President Of Commission Research Articles

A reflection on life and work as a vice president of the fair work commission from Joseph Catanzariti AM

A reflection on life and work as a vice president of the fair work commission from Joseph Catanzariti AM

The Global Gateway Forum: Change through connection and resilience

Collaboration is key to discovery and change. The first Global Gateway Forum enabled connections to be made between different stakeholders. It took place in October 2023 in Brussels, welcoming government representatives from more than 20 countries, financial institutions and business and civil society representatives. Attendees gathered to discuss global investment needs, consider solutions and forge new partnerships. At the Forum investments were committed and new partnerships were announced. Global Gateway is Europe’s international investment programme, which seeks to strengthen connections in links in digital, energy and transport sectors and enhance health, education and research systems across the world. It is at the foundation of the Forum, which provides the setting to showcase progress in the Global Gateway strategy. As Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated in her State of the Union address in September 2021, the Global Gateway strategy is ‘a template for how Europe can build more resilient connections with the world’. The aim of the strategy is to secure €300 billion in investments by 2027 to support sustainable projects to push towards global resilience and equity. von der Leyen mentioned key advancements in 90 projects launched in 2023 spanning different sectors. At the Forum, impactful discussions were sparked between leaders about key challenges facing diverse sectors, including green energy, critical raw materials, transport corridors and education. The theme of the Forum was ‘Stronger together through Sustainable Investment’.

A Convincing Narrative to Control the Crisis Response? The Role of the President of the European Commission During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

AbstractSense‐making and meaning‐making are fundamental tasks of crisis management. They entail the construction of a persuasive crisis narrative for guaranteeing that the public understands and supports crisis responses. Building on a combination of literature on crisis management and policy narratives, we analysed von der Leyen's speeches on the pandemic (March 2020–December 2022) to answer one central research question: was the President of the Commission able to construct a compelling narrative to support the crisis response at the supranational level? Our findings suggest that she was able to create a convincing crisis narrative that helped to back the Commission's co‐ordination role and the crisis response devised at the supranational level.

Mapping the moral foundations of the European Union: Why a lack of moral diversity may undermine perceived EU legitimacy.

The stability and effectiveness of supranational organizations, like the European Union (EU), will improve when citizens perceive them as legitimate. Across three studies, two of which were preregistered, and a preregistered pilot study, we combined EU legal expertise with social psychological theory on morality to understand how perceived EU legitimacy is influenced by a sense of moral alignment with the EU. We propose that, currently, the EU gives more weight to values linked to "individualizing" moral foundations (e.g. compassion, social justice, and equality) than to values linked to "binding" moral foundations (e.g. patriotism, religion, and traditionalism). As this may leave people who endorse binding moral foundations feel unrepresented, we investigated whether the EU could gain legitimacy by appealing to values that resonate with binding moral foundations. In study 1, text analyses revealed that the European Commission President's State of the Union speeches indeed appeal more to individualizing than to binding moral foundations. Study 2 (n = 595) provided correlational evidence that the negative relationship between binding moral foundations and perceived EU legitimacy was mediated by lower moral alignment with EU law. Finally, study 3 (n = 567) showed through an experiment that reframing or rebalancing EU law to better align it with binding moral foundations could increase perceived EU legitimacy among people who endorse these moral foundations. The results illustrate the importance of understanding and attending to moral diversity among EU citizens. More generally, our work shows how a collaboration between social psychology and law contributes to safeguarding the legitimacy of supranational organizations.

She Speaks for Millions: The Emergence of Female Diplomatic Voices in the Russo-Ukrainian War

This research critically investigates the public diplomacy strategies deployed by a cohort of influential female European leaders on Twitter during the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022-2023. The study comprises eight leaders - Kallas (Estonia), Marin (Finland), von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), Metsola (President of the European Parliament), Sandu (Moldova), Simonyte (Lithuania), Zourabichvili (Georgia), and Meloni (Italy) - representing millions of constituents. By mirroring the analytical attention given to Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this study scrutinizes the distinct approaches and differences in emotional, cognitive, and structural language use between these influential female figures and President Zelenskyy in their respective Twitter discourse during the crisis. By employing the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC)-22 dictionary, this research intends to uncover unique patterns and nuances in the language use of these leaders, thereby offering fresh insights into the gendered communication and diplomacy employed by the female cohort during conflicts. Keywords: Public diplomacy, Female leadership, Russo-Ukrainian War, Twitter communications, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), Diplomacy, gendered communication

The European Pillar of Social Rights: How strategic agency shaped the European Union's flagship social initiative

