EU Governance Research Articles

The Balkan Route (and Its Afterlife): The New Normal in the European Politics of Migration

ABSTRACT This article examines the political and policy-related developments regarding the Balkan Route intended both as a migration path and as a conceptual node where both symbolic and physical re-bordering processes converge. The article argues that these two processes represent the foundation on which the sum of the policies to address migration issues enacted in the last years are based: specific constructions of migrants and asylum seekers as well as of the Balkan region have shaped policies to push back migrants, eventually halting mobility and implementing containment in formal and informal camps in the region. This is not the result of challenges connected to ‘crises’ and ‘emergencies’, but rather the intended aim of both EU and non-EU national governments in the absence of more far-reaching strategies on migration and integration. These developments represent the political background of vulnerability and precariousness experienced by stranded migrants along the Balkan Route.

The Impact of External Financial Factors on the Eco-Innovation Practices of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

This paper aims to explain how different external financing factors influence SMEs’ adoption of eco-innovation. The effect of various external financial variables on adopting green operations of 5873 SMEs was examined using binary logistic regression. The findings indicate that traditional external financing approaches including standard bank loans and green loans positively affect renewable energy but have no significant impact on other circular eco-innovation applications. Established forms of public external financing, including EU funds and government grants, have a positive impact on the application of water re-design, renewable energy, and energy re-planning activities, but no influence on waste minimization and product re-design practices. The effects of newer forms of external funding are markedly different; the results reveal that crowdfunding has a significant favorable effect on the implementation of all green actions. Green banks can significantly impact the adoption of water re-planning and waste minimization practices. Peer-to-peer lending is positively correlated to the adoption of actions to minimize waste. Furthermore, business angels and the capital market positively influence product re-design related to green innovations. Risk or venture capital does not affect any form of circular eco-innovations. As a result, some important managerial implications for decision-makers are given.

Relations between Brazil and Spain under the Bolsonaro’s government

In this article the author examines in detail the bilateral relations between Spain and Brazil during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. In addition, the subject of this article is the opposition of EU governments to the environmental policies of the South American country and the disastrous policies of the Brazilian authorities in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. President Bolsonaro’s negligence of climate change and Amazon deforestation has prompted European governments to openly oppose the ratification of the Mercosur – EU Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in 2019 after 20 years of negotiations. In May 2016, the parties agreed on reciprocal terms, resulting in signing of the agreement. It also included the exchange of goods and services, essential investments and public procurements. All this was done in the context of a global policy of protectionism amid a weakening role of the WTO as a supporter of the trade liberalization process. Despite its success, countries such as France, Austria and the Netherlands stand against the Mercosur – EU trade deal, which can halt its ratification. The Spanish government, on the contrary, is lobbying for ratification of the agreement. Madrid, interested in benefiting from the Bolsonaro government’s liberal economic policies, maintains strong ties with its South American partner. The author analyzes the transformation of Spain from a relatively irrelevant partner of Brazil in the 20th century to one of the main investors directing significant resources to the Brazilian economy. We also assess the results and challenges of the Brazil – Spain strategic partnership in a broader context of the Brazil – EU relations.

Correction to: A new delegation design for EU governance: how preference cohesiveness of multiple principals shapes the European Commission’s discretion in trade negotiations

Correction to: A new delegation design for EU governance: how preference cohesiveness of multiple principals shapes the European Commission’s discretion in trade negotiations

EU Governments Must not Return to Their Dysfunctional Fiscal Rules

Abstract Fiscal rules such as the European Stability and Growth Pact and the German debt brake have been suspended in the Covid19-pandemic in order to provide emergency measures and to overcome the crisis. Now, the controversial debate is back again: When should governments return to fiscal rules? Should they return to fiscal rules, at all? This article argues that it is not so much a question whether governments should return to fiscal rules at all, but to which kind of rules they should return. Following the deficit bias argument and the need for fiscal policy coordination in a monetary union some kind of limitation for government debt and some kind of fiscal rules may easily be justified. However, that does not mean that governments should return exactly to the previously existing rules, because these are economically flawed. Recently the argument for reform has become even stronger due to new empirical evidence about the macroeconomic effectivity of fiscal policy, the experience of the dysfunctionality of the existing rules during the Euro crisis and the fact that the cost of public debt has been reduced dramatically because of persistently low if not negative nominal interest rates.

