EU Governance Research Articles

Beyond the revolving door: professional paths of accredited parliamentary assistants after the European parliament

ABSTRACT Based on the study of the professional careers of 439 parliamentary assistants of the 7th parliamentary term (2009–2014), we identify their different career patterns, especially after leaving the European parliament. We show which factors (social, biographical) influence mobility within the field of Eurocracy. We assess the importance of public/private circulation. Beyond the notorious ‘revolving doors’ and the question of the transfer of information from EU institutions to private interests, we show that parliamentary assistants form a group of specialised intermediaries of EU affairs who, after having acquired specific knowledge and know-how at the heart of European policymaking, are able to convert these assets in different sectors (public bureaucracies, private companies, or NGOs), at the EU level or in the member states. Such mobility illustrates the blurring of the public/private divide, and the hybridisation of EU governance. We thus shed new light on the structuring of the field of Eurocracy and the circulation of professionals within it.

Regions and the European Union in times of crisis: A decline of the regional interest?

Abstract The article examines the evolving role of regions in the EU integration process, particularly in light of recent crises, such as the euro and COVID-19 crises. Historically, EU regional studies have emphasized the importance of regions in EU identity and integration, highlighting their role in regional and cohesion policies as key to a multilevel governance system. However, the euro crisis marked a significant shift, as the European Union’s response—focusing on fiscal discipline—curtailed regions’ budgetary autonomy, especially in Southern Europe. In contrast, the COVID-19 crisis prompted a different approach, with the EU relaxing fiscal controls and increasing public expenditure through initiatives like the Recovery Plan for Europe. Despite these measures, the article argues that state interests continue to dominate, sidelining regional voices in the new institutional structures. The article focuses on two critical aspects: the formal participation of regions in EU governance, particularly in the Economic and Monetary Union and the new pandemic-related frameworks, and the impact of these crises on EU regional policy. The findings suggest a decline in regional influence both in institutional participation and in regional policy resources, marking a regression from pre-crisis trends. While the article does not cover a broader multipolicy analysis or the national-level role of regions, it indicates that the post-crisis era has been challenging for regions in maintaining their relevance and influence within the EU framework. The article thus contributes to the discourse on whether the European Union’s interest in regions has diminished, signaling a potential shift in the balance of power within the EU integration process.

Policy risks in the biogas sector – the case of Sweden

Policy is decisive to stimulate biogas expansion; but policy-related factors may also inhibit the development. This study explores policy risks in the Swedish biogas sector and identifies strategies to mitigate these risks. The study is based on three workshops and a survey with participation of biogas stakeholders. The findings reveal that two major policy risks significantly impact the Swedish biogas sector: the ‘lack of long-term strategies’ and the ‘long and complicated permitting processes.’ ‘Limitations of permitted feedstocks’ and ‘limited system perspective—benefits of circular economy and sustainable food system’ are also among the most probable risks. More clearly defined roles for authorities at different administrative levels and the promotion of life cycle perspectives are critical to mitigate these risks. The research emphasizes that both EU and national governments play vital roles in reducing policy risks through predictable and long-term biogas strategies. Without these interventions, the potential of the Swedish biogas sector may remain underutilized.

The European Semester as a Policy Instrument in Education—The Cases of Spain and Sweden

ABSTRACTIn this article we examine the European Semester as an innovative form of policy coordination, with distinct effects on education and skills policies for Member States. We analyse the Semester's framing of education policy, and examine its manifestations in Spain and Sweden, two countries considered to be different in their approach to education. Drawing on a policy instrumentation approach and interviews with policy actors and documentary analysis, our research suggests that while the Semester has given education policy a significant place within the EU's governance, economic rationales for education are clearly dominant in the process. Still, we identify underpinning logics that strengthen the social and educational perspectives represented in the Semester, although these are still treated as productive forces for labour market integration. In addition, there is a strengthening of collaboration between the European Commission and Member States, but also tensions between different parts of the Commission over the definition and direction of education policy.

Introduction: Future‐proofing policies – How foresight shapes European Union governance

AbstractIntroducing this issue, the present article notes how the growing political importance given to foresight in EU governance has so far only sparked limited interest among scholars of EU law and policy‐making. To address this gap, the article starts by clarifying concepts and defining the key terminology at the intersection between (strategic) foresight and EU governance ‘in the law’ (involving societal actors in law‐making processes) and ‘through law’ (governmental actors steering society via law). It then offers a comparative discussion of the main insights of the contributions to the issue, highlighting how and why foresight has become institutionalised and how it operates across EU institutions today. In the concluding section, the article turns to the future and calls for more research into how foresight shapes EU governance, setting a research agenda for the study of foresight as a practice informing law‐ and policy‐making in the European Union.

