European integration theories - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 4 pages - European union
There is an increasingly accepted agreement that the EU and the process of European integration are just too complex to be captured by a single theoretical approach. Hix holds to this point: “We do not have a general theory of American or German politics so why should there be a general...
Gender equality and employment in the European Union - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 29 pages - European union
Gender equality is among the fundamental principles and the common values of the European Union. In the 2nd Article of the Treaty of the European Community, it is even mentioned as a “task” to perform for the Community, and again in Article 3(2) TEC. But two questions already appear:...
Nationalism and Regionalism in the era of the making of a common European identity - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - European union
The year 2000 will be and have already been pivotal for the European Union. Ten new countries became full members of the Union and Turkey is on his way to the membership. But the 2005 failure to make all the countries sign the project of European constitution asks legitimate questions about the...
Governance in the European Union: Policies - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 9 pages - European union
The Common Fisheries Policy is one of the oldest policies entirely delegated to the European Community since it is part of the Common agricultural policy. Indeed, in the Treaty of Rome, agricultural products are defined as “the products of the soil, of stock-farming and of fisheries”...
The European citizenship
Essay - 3 pages - European union
According to the European Commission, “citizenship of the Union is both a source of legitimation of the process of European integration, by reinforcing the participation of citizens, and a fundamental factor in the creation among citizens of a sense of belonging to the European Union and of...
European Court of Justice - motor for European integration? - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 3 pages - European union
In 1996, British Prime Minister John Major has bitterly noted that European Court of Justice (ECJ) should “have its wings clipped”, as already back in 1996 some member states, eager to protect their sovereignty, feared the growing influence of the court. Yet, 10 years later, the...
The Democratic Deficit in the EU - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 7 pages - European union
For years, the European construction appeared to be legitimate through a 'permissive consensus' since no significant opposition to the integration process was to be noticed. Nevertheless, a major debate underlined a 'democratic deficit' in the 1980s, denouncing that the European...
The democratic deficit and the role of the EU Parliament - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 3 pages - European union
Since the beginning of the 90's and the end of the “permissive consensus”, the democratic deficit of the European Union has increasingly become high on the agenda of scholars and decision-makers. Defined as “the growing dissonance between the essential requirements of modern...
How successful are the attempts to create a citizenship of the European Union? - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 4 pages - European union
Although the formal concept of European citizenship appeared for the first time in the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, the idea thereof goes back to the early years of the European construction. The Treaty founding the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 instituted a “basis for a broader...
The future of multilingualism in European institutions - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 7 pages - European union
The progressive enlargement of the European Union brings about many questions, among which linguistic diversity deserves to be explored. In light of the changes brought about by globalization and the resulting emergence of a so-called “global” language, the relevance of cultural...
Europeanization of politics and society: Domestic change and the question of a European Social Model - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - European union
Europeanization is an elusive concept because of the variety of meanings it refers to. Scholars such as Featherstone (2003, 6-12) often distinguish several usages according to various outcomes of European change, for instance the emergence of new forms of governance or the process of national...
To what extent has Europe benefited from a "peace dividend" through the European Union and its budget? - publié le 15/01/2009
Essay - 4 pages - European union
The notion of “peace dividend” was forged in the 1980s to convey an idea that had already been analysed before: the link between security/peace, and economic growth. Without going into further details, one may wonder if this economic theory can be applied to the European Union, which...
EU decision-making - publié le 13/01/2009
Essay - 3 pages - European union
France is administratively divided in “communes”, the smallest territorial division of the country, usually corresponding to a city or a village. The number of communes in France, including overseas territories, is 36 782. This high number leads to huge disparities in terms of...
What does the European Union's so-called 'democratic deficit' stem from, and how could it be tackled? - publié le 13/01/2009
Essay - 6 pages - European union
One of the most important discussions in the modern-day European Union concerns the democratic deficit. The Maastricht treaty, which was signed on February 1992 by different European states, claims that the goal the EU is to create ‘an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which...
The European Union's Policy in African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries: Towards an Effective Democratisation? - publié le 13/01/2009
Essay - 7 pages - European union
“Since 1992, the European Community has included in all its agreements with third countries a clause defining respect for human rights and democracy as ‘essential elements' in the EU's relationship. This clause is unique in bilateral agreements. This approach has been further...
