European Negotiations Research Articles

Beyond density: Improving European trade unions’ representativeness through gender quotas

Trade unions’ legitimacy is rooted in membership, since unions result from the organization of workers who found they were stronger through a collective voice. Accordingly, union representativeness has been assessed primarily through ‘density’ – the ratio of union members to the total workforce. We argue that density is crucial but insufficient. First, the decline in trade union membership jeopardizes internal legitimacy; second, unions have developed external legitimacy when acting beyond their members. Inspired by the multifaceted concept of ‘political representation’, we suggest a fairer approach which adds the composition of unions’ boards – beginning with gender – to density whenever unions act on behalf of all workers. Specifically, we contend that trade unions willing to take part in the European negotiations should adopt gender quotas on their boards. This approach is likely to stimulate equality in the labour market, while contributing to unions’ revitalization, thus fostering the quality of democratic institutions.

Mediating Rock and Roll: Tommy Steele in Denmark, 1957–8

Though rarely acknowledged in later historiography, British singer Tommy Steele was a key figure in the early European negotiations of rock and roll in 1957–58. As an accommodating British working-class youth with an energetic, yet non-sexual mode of performance, he was favourably compared with the image of American rock and roll with its associations of juvenile delinquency, cultural ‘blackness’ and illegitimately sexuality as personified by Elvis Presley in particular. Yet, Tommy Steele's version of rock and roll provided not simply an alternative to the ‘hard’, more rebellious strands of American youth culture. Rather, it allowed him and his fans to negotiate the dominant adult conceptions of rock and roll and its cultural associations of place, race, gender, class and age, thus inadvertently creating a pattern for a rapid succession of new youth idols, including the relaunching of Presley and other American rock and roll artists to European youth though a complex pattern of locating counterparts to individual celebrities. In that sense, Tommy Steele functioned as a ‘vanishing mediator’ of rock and roll culture in Europe. This article is a particular case study of such developments of celebrity and fan culture as they occurred in 1950s Denmark.

The Occidental Perspective of the Accession Negotiations Between Turkey and the European Union

The purpose of this article is to study the process of the Europeanization of Turkey, amid the European crisis. The introduction is creating a framework for the research. The paper is studying Turkey’s negotiations with the EU, respectively the main negotiating chapters related to economy and law, following the progress made in the Turkish state regarding the potential accession to the European Union (according to the annual reports of the European Commission). Documents presenting official views are used to study international elements, such as the history of negotiations. The objectives of the article are: to present the history of the negotiations between Turkey and the European Union, to show the current state of these negotiations (for this part, the paper focuses on the European negotiations dealing with the mediation between the EU and non-EU states that want to integrate), to evaluate. The literature review is related to the significance of the paper explained in the previous work (about candidate countries’ negotiations with the EU, in the waves of enlargement starting 1973). Also, the Occidental opinions of leaders about the integration of Turkey may influence decisions according to this subject. Currently, Turkey has made efforts to get closer to Europe but does not meet all the conditions for the membership of the European Union yet, so that all the negotiation chapters to be closed. To resolve this problem, the EU works towards revealing the mandatory requirements related to the accession process, while the candidate country is striving to meet its membership conditions by creating the necessary institutions during the process. About the methodology, I will start with the theoretical part (from special sources). There are official documents for studying international elements. In this article, I am analyzing some of the negotiation chapters from the European Commission reports on Turkey from 2017. I am transforming the content into position documents. They will have the following structure after the analysis: introduction (presentation of the issue, the circumstances), points of agreement; points of disagreement and conclusions. In this way of analysis, personal contribution is highlighted. Regarding the results and discussions, looking at the report published by the European Commission, the study is able to show whether or not the preparations made by this state are generally advanced. By detailing the most relevant chapters of the negotiation, the areas will be highlighted in which there is no need to continue the process and the areas under development. As conclusions, generally, the final works can highlight the level of improvement for the detailed negotiation chapters, which contains concrete requirements related to policy implementations

Analyzing inter-state negotiations in the Eurozone crisis and beyond

Analyzing international negotiations among the member states of the European Union raises a number of analytical issues, especially in unusual circumstances such as the Eurozone crisis. Our article discusses these issues in the light of existing theory and informed by the empirical analyses assembled in this special issue. ‘National preferences’ or ideal points of the governments involved are driven by their domestic socio-economic and political conditions and institutions, the dimensionality of the negotiations, and strategic considerations. We then discuss how national preferences, states’ bargaining power, the strategic and institutional bargaining context, and the bargaining dynamics jointly influence the bargaining outcome. Examples from European negotiations in the context of the Eurozone crisis illustrate both the complexity of the process and the value of serious, theoretically informed, empirical analysis.

