European Union

The Commission today (26 May) officially launched talks with Bosnia over a visa-free regime, while 16 June was identified as the official day for the eventual signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), seen as a key step towards EU membership.

Bosnia was the last Balkan country to launch visa talks which will allow Bosnian citizens to travel unhampered within EU countries.  The Commission will outline a roadmap towards full visa liberalisation in the coming weeks, said Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot, who remains in charge of transport until the new Italian Commissioner Antonio Tajani takes over next month when approved by Parliament, after his meeting with the Bosnian Prime Minister Nikola Spiric.

Following France's example with the EuroMed proposal, Poland and Sweden are due to present an 'Eastern Initiative' at a meeting next week, in a move which diplomats warned could ruin the EU's patient efforts to craft a common external policy.

The Commission's attempt to forge a European Neighbourhood Policy with countries on its southern and eastern borders will be dealt another blow when Poland and Sweden present their joint proposal for an 'Eastern Initiative' at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday (26 May). 

A new proposal by Sweden and Poland to strengthen the EU's ties with its eastern neighbours to be officially presented today is not meant to undermine but rather enhance existing EU policies, according to a draft paper obtained by EurActiv.

Mirroring the countries already covered by the ENP scheme, the new initiative aims to improve ties with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and particularly Ukraine. The draft paper suggests that a new Enhanced Partnership Agreement (EPA) currently being negotiated with Ukraine "could serve as a reference" for other countries. 

The new initiative is seen as a complement to the French-driven 'Union for the Mediterranean' proposal, but unlike the original French vision, the Polish-Swedish proposal clearly states that it would be embedded into existing EU structures and does not seek additional funding but is financed solely out of the ENP budget.

European Transparency Initiative COM(2008)323 final: "European Transparency Initiative: A Framework for relations with interest representatives (Register - Code of Conduct)", 27 May 2008. Commission staff working document providing a brief overview of the main results of the consultation on the Code of Conduct. Coming soon: the Commission's Register for interest representatives - http://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/regrin/ Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

"South-East Europe has left its past behind it, and is steadfastly approaching the common European family", said EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering at the opening of the Joint Parliamentary Meeting on the Western Balkans on Monday. This event brought together MEPs and parliamentarians from EU Member States and the countries of the Western Balkans to share experiences on EU integration and debate economic, security, and justice issues.

This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement support for a given candidate country: its economic performance, its state of democracy and its perceived cultural `match' with the EU. Employing an experimental design, we probe the media-induced effects of these factors on EU enlargement attitudes. Key Words: enlargement • experiment • mass media • public opinion

How effective and relevant is European Union political conditionality for the promotion of democracy in third countries? This article reports the results of a panel study of 36 countries of the East European and Mediterranean neighbourhood of the EU for the years 1988—2004. The analysis shows robust and strong effects of EU political conditionality on democracy in the neighbouring countries if the EU offers a membership perspective in return for political reform. Absent the offer of membership, however, EU incentives such as partnership and cooperation do not reliably promote democratic change. The analysis controls for economic development and transnational exchanges as two alternative potential causes of democratization. Although economic and geographical factors have an impact on democratization in the European neighbourhood as well, EU political conditionality remains a significant influence. Key Words: conditionality • democratization • Eastern Europe • European Union • Mediterranean countries

The EU on Monday (26 May) admitted there may be some delays in the deployment of its mission to Kosovo, but insisted they would not be "dramatic."

But question marks over the divisions of power between the UN, the EU and the local authorities, as well as over the mission's legal basis, seem likely to delay the process. "I believe EULEX could be operative on the field after the summer – September and October," Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said after a meeting of the EU's foreign ministers in Brussels, according to Reuters.

Bosnia to sign pre-accession deal in June On Monday, the bloc's foreign ministers also announced that a pre-accession deal with Bosnia and Herzegovina would be signed on 16 June, after a two-month delay mainly due to translation issues.

Abstract 1 Introduction 1.1 Conceptual Basis 1.2 Significance and Relevance of this Research 1.3 State of the Field 2 Explaining Attitudes about European Integration 2.1 Instrumental self-interest 2.2 Social Location 2.3 National vs. European Identities 2.4 Institutions and Institutional Performance 3 Role of Intermediaries 3.1 Elites 3.2 Parties, Partisanship, and Ideology 3.3 Mass Media 4 Central and Eastern Europe 5 Conclusion References Footnotes

Since its inception, the European Union has stimulated many vigorous debates. This Living Review provides a state of the field perspective on the academic work that has been done to address the question of the perceptions of the European Union as a system of governance. It takes a broad scope in assessing the efforts of scholars and highlights significant theoretical and empirical contributions as well as identifying potential avenues for research. In order to understand perceptions of the EU, scholars have employed national-level frameworks of popular support, particularly partisanship and instrumental self-interest. As the number of members has increased, further research has taken a broader scope to include national identity, institutions, and attitudes regarding the normative and empirical function of both national and EU institutions. Additional works address political intermediaries such as parties, media, and elites. Finally, all of the works are fundamentally concerned with the supportive popular sentiment that underpins the EU’s legitimacy as a political institution. While there are far more works that can be practically included in this Living Review, we have attempted to construct an overview based on the dimensions that define this research as set out by significant contributions at the core of this literature.