Legal and admisnitrative-management conditions of the operation of polish spa resorts

The article shows that the spa, as a territorial part of the municipality, determines the status of the municipality, its leading spa function, to which most of the important matters are necessarily subordinated. This applies, for example, to land use plans, development plans, environmental protection, construction, business development of the entire municipality, not just the part on which the resort is located. The aim of the work is to try to answer the question of what legal, administrative and organizational solutions will stimulate the effective functioning and development of Polish spas, under conditions of strong competition in the European market for tourism and spa services. An additional objective of the study is to identify the factors stimulating competitiveness and quality of tourism and spa services of customers of Polish spas. The evaluation of laundry and economic-administrative solutions was limited to the assessment of economic instruments and legal regulations found in national and EU government documents, directives and legal acts. The evaluation of current and projected solutions and changes in legal regulations takes into account the short and long term.

Sabotaging ordoliberal communitarianism: for a critical discursive political economy of ‘the local community’ in neoliberal Europe

The commentary aims to provoke a discussion in Critical Political Economy (CPE) about local articulations of neoliberalism, proposing the concept of ordoliberal communitarianism as a theoretical practice to sabotage the hegemonic essentialisation of ‘the local community’ within the context of EU neoliberal constitutionalism. This conceptual proposal is a plea to critical scholars who assume a pre-existing local community to instead enquire from whom, how and why the necessity of appealing to ‘the local community’ emerges to strategically essentialise socio-historically contingent political forms. To support this argument, I first discuss the relationship between ‘the community’ and the global political economy by combining sociology of knowledge, CPE and governmentality studies. This discussion leads to a consideration of ordoliberal communitarianism as produced by and through dominant institutions and translating hegemonic concepts in and through local contexts. As an indicative case emerging from research on the interpellation of local communities in the current Italian competitive strategy, I offer some notes for a history of Italian ordoliberal communitarianism as a transnational socio-historical experience to investigate the formation of local developmental coalitions led by EU governance. The commentary concludes by recalling the role of critical scholars in semantically sabotaging the hegemonic essentialisation of ‘the local community’.

Advocating harder soft governance for the European Green Deal. Stakeholder perspectives on the revision of the EU governance regulation

The Governance Regulation is the central coordination instrument for the European Unions' energy and climate policy. The Regulation is scheduled for revision, as it is misaligned with the updated EU framework and exhibits implementation and enforcement deficits. Our analysis reviews 136 submissions of institutional stakeholders participating in the European Commission's public consultations on the Governance Regulation and interlinked sectoral legislation. Employing a combined quantitative and qualitative text analysis, we examine the most salient issues for different stakeholder groups. We focus on stakeholder demands that address the implementation and enforcement deficits by introducing harder soft governance elements. While we find broad support among stakeholder groups for a revision and the improvement of implementation, Public Authorities exhibit reluctance for further binding elements, with the exception of demands for more precise enforcement mechanisms. While the inclusion of harder soft governance is only of subsidiary interest for non-public stakeholders demands for stronger obligations (e.g. binding national targets), justifications and public participation can be identified. The analysis finally discusses how the further introduction of harder soft governance elements has the potential to advance the EU's energy and climate framework.

Responding to COVID-19: theorizing European Union governance and health policy

ABSTRACT The European Union experienced several significant crises before the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic that could result in paradigmatic changes that advance either the EU’s coordination or its disintegration. This paper investigates responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and explains the policy changes during the crisis using a comparative framework of neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism in European integration theory. Tracking integration theories and comparing the new dynamics arising from the pandemic, we demonstrate that the pandemic has intensified long-standing trends in EU governance, resulting in the shift in EU governance during the pandemic being interpreted as both a reconceptualization of interests and a reframing of norms. The pandemic is therefore a wake-up call for the EU about the lack of deep European integration and incremental change, particularly with respect to the EU’s relative ineffectiveness in influencing its members’ health policies and reforms.

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.

Linking Renewable Energy Projects at Municipal Level with NECP Planning and Reporting

Regarding the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) according to EU Governance Regulation, there is a disconnect between the federal and municipal levels that hinders effective planning and reporting, especially in the area of renewable energy sources (RES) where availability depends on the regional spatial conditions. The project transFORMAT-LINK addresses this challenge based on case studies and stakeholder discussions. Main results are (1) the LINK-Guideline for municipal development concepts/plans to support RES project implementation and NECP planning and reporting; (2) the LINK-Software prototype for developing and monitoring municipal development concepts/plans according to LINK-Guideline. This contribution presents an overview of preliminary results, with a focus on minimum requirements for municipal development concepts/plans under the regional spatial planning laws and how they will facilitate the implementation of renewable energy projects.

