The macroeconomic imbalance procedure as European integration: a legalisation perspective

The Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure seeks to prevent and correct destabilising economic imbalances in the European Union. Scholars are divided as to whether this instrument of economic policy coordination relies on the same intergovernmental modes of decision-making as the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines or reflects supranational institutions more significant role in EU economic policy following the euro crisis. Such diametrically opposed interpretations are symptomatic of longstanding concerns over the lack of a clear-cut definition of European integration. To address these definitional difficulties, this paper turns to the concept of legalisation. Taking account of the design and early implementation of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure and using the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines as a point of comparison, it shows that the former can be understood as a modest but clear-cut increase in legalisation compared to the latter. On this basis, it considers whether legalisation, in spite of its own conceptual limitations, can contribute to a more rigorous definition of European integration

From democracies to democracy The case of the European Community

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN003637 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

European democracy, parliamentary decline and the ‘democratic deficit’ of the European Union

This article examines two different, yet interrelated, phenomena: parliamentary decline in western Europe and the ‘democratic deficit’ of the European Union (EU). It argues that the latter has helped to consolidate, and in certain areas, facilitate, the former. This is illustrated by two sets of empirical studies, covering first the European Community (and in particular the Common Agricultural Policy and Economic and Monetary Union) and then the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and co-operation in Justice and Home Affairs. The main conclusion to be drawn is that a simple reordering of some policies within and across different pillars will not remedy the current democratic shortfalls of the EU which stem as much from the inadequacy of existing parliamentary structures to hold EU decision makers to account, as from the absence of a European demos. The combined effects of the above are particularly crucial for the democratic viability of the emerging European polity which, as with any other political system in the modern democratic era, needs to strike a balance between efficiency and accountability. © 1998, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Exploring Differentiated Disintegration in a Post-Brexit European Union

Author's accepted manuscript (postprint).This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Leruth, B., Gänzle, S. & Trondal, J. (2019). Exploring Differentiated Disintegration in a Post-Brexit European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(5), 1013-1030, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12869. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.Available from 23/05/2021.acceptedVersio