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Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

26.01.07: Madrid meeting -> Spain pushes for extended EU constitution - 0 views

euobserver.com/23355

constitution eu-policy_memberstates spain

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • In a speech to open the 'Friends of EU constitution' meeting in Madrid, Spain's foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos argued that any revised treaty should be extended to include more European objectives rather than pared down to just institutional reforms. Delegates from the 18 countries that have ratified the EU constitution plus its strong supporters - Ireland and Portugal - have gathered in a cultural centre - usually used for hosting events related to Latin America - to outline their positions on the future of the European treaty.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

05.03.07: Debate about birthday declaration and constitutional issues on March 8th - 0 views

euobserver.com/23619

constitution germanpresidency

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • German chancellor Angela Merkel is facing the first real test of her efforts to push a revised EU constitution as she seeks to convince EU leaders this week to include a reference to a new treaty in the EU's 50th anniversary declaration. Ms Merkel is likely to raise the constitutional issue during a dinner with EU counterparts on Thursday evening (8 March) where she will outline her ideas for the so-called Berlin declaration to be signed by EU leaders and institutions on 25 Marc
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

17.01.2007: Merkel -> No big debates on EU constitution - 0 views

euobserver.com/23290

constitution enlargement germanpresidency

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • German chancellor Angela Merkel has told MEPs she does not intend to re-launch a broad debate on the revised EU constitution but rather focus on confidential talks with national governments, with the aim of having a commonly agreed treaty adopted by 2009. "The reflection pause is over. By June, we must reach a decision on what to do with the constitution," said Ms Merkel in her first speech to the European Parliament as the EU president on Wednesday (17 January).
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

09.01.2007: Conference for memberstates that have ratified the constitution - 0 views

euobserver.com/23213

constitution eu-news eu-policy_memberstates germanpresidency

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • EU states that have ratified the shelved European constitution must defend it with pride, say senior officials in Luxembourg and Spain ahead of a "friends of the EU constitution" conference in Madrid later this month.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

27.11.2006: Stocktaking of Finish presidency on content of the constitution and possibl... - 0 views

euobserver.com/22958

constitution

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • Finland has during its EU presidency quietly attempted to create a basis for breaking the EU's constitutional deadlock, with its prime minister Matti Vanhahen due to present a "summary" of Helsinki's findings at the EU leaders' summit on 14-15 December. The spokeswoman of Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen told EUobserver that Helsinki had been holding "confessionals at the ministerial level" with all EU capitals on the fate of the EU constitution, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters last year.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

25.01.07: German Presidency lays down negotiation timetable for constitution - 0 views

euobserver.com/23343

constitution germanpresidency

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • Germany has laid out a detailed timetable for negotiations on the EU constitution with chancellor Angela Merkel to be personally involved in the run-up to a crucial summit in June. A letter sent to the European Parliament president on 2 January, obtained by EUobserver, shows that Berlin has asked that governments appoint an advisor "who enjoys their confidence" on both the EU constitution negotiations and the declaration for the 50th anniversary of the bloc - two issues Berlin sees as closely intertwined. The parliament is also to be represented although Berlin publicly has been brushing off attempts by the EU assembly to get involved on a grand scale.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

22.01.2007: Wallström criticises Berlin's constitutional revival method - 0 views

euobserver.com/23306

constitution eu-institutions eu-policy_memberstates germanpresidency

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • EU communications commissioner Margot Wallström has voiced concern at plans by the German EU presidency to only involve governments in the revived talks on the bloc's constitution. Berlin "has to invite and open up and say this is not something that will go on only behind closed doors…they might even get some good ideas from civil society groups or anyone with an interest [in the constitution]," the commissioner told EUobserver in Berlin after a communications conference on Friday (19 January).
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

14.11.2006: EP constitutional affairs committee -> institutional reforms as a precondit... - 0 views

euobserver.com/22850

constitution croatia enlargement enlargementnews

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • MEPs in the constitutional affairs committee on Monday (13 November) voted strongly in favour of a report by Finnish centre-right deputy Alexander Stubb which argues that a number of internal reforms are "essential" before the union expands. The list is in line with the EU constitution.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

