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The article discusses the problems involved in the integration of European countries into the European Union from the philosophy for educology perspective. Integration is possible on the basis of primary interests particularly the interests that determine the will to dominate. Europe's integration around the objectives of cooperation become a historical necessity resulting from the human instinct for self-preservation. A significant factor delaying European integration is the fight for domination in the sphere of culture.

Assesses the European Union's (EU) Green Paper on its relations with the 71 Lome Convention countries after the millennium. Comparison of the proposals in the Green Paper and the Lome system; Views on the European Commission's thinking about EU-African, Caribbean and Pacific relations; Changes in the political environment; Importance of a gradualist or incremental approach in trying to create a relationship.

Evaluates the paper made by Polish author Michal Dobroczynski regarding Poland's plan to join the European Union (EU). Advantages of Poland being a member of the EU; Costs of the European integration to both the EU and Poland; Analysis of the historical causes and factors which have created an economic, political, social and cultural development gap between West and East Europe.

The Bosnian War witnessed horrifying humanitarian crimes, particularly systematic rapes perpetrated by Serbs against Bosnian women. More than 35,000 women and children were subjected to such atrocities in Serb-run "rape/death camps". Additionally, the fall of Srebrenica resulted in the loss of thousands of civilian lives. International intervention to halt the Bosnian War faced challenges and complexities. Various countries involved in the matter held differing interpretations of the conflict, leading to diverse views on potential solutions. The lack of consensus and political will hindered the effectiveness of the European Union's intervention efforts. This paper critically examines the international intervention in the Bosnian War, focusing on the approaches of key EU countries: France, Germany, and the UK. These countries' divergent policies and objectives impacted the EU's ability to adopt a coherent stance towards the conflict. The study employs Nuttall and Duke's theoretical approach to consistency in decision-making within the EU to explain why a consistent approach was not achieved during the intervention. By analysing the complexities of the EU's intervention in the Bosnian War, this study seeks to answer the question of what went wrong and provides insights into the challenges of decision-making and consensus-building within the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how both the White Paper and the Rome Declaration speak of the European Union's (EU) efforts to maintain unity among it's member nations. The author suggests that the EU should not emphasize too much on unity, instead it should focus on overcoming the different interests of the parties. However, for this process to work the EU should take lessons from other unions like the U.S. and use anchors like executive effectiveness and its legitimacy as well as symbolism.

Maritime industry has deep roots in Europe. International ports and Inland water ways are in use by European merchants in the course of their trade all along the history. Formation of the European Union and Single European Market has increased the importance of maritime transport even more than before. Currently, industry is regulated at the Union level with body of law which intends to create a safe and predictable business environment for European and foreign enterprises. However, shared nature of the EU with her Member States in regulating Maritime Transport has created a big question mark for many external parties as well as European stack holders of Maritime industry. The question is who can represent EU maritime industry externally and where to draw the limits of Union and Member States Competencies in this industry? At the midst of the second decade of 21th Century, still many international businesses and even foreign governments wonder about limits of external competencies of the EU in maritime industry. Such confusion creates trouble for foreigners and even Europeans in determining where should they referee their matters to the Commission and where should they approach Member States? In this paper, author tries to answer above mentioned question by scrutinizing external and internal challenges facing the EU about its competencies to represent maritime industries outside of her boundaries. Paper is divided into five main sections. After introductory comments, second part will discuss maritime policy and its regulation in the EU. In third part with particular focus on the EU-IMO relations, paper will analyse external challenges facing the Union in representing her maritime industry in international organizations. Forth part will take a look at internal challenges and regulatory limits which affect the extremal representation of maritime industry by the Union. Final part is dedicated to concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The right to appeal as one of the fundamental human rights is foreseen by international legal acts and domestic legislation. In this scientific paper we have handled the right to appeal under article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Kosovo legislation, with special emphasis on contested procedure by including the appeal against judgment and the appeal against ruling, the grounds of appeal against judgment and limitation of appeal grounds against several judgments. All those abovementioned matters are the main object of review in this scientific paper. Handling the right to appeal against the first instance court judgment is important also due to the fact that in Kosovo according to the new Law on Courts as a competent court to review and decide on appeal submitted by the appellant is the Court of Appeals as a second instance court. In this scientific paper we have used normative, deductive, descriptive methods. At the end of this scientific paper there are conclusions in relation of the right to appeal with special emphasis on contested procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the concept of international governance in the European Union. Promotion of human rights; Legal system of the international organizations; Principles underlying the concept of governance.

