European Union Institutions Research Articles

Prestigious language, pigeonholed speakers: Stances towards the ‘native English speaker’ in a multilingual European institution

AbstractCritical sociolinguistics has demonstrated that the social construct of the ‘native speaker’ has a strong impact on people's lives, but research on ‘native speaker effects’ in the workplace remains rare. This article examines such effects from the perspective of four ‘native English speaker’ trainees on temporary contracts in a multilingual European Union institution in Luxembourg. Applying the framework of sociolinguistic stance to interview data and drawings, we examine how the participants position themselves towards the ‘native English speaker’ construct at work, and how they think others position them. According to our participants, ‘native English speaker’ positioning confers privilege but restricts opportunities, demonstrating that the interest of a multilingual organisation in using the ‘native English speaker’ as a resource does not automatically provide a powerful position to ‘native English speaking’ workers. Our results featuring trainees in precarious labour conditions raise broader issues regarding the precaritisation of language work in the EU.

European Integration, Economy and Corruption in the Western Balkans

The European Union countries and institutions have constantly contributed to the European integration process of the Western Balkan countries. Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and the Republic of North Macedonia are official candidates for EU membership. Chapters and accession negotiations have been opened with Montenegro and Serbia, whereas Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are potential candidate countries. Poverty, unemployment and corruption are probably the most common problems that Western Balkan citizens face. Corruption, in itself, does not lead to poverty, but it stimulate poverty through indirect channels by affecting economic, social, political and administrative conditions. Both, the enhancement of business climate for private investors, and a higher level of integration with the European Union will decrease unemployment and will boost economic growth. Authorities should follow concrete policies in order to encourage private sector investment, increase regional integration, and create new jobs. The future of the Western Balkans is in the European Union.

Experimenting European healthcare forward. Do institutional differences condition networked governance?

ABSTRACT Despite increasing interdependencies, national decision-makers have been reluctant to delegate healthcare competences to the supranational level in the European Union (EU). To overcome this impasse, EU institutions and member states have agreed on middle ground compromises by means of experimentalist governance. In this paper, we examine a tool of experimentalist governance in the making, i.e., the network formed by the cross-border healthcare expert group (CBHC) in the Patient Rights Directive. We ask whether interaction by means of transitive relations carrying trust, takes place and the extent to which domestic institutions, i.e., healthcare models, condition such interaction and thus learning. To examine network interactions, we use social network analysis on the basis of collected survey data on the exchange of information, advice and best practices within the CBHC network. We develop an Exponential Random Graph Model of the network to test the extent to which domestic institutions condition such interactions. For this, we conduct a cluster analysis and build a healthcare typology of EU27 plus the UK, Norway and Iceland, identifying five distinct healthcare types. We find that this type of networked governance brings EU healthcare cooperation forward, while domestic institutions greatly condition who interacts with and learns from whom.

Neither protective nor harmonized: the crossborder regulation of medical devices in the EU.

To what extent does inadequate market regulation contribute to poor health outcomes? A series of prominent scandals involving harmful medical devices has made improving the regulation of these devices an urgent problem for the European Union (EU). This is, however, a specific example of a general phenomenon. The EU remains first and foremost a large and integrated market within which the EU institutions have considerable regulatory authority. Even if there is little EU commitment to a health or social policy agenda, its use of that regulatory authority shapes health care cost and quality and should be understood as health policy. We use data from EU-level and national policy documents to analyse the EU's current regulatory framework for medical devices and assess its likely future efficacy. Despite revising the medical devices directive to require more stringent pre-authorization requirements for high-risk medical devices and improvements in post-market surveillance, the key underlying problems of market fragmentation and patient safety persist. Without strong and consistent support for the implementation of the new directive, the likely result is the status quo, with significant consequences for health in Europe.

The hybrid role of the High Representative in the security and defence field: more in 10 months than in the 10 years?

ABSTRACT Despite a growing “momentum” on European Union (EU) security and defence, there are no academic analyses that aim to systematically assess the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission (HR/VP) in these strategic domains. This is surprising given that the HR/VP is one of the central actors in the complex institutional architecture of EU security and defence. To fill this gap in the scholarly literature and to contribute to a more fine-grained analysis of the two post-Lisbon Treaty HR/VPs, the article assesses Ashton and Mogherini’s mandates in these fields. This study is particularly relevant because the HR/VP’s hybrid institutional role may represent a unique analytical angle to investigate a formally intergovernmental sector, strongly shaped also by EU institutions’ authority over defence-industrial policy. Following these considerations, the article looks at how the two HR/VPs managed to navigate both the military and the defence-industrial dimensions of EU security and defence.