AbstractThe European Pillar of Social Rights sits at the fulcrum of EU social policymaking. This article aims to explore its legal and political character, how it was shaped in the adoption process and its place within Social Europe. The key argument is that the Social Pillar builds on but also critically modifies previous initiatives present within the broader EU governance framework, notably in the European Semester. Key political actors like Commission President Jean‐Claude Juncker and parliamentary rapporteur Maria João Rodrigues contributed to the adoption process not only through their long‐held political views but also by bringing to bear their own critical reflections on previous EU initiatives. Methodologically, the article relies on 15 interviews with policy experts and uses an interdisciplinary approach based on legal analysis, process tracing and actor‐centred constructivist theory. The contribution of the article is threefold: (1) it helps to better understand the EU's social flagship initiative and the modifications of its governance approach compared with previous initiatives, (2) it sheds new light on the tensions and opportunities of social policymaking within the EU and (3) it shows the added value of actor‐centred constructivist approaches on a theoretical level.

The Emerging New World System and the European Challenge

Abstract In the early 2020s we live in the transition period between two world systems, the Old World Order (OWO) and the New World Order (NWO), in a deep ‘polycrisis’. Therefore, the term transformation has recently appeared in official EU documents as well as in political science literature. The transition to the NWO has begun with this crisis management and it will produce a radical transformation of the entire global architecture in the 2020s. In its conceptual framework this paper focuses on the contrast between ‘de‑coupling’ and ‘de ‑risking’, as it has been explained very markedly in the recent speeches of the president of the European Commission, Ursula van der Leyen (EC 2023a), and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan (The White House 2023). This contrast symbolises the US policy, concentrating more on cutting or reducing connectivity among the various policy fields, versus the EU policy turning them safe and interdependent. These approaches represent the US and EU attitude in the emerging New World Order, and primarily in their relationships to China.

Organizational responses to scandals: how effective is the European Commission?

How public organizations respond to scandals is important as it affects their reputation and legitimacy. Yet very little research has been conducted on this topic. Drawing on insights from the literature on corporate reputation management, this article questions how effectively the European Commission has responded to recent scandals. It does this by creating an original analytical framework composed of five indicators: speed of response; openness of response; application of relevant rules; tone of response; and engagement with reform. These indicators are then used to evaluate two cases of Commission scandal: the first, a cash-for-influence case involving a Commissioner from a small Member State; and the second, concerning a former Commission President. While no clear pattern emerges across the two cases, the article provides evidence of a mix of good practice and room for improvement in the Commission’s handling of scandals. The article also argues that even in the most bureaucratic of public organizations the management of scandals involves not only rule-following, but also subjective judgements by organizational leaders.

Die Europawahl 2024 – systemische Besonderheiten, Erwartungen und die extremistische Herausforderung

The division of powers in the federally structured European Union, the lack of fixed political coalitions, the absence of effective control of voting behaviour in the European Parliament by parliamentary group leaderships and the structure of European political parties as alliances of national parties make European elections systemically specific. In the 2024 European elections, the lead candidate system for the President of the European Commission is back. This may contribute to increased voter participation and be successful if the informal preconditions for the candidates are met during nomination. During the phase leading up to the election of the President of the Commission, the Parliament achieves maximum leverage. Political forces that endanger the existing conditions of the system itself, should be categorized as extreme and be opposed by the political mainstream.

The President of the European Commission and the Power to Request a Commissioner's Resignation

The President of the European Commission and the Power to Request a Commissioner's Resignation

The Institutional Ingredients of Polycrisis Management: Unpacking European Council’s Handling of the Energy Crisis

This article analyses how the European Council and the institutional infrastructure that supports it have been managing the early stages of the energy crisis. This was the time when the European Council, as the “control room” of EU crisis management, was unable to come up with any solutions to high energy prices. It makes a methodological and empirical contribution to the debate on how the European Council system manages (poly)crises. Methodologically, we introduce the method of embedded process tracing to study EU crisis management from within. Embedded process tracing combines mainstream causal process tracing techniques with elements from interpretivist approaches, to deal with context dependency, case heterogeneity, and empirical density. Empirically, we offer a process-management analysis of the first nine months of the energy crisis. We delineate the roles of various actors and institutions: the president of the European Council, the Council Secretariat, the Commission president, and the Commission Services. We unpack the crucial ingredients of polycrisis management: how to get and keep an issue on the agenda, how to shape and steer European-Council-level debates and conclusions, and how to ensure a proper follow-up by the Commission and the Council. Finally, we re-assess the image of the malfunctioning control room and show the causal relevance of the European Council’s early performance.