Can any theory fully explain the process of European integration? If not, why not? - publié le 13/01/2009
Essay - 13 pages - European union
European integration is a process which began with the birth of the European Coal and Steel Community the 18th of April 1952. This process was at first essentially economical, but the necessary structures needed for an economic integration led also to a political integration. This process has...
Regulations: Direct applicability and Direct effect
Essay - 8 pages - European union
Article 249 of the European Community Treaty provides that Regulations shall be directly applicable in all Member States. Does this mean that they are also necessarily directly effective? As notices Josephine Steiner , this question is of paramount concern to EC lawyers. If a provision of EEC law...
The budgetary implication of the European Union's May 2004 enlargement - publié le 12/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - European union
On 1 May 2004 Europe celebrates the entrance of ten new members in the European Union but behind the fireworks and the celebrations, Brussels has to adapt itself to this new generation of the European project. One of the most important points is the budgetary issue. History has shown that the...
The EU and the disintegration of Yugoslavia - publié le 12/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - European union
In order to better understand the disintegration of Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990s, it is interesting to recall that Yugoslavia was first created in 1918, and was dismembered firstly during World War Second. Then, it has been dismembered once more with the collapse of the USSR at the...
Multi-level governance in the European Union - published: 09/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - European union
The former French President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, once stated that the European Union was an “unidentified political object”. This phrase highlights the complexity of the EU polity, which various theories have tried to capture and which has sparked controversy...
Does the European integration improve a loss of national autonomy?
Essay - 6 pages - European union
European integration is a regionalization process which has built an economic and political community. This association of countries is characterized by a supranational organization which manages the association. As a kind of federation, the European Union representatives play a significant role...
A critical examination of the European Union's commitment and approach to promoting democracy and Human Rights in accession candidate countries and elsewhere in the world
Essay - 10 pages - European union
The current image of European Union's democracy promotion is marred by the discrepancies of member states' attitude vis-à-vis the Chinese violation of the Human Rights. In contrast to most European countries, Great Britain and Germany have already claimed that they will not assist to the opening...
The new European Union members and the euro : advantages and disadvantadges of joining the euro, an assessment
Essay - 13 pages - European union
Over the last few years, twelve countries, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Cyprus, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia in 2004, and Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, joined the European Union. This came as the result of a long political process, followed by the fall of the...
Does the EU need a European Identity? Why? Why not? Use concrete examples to support your line of argument
Essay - 5 pages - European union
In a European Union under construction, speaking about European Identity is essential. If it exists, it should be the expression of a dynamic link between Europeans. This identity is or would therefore be the creator of art and culture, a common political ethic, European citizenship, and common...
Europe widening and tax competition
Essay - 7 pages - European union
Taxation is by definition a regulation defining the taxes of a local community, a country or an international organization. It gathers three types of obligatory deductions in advance: direct taxes, indirect taxes and social security contributions. The distribution of these three types of...
The role of Poland in EU policies toward Eastern Europe: is Poland a bridge between East and West?
Essay - 4 pages - European union
It is often hard to define a common foreign policy of the EU, as in most cases national interest and bilateral relations are the rule. Nevertheless, some agreements and partnerships have created and enhanced ties between the EU and other countries of Eastern Europe. The enlargement of the EU in...
United Kingdom: In and out of Europe
Essay - 10 pages - European union
The United Kingdom has always been in and out of Europe. Such posturing is in keeping with a series of mantras [religious beliefs] upon which Britain's policy towards Europe is predicated. The latter have never been really challenged in the last century. Britain's Europe is a paradoxical...
Migration: one of the most important challenges for Europe
Essay - 2 pages - European union
"The European population growth at a level of less than 3% per year [is] only possible through net migration?. Europe is indeed currently absorbing 2 million migrants each year ? proportionally more than any other part of the world. This influx is thus altering the population composition of...
Foresight for transport: EU enlargement and transport
Essay - 3 pages - European union
The 2002-04 FORESIGHT for TRANSPORT project was a program of the EC whose primary objective was "to set up a strategic dialogue in the form of a foresight exercise on the influence of non-transport factors and policy on transport? and to develop a procedure for monitoring these external impacts....
The different stakes of European enlargement (Pestel and Swot analysis)
Essay - 16 pages - European union
From the first step in its creation in 1957 by the Rome treaty, Europe went through successive enlargement phases. In the current scenario, Europe has become an important player in the international market, due to its critical size. However, it is hard to estimate its power in the international...
