después de realizar un breve análisis del proceso de integración europea, la política social de la UE y la Estrategia Europea del Empleo (conocida como Estrategia de Lisboa), se revisan los elementos esenciales de la Estrategia Europa 2020 para finalizar analizando el contexto y los desarrollos generados a partir de la Plataforma Europea contra la Pobreza y la Exclusión Social, adoptada por la Comisión en 2010. Tras examinar los indicadores y el contexto en el que ésta se enmarca, se analizan los ámbitos de actuación definidos y el proceso de revisión que se está llevando a cabo.; ABSTRACT: Situations of poverty and social exclusion and the measures needed to overcome them have been collected by the European Union as one of the priorities that must confront a more active way. Throughout this work, and after performing a brief analysis of the process of European integration, social policy of the EU and the European Employment Strategy (known as the Lisbon Strategy), the essential elements of the Europe 2020 strategy are reviewed to finish analyzing the context and developments generated from the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion...

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited; Since 1998, the European Union (EU) has begun to develop a Common European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP), which provides a stronger role in the security and defense areas in order to become a more important actor in these fields. Since that time, the member states of the European Union have been pursuing capabilities to conduct conflict prevention and crisis management operations, with no intention of overcoming NATO's role and capabilities in the field of collective defense, but with the intention of strengthening the Union's role and influence in international politics. This thesis demonstrates that a common European Security and Defense Policy is vital for the future of the European Union. The need for a common policy is more urgent than ever because only in this manner can the European Union be strong and significant. This thesis identifies and analyzes the origins of this concept, shows how the current situation has increased that demand and explains the reasons for the establishment of ESDP. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of these ideas and policy recommendations for a member state, for Greece and for the European Union itself.; Major, Hellenic Air Force

Defence date: 17 November 2012; Examining Board: Professor Marie-Ange Moreau, Lumière University Lyon 2, (EUI Supervisor); Professor Loïc Azoulai, European University Institute; Professor Achim Seifert, University of Jena; Professor Łukasz Pisarczyk, University of Warsaw.; The impact of the EU law on patients' rights in cross-border health care on national health care systems was subject to many fervent debates among European academics. For all the rhetoric of that debate, beneath it lies an attempt to delimit the boundaries of EU competences. These were determined by the Court’s interpretation of the Treaties. However, the recent development of patients' rights has escaped the boundaries of this interpretation and broadened the influence of patients' free movement rights into social fields. The primary concern is to answer the question about the cause which brought the Member States to give up their sovereignty for the sake of the internal market and about the effects of these sacrifices for the EU, the States and European citizens respectively. The detailed analysis of the development of EU law on cross-border health care proves that this system was an inescapable result of the decisions taken decades ago. Furthermore, by examining the different definitions and meanings of the European Social Model...

Defence date: 16 June 2006; Examining board: Prof. Bruno de Witte (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Prof. Marise Cremona (European University Institute) ; Prof. Giacomo Luciani, part time professor, EUI ; Prof. Thomas Wälde, University of Dundee; This dissertation offers the first comprehensive assessment of the various internal and external measures undertaken by the European Union to guarantee security of oil and gas supply. It sets out and analyzes in a coherent and thorough manner those aspects of EU external policy that are relevant in establishing a framework for guaranteeing energy security for the Union. What makes the book unique is that it is the first of its kind to bridge the gap between EU energy and EU external policy. The dissertation discusses EU policy towards the major oil and gas producing countries of Russia, the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf at the bilateral as well as regional and multilateral level. It brings together not only the dimensions of trade and investment but also other important aspects of external policy, namely development and foreign policy. The author argues that the EU's energy security cannot be achieved through adopting a purely internal approach to energy issues, but that it is necessary to adopt a holistic approach to external policy...

Defence date: 18 November 2005; Examining board: Prof. Gráinne de Búrca (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Prof. Neil Walker (European University Institute) ; Prof. Stephen Weatherhill (Oxford University) ; Prof. Marise Cremona (University of London); What is the federal philosophy inspiring the structure of European law? The federal principle stands for constitutional arrangements that find "unity in diversity". The two most influential manifestations of the federal principle emerged under the names of "dual" and "cooperative" federalism in the constitutional history of the United States of America. Dual federalism is based on the idea that the federal government and the State governments are co-equals and each is legislating in a separate sphere. Cooperative federalism, on the other hand, stands for the thought that both governments legislate in the same sphere. They are hierarchically arranged and complement each other in solving a social problem. Can the European Union be understood in federal terms? The book's General Part introduces three constitutional traditions of the federal idea. Following the American tradition, the European Union is defined as a Federation of States as it stands on the "middle ground" between international and national law. But what federal philosophy has the European Union followed? The Special Part of the dissertation investigates the structure of European law. Three arguments are advanced to show the evolution of the European legal order from dual to cooperative federalism. The first looks at the decline of constitutional exclusivity on the part of the Member States and the European Union. For almost all objects of government...

Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma visão da União Europeia, através dos processos de alargamento, para observar as possíveis perspectivas futuras a que o bloco pode optar. A União Européia é um processo de integração regional sem um projeto específico, sem um fim conhecido, ainda em constante construção. Observá-la a partir dos processos de alargamento traz uma dimensão mais dinâmica às alterações sofridas pelo bloco ao longo do tempo e apresenta duas opções como perspectivas de futuro: o aprofundamento da integração - com a delimitação de novas competências para a União e a conseqüente oposição que isso suscita nos Estados-membros - e o alargamento, que ao permitir a entrada de novos Estados acrescenta o debate sobre até onde devem ir as fronteiras do bloco. Esta dissertação está organizada em quatro capítulos. O primeiro apresenta a UE, suas características e um pouco de sua história, importante para entender as motivações do processo. O segundo faz uma abordagem sobre as etapas do crescimento da integração na Europa, os novos Tratados introduzidos e os alargamentos, que transformaram a CECA do pós-guerra e a CEE da Guerra Fria na UE dos dias de hoje. O terceiro capítulo trata dos principais problemas que envolvem o processo. Alguns deles existem desde os primeiros passos da integração...

We assess the fiscal behaviour in the European Union countries for the period 1990-2005 via the responsiveness of budget balances to several determinants. The results show that the existence of effective fiscal rules, the degree of public spending decentralization, and the electoral cycle can impinge on the country's fiscal position. Furthermore, the results also support the responsiveness of primary balances to government indebtedness.

Turkey's accession to the European Union (EU) has become, over the years, one of the most contentious issues of European integration. On October 3rd 2005, the European Commission began negotiations for its accession, and, although they will probably not be completed within a decade, its objective is the full accession to the Union. Turkey's accession to the EU presents challenges for both parties, but especially for the European Union. There are very different challenges from the previous accessions, indeed. This work aims to analyze the challenges the EU will face towards Turkey's possible accession to the European Community. Therefore, this work has been divided into three sections. In the first of them, entitled "Brief history of a complex negotiation", the negotiation is briefly described. The second, "Aspects to take into account for Turkey's accession to the European Union", in which different relevant (geopolitical, economic and financial, demographic, cultural and religious) aspects of the possible a cession are discussed: aspects that will have an important impact in the development and performance of the European Community, once accession is fulfilled. The third and last section, "Turkey's incorporating challenges", discusses the challenges the EU will have to face with the potential accession of Turkey...

92 p. ; 24 cm.; Libro Electrónico; The impact of religious doctrine on the law, policy and practice of healthcare is becoming increasingly significant for a whole range of issues – from euthanasia to fertility treatment; from belief-based exemption from performing abortion for doctors to the medication and dietary needs of religious patients; from organ donation to contraception; from circumcision to suicide. The relationship between religion and healthcare has a long history of evoking tension and debate in Europe. While developments in medical technologies and techniques question the religious beliefs of policy-makers, practitioners and patients across the European Union, research into the legal and policy responses by EU member states on such issues remains underdeveloped. The challenge of health policy, which is common across the European Union, is to balance fundamental human rights such as the right to equality, the right to health and the right to freedom of religion while adhering to secular principles. This report aims to map out the major issues at stake and to initiate a broader discussion on how the religious needs of the community, religious doctrine and religious practices across the European Union affect public health policy.; Preface: The ‘Religion and Democracy in Europe’ initiative 7 About the authors 8 Introduction 9 Background 9 Purpose and conceptual framework 10 Terms...

It is common today, even in the European media, to treat the current crisis of the European Union almost exclusively as an economic crisis. The present article pretends to show that such a focus is not only wrong but is indeed dangerous for the future development of the European Union as a whole. The article will argue that the present economic crisis simply aggravated – and a lot – a crisis of legitimacy through which the European Union has been passing for some time. Showing that the anti-European tendencies which are spreading throughout the countries of the continent threaten the very future of the European project, the article will make suggestion on reforms for the future development of the EU, alerting to the necessity to finally elaborate once again a coherent argument for the continuation of the European integration process which puts the European population at the heart of the political process instead of just austerity.