Total Quality Management as Predictor of Artificial Intelligence Ensures Competitive Marketing

In the modern world Total Quality Management (TQM) respecting the past ensures the triumph of the future and Artificial Intelligence. Fulfilling the absence in the universal medical journal of multi-organ supportive therapy (MOST) replacement models of the central nervous system, immune and energy system functions, have been completed by describing extracorporeal and intracorporeal prosthetics of immune and energy system functions. Prosthetics, assistive support, and replacement of nervous system function contributed to the foundation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the creation of the robot as an intellect-technocrat combination. Using the Da Vinci robot with four arms, surgeons in Spain performed a lung transplant [3], relevant and timely also in the complications of COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2. As a result, the robot reduced the discrepancy between the predominance of the human and technocratic intellectual factors in the creation of the product useful to humanity. At the foundation of AI is TQM recognized by the scientific community of the modern world and in the context of alternative medicine models as a promoter of science. Thanks to the US development over 40 years of transgenic pig organ transplantation, as a model conceived in Moldova (1984), as an alternative to human donor organs. The prized TQM medicine is successfully assimilated by competitive marketing, in which AI is already included, with an essential social financial role. IA was supported by Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Thus AI has been considered at the level of the United Nations, the European Union, Japan, China and others. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen from Great Britain at the First AI Safety Summit in the world, named 4 conditions for ensuring safety in the use of AI. 1) A thriving and independent scientific community equipped to evaluate AI systems, with funding and access to the best supercomputers; 2) Development of internationally recognized procedure and standards for AI safety testing. 3) A standard procedure whereby every significant incident caused by errors or misuse of AI is reported and accounted for. 4) Establishment of a reliable international notification system.

Governing the EU’s Energy Crisis: The European Commission’s Geopolitical Turn and its Pitfalls

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been promoting the concept of a “geopolitical Commission” since her appointment in late 2019. Since then, successive crises—the Covid-19 pandemic, the ever-worsening climate crisis, and the war in Ukraine—have tested the Commission’s intention to turn the concept into practice. This is particularly evident in the field of energy politics following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. When the war started, Russia was the EU’s largest energy supplier. The EU’s desire to end its energy dependency on Russia called for “geopolitical actorness,” notably swift political and diplomatic initiatives to find alternative suppliers considering the rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances. To what extent and how did this occur? Did the Commission achieve its goal of becoming a geopolitical actor in the field of energy politics? What does geopolitical actorness imply for the EU’s energy policy and low-carbon transition? The article addresses these questions through an analysis of policy documents published by the von der Leyen Commission between 2019–2023, including the communications on the European Green Deal and Critical Raw Materials Resilience, the EU Hydrogen Strategy, the Global Gateway, the REPowerEU Plan, the External Energy Strategy, the Solar Energy Strategy, and the Green Deal Industrial Plan. The article argues that EU policy priorities progressively shifted from a focus on broad multilateral cooperation and open strategic autonomy to more narrowly defined strategic partnerships with “like-minded” Western and neighbouring countries. The 2022 war in Ukraine was a strong catalyst for this shift.

Walking on eggshells: The twin transition and Europe’s quest to de-risk from China

In March 2023 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the term ‘de-risking’ in the context of the EU’s future engagement with China. This article examines how Europe should de-risk from China, scrutinising some of the European policies, actions and challenges behind this term and the newly launched European Economic Security Strategy. The article also examines how the EU should counter Chinese activities and narratives, in third countries as well as in Europe, while increasing its own engagement in countries which are crucial for the EU’s (twin) digital and green transitions. The article concludes that the EU should (1) fully implement its current trade instruments before creating new ones; (2) develop a comprehensive method and clear criteria for a common and holistic risk assessment of China; (3) communicate its goals in a transparent manner, especially to those countries and partners which are needed for the twin transition; and (4) refocus its financial instruments to develop concrete meaningful projects in these key countries, either bilaterally or together with other like-minded countries.

European China Policies: Aligning with the Red Lines of Global Economic Competition

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s speech at the meeting organised by the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the European Policy Centre revealed a comprehensive and realistic European strategy on China, adjusted to the latest developments (European Commission). These foreshadow the EU’s future Economic Security Strategy. The major outstanding European issues in the relationship with China remain on the table: the EU between China and the USA, in the context of the debate about Beijing’s usefulness in dealing with Russia and possible arms deliveries; the possibility of concomitant EU decoupling from Russia and China; but above all, the need for real war preparedness of European industries. The refusal to see the competition of democracies with China going to war leads to the rejection of the instrument of real deterrence of Beijing’s march towards a new global war. All this while French ambitions and obsession with strategic autonomy (Taylor, 2022) undermine EU unity, and Germany has been forced by Macron’s post-Beijing tirades to restore clarity to the European position and red lines on China.

