Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Legislative power – European Union countries'

This thesis examined the role of supranational organisations (SOs) in the governance of tourism in a North-South context. Focusing on the issue area of development cooperation, this thesis investigated the question of how and why SOs got involved in tourism in developing countries, and more specifically, in small island developing states. Such involvement may occur either directly through aid funded projects or indirectly through international trade regimes that impact on tourism in the aid recipient countries. The thesis adopted a case study approach focussing on the European Union�s (EU�s) involvement in the governance of tourism in South Pacific island states. Grounded in a history of colonialism, the EU has been involved in the �development� of the South Pacific for more than three decades, which allowed to track changes in development philosophy over time. Focusing on the concept of power, the case was assessed in a multi-scalar manner, analysing the EU�s involvement from the global down to the local level. Never before has an entire multilevel polity been assessed in one coherent case study, incorporating actors situated at all levels and ranging from supranational organisations to national governments, businesses, communities, and individuals. The methods employed in this thesis included interviews, participant observation, document analysis (policy documents and newspapers), and subsequently critical discourse analysis. The latter served to highlight the so-called �third face of power� (Lukes 1974), which is closely related to the concept of ideological hegemony. Interviews were conducted in Fiji and Samoa with officials of the South Pacific Delegations of the EU, officials of tourism authorities, NGOs, tourism operators and community members. Elite interviews in Brussels were conducted with officials of the European Commission and the European Parliament. Under all scales and �faces� of power the EU was found to be the dominant actor, while the issue of self-interest appeared to play a key role. At a macro-level, the EU clearly dominated in most overt decision-making situations during negotiations on aid and trade agreements. As concerned the inclusion of tourism in the agreements, the relative importance of the sector was clearly dependent on the European Commission�s prevailing attitude on �tourism and development� at any point in time. At a meso- and micro-level, the EU�s influence was less obvious yet nonetheless existent, for example through funding rules and the use of European consultants. Indirect influence also occurred at the national level. In particular the substitution of a preferential trade regime with a free trade agreement (the Economic Partnership Agreements), which is currently being negotiated between the EU and the Pacific Islands, is likely to have a significant impact on the economic importance of tourism, as well as public policy in the South Pacific. In a mini case study of Samoa, it was found that the resulting changes in tourism policy would have a significant impact �on the ground�, in particular with regard to rates of local ownership and control. Overall, power relations were found to be highly unequal and self-determination and empowerment have largely not been achieved. However, more research is needed to examine the ability to generalise the findings to other geographic regions or other types of SOs. The key contribution of this thesis in the theoretical realm constitutes its bridging of agency and structure within multi-level governance, which may be conceived as a �third way� to either dependency theory-influenced studies (global/structure) or community approaches (local/agency).

After 12 years of isolation, the relations between Brussels and Minsk have been thawing starting in the last year. One of the components of the policy of re-engagement is the new initiative adopted by the EU called Eastern Partnership (EaP). This thesis sought to answer following question: what were the main reasons for the change in the EU policy towards Belarus after 2008? In order to answer the research question I formulated two hypotheses. The first hypothesis argues that while the EU has acted according to the normative power expectations up until 2008, after that date a more pragmatic approach in the foreign policy has been at work. The second hypothesis explains this change by the increasing influence of Eastern European countries in realm of decision-making processes within the EU, which resulted in a reformed EU foreign policy towards Belarus.These hypotheses are tested in a qualitative case study of the launching of the Eastern Partnership initiative, seen as the most important instrument that defines the new policy of EU. I will focus on the process of decision–making in regards to the adoption of the new initiative towards the Eastern European countries, using the rational actor model and the theory of formal leadership. The results of the paper point out that the main reason for changing the EU foreign policy towards Belarus were connected to pragmatic interests in the economic and energy areas, which weakened the EU normative claims. However, EU values are still counted as political conditionality has recently re-entered the agenda. Thus, the current foreign policy is two-fold: based on rational model of acting and normative power. Moreover, the EaP is the result of the strengthened position of Eastern European countries in terms of the power hierarchy among EU members, with Poland, and the Baltic States playing an increasingly larger role.

This dissertation endeavours to address an identified gap in literature concerning the relationship between New Zealand and the European Union (EU) in the field of research, science and technology (RS&T). Examination of the partnership begins with the creation of the Science and Technological Cooperation (STC) Arrangement in 1991 and comes to a close in 2008, following the Arrangement’s ‘upgrade’ to an STC Agreement on 16 July. During this time, the intensification of the EU’s activities in RS&T is evident. The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) currently constitutes the most internationalised Programme to date. Identifying the complementary nature of New Zealand and EU research priorities thus suggests that now, more than ever, the New Zealand research community stands to gain from participation within such an inclusive venture. Aiming to assess the current status of New Zealand-EU research collaboration, the research identifies a number of recurring themes, both positive and negative, that influence the nature of the RS&T relationship. These themes focus on problems concerning visibility within the EU, geographical isolation from this important market, an absence of targeted domestic funding for New Zealand-EU RS&T collaboration and the unwieldy bureaucratic process of the Framework Programme. The research also determines the importance of both ‘official’ and ‘informal’ mechanisms’ in combating the outlined collaborative bottlenecks. Taking these themes into account, the thesis ultimately looks to provide recommendations concerning the future of New Zealand-EU engagement in this field.

