EU Governance Research Articles

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.

Technocracy and the Tragedy of EU Governance

In a historical perspective, technocracy, emphasising bureaucratic and technical expertise in political, social and economic areas, is a double edge sword: on the one side, it guaranteed the condition for international cooperation post-WW II, providing as an ideologically neutral basis the condition for governance in a politically bitter international climate. On the other hand, it indicates the tragedy of increasing delegitimization of EU governance, causing the alienation of political willing from the peo-ple that is (mis-)used by populists present-day and their slogan ‘back to the people’. Technocracy is theoretically symbolised through the functionalism of EU integration, politically manifest in the re-definition of democracy from “input”- to “output”-orientation by e.g. Fritz Scharpf. The tragedy of EU politics being trapped in technocratic governance as condition of the possibility and calamity of coop-eration at the same time is analytically at the heart to understand contemporary approaches of EU (dis-)integration and identity. However, in both understanding alienation and (populist) opposition to the EU integration processes as systemic phenomena, deeply seeded in the structure of the EU and of EU policy studies themselves, as well as in suggesting a triangular democratic process to rectify the EU’s birth deficit, the paper significantly goes beyond current policy studies (e.g. on EU dis-integration) and their non-normative stance. These studies are still anchored in the epistemological commitments of neo-functionalism that need finally to be overcome as they tend to ignore the human factor and agency in politics.

On their own turf? The level-specificity of political trust in multilevel political systems

Although the debate on roots of political trust is ongoing, many scholars agree on the relevance of such political factors as political/ideological distance between citizens and incumbents, political responsiveness and perceptions of performance. Less clear is to what extent such trust evaluations are generalized or specific for the three main political arenas in the European multilevel governance system (EU, national, local). With new data from the Netherlands, we demonstrate that trust in local, national and EU governments (1) is largely level-specific (i.e. is based on citizens’ perceptions of incumbents at a particular governance level) (2) and—at all three levels—is explained by level-specific political factors. This shows that political trust is a subjectively rational evaluation and that citizens develop meaningful political orientations vis-à-vis governments at different levels. Therefore, trust spillovers may be less relevant for explaining political trust in multilevel governance than assumed in previous research as executive governments at local, national and EU levels are judged “on their own turf”.

Taking Investors’ Rights Seriously: The Achmea and CETA Rulings of the European Court of Justice do not Bar Intra-EU Investment Arbitration

Abstract In its 2018 Achmea ruling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found intra-European Union (EU) investment arbitration incompatible with EU law, and in its 2019 opinion on the proposed Canada–EU Trade Agreement (CETA), the ECJ has set out requirements for the recognition by the EU of investor–State arbitration at large. On the other hand, in the last few years a great many tribunals (under both International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and non-ICSID regimes) have dealt with intra-EU investment arbitrations, most of them under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). None of these tribunals found the proceedings to be incompatible with EU law. The reason for this discrepancy is that the tribunals deal with investors’ rights, while the ECJ, in contrast, is concerned with intra-EU governance issues. However, individual rights are not alien to EU law. Against that background, this note is based on the established finding that investment treaties bestow private investors with individual rights under public international law. These rights need to be taken seriously: as third parties, investors can, under both public international law and EU law, draw upon these rights, irrespective of the internal EU governance rules with which the ECJ was concerned. Hence, this note2 is not meant to be a further contribution to the voluminous debate on the internal EU governance rules drawn upon by the ECJ. In contrast, it is based on the binding effect on the EU of the investors’ individual rights. Furthermore, it shows that the ECJ’s rulings do not have an adverse precedent effect on the pursuit of investors’ rights and that, in addition, the ECT meets the criteria under which the ECJ has assessed EU compatibility of investment arbitration. Last but not least, the denial by EU institutions of investors' rights under the ECT may, in itself, constitute an infringement of the ECT.

