Legislating in the shadow of the European Council: Empowering or silencing the European Parliament?

Introduction: “As a result of this trend towards ‘summitization’, the fixation with meetings at which the Heads of State and Government, in a clear breach of the spirit of the Treaties, take more and more decisions themselves and seek to put their stamp even on the fine print of legislation, the Community institutions are increasingly being marginalized”.ii This is how the President of the European Parliament (EP) Martin Schulz recently portrayed decision-making in the European Union (EU): “a state of affairs” he added “reminescent of the era of the Congress of Vienna”. The academic literature has also captured a similar development and, especially (but not exclusively) in the field of economic and monetary policies, has described the European Council as “the political executive of the Union” (Fabbrini 2013, p. 1006) which has come to play “a superior role in relation to the Council and the Commission [...] the heads instruct the relevant Council formation and also the Commission to work towards specific objectives [...] and also to revise proposals” (Puetter 2014, p. 73). In the “new” formulation of “intergovernmentalism”, the role of supranational institutions change: rather than resisting intergovernmental coordination, they “act strategically [...] in a more hostile environment, they avoid putting forward proposals that have little chance of success” (Bickerton et al., 2014, pp. 8-9)

Taming the European Parliament : how member states reformed economic governance in the EU

This paper aims to assess the role of the European Parliament (EP) in the recent reforms of the EU’s economic governance. It shows that, despite the post-Lisbon communitarisation of the EMU policy-making, the impact of the EP was limited. Based on original interview data and a wealth of primary and secondary sources, it reveals that the EP was only able to produce limited ‘first-order changes’ (i.e., adjustments to the details of the policy regime), whereas it had almost no influence on the goals and instruments of the EMU. The paper argues that the limited influence of the EP can be explained by the dominant role member states (still) play in the EMU. They defined the ‘policy core’ of economic and budgetary policies (in terms of sound public finances and low inflation) before the upgrade of the EP’s powers with the Lisbon treaty, and using several strategies they defended it successfully in the post-Lisbon context. The paper reviews the key policies adopted by the EU to tackle the crisis – from the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact to legislation on the Banking Union – and identifies five strategies through which the Council (often in tandem with the Commission) successfully managed to curb the influence of the EP

Transgovernmental networks and rationalist outputs? The partial social construction of EU foreign policy

The European Union (EU) foreign policy has gone beyond intergovernmentalism. It is largely formulated by (Brussels-based) national officials, in a process characterised by a high number of cooperative practices, diffuse sentiments of group loyalty and possibly argumentative procedures. Yet, in many cases, the most likely output of this process reflects the lowest common denominator of states’ positions or the preferences of the biggest states. The article intends to investigate this puzzle. In the first part, it corroborates its existence by using answers from an original database of 138 questionnaires and 37 interviews with EU negotiators. Next, it argues that cooperative practices remain often subordinated to nationally oriented ways of doing things. Consequentialist practices perform an anchoring function, in that they define the parameters around which (social) practices operate. The last section looks more closely at the sites of and meanings attached to EU foreign policy-making. By discussing national diplomats’ conspicuous leeway in Brussels, it also argues that negotiating practices are performed through a mix of partial agency and persistence of national dispositions. On the whole, changing practices is difficult, even in dense and largely autonomous settings such as EU foreign policy. The social construction of EU foreign policy occurs only to a partial extent

Assessing What Brexit Means for Europe: Implications for EU Institutions and Actors

With the signing of the EU–UK trade and cooperation agreement in December 2020, the configurations of Brexit have started to become clearer. The first consequences of the UK’s decision to leave the EU have become visible, both in the UK and in the EU. This thematic issue focuses on a relatively under-researched aspect of Brexit—what the UK withdrawal has meant and means for the EU. Using new empirical data and covering most (if not all) of the post-2016 referendum period, it provides a first overall assessment of the impact of Brexit on the main EU institutions, institutional rules and actors. The articles in the issue reveal that EU institutions and actors changed patterns of behaviour and norms well before the formal exit of the UK in January 2020. They have adopted ‘counter-measures’ to cope with the challenges of the UK withdrawal—be it new organizational practices in the Parliament, different network dynamics in the Council of the EU or the strengthening of the Franco-German partnership. In this sense, the Union has—so far—shown significant resilience in the wake of Brexit

Managing Disintegration: How the European Parliament Responded and Adapted to Brexit

Brexit makes both a direct and an indirect impact on the European Parliament (EP). The most direct consequence is the withdrawal of the 73-member strong UK contingent and the changing size of the political groups. Yet, the impact of Brexit is also felt in more oblique ways. Focussing on the role and influence of the EP in the EU–UK negotiations, and of the British delegation in the EP, this article shows that the process, and not just the outcome of Brexit, has significant organisational implications for the EP and its political groups. Moreover, it also showcases the importance of informal rules and norms of behaviour, which were affected by Brexit well ahead of any formal change to the UK status as a Member State. The EP and its leadership ensured the active involvement of the EP in the negotiating process—albeit in different ways for the withdrawal agreement and the future relationship—and sought to minimise the costs of Brexit, reducing the clout of British members particularly in the allocation of legislative reports

