The Cyprus Obstacle on Turkey's Road to Membership in the European Union

Introduction: Turkish-Greek relations and the Cyprus problem following the Turkish intervention of 1974 have occupied an important place throughout the evolution of the relations between Turkey and the European Union (EU).1 These two issues, often linked, figured among the most difficult to handle. The fact that Greece became a member of the EU in 1981 has complicated matters further, especially for the EU. From that point on, the EU could no longer keep its benevolent neutrality towards its two allies. Consequently, the road towards the amelioration of Turkish–EU relations passed via Athens and Nicosia,2 despite Turkey’s desire to keep the resolution of these issues separate from the question of its accession to the EU

Beyond the Myth of Nationality: Analyzing Networks within the European Commission

The current literature on the European Commission refers to the influence of nationality in the functioning of the Commission and in particular to the reliance on networks based on nationality, failing to give much evidence apart from anecdotes. This empirical study takes a systematic approach by applying concepts from organizational network analysis to examine the networking patterns of Commission officials and to explore the effect of nationality therein. The data clearly show that nationality is not a significant factor in shaping officials’ task-related informal networks. While variables related to nationality and socialization fail to explain the variation, the size of the member-state in terms of the amount of officials it has and whether the contacts occur within the Directorate-General determine whether an official relies on compatriots for information and advice. The organizational structure of the Commission renders nationality irrelevant for its daily work

De inhoud van ‘burgerschap’ in de inburgeringscursus en burgerschapsonderwijs

The recent scholarly debate on policies and discourses with regard to citizenship in the Netherlands point to a moralization or culturalization of citizenship. This article aims to contribute to this debate by zooming into the current contents of citizenship education. We make a comparative analysis of the contents of textbooks for citizenship education that are used for civic integration courses for migrants and for primary and secondary school students in the Netherlands. Our findings show that citizenship has indeed gained a moral content in both contexts but that the difference lies in the norms that are stressed and how they are conveyed to the target population of future citizens. Whereas civic integration books for migrants emphasize the importance of learning local procedures and habits in order to belong to the Dutch national community, primary and secondary school books underscore the importance of dealing with cultural diversity in the multicultural society

Haagse pionnen op het Brusselse schaakbord?

Samenvatting In dit artikel komt het vraagstuk van de ambtelijke autonomie van geëuropeaniseerde rijksambtenaren aan de orde. Als casus wordt de politieke en ambtelijke aansturing van Nederlandse rijksambtenaren die gedetacheerd worden bij de Europese Commissie (END-ers) onderzocht. Het empirisch materiaal bestaat uit survey-data (N = 90) en interviewdata (N = 28), verkregen van zowel huidige als voormalige END-ers. Op grond van dit materiaal wordt betoogd dat hoewel van formele aansturing vanuit de lidstaat geen sprake kan zijn, de END-ers in de praktijk een duidelijke brugfunctie vervullen tussen beide bestuurslagen. Dit kan gebeuren door middel van zowel frontloaden (bewust, na instructies van de nationale overheid, of onbewust, als gevolg van het nationaal-culturele perspectief) als signaleren (strategisch informatie en standpunten doorseinen van de ene bestuurslaag naar de andere). Hoewel de contacten van de END-er met de Commissie vaak redelijk overeind blijven na terugkomst, neemt de intensiteit van de contacten met andere typen actoren in het beleidsnetwerk meestal snel af

Bridge-builders or Bridgeheads in Brussels? The World of Seconded National Experts

Introduction:The foregoing chapters of this book have demonstrated the extent to which national civil servants are involved in EU-related activities, and the dynamics of national administrative activities in the context of the EU. This chapter shifts the focus from national civil servants working on the European Union to national civil servants working for the European Union. This is a class of national civil servants for whom finding a balance between national and European interests in their work is a permanent, although sometimes implicit feature of their daily professional activities. The duality of national and European roles is perhaps the most exacerbated for the seconded national experts (SNEs), i.e. national civil servants who are temporarily working for EU institutions, in particular those seconded to the European Commission.2 On the one hand, Commission SNEs have to be loyal to the Commission and represent European interests in this supranational organ of the EU. On the other hand, their employer is still the member-state government, and they are expected to return to their home organization after their secondment term ends. The SNEs are thus practically torn between two employers: their daily employer under whose supervision they work (the Commission) and the national employer who sent them on the secondment and continues to pay their salaries (the member-state)

Turkish Accession and Defining the Boundaries of Nationalism and Supranationalism: Discourses in the European Commission

The European Union in general and the European Commission in particular are characterised by supranational governance. The enlargement policy gives the Commission the opportunity to export and promote supranational norms and define the boundaries of Europe as a supranational polity through the conditionality of membership and intensive contact with the candidate countries. This article analyses the discourses of the Commission on Turkey and gives us insights into how well Turkey fits the supranational model in the eyes of Commission officials. It demonstrates how the boundaries of supranationalism are set and even challenged by the prospects of Turkey’s accession

La question de l'adhésion de Chypre à l'Union européenne et le problème de la République Turque de Chypre-Nord

Parmi tous les problèmes que le cinquième élargissement de l'Union européenne engendre, Chypre constitue un cas unique, étant un candidat politiquement problématique à cause de la division de l'île. Lorsque les négociations d'adhésion à l'Union procèdent en plein élan avec les Chypriotes grecs, étant les représentants du seul État reconnu de la République de Chypre, les Chypriotes turcs se trouvent de plus en plus exclus du proccessus d'intégration à l'UE, surtout depuis que la candidature de la Turquie est officialisée lors du sommet du Conseil européen d'Helsinki. Les perceptions de la perspective d'adhésion au sein de la République turque de Chypre-Nord sont variables. D'un côté, telle qu'elle existe aujourd'hui, elle exerce un attrait économique, mais aussi une menace à la sécurité et aux droits politiques de la communauté chypriote turque. De l'autre côté, il y a la grande majorité des Chypriotes turcs pour lesquels l'UE représente une grande opportunité à ne pas manquer, voire une dernière porte d'espoir. À l'origine de toutes ces réticences et enthousiasmes reste le conflit chypriote qui pèse lourd sur l'adhésion de Chypre à l'UE, tout comme il pèse sur la population de l'île, ainsi que sur tous les acteurs qui y sont impliqués. SSSuvarierol Semin. La question de l'adhésion de Chypre à l'Union européenne et le problème de la république turque de Chypre-Nord. In: CEMOTI, n°31, 2001. Jeune recherche. pp. 163-188