The neo‐nationalist ascendency: further thoughts on class, value and the return of the repressed

The neo‐nationalist ascendency: further thoughts on class, value and the return of the repressed

The Role of Domestic Factors in the EU’s Governance of Labour Standards through Trade

This paper analyses the role of domestic factors in the ability of the EU to promote NTPOs through formal trade policies and market integration, as two distinct governance approaches. Focusing on labour standards, we examine how economic and political factors in developing economies influence the ability of key stakeholders – governments, businesses and labour organizations – to undermine or reinforce EU governance efforts. We use a combination of regression and comparative case analysis to assess associations and understand processes on ground. The quantitative analysis shows that improvements in labour standards are closely associated with 1) labour standards in key export markets, 2) technological sophistication of exports, 3) state capacity and 4) freedom of CSOs. Comparative analysis of how differences in state strategies and capacity, key export destinations and strength of labour organizations across Moldova and Morocco set in place divergent pathways of labour standard improvements allows us to shed more light on the potentials and limitations of EU governance efforts.

Digitalization and AI in European Agriculture: A Strategy for Achieving Climate and Biodiversity Targets?

This article analyzes the environmental opportunities and limitations of digitalization in the agricultural sector by applying qualitative governance analysis. Agriculture is recognized as a key application area for digital technologies, including artificial intelligence. This is not least because it faces major sustainability challenges, especially with regard to meeting the climate and biodiversity targets set out in the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as the water-related objectives of EU environmental legislation. Based on an overview of the possible applications of digital technologies in agriculture, the article offers a status quo analysis of legal acts with relevance to digitalization in the EU agricultural sector. It is found that a reliable legal framework with regard to product liability and product safety, as well as data privacy, data access, and data security is important in this context. In addition, the European Common Agricultural Policy, as the most important funding instrument for digital innovations in the agricultural sector, should be designed in such a way that it links digitalization-related objectives more closely with sustainability targets. So far, the existing EU governance does not fully exploit the potentials of digitalization for environmental protection, and sight is lost of possible negative side effects such as rebound and shifting effects. Therefore, the article also offers proposals for the optimization of EU governance.

Comparing public funding approaches to the development and commercialization of care robots in the European Union and Japan

Faced with ageing populations, escalating care needs, and growing shortages of care workers, Japanese and EU governments have pursued large, publicly-funded research projects to develop and commercialize care robots. Yet despite their global leadership in this field, Japan and the EU have rarely been compared directly in studies of care robotics. This paper explores similarities in their approaches to the public funding and planning of care robot development, commercialization, and implementation since the late 1990s, and what the differences reveal about their contrasting priorities in science, technology, and innovation policy, as well as differential treatment of care robotics as an industry and as a research domain. I conclude by arguing for the importance of studying such funding mechanisms and institutional actors to better understand their key role in shaping the emergent landscape of care robotics.

Measures Taken by Governments to Mitigate the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Indirect Financial Support to Business

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis differs in nature from the previous financial crisis and therefore different solutions must be taken. In this context, governments are seeking to help businesses deal with the effects of the pandemic, which have had the greatest impact on corporate liquidity. The analysis of government support measures in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that EU governments use not only direct but also indirect financial support to business. However, the latter is not sufficiently analysed in scientific works. The aim of the study is to analyse the measures of indirect financial support for business applied by EU governments and to provide the classification of the measures described. In order to achieve the aim, the following methods of scientific research were used: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, abstraction, and analogy of scientific literature, normative documents, reports and reviews of international organisations, and support measures applied in governments’ practice. The study developed an original structure of government indirect financial support measures for business, comprising three components of government support measures: (1) minimisation of legal norms related to corporate finance; (2) indirect financial assistance related to labour law; (3) strengthening the legal framework for corporate finance. The measures analysed are described in more detail by distinguishing them into separate groups. The structure developed is based on concrete examples of application in EU countries and could contribute to a more targeted approach to business support in the future.