Considerations of the Commission concerning the constitutional debate - 0 views

euobserver.com/22932

constitution eu-commission

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 11 May 07 - Cached
  • The European Commission is signalling growing interest in ideas to boost the EU constitution with new elements which are attractive to citizens, while openly attacking French proposals to reduce the charter to a "mini treaty." Although the commission is still careful not to take too firm a position on the fate of the constitution – out of fear of offending EU capitals on the sensitive issue - a clearer picture of Brussels' thinking is slowly emergi
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

EUobserver / German debate on EU decision-making powers heats up - 0 views

euobserver.com/28449

constitution lisbon-treaty eu-policy_memberstates germany ratification constitutional_court

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 13 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Germany's debate on how much national say there should be over further EU integration is intensifying two weeks after the country's constitutional court handed down a significant judgement on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The judgement was initially greeted with relief by the pro-integration camp as it did not say the EU treaty was incompatible with the German constitution.
  • But the 147-page ruling, now scoured by legal and constitutional experts, is causing strong discussion in political circles, just weeks before a new draft law incorporating the court's points is to be published.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

26.03.09: Germany's important Lisbon Treaty judgement - 0 views

euobserver.com/27855

constitution lisbon-treaty ratification eu-policy_memberstates germany constitutional_court

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 27 Mar 09 - Cached
  • The bulk of the six proceedings challenging the compatibility of Lisbon Treaty and the German Constitution initiated by the conservative MP Peter Gauweiler and a number of left-wing deputies from Die Linke, revolves around the question of whether the Lisbon Treaty erodes the German parliament's powers of participation in EU decision making.
  • National parliaments and the Lisbon Treaty Under the Lisbon Treaty, national parliaments are involved in the EU's policy formulation process by safeguarding the subsidiarity principle. It is essentially a consultation mechanism operating before the onset of the EU decision-making procedure and is applicable only where competences are shared between the EU and the Member States.
  • Three final remarks suffice. First, both chambers of the German parliament have approved the Lisbon Treaty and have therefore made use of what the Federal Constitutional Court has deemed in its Maastricht judgment a key means of ensuring a democratic character of the Union and of Germany's membership in it. Second, much of the academic literature, as well as an empirical inquiry recently conducted at Utrecht University, have shown that the Bundestag, unlike the Bundesrat, is quite passive in using the available tools of influencing Union's policies and laws. Third, the outcome of the pending Lisbon Treaty cases is of prime importance not only for Germany but for the whole of the EU and its relevance transcends the remaining ratification procedures in Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic. This is not least because the "sale of the state's vital powers" is at stake, as Prof. Klaus Buchner one of the complainants said. It has all the ingredients to become the most influential pronouncement that the German Federal Constitutional Court has ever made regarding the EU.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

The EU's competences: The 'vertical' perspective on the multilevel system - 0 views

europeangovernance.livingreviews.org/...lreg-2010-1

eu eu-research literature governance multilevel-system

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 25 May 10 - Cached
  • Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 25 May 10
     
    From the outset, European integration was about the transfer of powers from the national to the European level, which evolved as explicit bargaining among governments or as an incremental drift. This process was reframed with the competence issue entering the agenda of constitutional policy. It now concerns the shape of the European multilevel polity as a whole, in particular the way in which powers are allocated, delimited and linked between the different levels. This Living Review article summarises research on the relations between the EU and the national and sub-national levels of the member states, in particular on the evolution and division of competences in a multilevel political system. It provides an overview on normative reasonings on an appropriate allocation of competences, empirical theories explaining effective structures of powers and empirical research. The article is structured as follows: First, normative theories of a European federation are discussed. Section 2 deals with legal and political concepts of federalism and presents approaches of the economic theory of federalism in the context of the European polity. These normative considerations conclude with a discussion of the subsidiarity principle and the constitutional allocation of competences in the European Treaties. Section 3 covers the empirical issue of how to explain the actual allocation of competences (scope and type) between levels. Integration theories are presented here in so far as they explain the transfer of competence from the national to the European level or the limits of this centralistic dynamics. Normative and empirical theories indeed provide some general guidelines for evaluation and explanations of the evolution of competences in the EU, but they both contradict the assumption of a separation of power. The article therefore concludes that politics and policy-making in the EU have to be regarded as multilevel governance (Section 4). The main theoretical approaches and r
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

