EU Political System Research Articles

The War Against Ukraine and the EU: Facing New Realities, edited by Claudia Wiesner and Michèle Knodt. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. XIII, 230 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35040-5.

This book discusses the multiple implications of the war against Ukraine for the EU political system. It draws on a number of different authors to analyse the main dimensions of the Russian attack on Ukraine and the subsequent large-scale war, which impact the global order and EU foreign policy. In the context of war and Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU needs to position itself in a changing world order, internal and external challenges to liberal democracy and the development of its strategic autonomy. In various chapters of the book, the development and strengthening of strategic partnership and friendship with Ukraine is considered by the EU as one of the central foreign policy priorities. Without the support of the Ukrainian partner, it is difficult for the EU to achieve positive results in European politics and play the role of an influential power in the international arena. In this context, various authors note that only the formation of political and economic ties between the EU and Ukraine will be the optimal way out of the full-scale war and crisis that Ukraine has found itself in. Only the combination of opportunities and efforts will allow the Ukrainian political elite and society to eventually stand on par with leading European countries.

Tested by the Polycrisis: Reforming or Transforming the EU?

This thematic issue addresses the question: To what extent have the latest crises—the pandemic crisis and Russia’s war in Ukraine—triggered institutional and policy change in the EU? It contributes to the literature on the impact of crises on integration and the EU political system, presenting new research based on fresh theoretical insights, empirical data, or a combination of both. Theoretically, the contributions collected in the thematic issue explore whether the crises represent a critical juncture for the EU, leading to institutional and/or policy innovations or, rather, set in motion more incremental processes of adaptation. Empirically, all articles—some of which are qualitative, while others are quantitative—are based on original or new data. The first group of contributions deals with institutional change, focusing both on formal (i.e., treaty reform) and informal (i.e., codes of conduct) institutions. A second group moves the focus to policy change, looking at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on several policy areas and the energy crisis. Overall, the key lesson is that the EU can now manage and absorb new shocks quite effectively. At the same time, however, it does not promote ambitious and coherent political models or policy paradigms. Instead, it provides room for experimentation through patchwork-like strategies where old and new instruments and settings mix.

Debating Legitimacy and Solidarity in the European Parliament: Patterns of Opposition and Conflict During the Pandemic

AbstractTo cope with the socio‐economic consequences of the Covid‐19 pandemic, the EU has adopted a new approach by launching an instrument aimed at promoting cross‐national solidarity, called Next Generation EU. This could trigger major changes in terms of EU power and authority, calling into question the polity's legitimacy, and the kind of solidarity to be embodied in the European system. As part of the scholarly debate on transnational solidarity, the article focuses on the politicisation of the Covid‐19 crisis within the European Parliament, with a focus on opposition parties. By applying discourse analysis, the article explains how the crisis has acted as a catalyst for framing opposition parties' stances about the relationship between legitimacy and solidarity in the EU polity. Furthermore, the article examines how opposition parties have assessed their competing views on the role of the EU's political system and on future developments in the integration process.

О роли европартий в формировании общеевропейского политического пространства

The article analyzes the increasing influence of pan-European political parties (Europarties) and their factions in the European Parliament, as well as that of representatives of European civil society, on the formation of the pan-European political space, which is becoming an essential element of the European Union’s future political system. The main approaches to the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of strengthening the pan-European political space landscape are described. It is shown that recently, the Europarties became the key agents of the Europeanization process, which has a significant impact on the formation of this landscape. The attitude of the EU political elite and representatives of European civil society to this development is considered. It is indicated that a serious impetus to further strengthening of the political space was given by the results of the European Parliament elections in 2019, following which the influence of Eurosceptic parties markedly increased. It is noted that the recently concluded Conference on the Future of Europe has adopted a number of important recommendations in support of reinforcing the “Spitzenkandidaten”-principle and the introduction of transnational lists at the EU elections, which should also strengthen the influence impact of European parties on the pan-European political landscape formation. Positions of the leading Europarties and their parliamentary groups in the EP regarding these proposals and the process of Europeanization in general are presented. It is demonstrated that a number of the European Council members representing liberal parties have explicitly stated the need to reform the EU political system as soon as possible in order to make it more monolithic and aimed at forming Europe as a geopolitical power.

Legitymizacja ponadnarodowej władzy politycznej Unii Europejskiej w perspektywie wybranych teorii integracji europejskiej

The aim of this paper is to seek a theoretical framework for explaining the sources of legitimacy of EU political power. The research problem concerns the establishing of the sources of legitimacy of the EU political system, depending on the implemented theories of European integration. The research process uses selected theories of European integration: intergovernmental theory, neo-functionalism and constructivism, which point to diverse sources of legitimacy of supranational political power. These include: the will and interests of sovereign states, the high efficiency and effectiveness of supranational political power in achieving the goals of various interest groups, and social norms and values. The analysis carried out enabled a positive verification of the research hypothesis on the diverse origins of the legitimacy of EU supranational power, justified within the framework of selected theories of European integration.

