RC03 - European Unification

´In a spirit of solidarity? Justifying the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in national parliamentary debates´, by Carlos Closa and Aleksandra Maatsch

JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Volume 52, Issue 4, pages 826–842, July 2014

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcms.12119/abstract

Abstract

This article examines national parliamentarians’ approval of the increased budgetary capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in autumn 2011. Following the analysis of vote outcome and plenary debates in 11 euro states, it is found that the financial position of a state (creditors versus debtors) does not explain the patterns of support and opposition. Rather, two other factors account for these differences: Euroscepticism, and the government and opposition cleavage. In particular, whereas Eurosceptic MPs voted and argued against the EFSF, the parliamentary majorities supported it. Surprisingly, although the legal basis of the EFSF draws on solidarity among the European Union Member States, the supporters of the EFSF did not refer to this principle in their speeches but rather to pragmatic considerations such as national economic interests.

‘Teaching Citizenship: What if EU Is the Solution and not the Problem?’ (forthcoming December 2014), by Hans Lödén, Malin Stegmann McCallion and Peter Wall

Journal of Political Science Education

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/upse20/current

A Faustian Bargain or Just a Good Bargain? Chinese Foreign Direct Investment and Politics in Europe, by Sophie Meunier - Asia-Europe Journal

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10308-014-0382-x?sa_campaign=email%2Fevent%2FarticleAuthor%2FonlineFirst

Abstract

This article explores the political challenges posed by the recent influx of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into the European Union (EU), which has become in 2011 the top destination for Chinese investment in the world. The central political question facing European states welcoming the influx of Chinese capital is whether this is a good bargain—a positive-sum game where both investor and investee benefit—or instead a Faustian bargain—a zero-sum game in the long term where capital is accompanied by implicit conditionality affecting European norms and policies, from human rights to labor laws. The novelty of Chinese FDI has the potential to affect politics in Europe in three different venues: inside European countries, between European countries, and between Europe and third countries. This article, whose main goal is to launch a research agenda on the political implications of Chinese FDI, explores in turn its potential impact on foreign and domestic policy, institutional process within the EU, and transatlantic relations.

Meunier, Sophie. “Beggars Can't Be Choosers: The European Crisis And Chinese Direct Investment In The European Union”. Journal Of European Integration (2014)

http://scholar.princeton.edu/smeunier/publications/beggars-cant-be-choosers-european-crisis-and-chinese-direct-investment-europea

Abstract

Virtually non-existent five years ago, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) into Europe has surged spectacularly in recent years in an international context of declining FDI globally. While the stock of Chinese FDI in Europe is still minuscule, the flows show the rapidly growing interest of Chinese companies in being present in Europe, both through greenfield investment and through mergers and acquisitions. This surge of Chinese FDI occurred concomitantly to the explosion of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the general economic downturn in many countries of the European Union (EU). This paper asks whether the European crisis contributed to the surge of Chinese FDI in Europe. In particular, did this surge occur as a result of an explicit strategy formulated by governments in EU Member States in order to dig their countries out of the crisis? The main argument is that the crisis has provided Chinese investors with two types of bargains: economic bargains due to depressed prices and a greater number of assets for sale, and political bargains due to the lessened political resistance to deals that may have been objectionable in flusher times.

Book: ¨The Politics of Ratification of EU Treaties¨, by Carlos Closa

Routledge – 2013 – 212 pages, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415454896/

Series: Routledge Advances in European Politics

Description: Since its inception, the European Union (EU) has revised its foundational treaties several times, resulting in national ratification processes involving different actors, with varying success. This book focuses on the politics of ratification of EU Treaties and reviews the processes of ratification of EU primary legislation.

Existing research and academic debate on EU constitutional politics have almost exclusively focussed on negotiation of new treaties and their institutional setting. However, this book explains how the result of ratification was achieved, and analyses the strategy that actors pursue across Europe. Ratification of the Treaty of Maastricht and the EU Constitution failed totally, whilst other ratification can be considered partial failures such as the Irish Nice and Lisbon referendums. As the EU Constitution has proved, the ratification process may have deep effects unforeseen during the processes of negotiation. In recent years, ratification has produced some of the most intense debates on national membership of the EU and the EU itself.

The Politics of Ratification of EU Treaties will be of interest to students and researchers of European Studies, European Union studies, European Union Law and European Union Politics.