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Stagnation, Tabula Rasa, Variable Geometry, Differentiated Solidarity: Four Scenarios for the Future of the European Union

Author(s): Eckart D. Stratenschulte / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Development of the European Union is marked by many setbacks. Various attempts at integrating the continent of Europe have failed. The European Defence Community and the European Political Community, for example, never saw the light of day, the Constitutional Treaty was rejected. Nevertheless, the EU has developed further, one might say, it has grown from failure to failure. This historical perspective is an aid in categorising current challenges. The European Union is at the threshold of a reorganisation. Everything is pointing towards a “Europe of concentric circles” coming into being, in which there will continually be varying depths of integration – or, as the 2017 Declaration of Rome terms it: different intensity. Each Member State needs to decide for itself which circle it wishes to associate with.

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Мобилност и европейска гражданственост: истории от София

Author(s): Ildiko Otova / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

This paper aims to trace the link between mobility and the construction of European citizenship. Considering the initial fact that the concept of mobility is deeply rooted in the idea of the European Union, and based on empirical material, the text analyses the construction of a European identity among mobile citizens who have chosen to live in Sofia. Particular attention is focused on redefining the classical understanding of the citizenship as binding the individual to a nation state, author offers an analytical input through the concept of civic activity and civic engagement, going beyond the boundaries of the national public space.

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Да преосмислим мястото на България в Европейския съюз

Author(s): Kaloyan Simeonov / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

It is essential to rethink the role of Bulgaria as an EU member state. There are several reasons why now is the right time to do so. On January 1, 2017, Bulgaria celebrates 10 years of its membership in the EU. Celebration is not the right word, perhaps, as there have been only few events in the country which have focused on this issue, and even more importantly, little debate about the effectiveness and the results of this first decade of EU membership. Bulgaria will take over the presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2018. Preparations for the presidency have already begun reaching an advanced stage. In the first six months of 2018, the role of Bulgaria as a member state leading the rotating presidency will be very important not only for the country but also for the entire EU. The already initiated Brexit negotiations and the debate on the future of the EU are other driving forces triggering discussions about the need for Bulgaria to rethink its place and role as an EU member state. Bulgaria should enhance its efforts to become part of the Euro area, the Banking Union and the Schengen area. The country shall also play a more vital role in the EU's enlargement process to the Western Balkans.

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„Брюксел ни каза така да направим“

Author(s): Gergana Radoykova / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The 10th anniversary of Bulgaria's full EU membership is not just a time for evaluation . It is important for two reasons, at least. Firstly, the EU is in one of the most serious crises in the history of European unification, waves of Euroscepticism are sweeping across many member states. Secondly, in just half a year our country will have the extremely serious responsibility of taking over the rotating presidency of the Council. In this context, it is of fundamental importance how the Bulgarian citizens make sense of the Presidency, the European Union in its entirety, and last but not least, their place in it.

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Rethinking the European Social Model: New Social Risks, New Social Values and New Policy Paradigms

Author(s): Georgeta Ghebrea / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The crisis of the European Social Model (ESM) was discussed mostly from economic, demographic and institutional perspectives. The new social risks, the changes in values and lifestyles of European citizens were less addressed. However, the legitimacy of the ESM is based on a set of common social values, which were a European “brand”, a source of pride and prestige, both for European citizens and elites. This paper intends to find out if and how these values have been affected by recent economic and migration crises. Our focus is the axiological change in public opinion and in social policy. The research uses statistical and document analyses. Main sources are the European social survey, social statistics and recent changes in the social acquis. The research results show a process of erosion of specific European social values. The community of values between the European nations diminished and the diversity is growing. ESM has to answer these mutations – not to be limited to minimum social standards or to the generalization of best practices of national social policies – but to truly represent a supranational level of social policy, effectively adjusted to globalization and to citizens’ expectations.

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How to Enhance the EU Enlargement of the Western Balkans

Author(s): Zhidas Daskalovski / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The European Commission praises the accession policy “as one of the European Union's most effective foreign policy instruments”, but four main challenges pose obstacles to the accession of the Western Balkan countries: lack of popular will in EU Member States; flagging interest on the side of the EU; bilateral challenges thwarting implementation of regional cooperation; and indifference to the EU from the side of increasingly authoritarian regimes in some Western Balkan countries. Emerging regional powers, such as Turkey or Russia, are ready to step into a vacuum. Without a new impetus towards enlargement, the EU will risk losing strategic influence in a neighbouring region to other regional powers. This study examines how to recharge the enlargement process, which will require an enhanced reform drive and better communication by the governments in the region and involvement of the civil society. The EU should improve the evaluation process of the progress made, induce consensus on EU enlargement among parties in the region, as well as support enhanced regional cooperation mechanisms and bodies, in particular the Regional Cooperation Council and the South-East European Cooperation Process. EU needs to modify its “good neighbourly relations” approach by proactively intervening to overcome bilateral disputes blocking accession progress. The EU should launch a more intensive engagement with the Western Balkans, start the screening process and open accession negotiations with all of the countries as soon as possible, because the accession process is a powerful tool to drive reforms and institutional transformation.