This assessment of European Union foreign policy towards the South Caucasus shows that while the EU has developed a coherent transport policy since 1992, paradoxically, it has had no corresponding coherent conflict resolution policy for this region. The fact that the EU deepened transport cooperation without a mediation policy in an area with a multiplicity of protracted conflicts is a puzzle. Although the EU eventually added mediation to its policy during the Russia-Georgia armed conflict in 2008, it was unable to facilitate a political solution. The research examines what has been the nature of EU foreign policy towards the South Caucasus. The dissertation argues that incoherence in conflict resolution policy has been consequent upon two causal factors: (i) preferences of the EU member states conditioned by their historical experience with Russia, and (ii) institutional framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). By contrast, with functional approach, the three dominant factors that have enabled coherence in transport cooperation are (i) legislative alignment, (ii) common transport area, including technical assistance for transit development, and (iii) restrictive measures. Examination of these two areas of EU foreign policy, shows a discrepancy, demonstrating its inconsistent nature. The theoretical framework of realism and liberal intergovernmentalism, is applied to empirically grounded EU foreign policy analysis. Adopting a case study methodology, this work examines the EU's policy towards Armenia and Azerbaijan, with special focus on Georgia between 1992 and 2014. The research combines social science methods of literature review, document analysis and expert interviews.

The EU’s Trade Relations with China (1975-2008): <p>A Linkage Power at Work?<p><p>(Summary)<p><p>The central aim of this thesis is to improve our understanding of the EU’s power, in particular in its external trade relations/negotiations. Our hypothesis is that the EU is a distinctive kind of linkage power, defined as an actor relying on linkage as a crucial modus operandi in its external relations. We explored how, to what extent and in which distinctive ways the EU is such a linkage power. <p>Our analysis was based on three logically interrelated concepts – power resources, linkage and linkage power. Linkage refers to a leveraging strategy, with an aim of packaging relevant power resources, so as to increase leverage in bargaining, or more generally attain a policy objective. I identified seven types of linkages that the EU used: political-economic issue linkage, economic-economic issue linkage, conditionality, contextual linkage, linkage with a third party, cognitive linkage and synergistic linkage. Linkage can hardly work without proper power resources. The latter, as Dahl (1970) defined, refers to all the resources-opportunities, acts, objects etc – that an actor can exploit in order to affect the behaviour of another. So, linkage is a bridge between power resources and impacts – meaning affecting or changing the behaviour of another party. By putting linkage and power together, we created a new term – “linkage power”, referring to a power based on linkages. The EU, the US, China or any other power can all be such labelled, though these actors may diverge in power resources, linkage strategies and the variables affecting linkage effectiveness. When applying such an analytical framework to the EU, we gave particular attention to the implications of the EU’s sui generis nature on its linkage power.<p>Our case study is the EU’s trade relations with China (1975-2008), which were punctuated by two critical historical junctures – the Tian’anmen Square Incident in 1989 and the EU-China Textile Crisis in 2005. In 1975, The EEC’s successful strategy by linking political issues (Europe-China balancing the Soviet Union and recognising China’s sovereignty over Taiwan) with economic issues (signing the EEC-China Trade Agreement) played a crucial role in securing the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EEC and China. Different types of linkages were then applied to the EEC’s negotiations with Beijing on the 1978 Trade Agreement and the 1979 textile agreement, which effectively prompted the Chinese side to agree to the EU’s terms.<p>Immediately after the 1989 Tian’anmen Square Incident, the EC imposed economic sanctions with an aim of coercing China to accept Western world’s human rights conditions. This linkage did not last long or pay off due to divergent political and economic interests among the Member States and the EC’s institutional handicaps (foreign policy competence was largely in the hands of Member States, collective foreign policy action was non-binding), and soon de-linked.<p>Having realised that confrontational approach did not work well, the EC/EU and its Member States started to change their China policies in 1993-95. The period of 1993-2004 witnessed the EC/EU’s power through partnership. The strategic partnership was seen as a complex of different pairs of issue linkages, ranging from political-strategic issues to economic and human rights issues. The partnership, once established, had fostered new linkages and consolidated old ones. China’s WTO accession was seen as a once-in-a-century opportunity for the EU to exercise linkage through conditionality, so as to extract market access concessions from the Chinese side. Moreover, by linking with China could the European Commission garnered international support for advancing the Galileo project within the Union and ward off some of the US pressure in 2003. <p>The Year 2005 was singled out since an unprecedented trade row on textiles broke out, confronting the EU against China’s export prowess resulting from globalisation and China’s WTO accession. Linkages were used as a predominant strategy to help the EU to persuade and press the Chinese side firstly accept voluntary export restrictions and then share the burden of allowing the blocked textiles in European ports to be released. In 2006-08, the trade deficit problem emerged, coupled with a series political spats between Europe (France and Germany) and Beijing on the Tibet issue. As the EU-China honeymoon was over, the Commission toughened its approach towards China. Although linkage was again used to redress the trade deficit, its effects were not satisfactory, as the EU power resources were eroded. <p>Our conclusions are (1) linkage is a crucial modus operandi in the EU’s internal bargain and its external relations with China; (2) Linkage was generally effective vis-à-vis China, but with variations, either over time or across different linkage types; (3) The EU is a sui generis linkage power, resulting from its institutional characteristics and heterogeneity of interests among the Commission and Member States. We find that the EU’s increased institutionalisation (both regional and bilateral) and competences generally facilitated its use of linkage strategies. The EU’s sui generis structure and its internal interest divergences have mixed implications on its linkage effectiveness. On one hand, the EU’s linkage power was weakened accordingly. But on the other, the Commission could tactically make use of some Member State government’s row with Beijing and advance its own economic agenda (such as the EU-China High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue, HED). Moreover, our research also confirmed Andrew Moravcsik’s argument that issue linkage is more easily made within an issue-area than across issue-areas. But we differ from him on the reason behind that. We find that this was largely attributable to the EU’s pillar structure and competence divisions. <p>The theoretical contributions include: (1) Linkage power provides a distinctive prism to look into the EU’s concrete strategies in internal bargains, and external commercial negotiations. Linkage serves as a crucial strategy for the EU to handle its relations with a far-abroad country like China, including establishing diplomatic relations, negotiating trade deals, forging strategic partnerships and holding high-level dialogue. (2) Giving some insights to the EU’s actorness. We find that the EU, though institutionally not a unitary actor, was somehow able to present its power to the extent like a sovereign state on some occasions using linkage strategies. (3) Contributing to the understanding of the EU’s means to spread its governance model. We find that the EU’s norm-setting goals have often been achieved through non-normative ways – such as interest exchange and trade-off, and other deliberate ways of persuasion and even coercion, mainly based on linkage. (4) Shedding light on the interactions between the Commission and the Member State governments and on the Commission’s autonomy in external trade relations. <p> Two future directions of research have been identified: (1) comparative studies: the EU’s linkage practices vis-à-vis the US, Russia and middle powers, or other actors’ linkage strategies vis-à-vis China; (2) post-Lisbon linkage strategies used by the EU. <p><br>Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