02.11.10: Nightmare scenario of Dutch referendum returns to haunt EU - 0 views

euobserver.com/31180

eu-constitution referenda economic-policy eu-policy_memberstates netherlands

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 02 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • The nightmare scenario of another referendum on a change to the EU treaty in the Netherlands, five years after the country rejected the bloc's proposed constitution, could return to haunt European leaders, with the hard-right Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders on Tuesday (2 November) announcing it is considering proposing just such a vote.
  • MP Louis Bontes of the anti-immigrant PVV, which is part of the governing coalition pact, said his faction in the parliament may push for a referendum if the penalties for countries in breach of new EU fiscal rules are not strict enough.
  • The left-wing Socialist Party, one of the leaders of the No campaign in 2005 against the EU constitution, claiming that the dud EU charter had favoured the interests of businesses over citizens, has already endorsed the idea that another referendum should be called. On Friday, MP Harry Van Bommel, the party's spokesman for EU affairs and the deputy chair of the parliament's standing committee on the same subject, said that if a treaty change is approved by the European Council, it will call for a referendum. "We are very happy to have the support of the PVV in our push for a referendum," he told EUobserver, "and that they are willing to look into the issue as well." Mr Van Bommel was keen to stress that his party's opposition to the treaty change was for different reasons to that of the PVV. "They are more concerned that we not pay out to poorer countries whereas we are more worried that the proposed changes limit a nation's policy space in the social arena," he explained.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

03.11.10: EU leaders back 'limited' treaty change, budget cap - 0 views

www.euractiv.com/...-change-budget-cap-news-499297

eu-policies eu-budget currency-policy economic-policy constitution eu-policy_memberstates france germany uk interinstitutional_conflicts europeancouncil europeanparliament

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 04 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Britain and other European Union countries put their weight behind Franco-German calls for tougher eurozone rules at a summit today (29 October), agreeing on "limited" changes to the EU's main treaty in return for a cap on the EU budget.
  • Officials struggled to deliver the message that legal tricks could accommodate both Germany's push for treaty change and conflicting calls from several other countries which had rejected the idea. Regarding treaty change, the key word is "simplified", officials explained. A simplified provision, enshrined in Article 48, Section 6 of the Lisbon Treaty, allows member countries to unanimously adopt a decision amending all or part of the main elements of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), which governs how the Union carries out its work. Such a procedure would avoid the need to call a constitutional convention, experts explained. In addition, the European Parliament would only be "consulted" instead of enjoying full voting rights as part of the normal co-decision procedure. The changes to the treaty are to be settled by mid-2013, before the expiry of the present emergency fund agreed earlier this year to deal with crises such as the one that hit Greece. The objective is to replace that with a permanent mechanism. The simplified treaty change procedure will not enter into force until it is approved by member states in accordance with their constitutions. Most EU countries are expected to ratify the decision by a simplified procedure in their parliaments. As for Ireland, it remains unclear whether a change effected in this way would require another referendum.
  • UK Prime Minister David Cameron appears to have been instrumental in forging a deal, lending his backing to Franco-German calls for treaty change in return for keeping a lid on the EU's 2011 budget. 11 member states, including Britain, France and Germany, will send a letter to the European Commission and Parliament today saying that their plans to increase the EU budget by 5.9% in 2011 are "especially unacceptable at a time when we are having to take difficult decisions at national level to control public expenditure". The letter was signed by the leaders of the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Austria, Finland, Slovenia and Estonia. The bloc's finance ministers had earlier voted for a limited increase in the EU budget of 2.9%. "We are clear that we cannot accept any more than the 2.9% increase proposed by the finance ministers," the leaders say in the letter. Cameron argued that a planned increase in the EU budget would cost his country's taxpayers the equivalent of one billion euros. The 2.9% rise would still cost them £435m (500m euros). Parliament to fight back By agreeing to cap the budget, EU leaders set themselves on a collision course with the European parliament, which has the power to approve or reject the proposed budget. Negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council, which represents the 27 member countries, over the EU's 2011 budget kicked off on 27 October (see 'Background'). "If Cameron is prepared to give up the British rebate [...] then we can for sure discuss a reduction of the budget," said Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist & Democrats group in the European Parliament, speaking to EUX.TV, the European policy news channel powered by EurActiv. "The European budget is not to be compared with national budgets," said Schulz. "There are no own resources. We have no European taxes. We have no own money. It is money coming from the member states. We can make no debts. The British budget must be reduced because there is enormous debt. Europe has no debts," he said.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