Eastern European Negotiations of Utopia

Eastern European Negotiations of Utopia

Transatlantic Convergence of PTAss Environmental Clauses

The United States (US) and the European Union (EU) include several environmental clauses in their respective preferential trade agreements (PTAs). Building on an exhaustive and fine-grained dataset of PTAs environmental clauses, this article makes two contributions. First, it show that the US and the EU have initially favored different approaches to environmental protection in their PTAs. US concerns over regulatory sovereignty and level playing field have conducted to a legalistic and adversarial approach, while EU concerns for policy coherence have led to a more procedural and cooperative approach. Second, this article provides evidence that European and American trade negotiators have gradually converged on a shared set of environmental norms. Although the US and the EU initially pursued different objectives, they learned from each other and drew similar lessons. As a result, recent American agreements have become more European-like, and European agreements have become more Americanized. This article concludes that US and EU approaches, far from being incompatible, can usefully be combined and reinforce each other.

Evaluation of the European Union-United States oil and petroleum-based fuels trade potential in the context of the negotiated TTIP agreement

The article evaluates the European Union-United States oil and petroleum-based fuels trade potential. The planned trade structure and balance according to IEA (International Energy Agency) and IHS (IHS CERA www.ihs.com)) scenarios, the projected volume of imports and exports, and differences in price levels and costs are presented. The projected potential of the trade volume, taking into account the possible impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), is also presented. The analysis has shown that the elimination of trade barriers between the European Union and the United States would be more beneficial to US refineries. Due to the higher import tariffs to the EU, the potential benefits of US exporters are higher than those of the EU exporters to the US. This confirms the fears of European negotiators that some aspects of the agreement will have a negative impact on European businesses. However, in the case of petroleum products the TTIP agreement will have a negligible impact on increasing the export volume.

International Protection of Free Trade in Procurement Under NAFTA’s Chapter 10 on Public Procurement: The Pathway from NAFTA to WTO Government Procurement Agreement to a Potential European-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which entered into force on 1 January 1994, is an agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States to ensure that covered goods and services fall under a comprehensive free trade agreement among the three countries. NAFTA included, in Chapter 10, provisions opening up many aspects of the parties’ procurement markets. As a practical matter, however, NAFTA’s procurement-related provisions have largely been overshadowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), which includes the United States, Canada, and many other member parties, but not Mexico. Perhaps in part because Canada has a long history of integration with the U.S. industrial base for defense production, with regard to public procurement the United States’ trading relationship with Canada under the GPA has played a more prominent role. The importance of the GPA in framing future procurement agreements is being borne out in current negotiations, between the European Union and the United States, on a comprehensive free trade agreement, known as the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (T-TIP). European negotiators have made it clear that their negotiations with the United States will be based on the GPA – in fact, that the T-TIP agreement may set a benchmark for future changes to the GPA, which is rapidly becoming the central agreement in international efforts to promote free trade in procurement. In the process, the procurement provisions of NAFTA are proving less important, as cooperation in trade and procurement regulation centers on the much more broadly adopted GPA. Whether through the T-TIP agreement (known as “TTIP” in Europe), or through the GPA, the international free trade agreements are likely to ease cross-border cooperation in framing procurement law. Part II of this chapter reviews NAFTA’s procurement-related provisions in detail, and discusses some of the protections built into that agreement. Part III describes the launch of the T-TIP negotiations between the European Union and the United States, and notes that those negotiations – based not on NAFTA, but on the GPA – demonstrate that the GPA has become an important instrument (more important than NAFTA) in framing free trade agreements in procurement. Part III describes how the T-TIP agreement might be used to open greater European access to public procurement markets in the United States, especially at the sub-central (state) level. Part III also discusses one option to open that access – to require states, when spending the billions of dollars of federal grants distributed every year, to afford European vendors the same “national treatment” they afford U.S. vendors – and describes some of the hurdles that face that approach. Finally, Part III discusses how the T-TIP agreement could be used to establish an ongoing mechanism -- specifically, an administrative structure to coordinate European and U.S. federal procurement regulations -- for the “transnationalization” of public procurement law.

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Das gespaltene Königreich. Die politischen Hintergründe und Ursachen des „Brexit“-Referendums

The “in-or-out” referendum on Britain’s EU membership on 23 June 2016 has returned a narrow majority for “Brexit”. This result brings to the fore deep divisions within British society and has aggravated the current crisis of European integration. It has also plunged Britain into a period of political, economic and constitutional uncertainty. This article sheds light on the political context and the main drivers of the British vote to leave the EU. The discussion will begin with exploring the political rationale behind calling the referendum in the first place. The focus will then shift to the European negotiations about Britain’s demands for EU reform in the run-up to the vote. Finally, the article will analyse the main long- and short-term explanatory factors for the referendum outcome.

Extraversion and the West African EPA Development Programme: realising the development dimension of ACP–EU trade?