Banking on meps? The Strategic and Partisan Motivations for the Parliamentary Scrutiny of the European Central Bank

Abstract At a time when legislative powers are being undermined by strengthened executives, oversight has become a core function of parliaments throughout the democratic world. In the European Parliament (ep), whose legislative role has been enhanced throughout the integration process, a significant proportion of the activities of its members is devoted to their broad ‘functions of political control’ on the EU’s executive institutions (art. 14 teu). The ways in which Members of the European Parliament (meps) exercise these functions and how the EU political system is impacted in turn remains, however, an under-researched topic. Focusing specifically on parliamentary questions, this article investigates the day-to-day interactions between the ep and one major EU institution, namely the European Central Bank (ecb). It seeks to establish what motivates meps questions concerning monetary and financial policies. Relying on a new dataset, we find evidence that meps’ questions to the ecb are subject to both strategic and partisan considerations.

Power or Luck? The Limitations of the European Commission's Agenda Setting Power and Autonomous Policy Influence

AbstractBuilding on the existing research on the European Commission's agenda‐setting powers, this study examines the relationship between the policy priorities of the Commission and those of the other key policy actors in the European Union to determine the impact of other EU institutional actor preferences on the success of Commission priority initiatives. By using new and existing datasets to compare the European Commission's Work Programmes with European Council Summit Conclusions, the European Parliament's own initiative reports and Council Presidency Work Programmes, we are able to analyse the effect of policy priority congruence on the Commission's success and measure the autonomous policy influence of the Commission more accurately. Our results demonstrate that the Commission's priority initiatives are significantly more likely to result in legislative outcomes when they address policy topics already highlighted (whether fortuitously or as a result of Commission efforts) by the other key EU institutions. They also suggest that interpretations of the EU political system that ascribe the role of political executive to the Commission misconstrue its role.

The Role of the European Socialists in the EU Political System

The article explores the formation of a single European socio-political space and the evolution of the institution of pan-European political parties (Europarties). It is shown that the growth of practical and scientific interest to the European parties was associated with the gradual strengthening of the role and influence of this relatively new institution in the political system of the EU. The authors identified new trends in the development of the institute of European parties. On the one hand, the confrontation between the supporters of European integration (Eurooptimists) and their opponents (Eurosceptics) has intensified. On the other hand, the format of relations between individual European parties (in particular, the Party of European Socialists, which traditionally supports the expansion of ties between governments and society) with European civil society and key political institutions of the EU (the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament) is gradually changing. Based on the analysis of materials related to the activities of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in the last two years, it is shown that this party has managed to create specific tools and mechanisms to strengthen its ties with civil activists (the so-called PES networks on various issues), national member parties, to involve representatives of this party in its work in the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

The parliamentary dimension of the Presidency of the Council of the EU: a framework for systematic research

ABSTRACT Strengthening the role of national parliaments in EU matters has triggered a broad discussion on whether the legislatures are effective and which parliamentary functions they should fulfil within the EU political system. The involvement of national legislatures can be measured by applying the concept of parliamentary strength based on a set of indicators. However, some important elements of parliamentary activities and functions are fully overlooked in the existing literature, especially the participation of national parliaments in the preparation for and administration of the Council Presidency within the framework of the ‘parliamentary dimension’ of the rotating Presidency. Despite the growing importance of the Presidency Parliament, which goes hand-in-hand with the broadening of the framework for inter-parliamentary cooperation, current research pays little attention to this topic, even though it is important for understanding parliamentary strength in EU policy-making. For this reason, this paper presents a summary of the current body of knowledge with the aim of proposing an analytical framework which can be used for future systematic research in this field.

Federal democracy, distributive justice and the future of Europe

AbstractDiscussions pertaining to advancing strategic policies and democracy in the EU cannot afford to disregard a fundamental institutional dilemma of the EU's political system, the conflict between intense interdependence and power sharing in a multilevel polity for one, and autonomy of governments as a condition for democratic legitimacy of power for another. Conceiving the EU as a federal democracy draws attention to this dilemma. This concept suggests democracy‐preserving modes of governance instead of coercive coordination (policy adjustment to competition in the common market, joint decision‐making among governments, central regulation by law and court decisions), which so far predominate in most relevant policy fields. It also calls for procedures to cope with issues of distributive justice stemming from territorial disparities in resources and burdens. The article conceptualises these challenges and outlines feasible steps to advance federal democracy in the EU.

