European Integration Project Research Articles

“Der Balkan” in der Krone: Austria between “frontier Orientalism” and amnesiac nationalism

This article traces the “silent inscription” of (former) colonial relations in the European integration project to their re-inflection in an EU-sceptical medium. To do so, this contribution draws on a corpus of data comprising news-coverage, commentaries and readers' letters published in Austria's largest newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung, whose reach, influence and leanings are well known. The analysis considers the Krone's representations of, and discursive references to, “the Balkans” during the crises-littered period between 2009 and 2017. For analytical purposes this discussion focuses on a sub-sample of invocations of “the Balkans” in the Krone, which have appeared with growing frequency since 2015. Conceptually, the discourse-analytical notion of the topos, or argumentative structure, and anthropological literature on “identity grammars” inform the analysis. The discussion reveals continuities with Austria's historically long-established representational regimes of South-Eastern Europe and novel discursive features. A contemporary paternalism is shown to re-appropriate the nineteenth-century topos of Austria's alleged “civilizing mission” and what André Gingrich (2005) has described as Central Europe's “frontier Orientalism”. Furthermore, preoccupations with “the Balkan-route” and its closure articulate a topos of external threats tied to recent migration flows. The article reflects on an “amnesiac nationalism” and its post-imperial entanglements, which are currently re-shaping the European Union.

Precarization of work and employment in the light of competitive Europeanization and the fragmented and flexible regime of European production

In current debates on precarization in Europe, a transnational and more class-based perspective is demanded. While fully supporting this request, this article nevertheless notices that, often, when it comes to the economic logic of current Europeanization, scholars have only taken a one-sided look at financial capital and financialization. What is needed is a deeper conceptual understanding of European labour and production processes and how their transnational organization is interwoven with both the European integration project and rising precarization. In an inter-disciplinary approach, combining critical political economy, economic and social geography, and the sociology of work and industry, this article seeks to tackle the problem and develops three main arguments. The first is that, long before the 2008ff. crisis, a mode of Europeanization as multi-scalar competitive integration developed, one that, basically, takes socio-spatial unevenness as a competitive advantage. The second argument is that the backbone of this competitive Europeanization mode is a transnationalized European regime of fragmented and flexible production. This regime particularizes labour and labour processes on all social scales, within and beyond nation-states, by putting them in a competitive relation to each other. The third argument is that due to permanent transnational restructuring and technological (digital) modernization, no stable socio-spatial division of labour within and among the European countries arises. Instead, permanently changing forms of labour’s social polarization occur, a finding that questions classic ideas of social development through economic and technological modernization. Precarization, defined as the detachment of dependent labour working conditions from the means of integrative social participation, hereby describes a specific concentration of a nevertheless wider structural uncertainty that is inherent to both the mode of European integration and the regime of European production.

The European Court of Justice and European Third Country Integration

While the European integration project successfully strengthened European identity, Brexit, the EEA and Switzerland serve as prominent and constant reminders that European integration – for the benefit of all – should not only come in one-size-fits-all. The EU has demonstrated extraordinary flexibility in the past with regard to (partial) integration of European third countries into the single market. EU market integration today comes in the form of association agreements, the EEA framework, EU-Swiss Bilateral Treaties or, in parts, the Customs Union with Turkey. In the wake of Brexit and as a consequence of a lack of political consensus in Joint Committees of the various EU market integration agreements, however, the EU pursues a new approach to dispute settlement in its relations with European neighbours, switching from the political resolution of disputes to arbitration. Arguably, this new approach is based on recent rulings and opinions of the European Court of Justice and raises questions regarding compliance with the external dimension of the guiding principles of democracy and the rule of law for the EU’s action on the international scene (Art. 21.1 TEU). This article analyses the regulatory scope for dispute settlement in EU market integration agreements and offers legal arguments for politically (more) convincing alternatives.

Миграционный вызов ЕС в условиях пандемии COVID-19: проявление солидарности или угроза сплоченности?

