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This article addresses the patterns of politicisation of migration and its implications for European integration, investigating the refugee crisis that coincided with the EU referendums in the UK and Denmark. In this framework, we distinguish three patterns of politicisation -domestic, international, and remote conflict- in which various actors form coalitions, address or target each other while debating migration issues. Empirical results from the claims-making analysis demonstrated that migration issues were exceptionally politicised during the refugee crisis contributing to disintegration and opt-out outcomes in the UK and Denmark. Also, we observed that migration issues were mostly debated as an international conflict between domestic publics and 'others' with strong linkages to the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic and policy interest in civil society participation in the European Union's trade policy has been growing since the late 1990s. We analyse civil society's engagement with the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs)—consultation mechanisms established by the European Commission at the implementation stage of its free trade agreements. While the Commission's formal rationale for the DAGs is partnership with civil society, in fact this relationship involves a marked power and resistance dynamic. We focus on civil society's agency and resistance, develop a conceptual framework laying out different possible types of resistance, and empirically demonstrate the wealth of both overt and subtle resistance practices employed by DAG members. Most of this resistance is (moderately) comprehensive and directed against the DAGs' rationalities and technologies. While showing that DAGs are deeply contested, our study also provides a nuanced analysis of resistance with particular attention for divisions between business and non-business members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to growing contestation and politicisation of trade policy, policy makers have aimed to enhance the 'inclusiveness' of trade policy through the institutionalisation of deliberative forums in which civil society organisations participate. However, it is not clear whether these processes actually enhance inclusiveness. This article adds to our understanding of this question by, first, developing an analytical framework (the 'inclusiveness ladder') and, second, applying it to the civil society mechanisms (CSMs) of European Union (EU) free trade agreements. The unique feature of CSMs is their focus on ensuring that the actual implementation of trade agreement does not run counter to sustainable development principles. Specifically, our empirical research involves a mixed methods analysis of primary and secondary sources and a survey of civil society participants. We find that CS is largely included at the level of logistics and partly at the level of information sharing, whereas monitoring capacities remain limited and impact on policy-making is quasi-absent. Moreover, results suggest differences between business participants, who seem largely satisfied with the lower steps on the 'ladder', and non-governmental actors who insist on policy impact. Finally, we outline avenues for further research and reflect on policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the performance of the EU in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It depicts a shifting environment where the relevance of the ITU in a globalised and converged telecommunications environment is being challenged itself. The EU has appeared to ‘cede’ an active role within this organisation over the period under analysis (1994–2010) to the intergovernmental, 48-member, European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT). This article argues that the perception of decline in the EU’s performance in the ITU is a recognition of the effectiveness of CEPT in producing Common European Positions, and the role that the EU can have in contributing on this scale. At the same time as this ‘operational’ decline is occurring in EU activity at the ITU level, EU engagement in discussions on telecommunications policy and strategy at the global level is increasing, but not targeted towards the ITU. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article introduces the analytical framework of the collection on the performance of the EU in international institutions and summarizes its main findings. We focus on the role of the EU in the decision-making within international organizations and regimes as a major locus of global governance. We suggest unpacking the concept of EU performance into four core elements: effectiveness (goal achievement); relevance (of the EU for its priority stakeholders); efficiency (ratio between outputs accomplished and costs incurred); and financial/resource viability (the ability of the performing organization to raise the funds required). Based on the case studies of the collection, the findings presented in the second part of the article relate to the identified core elements of performance with a particular emphasis on the dimensions of ‘effectiveness’ and ‘relevance’. Most notably, the EU appears, on balance and over the past two decades, to have become much more relevant for its member states when acting within international institutions. Moreover, the findings highlight four particular factors explaining EU performance in international institutions: the legal framework conditions (including the relevant changes that the Lisbon Treaty has brought about), domestic EU politics, the status of relevant EU legislation and policies, and the international context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The EP as the only directly elected EU institution, portrays itself as the forum that is open not only to input by lobby groups but to that of 'average' citizens. This paper probes the contribution of the Internet in this quest to connect Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) with citizens and here specifically we examine the role of the EP's Standing Committees. The analysis is rooted within the larger debate of the possible contribution of the Internet to encouraging the development of a European public space. The discussion focuses on the use of new technologies, including interactive and non-interactive communication methods such as email and discussion fora. It attempts to generate a series of topics for further investigation by outlining some initial results from interviews, carried out at the European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]