How do Lithuanian Citizens Perceive the European Parliament? EU Legitimacy Issue and Trust in the European Parliament

This article examines the problem of legitimacy within the EU political system and focuses on the political power and recognition of the only one directly elected EU institution – the European Parliament. Historically, being the weaker house of the EU legislative system, throughout the last decades, the European Parliament has increased the political authority dramatically. These political changes should have risen the participation of the EU citizens in the elections and the legitimacy of this EU institution. Analysing the Lithuanian case, based on the qualitative interviewing of politicians and quantitative survey of citizens, the authors claim that while most of Lithuanians recognise the significance of the European Parliament and the turnout in the European elections has increased, the European Parliamentary elections remain, however, of secondary importance.

What Is EU Public Health and Why? Explaining the Scope and Organization of Public Health in the European Union.

Public health is notoriously difficult to define, and that is the case for public health in the European Union as much as other political systems. In this article, the authors try to identify the actual scope and meaning of public health as it is institutionalized in the EU political system. Using a mixture of historical policy and legal analysis, the authors show how the evolution of the institutional space called public health in the EU has been shaped by the EU's distinctive constitutional nature, its focus on regulation, and the legacy of its focus on market making as well as the preferences of its political leaders. The European Union does have an increasingly large space named "public health," in which health ministers, the health directorate-general, and invocation of its public health treaty article 168 can be found, as well as a much broader and older area of activities justified by the need to manage adverse health consequences of market-making policies in other areas such as labor standards and agriculture. The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 not only led to a strengthening of EU public health but also showed that the EU is one of the many political systems in which the legal and bureaucratic domain of public health is far smaller than the actual issues affecting the public's health.

Is the Member States' Curse the EU's Blessing? Inequality and EU Regime Evaluation

AbstractHow does inequality shape regime evaluations in Europe's multi‐level governance system? I argue that rising inequality improves citizens' evaluation of the EU's political system. This effect is driven by two mechanisms. First, adverse social and political consequences of inequality within national democracies strongly erode national regime evaluations. This leads to an improvement of EU regime evaluations in relative terms. Second, citizens compensate negative national conditions by redirecting hopes to the supranational level. This compensation mechanisms further tilts regime evaluates in favour of the EU. An empirical analysis of change in national and European parliament trust across 27 member states and 14 years provides empirical support for this argument. It also shows that the two mechanisms coexist and that their relevance is conditioned by previous levels of regime support.

EU Political System’s Resilience in the Age of Politicization: Lessons From the 2019 European Parliament Elections

The democratic deficit problem in the EU polity is becoming more relevant in the context of the multifaceted crisis and the politicization of European integration. Taking into account that the category of resilience is actively used in the official EU discourse as a system’s ability to reform and to counter threats, it is interesting, from a research point of view, to consider the use of resilience as an analytical optics to view the current EU internal political development. This article analyzes, in terms of resilience, the attempts of the EU’s mainstream actors to improve the democratic elements of the EU’s institutional structure during the European Parliament (EP) elections 2019 and their relationships with the agents of EU politicization – right-wing populist actors. The main findings suggest that (1) EU politicization exacerbates the problem of the democratic deficit and forces mainstream actors to seek strategies to increase the resilience of the whole system; (2) in order to preserve their own subjectness in the face of growing populism and the politicization of European integration, mainstream actors choose a strategy of depoliticization, which has decreased the EU resilience; (3) right-wing populist actors are agents of politicization, they play an ambivalent role in relation to EU resilience, being a resource and a threat.

КЛЮЧОВІ НАПРЯМИ ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЇ МІСІЇ УКРАЇНИ У ФОРМУВАННІ АРХІТЕКТУРИ СУЧАСНОЇ СИСТЕМИ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ

This article is intended to formulate a list of key areas for the transformation of the mission of Ukraine in shaping the architecture of the modern system of ensuring European security. To the problems of this issue, their scientific searches related and fluent both government executives and scientists from other industry sciences. However, directly, they did not study this issue, which indicates its current actualization. It was determined that to enter the European community without qualitative and significant changes in the domestic political and legal fields, Ukraine has very few chances to fully. Also, they are necessary in domestic legislation on the creation of effective anti-corruption mechanisms, the development of a radical security reform, military system and the like. Since this is a long process that requires significant investment and time, the study suggests that it is almost impossible to restore the state’s defense in a short time. It should be understood that by participating in the work of international collective security organizations, military security and defense can be strengthened. Despite this, Ukraine began its course on European integration in the field of security and defense with the signing on 13 of June 2005 of the Agreement, which was ratified by the Law of Ukraine from 06 of March 2008 No. 137-VI, between the European Union and Ukraine on determining a common scheme for Ukraine’s participation in European Union operations crisis management. As part of the study, it was revealed that the experience of our country is invaluable in applying the principles of hybrid warfare and in identifying and eliminating hybrid threats. In a broader sense, the availability of strategic communications could ensure the preservation of the unity of the country and the neutralization of attempts by an external aggressor to provoke mass protests, social uprisings and internal confrontations in the presence of a large number of internally displaced persons. On the other hand, to the processes of formation of European security with the right of deliberative vote, (which is assumed by the Association Agreement) Ukraine could seek from Brussels to attract it. This would facilitate Ukraine’s integration into the EU political decision-making system, increase its responsibility for European security and become an important step towards the integration of our country into the European Union.