The article discusses the formation and adaptation of migration policies in the European Union Member States under the impact of COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, migration was already a very acute issue for the Member States, because the attitudes of each country towards formulating a common migration policy and its further communitarisation were quite different. Not surprisingly, amid the spread of the infection, a phenomenon such as migration has an even greater impact on the development of the entire European regional integration project. Due to the introduction of strict measures against coronavirus, such as social distance standards and states of emergency, most migrant and refugee assistance programs have been suspended indefinitely, with an immediate negative impact on the lives of these people. However, one thing all countries agree on is that migrants contribute greatly to EU life and development, as they constitute 13% of the key workforce. Therefore, new safe working practices need to be adopted. Another key issue under consideration is developing coherent asylum-seeker and refugee policies. These two categories constitute a large part of the Union's migration flows; however, the EU experience in this area has not been very successful. Thus, in the midst of COVID-19, effective migration management becomes even more important. The pandemic stresses the need for better public administration with migrants and refugees in mind. As a consequence, it is not surprising that COVID-19 will have a long-term impact on migration. Basing on the analysis of current developments, the author concludes that although the EU has taken some initiatives to improve the situation of migrants and refugees, it cannot fully guarantee them health protection, decent and stable living conditions, social security and access to the labor market.

ИЗУЧЕНИЕ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ИНТЕГРАЦИИ В ИМЭМО РАН

The paper is devoted to the formation and development of the European integration studies at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The chronological framework of the article covers the period from 1957 to 2019. Also in addition to IMEMO, the role of other national research centers in the study of integration processes is considered, and the contribution of the Soviet / Russian researchers is noted. The author uses the problem-chronological method and generational methods of research. The key markers that define generational differences are the focus, area and research paradigm. In total, the author identifies five generations of the European integration research at IMEMO. The first one, which dated from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, focused on the motives, causes, ways of integration, recognition of the objectivity of integration processes in Europe, the role of the Director of the Institute academician A.A. Arzumanyan and the outstanding scientist academician E.S. Varga in the “legitimation” of the study of European integration in Soviet science. The second one, dating from the 1960s to the first half of the 1980s, distinguished itself by the dominance of the economic component, the intensification of the study of political issues, the comparison of capitalist and socialist integration. Rejection of negative ideologized assessments of integration in Western Europe became one of the characteristics of the generation of 1985-1991s. Thanks to the fourth generation of the 1990s, progress was made in active introduction of Western theories and methods into Russian research, comparison of European integration and disintegration in the post-Soviet space and in the former Eastern bloc. From the 2000s the IMEMO researchers have concentrated on comparison of European and Eurasian integration projects, study of integration in the context of new political spaces as a factor in the formation of a new model and system of international interaction. At the same time, the identified generations do not fully replace each other but rather coexist on the basis of complementarity and interpenetration. The author comes to the conclusion that IMEMO has developed its own scientific approach to integration studies. Its main features are complex, systematic and balanced. The article contains two tables and an Appendix with a list of the most significant IMEMO works on European integration.

БІФУРКАЦІЯ В ПРОЦЕСІ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОЇ ІНТЕГРАЦІЇ ПІД ВПЛИВОМ ПАНДЕМІЇ

The coronavirus pandemic has become the most serious challenge since the European Union’s existence. The challenge is complex. The first blow was struck on four freedoms: movement of capital, goods, labor and services. Discontinuing production under the influence of a pandemic will mean both insufficient supply and too low demand. Quarantine measures have split the Common Market into “national containers”. The monetary union is also facing a serious crisis before the pandemic. The next blow to European solidarity was the crisis with illegal migrants. The humanitarian crisis has benefited populists to intensify xenophobic sentiment and terrorist movements to send their killers to the EU. The pretext of left and right populism is wandering Europe. Security threats are real. The UK’s exit from the EU has created a deficit in the EU budget. Germany and France should increase their contributions proportionally. The Visegrad bloc countries oppose their greater financial responsibility. Austria does not agree with the single Eurozone budget. Polls in the spring of 2016 showed an increase in the position of European skeptics in France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, the Greek part of Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Contemporary political discourse offers European optimistic and European pessimistic scenarios. The European Republic is decentralized (European regions), post-national, parliamentary-democratic and social. This concerns a possible shift from the United States of Europe project to the European Republic. The concept of republic is a common ideological and political heritage of Europe. A New Europe Demands New Political Thinking without Populism and Nationalism. The European Republic should be at the center of the triangle: liberalism (liberty), socialism (equality) and nationalism (brotherhood). The pessimistic scenario focuses on the fragmentation of the European Union. The basis of such fragmentation can be the project of European integration of different speeds.

Українському народу – стабільний планомірностійкий людський розвиток (оцінка стану науково-адміністративного забезпечення). Частина І. Загальна ситуація зі стратегічним плануванням людського розвитку в Україні

The article reveals constructive ideas, recommendations and proposals for the establishment and development of scientific-methodological and methodological and administrative support of stable planned ustoichivogo regional human development in Ukraine. Carried out a detailed analysis of the publications of the Discussion club scientific journals of economic Sciences of and Economic Bulletin of Donbass during the 2014 - 2020рр., prepared by Professor V. F. Stolyarov and Ph. D. students O. V. Shinkaryuk. Details the article considers the conceptual provisions of the justification of the project of European integration on the principles chelovecheskogo approach under the slogan Ukrainian people – planned Recommendations and suggestions for the development of National and Regional programs of human development is presented as a fundamentally new direction of improvement of the existing in Ukraine the market economy on the basis of improving the social and state. The estimates of Index of regional human development in administrative areas using the methodology of its measurement 2012 institualization in coherence with the Millennium Development Goals for the period up to 2015 and Sustainable Development Goals for the period up to 2030. Formulation of problems of scientific and methodological support of stable planned ustoichivogo human development in the regions revealed in the theoretical, methodological and methodological and administrative aspects of the development of State and Regional development strategies for the period up to 2027. Systematic stages of formation of administration of the measurement and state regulation of regional human development. Recommendations and suggestions for shaping the final version or amendments of the State strategy of regional development of Ukraine in 2021-2027. Submitted 5 five discussion questions for evaluation of scientific and administrative support for the strategic planning and state regulation of regional human development in Ukraine. Proposed to develop a Planned code of Ukraine and introduce the harmonious proportions of the Golden section in the ratio of local budgets in the Consolidated state budget of Ukraine for the implementation of fiscal federalism with the aim of improving the financial autonomy of the administrative regions of a unitary state.

Вишеградская четверка и развитие европейской интеграции

This article is devoted to the study of the position of the Visegrad countries (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) on the further development of European integration. Particular attention is paid to such important EU projects as the Defense Union, the Energy Union and the European Green Deal. The article also analyzes the stand of the Visegrad states on migration issues, institutional problems of European integration, energy security. Prestige and status remain important factors for the foreign and European policy of the Visegrad countries. For this reason, the latter are supporters of an intergovernmental and confederal approach to European integration, preservation of national competencies. In the vision of the further development of European integration, the positions of the mainstream and V4 have come closer. The Visegrad states do not want to leave the EU and are not ready to go to a tough confrontation with Brussels. The V4 countries that are not part of the Eurozone are planning to join it. They also support the main and most ambitious projects of European integration mentioned above, although they have their own special priorities in these projects. Visegrad is a sub-region with its own characteristics in the perception of European integration. These characteristics consist in conservatism, pragmatism, agrarianism, an anti-migrant mood. In this, some neighboring countries are similar to the Visegrad Four – Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia. This circumstance suggests that in the future it will be possible to speak about the informal group “V4+”.

«Мы, защитники наций и свобод». Как европейские правые популисты конструируют идентичности (случай «Национального объединения»)

The article explores how the EU populist radical right in opposition to its national governments uses the concept of rights and freedoms when constructing identities. The research is based on a discourse analysis of speeches given by the leader of the French Rassemblement National Marine Le Pen in the run-up to the 2019 European parliamentary elections. The analysis of discursive strategies employed in these texts allows to empirically demonstrate and elaborate some of the existing theories on key ideological and discursive features of the populist radical right and its positions on rights and freedoms. It also shows, however, that these models need to be reviewed or altered in a number of aspects. The research corresponds to the existing models as it shows the opposition the Self vs. the Other to be one of the central elements in the populist radical right discourse. For instance, when speaking about rights and freedoms, Marine Le Pen constructs the identity of the French people and European peoples by opposing them to the negative Other along two axes: vertically – by constructing a populist opposition to the elites – and horizontally – by constructing a nativist opposition to alien identities. The people is predicated to possess various rights, the Rassemblement National is represented as the defender of these rights, while the elites and the aliens are depicted as a threat to these rights. Yet, these oppositions are not always clearly articulated with numerous ‘grey zones’ systematically constructed: the research demonstrates that the depiction of some actors in a positive or negative way depends on context. The European identity constructed by the populist radical right is also ambivalent: it is not completely rejected although the ongoing European integration project – the EU – is reproached for infringing rights and freedoms. In general, the analysis allows to conclude that the populist radical right in the EU should be regarded as an active contester in the ongoing interpretive struggle over the concept of rights and freedoms rather than its enemy.