Understanding the nonlinear effect of digital technology development on CO2 reduction

AbstractDigital technology, including advancements in artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and data analytics, has the potential to revolutionize tackling the problem of carbon dioxide emissions and achieving sustainable development. The paper aims at checking the nature of the impact of digital technology development on carbon dioxide reduction for the EU countries in 2013–2020. The study applies the following methods: entropy methods, panel‐corrected standard error, and feasible generalized least squares. The digital technology development index enabled the classification of all the EU countries into two distinct groups: High Digital Technology Development and Moderate/Lower Digital Technology Development. The findings confirm that digital technology development has a significant impact on decreasing carbon dioxide emissions. In the first stage, the growth of digital technology causes a faster decrease in carbon dioxide emissions. However, beyond a certain threshold, the further improvement of digital technology results in diminishing marginal benefits of CO2 emissions reduction. Thus, the EU government should catalyze the extension of digital technologies among all sectors and levels. In addition, it requires enhancing digital literacy of the society and local authorities.

The Hero, the White Savior, and the Smuggler: Criminalized Figures in the Landscape of Solidarity Toward Migrants

One recent shift in the ever-expanding crackdown on migration and implementation of a hostile environment for migrants in the EU has been the criminalization of migrant solidarity. Using various legal tools, EU governments have been trying to hinder solidarity actions from civil society. In particular, a narrative depicting civilians helping migrants as criminals has been elaborated by European organizations and strengthened by far-right groups and dominant press outlets. In reaction, a counter-narrative has been constructed and spread by pro-migrant groups and liberal media, which presents criminalized activists as criminalized heroes and their actions as humanitarian. Based on a critical discourse analysis of academic texts, press articles, and empirical research with pro-migrant activists, this article examines two criminal figures from the civilian search and rescue field: the “activist associated with smugglers” and its counterpart, the “criminalized hero.” Through the lens of figuration of crime and social justice, the article brings a new understanding of the de- and repoliticization processes that occur in the field of humanitarian help and migration. By analyzing these two figures, the paper also contributes to a better understanding of the competing moral orders underpinning criminal and social justice claims in the field of solidarity toward migrants. On the one hand, the figure of the activist associated with smuggler is part of a criminal justice narrative depicting migration as a threat to political, social, and economic stability. On the other hand, the criminalized hero figure includes a counter-narrative to this moral order based on the defense of a social justice frame of solidarity and the protection of human rights. Within the pro-migrant activist’s scene, the criminalized hero and its social justice frame are criticized for reproducing racist and post-colonial practices of humanitarianism.

EU governance through funding: What consequences for the scope of application of EU fundamental rights?

The definition of the national situations that are covered by the scope of EU law for the purpose of applying EU fundamental rights is not an easy task. Therefore, it will be sometimes difficult for Member States and individuals to understand to what extent national action is constrained by EU law. The difficulties in drawing the line between what is in or out of the scope of EU law are amplified by the diversification of EU law making by EU institutions, which brings new situations in the border area. This trend in particularly remarkable in the field of governance through funding, which is now entering a new phase of its evolution. The use of EU funds, where old and new forms of EU law and governance are combined, constitutes the perfect testing ground to analyse the current reach of EU fundamental rights to national situations and, consequently, the limitations imposed on national actors implementing EU law.

Reforming the Eurozone financial system: A system-dynamics approach

The effectiveness of the current monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) in maintaining (price) stability in the eurozone is assessed using a system dynamic model. The model combines a neoclassical growth model with a stock-flow representation of the eurozone financial sector at a high level of aggregation. With endogenous money creation, the multidirectional relationship between asset prices and net income, and also the dual causality of both liquidity and investment relative to interest rates as the main features of the model, the developments of the past 50 years can be understood and extrapolated to 2050.The simulation experiments indicate that the current pro-cyclic system is inherently unstable. This instability can only be overcome by monetary policy that eases and tightens the total amount of money in the system in a countercyclical manner. An obvious way to achieve this is the introduction of 100% Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This calls for the ECB's mandate to become the sole "monetary authority" that creates and controls the amount of money in the system, with the sole and unambiguous objective of price stability. Money creation to achieve price stability at a targeted level of inflation with simultaneous repayment of public debt varies between €200 billion and €500 billion per year. This money can be channelled into the real economy through the EU's governance structure and spent on tax cuts and/or direct public investments, for example in physical and social infrastructure.