Søberg (2008): The Quest for Institutional Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina E... - 0 views

eep.sagepub.com/...714

eu-research enlargement enlargementpolicy_candidates bosnia literature

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 17 Dec 08 - Cached
  • This version was published on November 1, 2008 East European Politics & Societies, Vol. 22, No. 4, 714-737 (2008) DOI: 10.1177/0888325408316527 The Quest for Institutional Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina Marius Søberg Norwegian University of Science and Technology This article investigates the quest for institutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. Reform does not take place in a vacuum and the successful reform of the Bosnian polity is dependent on public support. Public demands for reform are likely to be influenced by how the current institutions are believed to be functioning and by the public support for the current institutional set-up as such. Still, the demands for alterations by the political elites of the different national communities highlight a continuing lack of consensus. Although the Constitution allows for a revision, the political room for such changes is limited, and the challenge remains to provide adequate degree of autonomy of national groups without diminishing the quality of democracy. The need to differentiate between the protection of legitimate national and minority rights and unacceptable nationalist demands emerges as a challenge with no easy solution. Key Words: Bosnia and Herzegovina • institutions • public support • reform
  • Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 17 Dec 08
     
    This version was published on November 1, 2008 East European Politics & Societies, Vol. 22, No. 4, 714-737 (2008) DOI: 10.1177/0888325408316527 ---------- This article investigates the quest for institutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. Reform does not take place in a vacuum and the successful reform of the Bosnian polity is dependent on public support. Public demands for reform are likely to be influenced by how the current institutions are believed to be functioning and by the public support for the current institutional set-up as such. Still, the demands for alterations by the political elites of the different national communities highlight a continuing lack of consensus. Although the Constitution allows for a revision, the political room for such changes is limited, and the challenge remains to provide adequate degree of autonomy of national groups without diminishing the quality of democracy. The need to differentiate between the protection of legitimate national and minority rights and unacceptable nationalist demands emerges as a challenge with no easy solution. Key Words: Bosnia and Herzegovina * institutions * public support * reform
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

26.11.08: Debates about lisbon-treaty in Ireland and Czechia - 0 views

euobserver.com/27178

constitution lisbon-treaty ratification eu-policy_memberstates ireland czechia Czech_Presidency_2009

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 26 Nov 08 - Cached
  • An Irish parliamentary committee is to debate a report arguing that a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon treaty is legally possible. The draft report, first seen by the Irish Times, has been discussed in a private session by the Subcommittee on Ireland's Future in the EU and is due to be presented to the joint Committee on European Affairs on Thursday (27 November).
  • It argues that a second poll on the EU's new reform treaty - following the debacle in June when the Irish voters rejected the document by a clear majority - would be preferable, suggesting a vote on the same text but accompanied by clarifying declarations on controversial issues.
  • Meanwhile, Prague is expecting a verdict from the Czech constitutional court on whether the EU reform plan is in line with the Czech constitution after a heated exchange between the country's president and government officials in the courtroom on Tuesday (25 November). The Czech Republic is the only country that has not yet voted on the Lisbon treaty. Despite this fact, the republic is preparing to take over the helm of the EU from France in January, when it assumes the six-month rotating EU presidency, and must then lead talks with Ireland on how to solve the institutional problem.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

21.11.08: Lisbon treaty storms through Swedish parliament - 0 views

euobserver.com/27154

constitution lisbon-treaty ratification eu-policy_memberstates sweden germany poland czechia