The University And Its Role in the Process of European Integrations

The University And Its Role in the Process of European Integrations. The Dystopian Fairy Tale of Serbian University
 The paper discusses the contemporary social role of the university in the three referent contexts: (a) the wider global context, (b) the regional context of European integrations, and (c) the local context of Serbian Society. The analysis discusses challenges of global context and university transformation, initial ideas of the Bologna process and the main directions of its implementation, and contemporary political and social challenges with the relationship between the university and its referent social environment and the value concepts shaping that relation. The latest tendencies of the abandonment of the university from its civil mission (Ćulum and Ledić, 2011) as one of the fundamental value concepts of modern universities has led to new escapist strategy that breaks the links between the university and the social environment in an almost artificial way. The paper discuss this tendency on the example of Serbian society and its university system, showing that the Serbian project of European integration has reached the point where it is necessary to articulate future directions of development so that they do not spontaneously take on malignant forms. On the one hand, breaking the link between the university and community jeopardizes the survivalof the university as we know it, and on the other hand, it eliminates serioussocial dialogue on the directions of future development.

The Globalisation of Peripheries

The author attempts to investigate connections and interdependencies between periphery countries and the globalisation process, including the attitude of these countries to unification blocs, such as the European integration project. The basic research tool used in this work is a systemic analysis, as well as the core-periphery method, derived from social sciences. Its fundamental hypothesis is that the decline of the liberal architecture of the globe may translate into the periphery’s tendency to abandon real convergence in favour of the fragmentary imitation of supranational bodies, potentially leading to intensified disintegration tendencies within phenomena, such as the consolidation of Europe. In the past, the powerless core of the community only contemplated the imitative Europeanisation of marginal territories. Today, however – because the idea to construct a homogeneous polity has collapsed – postulates of “multi-speed” integration can lead to the reconstruction of the historical division into the core and periphery of the old continent.

EU-Ukraine Association Agreement’s Effective Implementation into the Legal Order of Ukraine. Challenges and Successes

Summary This article focuses on challenges and successes of the implementation and application of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which triggered unprecedented political, economic and legal reforms in Ukraine. This article focuses on the constitutional challenges that have arisen for Ukraine in the course of implementing the Association Agreement into its legal system. Two issues form the core of the paper. The first issue is effective implementation and application of the Association Agreement within the Ukrainian legal order. The second issue is compatibility between the Association Agreement and the Ukrainian Constitution. The latest political and legal developments in Ukraine are analyzed through the prism of effective implementation of the Association Agreement and the rise of pro-European judicial activism in Ukraine. In conclusion it is argued that the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement enhanced the adaptability of the national constitutional order to the European integration project and European common values.

EU Law Stories: Contextual and Critical Histories of European Jurisprudence

In the shadow of multiple crises afflicting the EU in recent years, the contributors to this richly textured volume found themselves shaken by a sense of “existential crisis articulated in EU law scholarship.”1 This perception is not only attributable to EU law’s uncertain fortune as a subject of study in American academia, but also to the growing number of legal scholars questioning the very “raison d’être of the project of European integration.”2 Many of the volume’s contributors “began by feeling self-estranged . . . from the process of European integration” and from a field of law long maligned as self-referential, dogmatic, and formalistic.3 They turned to storytelling in the hopes of breaking the hermetic seal of EU law’s conventional wisdom, inspired by the interdisciplinary and critical promise of the law and society, critical legal studies, and postcolonial studies movements. This move is astute, timely, and compelling. It has become obvious to anyone who has followed the controversies surrounding the Euro-crisis, Brexit, the migration crisis in southern Europe, or the rule of law crisis in Hungary and Poland that European institutions and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are now commonplace objects of storytelling, whether they like it or not. In retrospect, this should have surprised no one. Even Eric Stein’s now-emblematic 1981 phrase with which this volume begins––describing the ECJ as “tucked away in the fairyland Duchy of Luxembourg”4—foreshadows how the hidden and the distant are destined to inspire folklore. EU law was bound to be discovered by politics sooner or later. But what kind of folklore would result?

Beyond the Post-Sovereign State?: The Past, Present, and Future of Constitutional Pluralism

AbstractConstitutional pluralism is a theory for the post-sovereign European state. This only makes sense historically, emerging out of postwar European reconstruction through the repression of popular sovereignty and restraining of democracy, including through the project of European integration. It became unsettled at Maastricht and evolved from a series of irritants into a full-blown crisis in the recent decade, with sovereignty claims returning both from the bottom-up and the top-down, to the extent that we can legitimately ask whether we are now moving ‘beyond the post-sovereign state’? Constitutional pluralist literature fails to capture this in that evades material issues of democracy and political economy.

