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321. Public Opinion and Enlargement: A Gravity Approach

Author:
Erik Jones and Niels van der Bijl
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Popular support for enlargement of the European Union is a function of how close or how far removed the member states are from the candidate countries. In the absence of country fixed effects or special bilateral relationships (e.g. adjacency, historic rivalry, religious conformity), we can explain approximately 14% of the variation in attitudes across member states and with regard to specific candidate countries using factors related to trade, distance, and relative economic size and structure. Taking special bilateral relations into account we can explain approximately 30%. Once country fixed effects are incorporated, the level of explanation increases to 80%.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Europe

322. The Draft Constitutional Treaty's Voting Reform Dilemma

Author:
Richard Baldwin and Mika Widgren
Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The ongoing Intergovernmental Conference (IGC 2003) must re-shape Giscard d'Estaing's draft into a Constitutional Treaty that can be signed and subsequently ratified by all 25 members of the enlarged European Union.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe

323. Reform of Corporate Governance in the EU

Author:
Karel Lannoo and Arman Khachaturyan
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
This Policy Brief criticis es the European Commission's proposal to mandate compliance with a local corporate governance code and to set minimum criteria for these codes. It argues that the European Commission missed an opportunity to set a European corporate governance code in the mid -1990s, and that much of the proposals are simply reactive to events and new legislation in the US. Europe should have highlighted the strength of its diversity, and emphasised that the basic elements of corporate governance are better controlled in the EU than t hey are in the US, rather than embarking on a complex harmonisation exercise.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

324. Decision-Making and the Constitutional Treaty: Will the IGC discard Giscard?

Author:
Richard Baldwin and Mika Widgren
Publication Date:
08-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The EU's draft Constitutional Treaty proposes the most radical reform of EU institutions ever put forward - more radical than those in the Single European Act, the Maastricht and Nice Treaties combined. Many of the changes have been debated, but little notice has been paid to what is perhaps the most critical reform: the change in the EU's decision-making procedures.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

325. Where is the transatlantic divide in public opinion on climate change issues? Evidence for 1989-2002

Author:
Thomas L. Brewer
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
This paper is based on an analysis of the results of more than 40 public opinion surveys taken during the period from 1989 through 2002; special attention is given to surveys taken during 2000-02. The analysis concludes that approximately two-fifths of the public are seriously concerned about global warming. Another two-fifths are moderately concerned; shifts in the opinions of this moderately concerned group would likely alter the future course of government policies. The other one-fifth of the public does not consider global warming much of a problem, does not worry about it very much or not at all, and does not believe that carbon dioxide emissions are a cause of it. A substantial majority of the US public wants the government to do something about the problem of global warming, and they would like the US to participate in the Kyoto Protocol. Most respondents prefer mandatory rather than voluntary emission reductions by industry. A majority of the public supports US economic assistance to fund mitigation projects in developing countries. Gaps between the US public and US leaders are evident, with the public exhibiting more concern and more support for new policies. The level of US public concern is nearly as high as it is among European publics, where there is also opposition to current US policy.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

326. The Deployment of Multinational Military Formations: Taking Political Institutions into Account

Author:
Marc Houben and Dirk Peters
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Multinational military formations exist in many forms, shapes and colours. Their size varies; their raison d'être varies; the type of military units involved varies; and the countries involved vary. In most cases governments take into consideration the economic, militarytechnical and operational arguments for participation in a multinational formation. They participate because it will save them money for example, or it enables them to maintain a critical capability, such as F-16 fighter planes. States thus usually take care to shape the units in a way that contributions complement each in technical terms and that the whole unit pays off in economic terms. Not often, however, is the compatibility of the political systems of the participating countries taken into account when a multinational unit is formed. Our contention is that more attention should be paid to the political/institutional compatibility of participating states when creating multinational units. Some political systems are more compatible than others and this fact has consequences for the effectiveness of jointly owned multinational units.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

327. Caucasus Revisited

Author:
Michael Emerson
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Three years ago, after the Kosovo war and the launch of the Stability Pact for South East Europe, there was a spasm of interest in the idea of a stability pact for the Caucasus. However nothing came of this, since neither the region's leaders nor the international community were willing or able to do anything of substance, although a comprehensive proposal had been published by CEPS as a 'track 2' initiative. As a result, the de facto secessions of Abkhazia and Nagorno Karabakh have become more deeply entrenched, but only with the protection of Russia and Armenia, respectively, with which these entities have become increasingly integrated de facto. Since conventional diplomacy in the Caucasus under UN or OSCE auspices has failed to deliver solutions over a whole decade, we take a wider look here at the kind of solutions that may emerge for these so-called frozen conflicts of the European periphery. New developments external to the region are coming from the EU and the US: the widening of the Europeanisation process on the one hand, and the 'democratic imperialism' or Pax Americana coming out of Washington since 11 September 2001 and now the Iraq war. We explore below how these developments may affect the prospects for the Caucasus.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

328. Optimizing the Mechanism for 'Enhanced Cooperation' within the EU: Recomendations for the Constitutional Treaty

Author:
Eric Philippart
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Policy development in the EU is often impeded by member states being either unwilling or unable to participate. One way to overcome that problem is to resort to flexible approaches accommodating diversity. Convinced that an enlarged Union would require more flexibility, the current member states agreed in 1997 to introduce a new safety valve in the treaties, named 'enhanced cooperation'. Thanks to that mechanism, a group of member states may be authorised to use the EU framework to further their cooperation or integration in policy areas under EU competence whenever it appears impossible to do so with all of the member states.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

329. Reforming the Composition of the ECB Governing Council in View of Enlargement: An Opportunity Missed!

Author:
Daniel Gros
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
It is widely accepted that enlargement requires reform of the highest decision-making bodies of the European Central Bank (ECB). In particular, there are concerns that the Governing Council, which is composed of the six-member Executive Board of the ECB plus the governors of the participating national central banks (NCBs), will grow too large to work efficiently. In the absence of reform, it could end up having over 30 members - resembling more a mini-parliament than a decision-making body that has to manage a global currency in fast-moving financial markets. Moreover, the accession of a number of small countries is often perceived as a threat to the "power balance" in the Governing Council.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

330. Constitutionalising the Open Method of Coordination - What Should the Convention Propose?

Author:
Gráinne De Búrca and Jonathan Zeitlin
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Within the Convention process, the final reports of no less than four separate working groups - those on Simplification, Complementary Competences, Economic Governance and Social Europe - have come out in favour of including the 'Open Method of Coordination' (OMC) within the Constitutional Treaty. The relevant sections of these reports are attached in an annex.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe