European Union Acquis Research Articles

Comparative Analysis of Financial Stability Policy of The National Bank of Serbia and The European Central Bank

Abstract The Republic of Serbia has successfully completed the first part in the European Union integration process, being granted candidate status for membership in the European Union (EU). The stage of accession negotiations is in progress, and it includes the full harmonization with the EU acquis, whereby the analytical review of legislation, the so-called screening is being carried out in 35 chapters. The global financial crisis that affected our country in 2008 has required a timely reaction of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) in order to preserve the financial system stability, especially the banking sector as its most important segment. As the financial services sector adjusts within chapter 9, the aim of this paper is to assess the level of compliance of national legislation with the EU legislation regarding banking sector. Along with the regulatory initiatives in the field of preserving financial stability in the EU countries, the NBS has paid great attention to the harmonization of its financial stability policy with the financial stability policy of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).

The Continuous Importance of the Swiss Case for Europeanization Research

The Continuous Importance of the Swiss Case for Europeanization Research

Why widening makes deepening: unintended policy extension through polity expansion

ABSTRACTBy analysing widening as the cause of deepening, the contribution examines unintended effects of enlargement. During the Eastern enlargement process, the European Commission was assigned competences vis-à-vis the candidate states which exceeded the powers formally conferred to it by the European Union acquis. During the pre-accession phase, the Commission thus implemented double standards that applied to candidate states but not to members. However, these special capacities did not expire in all policies, as expected. Theoretically, this raises the question: Under which conditions does policy-making lead to an increase of supranational capacities? The contribution concludes that widening produces systematic pressure for the deepening of supranational policy-making capacities. Whether such deepening persists depends not only on the interplay of actor preferences and institutional contexts, but to a decisive extent on the actual policy type that is institutionalized. Along these lines, the policy-making exercised in the most recent widening rounds did indeed cause deepening.

EU enlargement and differentiated integration: discrimination or equal treatment?

ABSTRACTWhat is the effect of European Union (EU) enlargement on differentiated integration? And is it driven by the relative bargaining power of old and new member states or by the equal or even preferential treatment of weaker candidates? This article analyses differentiation in EU treaty and secondary law across the EU's six enlargement rounds. It shows that exemptive differentiation privileging the new member states has been more frequent than discriminatory differentiation. Whereas there is some evidence that poorer new members suffer more strongly from discrimination, most of the variation in differentiation across new member states is explained by differences between enlargement rounds. In addition, the EU grants poorer candidates more time to fully adopt the EU acquis. The analysis suggests that bargaining between old and new member states over differentiation is constrained by the equal and even preferential treatment of weaker candidates.

Harmonization of Turkish law with the European Union legislation in the area of financial markets infrastructure: the new Capital Markets Law

In recent years, Turkey has been going through a dynamic process of legal reforms on the road to membership in the European Union (EU). In terms of harmonization efforts with the EU, there are two basic documents that are the milestones of the legal reform process. First, for the purpose of adoption of the EU acquis, Turkey has committed to undertake the National Programme for the Alignment with the Acquis (NPAA).1 In this regard, the Decision of Council of Ministers on the Application, Coordination and Monitoring of the Programme (No 2008/14481) was accepted in 2008, and within the framework of the NPAA an action plan was prepared on 15 March 2010. In addition, the Strategy and Action Plan for Istanbul’s International Financial Centre (IFC–Istanbul Project Strategy and Action Plan), which was approved by a resolution of the High Planning Council on 29 September 2009 introduced a strategy for harmonizing its legal infrastructure with international regulations and practices, in particular the EU acquis.2

H. Montenegro

In 2014, Montenegro continued its activities regarding the harmonization of its law with European Union (EU) acquis and the implementation of obligations from previously ratified conventions. The main international partners supporting these activities remain the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Mission to Montenegro, providing for assistance particularly in the most complex fields that have to be aligned with EU acquis. According to the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) Indicative Strategy Paper for Montenegro (2014–20), which was adopted on 18 August 2014, issues that have to be addressed more closely, among others, include: lack of strategic planning, underdeveloped infrastructure, and a lack of systematic integration of environment, climate action, and disaster management in all sectors policies (<http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2014/20140919-csp-montenegro.pdf>, 21–24). Environment and Climate Action constitute Chapter 27 of the accession negotiations. So far, IPA support to...