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 21 Nov 08 - Cached
  • The Swedish parliament late on Thursday (20 November) adopted the Lisbon treaty by a sweeping majority, becoming the 23rd EU country to ratify the text. The treaty was passed by 243 votes against 39 at 23:30 local time, with 13 abstentions and 54 deputies absent from the 349-seat legislature, the Riksdag.
  • Final four The Swedish result comes after Ireland voted No to Lisbon in a referendum in June. A small crowd of anti-Lisbon campaigners protested outside the Swedish embassy in Dublin on Thursday, saying the Irish government should have told Sweden the treaty is dead. The Czech Republic is awaiting a constitutional court verdict on 25 November before resuming parliamentary ratification. A German constitutional court verdict is expected in early 2009. The Polish president has refused to sign off on the treaty unless Ireland overturns its No.
  • Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 21 Nov 08
     
    Lisbon treaty storms through Swedish parliament
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

10.02.09: German court to begin hearing on EU treaty - 0 views

euobserver.com/27579

constitution lisbon-treaty eu-policy_memberstates germany constitutional_court ratification

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 10 Feb 09 - No Cached
  • Germany's highest court will today (10 February) begin a hearing on whether the EU's Lisbon treaty undermines the country's own constitution by weakening the power of the national parliament. The hearing is to last two days, an exceptionally long time, seen as an indication of how seriously the court is taking the challenge.
  • The judges will look at whether the Lisbon Treaty - designed to improve decision-making in the EU - is not democratic, and therefore anti-constitutional, because it takes away power from Germany's parliament.
  • So far, the treaty has been through most of the process - it has been approved by both houses of parliament and signed by Germany's president. But the final step of ratification, handing the papers over in Rome, has been postponed pending the court decision. The judgement is expected to be made in two to three months. But even if the court comes out in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, the process may not be over. Last month, a separate group handed in another complaint on the treaty, listing political and economic faults. The court has yet to decide whether to take on the case. Elsewhere, the fate of the treaty remains uncertain too. The Czech Republic has yet to begin ratification of the treaty, while Ireland is facing a second referendum on the document after its citizens rejected it last June. Poland's President, meanwhile, has said he will not sign the treaty until it has been accepted in Ireland.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

16.06.08: Western Balkans on EU agenda - 0 views

www.euractiv.com/...article-173357

cfsp enlargement enlargementpolicy_candidates enlargementpolicy_eu eulex kosovo macedonia un westernbalkans

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 16 Jun 08 - Cached
  • After a re-run of the general election in Macedonia and the entry into force of Kosovo's new constitution on Sunday, EU foreign ministers will convene today (16 June) to review the situation in the neighbouring Western Balkans.
  • Ministers will likely welcome the peaceful re-run of parliamentary elections in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on Sunday, just two weeks after ethnic violence marred the first elections on 1 June. 
  • While Kosovo is not on the foreign ministers' agenda, it is unlikely that they will be able to avoid the topic, after the fledgling state's constitution entered into force on Sunday.  The EU is also poised to take over policing and justice tasks from the United Nations after the UN's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week put forward proposals to "reconfigure" the activities of the UN Mission UNMIK to allow the EU to deploy its contested EU-Lex police mission there (EurActiv 29/05/08).  "It is my intention to reconfigure the structure and profile of the international civil presence [...] enabling the European Union to assume an enhanced operational role," said the secretary general in letters to Kosovo and Serbian leaders.  But the handover, which is foreseen in Kosovo's constitution, remains strongly opposed by both Serbia and Russia, who insist that the EU mission is illegal because it has not been approved by the UN Security Council. 
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

Ireland - Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty: Campaign, Results and Reasons for Rejection - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...tution_of_Ireland_Bill%2C_2008

ireland lisbon-treaty referendum

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 03 Jul 08 - Cached
  • The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2008 was a bill introduced by the Government of Ireland in 2008 to amend the Constitution of Ireland in order to enable ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon (also known as the Reform Treaty) of the European Union, so it could be enacted as scheduled on 1 January 2009. As part of the enactment of the bill, a referendum was held on 12 June 2008.[1] The proposal was defeated by 53.4% of votes to 46.6%, with a turn out of 53.1%.[2]
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