Can the EU be a federal democracy? Assessing the horizontal and vertical dimension of the EU government from comparative perspective

The European Union remains an ambivalent polity. This uncertainty complicates the assessment of its democratic and federal quality. Drawing on comparative federalism research can contribute not only to making sense of whether, or rather which kind of federalism the EU has developed. It can also enable addressing such a compounded, but necessary inquiry into the federal and democratic character of the EU and how to ascertain which type of democratic government for which type of federal union may be appropriate. The article first elaborates a framework to assess the dimensions of federal and democratic government, drawing on comparative federalism research to delineate basic types of federal democracy. Here the democratic dimension of government is taken as referring primarily to the horizontal division of powers (among ‘branches’) of government, the federal dimension to the vertical division of powers (among ‘levels’) of governments. The framework is applied to the government of the EU in order to gauge its own type(s) of division of power arrangements and the interlinkage between them. Finally, the discussion reflects on whether or rather how the EU could comprise a federal democracy, especially in light of recent crisis challenges and subsequent institutional developments in EU governance.

Identifying and Evaluating the Mechanisms and Modes of Governance of Ecosystem Services – The Case of Bulgarian Agriculture

This article presents the results of a large-scale study on the mechanisms and modes of governance of diverse ecosystem services in Bulgarian agriculture. Firstly, it identifies the type, amount, and importance of various ecosystem services maintained and “produced” by the Bulgarian farms. The study has found out that country’s farms provide a great number of essential ecosystem services among which provisioning food and feed, and conservation of elements of the natural environment prevail. Secondly, it identifies and assesses the efficiency and complementarities of specific modes and mechanisms of governance of ecosystem services used by agricultural holdings. The study had found out that a great variety of private, market, collective, public and hybrid modes of governance of farm activity related to agroecosystem services are applied. There is significant differentiation of employed managerial forms depending on the type of ecosystem services and the specialization of agricultural farms. Furthermore, the management of agroecosystem services is associated with a considerable increase in the production and transaction costs of participating farms as well as big socio-economic and environmental effects for agricultural holdings and other parties. The factors that mostly stimulate the activity of agricultural producers in Bulgaria for protection of (agro)ecosystems services are participation in public support programs, access to farmers’ advice, professional training, available information, and innovation, received direct subsidies from EU and national government, personal conviction and satisfaction, positive experience of others, long-term and immediate benefits for the farm, and integration with suppliers, buyers, and processors.

State-building and the European Union: Markets, War, and Europe's Uneven Political Development

The European Union’s institutional development is highly imbalanced. It has established robust legal authority and institutions, but it remains weak or impotent in terms of its centralization of fiscal, administrative, and coercive capacity. We argue that situating the EU in terms of the history of state-building allows us to better understand the outcomes of EU governance. Historically, political projects centralizing power have been most complete when both market and security pressures are present to generate state formation. With the EU, market forces have had a far greater influence than immediate military threats. We offer a preliminary demonstration of the promise of this approach by applying it to two empirical examples, the euro and the Schengen area. Our analysis suggests that the EU does not need to be a Weberian state, nor be destined to become one, for the state-building perspective to shed new light on its processes of political development.

Challenges of Coal Mining Regions and Municipalities in the Face of Energy Transition

The energy transition currently taking place in the mining regions of the European Union poses many challenges that need to be addressed with a view to 2030 and 2050, of which the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is the key one. Initial results of the research project entitled “Models of a transition to a climate-neutral, circular economy for mining regions under transformation process”, which is developed in parallel with the transition of mining town Brzeszcze, are presented. The challenges, in the context of energy transition, for both the EU and local governments were identified on the basis of EU policies and the experience of the project team from the cooperation with the commune of Brzeszcze. A “research by design” method was used to develop model solutions. In the context of local challenges, there was a discussion of the Green Deal objectives and “greenery” as a tool for transformation and achieving well-being. It was concluded that a comparison of the tangible (mining and social infrastructure) and intangible (privileges) well-being provided by a “carbon-based” economy with the new “well-being” weights against the new. This is reflected in the concerns of mine workers and the citizens as well. Therefore, proposing appropriate revitalization of a post-mining site will be one of the challenges. With regard to the revitalization, a discussion was held on the role of mining heritage which can trigger either a “growth machine” or a “decline machine” depending on the decisions taken, compatible or not with a circular economy.

Debating European Union governance in times of crisis

ABSTRACT The current article problematises European Union governance arrangements in times of crisis. The debate is built by arguing for a conceptual link between policy learning and indirect governance in the EU. These two frameworks are seen as fundamental theoretical pieces for understanding the EU’s learning journey and the resulting governance mechanisms during and after these major events. Yet, the article shows that none of these two approaches can explain on its own how EU governance evolves because of crises. It is rather by looking at the intersection between indirect governance and policy learning that we get a more complete picture of the EU governance landscape in times of crisis. This theoretical debate builds on recent EU crises and scrutinises the policy-politics link by concluding on the preferred forms of EU indirect governance in times of crisis, while adding insights from the literature on policy learning and entrepreneurship.

