Events 2015
Vienna Lecture on the European Union: "Reforming the EU's Economic and Monetary Union from a 'social investment perspective': Mission possible?" with Anton Hemerijck
Date: 15.12.2015 | Time: 17:00| Invitation [pdf]
Venue:
Campus of the University of Vienna, Aula, Hof 1.11, 1090 Vienna
Plan [pdf] und Directions
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Lecture: Anton Hemerijck (VU University Amsterdam/London School
of Economics and Political Science)
Abstract:
The EU finds itself at a crossroads five years after the Euro crisis. Europe is in dire need of a growth strategy that is – all at once – economically viable, social just, and politically legitimate. Without a strategic focus on an inclusive labour markets and resilient welfare systems, easing employment transitions for working families, supported by human capital improvements and comprehensive safety net buffers, the EU economy risks becoming entrapped in secular stagnation. Given the major reforms in the architecture of EU economic governance (‘Six Pack’, ‘Fiscal Compact’, ‘Two Pack’) and the launch of the Social Investment Package as a strategic communication in 2013, the key question for this lecture is whether the new E(M)U macro-economic governance paradigm is intellectually and practically supportive of the social investment imperative to advance inclusive labour markets and resilient welfare systems.
The ‘short’ answer is ‘no’, but the ‘long’ and more positive answer is that with the publication of the 2013 communication, the social investment genie is out of the bottle. As the status quo reform triad of fiscal austerity, social retrenchment and quantitative easing remains suboptimal and unstable, policy attention is bound to shift gears towards evidence of social investment reform “crowding in” private economy initiative through high employment and productivity returns. This opens up a vista, contingent on EU administrative support and domestic political mobilization, for embedding more resilient and inclusive social investment reforms in the European Semester to ensure the long-term stability and legitimacy of E(M)U.
Comments:
Karl Aiginger (Austrian Institute of Economic Research WIFO)
Yuri Albert Kyrill Kazepov (Department of Sociology, University of Vienna)
Moderator:
Gerda Falkner (Institute and Platform for European Integration Research, University of Vienna)
Presentation Prof. Hemerijck (PDF)
EIF Lunchtime Seminar
The debate on access to social benefits for economically non-active mobile EU citizens: The Austrian perspective - Input Statement by Veronika Pollak
Date: 30.11.2015 | Time: 12:00| Invitation [pdf]
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Abstract:
Access to social benefits by mobile European Union (EU)
citizens has been widely discussed in recent years. It’s a highly sensitive
political topic, as it touches upon questions of solidarity and national
sovereignty. While such debate is not new to European Union politics,
the economic crisis, pressures on the social budgets of member states
and the end of transition rules on the freedom of movement of Bulgarian
and Romania workers, have led to a resurgence of public debates on
‘welfare tourism’.
The lunchtime seminar will take a look at this debate from an Austrian
perspective: What is the position that Austria takes on this topic in the
Council of the EU? Who was included in the EU-position formation
process at the national level? And finally, could Austria successfully
defend its position at the EU level?
EIF Lunchtime Seminar
‘Opposing’ in the Council of the EU and its effects on the transposition of Directives - Input Statement by Brigitte Pircher
Date: 23.11.2015 | Time: 12:00| Invitation [pdf]
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Abstract:
In the Council of the EU a qualified majority is mostly
required to adopt legislative acts. Based on this majority rule, individual
member states can be outvoted and are nonetheless later forced to
implement the law. Recent studies in compliance research have
examined the correlation between EU decision making and the
implementation process. However, little is known of the extent to which
being outvoted in the Council may affect the transposition process. This
seminar discusses this question by using the example of Austria. The
analysis of twelve Directives where Austria was outvoted, the
corresponding decision-making processes and actual transposition
performance will be presented in the seminar.
EIF Lunchtime Seminar
Ukraine and the European Union: Perspectives for cooperation - Input Statement by Oksana Krayevska
Date: 09.11.2015 | Time: 12:30| Invitation [pdf]
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Abstract:
The process of the EU enlargement caused that Ukraine
became a direct neighbour to the EU. This political situation in the EU Ukraine
relations mostly determines the character of these relations and
the perspectives of Ukraine’s future development. It is in the core interest
of the EU to have an independent, politically stable and economically
strong Ukraine as a neighbour. The perspective of the EU-Ukraine
cooperation in different spheres of the European integration process and
the realization of an integrative direction of Ukraine’s foreign policy will
be discussed.