The EU Health Technology Assessment and the Open Method of Coordination: A Relation with Potential in the Context of Network Governance

The open method of coordination (OMC)—a tool which was formalized in the early 2000s—has generated the interest of both the researchers and practitioners in the context of the new EU governance. This article is examining the literature of both network governance and OMC, with the focus particularly on one main question: is OMC a useful instrument in health policies in order to achieve concrete results by outlining norms and legislation where EU exercise limited power? Analyzing a field in which the EU competence is limited—given the budgetary implications of medicines reimbursement—from the results of the existing collaboration within EUnetHTA, we will observe the added value in this particular case of the OMC application, and the possible consequences in shaping the supranational competences. Given that the EU, with some exceptions provided by the Treaties, may only exercise actions to support, coordinate or complement the action of the Member States in the health policy, the OMC proves to be a useful tool, both from the perspective of the Member States but especially of the supranational level.

EU considers plan to control 1,4-dioxane

The European Union is weighing a proposal to put 1,4-dioxane on the path toward strict regulation. The substance, a common laboratory reagent, is sometimes used to purify pharmaceutical ingredients. It’s also an impurity in consumer and commercial products and a widespread water contaminant that is difficult to remove. The chemical is considered a likely human carcinogen and does not readily break down in the environment. A March 2 proposal from Germany would deem 1,4-dioxane a “substance of very high concern” under the EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) law because of the compound’s potential to harm human health and the environment. If the EU finalizes the proposal, 1,4-dioxane would be placed on the EU government’s list of candidates for strict regulation. According to the proposal, companies in the European Economic Area—EU states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway—make or import more than 1,000 metric tons of 1,4-dioxane per

Public preferences for differentiated integration – The European “community of projects” as solution and challenge for European legitimacy

Differentiated integration, in which EU membership is differentiated according to policy area (Leuffen et al., 2013), is an increasingly important topic in debates of EU governance. One conceptualization of how such a differentiated European Union would look is the idea of a “community of projects” (Nicolaidis, 2004, 2013), where member states cooperate according to their own preferences and abstain from integration in areas where their citizens prefer full political autonomy. Demoicratic thinkers have sought to show why such differentiation is normatively attractive, but the normative literature has not critically tested whether an EU composed of such policy projects is compatible with public opinion. Using Eurobarometer data from 2005-2019 to analyse support for EMU, CDSP and Eurobonds, I show that the idea of the EU as a “community of projects” is compatible with individual-level structures of public opinion for European integration, which are more complex than commonly conceptualized.

Moving the system boundaries in decarbonization of large islands

During the last few years, the majority of the EU Governments are implementing suitable energy policies, promoting a transition toward full decarbonized sustainable energy systems by 2050. This paper focuses on creating comprehensive decarbonization scenarios for the island systems, using EnergyPLAN software. The island of Sardinia, Italy, was selected as a case study. The presented method uses scenario approach and seeks to push the boundary of the island energy system and use the locally available resources to partially supply the maritime transport connecting the island to the mainland. The reference model was validated using the data provided by EDGAR and IEA for 2017. The Business as Usual Scenario and High Renewable Scenario by 2030 and 2050 were modelled. The latter considers the conversion of the Sardinia energy system into a smart, highly efficient and integrated system. For the power system, improvements are made by the installation of small decentralized renewable systems, mainly including photovoltaic and wind technologies, and increase of storage technologies use. Thermal demand is reduced by building energy refurbishment actions, including the envelope insulation and use of heat pumps. For the transport sector, raise of the share of electrical vehicles is expected, as well as the possibility to introduce biofuels in both maritime and road transport sectors. Results clearly show that carbon neutrality by 2050 is a reasonable target in different decarbonization scenarios. The study also provides useful suggestions to be implemented in order to achieve this goal.