Politici europene privitoare la China: alinierea cu liniile roșii ale competiției economice globale

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s speech at the meeting organised by the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the European Policy Centre revealed a comprehensive and realistic European strategy on China, adjusted to the latest developments (European Commission). These foreshadow the EU’s future Economic Security Strategy. The major outstanding European issues in the relationship with China remain on the table: the EU between China and the USA, in the context of the debate about Beijing’s usefulness in dealing with Russia and possible arms deliveries; the possibility of concomitant EU decoupling from Russia and China; but above all, the need for real war preparedness of European industries. The refusal to see the competition of democracies with China going to war leads to the rejection of the instrument of real deterrence of Beijing’s march towards a new global war. All this while French ambitions and obsession with strategic autonomy (Taylor, 2022) undermine EU unity, and Germany has been forced by Macron’s post-Beijing tirades to restore clarity to the European position and red lines on China.

The Political Crisis in France 2022-2023: International Chaos of Burning Public Facility

This research aims to know the chaos phenomenon on Macron’s foreign policy agenda will not be affected by the protests. He is continuing with a planned trip to China, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in the beginning of April. If his agenda is any indication, he will remain extremely involved in foreign policy in the weeks to come. France’s current instability might pave the way for populist and nationalist parties’ voting shares to grow further. This research used field observation and direct data. It is a euphemism to write that the far-right and the far-left party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) have indicated that they wouldn’t support staunch French support for Ukraine. Although NUPES (a wide-ranging coalition of left-wing parties) shares major domestic policy goals, the parties diverge on foreign policy, particularly as it relates to Russia and Ukraine. Even if parliament plays a marginal role in foreign policy decision making in France, a new National Assembly could also decide to become more vocal and more vehemently question Paris’ current military, financial, humanitarian, and material support to Ukraine. A major issue in Europe right now is ensuring that European and trans-Atlantic unity on support to Ukraine is not only maintained but reinforced. If France were to weaken its support, that would have very serious consequences for internal European Union cohesion and the future of European security.

Obituary Prof. Dr. med. Werner Wichmann, MD

Werner Wichmann played a key role in shaping the emergence of the Swiss Society of Neuroradiology SGNR and the discipline itself. As an examiner and commission president, he was committed for many years to the standards to be met by a person working in clinical neuroradiology and at the same time was able to build trust in the next generation

American Superiority, Democratic Idealism, and the Truman Commission: A Critical Discourse Historical Analysis of Higher Education for American Democracy

ABSTRACT In this critical historical analysis, Higher Education for American Democracy is considered a historical artifact, and its veneration as a landmark quest for equal opportunity in higher education is challenged. I argue that this report and the institutional expansion that resulted positioned the federal government to have a direct role in higher education, allowing presidential agendas and dominant ideologies to influence the course of college and university curriculum, access, and purpose. Through a discourse historical approach and a critical realist lens, the Truman Commission Report and President Truman’s public statements are analyzed to reevaluate ther report and its implications for the democratic purpose of higher education in America after World War II.

Ukrainian values: between the Slavic-Orthodox legacy and Europe’s allure

ABSTRACT An important question in understanding the war in Ukraine is whether Russian President Putin’s claim that Russians and Ukrainians are ‘one people’ or whether the statement made by European Union Commission President von der Leyen, echoing Ukrainian government’s position, that Ukraine is ‘one of us’ receives more support. In our contribution, we assess the societal values endorsed in Ukraine, and test whether they resemble those of Russia or Western Europe. After reviewing arguments brought by the ‘Clash of Civilizations’, Modernization, Social Identity, and Nation Building theories, we analyze the most recent data from the European Values Study and World Values Survey (2017-2021). Constructing an EU-values index, including gender equality, individual freedom, and liberal democracy, among others, we show that while values in Ukraine are closer to Russia than virtually any European Union country, there are clear differences that are especially salient among younger age cohorts. Further, we refute Huntington’s claim that Ukraine is a ‘cleft’ country by showing that regional variation within Ukraine is rather minimal. We conclude with an interpretation of these findings in light of political debates and prominent theoretical approaches to studying values.