Analyzing the impact of fintech industry and green financing on energy poverty in the European countries

In the fourth industrial revolution, the fintech has significantly expanded during the last several years, and this has caused scholars to worry about how much electricity is being used. Because energy poverty is one of the most critical social policy concerns facing the majority of nations in the world in the modern era. This study adds to what has already been written by looking at how the fintech industry affects the environment and energy in European countries. The current study investigates how the growing awareness of the need to preserve energy and the environment has an effect on society, and analyzes the role of the fintech industry, green finance, energy efficiency, and research and development on energy poverty across European nations from 2013 to 2020. To estimate long- and short-term impacts, DOLS and FMOLS are used along with diagnostic tests. The outcomes found that there is a tight relationship between energy poverty and all the factors taken into consideration (fintech, green finance, energy efficiency, and R&D). EU governments should employ “green finance" to encourage and enable the fintech industry since fintech plays a vital role in enhancing environmental effectiveness. The financing of environmentally friendly projects is very beneficial and might help alleviate energy poverty. The findings also indicate that more financing, ecological subsidies, and social assistance programs are necessary in order to satisfy the needs for energy and put an end to energy poverty in Europe. Policymakers in the tech world may be especially interested in the results.

Don’t blame the government!? An assessment of debt forecast errors with a view to the EU Economic Governance Review

In view of the increased importance of debt developments in the EU governance framework, this paper investigates the accuracy and the main economic causes of forecast errors in (government) debt projections. We find a positive average debt forecast error for European Union member states, which increases with the projection horizon. Underestimation of debt growth is particularly relevant for countries with high government debt. The main drivers of the debt forecast errors seem to be partly outside direct government control: Wrongly projected overall GDP developments and stock flow adjustments - a factor which has not been considered in the literature so far. Moreover, the high uncertainty in debt forecasts is also inherent in the European Commission’s benchmark forecasts: only their now-cast remains unbiased.

Legal foundations of stimulating fiscal policy in the EU

The relevance of the study lies in the fact that in the realities of modern economic dynamics and the transformation of socio-economic systems of the EU countries, the legal framework of stimulus fiscal policy is becoming a key tool for restoring economic growth, supporting businesses, and ensuring sustainable social justice. The purpose of this study is to systematize and analyse the specific legal instruments and provisions that underpin stimulus fiscal policy in the EU. The methods used include analytical method, statistical method, functional method, system analysis method, deduction method, synthesis method and comparison method. The study examined various aspects of fiscal regulation aimed at supporting economic development and social stability in the EU. The study is based on the analysis of tax mechanisms, financial instruments and budgetary strategies used to stimulate certain aspects of the economy. In particular, the impact of tax exemptions and privileges on entrepreneurship and investment activity was examined, as well as the effectiveness of fiscal measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises in countries such as Ireland, Poland, and Germany. The latest EU initiatives to stimulate innovation and green technologies were also studied, considering their legal and financial aspects. The main challenges and obstacles that arise in the process of implementing stimulating fiscal policies are highlighted, and possible ways to overcome these difficulties are identified. The study also draws attention to the interaction between fiscal policy and other areas of legislation, such as social and environmental policy, in particular, in the context of achieving sustainable development goals. The practical significance of this study is to provide concrete recommendations for EU governments on how to optimize legal and fiscal instruments aimed at stimulating economic development, innovation, and social stability

EU Defence Policy: Between Functionalism, National Interests, and Transatlantic Realities

Abstract Existing insights into recent defence integration, including against the backdrop of Russia’s war, largely stem from EU governance studies. Although these studies might not explicitly delve into the EU’s politico-strategic role, when combined with the broader framework of International Relations (IR), they imply the EU’s effective progression, at least relatively, as a defence actor. However, a closer analysis of certain key developments and transatlantic dynamics suggests a persistent lack in the political and strategic dimensions of EU defence policy. This disparity arises when IR concepts are tailored to fit the EU context in integration studies.

The Rise of Procedural Legitimacy of the EU under the Juncker Commission: The Impact of the Better Regulation Agenda

The aim of this paper is to examine if, and to what extent, the EU governance system corresponds to the principles and demands of procedural legitimacy. We analyze procedural legitimacy as this is developed in the work of Lon Fuller and Robert Summers, and we conceptualize and examine legitimacy at the EU level through the three criteria of input, output, and throughput. We use these criteria to analyze the basic rationale and components of the 2015 Better Regulation Agenda of the Juncker Commission, arguing that it has enhanced citizens’ involvement in the policy-making process of the EU and has led to increasing participatory practices, by strengthening throughput legitimacy. However, there are still shortcomings in establishing a deliberative mode of public engagement. Throughput seems to have a considerably increased importance in the EU’s quest for legitimacy, although there is still room for improvement.