Fish Barrel Politics? Self-selection into and inside the European Parliament's fisheries committee

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 31st UACES annual conference in Bristol, September 2001. I thank the participants in the panel for their comments.This paper investigates the division of labour inside the European Parliament in the light of contending theories, using evidence from its fisheries committee. The aim of the paper is to find out the causes of specialisation and whether the committee is representative of the full chamber, using socio-economic variables such as the fisheries sector share of employment or production as proxies for MEPs’ preferences. The paper starts by analysing nominal committee membership. Then, it goes deeper to investigate participation inside committee, by analysing the allocation of rapporteurships, which are used by the EP to organise its work inside committees. Finally, the conclusions summarise the main findings on the causes of specialisation and the representativeness of committees, and introduce some normative considerations about the efficiency of self-selection

De Little Rock a la frontera francesa: ¿a qué especie animal pertenece la Unión Europea?

Diego Varela Pedreira recibió una beca conjunta de la Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza y The British Council para iniciar estudios doctorales en la London School of Economics durante el curso 1998-1999, dentro de la convocatoria de becas de posgrado en Gran Bretaña de 1997.[Resument] El artículo compara la reacción de los Estados Unidos ante la reticencia del estado de Arkansas a integrar sus escuelas públicas con la reacción de la Unión Europea ante la reticencia del gobierno francés de garantizar la libre circulación de mercancías en su frontera con España. La conclusión es que la UE no es un estado y por lo tanto carece de la efectividad de éste en la defensa de ciertos derechos fundamentales. A pesar de esto, la Unión sí puede caracterizarse como un sistema político emergente, y ser objeto de estudio de la política comparada

Reconocimiento y homologación

Diego Varela Pedreira recibió una beca conjunta de la Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza y The British Council para iniciar estudios doctorales en la London School of Economics durante el curso 1998-1999, dentro de la convocatoria de becas de posgrado en Gran Bretaña de 1997.El Gobierno de España ha aprobado recientemente una importante reforma relativa a la homologación de títulos extranjeros de postgrado. Dicha reforma es interesante desde el punto de vista práctico, y más para nosotros que, como becarios de postgrado de la Fundación, estamos dentro del grupo de posibles beneficiarios de estos cambios. Pero también es posible interpretar dicha reforma como un modesto aunque significativo paso de cara a una reforma más profunda del sistema universitario español. El artículo se divide en tres partes, seguidas de una conclusión. En la primera, explico unas distinciones básicas entre títulos oficiales y no oficiales, y entre reconocimiento y homologación, que serán útiles para seguir el texto. En la segunda parte, presento dos modelos paradigmáticos de reconocimiento de diplomas extranjeros: el modelo americano y el modelo francés. En la tercera parte, analizo el sistema español y la reciente reforma para el reconocimiento de los títulos de postgrado a la luz de esos dos modelos alternativos. Por último, en la conclusión hago una evaluación general de la situación actual y propongo algunas posibilidades de futuro

The Prestige Disaster And The Proposal For A European Fund For The Compensation Of Oil Pollution Damage: A Missed Opportunity For The European Union?

[Abstract] In this paper we analyze the proposal for the creation of a European fund for the compensation of oil pollution damage. We argue that experience from the accident of the Prestige tanker off the Spanish coast in 2002 made it clear that existing international liability and compensation mechanisms were insufficient. The disaster added momentum to the proposal for the creation of an intermediate tier between the national and the international regimes. However, the proposal was dropped in 2004. In this paper we analyze the causes of the proposal demise and whether a similar opportunity is likely to arise in the future

National vs. European mandate: a rational choice model of interest rate decisions by the European Central Bank

Paper prepared for the 33rd annual conference and 8th research conference of UACES, Newcastle, 2-4 September 2003.The aim of this paper is to investigate to what extent the members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) act as if they had a national mandate, instead of acting in the interests of price stability in the euro area as a whole. The paper develops a simple rational choice model of interest rate decisions inside the Governing Council of the ECB based on national mandates, and tests it against a model based on a European mandate, using monthly data from January 1999 to July 2003. The paper concludes that the model assuming national mandates explains the data better, and derives some implications for the reform of the ECB and other pseudo-independent institutions such as the European Commission, especially in the eve of the next enlargement

Negotiating the Lisbon Treaty : Redistribution, Efficiency and Power Indices

[Abstract] In this paper, we try to explain the intergovernmental negotiation of the Lisbon treaty from a rational choice perspective with the aid of power index analysis. There are two aspects of the reform of qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council that we find puzzling. The first one is that, according to Shapley-Shubik index based on the notion of power as the distribution of a fixed prize, small and medium-sized member states have lost power as compared to the Nice treaty, which conflicts with the unanimity requirement for treaty reform. The second one is that, according to the Banzhaf measure based on the notion of power as influence, the Lisbon treaty leaves all member states worse off in absolute terms as compared to the Convention’s draft. We propose the measure developed by Steunenberg et al. (1999) as a possible solution to these paradoxes, and draw some conclusions about the nature of EU policy making and power index analysis

Evolución del basamento paleozoico de los Andes Norpatagónicos en el área de San Martín de los Andes (Neuquén, Argentina): petrología, edad y correlaciones