EIF Lunchtime Seminar
The reform of EU asylum policy: An adequate response to the refugee crisis? - Input Statement by Florian Trauner
Date: 20.10.2015 | Time: 14:00| Invitation [pdf]
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Abstract:
The unprecedented rise of refugees arriving on European soil
has been a great challenge for the European Union (EU). A fair refugeeburden
sharing scheme and solidarity within the EU have become often
heard demands in countries strongly exposed to the arrival of new
refuges such as Austria and Germany. Yet, what is the EU’s response to
the refugee crisis as a whole? Does the emergence of a resettlement plan
within Europe indicate a major shift in EU asylum policy? What is the
future of the Dublin asylum system supposedly allocating responsibility
for asylum seekers in the EU?
The lunchtime seminar will deal with these
questions, thereby embedding the EU’s response to the refuge crisis in a
wider context.
EIF Lunchtime Seminar
Results of Eurozone summit -
Input Statement by Gerda Falkner
Date: 13.07.2015 | Time: 12:30|
Venue: Seminar Room of the Institute for European Integration Research, Strohgasse 45/DG, 1030 Vienna.
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Abstract:
Below are a few hints to the relevant dynamics outside prime media attention so far and links to the most recent EIF media activities around this crucial moment of Eurozone (dis-)integration.
In short, the Heads of State and Government have, after 17 hrs of negotiation, agreed upon conditions for Greece to stay in the Eurozone. Implications are tremendous not only in economic and financial terms but also for multi-level governance and democracy in Europe. From the Greek perspective, evaluation will hinge on the fact and details of the debt restructuring to be agreed upon after a first evaluation of the programme (and that will be the 'litmus test' of the seemingly so unfortunate referendum). From the German perspective, Merkel's remark to journalists today that a Grexit could only have happened with Greek agreement is noteworthy.
Here the links and summaries of EIF TV presence during the last few days: http://eif.univie.ac.at/news/index.php
EIF Lunchtime Seminar
Accounting for global exit from the EU's decision trap -
Input Statement by Zdenek Kudrna and Patrick Müller
Date: 22.06.2015 | Time: 12:30| Invitation [pdf]
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Abstract:
Accounting for global exit from the EU's decision trap
The multi-level system of the European Union's governance increasingly
interacts with the global level of policy-making. This paper analyzes the
effects of these interactions on the prevalence of the joint-decision trap in
the EU. It employs the case study of the adoption of the International
Financial Reporting Standards to illustrate the opportunities for a 'global
exit' from the EU's decision traps that build on compensations through
synergistic linkages, legitimation of global policies and delegation of
policy-making to alternative venues. Interactions with the global level
allow the Commission to adopt the strategy of 'harmonizing globally to
harmonize internally' that has enabled the EU to overcome policy
disagreements among member states. At the same time, the analysis
explains the puzzle of why the EU keeps a global standard-setting body –
the International Accounting Standards Board – integrated within its
governance framework despite a relative failure of the global
harmonization and presence of the viable EU-level alternative.
EIF Lunchtime Seminar
The European Citizens' Initiative: The case of 'right2water' -
Input Statement by Jakob Luger
The reintroduction of border controls: Schengen as a sacrifice for 'national security'? - Input Statement by Stefanie Rieder
Date: 16.06.2015 | Time: 12:30| Invitation [pdf]
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Abstract:
The European Citizens' Initiative:
The case of 'right2water'
This master´s thesis analyses the participatory potential of the European Citizens´ Initiative (ECI) in comparison to other channels of political participation of citizens at European level. For this purpose the theoretical concept of "Opportunity Structures for Citizens´ Participation" (OSCP) by Michael Nentwich is used. This concept allows the comparative characterization of all means that enable citizens to participate in EU-politics. Based on this theoretical analysis the thesis reveals the current state of the “political opportunity structure” (POS) within the EU and it shows in how far the European Citizens’ Initiative changes the POS. Basically, using the ECI citizens can set the formal agenda at EU-level and on different levels they can intervene in the EU-policy-process. However, the POS of the EU stays strongly exclusive. Given the high financial and logistic efforts it takes to organize a European Citizens´ Initiative, it seems rather likely that civil society organizations will take over the initiation and implementation of an ECI.
In the second part of this thesis the case study of "right2water" makes clear that the core objectives of an ECI are hard to be implemented. However, some political impact can be seen at European as well as at national level. Among further initiatives the European Commission has undertaken a public consultation concerning the "Drinking Water Directive". Another example is the referendum in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, where the population voted against the privatization of the public water service company. This referendum was mainly organized by trade unionists of the "right2water" coalition and implemented against the will of the Greek government and the Troika. "right2water" clearly shows the importance of civil society organizations – like trade unions or NGOs – to support an ECI as they often have the resources to organize a successful campaign.
Abstract:
The reintroduction of border controls:
Schengen as a sacrifice for 'national security'?
