¿Qué aspectos de la Constitución Europea podrían salvarse si fracasa la ratificación? Los problemas del “Plan B”

Durante las últimas semanas se ha hablado mucho de un “plan B”, que algunos gobiernos (e incluso altos funcionarios de la UE) afirman tener preparado por si fracasa la ratificación del Tratado Constitucional. Sin embargo, aunque es probable que las hipótesis alternativas se estén tratando entre bastidores, lo cierto es que resulta exagerado afirmar que alguien tenga listo “el” plan B y que para aplicarlo solo sea necesario sacarlo de un cajón secreto

Is Europe back on track? Impetus from the German EU Presidency

Rarely has an EU Presidency been met with such high expectations as Germany’s in the first half of 2007. With hindsight, it might be said that these expectations have largely been fulfilled. The agreement on a detailed mandate for the upcoming Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) under the Portuguese Presidency now offers a way forward for a Union that has been ‘in crisis’ since the French and Dutch no-votes. This report offers an overview of the German Presidency’s aims in the various policy areas and makes an assessment of the achievements of its six-month term. A summary of the content and structural background of German EU policy is given, explaining developments since unification, Germany’s motivations for European integration, public opinion on European integration and the stances taken by the key political players in Germany. Insight into the organisational structures of the Presidency appears in the annex. While acknowledging the difficulty of gauging the exact impact of the German presidency in relation to other factors, the report draws mostly positive conclusions on internal policies, where agreement on many concrete measures from the presidency’s work programme could be achieved, notably on the single market, justice and home affairs, climate protection and energy policy. With the ‘Berlin Declaration’ Germany achieved a show of unity for the future of the Union that was an auspicious start for the talks on treaty reform. While it is clear that the agreement reached was not only on Germany’s merit, the presidency played a prominent and constructive role throughout the negotiations. The mandate for the IGC is more than just a low common denominator and most parts of the Constitutional Treaty could be saved. In foreign policy, results were less tangible. Germany’s engagement helped to deepen the economic partnership with the US, but due to factors beyond the Presidency’s control, could not avoid deterioration in EU-Russia relations. In Kosovo and the Middle East, substantial settlements are also a long way off, but the EU is now preparing for an ambitious operation in Kosovo and Germany helped to engage the Middle East Quartet with the peace process, thus moving the conflict higher up on the international agenda. Overall it can be said that the pragmatic step-by-step approach of the German Presidency yielded better results than a sober look at the initial conditions would have suggested. [author's abstract

Policy-Making in the EU: Achievements, Challenges and Proposals for Reform. CEPS Paperbacks. June 2009

This report is the product of a joint project initiated by the Centre for European Policy Studies and the Swedish Confederation of Enterprise. Three expert groups of academics, policy-makers, business representatives and other stakeholders were formed to analyse the major issues and challenges facing the European Union today and to put forward recommendations for reform that can realistically be implemented in the short and medium term. The expert groups focused on EU Decision-Making, Better Regulation and Implementation & Subsidiarity

What Prospects for the European Constitutional Treaty?

The ratification process of the Constitutional Treaty has taken some unexpected turns, since the publication of the EPIN's initial report. The situation has changed especially dramatically in France. The report concluded that

Priorities for the Finnish Presidency, July-December 2006. CEPS Working Document, No. 248, 12 July 2006

[From the Introduction]. "Thinking ahead for Europe’ is our motto. In this reader we have collected our thoughts and recent writings on what should be done in the near future to get Europe moving again. We offer these ideas to the Finnish Presidency of the EU as food for thought at the start of its six-month term. These views are based on the research experience of our multinational staff, who have the privilege of working in complete independence

The Treaty of Lisbon: Implementing the Institutional Innovations. CEPS Special Reports, November 2007

After a long period of internal introspection and deadlock over the Constitutional Treaty, the EU can now see some light at the end of the tunnel. If successfully ratified, the new European Treaty agreed by the Head of States and Government in Lisbon may provide the appropriate institutional tools for the EU to function with 27 member states. However, the success of institutional innovations depends not only on legal provisions, but also on the way in which the provisions are implemented. Indeed, even a cursory examination indicates that the implementation of the new proposals is unlikely to be easy, and in some cases could be a source of serious difficulties in the future. In the absence of serious analysis aimed at this latter question, three Brussels-based think-tanks have joined forces in a collaborative effort to fill this gap. Our aim is to highlight potential problems and, where possible, to suggest ways to avoid or attenuate their negative effects. The analysis has focused on seven main institutional and policy domains: the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Presidency of the Council, the qualified majority voting in the Council, the role of national Parliaments, enhanced cooperation and foreign policy. These issues have been intensively debated in working groups composed of researchers, external experts, and practitioners in the field. This report reflects the substance of that collective effort