With the majority of the oceans lying outside the borders of national jurisdiction, it is not easy to preserve them healthy and secure as the ‘shared responsibility’ is not recognized unambiguously in the global world. The recent turn to the maritime sphere is visible in the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development that has been widely advocated by the EU. The latter’s commitment to sustainable ocean governance involves action beyond borders, which has a considerable impact on the global maritime sphere as well as on developing countries depending on the seas. On the one hand, the EU’s pursuit of sustainable ocean governance is informed by the norms and values that the organization possesses and tries to promote in its response to global challenges. On the other, the normative principles and the EU’s flowery rhetoric serve as a mean to rationalize Union’s pursuit of self-interest. This study analyses both dimensions of the organization’s engagement in the maritime sphere, considering oceans as a ‘placeful’ environment that has to be treated in the same way as the land is. By exploring the external dimension of EU’s action in the field, the thesis allows to see that EU’s pursuit of sustainable ocean governance has to be understood as a process in which the strategic aims are imbued with genuine moral concerns. Nevertheless, those can sometimes be undermined by the material policy outcomes visible in the West African coastal states such as Mauritania and Senegal.

This thesis adds the market orientation approach to a global value chain analysis of four farmed seafood value chains from two Asian countries to the EU. The overall aim of the research is to critically evaluate whether, and to what extent, access to market information is the key to unlocking the potential of developing countries to create greater value: whether knowledge is power. The objectives of the thesis are therefore to explore the process of generating market information in seafood value chains from Asia to the EU; understand under what conditions market information is, is not or is only partially disseminated; and, evaluate the role of market information in responses by chain agents that create value. In order to achieve these objectives, fieldwork was conducted along the length of shrimp (Penaeus monodon) and prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) from Bangladesh, and shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from Thailand to the EU. The EU is the world’s largest single market for imported fish and fishery products. France, Germany and the UK were selected for fieldwork as they are primary importers of the species from the selected countries. The research found that although increased knowledge is necessary, it is not a sufficient condition for increased value creation. Instead, the research advances existing understanding of seafood value chains by revealing that successful integration of developing country producers into global markets is partly dependent on governance and industry development in the exporting country. Weaknesses in these structures and relationships undermine supplier power by reducing access to market information, lessening incentives for sharing information, and restricting response capabilities. A number of methods for overcoming these constraints were found in the chains examined, focusing on direct links between market and value chain agents. Importantly, the research found that integration is also dependent on the willingness of those with a market presence in importing countries to share knowledge and power. Critically, the research has led to the conclusion that the possession of market information is one way for value chain agents, particularly those downstream, to guard knowledge and power for themselves. A better understanding of seafood markets and an improved analysis of aquaculture value chains from Asian countries to the EU revealed through the research will facilitate public and private responses that focus on the competitive advantage of the whole chain as a means to more sustainable development. This may well promote new chain configurations that place a premium on stronger and more collaborative linkages, increasing coordination between weak and strong suppliers and contribute to private sector development assistance. Only when knowledge is shared and suppliers gain power, will the market orientation of seafood value chains be improved, if not optimised.