Introduction

Introduction

ІНТЕГРАЦІЯ ЧИ ДЕЗІНТЕГРАЦІЯ: УРОКИ РЕФОРМУВАННЯ ЄВРОЗОНИ

Мain objective of the study is to analyze endogenous destabilizing and disintegration tendencies within the framework of the European Monetary Union crisis, which grew into a crisis of a real economy, which simultaneously involved several EU member-states. Achieving this goal requires addressing a number of theoretical and historical lessons that highlight an important dilemma for the survival of the European project in the future. Research methods are systematic, procedural and situational approaches to the study of the Euro-zone countries, participants in the integration project and disintegration influences; institutional approach to the detection and analysis of dysfunctional institutional configuration within the framework of the European Monetary Union. Of great importance for the study of the economic integration and disintegration’s problems is the use of the universal scientific methodology principles, including an integrated approach to problem solving, envisaging a general vision of the movement of capital in the context of the European integration project, as well as the application of methods of logical models, induction and deduction, the unity of logical and historical in the development of a research object confirming the synergistic effect of historical and theoretical lessons. The main results and conclusions of the study are to formulate a clear and important dilemma for the survival of the European economic project: the creation of a political union with a functioning institutional configuration of the federal states, or the re-nationalization of many political spheres (financial control and restrictions, monetary sovereignty, trade policy, etc.). Taking into account the history of the Euro-zone, it is important to understand that there is a situation that more closely resembles a non-conflict but latent disintegration, which, instead of a single outbreak of conflicts, has been observed and lasted for a long period.

The European Unions’ International Relations

This article explores major theoretical approaches to the study of European integration, European Union (EU) as a global power, and the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. The argument presented here is that only a combination of both International Relations and European integration approaches will allow us to understand the very premises of the European integration project in terms of both internal and external – international-aspects. This approach will be complementary to the attempts by researchers those who call to mainstream European studies and an appeal in favor of abounding the project of conceptualizing the EU as a single case or as being Sui generis. This article argues that, despite serious attempts by scholars of the field of European studies, it seems difficult to theorize European integration. The established literature to the existing political entities seems less relevant to study EU due to the union’s unique identity. Theories of EU integration are unable to explain or predict the process of integration, but they are normally outpaced by events.

Central and Eastern Europe in European Unity Vision of St. John Paul II through Heritage of St. Cyril and Methodius

Abstract During the Soviet and post-Soviet period, countries of Central and Eastern Europe experienced difficult social transformation processes. At the same time, these states remained marginal in European integration projects. In this context, the European integration vision of Pope John Paul II became relevant. He emphasized the important role of Central and Eastern part of Europe, its identity, spiritual and cultural heritage in the context of the European unity concepts. St. Cyril and Methodius became the special symbols and the personification of identity of Central and Eastern Europe in Pope's vision. On the basis of analysis of researches, works and speeches the connection between the figures of St. Cyril and Methodius and the European vision of John Paul II is analysed. Particular attention is paid to his interpretation of actuality of St. Cyril and Methodius heritage for modern Europe in three important aspects: European integration, ecumenism, spiritual and cultural European identity.

THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF BREXIT

The Brexit referendum will remain as a milestone in contemporary European history. The British exit from the EU is not going only to shape future relations between the EU and the UK, but it will shape the relation between Brussels and other member states as well. This study aims to investigate the main claims for the leave campaigns which affected the general opinion to vote for the exit. The two main points investigated in this paper are: first, the historical background regarding the UK and the EU, the reasons for the first refusal to the European integration projects during the 1950, and the changes in the British situation which pushed the UK to seek the membership for a decade before being able to join the EEC in the 1970s; and second, national identity, which affected Britain’s late entry to the EU, and shaped relations between London and Brussels during the British membership. The paper concludes that, unfortunately, British citizens in general were not aware of the full facts regarding the above two points.

Politicising European security: from technocratic to contentious politics?

ABSTRACTSecurity provision in and by the EU has become an issue of increasing public interest and controversy. There are diverse and growing demands and critiques from different political camps towards the EU while EU institutions, in turn, utilise their security function as a resource for authority construction and self-legitimation. More recently, European security has also become intertwined with contemporary “crises” that turned it into an arena for the negotiation of fundamental conflicts, often revolving around questions of identity and sovereignty. This paper argues that these developments represent a significant change of European security and its politics that existing approaches linking the field to depoliticisation cannot adequately capture. To fill this gap, this paper suggests applying a politicisation perspective that, so far, has focused on the European integration project as such or the “Eurozone crisis” to the purportedly special security field.