Diane Fromage - Böcker

Redefining EU Membership examines the issue of Membership within the European Union (EU) today by focusing on differentiation in and outside the EU. The Treaty on European Union unequivocally declares that the contracting parties are the Member States of the EU. However, a closer examination casts some doubt of the unitary status of Member States, or at least suggests that the concept requires nuancing. Whilst diversity, and to some extent differentiation, have been part and parcel of the European integration process since its inception, Redefining EU Membership proposes that, considering several developments, a new reflection on membership within the EU and on differentiation in and outside the EU is required. The volume's contributions are organized around four aspects of the tensions faced by the concept of a unitary and formal EU membership: first, an examination of key policy areas which have already witnessed various forms of differentiated integration; second, an analysis of 'special statuses' within the EU; third, important examples of non-Member States in which EU law is applied (with and without their participation in the EU's decision-making process); and fourth, the situation of states under accession or secession procedures which obliges them to accept EU norms and policies even prior to/after formal membership. These analyses are complemented by a reflection on the concept of membership in itself.In a context in which EU enlargement appears likely, the provided analysis reflects on the need to expand and introduce several kinds of membership to the EU in the future.

The European Central Bank (ECB) was first introduced in the European legal order on the occasion of the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). An official EU institution which is governed by EU law, the ECB of modern times differs vastly from its inception in 1998, which manifests in three main ways: monetary policy options, consideration of concerns other than low inflation in its policy-making, and its role in the Banking Union.This edited collection offers a retrospective and prospective account of the ECB, charting its evolution in detail with chapters written by leading academics and practitioners. Part 1 examines the substantive changes to monetary policy introduced by the ECB as a consequence of the financial and sovereign debt crisis by considering their legal basis. Part 2 moves beyond monetary policy by shifting to the new roles that the ECB has been called upon to play, notably in banking supervision and resolution. Parts 3 and 4 deal with transformations to inter- and intra-institutional relations, and take stock of these transformations, reflecting on the nature of the ECB of current times and which direction it could be heading in the future.The authors analyse the most salient and controversial elements of the ECB's crisis response, including unconventional monetary policy measures and the ECB's risk management strategy. Beyond monetary policy, the book further examines the role played by objectives such as financial stability and environmental sustainability, the ECB's relationship to the Lender of Last Resort function, as well as its new responsibilities in the Banking Union.

The past years have seen numerous crises from the 2007-2008 financial crisis to the migration crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. These crises have significantly impacted EU policy in numerous areas including the Economic and Monetary Union, financial regulation and supervision, health policy, state aid control, energy policy, migration policy, and foreign and defence policy. As a result of these crises, EU rule-making has developed in various ways. Some developments have had an institutional dimension in that they concerned the actors involved in rule-making, as exemplified in the introduction of instruction rights of EU bodies vis-à-vis national authorities or the introduction of reverse (qualified) majority voting in the Council. But they also concerned the shape or nature of rules, where we have seen the increasing use of Regulations (as opposed to Directives) and of soft law instead of legally binding rules. The substance of existing rules was also reconsidered, resulting, for instance, in the deviation in practice from the Dublin system as regards the distribution of refugees, in the EU indebting itself on a considerable scale in the wake of the pandemic, and in the boosting of foreign and defence policies as a result of the war in Ukraine.EU Regulatory Responses to Crises examines and compares these developments from a legal and a political science perspective. It analyses the measures taken, successful or not, to save banks, to ensure a fair distribution of migrants across EU Member States, or to support the acquisition of vaccines, for example. This book draws a comprehensive picture of the EU's regulatory toolkit in times of crisis, and its enrichment and refinement in reaction to new challenges.