The DUP and the European Union: from contestation to conformance and back again …

ABSTRACT The UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) has revealed the ways in which the logic of European unity conflicts fundamentally with the very particular understandings of the UK Union at the heart of the political identity of Northern Ireland’s largest political party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). This article maps the changes in the relationship between the DUP and the EU over time, charting the party’s developing approach to European integration as one defined first by confrontation, then increasing (although incomplete) apparent accommodation, and latterly to renewed hostility as Brexit became an issue of increasing and immediate consequence. By locating this study within the broader theoretical and comparative literature on nationalist/regionalist parties’ strategies towards the EU, we note that the DUP stands as an outlier relative to other small ethno-nationalist parties. We conclude that despite recent, apparently ‘liberalising’ trends (in part driven by involvement with EU institutions) DUP unionism, unlike the ideologies of regionalist parties in other parts of Europe, has remained stubbornly more ‘ethnic’ and exclusionary than integrationist or ‘civic’ in nature, and continues to rest ultimately on a narrow and particular conception of sovereignty which is perceived to be threatened by ‘ever closer Union’ at a European level.

A fragile shield for protecting civil rights: The European Union in the eyes of Italian feminists

ABSTRACT The article explores how feminist and LGBTQI organisations frame the European Union (EU), the claims they address to the EU institutions, and the actions they put in place at the continental level. Challenging previous beliefs of a linear increase in the Europeanisation of progressive social movements, this study reveals a more complex picture. Heavily affected by the economic and political crises, Italian women and LGBTQI activists share the radical criticism of EU austerity policies put forward by labour and youth movements. Nonetheless, they reject any option for breaking down the EU, as they conceive of it as a source of multilevel opportunities and a field for struggles from below, in which mechanisms of cross-national horizontal diffusion have facilitated the return of mass protest. While chances to realise the ‘other Europe’ project are perceived as low, activists hope that the EU is a potential ally against domestic conservatism.

The 23rd Language: Official EU Status for Irish as Portrayed in the Republic of Ireland's English-Language Press

Irish became the 23rd official language of the European Union (EU) in 2007. Due to a lack of qualified translators and interpreters, it is currently subject to a derogation which restricts its use in the EU institutions, a situation which aims to be remedied by 2022. Yet the Irish language represents a unique case even within the Republic of Ireland itself. Under British rule, centuries of repression confined its usage to the rural fringes of society, a state of affairs that an independent Ireland has attempted to improve with limited success. This article analyses how recognition of official EU status for Irish has been depicted in the Republic of Ireland’s English-language print media. By performing a qualitative content analysis of the online archives of the country’s three major English-language newspapers, the aim is to illustrate how official EU status for Irish has been portrayed, paying specific attention to political, cultural and economic factors.

Smoke with fire: Financial crises and the demand for parliamentary oversight in the European Union

The handling of the 2008 financial crisis has reinforced the conviction that the European Union (EU) is undemocratic and that member states are forced to delegate overwhelming power to a supranational technocracy. However, European countries have engaged with this alleged power drift differently, with only a few member states demanding more parliamentary scrutiny of EU institutions. This article develops a political economy explanation for why only some states have enforced mechanisms to monitor the EU more closely. Our theory focuses on the role of the crisis and the impact of fiscal autonomy in countries outside and inside currency arrangements such as the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). We argue that, in the aftermath of a severe economic shock, member states outside the EMU possess more monetary and fiscal resources to handle the crisis. These would then demand oversight of EU decision-making if their fiscal sustainability depends on the Union. By contrast, Eurozone states that need policy changes cannot address the crisis independently or initiate reforms to scrutinize the EU. Hence, we argue that during the heated moments of severe economic downturns, parliaments in Eurozone countries discuss supranational supervision rarely. As these legislatures have nevertheless to give in to the popular demand for EU control, they express support for more EU supervision in the infrequent times of debate. We provide evidence for our theory with a cross-national analysis of EU oversight institutions, and a new original dataset of parliamentary debates during the Eurozone crisis. Our findings highlight the political consequences that financial nosedives have across the diverse membership of a supranational organization.

The Recast Reception Conditions Directive and the Rights of Asylum Seekers with Disabilities: Opportunities, Challenges and the Quest for Reform

Abstract In recent years, the European Union (EU) has, like much of the developed world, experienced a sustained period of inward migration from refugee-producing States in Africa and the Middle-East. This ‘refugee crisis’ has placed a strain not only on the political will of the EU institutions and Member States to find a satisfactory resolution to deal with the flow of migrants, but also on their ability to put in place fair processes for any resulting claims for asylum and to adequately support the needs of asylum seekers while those claims are being processed. This article discusses the latter issue from a discreet angle, focusing on how the EU has addressed the needs of asylum seekers with disabilities. As a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which enjoys sub-constitutional status within the EU legal order, the EU is obligated to interpret all legislation in light of the Convention. Thus, this article seeks to assess the degree to which Directive 2013/33/EU on the material reception conditions for asylum seekers can protect and promote the rights of asylum seekers with disabilities and fulfill the ‘human rights model of disability’ embedded within the CRPD. It also assesses the most recent proposal to replace the Directive, and examines whether the potential shortcomings within it have been addressed thus far. Ultimately, it finds that the ambiguities and lack of procedural certainty within the current Directive provide too much room to derogate from the standards arguably mandated by the Convention, and these have yet to be addressed within the new Proposal.