More than just a carding system: Labour implications of the EU’s illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing policy in Thailand

Globally, the EU plays a leading role in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities. Specifically, the EU exercises normative power to influence regulatory strategies and governing frameworks in third countries. In 2015, the EU issued Thailand a yellow card, indicating that economic sanctions would be implemented unless IUU fishing practices were eliminated. Concurrently, revelations about ‘modern slavery’ in Thailand’s fishing industry had received international attention, through media and NGOs, exposing slavery-like practices among migrant fishworkers. Conventionally, the EU’s IUU policy addresses only issues of catch and environmental sustainability. This paper explores how an initial bilateral dialogue was bifurcated into two dialogues: a Fishery Dialogue and a Labour Dialogue. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with involved actors, expert opinions, field-visits and secondary documents, we ask: How were labour issues integrated into the bilateral dialogue, and what consequences emerged from the IUU policy for Thai fisheries management? Tracing the bilateral dialogue between EU and Thai governments, we argue that Thailand’s fisheries reform was a result of both fisheries’ sustainability concerns and the kind of labour rights valued by the EU. Our Normative Power Europe approach shows how norms of labour rights shaped the reform through policies and implementation. We maintain that this unique case-study reveals how the EU incorporates a broad-based normative approach that goes beyond catch sustainability.

Promoting the regulatory or the redistributive state? The politicisation of core state power integration in the German Bundestag, 1978-2019

ABSTRACT We analyse the party politics of core state power integration in all German Bundestag debates on EU government declarations since 1978. Our analysis shows an increasing politicisation of the costs of integration. In general, all mainstream parties have expressed a continuous preference for regulation over capacity-building. Over time, however, cross-party differences increased. Parties developed distinct, ideologically grounded profiles on core state power integration, and costly supranational capacity-building produced particularly outspoken opposition. Ultimately, core state power integration ended the general consensus on EU affairs among integrationist mainstream parties in Germany, revealing fundamentally different understandings of the EU polity. Centre-right parties regard the EU as a market-centred community of self-reliant states, championing the instruments of the regulatory state. Centre-left parties, by contrast, see the EU as a political union that also organises solidarity among its member states, increasingly embracing a European redistributive state.

‘Pushing the boundaries’: a dialogical account of the evolution of European case-law on access to welfare

ABSTRACT In the context of the 2004 Enlargement, several EU governments reformed their social legislation to restrict the access to benefits of job-seeking or inactive EU citizens. Many of these restrictions were in tension with the case-law of the European Court of Justice, but when it came to judge their compatibility with EU law, the ECJ was more lenient than many anticipated. This article analyses this shift in ECJ case-law by looking at the dialogue between the Court and national authorities against the backdrop of EU legislative reform. It demonstrates that Member States contributed to the evolution of case-law by ‘pushing the boundaries’ of EU law both domestically and before the Court. It shows in particular how closely the arguments presented before the Court by national judiciaries or governments correlate with the new interpretations adopted by the Court itself. This is illustrated with empirical evidence from the UK and Germany.

The COVID-19 crisis in the EU: the resilience of healthcare systems, government responses and their socio-economic effects

The global outbreak of COVID-19 forced EU governments to implement drastic confinement measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. These measures, however, come at a high economic cost. In this work, we analyze the resilience/preparedness of public health systems, the confinement measures introduced by governments, and their socio-economic effects. We also investigate the relationships between these elements by focusing on the EU Member States. We conduct an after-action review (AAR) study based on three indices. The first index indicates the preparedness of the countries’ health systems to deal with a potential health shock resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. The second index shows the strictness of confinement measures taken per Member State in spring 2020. Finally, the third index captures the expected socio-economic effects of such measures on each country for the year 2020. Our findings show that on average, countries with less prepared health systems implemented stricter confinement measures and that higher levels of stringency in the confinement measures are associated with stronger, negative, socio-economic impacts. However, the results differ across countries in the case of each index. Overall, the results call for health systems to be better prepared to handle public health crises and for a more coordinated EU approach to overcome divergences across countries.