This book considers national parliaments’ and the European Parliament’s role in European Union (EU) economic governance. It examines the recent strengthening of parliamentary involvement, limitations to improvements, and where and how democratic deficits still exist. It also provides the basis for some reflections concerning possible future evolutions and improvements to EU economic governance.The EU’s economic governance framework has been significantly strengthened as a response to the 2008 economic and financial crisis, and the establishment of a new Banking Union in 2013. It is thus key to determine whether these additional transfers of powers to the EU level have been accompanied by an equivalent empowerment of the national and European legislatures, allowing them to ensure adequate democratic legitimation. The chapters comprehensively re-examine the democratic (throughput) legitimacy of, and within, the EU’s economic governance by focusing on national parliaments, on the European Parliament, and on mechanisms for interparliamentary cooperation.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

This book considers national parliaments’ and the European Parliament’s role in European Union (EU) economic governance. It examines the recent strengthening of parliamentary involvement, limitations to improvements, and where and how democratic deficits still exist. It also provides the basis for some reflections concerning possible future evolutions and improvements to EU economic governance.The EU’s economic governance framework has been significantly strengthened as a response to the 2008 economic and financial crisis, and the establishment of a new Banking Union in 2013. It is thus key to determine whether these additional transfers of powers to the EU level have been accompanied by an equivalent empowerment of the national and European legislatures, allowing them to ensure adequate democratic legitimation. The chapters comprehensively re-examine the democratic (throughput) legitimacy of, and within, the EU’s economic governance by focusing on national parliaments, on the European Parliament, and on mechanisms for interparliamentary cooperation.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

Did the Lisbon Treaty represent a turning point in national parliaments’ roles within the European Union (EU)? 10 years after its entry into force, and after the EU has undergone significant changes, this book is the first lengthy publication that comprehensively assesses where national parliaments stand, both in a national and in a European perspective. To this end, it demonstrates how national parliaments increasingly interact with a growing number of EU institutions, and with their counterparts, and what functions these relationships fulfil. It also considers to what extent national parliaments have become ‘Europeanised national institutions’ actively involved in EU affairs on a domestic level, primarily on the basis of an analysis of the national parliaments of the largest EU Member States – France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain. Despite Brexit, the British Parliament too is examined where appropriate owing to its long-standing status as frontrunner in national parliaments’ involvement in EU affairs. The book concludes that national parliaments have undoubtedly ceased to be absent from this field, as they have become much more actively engaged. Yet, some improvements remain necessary to ensure adequate levels of transparency, efficiency and sustainability, as well as to guarantee that engaging in EU affairs is attractive to national parliamentarians.

Ten years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, has executive predominance in EU-related matters disappeared? How have executive-legislative relations in the EU evolved over a crisis-ridden decade, from the financial and migration crises, to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic?The Lisbon Treaty could be expected to lead to the re-balancing of powers in favour of parliaments, for it significantly enhanced the roles of both the European Parliament and national parliaments. A decade later the contributions to this edited volume examine – for the first time in such an extensive breadth and from a multi-level and cross-policy perspective – whether this has actually materialised. They highlight that diverging tendencies may be observed, and that important variations over time have occurred, depending particularly on the occurrence of crises. As stated in the fascinating epilogue by Peter Lindseth (University of Connecticut School of Law), this is an ‘admirably coherent collective volume, whose contributions provide an excellent overview of key aspects of executive-legislative relations in the European system since the Treaty of Lisbon’. This edited volume will hence be of interest to both academics and practitioners interested in future reforms designed at the European and national levels to improve the EU’s democratic quality.

Ten years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, has executive predominance in EU-related matters disappeared? How have executive-legislative relations in the EU evolved over a crisis-ridden decade, from the financial and migration crises, to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic?The Lisbon Treaty could be expected to lead to the re-balancing of powers in favour of parliaments, for it significantly enhanced the roles of both the European Parliament and national parliaments. A decade later the contributions to this edited volume examine – for the first time in such an extensive breadth and from a multi-level and cross-policy perspective – whether this has actually materialised. They highlight that diverging tendencies may be observed, and that important variations over time have occurred, depending particularly on the occurrence of crises. As stated in the fascinating epilogue by Peter Lindseth (University of Connecticut School of Law), this is an ‘admirably coherent collective volume, whose contributions provide an excellent overview of key aspects of executive-legislative relations in the European system since the Treaty of Lisbon’. This edited volume will hence be of interest to both academics and practitioners interested in future reforms designed at the European and national levels to improve the EU’s democratic quality.

This volume addresses an important aspect of Brexit that has been ever-present in public debates, but has so far not received corresponding attention by academic scholars, namely the role of parliaments and citizens in this process.