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Transformative Power of the European Union in the International Relations

Author(s): Marjan Gjurovski / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This paper analyzes the essential elements of the normative and transformative power of the European Union and their fundamental specifics. The research of these power concepts is directly inspired by their significance and mutual interference and also by their applicability to the existing worldview of the European Union in the XXI century international relations. Likewise, these two concepts have different generic features but identical discourse, which is worth to be decomposed in order to discern their essence, their existence and legitimacy. The main research intention of this paper aims to define the epistemological structuralism of the previous mentioned concepts, and thus, through the prism of the international relations, security and defense consequences of the ЕU as such.

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Turkish Citizens’ Perception and Expectations About EU After the 12-Year Nomination

Author(s): Funda Çoban / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Turkey’s “adventure” for being a part of EU dates back to 1959. However, the country has only been accepted as a candidate member in 2005. Since then, both EU and the idea of EU have changed as well as Turkey’s approach to EU. In this context this study, which has been based on the report of "The EU Support and European Perception in the Turkish Public Opinion" of the Economic Development Foundation (2015) emphasizes on the Turkish public opinion on the EU membership in a sociological map in comparison with the latest political fluctuations about EU policy of Turkish governments and the responses from the EU authorities. From this vein, it is crucial that Turkish people have been losing their beliefs to be accepted as a Member State in the EU despite their desire for membership. Thus, it is stressed that both sides, the Turkish and the European institutions, have responsibilities to decrease the hopeless and desperate mood to improve the idea of EU.

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Аспекти на европейската идентичност през погледа на Навид Кермани

Author(s): Daniela Decheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

Navid Kermani is one of the most influential contemporary intellectuals in Germany, an active participant in the public debate on Europe. The aim of the report is to reveal his perspective on crises inside and outside Europe, which directly affect the debate on the pan-European identity. Through a content analysis of two collections of reportage-essay texts, speeches and journalistic texts, Kermani's reaction to these crises is derived. Results: the author sees fundamental European values as threatened not only by some external enemy, but by double standards and insufficient determination of the European policies. Special emphasis and persuasiveness in his public presence are expressed through his advocacy of Christian-Islamic reconciliation, his criticism of the growing persecution and killing of Christians in Islamic countries, and the perversion of Islamic religious thought and practice, which undermines not only peace and democratic rights but also the Islam itself. Conclusions: according to Kermani, European identity is possible only in the humanistic and cosmopolitan tradition, to which the respect for religion inseparably belongs. European societies need to redefine their perception of themselves, upholding their own values through self-criticism, unity and political responsibility.

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European Attitudes in Eastern European Countries After the Economic Crisis

Author(s): Fabio Serricchio / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This paper analyses the determinants of people’s support for the European institutions, mainly focusing on the impact of European identity, after the economic crisis in Eastern European countries and in a moment in which – after a profound uncertainty for its immediate future – there is a new feeling toward the European integration. Previous research on the support for the European institutions, before the economic and financial crisis which had hit Europe since 2008, has found that people’s evaluations followed mainly an instrumental logic – support being contingent on a perception of personal/national benefit accruing for EU membership – with an additional role played by European identification. This contribution expands the analysis after the beginning of the economic crisis, so to assess whether the former has affected the structure of such support, and deepens the analysis of the impact of EU identity on European Institutional confidence. Using a recent Eurobarometer survey (88.3, Autumn 2017), the paper shows that European identity plays a crucial role in explaining European support also after the crisis.

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Which European Union for the 21st century? Assessing Reform Options

Author(s): Vihar Georgiev / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

A plethora of reforms was proposed in the last years to solidify European integration and address existential challenges within the EU. Some claim that more integration is the answer, whilst others insist that the European Union needs more of ‘variable geometry’. Current key reform proposals and suggested approaches are examined from three perspectives – efficiency, adequacy, and legitimacy. The three perspectives are used to deliver a holistic and comprehensive analysis of the proposals within a theoretical framework of institutional sustainability. Using these perspectives, the paper is going to illustrate how proposed reforms appear to be logically inconsistent and/or strategically misaligned. The paper proposes an outline of key reform issues to guide further the EU-wide debate.

