In discussions on priorities in the European Union, a formula often invoked is that of European added value. The present study seeks to shed light on this concept by tracing its intellectual origins, examining its use in three policy areas and suggesting ways of converting it from an all-purpose mantra into an efficient tool for priority-setting and policy choices.
Published in April 2005, this paper assesses the Luxembourg presidency, with a particular focus on the Stability and Growth pact and the Lisbon Process, two major challenges for the presidency.
This study investigates the nature of the relationship between small states and the European Commission, posing the question whether the Commission is a small state's "best friend". Focusing in particular on the Belgian, Greek, Finnish and Hungarian experience, the key findings indicate that the small state-Commission relationship is not as straightforward as the "best friend" analogy may suggest.
This report concerns the role of the national courts in the application and enforcement of Community law. According to the author the European Union is presently under a "constitutional momentum".
This paper looks at the key political dynamics involved in the process of Turkish accession to the EU, on both the Turkish and the EU sides.
This paper discusses the domestic backgrounds and challenges of the 2004 Netherlands European Union Council Presidency. The paper reviews the national organisation and management of the Presidency with the use of empirical results from a written survey covering some 550 government officials.
This report gives an overview of the Commission’s agenda for European governance reform as set out in the White Paper of Governance adopted by the Commission in 2001, focusing on how the Commission envisages its own role in the EU decision-making process. Furthermore, it describes how a number of follow-up documents adopted by the Commission have essentially given effect to the initial recommendations and proposals set out in the White Paper.
The purpose of the report is to examine how the EU enlargement in 2004 affects industrial structures and industry location. Even though the focus is on Sweden, effects on the European level are also scrutinised.
Transatlantic relations have seen the most dramatic crisis ever, over the issue of how to deal with Iraq. The author argues that the various transatlantic quarrels of recent years are rooted in different developments during the past decade concerning the notion and effect of the concept of national sovereignty.
The aim of this report is to identify some of those features which, since they are shared by all or some of the existing agencies, are essential in order to explain their legal nature and to highlight some problems that should be addressed in the process leading up to the adoption of a new constitutional treaty. At present, the role of decentralized agencies is premised on the Court of Justice’s idea of an institutional balance of powers, requiring an EU-institution to assume full responsibility.