The purpose of this work is to investigate, whether the legal conditions for reintroducing internal border controls within the safety clause have been restricted or extended through the Schengen-Reform by the end of 2013. This paper therefore not only examined the development of the safety clause, but also compared the reform demands of the involved players with the achieved end results by illustrating two case studies on the reintroduction of border controls. The result showed that on the one hand legal possibilities to reintroduce internal border controls have been extended by adding a new safety clause; but on the other hand have been restricted by procedural requirements – which in total may not be qualified as a spill-back in the European integration process.
Joint event of the Department of European, International and Comparative Law, University of Vienna in cooperation with the EIF:
EU Democracy and Transnational Law-Importance of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
mit Prof. Dr. Matej Avbelj (Graduate School of Government and European Studies Slovenia); Introduction Univ.-Prof. Dr. Verica Trstenjak
Date: 09.06.2015 | Time: 12:00 | Invitation [pdf]
Venue:
Juridicum, Seminar room 51, 1. Stiege, 5. Stock, Schottenbastei 10-16, 1010 Vienna
Vienna Lecture on the European Union: How and why
international organizations develop mechanisms for the protection of human rights
Date: 23.03.2015 | Time: 17:00 | Invitation [pdf]
Venue:
Campus of the University of Vienna, Aula, Hof 1.11, 1090 Vienna
Map [pdf] and Directions
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Lecture:
Michael Zürn (Berlin Social Science Center)
Content:
The policies of European and international institutions today directly impact the lives of individuals ever more often. In doing so, these institutions occasionally violate human rights and thus fail to do justice to standards of legitimacy with which they are expected to conform. We show in this contribution that international und European organizations, in order to (re-)legitimize themselves, establish provisions which should guarantee they do not violate human rights and which should provide affected individuals avenues for complaint.
However, the development of human rights protection provisions does not follow the logic of normative functionalism. Rather, different international institutions develop provisions of different quality.
Moreover, the evolution of these provisions can be traced back to different causal mechanisms, in which the parliaments of the dominant member states of the international organization, the international courts, a coalition of putative weak, i.e. like-minded actors, or forward-looking actors within the organization provide decisive input. Of these four causal mechanisms, the court driven one seems to produce the best protection of individual rights.
Comments:
Ulrich Brand (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna)
Monika Mayrhofer
(Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights)
Moderator:
Gerda Falkner (Institute and Platform for European Integration Research, University of Vienna)
APA Announcement
Joint event of the Department of European, International and Comparative Law, University of Vienna in cooperation with the EIF:
Promoting Austrian goods in light of the EU internal market principles
mit Prof. Dr. Janja Hojnik (Universität Maribor); Introduction Univ.-Prof. Dr. Verica Trstenjak
Date: 23.03.2015 | Time: 12:30 | Invitation [pdf]
Venue:
Juridicum, Saal U16, 1. UG, Schottenbastei 10-16, 1010 Vienna
Panel Discussion: The EU in Crisis: Effects in different policy areas
Date: 26.01.2015 | Time: 17:00 | Invitation [pdf]
Venue:
Campus of the University of Vienna, Aula, Hof 1.11, 1090 Vienna
Map [pdf] and Directions
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Abstract:
European integration is in a time of crisis: The breakdown of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers triggered a banking and sovereign debt crisis that turned into an economic and political crisis that not only, but particularly, affected the EU – which in parallel also encountered unforeseen problems in its near neighborhood and transatlantic relations. This has a profound impact on different EU policies. The Institute for European Integration Research has therefore initiated a major collaborative project comparing the effects of the euro crisis, in a wide sense, on the EU’s various policy domains, including financial market integration, health, migration, research, energy, foreign and state aid policies.
The panel will present the main findings of the project as well as related research by international scholars, and will debate major aspects from an interdisciplinary angle: What is the crisis’ effect on EU decision-making? Can heightened functional pressures have a facilitating effect and open up “joint-decision traps”? In other words, can the governments find consensus more easily under time pressure and looming disaster? Has the crisis impacted the most central EU policies and, if so, in constraining or enabling ways? Additionally, how much has solidarity been affected in times of crisis?
Panel statements:
Brigid Laffan (European University Institute, Florence): Public finance in Europe in the shadow of the crisis
Michèle Knodt (Technical University of Darmstadt): Solidarity in the EU
Zdenek Kudrna (Institute for European Integration Research, University of Vienna): Financial market regulation - source of and solution to crucial challenges?
Gerda Falkner (Institute for European Integration Research, University of Vienna): Comparing policies with regards to the crisis
Discussant: Robert Rebhahn (Faculty of Law, University of Vienna)
APA Announcement
