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481. Fixing the Services Directive

Author:
Stefano Micossi
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
In the spring of 2004, the European Commission approved a draft Directive on Services in the Internal Market and sent it to the Council and the European Parliament. The proposal is the cornerstone of the ailing Lisbon strategy to revive growth and jobs in the European Union: services account for 70% of GDP and employment in advanced countries, and their performance is a main determinant of overall productivity and employment growth. In the European Union, the markets for services are still organised along national lines, cross border trade remains relatively underdeveloped and competition is scarce. The productivity gap with the United States is largely explained by these obstacles.
Topic:
Economics, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Lisbon

482. Variable Geometries: Mapping Ideas, Institutions and Power in the Wider Europe

Author:
Fabrizio Tassinari
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The controversies and ambiguities characterising the EU neighbourhood strategy are ultimately due to the fact that the wider Europe concerns the conceptual, strategic and spatial limits of Europe. It is in this wider Europe that the EU as process meets the EU as actor. It is here that its 'gravitational power' meets its 'normative power'. It is here that the sui-generis EU governance system meets its foreign policy capabilities.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

483. The Trade-Induced Effects of the Services Directive and the Country-of-Origin Principle

Author:
Arjan Lejour, Henk Kox, and Roland de Bruijn
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The proposed ServicIn March 2004, the European Commission proposed a directive on the internal market in services. Its aim is to boost the EU's internal market in services by reducing regulation-based impediments to trade and investment in services. A previous CPB study The free movement of services within the EU concluded that bilateral trade in commercial services may increase by 30-60 per cent. This equals an increase of total intra-EU trade (i.e. including trade in goods) of 2 to 5 per cent. For foreign direct investment in commercial services the EU proposal may lead to an increase by 20 per cent to 35 per cent.
Topic:
Economics, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

484. Strategic Implications of the EU Crisis

Author:
Timofei V. Bordachev, Jeffrey Gedmin, and Charles Grant
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The French and Dutch rejections of the Constitutional Treaty have opened up a period of deep and protracted difficulties for the European Union. The strategic implications of the new situation are compounded by the fact that foreign and security policy was one of the areas in which significant innovations have been provided for by the treaty.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

485. Divided Government European Style? Electoral and Mechanical Causes of European Parliament and Council Divisions

Author:
Philip Manow and Holger Döring
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament tend to use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party-political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the Council. This study, which compares empirically the party-political centers of gravity of these two central political actors, shows that opposed majorities between Council and Parliament may have other than simply electoral causes. The logic of domestic government formation works against the representation of politically more extreme parties, and hence against more EU-skeptic parties in the Council. At the same time, voters in EP elections vote more often for these more extreme and more EU-skeptic parties. The different locations of Council and Parliament in the pro-/contra-EU dimension may thus be caused by two – possibly interrelated – effects: a mechanical effect, due to the translation of votes into seats and then into ‘office’, and thus also into Council representation, and an electoral effect in elections to the European Parliament. The paper discusses the implications of this fi nding for our understanding of the political system of the EU and of its democratic legitimacy.
Topic:
Government, Politics, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

486. Ten years of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership - accomplishments and prospects

Author:
Agata Kołakowska
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Ever since the European Economic Community came into being in the late 1950s, the member countries have always shared a belief that development of economic cooperation, especially through trade, is crucial to fostering good relations with Arab world nations. It was, however, essential to define the kind of cooperation that was to be pursued with countries which were then French colonies and enjoyed trade privileges. The first association agreements were concluded with the three Maghreb states in 1969. As time went by the EEC hammered out a more integrated approach to the non-member countries of the Mediterranean Basin with cooperation focussed on economic and development-related matters—a policy that chimed with the expectations of all the partners. The idea of framing a long-range plan to establish a free-trade area was grounded in a belief in the necessity of enhancing mutual relations in fields that were likely to yield the biggest benefits.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

487. VISA POLICIES IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE: A HINDRANCE OR A STEPPING STONE TO EUROPEAN INTEGRATION?

Author:
Martin Baldwin-Edwards
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
South Eastern Europe (SEE) has been under great pressure from the European Union (EU) to modernize and improve its border management, while simultaneously trying to facilitate cross-border flows and good neighborly relations in the region. The forthcoming accession to the EU of two countries from the region, Bulgaria and Romania, and recently opened negotiations for the accession of two more, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, have the potential to damage both cross-border flows and regional stability. One of the principal factors influencing this potential is the requirement for acceding countries to implement the Schengen regime – in particular, the so-called “black list” of countries whose nationals require visas to enter the Schengen area. At this time, from the Balkan region only Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania are not on the “black list”.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Balkans, Romania, Macedonia, and Croatia

488. Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus: The EU's Role

Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Instability in the South Caucasus is a threat to European Union (EU) security. Geographic proximity, energy resources, pipelines and the challenges of international crime and trafficking make stability in the region a clear EU interest. Yet, the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts have the potential to ignite into full-fledged wars in Europe's neighbourhood. To guarantee its own security, the EU should become more engaged in efforts to resolve the three disputes. It can do so by strengthening the conflict resolution dimension of the instruments it applies. As the EU is unlikely to offer membership to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan even in the medium term, it must identify innovative means to impose conditionality on its aid and demonstrate influence. This is a challenge that Brussels has only begun to address.
Topic:
Security and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
America, Europe, Azerbaijan, Georgia, South Caucasus, and Brussels

489. What Could be Saved from the European Constitution if Ratification Fails? The Problems with a 'Plan B'

Author:
Sebastian Kurpas
Publication Date:
05-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The pressure is on for the defenders of the European Constitution. Although initially it seemed as if referenda would only be problematic in countries that have a reputation for a certain degree of Euroscepticism, now even France and the Netherlands look like unsafe candidates for public approval. While there is still a fair chance that a majority of the French will vote 'yes' when actually at the ballot box, there is an understandable nervousness among prointegrationists. A French 'no' would be the most serious obstacle that any one member state among those holding a referendum could create. In the likely case that other member states besides France then reject the text – possibly for entirely different or even opposing reasons – it would become extremely difficult to 'save' the Constitution in its entirety.
Topic:
Government, International Organization, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

490. Facing the Terrorist Challenge - Central Asia's Role in Regional and International Co-operation - Study Groups: Regional Stability in Central Asia Security Sector Reform

Author:
Anja H. Ebnöther, Ernst M. Felberbauer, and Martin Malek
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
After the collapse of the Soviet Union the five Central Asian former Soviet Republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) appeared as one region. Though it is scientifically debatable if “Central Asia” consists of only these five stat es or if others should be included as well (e.g. Afghanistan, Mongolia), my findings will basically deal with the five former Soviet Central Asian republics – sometimes, where appropriate, with references to adjacent countries.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Terrorism, and International Security
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Middle East, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Asia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan