Deciding on the European Semester: the European Council, the Council and the enduring asymmetry between economic and social policy issues. Journal of European Public Policy. 2018;25(2):193-211. Abstract
Deciding on the European Semester: the European Council, the Council and the enduring asymmetry between economic and social policy issues
This contribution investigates the asymmetrical relationship between economic and social aspects under the European Semester by looking at the roles of the European Council and the Council between 2010 and 2016. Drawing on the theories of deliberative and new intergovernmentalism, this asymmetry is associated with an uneven evolution of the co-ordination infrastructure, notably the varying degree to which key policy issues are subject to informal policy dialogue. Not only are finance ministers better placed to conduct policy dialogue, they also control the European Semester policy priorities more effectively than their colleagues in the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO). Finance ministers also are more closely linked to discussions at the highest political level, the European Council. Social affairs committees and the Commission managed to gain a greater role at the expert level and to integrate more social issues into policy recommendations. Yet, these successes are not matched by higher level political endorsement.
Studying Europe after the fall: four thoughts on post-EU studies. Journal of European Public Policy. 2018;25(3):465-74. Abstract
Studying Europe after the fall: four thoughts on post-EU studies
What would European Union (EU) scholars study if the EU were to fall? This contribution does not predict the demise of the Union, but rather engages EU scholars in a thought-experiment. It considers what would happen to EU studies and the scholarly community if the EU were to disintegrate. Moreover, the possible contours of post-EU studies are outlined. That discussion is based around the four ideas of destruction, diagnosis, diversion and renewal. If the EU were to fall, the argument goes, the questions that drive EU scholars would endure and evolve rather than evaporate. The challenges that triggered the collapse of the EU would be likely to haunt former member states and other organizational structures for regional and international co-operation.
Brexit and the European Union’s institutional balance. How member states and EU institutions adapt to decision-making. In: Fabbrini F, editor. The law & politics of Brexit. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2017. p. 247-65.
The new intergovernmentalism - the next phase in European integration. In: Key controversies in European integration. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; 2016.
The euro crisis and European integration. In: European Union politics. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2016. p. 365-79.
Catalysts of integration - the role of core intergovernmental forums in EU politics. Journal of European Integration. 2016;38(5):633-42.
The centrality of consensus and deliberation in contemporary EU politics and the new intergovernmentalism. Journal of European Integration. 2016;38(5):601-15.
Integration without supranationalisation: studying the lead roles of the European Council and the Council in post-Lisbon EU politics. Journal of European Integration. 2016;38(5):481-95.
The new intergovernmentalism. States and supranational actors in the post-Maastricht era. Bickerton CJ, Hodson D, Puetter U, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015.
The European Council: the centre of new intergovernmentalism. In: Bickerton CJ, Hodson D, Puetter U, editors. The new intergovernmentalism. States, supranational actors, and European politics in the post-Maastricht era. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 165-84.
Conclusions: the post-Maastricht period and beyond. In: Bickerton CJ, Hodson D, Puetter U, editors. The new intergovernmentalism. States, supranational actors, and European politics in the post-Maastricht era. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 304-28.
The new intergovernmentalism and the study of European integration. In: Bickerton CJ, Hodson D, Puetter U, editors. The new intergovernmentalism. States, supranational actors, and European politics in the post-Maastricht era. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 1-48.
New intergovernmentalism: The European Council and its president. In: Fabbrini F, Hirsch Ballin E, Somsen H, editors. What form of government for the European Union and the Eurozone? Oxford: Hart Publishing; 2015. p. 253-70.
Something new: a rejoinder to Frank Schimmelfennig on the new intergovernmentalism. Journal of Common Market Studies. 2015;53(4):731-6.
The new intergovernmentalism: European integration in the post-Maastricht era. Journal of Common Market Studies. 2015;53(4):703-22.
Deliberativer Intergouvernementalismus und institutioneller Wandel: die Europäische Union nach der Eurokrise. PVS Politische Vierteljahreszeitschrift. 2015;56(3):406-531.
The European Council and the Council: perspectives on new dynamics in EU governance. Brussels: European Parliament; 2015. Abstract
The European Council and the Council: perspectives on new dynamics in EU governance
The European Council and the Council play a central role in policy-making within those new areas of EU activity within which intergovernmental policy coordination prevails over legislative decision-making such economic governance and foreign affairs. The emphasis on decentralised governance implies important changes to institutional design and the practice of inter-institutional relations.
The European Council and the Council. New intergovernmentalism and institutional change. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2014.
The new intergovernmentalism: European integration in the post-Maastricht era. Journal of Common Market Studies. 2014:FIRST VIEW.
The rotating Council presidency and the new intergovernmentalism. The International Spectator. 2014;49(4):18-32.
The EU and the Economic Crisis. In: Cini M, Pérez-Solórzano Borragán N, editors. European Union Politics. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2013. p. 367-79.