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The New Approach of the European Union in Accession Negotiations – the Focus on Chapters 23 “Judiciary and Fundamental Rights” and 24 – “Justice, Freedom and Security”

Author(s): Aleksandar Andrija Pejović / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The so-called New Approach to negotiations was introduced in 2012. It was a new mechanism in dealing with one of the policies of the European Union that had already undergone a substantial change. It focuses on the rule of law and the two chapters 23 and 24 as the central chapters of the negotiations putting them as the balance indicator against all other chapters of the acquis. This new tool was sought after by a number of Member States, but also by those in the European Commission that wanted to show that the Enlargement Policy is functional and delivering results as well as to protect its own credibility. Since 2012 the New Approach has been implemented on Montenegro and Serbia and is yet to be seen how it will be applied once the other candidates open their accession talks.

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Геополитически предизвикателства пред Западните Балкани

Author(s): Sonia Hinkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The report analyses the nature and the dynamics of the spatial interests and policies of important factors in the contemporary international relations (EU, USA, Russia, Turkey and China) through which their spheres of influence in the Western Balkans are outlined. The paper presents the tools and approaches (strategic, economic, political and cultural/religious) through which those countries protect their geopolitical interests in the region and in the six Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro).

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The Europeanization of the Western Balkans. How far has the EU come, where did it fail and where should it go next?

Author(s): Georgiana Ciceo / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

According to Radaelli, Europeanization refers to ‘processes of (a) construction (b) diffusion and (c) institutionalization of formal and informal rules, procedures, policy paradigms, styles, ‘ways of doing things’ and shared beliefs and norms which are first defined and consolidated in the making of EU decisions and then incorporated in the logic of domestic discourse, identities, political structures and public policies.’ European Union has always exerted a powerful attraction for the candidate countries and by means of conditionality managed to shape the aspirations of these countries. In the case of the Central and Eastern European countries the enlargement perspective elicited a multifaceted and intense set of adjustment processes with the aim of socializing applicant countries into the values and standards of the EU thus enabling them to achieve ’democracy by convergence’. The Balkan region has always been part of Europe, nevertheless the situation in the region remains complex and in many respects problematic. Europeanization in the Balkans would mean structural transformation, modernization and adjustment to the advanced European models in areas such as good governance, economy and the rule of law. The thoroughness of these processes becomes all the more important especially if we take into consideration the increased politicization of the enlargement process. The present contribution attempts to assess the EU ability to shape the transformation of Western Balkan states.

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Западните Балкани и еврото – различни подходи към обща цел

Author(s): Kaloyan Simeonov / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The countries from Western Balkans region have chosen the same strategic goal - the path to the EU accession which should lead in distant future to join the Euro area. Nevertheless, they have chosen different options in terms of their exchange rate and monetary policy. Serbia and Albania apply a managed float regime, Croatia - a managed float regime with limited fluctuation, Macedonia - a stabilization regime with the euro as a reference currency, Bosnia and Herzegovina apply a currency board fixed to the euro, Montenegro, and Kosovo - a unilateral euroization. All these countries, except for Albania, until recently were part of another monetary union and they shared the same currency - the Yugoslav dinar. Should they manage to join the EU and the Euro area afterwards, they would be again part of a same monetary union, sharing the same currency. Nevertheless, they have chosen different ways to achieve this strategic goal.

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Querying the Role of Trade Among the EU and the Western Balkans for a United and Strong European Union

Author(s): Elif Dağdemir Uçkan / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The European Union (EU) has always been a unique example of an effective and successful economic integration for the academia of social sciences. For instance, we refer to the EU when we are studying the theory of monetary union, the effectiveness of the common market or the welfare effects of the free movement of labor and capital. Nevertheless, when it comes to the political integration issues, the scene becomes a little bit blurry. Even though the European integration has begun with a political will, the impetus was given with economic integration goals. In spite of the legitimate success stories of economic as well as political integration since 1950s, the EU has been experiencing hard times recently with the compelling issues ranging from quasi-instability within the euro area to Brexit, from migration and refugee agenda to the reluctance of Poland to the EU tasks and some regional issues. Along with these integration issues as mostly referred to deepening, the EU has been trying to hold its momentum on enlargement. As of 2018, Western Balkan countries and Turkey are at the enlargement agenda as candidate countries. Actually, issues like migration and refugees, energy, sustainable development and environment which are embodied within the deepening tasks, constitute an integral part of the EU enlargement agenda, as well. Such a compelling and inter-related agenda could be more competently tackled with a united EU.