Cette thèse étudie la contribution assez complexe du partenariat euro-méditerranéen au soft powerde l’UE. Nous avons procédé à l’examen de l’articulation entre les objectifs, les instruments, lesprogrammes, les accords et l’efficacité de l’action de l’Euromed. Il ne s’agit pas d’évaluer lepartenariat en tant que tel mais plutôt son utilisation par l’Union européenne comme instrument desoft power pour instaurer une démocratie libérale dans les pays sud-méditerranéens. Les quatreaspects fondamentaux de la démocratie libérale ont été donc examinés. Dans le domaineéconomique, il y eu des améliorations économiques dans les pays sud-méditerranéens del’Euromed, surtout par la mise en oeuvre de réformes économiques et institutionnelles, mais la zonede libre-échange prévue pour 2010 n’a pas été établie. L’intégration régionale et internationale, deces pays partenaires a connu des avancées qui demeurent encore modestes. La promotion de labonne gouvernance occupe une place centrale au sein des objectifs politiques du Partenariat.Ciblant principalement le renforcement des capacités des institutions et l’indépendance du systèmejudiciaire, les efforts menés dans le cadre de l’Euromed ont apporté une amélioration globale, maisinsuffisante, de la bonne gouvernance dans les pays sud-méditerranéens. Les actions menées dansle cadre du partenariat sur le terrain des droits de l’Homme ont mis surtout l’accent sur les questionsde sécurité, de la lutte antiterroriste et du contrôle des migrations, tandis que les questions relativesaux droits de l’Homme et à la démocratisation étaient plus ou moins passées sous silence. Mêmel’action civile est insuffisamment renforcée<br>This thesis studies the rather complex contribution of the Euro-Mediterraneanpartnership to the EU’s soft power. We have examined the link between the objectives,instruments, programs, agreements and effectiveness of the euro-Mediterraneanpartnership’s action. It is not a matter of evaluating the partnership as such but rather itsuse by the European Union as a soft power instrument to establish liberal democracy inthe South Mediterranean countries. The four fundamental aspects of liberal democracywere therefore examined. In the economic field, there have been economicimprovements in the southern Mediterranean countries, mainly through theimplementation of economic and institutional reforms, but the free trade areaanticipated for 2010 was not established. The regional and international integration ofthese partner countries has made some progress that remains however modest. Thepromotion of good governance is central to the political objectives of the Partnership.Focusing mainly on institutional capacity building and the independence of the judicialsystem, Euromed efforts have brought about a global but insufficient improvement ingood governance in the southern Mediterranean countries. Actions in the framework ofthe Human Rights Partnership have focused on security issues, counter-terrorism andmigration control, while human rights issues and democratization were more or lessignored. Even civil action is not sufficiently strengthened

Defence date: 6 December 2004<br>Examining board: Mercè Barceló i Serramalera, Directora externa (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Bruno de Witte (Instituto Universitario Europeo de Florencia) ; Luciano Vandelli (Università degli Studi di Bologna) ; Jacques Ziller, Driector (Instituto Universitario Europeo de Florencia)<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 17 September 2013<br>Examining Board: Professor Stefano Bartolini, EUI (Supervisor) Professor Mark N. Franklin, MIT/EUI Professor Kaare Strøm, University of California, San Diego (External Supervisor) Professor Shane Martin, University of Leicester.<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>Recent contributions in legislative studies field have coined the term mega-seats to denote committee systems and leadership bodies. The significance of viewing the internal bodies of legislatures as mega-seats is that they are conceived as part of the democratic delegation chain. Consequently, such an approach adds a political bargaining dimension to the allocation of mega-seats. During the internal organization process of the legislature, plenary legislators become principals, who delegate power to internal bodies, mainly to enhance labor division, tackle information asymmetries, and channel party demands. This thesis examines the process of payoff distribution in legislatures, using an original dataset containing 350 parties, in 12 Western European parliamentary democracies. The analysis is carried out at the party level as well as at the legislature level. Moreover, I conduct two case studies - Portugal and the United Kingdom - to further disentangle the causal mechanisms used to explain mega-seats allocation in parliamentary democracies. The empirical analysis starts with an examination of whether the division of payoffs (i.e., mega-seats) follows a proportionality logic. The proportionality assumption is borrowed from coalition studies, which have long established that institutional payoffs are distributed in a 1:1 proportionality. Using a new index to gauge disproportionality in the allocation of legislative mega-seats, the first finding of this thesis is that mega-seats allocation in parliamentary democracies is not proportional. Subsequently, I adduce a model that explains this counterintuitive finding at the party and legislature levels. The second main finding is that a party’s degree of disproportionality is a function of its power. Parties are conceived as having a number of resources to spend on mega-seats distribution. The way they spend these resources is constrained by the existence of proportionality protection rules within an institution and incentivized by the value of the payoff. Regarding the former, I find that rules matter in protecting proportionality whilst for the latter I find that the amount of resources parties are willing to spend on a mega-seat depends on the mega-seat’s power. Finally, the third main finding is that, at the aggregate level, the overall power of the legislative branch vis-à-vis the executive branch is important in determining the degree of disproportionality. Powerful legislatures tend to be more disproportional, as executive members seek control of its internal bodies.

Defence date: 3 March 2015<br>Examining Board: Professor Giorgio Monti, European University Institute (EUI Supervisor); Professor Giovanni Sartor, European University Institute; Professor Lilian Edwards, University of Strathclyde; Professor Chris Marsden, University of Sussex.<br>This thesis examines how European Union law and regulation address concentrations of private economic power which impede free information flows on the Internet to the detriment of Internet users' autonomy. In particular, competition law, sector specific regulation (if it exists), data protection and human rights law are considered and assessed to the extent they can tackle such concentrations of power for the benefit of users. Illustrative case studies - of Internet provision, search, mobile devices and app stores, and the cloud – are chosen to demonstrate the gaps that exist in current EU law and regulation when applied to concentrations of private power online. It is argued that these gaps exist due, in part, to current overarching trends guiding the regulation of economic power, namely neoliberalism, by which only the situation of market failures can invite ex ante rules, buoyed by the lobbying of regulators and legislators by those in possession of such economic power to achieve outcomes which favour their businesses. Given this systemic, and extra-legal, nature of the reasons as to why the gaps exist, some 'quick fixes' from outside the system are proposed at the end of each case study, namely the potential for applying regulation and/or applying 'self-help' solutions, which are mainly technical measures using peer-to-peer design.

