O tratado de Lisboa e o Sermão de Santo António aos peixes: as surpreendentes semelhanças

O artigo passa em revista o fracasso do Tratado Constitucional, indagando sobre os elementos de continuidade e ruptura entre este tratado e o Tratado de Lisboa. Como pouco mudou de um tratado para o outro, e como os líderes europeus subtrairam o Tratado de Lisboa à ratificação através de referendos nacionais, somos levados a uma improvável semelhança com o Sermão de Santo António aos Peixes: a integração europeia continua a avançar divorciada dos cidadãos. The paper examines the events that triggered the failure of the Constitutional Treaty. Particular emphasis is on the aspects of continuity and rupture between this treaty and the Lisbon Treaty. Since only a few things changed when both treaties are compared, and considering European leaders’ decision to avoid national referendums on the Lisbon Treaty, an implausible similarity with António Vieira’s book (Saint Anthony’s Sermon to the Fishes) emerges: European integration developments fail to encompass citizens’ voice

Does the European Union have its own system of fiscal federalism?

Paper delivered to the International Conference on European and International Political Affairs, 2, Athens, 2004.There has been a lively debate among scholars about the feasibility and desirability of fiscal federalism in the European Union (EU). The paper addresses the question of whether ‘conventional fiscal federalism’ is feasible in the EU, considering the distinctiveness of European integration and the political-economic template of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It is an attempt to bridge the gap between economics and political science by adding the political conditions that might create difficulties to the economics’ rationale. Starting from the conceptual instruments used (fiscal federalism, centralisation and decentralisation) the paper highlights how fiscal federalism is multi-faceted concept embracing both a centralisation and a decentralisation outcome. Borrowing the Musgravian classification of allocation-equity-stabilisation, the EU is examined as far as redistribution and macroeconomic stabilisation are concerned. The aim is to conclude whether centralisation or decentralisation is the prevailing outcome for both functions. Considering that in the EU: i) the current distribution of fiscal competences is favourable to member states; ii) the overall outcome for the aforementioned fiscal functions is decentralisation; iii) despite monetary policy is the main tool for macroeconomic stabilisation, and this is a policy arena where centralisation prevails; iv) the diminished scope for inter-state solidarity averts more centralisation in redistribution; and v) the absent political willingness from national governments to increase the EU budget; all this suggests that ‘conventional fiscal federalism’ is ruled out as a feasible solution for the EU. Notwithstanding this doesn’t imply that fiscal federalism is absent from the EU. A distinct,decentralised modality of fiscal federalism already exists, coping with the ‘sui generis’ nature of European integration

O tratado de Lisboa e o Sermão de Santo António aos Peixes: as surpreendentes semelhanças

O artigo passa em revista o fracasso do Tratado Constitucional, indagando sobre os elementos de continuidade e ruptura entre este tratado e o Tratado de Lisboa. Como pouco mudou de um tratado para o outro, e como os líderes europeus subtrairam o Tratado de Lisboa à ratificação através de referendos nacionais, somos levados a uma improvável semelhança com o Sermão de Santo António aos Peixes: a integração europeia continua a avançar divorciada dos cidadãos. The paper examines the events that triggered the failure of the Constitutional Treaty. Particular emphasis is on the aspects of continuity and rupture between this treaty and the Lisbon Treaty. Since only a few things changed when both treaties are compared, and considering European leaders’ decision to avoid national referendums on the Lisbon Treaty, an implausible similarity with António Vieira’s book (Saint Anthony’s Sermon to the Fishes) emerges: European integration developments fail to encompass citizens’ voice

Analyzing European Union Politics

The speed and depth with which the European Communities/ European Union has evolved is breathtaking and has radically shaped the life of the continent. Ever since the beginning of this ambitious economic and political project, scholars around the world have tried to explain the underlying logic behind it and the mechanisms of its functioning. Thus, a plethora of studies developed alongside the evolution of the EU. SENT (Network of European Studies) is an innovative and ambitious project which brought together about 100 partners from the EU member states, candidate and associated countries, and other parts of the world. It was a far reaching project aimed to overcome disciplinary and geographical- linguistic boundaries in order to assess the state of EU studies today, as well as the idea of Europe as transmitted by schools, national politicians, the media, etc. SENT’s main goal was to map European studies, in order to get a comprehensive picture of the evolution of European studies over the last decades in different disciplines and countries. This approach permitted to achieve a better understanding of the direction these studies are now taking. Five disciplines were identified where EU studies have particularly evolved: law, politics, economics, history, and social and cultural studies. The mapping of EU studies thus includes a review of the most studied issues in EU studies today, the main academic schools, the most influential journals and books published, but it also shows how local realities and national identities affect the study and teaching of Europe around the world. In addition, an important work was done in mapping and discussing teaching methodologies in relation to European studies with the aim of introducing and diffusing the most up-to-date techniques

Is the European Central Bank a case for institutional adaptation to the challenges of globalisation?: implications for European Union’s democratic legitimacy

Paper presented to the Global Governance and the Search for Justice Conference, Sheffield, 2003.The paper focus on the constitutional implications derived from the specific nature of the European Central Bank (ECB) for the would-be polity formation in the European Union (EU). The emphasis is placed on the alleged absence of democratic legitimacy and the intertwined weak pattern of accountability the ECB shows. My argument tries to challenge the reasoning supporting this conventional criticism. Maybe the ECB is not so undemocratic; maybe the institutional arrangements for its accountability are not to be so harshly criticised. The denial of the conventional criticism relies on the specific nature of the supranational polity that is emerging, for which Economic and Monetary Union (and the ECB by large) plays a prominent role. The reasons for this alternative interpretation are twofold. One depicts the specific nature of the European integration process, and the inherent changes to the traditional vision of sovereignty, democracy and accountability. The other challenges the way member states themselves are currently unable to satisfy the requirements of democratic legitimacy and accountability for reasons related to a decay of parliamentary democracies and for the diminished ability nation states have to be the central agents of decision-making in a world of increased economic interdependence. Therefore the ECB may be in possession of sufficient democratic legitimacy (and thus the claims of limited accountability fall apart) if one assess its performance as being the guarantee for price stability as the main political-economic outcome the supranational bank can afford to the European citizens

Is the European Central Bank a Case for Institutional Adaptation to the Challenges of Globalisation?: implications for European Union’s Democratic Legitimacy

Paper presented to the Global Governance and the Search for Justice Conference, Sheffield, 2003.The paper focus on the constitutional implications derived from the specific nature of the European Central Bank (ECB) for the would-be polity formation in the European Union (EU). The emphasis is placed on the alleged absence of democratic legitimacy and the intertwined weak pattern of accountability the ECB shows. My argument tries to challenge the reasoning supporting this conventional criticism. Maybe the ECB is not so undemocratic; maybe the institutional arrangements for its accountability are not to be so harshly criticised. The denial of the conventional criticism relies on the specific nature of the supranational polity that is emerging, for which Economic and Monetary Union (and the ECB by large) plays a prominent role. The reasons for this alternative interpretation are twofold. One depicts the specific nature of the European integration process, and the inherent changes to the traditional vision of sovereignty, democracy and accountability. The other challenges the way member states themselves are currently unable to satisfy the requirements of democratic legitimacy and accountability for reasons related to a decay of parliamentary democracies and for the diminished ability nation states have to be the central agents of decision-making in a world of increased economic interdependence. Therefore the ECB may be in possession of sufficient democratic legitimacy (and thus the claims of limited accountability fall apart) if one assess its performance as being the guarantee for price stability as the main political-economic outcome the supranational bank can afford to the European citizens

A constituição da União Europeia: um novo modelo de sociedade europeia?

Apesar da polémica, a Constituição da União Europeia tem predicados. Neste artigo concentramo-nos no reforço da participação dos parlamentos nacionais na tomada de decisão da União. Olhando ao passado recente – esboroamento da base parlamentar, fuga do poder executivo para as decisões tomadas no Conselho de Ministros da União – a Constituição permite a reconquista de poderes pelos parlamentos nacionais. Por aí, retoma o ponto de contacto com os cidadãos. Neste sentido, a Constituição é um passo em frente na democratização da integração europeia. Despite the controversy, the European Constitution presents valuable aspects. Here we focus on national parliaments’ strengthened participation on the EU’s decision-making process. Looking back to the past (how the parliamentary basis has eroded, how national executive power sheltered in the Council of Ministers), the Constitution allows national parliaments to regain some of the powers they lost. Therefore, the EU is again on track with citizens, it becomes more representative. Thus, the Constitution is a step forward on the European integration’s democratisation

Nos despojos da crise económica e financeira: a inviabilidade de uma moeda mundial

A crise económica e financeira colocou o mundo perante desafios sem precedentes. A criação de uma moeda mundial – como resposta à crise e como medida preventiva de futuras crises – é equacionada. A moeda mundial esbarra em três obstáculos que têm diferentes enfoques teóricos: teoria realista (relações internacionais), teoria das escolhas racionais (ciência política) e teoria das zonas monetárias óptimas (ciência económica). A heterogeneidade é o pano de fundo da economia política real que domina a economia internacional, liquidando as aspirações da moeda mundial. The ongoing crisis raised important challenges. The idea of creating a world currency to overcome the crisis and to prevent future crisis is examined. However appealing it might be, the idea of a world currency faces three obstacles with different theoretical insights: realism (international relations), rational choice (political science), and the optimum currency area theory (economics). Theoretical heterogeneity is the political economic template of international economics, therefore jeopardising the aspirations of a world currency