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This paper examines the relationship between European integration and ethnonational demands with the example of selected regions in the European Union (EU). It follows the theoretical premises of new regionalism and explores the ways in which ethnonational groups use the opportunities and resources of European governance to express their identities, material interests, and political demands. Methodologically, it conducts a plausibility probe of the potential effects of European integration on ethnonationalism by testing for regional differences in identities, interests, and political attitudes. The case studies are drawn from the UK (Wales and Scotland), Belgium (Flanders), Austria (Carinthia and Burgenland), Romania (Northwest and Center regions), and Bulgaria (South-Central and South-Eastern regions) as a representative selection of regional interests in the EU. The paper finds that European integration affects ethnonational groups by reinforcing identity construction in the direction of inclusiveness and diversity. Although regional actors are more supportive of the EU than the European publics in general, they also seek access to representation in the authority structures of the state. Based on these findings, the paper concludes that European integration facilitates a growing public acceptance of its resources, in parallel with persisting allegiances to the nation-state, the community, and ethnoregional distinctiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to map the structure of preferences concerning the European Union held by parliamentarians of the member states. The opinions of national politicians are relevant as they influence the governments which participate in the institutions and the decision making processes of the Union. Do they evaluate the European integration process according to a single independence-integration dimension? Or do they acknowledge the existence of multiple lines of conflict? Is the structure of preferences stable? Finally, how are national parliamentarians grouped according to their preferences and what this can tell about the future of European Integration? This paper, based on a two waves survey of national parliamentarians belonging to 16 member states, analyses their views about the governance system and the policy goals of the EU. The findings of this paper shed some new light on several old questions. Firstly, while several studies assume that the preferences about European Integration can be ordered in a one-dimensional continuum that has the status quo and complete integration as the two opposite poles, this paper shows that the preferences of national parliamentarians have a multi-dimensional structure. Secondly it moves to analyse the four main clusters of national parliamentarians which these preferences generate. And thirdly it discusses how these clusters react to different problems and challenges the EU faces today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boosted by landmark decisions such as Crotty, Solange, or Maastricht-Urteil, academic literature on National Higher Courts in the context of European integration has undergone an exponential growth in the last decades. In this Article, I aim at mapping this emerging subfield in order to explore the three patterns that structure it. First, a trend towards the consolidation and expansion of literature on the higher courts of the Member States, which has gained relative autonomy from general studies on European law and politics. Second, a clear tendency towards the internationalization of this subfield, which has developed in parallel to the national scholarship on the topic. And third, the emergence of a pattern of transdisciplinary dialogue in a subfield featured by the diversity of approaches, methodologies, and epistemological backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the role and significance of the freedom to conduct a business under Article 16 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) and the case law. It explains the assertion that Article 16 CFR can facilitate European social, economic and political integration, and that it should be read in the light of citizenship provisions and of the convergence of fundamental freedoms. It also examines the possibility of extrapolating new fundamental trade-related rights.

In this article, the author casts human rights protection as a mechanism to forge the political nature of the European Union (EU). He argues that human rights can serve as pathways to greater political engagement and contestation. He uses detailed examples to highlight the capacity of human rights to procedurally bolster the political nature of the EU's integration project. He adds that one can start creating the preconditions necessary for the creation of a Europe that is for its citizens.

In this article, the author highlights the need to place politics at the center of the construction of the European Union (EU). He argues that the need to re-politicize the process of integration in the EU is of utmost importance. He stresses the need to develop a transnational public sphere that can accommodate and stabilize such process. He suggests that a reinterpretation of central provisions of the EU Treaty may go a long way towards the capacity of citizens to decide for themselves.

In this article, the author analyses the normative evolution of the European Union (EU) through the lens of EU administrative law. He suggests that the transition of the Euroepan integration project from its original economic purpose into a political order was closely linked to the Europeanization of the administrative law. He argues that the administrative law created increasing trust and cooperation between member states and European institutions.

The article presents a systematic analysis of the German constitutional foundations of and limitations to European Union (EU) integration. It discusses several barriers to EU integration such as the principle of the rule of law and the principle of federalism. It explores the relationship between EU integration and German democracy and the main types of constitutional constraints.

The article assesses the Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) indirect contribution to promoting global standards. The author says that by upholding the amendment to the Directive in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme to include aviation, the CJEU indirectly contributed to far-reaching EU regulatory ambitions. She says the result of the decision seems to be that EU effectively regulates global standards through EU law, given the rising global adoption of EU law standards.