In governments we trust: A two-country Brexit field experiment on perceived uncertainty as mediator for consumer decisions

For several years, the Brexit has been an ongoing political crisis with high uncertainty that nonetheless affects us in many ways. Until now, the academic debate has mainly emphasized the political, economic and legal consequences, while disregarding the social-psychological effects of the crisis. This article examined the relationships between trust in UK and EU government and perceived uncertainty, and how these relationships affected consumers’ choices (i.e., travelling decisions). We assessed these relationships in a two-country Brexit field experiment (UK and Germany; N = 1,228) confirming moderation by country differences, where trust in one’s own government has a weaker impact. In turn, the soft and hard Brexit scenarios moderated these country differences: for the British sample, the effect of trust in the EU government is stronger for a hard Brexit, while Germans showed a reversed and counterintuitive structure for trust in the UK government.

Fiscal Integration in an Experimental Union: How Path-Breaking Was the EU's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Fiscal Integration in an Experimental Union: How Path-Breaking Was the EU's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Analyzing the ambitions of renewable energy policy in the EU and its Member States

This paper investigates whether the EU's governance framework facilitates an ambitious transition to renewable energy sources (RES) in the EU and its Member States. First, we propose a comprehensive concept of ambition based on targets, target achievement and enforcement procedure. Second, we analyze empirical evidence regarding these aspects for RES policy in the EU. In particular, Member States' progress towards the 2020 RES targets suggests a modest effect of the EU governance framework on national RES ambitions. Instead, national RES expansion trajectories seem to be strongly path-dependent. Meanwhile, frontrunner Member States' over-achievements enable the EU to close in on its 2020 target.

Do governments care about socioeconomic inequalities in health? Narrative review of reports of EU‐15 countries

AbstractSocioeconomic inequalities in health have been an issue in all European countries since the publication of the “Black Report” in the United Kingdom in 1980. However, data show that nowadays there are important socioeconomic health inequalities within EU countries. The purpose of this paper is to review EU‐15 government reports that address socioeconomic inequalities in health. We reviewed 101 reports. The pioneer countries in analyzing this topic have a Beveridge‐type health system, and they are the leaders over time. The top socioeconomic indicators used are education level, social class, deprivation level of the area, and nationality. Given the current COVID‐19 pandemic situation and its economic consequences, EU governments need to continue monitoring the existing inequalities in health and to act transversely in all public policies.

A new delegation design for EU governance: how preference cohesiveness of multiple principals shapes the European Commission\u2019s discretion in trade negotiations

The Lisbon Treaty enhanced the role of the European Parliament in free trade agreements. This article offers a comprehensive theoretical and empirical account of this new delegation design in EU trade governance. Specifically, it addresses the question how the preference cohesiveness of multiple principals—the Council of Ministers as a de jure principal and the Parliament as a de facto principal—shapes the Commission’s discretion in negotiating trade agreements. Exploring these two conjectures through a combination of primary materials and interviews, this contribution posits that those configurations of low degree of cohesiveness within the Council and high cohesiveness within the Parliament or high cohesiveness of the Council and low cohesiveness within the Parliament increase Commission discretion. A configuration of low cohesiveness within and between multiple principals, by contrast, is more likely to lead to paralysis of the negotiation process.

Analisis Strategi Perlawanan Indonesia Dalam Diskriminasi Kelapa Sawit Oleh Uni Eropa

This study aims to determine how Indonesia's resistance strategy in oil palm discrimination by the European Union. Researchers use the perspective of liberalism and idealism, and the basic assumptions are peace and war avoidance. The results show that EU discrimination against Indonesian CPO products requires players in the palm oil industry and the Indonesian government to work together to design and develop intensive diplomatic efforts aimed at the EU government and its people. The Indonesian government's efforts to oppose the EU's incentives for the use of palm oil are 1) filing claims and challenges against the EU incentives to reject palm oil restrictions, 2) The Indonesian government emphasizes the importance of distributing Indonesian palm oil globally 3) Lobbying the leadership of the APEC organization to ensure the safety of Indonesia's palm oil industry 4) Undertake Join Capaign efforts by the world's largest palm oil producer to protect the stability of palm oil shipments and take action against negative campaigns against palm oil, and unite voices in drafting an agreement to jointly support industrial development palm oil to be more resilient against the global backlash on palm oil.

