The Italian Parliament and the EU: a slow and gradual Europeanization. ACES Working Papers, August 2009

In this paper we discussed how the literature traces a growing involvement of the national parliaments in EU policy-making. Three phases can be distinguished: limited or no involvement was the trend until the 1980s; after the Single Act (SEA, 1987), national parliaments started to be interested in European affairs and to set up specialized committees; following the Maastricht Treaty (TUE, 1992), the involvement of national parliaments in EU affairs became a response to the question of "democratic deficit" in the EU (Norton, 1995). The growing number of policies dealt with at the EU level, the consequently increased influence of EU law in national legislations, the new powers of the Union: all of these worked together to push national legislators to seek a scrutiny role in the drafting of EU legislation. According to Laprat (1995: 1), once the TUE was formally approved, a more parliamentary climate prevailed. In more recent years, national parliaments have distinguished themselves for their increased role in the scrutiny of EU legislation (Raunio and Hix, 200I: !52); more specialized MPs sit in the committees on EU affairs; the amount of work for EU specialists has increased. Also, parliamentary scrutiny, initially only optional and ex post, is now increasingly ex ante and/or mandatory (Maurer and Wessels, 2001: 425-475)

Italy and the EU in historical perspective. ACES Working Papers, August 2009

This paper will deal with relations between Italy and the European Communities in a historical perspective. It will take into consideration both exogenous and endogenous variables. As regards the exogenous, relations with the United States are of particular relevance. As for the endogenous, the focus will be on the way political parties have perceived the process of European integration. Here, one can distinguish three periods: from the origins to the late 1970s; from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s and from the mid 1990s to today. The first period was characterized by the opposition of the left to European and Atlantic integration, on the basis of ideological contraposition; the second witnessed a shared consensus by all political parties on integration - especially European; in the latest period, domestic political divisions at times lead parties to oppose European integration

Analyzing European Union Politics

The speed and depth with which the European Communities/ European Union has evolved is breathtaking and has radically shaped the life of the continent. Ever since the beginning of this ambitious economic and political project, scholars around the world have tried to explain the underlying logic behind it and the mechanisms of its functioning. Thus, a plethora of studies developed alongside the evolution of the EU. SENT (Network of European Studies) is an innovative and ambitious project which brought together about 100 partners from the EU member states, candidate and associated countries, and other parts of the world. It was a far reaching project aimed to overcome disciplinary and geographical- linguistic boundaries in order to assess the state of EU studies today, as well as the idea of Europe as transmitted by schools, national politicians, the media, etc. SENT’s main goal was to map European studies, in order to get a comprehensive picture of the evolution of European studies over the last decades in different disciplines and countries. This approach permitted to achieve a better understanding of the direction these studies are now taking. Five disciplines were identified where EU studies have particularly evolved: law, politics, economics, history, and social and cultural studies. The mapping of EU studies thus includes a review of the most studied issues in EU studies today, the main academic schools, the most influential journals and books published, but it also shows how local realities and national identities affect the study and teaching of Europe around the world. In addition, an important work was done in mapping and discussing teaching methodologies in relation to European studies with the aim of introducing and diffusing the most up-to-date techniques

Italy and the European Union

Presents a comprehensive study of Italy's role in the European Union and what that country needs to do as a 'medium-size power' to increase its influence in the EU, chiefly by putting forward well-defined goals and consistent strategies through credible actors-- 1. Introduction: Italy's future role in the European Union -- 2. The theoretical framework -- 3. Italy and the EU in historical perspective -- 4. Parties and public opinion regarding Europe -- 5. The Italian parliament and the EU: a slow and gradual europeanization -- 6. Adapting the state machine: the executive -- 7. Territorial politics and organized interests -- 8. EU Constitutional policies and high politics -- 9. Negotiation low politics -- 10. Conclusion: the long road to BrusselsBased on author’s EUI PhD thesis, 200

Italy : when individual actors make the difference

The objective of this chapter is to test Moravcsik's theory in the light of the Nice Treaty negotiations. The attitude of Italian political parties vis-à-vis integration has generally been that of supporters of European integration. The duties of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in relation to the EU are multiple: to follow CSFP, the political and economic external relations of the EU, as well as eventual EU treaties negotiations. Italy's activities prior to the Nice IGC can be divided into two types the domestic process of defining a national position and the negotiations with the other Member States. The Italian government considered the most important issues of the IGC to be the extension of qualified majority voting and reinforced cooperation (or flexibility). Concerning what can be defined as Italian EU political diplomacy, one can report the role played by the Ambassadors stationed in the other Member States

L'influenza degli stati membri nei processi decisionali dell'Unione Europea : analisi comparata di Italia e Portogallo

Defence date: 10 November 2004Examining Board: Prof. Yves Meny, IUE ; Prof. Manuel Braga da Cruz, Università Cattolica Portoghese ; Prof. Leonardo Morlino, Università di Firenze, co-supervisor ; Prof. Colin Crouch, IUE, co-supervisorFirst made available online on 4 May 2018Quali fattori determinano l’influenza di uno Stato membro nei processi decisionali delFUnione Europea? E’ sufficiente l’ampia dimensione del paese, come afferma Moracvsick? Ovvero prevalgono piuttosto variabili di natura interna, come suggerisce il domestic policy approachl La presente ricerca cerca di rispondere a tali quesiti, comparando due casi tra loro: l’Italia ed il Portogallo. L’ipotesi di fondo è che la dimensione “grande” dello Stato membro di per sé non sia sufficiente a determinare l'influenza dello stesso, e che sono piuttosto le caratteristiche proprie del quadro istituzionale e politico nazionale a determinare l’influenza effettiva che riesce ad avere. Infine, si ipotizza che la durata della membership nella Comunità / Unione costituisca un’ulteriore variabile positiva in tale quadro, facilitando l’adattamento delle istituzioni e dei processi decisionali domestici. La ricerca si divide in tre parti: la prima discute l’inquadramento teorico e metodologico del tema; la seconda è dedicata all’analisi empirica comparata dei due casi in oggetto; la terza costituisce la parte di analisi e di verifica delle ipotesi proposte. L’ambizione del lavoro presentato è di contribuire a colmare un gap della letteratura - analizzando due casi meno studiati di altri (ad es. Francia, Germania o Regno Unito) - e di contribuire alla riflessione teorica sul funzionamento dell’Unione Europea ed in particolare al filone di studi che si occupa delle relazioni tra gli Stati membri e l’Unione Europea

Italy and the European Union

Presents a comprehensive study of Italy's role in the European Union and what that country needs to do as a 'medium-size power' to increase its influence in the EU, chiefly by putting forward well-defined goals and consistent strategies through credible actors-- 1. Introduction: Italy's future role in the European Union -- 2. The theoretical framework -- 3. Italy and the EU in historical perspective -- 4. Parties and public opinion regarding Europe -- 5. The Italian parliament and the EU: a slow and gradual europeanization -- 6. Adapting the state machine: the executive -- 7. Territorial politics and organized interests -- 8. EU Constitutional policies and high politics -- 9. Negotiation low politics -- 10. Conclusion: the long road to BrusselsBased on author’s EUI PhD thesis, 200