Defence date: 20 May 1996<br>Examining board: Prof. Ignacio Borrajo Iniesta ; Prof. Luis María Díez-Picazo (orientador) ; Prof. Maria Eduarda Gonçalves ; Prof. Federico Mancini ; Prof. Armando Marques Guedes<br>First made available online 2 July 2015.

Defence Date: 11 October 2010<br>Examining Board: Prof. Jacques Ziller, University of Pavia (EUI Supervisor); Prof. Pippo Ranci, Catholic University of Milan; Prof. Leigh Hancher, University of Tilburg; Mr. Jorge Vasconcelos, MIT/Portugal Programme, Lisbon University<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>The European Union (EU) has set the objective to achieve a secure, sustainable and competitive energy. The development of a European energy policy is constantly emphasised in the declarations of EU political leaders. This thesis provides an assessment of the legal feasibility of an EU energy policy in the areas of industrial restructuring, institutional reform and security of supply. The first chapter looks into the Endesa saga, which offers a paradigmatic case concerning the tensions between energy champions and energy markets. Successive national and ‘foreign’ takeover bids for Endesa are examined at national and EU level by different authorities according to different legal regimes, which show the ambivalent contribution of the merger control to the development of an energy policy. The persistence of monopolistic structures despite energy liberalisation requires the reinforcement of the role of regulatory authorities, as analysed in chapter two. However, one cannot expect that national regulatory authorities and the newly created European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators enjoy the same powers and level of independence as their integration within Member States and the EU operates on the basis of different legal and institutional principles. Chapter three addresses security of energy supply, which is in principle a responsibility of the Member States (which often used it as a pretext to promote national champions), but it has also a European dimension in terms of external dependence and solidarity. The absence of a specific legal basis on energy in the treaties has not prevented the EU from dealing with security of supply by having recourse to legal bases in the fields of environmental policy, crisis management and trans-European networks. A more coherent approach to energy policy is expected with the new legal basis on energy in the Lisbon Treaty. Beyond future developments, this thesis measures the integrity of the commitment repeatedly expressed by European Heads of Governments and States to build up a European energy policy.

Defence date: 16 June 2006<br>Examining board: Prof. Bruno de Witte (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Prof. Marise Cremona (European University Institute) ; Prof. Giacomo Luciani, part time professor, EUI ; Prof. Thomas Wälde, University of Dundee<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017<br>This dissertation offers the first comprehensive assessment of the various internal and external measures undertaken by the European Union to guarantee security of oil and gas supply. It sets out and analyzes in a coherent and thorough manner those aspects of EU external policy that are relevant in establishing a framework for guaranteeing energy security for the Union. What makes the book unique is that it is the first of its kind to bridge the gap between EU energy and EU external policy. The dissertation discusses EU policy towards the major oil and gas producing countries of Russia, the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf at the bilateral as well as regional and multilateral level. It brings together not only the dimensions of trade and investment but also other important aspects of external policy, namely development and foreign policy. The author argues that the EU's energy security cannot be achieved through adopting a purely internal approach to energy issues, but that it is necessary to adopt a holistic approach to external policy, covering efficient economic relations as well as development co-operation and foreign policies towards energy producing countries. The dissertation will be a valuable resource for students of EU law, WTO law or international energy law, as well as scholars and practitioners dealing with energy issues.

Defence date: 23 May 2017<br>Examining Board: Prof. Hans-W. Micklitz, European University Institute (EUI Supervisor); Prof. Stefan Grundmann, European University Institute; Prof. Daniela Caruso, Boston University; Prof. Kim Talus, University of Helsinki and University of Eastern Finland<br>This thesis analyses the impact of the European Integration Project on private law. While the impact of EU law on private law throughout negative integration created European Private Meta-law, and throughout positive integration evolved to European Private law, this thesis claims that EU law has recently moved a step further in regulated markets by creating selfstanding European Private law. Self-standing European Private law is a normative system of rules at supranational level in which its semantically rigid legal norms suggests the intrusion of EU law into the private order of contractual parties with minor divergences within and among national legal systems. This analytical model explains the legal phenomenon of intrusion and substitution, which is different than the phenomenon of divergence, what has so far been the main focus of legal scholars in comparative private law and approaches to Harmonization. To define and identify self-standing European private law, this thesis proposes a systematic understanding of EU law from what H.L.A. Hart conceptualizes as the Internal Point of View. It contextualizes the private law dimension of EU energy law through a discussion of primary and secondary rules and, most importantly, the linguistic framework of analytic philosophy. In so doing, this thesis claims the constitutive element of self-standing European Private law takes shapes when EU law, through governance modes of lawmaking and enforcement at the EU level, creates a set of mandatory rules applied to private relationships, of which the semantic texture of its language leaves minor space for divergent interpretation and implementation by legal official and market actors. To prove the emergence of a self-standing European Private Law, EU energy Law is the blueprint to test the claim. The thesis pursues a socio-legal investigation on how the private law dimension of EU energy law has changed over three decades of market integration and affected two key market transactions in energy markets: transmission service contracts in electricity, and natural gas supply contracts.