In San Martín de los Andes area (Argentinian Patagonia) the Palaeozoic basement consists of metamorphic and plutonic rocks. The metamorphic rocks include strongly deformed schists, gneisses and migmatites. Their geochemical and petrographic characteristics suggest that the protholith could have been a sequence of pelites and greywackes. Detrital zircon analysis (U-Pb Q-ICP-LA-MS) yielded a maximum depositional age of 501±14 Ma (Series 3 Cambrian) for this sedimentary protolith. Metasedimentary rocks are affected by a regional foliation defined by the minerals of the metamorphic peak. This is a S2 foliation, since relics of a former foliation are present in some samples. This regional foliation is locally affected by open folds that develop an incipient crenulation cleavage (S3). The high-grade metamorphism includes partial melting processes, where the incipient segregates intrude parallel to the regional foliation and also cut it in presence of abundant melt. Zircons from anatectic granites formed during this partial melting process yielded a U-Pb Concordia age of 434.1±4.5 Ma (Llandovery-Wenlock, Silurian). The age of maximum sedimentation and the anatectic age constrain the metamorphic evolution of the basement into the lower Palaeozoic (between upper Cambrian and lower Silurian). The igneous rocks of the basement are granodiorites, tonalities, and some gabbros that cut the metamorphic basement and contain xenoliths and roof pendants from the country rocks. These plutonic rocks are affected by low-grade metamorphism, with the development of discrete, centimetric to hectometric, brittle-ductile shear zones. The age of these igneous rocks has been constrained through U-Pb zircons analysis, carried out by several authors between ca. 370 and 400 Ma (Devonian). The maximum sedimentation age for the protolith and its metamorphic evolution seems to be related to an early Palaeozoic orogenic event, probably the Patagonian Famatinian orogeny. In contrast, the Devonian igneous rocks of San Martín de los Andes could represent a Devonian magmatic arc, related to subduction processes developed at the beginning of the Gondwanan orogenic cycle, which culminates with the Gondwanan orogeny.En el entorno de San Martín de los Andes (Patagonia argentina), el basamento Paleozoico está constituido por rocas metamórficas e ígneas. Las rocas metamórficas de esta área incluyen esquistos, gneises y migmatitas intensamente deformadas. Según sus características geoquímicas y petrográficas, el protolito de las mismas es considerado una alternancia de pelitas y grauvacas. Análisis de circones detríticos (U-Pb Q-ICP-LA-MS) permiten definir una edad máxima de sedimentación de 501±14 Ma (Series 3, Cámbrico) para este protolito sedimentario. Las rocas metasedimentarias se encuentran afectadas por una foliación regional definida por la asociación principal del pico metamórfico. Esta es una foliación de tipo S2, ya que se encuentran relictos de una foliación anterior en algunas muestras. Esta foliación regional, está localmente afectada por pliegues abiertos donde se desarrolla un clivaje de crenulación incipiente (S3). El metamorfismo de alto grado incluye un evento de fusión parcial, donde los primeros segregados se introducen a favor de la foliación S2 y la cortan en presencia de abundante fundido. Circones obtenidos de un granito anatéctico producido durante este evento de fusión parcial arrojaron una edad Concordia U-Pb de 434.1±4.5 Ma (Llandovery-Wenlock, Silúrico). La edad máxima de sedimentación y la edad de anatexis permiten acotar la evolución de las rocas metamórficas del basamento al Paleozoico inferior (entre el Cámbrico tardío y el Silúrico temprano). Las rocas ígneas del basamento son granodioritas y tonalitas, con menor proporción de gabros, las cuales cortan las rocas metamórficas y contienen xenolitos y roof pendants de las mismas. Por otra parte, estas rocas plutónicas fueron afectadas por un metamorfismo de bajo grado que llevan asociadas zonas de cizalla frágil-dúctil centimétricas a hectométricas. Edades U-Pb SHRIMP en circones restringe la edad de estas rocas entre 370 y 400 Ma (Devónico). La edad máxima de sedimentación de los protolitos de las rocas metamórficas y su evolución metamórfica podría estar relacionada a un evento orogénico del Paleozoico temprano, probablemente a la orogenia Famatiniana Patagónica. En contraste, las rocas plutónicas de San Martín de los Andes representarían un arco magmático, relacionado a una subducción que se habría producido al comienzo del ciclo orogénico Gondwánico, el cual culmina con la orogenia Gondwánica.Centro de Investigaciones Geológica

A search for ultra-high-energy photons at the Pierre Auger Observatory exploiting air-shower universality

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the most sensitive detector to primary photons with energies above ∼0.2 EeV. It measures extensive air showers using a hybrid technique that combines a fluorescence detector (FD) with a ground array of particle detectors (SD). The signatures of a photon-induced air shower are a larger atmospheric depth at the shower maximum (X$_{max}$) and a steeper lateral distribution function, along with a lower number of muons with respect to the bulk of hadron-induced background. Using observables measured by the FD and SD, three photon searches in different energy bands are performed. In particular, between threshold energies of 1-10 EeV, a new analysis technique has been developed by combining the FD-based measurement of X$_{max}$ with the SD signal through a parameter related to its muon content, derived from the universality of the air showers. This technique has led to a better photon/hadron separation and, consequently, to a higher search sensitivity, resulting in a tighter upper limit than before. The outcome of this new analysis is presented here, along with previous results in the energy ranges below 1 EeV and above 10 EeV. From the data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory in about 15 years of operation, the most stringent constraints on the fraction of photons in the cosmic flux are set over almost three decades in energy