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Between Promise and Delivery – Fundamental Rights in the EU

Author(s): Jovan Andonovski / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This year we are marking the eleventh year of the establishment of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Since there is too much wrong out there, marking is the proper term instead of celebrating the anniversary. Human and fundamental rights are on the pedestal of the European Union and we have to admit that a lot has been done. However, facing the future, still needs to be done. The aim of this article is to indicate the current state of play and to propose ideas for the future role of the FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency), consistency in application of the Charter of fundamental rights of the EU, as well as commitment and communication of the importance of the human rights and freedoms. The specific goal of this article is to bring closer the fundamental rights framework in principle and fundamental rights outcomes in practice.

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Европейският енергиен съюз като фактор за укрепване на Европейския съюз

Author(s): Svetla Boneva / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The aim of this report is to present the essence, the main dimensions and the issues accompanying the formation of the European Energy Union. To achieve this goal, the following research tasks have been performed: the main goals of the Energy Union and the measures set by the European Union for achieving these goals have been systematized and analysed; a summary and analysis of major scientific publications on the topic is presented; the research methodology based on the content analysis is defined in concrete terms; the results of the research and discussion on them are presented. The main thesis defended in the paper considers the importance of the issue in the context of the contemporary aspirations for the decarbonisation of the European economy. The European Energy Union sets specific goals and new mechanisms for managing European energy, climate and environmental policies. The Energy Union foresees closer coordination of the actions under these policies at both EU and member states level which would lead to greater synergies of the efforts and convergence of the achievements in the energy field for the whole European territory. The establishment of the European Energy Union would be conditional upon reaching a new level of energy partnership across the EU where the competition would give way to cooperation. This is how the formation of the Energy Union would lead to strengthening of the EU.

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Foreign Policy Positioning of the Western Balkan Countries in the Context of the EU Enlargement Strategy by 2025

Author(s): Dragan Đukanović,Marjan Gjurovski / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Taking into account the European Union's strategic commitment to accelerate the accession of the Western Balkan countries for membership by 2025, as formulated by the Special Strategy (since February 6th, 2018), this will necessitate a significant change in the foreign policy of this group of countries. While Albania and Montenegro have managed to fully harmonize their foreign policy with the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, this does not fully refer to the rest of the Western Balkans countries. Namely, Serbia and Macedonia as candidate countries and Bosnia and Herzegovina have failed to achieve a full harmonization of their foreign policy with the European Union in the preceding years and especially after 2014. This especially refers to Serbia, which, besides Montenegro, is perceived in the context of the mentioned strategy as a country that will gain full membership of the European Union by 2025. However, due to the strengthened influence of the Russia and China, it did not adequately harmonize its activities regarding Chapter 31 (the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union). This is all in the shadow of the end of the process of normalizing relations between Serbia and Kosovo, which is a crucial condition for accelerating this process. A similar situation is with Macedonia, which, thanks to the previous government (VMRO-DPMNE), distanced itself considerably from the EU and NATO membership. To a certain extent, the same conclusion can be drawn when it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where there is an evident disagreement among the most important political actors regarding the foreign policy activity and the positioning of the country. On the other hand, according to the EU Enlargement Strategy by 2025, further progress in the context of Kosovo’s membership may be achieved only with the consent of all Member States, including those that have not recognized Kosovo's independence.

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Unchanged and Unanswered Challenges Ahead of Stormy Period

Author(s): András Inotai / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This paper focuses on key external and internal challenges the European integration is facing. Three factors have to get particular attention, which are likely to influence the EU’s developments in the next and most probably crucial period of the integration. Accelerated globalisation with increasingly contradictory developments and, more importantly, accompanied by highly controversial and dangerous national reactions (policy measures) does not exclude serious conflicts and collisions in the next period. Even the best informed and experienced strategic analysts, policy makers and decision-takers are unlikely to be prepared to successfully face the „triad” of challenges: complexity, interdependence and interdisciplinarity. In other words, global and European developments reveal a highly complex structure, the understanding and answering of which requires in-depth professional knowledge and socio-psychological empathy. Due to the rapidly increasing interdependence, substantially accelerated after the global crisis of 2008 and involving not only trade but almost all areas of economic activities (services, capital flows, monetary system) each „national” decision generates regional and/or global consequences, with repercussion on the decision-makers. Finally, the impact of political decisions does not remain within the direct political framework, but has economic, social, institutional, regional, psychological consequences as well.

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