Elections for the European Parliament. Towards a Normalization of Euro – Enthusiasm?
Claudiu CRACIUN
Abstract: This article presents two perspectives of European Parliament elections, one which renders commonplace to European problems reflected by the low voting participation that proceeds from parties’ mobilisation which was lower than for the national elections, or from the low level of citizens’ information, and the second perspective which reveals a Romanian “model”, represented by the vote structure, concluding that the European enthusiasm dropped in Romania.
Keywords: elections, democratic exercise, voting participation, trusting institutions, national elections, Eurosceptic, pro-European.
European Union – Between Reform and Institutional Deadlock
Ioana PATRAN
Abstract: This article refers to the difficulty of the Reform treaty adoption because of those who support the reform and those who are against it , wishing to maintain their independence in certain areas; also the article presents the implications that delaying the reform would induce on the entire union, suggesting that this outcome leads to a decrease in the EU’s importance as global actor.
Keywords: institutional reform, consensus, referendum
Darfur, a New Stage in the Consolidation of an EU Common Foreign Policy?
Eugen ROTARU
Abstract: This article presents the Darfur crisis as a contributory element for EU’s members cohesion and the strengthening of a common foreign policy, through the European Parliament’s decision to send military troops to action under the aegis of European Security and Defence Policy, but the article refers to the real capability of the member states to respect the agreements, taking into account their participation in NATO ’s actions, also.
Keywords: crisis, humanitarian actions, European Security and Defence Policy, solidarity (cohesion), strengthening
Minimum Wage in EU Countries
Emilia BUCUR
Abstract: This article discusses the possibility that EU will introduce a minimum salary, according to the financial configuration of each member state, presenting benefic effects which this system should bring, such as an improvement of economic conditions and the avoidance of economic collapse. Also, it presents the salary situation at EU level, focusing on the case of Romania.
Keywords: minimum salary, budgetary policy, financial protection, salary balance
The Reform of the EU – Progress or Regress? The British Exceptions
Andra ROESCU
Abstract: This article presents EU’s reform as a regress, as a return to intergovernmentalism rather than a supranational perspective, through the importance of the British exception and the acceptance the opting-out clause, which will carry new initiatives like Poland’s interest to obtain an increasing importance of the vote in Council.
Keywords: reform, negotiation, opting-out, intergovernmentalism, supranational
EP Elections?
Ioana PATRAN
Abstract: This article presents the first Romanian elections for the European Parliament considering both the political actors and the citizens, at the same time trying to explain the causes for low voter turnout, by ascribing it to the lack of information regarding European problems of both citizens and the parties
Keywords: electoral campaign, elections, public proceedings, lack of information
The Logic of Negotiation in the European Union
Andrada ALBESCU
Abstract: This article is based on the premise that there is a negotiation logic in the decisional process of the EU and it attempts to show the characteristics of this logic, rationality and solidarity, presenting a real case, that of the Lisbon negotiation regarding the allocation of the seats in European Parliament.
Keywords: compromise, negotiation logic, rationality, solidarity
The Impact of Europeanization on the Quality of Democracy in Romania
Andrada ALBESCU
Abstract: In this project I propose to analyse the impact of the Europeanization process on democracy’s quality in Romania. Although there are several studies about the evolution of Romanian democracy, those are more or less connected with the quality of aboriginal democracy. This is why this essay supplies a more detailed research about this aspect, seeing the context of Romania’s integration and the effects that it produced. The project will be divided in four parts. In the first part I will try to built a theoretical frame which can be used to establish a working methodology for this research. In the second part I will develop the methodological framework and I will present the analysed period. The third part of the project will focus on the analysis of democracy’s quality in Romania proper and on the importance of Europeanization in this process. The last part will present conclusions regarding the way in which Europeanization was understood in Romania. Was Europeanization understood as a process from top to bottom or just an adoption of the acquis communautaire. These are some of the questions which this project wants to answer.
Keywords: Europeanization, democracy, European integration, civil society
Eurosceptic Parties and Platforms in Western Europe versus Central and Eastern Europe
Madalina RADULESCU
Abstract: This project will analyse the emergence of euroscepticism in parties and political platforms, in Western Europe relative to Central and Eastern Europe. I presented the emergence of euroscepticism and theoretical concepts of it. I have analysed the most important parties and eurosceptic platforms from Western Europe, considering countries like Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Austria. Starting from the study realised by Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak, I analysed the manifestation of euroscepticism in countries like Bulgaria, Slovenia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary. I followed the main differences existing at the parties’ level and political platforms from the both sides of Europe proceeding from six assumptions of the two authors’, starting from Western experience. Then, I presented the European context, in order to explain the main causes of euroscepticism’s rising and to make some predictions regarding the future evolution of eurosceptic manifestations in Central and Eastern Europe. Eventually I proposed to analyse the hypothesis that states there is a correlation between the emergence of eurosceptic parties and political platforms and the patterns of party competition, and also, euroscepticism is characteristic for opposition parties. The implications of this assertion are : parties’ position about the integration are affected by the party interest, the strategy adopted by the competitors or by opposition’s potential.
Keywords: euroscepticism, political platforms, parties, opposition
Opinion articles
Research articles