Understanding the Enforcement Malfunction of Consumer Legislation in Serbia

The new Serbian Law on Consumer Protection was passed in October 2010, and its enactment and general outlook may be attributed to the continuous political pressure and financial and technical support by the European Union (EU). This paper outlines several factors that may have contributed to the weakness of enforcement in Serbia, so that while consumer legislation is fairly harmonized with the EU acquis, national standards of consumer protection lag behind those in the EU. These tentative explanations of the enforcement malfunction include (1) the lack of institutional capacity to receive the professional and technical support of the EU, (2) external pressure as the main incentive for legislative change, (3) the lack of belief in the social relevance of legislative changes as such, (4) the deficiency of the enforcement mechanisms and the lack of appreciation of their importance, and (5) the absence of cooperation between the stakeholders and institutional resistance to change. Consumer protection is not an exceptional field characterized by the risks of enforcement failure. Moreover, the difficulties described in the article are not limited to Serbia, as they also happen in other jurisdictions, even if in different shapes and forms. The success of aligning the national norms to those of the EU and the success of legal transplants in general are always quite uncertain. In that sense, the case of consumer policy in Serbia should be understood as an instance that may illuminate a class of phenomena.

Turkey’s EU Quest and Political Cleavages under AKP

This article analyses the extent to which the rise of political Islam (Note 1) in Turkey has triggered an intense and polarized debate about the principle eligibility of Turkey to be a full European Union (EU) member state. The Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi-AKP) election victories in 2002 and 2007 have been considered to be a serious obstacle to Turkish EU accession. This article argues that even if the AKP government were able to meet the objective criteria of the EU acquis, European opposition to Turkish accession would persist for two main reasons: (1) The overall political targets of political Islam in Turkey seems less compatible with the traditional Turkish EU quest than formerly (2) The Turkish political Islamic turnaround is contributing to a climate of increasing scepticism in Europe, and presents significant obstacles to EU accession. As a result, ‘privileged partnership’ seems to represent a new pragmatic synthesis of Realpolitik that both Ankara and Brussels should reconsider.

Gender Equality in Employment in Turkish Legislation with Comparisons to EU and International Law

As a candidate for membership of the European Union (EU), Turkey has to harmonize its existing legislation with the EU requirements for gender equality in employment. Also the amended Turkish Constitution states that where a conflict between ratified international treaties and domestic law exists, international treaties shall prevail. These treaties are binding upon the legislative, executive, and judicial organs, the administrative authorities, and other institutions and individuals. Turkey has therefore been undergoing a period of rapid legislative change and development, in order to comply with the EU's acquis communautaire and with Council of Europe (COE), International Labour Organisation (ILO), and United Nations (UN) conventions, which have been ratified by Turkey. In this respect, the new Employment Act (EA), the Criminal Act (CA), and the amended Constitution represent a major step forward toward gender equality in employment. However, there are problems of harmonization with EU and international standards in the wording of the EA and CA, and in some provisions of the Constitution. In the present article, the EA's legal framework for women employees is analyzed from a critical point of view. The provisions of the EA, the CA, and the Constitution are compared with EU and international standards and possible changes are proposed. (Less)

Asylum Conditionality: Development of Asylum Systems in the Western Balkans in the Context of the European Union’s External Dimension

The article aims to examine how the establishment of asylum systems has evolved into a requirement for accession to the European Union for the countries in the Western Balkans and the rationale underlying this. The requirements of international law concerning fair and efficient asylum procedures are also discussed with reference to the requirement under the European Union acquis relating to asylum of a full and inclusive application of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Furthermore, the legality of asylum conditionality in the context of accession to the European Union is looked at and an examination made of the progress achieved to date in the four countries in the region that have functioning asylum procedures.

Europeanization of Polish Competition Policy

This article examines the impact of the European Union (EU) on competition policy in Poland in the pre‐accession stage. It explains the variation in the Europeanization of antitrust and state aid policies assessed on the basis of compliance with EU accession criteria: while antitrust legislation was incrementally harmonized with the EU acquis, it took almost ten years to introduce law regulating state aid. Drawing from rational choice institutionalism it is argued that compliance is a function of a structure of domestic veto players combined with their preferences. This study of Europeanization in Poland shows that compliance with EU accession criteria was conditioned by domestic political economy. It also points to two characteristics of the Polish political system: party system instability and emergent euroscepticism.

Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis: Migration Policies for a Romania within the European Union

This article claims that Romanian policy on migration is almost entirely driven by adaptation to the European Union acquis communautaire while neglecting other, less pressing, policy issues. Contemporary Romanian migrations are classified into six types (of which circular migration within Schengen is the most important) and existing research and data are summarised. Next, theoretical positions on emigration and skill levels are examined—the ‘brain drain’ debate—and empirical evidence is adduced to show that, to date, Romania has achieved a ‘brain gain’ through greater educational participation. The poor data on immigration into Romania are examined, with the tentative conclusion that low levels are increasing and may well be higher than recorded. Finally, the dangers of non‐policy (Charybdis) are identified as being within the policy domains of labour market management, potential youth brain drain and relations with the Republic of Moldova. Analogy is made with the Greek historical case concerning return migrants and their non‐integration into the labour market, along with likely future immigration issues affecting both economy and society.