ABSTRACTWest African elites have successfully argued for an Economic Partnership Agreement Development Programme (EPADP) as part of free trade negotiations with the European Commission. ECOWAS officials state that the EPADP is necessary to realise the ‘development dimension’ of trade. In particular, they have (re)articulated Europe's own narratives relating to Aid for Trade and private sector development – insisting that the European Commission delivers on its promises. Accordingly, European negotiators have conceded the principle of the EPADP, stating that around €6·5 billion will be delivered. This article, however, examines the likely (in)capacity of the EPADP to meaningfully marry trade and development in the context of premature liberalisation under Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Crucially, it argues that West Africanextraversionin terms of EPADP resources may entrench predatory elites while locking-in ECOWAS states into inequitable trade structures that re-embed poverty in the region.

How Domestic Politics Shaped the French Government's Position During the Euro Crisis

Throughout the euro crisis, the French government has pushed to invert the rules of the Maastricht Treaty. After the height of the crisis had been overcome, one can see the success of the French government. The European Central Bank (ECB) has assumed a fiscal policy role by its extensive government bond buying, the no bailout clause has been replaced by the permanent European Financial Stability Facility and negotiations over a stronger political union have gained new impetus. This contribution traces the influence of different societal actors on the French government's preferences, which have largely shaped the outcome of the European summits. By following the domestic politics approach, it systematically juxtaposes the support or the discontent of the business community, namely that of the financial industry and the industrial interests, with the electoral pressures by the broad French public.The paper asks whether the economic interests trumped the electoral concerns and shows that the strong ties between the French financial sector with the southern periphery have been a driving factor in the first years of the euro crisis. As public opinion grew more and more disgruntled, it constrained the French government, which in turn changed its substantive position in the negotiations and sought to allot many of the responsibilities to the ECB, to avoid further unpopular financial commitments and bank bailouts.

Both sides of the frontier: The ‘contact’ archaeology of villages on Mabuyag, western Torres Strait

During the late nineteenth century Mabuyag (Mabuiag) became a major centre for pearlshelling (at Dhabangay on the north east coast) and a base for London Missionary Society (LMS) teachers (Dhabangay then Baw). During this period Islanders rubbed shoulders with Europeans, Japanese and Pacific Islanders (recruited either for pearling or LMS teaching). While a significant archive of historical records has been collected for the ensuing period of negotiations and restructured settlement in Torres Strait, archaeological studies rarely interrogate these events. This paper draws together results from four excavations at traditional villages on Mabuyag and a village established by the LMS at Baw to provide an integrated account of post-contact settlement in Torres Strait. Results suggest complex inter-relations between Islanders and new arrivals, with Islanders maintaining a level of independence, evident through continued settlement of ancestral villages, adherence to traditional subsistence practices and limited use of European-manufactured materials. This paper also isolates the problematic early phase of Islander–European negotiation through analysis of Venetian trade beads.

Writing Sovereignty in Invisible Ink? Autochthonous Sovereignty and Territorial Appropriations in Nineteenth-Century Franco-African Treaties

Abstract This article focuses on the modes of territorial appropriation that characterized the transition from the old to the new colonial regime, when Europeans built their empires in Africa. It analyzes the juridical construction of colonial territorialities based on a corpus of treaties concluded between agents of the French colonial authority and African chiefs, an instrument of legal appropriation that has to date been little explored by historians of international law. Studying the terminology used in these treaties reveals the instability of these categories and the uncertainty of European negotiators regarding the meaning of the legal frameworks they sought to impose on African chiefs. During the last decades of the nineteenth century, the protectorate emerged as the most common legal arrangement for regulating the sharing or transfer of sovereignty, based on a distinction between its external and internal dimensions. The consent of African chiefs to such arrangements therefore hung on whether they considered their territorial sovereignty to be divisible or indivisible.

It takes two to tango. Management and European company agreements

European negotiations are a relatively new and dynamic phenomenon of company-level industrial relations. Research thus far has mainly focused on the employee and trade union side. This contribution deals with the role of management. Based on case study research, it analyses management’s motivations and negotiation strategies in initiating and implementing European company-level agreements. The research shows that only in very few cases is the employee side able to force central management to the European negotiation table by organizing effective transnationally coordinated collective action or protests. As a rule, negotiations at European company level are only possible if management itself has a manifest interest in regulating certain issues at European level. In these cases, management’s interest in negotiations opens up room for manoeuvre for the employee side as regards not only the content of the agreement, but also the negotiation process itself and its participants.