EXPLORING EUROPEAN POLITICAL SPHERE FOR TRANSNATIONAL NETWORK ACTIVITIES OF SUBNATIONAL LEVEL

Transnational networking of local and regional authorities- interaction with their counterparts, higher or lower levels of governments with the intention of cooperation and partnership - can be deliberated as one of the remarkable aspects of EU governance system. In this respect, some denote that these network activities play a facilitating role in the involvement of local and regional authorities in EU governance processes. Further, it can be argued that local and regional authorities come together for purposes such as mutual information sharing, cooperation, joint project development, sharing best practices, lobbying activities, accessing financial resources. These interactions reflect a kind of mobility and visibility for them within the EU political sphere.This paper aims to explore to a certain extent European political sphere for transnational network activities of subnational level through two substantial dimensions: Brussels representation and EU regional/cohesion policy. In the context of these dimensions, interaction and mobilization processes between subnational level and other levels of governments supposed to be adequately more pronounced and recognizable. The study points out the conclusions that European political sphere for transnational network activities of local and regional authorities could be taken into consideration for more dynamic, encouraging, rewarding, structured and constructive political involvement and engagement of subnational level. Correspondingly, this field should continue to be studied whether political sphere is evolved to be a more conform realm with aforementioned purposes particularly after the end of recent programming periods of regional/cohesion policy.

APIs for EU Governments: A Landscape Analysis on Policy Instruments, Standards, Strategies and Best Practices

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) could greatly facilitate the exchange of data and functionalities between software applications in a flexible, controlled and secure way, especially on the web. Private companies, from startups to enterprises, have been using APIs for several years now, but it is only recently that APIs have seen increased interest in the public sector. API adoption in the public sector faces organisational, technical, legal and economic obstacles, and to overcome these barriers, proposed methods from the private sector and early adopters in the public sector provide a way forward. The available documentation is often sparse, difficult to find and to reuse for new contexts. No past efforts to collect and analyse these resources have been made. To address this shortcoming, this paper describes a landscape analysis in four areas: the main European Commission policy instruments on the adoption of APIs, the available web API standards, a set of European government API strategies and cases, and a list of government proposed methods distilled from more than 3900 documents. Our results reveal that European policy legislation and associated instruments promote, and in some cases mandate, the use of APIs, and that governments’ API strategies in the European Union are rather young but also that there are well known web APIs standards and proposed methods ready to support the digital transformation of governments through rapid, harmonised and successful adoption of APIs.

European Financial Governance: FTT Reform, Controversies and Governments’ Responsiveness

The Eurozone crisis exposed the incompleteness of the Economic and Monetary Union’s governance framework thereby prompting the promotion of a multitude of reform packages and proposals. This simultaneously induced conflict among EU governments on both design and content of such reforms. In case of the financial transaction tax (FTT) proposal, which failed to garner consensus among member governments, it illustrates Ireland’s disapproval clashing with favorable German and French stances. While these governments aligned on the necessity to reform, the process of harmonizing EU financial governance proved rather difficult. In analyzing governments’ variation of reform support or opposition, the societal approach to governmental preference formation is employed. This is considerably conducive in directing academic attention to the role of two explanatory variables, domestic material interests and value-based ideas, in shaping governments’ reform positions. This article encompasses a comprehensive comparative account of domestic preference formation and responsiveness of three EU governments (France, Germany and Ireland), in the case study of the FTT, and demonstrates that the two societal dynamics are prone to have played a role in shaping financial reform controversies. By building on and contributing to Eurozone crisis literature, this approach seems appropriate in analyzing financial governance reform due to the crisis’ domestic impact resulting in increased public salience, issue politicization and an advanced role of elected politicians.

The European Investment Bank’s ‘Quantum Leap’ to Become the World’s First International Climate Bank

In November 2019, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced its ‘metamorphosis’ into a ‘Climate Bank.’ Associated with the EU’s Green Deal, presented a month later, the EIB claimed to be the first international climate bank and a front runner in the EU’s priority climate agenda. The EIB is mandated through the treaties to support EU policymakers. However, with its ‘makeover,’ the EIB also announced the launch of a new climate strategy and energy lending policy, ending fossil fuel financing after 2021. It is thus valuable to examine the question of whether the EIB has developed into a policymaker, and if so, how this can be best understood. In exploring this question, this article follows a principal-agent approach, attempting to discern the rational interests behind organisational rhetoric and posits that the EIB’s claimed transformation hints at a type of policymaking activism, exploiting a policy window to serve the EIB’s rational interests in a strained political and market contest. This represents a paradigm shift in the EIB’s institutional behaviour and rhetoric within the EU governance constellation and is, in fact, in this sense a ‘quantum leap’ as suggested by the EIB. However, it remains to be seen if the bank’s metrics will prove a bold departure from their current activity or simply another adaptation to a policy field of intense interest to the EU, as has occurred on several occasions in the past.