The Restructuring of the Military High Command in the Seventh Harmonization Package and its Ramifications for Civil–Military Relations in Turkey

In order to satisfy the European laws and regulations that constitute the European Union acquis of the Copenhagen criteria, the ruling Justice and Development Party legislated a total of nine harmonization laws from 2002 to 2004. This essay focuses on four amendments made within the Seventh Harmonization Package, which restructured the composition and functions of the National Security Council, causing speculation that such reforms would emasculate the centrifugal power of the military high command, shifting the balance of civil–military relations to the suits. This essay challenges the view that reforms have brought about a change in civil–military relations in Turkey. Using a number of examples, it will be shown that the balance of power in fact remains in favor of the military.

`But What Exactly does the Directive Say?': The Role of EU Acquis Experts in Industrial Relations

Expertise suffers booms and troughs like any other market good. The supply and demand for specialists, and the nature of the specialisms required, change in accordance with the exigencies of time and place. A particular breed of specialists is on the ascendant as a number of countries seek to confront, accept or adapt to the massive body of obligations of European Union (EU) law (referred to as the acquis communautaire) in the context of accession negotiations. In the dozen applicant states, a typically very small number of specialists in such matters is suddenly sought after as government consultants, media commentators, technical reporters and impact assessors. This article adopts a political sociology perspective in seeking to assess the influence of such technical experts on the politics of national industrial relations. It argues that such experts do somehow infect the opinions of interest groups, as well as their policy with respect to the EU in particular. Such is more likely to be the case when such interest groups suffer from a `knowledge gap' and do not enjoy the services of professional EU specialists `in-house'. Primary data are drawn mainly from autobiographical material; but the article attempts to propel a cross-national debate on the relevance of the experience and its analysis.

Prospects for Solving the Cyprus Problem and the Role of the European Union

Although the Cyprus problem is basically an international question and a geopolitical issue, the problem's domestic aspects are directly related to its international dimension. Resolution of the problem's domestic aspects, within the framework of a federal constitutional arrangement based on the high-level agreements of 1977 and 1979, the relevant United Nations resolutions, and the provisions of the European Union acquis communautaire is perhaps possible. A federal system is a compromise between a unitary state, as initially desired by the Greek Cypriot majority-community, and a confederation, as currently pursued by the Turkish Cypriot minority-community with the support of Turkey. Nevertheless, even though federation is the agreed frameworkfor a solution, a sizable proportion of Greek Cypriots express misgivings about a federal solution because they fear that what is actually being discussed is a system lying between federation and confederation. A viable federal solution would create a pluralist democratic state with a market-oriented economy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Given that the Republic of Cyprus is on its way tojoining the EU, the EU could play a substantive role in promoting such an outcome. From a geopolitical perspective, a united Cyprus, as a member of the EU, would be an asset to the EU and also contribute to stability and security in the Eastern Mediterranean.

EU enlargement from the Polish perspective

The article presents the issue of Poland's integration with the European Union (EU) in a historical perspective and highlights the current problems of combining the parallel processes of transformation (political, economic and social) and integration with the EU. The example of the Polish ancestors of the European movement are mentioned as well as the struggle to regain a place in the united Europe, from which Poland was cut off as a result of the Yalta Agreement. It is stressed that there is no alternative to economic integration with the EU - as the deep trade diversion after 1989 has shown. The eastern enlargement of the EU will create a large zone of economic stability in Europe, from which western business has already been benefiting, as data on foreign direct investment (FDI) and Poland's huge balance of trade deficit with the EU show. The free (with some exceptions) movement of goods between parties resulting from the Europe Agreement has helped to create new jobs in the EU (especially in Germany, the main trading partner). The strategic goal of security was attained by joining NATO in spring 1999, transatlantic integration being the strongest guarantee of European security as the Yugoslav crisis has shown. EU membership is a much more demanding task than association. It requires a candidate country, still in the process of transition, taking on board the whole body of the acquis communautaire. On the EU side, it will mean transfers from the EU budget of the maximum amounts limited to 4 per cent of the beneficiary's GDP, as Agenda 2000 envisages. The transfers depend on new trends in common policies. The article stresses that approximation of legislation is difficult as the EU acquis is itself in the process of constant change ('a moving target in the fog', as one British author put it). There is a risk that too rapid implementation may lead to losing the momentum of the Polish economy's dynamic growth in a time of growing global interdependence. The greatest obstacles on the EU side may be those of a financial nature. The article stresses that, while the costs of enlargement are public (borne by the EU budget), the benefits are private as they are gained by the businesses already in the region. The EU's eastern enlargement is a difficult task owing to large disparities (in terms of GDP per capita, legislation, infrastructure). The greatest danger, however, may be that the issue has slipped down the agenda of EU priorities with the new political coalitions in power. The spirit of Jean Monnet is missing in Europe.