All by themselves? Legislative regions and the use of unmediated access to the European level

Since the 1980s, the level of activism of regions in European Union policy-making has greatly increased, leading to the emergence of claims that regional governments can and do bypass national government in European negotiations. However, two decades after the emergence of the concept, the debate about the ability of regions to engage successfully in this process of continuous negotiation and to represent their interests on the European stage is ongoing. Due to the scarcity of research looking at regional interest representation in concrete cases of policy-making, it has been difficult to establish to what extent and under which circumstances regions do rely on unmediated channels of interest representation on the European level. This article examines these questions through the activities of seven legislative regions during two negotiations of European Directives, as legislative regions have a wider choice of channels of interest representation. Overall, extensive use of unmediated access in regulatory policy-making is rare and can best be explained with reference to domestic conflict and the level of influence of a region in domestic European policy-making. Differences in the size of a region also influence the ability of a region to represent its interests in the coordination of the national position and at the European level.

The rotating Presidency and the EU’s external representation in environmental affairs: the case of climate change and biodiversity negotiations

This paper examines the role of the rotating Presidency in the external representation of the EU in international environmental negotiations after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Focussing on two negotiation sessions under the 2010 Belgian Presidency, the biodiversity negotiations in Nagoya (October 2010) and the climate change negotiations in Cancún (December 2010), the paper’s aim is fourfold. First, it explains why the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty has not changed the existing practices with an important role for the rotating Presidency. Second, the paper discusses the developments in the debates on the EU’s external representation on environmental matters. Third, it empirically analyses the way the EU was represented in the biodiversity and climate change conferences of 2010. Here, the paper also points at the increasing importance of the so-called ‘practical arrangements’ that settle the external representation of the EU on the floor, often in a very ad hoc manner. Fourth, the paper describes how the European negotiators in Nagoya and Cancún have dealt with their representation task that generates a tension between expectations coming from the international level and pressures originating at the EU level.

La Grande Nation and Agriculture: The Power of French Farmers Demystified

France is considered a strong state, but French governments have always fiercely defended the interests of French farmers in European and global negotiations. Why would a ‘strong state’ be unable to resist farm lobby pressure? Is agriculture an exception to the French ‘strong state’ rule? This article offers a structural model of varying state sensitivity to interest group pressure, and argues that farm lobby pressure cannot fully explain French foreign policy on agriculture, as governments often go against farmers' preferences and as the level of pressure varies more than the continuity of governmental preferences. From an analysis of the negotiations on the CAP and the GATT in the 1960s and in the 1990s it emerges that ideational constraints played a major role in French obstinacy. The defence of French identity as La Grande Nation, necessitating a presence in world agricultural markets, and the defence of a strong Europe under French leadership as a counterweight to the United States, have guided French preferences without regard to the farmers' positions.

Confronting the American Divide on Carbon Emissions Regulation

The failure of carbon regulation in the U.S. Congress has undermined international negotiations to reduce carbon emissions. The global stalemate has, in turn, increased the likelihood that vulnerable developing countries will be severely damaged by climate change. This paper asks why the tragic American impasse has occurred, while the EU has succeeded in implementing carbon regulation. Both cases have involved negotiations between relatively rich regions and relatively poor (carbon-intensive) regions, with success contingent on two factors: the interregional disparity in carbon intensity, which proxies the extra mitigation cost burden for the Brown region, and the compensating incentives provided by the Green region. The European negotiation has succeeded because the interregional disparity in carbon intensity is relatively small, and the compensating incentive (EU membership for the Brown region) has been huge. In contrast, the U.S. negotiation has repeatedly failed because the interregional disparity in carbon intensity is huge, and the compensating incentives have been modest at best. The unsettling implication is that an EU-style arrangement is infeasible in the United States, so the Green states will have to find another path to serious carbon mitigation. One option is mitigation within their own boundaries, through clean technology subsidies or emissions regulation. The Green states have undertaken such measures, but potential free-riding by the Brown states and international competitors seems likely to limit this approach, and it would address only the modest Green-state portion of U.S. carbon emissions in any case. The second option is mobilization of the Green states’ enormous market power through a carbon added tax (CAT). Rather than taxing carbon emissions at their points of production, a CAT taxes the carbon embodied in products at their points of consumption. For Green states, a CAT has four major advantages: It can be implemented unilaterally, state-by-state; it encourages clean production everywhere, by taxing carbon from all sources equally; it creates a market advantage for local producers, by taxing transport-related carbon emissions; and it offers fiscal flexibility, since it can either offset existing taxes or raise additional revenue.

Negotiation theory and the EU: the state of the art

The once-distinct literatures on European Union politics and negotiation theory are increasingly interlinked, with each drawing upon and contributing to the other. This collection aims to stimulate even more, and more systematic, research on negotiations in the EU. In particular, it presents a state of the art of the literature at the intersection of these two fields by identifying areas of considerable research progress and by proposing a set of questions that require further research. In the introduction, we elaborate the rationale of this volume and introduce the various contributions.