De amenaza a oportunidad. Cómo conseguir que funcione la integración flexible

Este documento aboga por una reevaluación a fondo de las cooperaciones reforzadas como instrumento de integración y explica las condiciones en las que ésta contribuiría al avance de la UE ampliada. Con demasiada frecuencia en el pasado, las cooperaciones reforzadas (también descritas como “flexibilidad” o “integración flexible”) se han empleado como amenaza (eficaz) para inducir a los Estados miembros reticentes o rezagados a seguir el ritmo del proceso de integración. Por lo tanto, no debería sorprender que muchos Estados miembros tengan una imagen tan mala de ella

A Citizens Compact: Reaching out to the Citizens of Europe. CEPS EPIN Working Papers No. 14, 1 September 2005

[Executive Summary]. How can the deadlock after the ‘no’ to the European Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands be overcome? What should be the aim of the ‘period of reflection’ that has been agreed by the European Council? The authors of this paper propose the adoption of a ‘Citizens Compact’, which should directly address the larger malaise among citizens that underlies the Constitutional crisis. It should contribute to the reduction of the EU’s democratic deficit without treaty reform. The following measures should be envisaged: • National parliaments should participate more strongly in the controversies on core European issues through earlier and intensive debates about EU initiatives. • Every six months governments should explain their positions on the priorities of the EU-presidency in their national parliaments. • EU-actors (MEPs, Commissioners and top officials) should participate more intensively in national debates about European issues and contribute to a better understanding of the European political processes among citizens. • National governments should regularly publish information bulletins about the latest EU initiatives and –decisions. • Public fora about European issues should be established in every member state with speakers coming from national politics, from the EU level and other member states as well as representatives from civil society. • Uncontroversial elements of the Constitutional Treaty that strengthen EU democracy could already be adopted through inter-institutional agreements. • A White Paper on the establishment of a ‘European Democratic and Civic Space’ in the EU should be elaborated. • In the future important legislative acts should contain an impact assessment of the consequences on citizens’ lives

The Commission: boxed in and constrained, but still an engine of integration

In the debate about the impact of the eurozone crisis on the EU’s institutional balance, antagonists have often argued past each other. Supporters of the new intergovernmentalism contend that the European Council has supplanted the European Commission in policy leadership, while scholars who hold that the EU executive has been a winner of the crisis highlight the new management functions it has acquired. This article argues, first, that an accurate assessment of the institutional balance requires a more global evaluation of the Commission, acknowledging external and internal dynamics. Second, it contends that the crisis did not cause a Commission retreat but accelerated a process already underway that finds its origins in the presidentialisation of policy control. The adoption of fewer legislative proposals during the crisis was due to the ability and choice of a strong president to focus the attention on crisis-related areas. The broader lesson is that rather than marking a further step in the decline of the Commission, the crisis reveals how the centralisation of power within the institution and its expanded management duties have enhanced its capacity to take strategic action. The Commission’s role as an engine of integration will therefore endure, but in a different guise

Unburdening dementia a basic social process grounded theory – based on a primary care physician survey from 25 countries

OBJECTIVE: To explore dementia management from a primary care physician perspective.DESIGN: One-page seven-item multiple choice questionnaire; free text space for every item; final narrative question of a dementia case story. Inductive explorative grounded theory analysis. Derived results in cluster analyses. Appropriateness of dementia drugs assessed by tertiary care specialist.SETTING: Twenty-five European General Practice Research Network member countries.SUBJECTS: Four hundred and forty-five key informant primary care physician respondents of which 106 presented 155 case stories.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Processes and typologies of dementia management. Proportion of case stories with drug treatment and treatment according to guidelines.RESULTS: Unburdening dementia - a basic social process - explained physicians' dementia management according to a grounded theory analysis using both qualitative and quantitative data. Unburdening starts with Recognizing the dementia burden by Burden Identification and Burden Assessment followed by Burden Relief. Drugs to relieve the dementia burden were reported for 130 of 155 patients; acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or memantine treatment in 89 of 155 patients - 60% appropriate according to guidelines and 40% outside of guidelines. More Central and Northern primary care physicians were allowed to prescribe, and more were engaged in dementia management than Eastern and Mediterranean physicians according to cluster analyses. Physicians typically identified and assessed the dementia burden and then tried to relieve it, commonly by drug prescriptions, but also by community health and home help services, mentioned in more than half of the case stories.CONCLUSIONS: Primary care physician dementia management was explained by an Unburdening process with the goal to relieve the dementia burden, mainly by drugs often prescribed outside of guideline indications. Implications: Unique data about dementia management by European primary care physicians to inform appropriate stakeholders. Key points Dementia as a syndrome of cognitive and functional decline and behavioural and psychological symptoms causes a tremendous burden on patients, their families, and society. •We found that a basic social process of Unburdening dementia explained dementia management according to case stories and survey comments from primary care physicians in 25 countries. •First, Burden Recognition by Identification and Assessment and then Burden Relief - often by drugs. •Prescribing physicians repeatedly broadened guideline indications for dementia drugs. The more physicians were allowed to prescribe dementia drugs, the more they were responsible for the dementia work-up. Our study provides unique data about dementia management in European primary care for the benefit of national and international stakeholders