The Fuzzy Set Method in the Studies on the Multilevel Political System of the European Union

The political system of the European Union is unique and difficult to define. This presents significant problems to researchers attempting to clarify this phenomenon by means of conventional research methods. Thus, it seems necessary to start the search with other tools that will allow the exploration of the nature of this phenomenon. Such an unconventional instrument is the fuzzy set method which has been used in logics, geometry and mathematics and which accumulates both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. When applied in the studies on the multi-level political system of the EU, it reveals phenomena that could not be seen when using conventional methods. One of the most important effects of this method exists in the fuzzy levels of the EU political system situated among the traditional (crisp) levels (regional, national and supranational).

Opportunistic legitimisation and de-Europeanisation as a reverse effect of Europeanisation

This paper will look at the concept of de-Europeanisation through the prism of the official relations between the EU representatives and the political elites in two countries – Bulgaria and Serbia. Here de-Europeanisation is defined as a process of deterioration of the quality of integration or more simply as 'it is worse than it was'. The article begins with a critical overview of the dominant theoretical approaches to enlargement Europeanisation. Then, from a theoretical perspective, the article explores the role of EU legitimisation for national political elites. While distinguishing between revolutionary and opportunistic legitimisation, the paper highlights the former, based on Bulgaria and Serbia. Going beyond the liberal political narrative of democratic backsliding in Central Europe, the article will approach critically the dominant Europeanisation assumption of the unequivocally positive effect of European integration on national political elites. Particularly, it will examine the relevance of the argument that in the case of rule of law and human rights, the existing formal Europeanisation not only does not lead to informal Europeanisation of the states, but it can also have a reverse effect through the preservation of pathological political practices and their infusion into the process of European integration. The research will use a qualitative method of analysis to juxtapose the official EU/nation state political elites' rhetoric with political practices at the national level in the context of rule of law and human rights. Based on the findings, the paper argues that the EU oriented institutionalised perspective of Europeanisation omits important interactions on a micro-level that lead to the accommodation of political practices contradictory to EU's fundamental political values. While these practices survive in the peripheries of the integration process, they have the potential to multiply and eviscerate the fundamental political practices and thus the EU's political system.

Fikcyjny Traktat Lizboński

From the point of view of many European politicians, the Treaty of Lisbon should enable great development in the functioning of European Union. However, having analyzed the amendments introduced by this Treaty, one has to admit that either most of the changes had already functioned in the EU political system before December 2009, as political practice, or the changes have no major impact on EU. Therefore, a question should be posed why Lisbon Treaty was such an important issue for politicians that they wanted to ratify it despite the ‘no’ voting in Ireland. The only reasonable cause that could lead politicians to such a move is the fact that integration is still a vital process for the existence of EU. Another failure of treaty amendments could be seen as the end of the European project.

The politics of (de-)politicization and venue choice: A scoping review and research agenda on EU financial regulation and economic governance

ABSTRACT Scholarly interest in EU financial regulation and economic governance has increased sharply over the last decade, but the literature on their politics remains fragmented. We present a scoping literature review which systematically locates and aggregates academic articles on their politics in ISI-ranked journals between 1999 and 2016. We identify lacunas in this literature by mapping its strands onto the EU political system. We then present a system-level research agenda that focuses on the cycles of depoliticization and politicization that strongly characterize the politics in these areas. Future research must pay careful attention to the conditions, mechanisms and, especially the venues that (dis)allow the linkage of societal politicization to EU-level politics. This approach is deeply rooted in the specifics of the politics of these policy areas, but also draws on the strengths of research in these areas to increase its relevance for broader debates on the future of the EU itself.

Why some EU institutions litigate more often than others: exploring opportunity structures and actor motivation in horizontal annulment actions

ABSTRACTEU scholars have studied mobilization as a cross-level phenomenon. Individuals and organized interests seek preliminary rulings with the Court of Justice of the EU to challenge national rules. Likewise, the Commission takes member states to court where they infringe commonly agreed rules. However, litigation can also run horizontally in the EU system. EU institutions can go to court to annul actions of other EU institutions. Studying this so far neglected phenomenon of litigation, the paper analyses differences in mobilization across European Parliament, Council and Commission. To this aim it conceptualizes litigation decisions as resulting from an interplay of agency and structure. Decision-making within organizations and in the EU political system as well as different motivations of actors are presented to explain differences in horizontal litigation. Methodologically the analysis combines a database covering 160 horizontal annulment conflicts (1957 to 2017) and case studies based on expert interviews.