Defence date: 5 June 2013<br>Examining Board: Professor Miguel Maduro, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Mattias Kumm, European University Institute Professor Neil Komesar, University of Wisconsin Professor Christoph Möllers, Humboldt Universität, Berlin.<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>The thesis seeks to widen our understanding of the general principle of equality within European Union law. In its approach it is theoretically ambitious yet grounded in case law analysis. After an introduction into the origins of the notion of equality, the thesis sets out to deconstruct the adjudication by the European Court of Justice as well as by selected Member State courts on some of the most pressing issues of European equality law via the means of comparative institutional analysis. More specifically, it examines the diversity of applied standards of testing by the European Court of Justice, its handling of reverse discrimination and its dealing with affirmative action. Moreover, it looks at the Austrian and German case law on reverse discrimination. Through this exercise, the thesis illustrates that the judges are in their decisions both guided by reaching a 'fair' outcome to the cases and by reflections on their ability to rule on egalitarian issues. The work describes in detail how institutional considerations inform judicial decisions in matters of equality. Building on the finding that institutional thinking influences judicial decision making, the thesis continues to ask whether this practice is desirable. Its concluding chapter argues for an adaptation of the existing equality doctrine in European Union law in order to provide judges, practitioners and academics with tools to merge institutional considerations along with legalist interpretation of equality guarantees in an open and comprehensible manner.

Defence date: 18/05/2009<br>Examining board: Wladyslaw Czaplinski (Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw); Leigh Hancher (Tilburg University); Heike Schweitzer (EUI); Jacques Ziller (Supervisor, EUI)<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>In many EU countries, the infrastructure for supplying electricity and gas (electricity networks, gas pipelines, and storage facilities) are still properties of the so-called vertically integrated undertakings (VIU) responsible for the extraction or generation, supply, and transmission and distribution of the energy. While competition can be promoted in the generation/production and supply side of the vertical integration, transmission and distribution segments remain natural monopolies that hinder market mechanisms. Vertical integration simply raises the possibility for incumbents to favor their own divisions and to block new entrants. As a result, the Electricity and Gas Directives of the European Commission proposed several measures to foster competition in politically delicate structures of the electricity and gas markets. These measures involve non-discriminatory third party access to the gas and electricity infrastructure, independent regulation of the natural monopolies and the unbundling of the VIU. Unfortunately, my research shows that there are still many obstacles to fulfilling the potential of the internal market in electricity and gas. What is more since substantial delays have occurred in implementing the Directives, it is difficult to clearly evaluate what the final effect will be; nevertheless, it is possible to argue that the steps already taken are insufficient to create functional market.

Defence date: 17 June 2005<br>Examining board: Prof. Stefano Bartolini, Università di Bologna and former EUI, Supervisor ; Prof. Jean Blondel, EUI, Professional Fellow ; Prof. Giuseppe Ieraci, Università di Trieste, Co-supervisor ; Prof. Philippe Schmitter, EUI, Professional Fellow<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 8 September 2009<br>Examining Board: Profs. Christian Joerges (Supervisor, former EUI and University of Bremen); Hans-W. Micklitz (EUI); John Paterson (External Co-Supervisor, University of Aberdeen); David M. Trubek (University of Wisconsin, Madison)<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>This thesis is devoted to analysing the emerging relationship in the European Union between 'new governance' - epitomised by the development of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) - and law. While some scholars have seen the project of new governance as a purely political or functional enterprise - a mechanism of 'soft law' - the thesis will argue against such a view through an empirical analysis of a particular OMC process - the OMC for social inclusion and social protection (the OMC SPSI). While on the one hand, the OMC SPSI has achieved considerable success in creating a new social policy vocabulary in Europe, the very description of the OMC as an instrument of 'soft law' has handed considerable power to frame key policy decisions to national and European executives, while depriving Parliaments and local authorities from their normal rights of scrutiny. The OMC SPSI illustrates why - far from invoking a merely 'technical' or procedural set of questions - 'new governance' is deeply implicated in debates over the future of the European welfare state. The indicators and recommendations of the method are not seen by its participants as neutral descriptors, but rather invoke competing views of the very ends of social policy in Europe. The description of new governance as soft and heterarhical does not therefore dilute its key legitimacy challenges, but makes them ever more pressing. In response, the thesis will argue for a 'constitutionalisation' of new governance. This constitutionalisation, the thesis will argue, should not be aimed at a legal 'juridification' of OMC procedures, or at re-enforcing their participatory potential, but rather at creating opportunities for political contestation and scrutiny in procedures too long the preserve of a small and mutually re-enforcing circle of executive actors. A 'republican' constitutionalisation of the OMC - one able to politicise the norms and indicators through which national social policy is being evaluated - may allow 'new governance' a last opportunity to refute accusations of executive dominance and technocratic paternalism that threaten to undermine its 'procedural' potential.

