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Spain's gradual integration into the European Union through the development of institutions and economic and structural changes is intrinsic to the construction of a pro-European public opinion in which the media have actively participated. Objectives: This research aims to analyse the topics disseminated by the leading Spanish media to detect how the EU is represented in these themes, determine the main, adjacent and counter-discourses and find out the degree of North/South polarisation. Methodology: By content analysis and critical discourse analysis, this paper studies 543 units from the Spanish media El País, El Confidencial, ABC, El Diario.es, RTVE and Antena 3 from July 2021 to March 2022. Discussion and conclusion: Following the methodological application, the results obtained allow us to conclude that the construction of Europeanisation in the Spanish media is constructed about specific issues, and after an in-depth analysis of the energy issue, we can affirm that media coverage is neutral in general terms. Europeanisation is presented from a role with the greater weight of Spain in the common project than in previous historical stages presented in the introduction to this paper. Likewise, there is a certain unanimity in the Spanish media, both in the thematic selection and in the actors who are given a voice in the information, as well as in the pre-European construction of public opinion, regardless of their editorial line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a descriptive-evolutive, dogmatic and comparative study on the collective processes of the European Union (EU). On November 25th, 2020, the Union adopted one of its most awaited legal instruments: the first legislation, that is supposed to create a European collective action mechanism for monetary relief. According to Directive 2020/1828 on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers, and repealing Directive 2009/22/EC, member States have to adopt the transposing measures by December 25th, 2021, and give effect to them on and apply them to representative actions that are brought on or after June 25th, 2023. The European movement for collective litigation started approximately three decades ago. It earned official European recognition in competition law in 2005, owing to the European Commission's Green Paper on Damages Actions for Breach of the EC Antitrust Rules, followed by the White Paper of the same title in 2008. From 2013 to the emission of the recent 2020 directive, the particularity of community collective redress and inhibitory guardianship has proven to be holistic, unlike the US class action model. This paper analyzes the three pillars of the European vision on collective redress seeking, namely: a) the extrajudicial alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, b) the regulatory and public policy mechanisms, and c) the collective processes or litigation. The interplay of these three pillars makes the European Union's view on the matter singular as it proposes a system of incentives, prudence and safeguards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU institutions - led by the Commission, Parliament and European Council, along with the Council of the EU - are determined to make this the union's "digital decade". It is time for Europe to consolidate its digital development and set rules in line with its moral and cultural principles, instead of following those of external actors like China and the United States, as well as focussing on data, technology and infrastructure. This paper examines the EU's digital development from the perspectives and positions of the abovementioned institutions, which show divergences, albeit within a common framework. Based on three theoretical currents (neofunctionalism, federalism and intergovernmentalism), it applies a critical perspective to analyse the impact (positive and/or negative) on European citizens of the institutions' actions in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of the following paper is to compare the impacts of the financial and economic crisis of 2008 and the following years to the European Union and Latin America. Afiera brief description of the origins and characteristics of the 2008 crisis, the article analyse its effects on the two regions, the implemented politics on both sides and its results. Based on the comparative evaluation of these answers, we deduce some lessons and formulate some recommendations which could contribute to reduce the probability that such crisis repeat in the future or make it at least easier to manage. From a theoretical point of view, we refer o the concepts of neo-realism, new-institutionalism, social-constructivism (norms, values, self-perception, discourse) and, taking on consideration the strong relationship between internal and external factors, "two level game". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ways in which fiscal and monetary policies are coordinated in the euro zone. There is widespread dissatisfaction in the literature about the way this coordination is organized and many writers consider that its lack of functionality helps to make the area's economy grow less rapidly than it might. The paper first describes the institutional framework and the coordination procedure in the euro zone. It then goes on to describe the evaluations in the literature and the proposals for related reform. Finally, it tried to outline an institutional framework and procedure that would better reflect the assessments in the literature, and which could help to improve the potentialities for economic growth in this euro zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intense financial turbulences within the Eurozone have unleashed what has been referred to as the deepest existentialist crisis in the European Union. In order to face it, the institutional balance that sustains the European Union since Maastricht has been altered by recent reforms in European law, i.e. the reform of the Stability and Growth, the reform of the very TFEU to allow for exceptions to the no bail-out clause (art. 136.3), and the conclusion of two new Treaties, the Treaty establishing the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism and, above all, the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, that directs member States to incorporate in their constitutions the «balanced budget rule». Therefore these instruments not only entail centralization of powers in the EU, but also the transformation of the member States' economic constitutions. This paper aims to examine the impact of the constitutional amendment in the Spain's federal estructure, and the analysis focus mostly on the Organic Law passed by the central government to implement the new art. 135 CE. This Organic Law has substantially altered the previous legal framework so that the system of intergovernmental relations between the center and the autonomous communities has been deeply reshaped. In order to ensure the fiscal discipline, the communities are now subject to new monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms. Furthermore, communities' control over their own budgets has decreased because two bail-out mechanisms have been established by the State: the «payments to suppliers fund» and the «regional liquidity fund». These mechanisms are conditioned on the communities' compliance with the budgetary and economic measures undertaken by the central government. Finally an amendment of the Organic Law (2013) has broadened the debt limit rule by including the commercial debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 2004, the Conference for EU-Related Affairs (CARUE) approved two agreements governing the participation of the autonomous communities in the Council of the European Union and its preparatory bodies. After more than seven years of implementation, the system is not bringing the expected results. The problems identified in practice in a context, moreover, of institutional and economic crisis, call for new approaches. The following paper analyses the main obstacles that have arisen since the implementation of the 2004 agreements with a view to determining future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When called upon to deliver judgment, citizens must believe that government is capable of affecting economic outcomes. Economic integration arguably reduces the power of governments to act independently in response to macroeconomic shocks. This paper seeks to determine whether institutional changes implemented by 12 European countries in the wake of monetary integration affected economic voting, and whether such changes were mediated by party messages. It employs statistical analyses across 12 European countries at two points in time. The results show that differences in economic voting were mediated by perceptions of EU integration; voters who believed in delegation at EU level weighed up economic issues to a lesser extent when casting their vote. In addition, such findings were to a large extent driven by partisan concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on analysis of public opinion towards European integration in Greece, Portugal and Spain, countries known for their positive attitudes toward integration. In particular, the article analyses how public attitudes towards Europe have been formed in these countries. Secondly, it examines the determining factors of citizens' positive attitudes toward integration and shows the types of variables that are essential to understanding the differences between Greeks, Spaniards and the Portuguese. It also examines traditional euro-optimism in these southern countries. The findings show the relevance of identity and the various impacts of party platforms and ideology in attitudes of support for European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the problem of the linguistic diversity in mass media in the European Union, taking into account the relations between languages, territories and identities, as well as the selection that makes mass media and therefore the visibility of some particular languages, social and power relations of the minority groups within the democratic societies. The author makes patent the necessity to take into account the linguistic claims beyond the merely cultural problem, since this one questions the public space and implies the redefinition of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]