Nigeria

Making progress in the SDGs requires substantial additional resources. Concomitant with the reform priorities identified by the United Nations, World Bank, European Union, and other international development institutions, the mission estimates additional spending of 18 percentage points of GDP by 2030—a level higher than the average low-income and developing countries. Relative to other low-income and developing countries, additional spending is higher in education and water and sanitation, and lower in health, electricity, and roads (Figure).

Rethinking non-recognition: The EU’s Investment Agreement with Taiwan under the One-China Policy

AbstractThis article re-examines the theories of recognition and non-recognition in the context of the evolving framework of the European Union (EU)’s trade and investment relations with Taiwan from legal and international relations perspectives. Notwithstanding its one-China policy, the EU has developed a pragmatic approach to engaging Taiwan under bilateral consultations and World Trade Organization negotiations that have built the foundation for the bilateral investment agreement (BIA). The article argues that since the 1980s, the EU has accorded diverse forms of recognition to Taiwan and the BIA will buttress the process. To substantiate the contention, the article systemically explores the political and trade policies of European states and EU institutions in line with their strategies toward cross-strait relations.By deciphering the new momentum that has galvanized the European Commission’s strategy towards the EU-Taiwan BIA, the research sheds light on the implications of European Parliament resolutions and the EU’s investment talks with China. The structure and impact of the BIA are also analysed in light of EU investment protection agreements with Singapore and Vietnam. Hence, the findings contribute to the interdisciplinary study of international law and international relations and enhance the understanding of the EU’s Asia-Pacific trade and investment agreements.

Genetic Material and Sequence Data to Protect Global Health in the Light of Pandemic Outbreaks: Mapping the Legal Landscape under European and International Law.

The current pandemic outbreak of corona virus SARS-CoV-2 shows the need for comprehensive European cooperation in drug development and the importance of genetic material and sequence data in research concerning this unknown disease. As corona virus SARS-CoV-2 is spreading across Europe and worldwide, national authorities and the European Union (EU) institutions do their utmost to address the pandemic and accelerate innovation to protect global health. In order to be prepared and to be able to respond immediately to serious epidemic and pandemic diseases, the EU has already adopted the Decision No (EU) 1082/2013 on serious cross-border threats to health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has established a global system to collect genetic material and information to protect a global influenza pandemic outbreak. The article describes the current legal landscape under EU and international law.

A New Model of Criminal Intelligence in the Slovak Republic

Abstract The purpose of this article is to examine the issue of criminal intelligence in the Slovak Republic with emphasis on determining its functionality and whether it reflects the requirements formulated in the European models of criminal intelligence. The authors comprehensively examine the current legislation in the subject area in the Slovak Republic. The paper is a partial output from the realized scientific research task VYSK. no. 231 “National Model of Criminal Intelligence Service in the Slovak Republic”. The authors came to the conclusion that the current legal regulation of criminal intelligence in the Slovak Republic is not in line with the recommendations of the European Criminal Intelligence Model. In this context, it can be expected that it will be necessary to adopt legislative changes and accept the authors’ proposed New Concept of Criminal Intelligence in order to align the criminal intelligence system with the recommendations of the European Union institutions.

Contributing to health security in Europe since 2005 - ECDC's 15th anniversary.

Ammon expresses insights on the contributions of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to the health security in Europe since 2005 Today, on its 15-year anniversary, a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 and the associated coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is dominating the day-to-day work of the Centre and of health services around the globe The Centre has grown into a mature organization and it became firmly established as a reliable and trusted partner of the European Union (EU) Institutions, the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) countries and internationally operating organizations in the field of communicable disease prevention and control, such as the World Health Organization (WHO)

Harmonised collection of national food consumption data in Europe

Since 2005, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has worked in close cooperation with organisations operating in the field towards harmonising dietary survey methodology and building a common European Union (EU) food consumption database. Harmonised food consumption data are the basis for improving accuracy of EU-wide exposure assessments and also supports nutrition surveillance, diet and health related studies. Improved risk assessments assure more targeted risk management and permit more accurate risk communication resulting in increased consumer confidence. The most important step in this direction was the development of the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database, which compiles existing national dietary information from the Member States (MS). MS used different methods to collect food consumption data, which makes it difficult to carry out EU-wide analyses or country-to-country comparisons. Furthermore, as the consumption patterns are continuously changing, regular update of the available information is necessary. Therefore, in 2011 EFSA launched the “What’s on the Menu in Europe? - EU Menu” project, with the aim of providing financial and technical support to carry out national dietary surveys in the EU. It focuses on collecting data from six population groups (from three months to 74 years of age) using harmonised methods described in the EFSA Guidance on the EU Menu methodology that has been endorsed by the EU institutions through the EFSA Network on Food Consumption Data. EFSA is currently supporting 36 surveys on children and/or adults from 18 Member States and four pre-accession countries. All projects are expected to be finalised by 2023.

