New Powers – New Peers: the Developing Relations between EU Member State Governments and the European Parliament, and What Can Be Learned from Looking to the US Congress

A central part of the debate about the EU’s institutional system has centered on the role of the European Parliament and the aspiration that a strengthened EP would increase the democratic legitimacy of the EU towards its citizens. With its accessible structure, the EP has become a key target for external actors, and among these, increasingly, the member states’ governments, who have seen their influence through the Council of Ministers challenged by the growing influence of the European Parliament. Informal bilateral relations with MEPs’ offices, cutting across institutional and party political affiliations, has grown to become an integral part of the national governments’ strategies in the EU legislative process. On the basis of an empirical analysis of interviews with EU government officials, MEPs and their assistants, the paper examines this little studied dimension of interaction in the EU, and then places this in a comparative perspective with the US Congress

From Refugees to Workers: Mapping Labour-Market Integration Support Measures for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in EU Member States - Volume II: Literature Review and Country Case Studies

This study intends to provide a better understanding of the challenges with regard to the integration of refugees into the labour-markets. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access to employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study includes detailed case studies for the following nine EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The research points to the need for increased coordination at all levels, the conditions for successful public-private partnerships, and the adequate sequence of work integration and language learning, for example. Not least, it makes clear that finding effective ways to bring refugees to work will prove key for Europe's future.It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.Search also for: Volume I of the report "Comparative Analysis and Policy Findings"

From Refugees to Workers : Mapping Labour-Market Integration Support Measures for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Eu Member States - Volume I: Comparative Analysis and Policy Findings

This study intends to provide a better understanding of the challenges with regard to the integration of refugees into the labour-markets. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access to employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study includes detailed case studies for the following nine EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The research points to the need for increased coordination at all levels, the conditions for successful public-private partnerships, and the adequate sequence of work integration and language learning, for example. Not least, it makes clear that finding effective ways to bring refugees to work will prove key for Europe's future.It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.Search also for: Volume II "Literature Review and Country Case Studies"

From refugees to workers : mapping labour market integration support measures for asylum-seekers and refugees in EU member states. Volume II : Literature review and country case studies

The study sets out to provide a better understanding of the emerging challenges in policy targeting the labour-market integration of refugees. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access into employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study is based on nine detailed country case studies of the following EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.This study has been funded by Bertelsmann Stiftung and produced by the Migration Policy Centre at the EUI

The European Security Strategy - A European Securitization Strategy?

In this report I aim at establishing whether or not the European Security Strategy (ESS) of the EU is a securitization move by the EU and whether the EU is a credible securitizing actor in relation to the contents of the ESS. The first question will be answered through a discourse analysis of the ESS based on the constructivist theory of securitization. The answer to the second question will be based on the same theory and will include relevant observations and considerations concerning the functioning of the EU in the security sphere. The conclusions of the report are that the ESS is not a securitization move, but has elements of securitization in it, and that the EU is a realistic securitization actor of the ESS. I will then consider what could come from a securitization of the ESS and why the ESS is not within the discourse of securitization

Bridge over troubled voters? : coordination between EU governments and European parliamentarians

Defence date: 12 February 2016Examining Board: Professor Adrienne Héritier, EUI (Supervisor); Professor Alexander H. Trechsel, EUI; Professor Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen, Copenhagen University; Professor Michael Shackleton, Maastricht University.The project explores, maps and analyzes the coordination that takes place between national governments of the EU member states and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in parallel with the legislative processes of the EU. Starting from a descriptive section depicting coordination in a broad selection of member states, France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Denmark, Slovakia, and Poland, and their MEPs, the questions are posed: 1) Why do EU member states' governments coordinate with their MEPs in the EU legislative process? 2) Why does coordination vary between the member state governments? 3) How do MEPs perceive and receive the coordination efforts by the governments? The project assesses the extent to which the efforts by the national governments to coordinate with the MEPs are a direct function of the institutional changes to the EU legislative process that have shifted the balance of power between the Council and the European Parliament. The project then proceeds to seek out the main factors influencing the extent and mode of coordination between the actors, and the reasons member states differ in their approach to coordination. The analysis focuses, in particular, on the sizes and political systems of the member states, as well as on the duration of their EU membership. Finally, MEPs' receptiveness to coordination is investigated, and the effect of national and political affiliation on MEPs' openness to the input they receive from the national governments is analyzed. Through a qualitative analysis of empirical data gathered from semi-structured interviews with government officials, MEPs and MEP assistants from the selected countries, the project finds that while governments have reacted to the increased relative influence of the European Parliament by seeking to influence legislative negotiations via the MEPs, the development, in several countries, has been less than linear. The duration of states' EU membership and the overall amount of resources the governments allocate to influencing EU negotiations are among the main factors found to affect the governments' level of coordination. The political system of the member states is fund to have little influence on the extent or manner of coordination efforts by the governments. In general, MEPs have a positive view of engaging with, and receiving, input of both a political and technical nature from the governments. This positive view largely cuts across the domestic party political divide and, albeit to a lesser extent, across national lines. It is even found that, among some MEPs, an increased effort by the national governments to engage bilaterally with the MEPs, simultaneously with the formal legislative negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament, would be welcomed

From refugees to workers : mapping labour market integration support measures for asylum-seekers and refugees in EU member states. Volume I : Comparative analysis and policy findings

The report sets out to provide a better understanding of the emerging challenges in policy targeting the labour-market integration of refugees. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access into employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study is based on nine detailed country case studies of the following EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.This study has been funded by Bertelsmann Stiftung and produced by the Migration Policy Centre at the EUI