This paper examines the EU and EU member states’ reactions to the 2015 refugee crisis from an ontological security perspective while arguing that these reactions are the product of three socio-psychological lenses, which have led to various responses to the perceived threat. The first reaction, ascribed especially to the Visegrad Four, is the “securitise-the-self” reaction to feelings of anxiety and ontological insecurity and involves reaffirmation of national biographical narratives and national immigration policies at the expense of supranational European policies. The second reaction is illustrated by the European Commission's response to the refugee crisis and involves “managing securitisation.” Accordingly, the Commission's reaction to ontological insecurity when faced with the challenge of unmanaged migration was to reaffirm the EU's semi-sovereign identity (collective border control competencies) while preserving a global discourse on human rights and refugee-related inclusive norms. The third reaction stemmed from viewing the crisis with the lenses of “empathy” and “desecuritisation” and is best illustrated by Germany's temporary “open door” policy on refugees that was driven by a psychological lack of perceived threat from the “immigrant-other” and a “civilian power” collective identity. The paper argues that recognising these three lenses can help us to understand socio-psychological reactions to immigration in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU’s initial reaction to the Arab uprisings in the field of energy cooperation was yet another proposal for creating an integrated Euro-Mediterranean energy market, despite the moot success of previous efforts. This paper investigates the policy frame underpinning the EU’s persistent focus on market-regulatory harmonization since the late 1990s and enquires into whether it has experienced any change in the post-uprising context. While the paper finds an enduring dominance of themarket-liberal frame, it also identifies signs of its erosion through processes ofreframingandmisframing, affecting also the EU’s practical engagement with the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main intention of the presented paper is to identify the risks and challenges of the impact of geopolitical factors and modern threats to the security of the European Union (EU) energy infrastructure. The maintenance and promotion of economic and political stability of EU in the current environment of a complex geopolitical conditions and the increased risk of asymmetric threats, have underlined the urgent need of implementing energy security in the European security policy. To be more specific, the paper gives an overview of geopolitical determinants and asymmetric threats that announced the need to define an effective strategy for protection of the EU energy infrastructure. Economic, political and security risks primarily as a result of energy instability are the key arguments that justify the need for defining an effective strategy for energy infrastructure protection. Current regulations are based exclusively on the principles of ”soft security and their focus is internal political security, as well as the Union's security. Extension and carrying out engagement outside its own borders, as well as the application of the available methods and tools, represent an alternative that EU would have to use in order to gain its energy stability. An effective strategy for protection of the energy infrastructure of EU is the basis for cooperation with other regional organizations and individual countries to maintain energy security and promote international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is qualitative research oriented towards revealing of the axiological foundations and determinants of the European Union foreign policy. In this sense, within the paper we "challenge" the modern versus the postmodern foreign policy concepts. Likewise, we deeply analyze the essential axiological components of the European Union constitutive treaties regarding the foreign policy. On that basis, we conclude the axiological foundations of the European Union foreign policy, its uniqueness, distinctiveness and its axiological engagement in the international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract From a normative standpoint the media are usually seen as one of the pillars of a national integrity system, entrusted with the tasks of exposing and preventing acts of corruption and educating the public of the harm caused by corruption. Nevertheless, corruption continues to be one of the most significant challenges that Europe faces, undermining citizens' trust in democratic institutions and weakening the accountability of political leadership. Evidence suggests that in fragile EU democracies such as Bulgaria, despite more than eight years of full membership and numerous preventive measures, corruption is rife and the press is hardly capable of exposing abuses of power or authority. On the contrary - drawing on in-depth interviews with 35 Bulgarian journalists - this paper argues that since communism collapsed in the late 1980s the media in post-communist societies such as Bulgaria has gradually become an instrument to promote and defend private vested interests, and is plagued by corruption. Senior journalists and editors cast serious doubt over the ability of the post-communist free press and journalism to act as a watchdog for society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the EU-Brazil and EU-Mexico strategic partnerships are still scarce in the academia. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the academic literature by briefly revisiting the process of establishment of each one of these relationships and assessing the main challenges with which they are currently faced. Moreover, it presents a comparative analysis of both relationships, increasing our understanding of 'strategic partnership' as a foreign policy concept, of EU strategic partnerships with Latin America, and of current trends in EU-Mexico and EU-Brazil relations. The paper argues and demonstrates that whereas the EU-Brazil strategic partnership follows a descending path, EU-Mexico relations find themselves in an ascending and promising direction. These opposite trends are not only caused by the different political and economic conjunctures of Brazil and Mexico but are also due to the degree of expectations from the parties when it comes to the outcomes of the partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to our understanding of post-crisis financial regulation by reasserting the centrality of domestic politics in defining government preferences and explaining regulatory outcomes. It draws on Robert Putnam's two-level game approach and Foreign Policy Analysis to develop a model of a three-level informal ratification game. This adds value to existing approaches by capturing the contested nature of government preferences and delineating the causal mechanisms through which domestic groups shape international negotiations. The model is used to explain the UK's pivotal role in the reform of bank capital requirements in the European Union (EU). It demonstrates that governments are able to take advantage of a narrowing domestic ‘win-set’ by marginalising the influence of industry and building political momentum for regulatory reform. In particular, the paper shows how UK negotiators were able to exploit the increased domestic costs of agreement and synergistic strategies between negotiations to successfully oppose the maximum harmonisation of capital rules across the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers insights into an innovative and currently flagship approach of the European Union (EU) to the mitigation of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) risks. Building on its long-time experience in the CBRN field, the EU has incorporated methods familiar to the students of international security governance: it is establishing regional networks of experts and expertise. CBRN Centers of Excellence, as they are officially called, aim to contribute to the security and safety culture in different parts of Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, and South East Europe, in the broadly construed CBRN area. These regional networks represent a modern form of security cooperation, which can be conceptualized as an epistemic policy networks approach. It offers flexibility to the participating states, which have different incentives to get involved. At the same, however, the paper identifies potential limitations and challenges of epistemic policy networks in this form. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studies on the democratic control and legitimacy of Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) have thus far mostly focused on formal institutions. However, a comprehensive analysis requires including the ‘sociocultural infrastructure’ in which such formal institutions are embedded. Students of democracy have argued that the public sphere is a crucial dimension, if not a precondition for all mechanisms of democratic control in general. This paper investigates whether and in which ways Europeans participated in transnational European communication on humanitarian military interventions (1990–2005/2006). The paper analyzes a full sample of 108,677 newspaper articles published in leading newspapers of six EU member states, and the US as a comparative case. It demonstrates that the ‘national’ arenas of political communication are intertwined and allow ordinary citizens to make up their minds about common European issues in the highly controversial and normatively sensitive realm of humanitarian military interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Do interest groups have an impact on transposition of European Union (EU) directives? This paper offers an analysis of interest group communities of member states and links the concept of diversity to legal implementation. In order to accommodate diverse interests, member state governments allow for some deviations when transposing EU legislation into national law. Therefore, successful transposition is hard to achieve in member states with diverse interest group environments. This paper tests this argument by applying a large N study including 19 directives and 15 member states. The results show that correct transposition is likely to be negatively affected by high levels of diversity of national interest groups; however, this effect is conditional on the discretion granted to member states by EU legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Arab uprisings, the EU designed a new regional programme for the development of the agricultural sector of the European Neighbourhood Policy partners. The European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) is based on an integrated logic for rural development. This new conceptual framework advocates multi-sectoral planning and the active participation of local actors in the decision-making process in order to promote inclusive growth and to support small and medium enterprises. This approach aims to contribute to the security and stability of the rural areas of the Arab Mediterranean partners. This paper analyses ENPARD and it argues that the inclusion of new actors in the design of the programme has partially challenged established views of policy-makers within the EU. However, EU engagement in this area is still determined by a hierarchical mode that puts local actors at the bottom of the decision-making process and it is driven by a technocratic ratchet mechanism that fits new information into existing cognitive frames. Despite some positive changes in national policies, the paper claims that this type of technocratic engineering does not change social relations in rural areas and it undermines the success of the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of the paper is to analyze economic convergence of the Western Balkan countries towards the European Union member states with two types of measurement methodology, sigma and beta convergence. Sigma convergence measures the dispersion of real per capita GDP among the countries and beta convergence is based on the neoclassical growth theory. The main hypothesis of the paper is that the recent financial crisis has negatively affected the convergence process of the Western Balkan countries towards the twenty-eight member states of the European Union (EU-28). The relationship between selected macroeconomic variables and the rate of per capita GDP growth are econometrically tested. Sigma and beta convergence are estimated for the period 2004-2013 and two sub-periods: 2004-2008 and 2009-2013. The empirical findings support the hypothesis of economic convergence. The negative effects of the crisis on per capita GDP growth are confirmed, resulting in a slower convergence process. Dissimilarities between the growth patterns of the analyzed groups show the considerable heterogeneity of growth, i.e. the convergence clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU)'s trade strategy has changed since 2015 with the re-introduction of human rights and the EU's refusal to grant China Market Economy Status. The questions under investigation here are what were the drivers of EU-China trade before the strategic turn and what consequences could the new EU strategy bring about in the relationship. The paper will draw from 16 interviews with think tanks and policy makers carried out in Beijing and Brussels in 2015 to uncover the Chinese perceptions of the EU and its diplomats as well as the preferences that have so far pushed China to make the EU one of its first trade partners. This work concludes that in order for the EU-China trade relationship to keep functioning, the new EU strategy towards China needs to keep human rights as an issue separated from trade, needs to boost knowledge and legislation transfers on sensitive issues like food safety and environmental management and finally needs to keep the 'European way' of dealing with trade frictions and disputes with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to highlight the main aspects regarding the rational choice theory in neo-institutionalism, and the role the EU Neighbourhood Policy has nowadays. The protagonist of the rational choice theory in the new institutionalism remains homo-economicus. The theory of rational choice institutionalism challenges the perfect rationality of the individual, rather than the principle of rational choice itself. ENP is a framework for consolidating the Union's relations with neighbouring countries and aims therefore intensifying cooperation with them in order to establish a zone of prosperity, good neighbourliness, stability and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Germany has been identified as one of a few high-income countries that opposed a strong Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the WHO's first global public health treaty. This paper examines whether the tobacco industry had influenced the German position on the FCTC. Methods Analysis of previously confidential tobacco industry documents. Results The tobacco industry has identified Germany as a key target within its global strategy against the FCTC. Building on an already supportive base, the industry appears to have successfully lobbied the German government, influencing Germany's position and argumentation on key aspects of the FCTC. It then used Germany in its efforts to weaken the FCTC. The evidence suggests that the industry enjoyed success in undermining the Federal Health Ministry's position and using Germany to limit the European Union negotiating mandate. The tactics used by the tobacco industry included the creation of controversy between the financial, trade and other ministries on one side and the health ministry on the other side, the use of business associations and other front groups to lobby on the industry's behalf and securing industry access to the FCTC negotiations via the International Standardization Organization. Conclusion The evidence suggests that Germany played a major role in the tobacco industry's efforts to undermine the FCTC. Germany's position consistently served to protect industry interests and was used to influence and constrain other countries. Germany thus contributed significantly to attempts to weaken an international treaty and, in doing so, failed in its responsibility to advance global health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a new approach for investigating the determinant of the mark-up of prices over costs. We estimate basic price equations around an expression for marginal cost that is derived from a cost minimisation problem, using a vector error correction approach to avoid endogeneity bias. Observed basic prices include the mark-up over marginal costs, and this mark-up is of interest to policymakers as an indicator of competition and ultimately as a determinant of the level of equilibrium employment. We look at the factors driving this mark-up, and in particular look at the role of EMU, as well as globalisation, the European Single Market and openness to trade and the introduction of the euro. We use a panel data set that includes both EMU and non-EMU members. The results indicate an important role for trade liberalisation in determining the mark-up, but openness itself and the introduction of the euro do not appear to have a significant role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyse the conceptual and methodological aspects of international offshoring (IO) and its impact on the labour market. This paper presents therefore two necessarily complementary levels. On the one hand, the more general one, which aims to pinpoint the conceptual keys of the offshoring dynamic; on the other hand, we review different instruments and approaches, in order to measure this phenomenon and to evaluate its impact on the labour market. We first ascertain a brief conceptual demarcation of international offshoring. After that, we examine different methodological tools in order to measure international offshoring and the impact of IO's on the labour market. The implications of IO for the labour market -complex, diverse and not always easy to establish- depend on a series of factors which must be considered simultaneously: the magnitude of the process, its characteristics, the underlying causes and the strategies and responses generated by economic, social and institutional agents. All of these aspects will be addressed -from a conceptual and methodological point of view- in different sections of the present paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to make processes of