Cooperation Between Institutions of the European Union and Its Member States in the Creation of Climate Protection Policy

Climate policy is a complexed area of cooperation between Member States and European Union institutions. The ambitious goals that the EU sets for itself in this matter are not always possible to be met by all Member States, hence the ability to work out compromise solutions is of great importance. Member States have different internal conditions, which determine the objectives of their economic and energy policies, therefore they do not always have convergent interests in this area.
 The decision-making centre where EU climate protection policy is created is: the European Council, where key elements of this policy are agreed (such as reduction targets), and so-called an ‘institutional triangle’, i.e. EU Council, European Parliament and European Commission which are directly involved into the legislative process. This configurations is a platform where cooperation of the Member States manifests itself in various forms and intensity and where these countries may attempt to force their interests in the process of creating EU policy.
 The authors present the legal bases of the European Union's competences in the field of climate policy and the role of the EU institutions in its creation with particular focus on mechanisms that allow Member States to influence the shape of that policy.

Profiling identification with Europe and the EU project in the European regions

Recent political events in the European Union (EU) highlighted a growing dissatisfaction of citizens in several EU regions with the EU institutions’ management of socio-economic and financial challenges. This eventually led to a political legitimization crisis, whose drivers are partially shared among EU regions and partially area-specific. However, the relation between citizens’ identification with the EU project and the regions’ characteristics has not been analysed yet. In this article, we fill in this gap by addressing tree research questions: i) To what extent do EU citizens identify with Europe and the EU project? ii) Do European regions have different patterns and level of identification?, and iii) Are the results driven by specific socio-economic variables?
 Answering these questions is crucial to inform a more inclusive and resilient design of the EU Cohesion Policy in a crucial period for reforming the EU. To this purpose, we develop a novel probabilistic classification model, IdentEU, which embeds with the concept of individual identification with Europe. We use micro-level data from a survey implemented within the PERCEIVE project. We find that the influencing variables that mostly affect (citizens and) regions’ identification with the European project are trust in the EU institutions; the effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy and spending; the level of corruption. These issues gain relevance at the light of three main challenges that affected the EU socio-economic development path in the last decade, i.e. the 2008 financial crisis, the globalization process, and Brexit.

Ekonomiczne aspekty integracji Bośni i Hercegowiny z Unią Europejską w drugiej dekadzie XXI wieku

At the end of the second decade of the 21st century the European Union (EU) – presenting a new strategy of enlargement policy, organising an official summit of the state leaders and devoting to potential accessions the meeting of the Council of the EU – recalled that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the EU. Therefore, there is a reasonable question: whether the intensification of the EU’s enlargement policy will affect favourably Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state considered as a potential candidate for the membership since 2003? Basing on (inter alia) official documents issued by the EU institutions, macroeconomic data and in relation to the EU’s policy towards the Western Balkans region, it is worthwhile to suppose, that – despite numerous (political, economic, social) deficits and weaknesses – Bosnia and Herzegovina, which applied for membership in the EU in 2016, will receive the status of an official candidate country soon (in the thir d decade of the 21st c entury).

The European Union’s Screening Framework for Foreign Direct Investment: Consequences for External Relations

The Lisbon Treaty gives the European Union (EU) institutions new external competences, including foreign direct investment (FDI) in the common trade policy. Using these competences the European Commission formulated a proposal for a regulation establishing the screening framework for FDI, which entered into force in April 2019. The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of FDI screening as an element of policies towards FDI applied by developed countries, to assess the justifications for its introduction, as well as the potential consequences of the screening framework for inflowing FDI into the EU. A need to protect the EU’s strategic economic interests in relations with third countries was the reason for the introduction of the new tool at the EU level. The new system of screening FDI inflows into the EU is not centralized. The right to screen remains the sole responsibility of the Member States. The co-ordination mechanism at the level of the EU which has been constructed seems to give guarantees that common interests will be protected. The economic and political consequences of the EU’s screening framework for FDI should be foreseen. Apart from administrative and compliance costs, as well as uncertainty and delays related to investment decision processes, two categories of potential consequences seem to be important. These are the expected reduced access to capital by some Member States, especially the ‘new’ ones, and the worsening of relations with external partners, especially China.