Irse o volver: entre el drama y la comedia. Exiliados económicos en el cine argentino (2001 - 2011)

The aim of this article is to analyze the representation of Argentine economic exiles in fictional films produced in Argentina between 2001 and 2011. We will focus on tracking the strategies and resources used by the films to build the characters, taking as a hypothesis that these constructions reinforce the prejudices that come from the real world. Secondly, we propose to inquire about the historical context represented: Argentina’s 2001 economic, political and social crisis. The corpus of films is made up of: Common ground (Aristarain, 2002) and Güelcom (Blanco, 2011), fictional films produced in different important historical moments to address the emigration to Spain, and the return to Argentina. The approach that we proposed in the article understands the cinema as an artifact of memory, which allows us to look at the past that we choose to remember, but also what we want to forget.El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la representación de los exiliados económicos argentinos en el cine de ficción producido en Argentina entre los años 2001 y 2011. Nos centraremos en el análisis de las estrategias y los recursos que utilizan los filmes para construir los personajes, teniendo como hipótesis que dichas construcciones refuerzan los prejuicios que provienen del mundo real. En segundo lugar proponemos indagar sobre el contexto histórico representado: la crisis económica, política y social argentina del 2001. El corpus fílmico está compuesto por las películas: Lugares comunes (Aristarain, 2002) y Güelcom (Blanco, 2011), ficciones producidas en distintos momentos históricos relevantes para abordar la emigración a España, y el retorno hacia Argentina. El abordaje propuesto entiende al cine como artefacto de memoria, que permite mirar el pasado que se elige recordar, a la vez que da cuenta de lo que se quiere olvidar.O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a representação dos exilados econômicos argentinos em filmes de ficção produzidos na Argentina entre 2001 e 2011. Vamos nos concentrar em rastrear as estratégias e os recursos usados pelos filmes para construir personagens, partindo do pressuposto de que essas construções reforçam preconceitos que vêm do mundo real. Em segundo lugar, nos propomos a indagar o contexto histórico representado: a crise econômica, política e social argentina de 2001. O corpus de filmes é constituído por: Lugares comuns (Aristarain, 2002) e Güelcom (Blanco, 2011), ficções produzidas em diferentes momentos históricos relevantes para abordar a emigração para a Espanha e o retorno à Argentina. A proposta de abordagem entende o cinema como um artefato de memória, que nos permite olhar o passado que escolhemos lembrar, mas também o que queremos esquecer

Stable unpredictability? An assessment of the Italian-Libyan relations

Since the end of the Cold War, Italy has sought to frame its relations with different southern Mediterranean countries inside various European multilateral initiatives. The Italian foreign policy objective to achieve stability and dependability in such relations has largely been met through the launch of different European Union (EU) framework policies, such as the 1995 Barcelona Process and more recently the 2008 Union for the Mediterranean (Aliboni 1999, Carbone 2008). The Italian diplomacy’s preferred approach, one can thus infer, has been to Europeanise its foreign policy in the Mediterranean area, whenever possible (Balfour 2005)

Agroecology in rural settlings: strategy of reproduction peasant in the Campanha Gaúcha (RS)

A Campanha Gaúcha, na década de 1990, transformou-se numa região receptora de projetos de assentamentos rurais no Rio Grande do Sul. Durante o processo de re-territorialização camponesa, novos desafios entraram em cena, principalmente, aqueles associados às estratégias de reprodução da unidade familiar num ambiente estranho. O cultivo agroecológico de sementes e frutas foi uma das alternativas encontradas pelos assentados para sua reprodução e geração de renda. Embora, sejam experiências pontuais, representam uma alternativa ao modelo vigente de agricultura.The Campanha Gaucha in the 1990's, has become a recipient region of projects of rural settlements in Rio Grande do Sul. During the process of peasant re-territorialisation, new challenges came on the scene, particularly those associated with reproductive strategies of the family unit in a strange environment. The agroecological cultivation of seeds and fruit was one of the alternatives found by settlers for their reproduction and income generation. While they are limited experiments, they represent an alternative to the current model of agriculture.La Campanha Gaucha en la década de los ’90, se ha convertido en una región beneficiaria de los proyectos de asentamientos rurales en Rio Grande do Sul. Durante el proceso de re-territorialización de los campesinos, nuevos desafíos llegaron a la escena, especialmente los relacionados con las estrategias de reproducción de la unidad familiar en un ambiente extraño. El cultivo de semillas y frutas agroecológicas, fue una de las alternativas encontradas por los campesinos para su reproducción y generaración de ingresos. Sinembargo, las experiencias son ocasionales, representan una alternativa al actual modelo de agricultura