Consistency and diversity? The EU's rotating trio Council Presidency after the Lisbon Treaty. Journal of European Public Policy. 2013;20(1):95-112. Abstract
Consistency and diversity? The EU's rotating trio Council Presidency after the Lisbon Treaty
The Lisbon Treaty introduced significant changes to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). The new Treaty combines a permanent chair with the principle of rotation based on three member states collaborating during an 18-month period, without specifying the responsibilities of trio groups. This left wide scope for the first post-Lisbon trio to establish new working mechanisms. By discussing the joint Presidency of Spain, Belgium and Hungary, this article interprets the trio model and its combination with the permanent chair model as an attempt to re-adjust the balance between consistency and diversity. Rotation remains a key instrument for ensuring the representation of the diversity of member states in an enlarged Union. At the same time, the EU’s ever more complex policy agenda and a greater need for collective leadership motivate the search for new forms of cooperation to enhance policy consistency over consecutive Presidency terms.
The European Council - the new centre of EU politics. SIEPS European Policy Analysis. 2013;(16):1-16.
The latest attempt at institutional engineering: The Treaty of Lisbon and deliberative intergovernmentalism in EU foreign and security policy coordination. In: Cardwell PJ, editor. EU external relations law and policy in the post-Lisbon era. The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press; 2012. p. 17-34.
European economic and monetary policy-making through informal governance. In: Christiansen T, Neuhold C, editors. International handbook on informal governance. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar; 2012. p. 501-16.
The new intergovernmentalism in EU governance. In: Zimmermann H, Dür A, editors. Key controversies in European integration. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; 2012. p. 56-62.
Europe's deliberative intergovernmentalism: the role of the Council and European Council in EU economic governance. Journal of European Public Policy. 2012;19(2):161-78. Abstract
Europe's deliberative intergovernmentalism: the role of the Council and European Council in EU economic governance
The European Union’s (EU’s) responses to the economic and financial crisis provided a vigorous illustration for how the role of the Union’s core intergovernmental bodies – the European Council and the Council – has evolved in recent years. The European Council has emerged as the centre of political gravity in the field of economic governance. The Council and the Eurogroup fulfil a crucial role as forums for policy debate. The emphasis on increased high-level intergovernmental policy co-ordination is the reflection of an integration paradox inherent to the post-Maastricht EU. While policy interdependencies have grown, member state governments have resisted the further transfer of formal competences to the EU level and did not follow the model of the Community method. Instead, they aim for greater policy coherence through intensified intergovernmental coordination. Given its consensus dependency, this co-ordination system can best be conceptualized as deliberative intergovernmentalism.
Hlavní je jednota. Lidové Noviny. 2012. Abstract
Hlavní je jednota
Commentary on the euro crisis.
The Council. How the member states agree on Europe's external policies. In: Wunderlich J-U, Bailey DJ, editors. The European Union and global governance. A handbook. London: Routledge; 2011. p. 89-98.
The trio presidency in the European Union of the Lisbon Treaty. The case of the Spanish, Belgium and Hungarian group presidency. Budapest: Center for European Union Research; 2011.
Informal elite dialogue and democratic control in EU foreign and security policy. RECON Working Paper; 2010.
Die Wirtschafts- und Sozialpolitik der EU. Wien: Facultas-Verlag; 2009.
The Quality of Norms is What Actors Make of It : Critical Constructivist Research on Norms. Journal of International Law and International Relations. 2009;5(1):1-16.
EU Foreign Policy Elites and Fundamental Norms: Implications for Governance. Oslo: Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo; 2009.
Regieren in der Euro-Zone und die wirtschaftspolitische Koordination in der erweiterten Union – warum die Stärkung deliberativer Entscheidungsprozesse wichtig ist. In: Bos E, Dieringer J, editors. Die Genese einer Union der 27 : Die Europäische Union nach der Osterweiterung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften; 2008. p. 139-55.
Adapting to Enlargement : The Role of Formal and Informal Processes of Institutional Adjustment in EU Committee Governance. Journal of European Integration. 2008;30(4):479-91.
Preparing the Economic and Financial Committee and the Economic Policy Committee for Enlargement. Journal of European Integration. 2008;30(4):527-43.
Monetary union. In: Encyclopedia of governance. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications; 2007.
Committee Governance in an Enlarged European Union : Editorial.. 2007;(6):1-3.
Providing Venues for Contestation : The Role of Expert Committees and Informal Dialogue among Ministers in European Economic Policy Coordination. Comparative European Politics. 2007;5(1):18-35.
Yes, but the key is tying EU decision- making to domestic politics. Europe's World. 2007;(Spring):87, 89. Abstract
Yes, but the key is tying EU decision- making to domestic politics
Commentary to the article Long on policies but short on politics, the EU needs a breath of fresh air by Loukas Tsoukalis
Intervening from outside : the role of EU finance ministers in the constitutional politics. Journal of European Public Policy. 2007;14(8):1293-310.
Accommodating Normative Divergence in European Foreign Policy Coordination : The Example of the Iraq Crisis. Journal of Common Market Studies. 2007;45(5):1065-88.
The Eurogroup : How a secretive circle of finance ministers shape European economic governance. Manchester: Manchester University Press; 2006.
Book review.; 2005. Abstract
Book review
This article reviews the book The Enlargement of the European Union. Ordering from the Menu in Central Europe by Wade Jacoby
Governing informally : the role of the Eurogroup in EMU and the Stability and Growth Pact. Journal of European Public Policy. 2004;11(5):854-70.
Informal Circles of Ministers : A Way Out of the EU’s Institutional Dilemmas? European Law Journal. 2003;9(1):109-24.
The Informal Eurogroup : a New Working Method and an Institutional Compromise. Belfast: School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, Queen's University Belfast; 2001.