Defence date: 7 June 2010<br>Awarded the François Mény Prize for the Best Comparative Study of Political Institutions, 2011<br>Examining Board: David Farrell (UCD), Mark Franklin (EUI), Adrienne Héritier (EUI/RSCAS) (Supervisor), Simon Hix (LSE)<br>Awarded the European Union Studies Association (EUSA) Prize for Best Dissertation in EU studies: the thesis marks a substantial contribution not only to the literature on parliaments in general and the European Parliament in particular, but also to the understanding of the democratic deficit in Europe and how it might be tackled.<br>First made available online: 27 August 2021<br>The European Parliament (EP) now acts as an equal co-legislator with the Council of Ministers in adopting many policies that affect 500 million European citizens on a daily basis. However, the parliamentary legislative organisation is under-researched despite its profound consequences for EU policies and policy-making. Addressing this gap, this thesis studies the internal setup and legislative impact of the EP committees. Drawing on congressional literature, I confront distributive, informational and partisan theoretical approaches to answer the research questions of this project, namely whether and why the EP committees and their legislative output are dominated by preference-outlying legislators with special interests, experts serving the informational needs of the plenary, or loyal members of the working majority party group (coalition). Statistical analyses of committee assignments, allocation of legislative tasks, and adoption of committee reports in plenary are conducted using data on the 6th European Parliament (2004-2009). They are complemented with evidence from semi-structured interviews. The results show that legislators’ special interests and expertise account for the formally regulated assignment to committees depending on the predominant character of their legislative output (distributive or regulatory). In contrast, party group affiliation and loyalty shape the allocation of important legislative tasks in committees, owing to the informal allocation process. Furthermore, committee reports are more successful on the floor if drafted by rapporteurs from the working majority party group - perhaps a natural consequence of the EP open amendment rule. Thus, the parliamentary legislative output is ultimately controlled by the working majority party group and not committees. The congressional rationales fail to account for committees’ legislative influence when an informal early agreement is reached with the Council of Ministers. This occurs increasingly often, rendering decision-making in committees largely obsolete. The observed regularities are used to advance the literature on legislative organisation by identifying conditions under which each of the main congressional rationales can explain committee setup and influence, namely: 1) the policy areas a committee covers; 2) the parliamentary rules regulating committee-party and committee-plenary relationships; and 3) the balance of power and mode of negotiation between the legislative chambers. More substantively, the EP committees are not conducive for pursuing particularistic policies. Instead, they promote left-right party politics. This has important implications for EU legislative politics, interest representation, legitimacy, and more generally the EU democratic deficit.

Defence date: 18 January 2010<br>Examining Board: Marise Cremona (EUI, Law Department); Christopher Hill (University of Cambridge); Erik Jones (Johns Hopkins, Bologna); Pascal Vennesson (EUI/RSCAS, Supervisor)<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>The aim of the PhD Thesis is to ascertain whether the EU is able to exert a political influence through its international trade agreements. Since the Union has always been considered as an economic giant and a political dwarf at the global level, the objective is to evaluate whether the EU external trade may be considered as a useful tool to address the gap between its economic and political relevance. If the EU is effectively able to wiled a political influence through trade also beyond the neighbourhood area, where it uses the membership card chip, the EU might have a greater global role. The conceptual analysis of the Thesis is based on the distinction between the EU trade Power (i.e. Resources, Institutions and Values), EU trade Policy activity and its final Influence in order to disentangle the 'levers' from the 'leverage' exercised by the EU through its external trade policy. The potential for political influence of the EU ultimately relies on the ability to change the norms, beliefs, rules and regulations in EU partner countries, during and after the trade negotiations. The empirical side of the research focuses on two bilateral agreements: the EU-Mexico Partnership Agreement (2000), and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea (2009). Despite the strong differences between the case studies (in terms of their geographic location, production and export patterns, timing of the negotiations, etc.), Mexico and South Korea share four basic similarities: i) neither is an EU neighbouring country (i.e. the EU cannot use the membership card); ii) both are strongly dependant and receive their primary influence in economic, political and security terms from the United States; iii) both have strongly endorsed neoliberal and free market principles; and finally iv) each of them might be a potential gateway for the EU in its macro-region. Furthermore, Mexico and South Korea share also a more specific strategic value for the EU in three main respects. First, in both cases the rationale for EU to conclude the agreements was the same: economic and defensive vis-à-vis US previous trade agreements (the NAFTA and the US-South-Korea FTA). Second, the basic objectives of the EU in both countries tend to correspond to a great extent: the achievement of the commercial parity treatment of EU for its exporters vis-à-vis US’ exporters. Third, the overall political influence of the EU in the countries might thus be not only limited, but also fairly comparable. The theoretical structure and the empirical work highlight interesting indications. First, in terms of Power, neither the EU trade power, nor the conclusion of trade agreements is sufficient for the EU to exert, by default, a political influence in the countries considered. Second, in terms of Policy, during Peter Mandelson’s tenure as EC Trade Commissioner, the Union downsized the normative and political ambition of its external trade action in respect to the past, focusing on the achievement of commercial-parity objectives vis-à-vis other major global actors (i.e. a defensive trade strategy in relation to that of the US). Finally, in terms of Influence, both cases indicate that the EU has still a limited capacity to exert a political influence via its trade policy in nonneighbouring countries. Four main reasons help to explain this: 1) Internal institutional constraints within the EU; 2) The bilateral level of trade negotiation; 3) The weakness of EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and of its Common Security and Defence Policy; 4) The defensive rather than proactive global projection of the EU. The Thesis concludes that although the EU foreign economic policy can be a means to address the capability-expectations gap that affects the EU as an international actor, there is still ample scope to improve the EU political influence through trade in countries beyond the neighbourhood area in economic, political and/or normative terms.