co-constructing, negotiating, defining, legitimizing, and justifying inclusion/exclusion in European Union (EU) organizations transparent, both on a structural and on a discursive level. Moreover, individual experiences from migrants present everyday exclusionary practices. In this attempt, I use research on EU organizations and on discrimination in eight EU countries (focus-group discussions) as illustrative examples. I propose a ‘discourse-historical’ framework, which relates different discursive and structural forms of inclusion and exclusion to each other. I assume that many contradictions come into play, while discursive shifts in inclusion and exclusion are decided upon. These contradictions imply— inter alia—value conflicts (conflicts between values of tolerance, democracy, etc.), conflicts of ideologies and beliefs, and power conflicts. Another theoretical assumption implies that managing ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ is a question of ‘grading’ and ‘scales’, ranging from explicit legal and economic restrictions to implicit discursive negotiations and processes of decision making. Finally, the paper illustrates the fluidity of membership categorization when defining exclusion and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eastern enlargement of the European Union has substantial influence on EU external policy and its relations with non-EU countries, including Russia. In this situation, Russia's main concern is to avoid the creation of new dividing lines after the enlargement. This paper will argue that instead of dividing Europe, the EU enlargement would create a framework for further co-operation and eventually rapprochement between the EU and Russia. Therefore, Russia would be able to benefit from this process. The paper will analyse the consequences of the EU enlargement for Russia and examine the main political concepts determining directions of this rapprochement between the European Union and Russia: New Neighbourhood, Common Spaces and Eastern dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper attempts to shed some light on the nature of the ongoing accession negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the East Central European countries (ECE). Hungary, Poland and Romania are the focus of my paper. My principle argument is that, the accession process is feeble in terms of its transparency and in terms of providing participation routes for interest groups. I place this argument in a theoretical framework, which stresses that participation in policy making through civil society is a sign of consolidated democracy. I hypothesise that 'assumed' differences in terms of political and social structures, and the pace of accession among these three countries does not affect the conditions of democratic decision making during the accession negotiations.The negotiations are carried out in an elitist and nontransparent format. As a result, social dialogue during the accession process is debilitated and unsubstantiated. As such, this process gives substantial clues about the democratic consolidation process in ECE. I place myself against an elite-ridden understanding of accession. Therefore, I disagree with the idea that the sheer policy overload deriving from negotiations with the EU as well as the enormous time pressure the process involves tend to encourage a decidedly elitist approach in practice. In opposition, I argue that democratic accountability cannot be sacrificed for any efficiency considerations. After all, any technocracy or benign dictatorship could achieve similar efficient policy outputs. Furthermore as my paper will illustrate, social dialogue is not only debilitated in these countries specifically in terms of accession negotiations, but its importance is also downplayed by policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All over Europe, EGTCs (European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation) are mushrooming. Between 2006, when the EU regulation entered into force, and 2014, 51 EGTCs have been established. Conceived as a legal tool to facilitate cross-border, interregional or transnational cooperation, the EGTC was established after years of lobbying from cross-border organisations. Apart from practical guidelines mostly dedicated to the legal possibilities and limitations of this tool, few academic studies examine the significance of this tool for cross-border governance as such. This paper develops such a perspective, using the case study of the Greater Region SaarLorLux, (Lorraine, Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Wallonia), where two existing EGTCs are operating. The EGTC INTERREG IV A Greater Region is the only EGTC managing an EU programme; the EGTC Secretariat of the Summit supports the main political organisation in this area. This contribution argues that the EGTC tool can facilitate the emergence of a supraregional scale of governance. This paper examines how this instrument allows the institutionalisation of a cross-border entity in terms of its capacity to embody and perpetuate the cross-border region, and to implement its strategy. It then applies this conceptualisation to the specific context of the Greater Region. The empirical analysis shows that although the two EGTCs institutionalise the cooperation, they are rather conceived as administrative and operational tools. The paper concludes with possible explanations of such a mismatch between the potential of this tool and the effective use of it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Migration is comparatively weakly regulated at the international level. States are reluctant to cede sovereignty over international migration and negotiations between rich destination countries in the north and sending countries in the south must overcome asymmetries of interests. For this reason, issue-linkage is typically required to achieve north–south cooperation. This paper examines the European Union's (EU) Global Approach to Migration and Mobility as a framework for international migration cooperation. The paper argues that institutional complexity and political dynamics internal to the EU limit its capacity to reach agreement with third countries. Three internal factors are examined: contrasting approaches of the Commission and Council to the external dimension; diversity of member states’ interests in migration policy; and the different policy agendas of the European agencies. These factors result in an approach to external migration relations that is limited in scope and characterised by variable participation. Despite its apparent potential to leverage agreements from third countries, the EU emerges as an unpromising vehicle for international migration cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU addresses security threats for the Eastern partners both through a dedicated policy created in 2004, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and through corresponding instruments included in the Common and Security Policy (CSDP). The latest ENP review in November 2015 and the forthcoming CSDP review from June 2016 are expected to bring more junctions between the two policies to the benefit of the fragile Post-Soviet space. This article aims to determine the configuration of current EU involvement in conflict resolution in the Eastern Neighbourhood through available ENP and CSDP instruments as well as to identify expected evolutions on the matter. The research is based on the analysis of EU official documents (strategy papers, European Commission decisions, and declarations) and secondary reports, as well as on personal interpretation and collection of available statistical data. We first aim to trace the provisions of the ENP towards security over time and their evolution under the successive ENP reviews. In addition, we attempt to tackle features of the founding principles of the ENP as related to recent sovereignty breaches in the Eastern Neighbourhood. The second part of the research focuses on the CSDP overview and its peace keeping instruments for the neighbourhood, while the last section is a description of protracted/active conflicts in the Eastern neighbourhood, with a focus on EU intervention in conflict resolution. By enhancing its role of security provider on the international arena, the EU would gain, we consider, not only loyalty of its Eastern Neighbours, but also a higher share of peaceful trading relations and mutual benefits, that it so much craved for over a decade ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU is clearly in the process of developing an external dimension to the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). This paper focuses on ex. Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCCM) provisions. These developments pose specific legal basis issues for the EU, given its complex EU–member state legal relationship, and the inter-institutional balance, all reflected in the treaty framework post-Lisbon. New Court of Justice rulings are now emerging which will assist in this issue. Equally the approach to be taken in developing these relationships will be crucial. This paper proposes the adoption of an Onuf style constructivism in order to best capture the reality of the process that is developing, and has developed for the ex. PJCCM measures internally. This then needs to be allied with a constitutionalism model to ensure a balanced development of all three aspects of the AFSJ. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper tracks Greece’s engagement with the European Defence Agency (EDA). Greece has been an EU member state involved in setting up EDA. Indeed, its pro-integration stance on defence matters, at large, and EDA, in particular, can be traced back to its set of external security threats, and its belief that EU institutions and mechanisms can provide a protection layer against these threats. The chairing of important European defence preparatory groups (POLARM) and the Presidency of the Council provided normative agenda-setting procedures to uphold this objective. Significantly, Greece’s positions altered as EDA assumed operational status. Purely external security considerations were coupled with domestic, economic and political considerations, such as the protection of its defence industrial base, and disproving widely-held assumptions about political corruption in relation to defence procurement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The war in Libya of 2011 is generally portrayed as yet more evidence of the European Union (EU)'s inability to formulate a coordinated foreign policy. While the crisis took place in the EU's backyard, joint foreign policy action was hindered by member states' disagreements on whether or not to establish a no-fly zone in Libya. While this is true of political decision-makers, this paper investigates whether governmental decisions were reflected in similar divisions in national news media or whether references to European identity and criticism of European disunity transcended national media boundaries. Comparing a total of 6746 newspaper articles from Germany, France, the UK, Austria and the USA, the findings show that intergovernmental differences did not lead to similarly divided public spheres. Public debates in France, Germany and Austria constantly referred to a European foreign policy identity, though EU identity references were largely absent from UK newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The externalization of the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) as part of the EU’s wider external relations has received increasing scholarly attention in the last years. An important and reoccurring theme within this field, which has occupied scholars and policy-makers alike, has been the EU’s counter-terrorism cooperation with third states. Initially viewed as a ‘paper tiger’ in international efforts to combat terrorism, recent studies have illustrated the increasing activism of the EU in international counter-terrorism cooperation. However, these studies have exclusively drawn on North American or ENP case studies. By analysing the EU’s counter-terrorism with ASEAN this article tries to extend the empirical basis of contemporary scholarship to the case study of EU–ASEAN cooperation. It thereby attempts to examine prospects and limits of the externalization of JHA with a special focus on counter-terrorism policies beyond the immediate EU neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]