Defence date: 6 December 2013<br>Examining Board: Professor Adrienne Héritier, EUI (Supervisor); Professor Stefanie Bailer, ETH Zürich (External Supervisor); Professor Mark Franklin, EUI & MIT; Professor Simon Hix, London School of Economics and Political Science.<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>Voting unity in parliamentary parties is an inescapable phenomenon in parliamentary democracies. Knowing only which party a legislator belongs to and how the majority of that party voted allows for the identification, with extremely high levels of accuracy, how said legislator actually voted. However, most explanations of why this is the case rests of unsustainable assumptions about the effects of institutions and electoral systems on the behaviour of parliamentarians. Further, most work ignores the most basic explanation of why legislators vote the way they do: Their policy preferences. Without first explaining the role they play in legislative behaviour, little else can be explained with confidence. This work first theorises and develops measures of how parliamentarians’ policy preferences lead to incentives for them to vote against their party’s line in floor votes, and then applies them to a series of diverse institutional setups, showing that while parliamentarians’ preferences may explain significant parts of parliamentary party voting unity, it is also clear that they cannot, except in rare circumstances, explain all of it. Having shown that preferences cannot explain unity, this work then argues that by analysing MPs’ attitudes to party unity, we can understand why MPs choose to vote contrary to what their preferences alone would predict. Applying this logic to parliaments at either extreme of the spectrum of parliamentary institutionalisation, it is shown that there is little evidence that legislators are compelled to act in ways they do not want. Rather, what is found is that they recognise the value of party voting unity and can overcome the temptation to free-ride on their co-partisans. Finally, analysing floor votes in the European Parliament, it is shown that what explains defection are the long-term rather than short-term goals of parliamentarians, complementing the previous findings.

Defence date: 18 November 2005<br>Examining board: Prof. Gráinne de Búrca (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Prof. Neil Walker (European University Institute) ; Prof. Stephen Weatherhill (Oxford University) ; Prof. Marise Cremona (University of London)<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017<br>What is the federal philosophy inspiring the structure of European law? The federal principle stands for constitutional arrangements that find "unity in diversity". The two most influential manifestations of the federal principle emerged under the names of "dual" and "cooperative" federalism in the constitutional history of the United States of America. Dual federalism is based on the idea that the federal government and the State governments are co-equals and each is legislating in a separate sphere. Cooperative federalism, on the other hand, stands for the thought that both governments legislate in the same sphere. They are hierarchically arranged and complement each other in solving a social problem. Can the European Union be understood in federal terms? The book's General Part introduces three constitutional traditions of the federal idea. Following the American tradition, the European Union is defined as a Federation of States as it stands on the "middle ground" between international and national law. But what federal philosophy has the European Union followed? The Special Part of the dissertation investigates the structure of European law. Three arguments are advanced to show the evolution of the European legal order from dual to cooperative federalism. The first looks at the decline of constitutional exclusivity on the part of the Member States and the European Union. For almost all objects of government, the Union and its States operate in a universe of shared powers. The second argument analyzes the decline of legislative exclusivity. European and national legislation - increasingly - complement each other to solve a social problem. The third argument describes the "constitutionalisation" of cooperative federalism in the form of the principle of subsidiarity and the idea of complementary competences. A final Chapter is dedicated to Europe's foreign affairs federalism. It analyzes, whether the external sphere must be regarded as subject to different constitutional or federal principles. The dissertation concludes that cooperative federalism will benefit both levels of government - the Union and the Member States - as the constitutional mechanism of uniform European standards complemented by diverse national standards best expresses the federal idea of "unity in diversity".

Defence date: 7 February 2009<br>Examining Board: Prof. Peter Wagner, University of Trento and formerly EUI (Supervisor); Prof. Richard Bellamy, University College London; Prof. Claus Offe, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin; Prof. Neil Walker, University of Edinburgh and formerly EUI<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses<br>This thesis proposes a new way of addressing two central questions in the study of the European Union: What is the nature of the European Union as a political entity and how does it emerge? The point of departure is the, by now widely accepted, conceptualisation of the EU as a polity and the extensive discussions, not least in normative and prescriptive terms, that this process implied. Judging that many of the debates have reached dead-ends, the thesis proposes a novel way of conceptualising the concept ‘polity’ in its application to the European Union. It argues that the European Union polity should be understood as a configuration of agreements to collectively address common problems. The thesis then offers an analysis of three such fields of agreed upon common activities over the period 1992 to 2005 which are constitutive of the European Union polity and construct its boundedness: ‘Enlargement to the East’; ‘Immigration policy’; and ‘Europe as an actor in the world.’ Under scrutiny includes: the context in which these policies emerged; the normative ideas through which the problems at stake were identified; and the agreed-upon mechanisms for addressing common problems. To understand the emergence and nature of these common activities, the thesis proposes a concept-centred approach. It argues that concepts are constitutive for the European Union polity. The concepts constitute the agreements to address problems in common and thus ‘form’ the European Union polity. Thereby, the thesis shows the ways in which five key concepts - human rights, democracy, diversity, prosperity and security - are effective (‘their power’ or ‘efficacy’) and which Gestalt (‘meaning’) they take on in these specific problem-ridden situations. Particular attention is paid to the relationship and, specifically, tensions between the different normative concepts as well as the compromises that they form and the re-configuration of the respective policy fields they bring about. The thesis concludes that these findings should be interpreted as a self-understanding of the European Union. This self-understanding encompasses the commitment to a set of ideas, the decision to take action in certain political domains and, not least, the selfidentification as a political actor and entity. Thus, focusing on the power and Gestalt of concepts without falling into an abstract idealism, the thesis combines an approach of a historical sociology, cultural sociology and the history of concepts with key concerns of European Union studies.

Defence date: 13 September 2005<br>Examining board: Prof. Neil Walker (supervisor) ; Prof. Christian Joerges ; Prof. Neil MacCormick ; Dr. Hans Lindahl<br>PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017