The gap between the "Yes" and the "No" camps ahead of the EU treaty referendum in Ireland has narrowed, according to the latest poll published on Sunday (25 May). The survey for the Sunday Business Post shows that 41 percent plan to vote in favour of the treaty - a three percent increase on a similar poll two weeks ago. But the same survey showed that the No side has increased its share of the vote by five percent in the same period, with 33 percent saying they plan to reject the pact. A quarter of the electorate remain undecided about how they will vote on 12 June.

With just three weeks to go before Ireland's highly anticipated referendum on the Lisbon treaty, the country's European commissioner has admitted that the document is hard to sell because it does not bring tangible benefits to the population. "One of the difficulties this time in getting out the vote is seeing how you can energise voters," said Charlie McCreevy in an interview with EUobserver, with pundits widely predicting that a low voter turnout would result in a "No" vote on 12 June.

A "No" vote is likely to scupper the whole process, as all member states need to ratify the document for it to kick into place.

Poland and Sweden are to unveil joint proposals for a new eastern Europe policy at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday (26 May), in a mini-version of France's "Mediterranean Union." The "Eastern Partnership" envisages a multinational forum between the EU-27 and neighbouring states Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Polish press agency PAP reports.

The forum would aim to negotiate visa-free travel deals, free trade zones for services and agricultural products and strategic partnership agreements with the five countries. It would also launch smaller, bilateral projects on student exchange, environmental protection and energy supply, but would avoid the controversial topic of EU membership perspectives.

Unlike the grander Mediterranean club, the eastern set-up would not have its own secretariat but would be run by the European Commission and financed from the 2007 to 2013 European neighbourhood policy budget. A commission official would be appointed as its "special coordinator."

The French parliament will on Tuesday evening (20 May) discuss a constitutional reform plan that could eventually make it compulsory for France to hold a referendum on large countries wanting to join the EU. Under an amendment tabled by Jean-Luc Warsmann – a deputy from the centre-right UMP party – in the French parliament's Committee on Legislation last week, holding a referendum would become obligatory to approve the EU accession of any country whose population surpasses five percent of the EU's population - currently about 500 million people.

After the debates on the constitutional reform proposal and its amendments in the French Assembly, the text will be brought before the French Senate and a final decision is to be taken by a three-fifths majority of the two bodies gathered for a Congressional meeting in July.

NATO’s Chief has been urged to do all he can to speed Macedonia’s bid to join the alliance in a letter by key diplomats and academics. “Any interruption in the path toward NATO or EU membership by a deserving would-be member sends a most disconcerting message to the region,” a group of 20 prominent European and United States’ diplomats, academics, and international officials said Monday in a joint letter to NATO chief, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

European Commission officials are to visit Sofia and Bucharest this week to assess judicial reforms, EurActiv Romania reports. The visit takes place amid mounting pressure in Brussels to invoke so-called "safeguard clauses" against the two countries, which could result in EU funds being slashed.

Background: Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in January 2007 under precise conditions. There are three areas where safeguard measures can be invoked under Bulgaria and Romania's EU Accession Treaties: economic, internal market and judicial reforms.  The safeguard clause can be invoked up to three years after accession and could result for example in food export bans or cuts to EU funds in areas such as agriculture and "structural" policies.

Experts from the European Commission will visit Sofia and Bucharest in the week of 19-23 May to assess the justice reforms, EurActiv.ro writes. According to reports in the Romanian press, the mission takes place at a time when some officials in Brussels are wondering whether taking the two countries onboard as early as January 2007 was "a mistake" and are applying pressure to activate the safeguard clause on justice.  Both countries could lose EU funds or have their national court decisions annulled if a safeguard clause is triggered against them. 

The Treaty of Lisbon, expected to enter in force in 2009, introduces two new European top jobs: a high-profile president who will chair EU summit meetings for a two-and-a-half year term and a revamped foreign policy chief. However, selecting the right people to fill these positions will prove a politically sensitive task in the months ahead.

Policy Summary Links The EU's new 'Reform Treaty' was agreed upon by EU leaders at a summit in June 2007 and the updated final text was formally approved in October at an intergovernmental conference (IGC) (EurActiv 19/10/08). The "Treaty of Lisbon ", as it was finally named, was officially signed by EU heads of state and government at a summit in the Portuguese capital on 13 December 2007 (EurActiv 14/12/07). 

Rules and timing unclear  The criteria for who to choose for these two new top positions were not written down in the Lisbon Treaty. It will therefore be up to Europe's heads of state and government to decide on who they want to choose as their new representatives. 

The European Parliament is trying to influence the ongoing preparations for the establishment of a 'European External Action Service' (EEAS), to be set up jointly between the EU Council of Ministers and the Commission after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. But critics say this major novelty in the EU architecture is about to be introduced in almost complete secrecy.

On 6 May, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee put forward a draft report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, which is intended to constitute MEPs' wish-list vis-à-vis the Council and the Commission on establishing EEAS.  The report points out that the future office of High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission will derive its legitimacy directly from the European Parliament. It also stresses the need for "transparency and democratic input" into the process of setting up the planned European External Action Service, and calls for a mechanism to be set up to provide confidential information to select Foreign Affairs Committee Members. 

"The key expectation of the Parliament is that it has more to say on that and Parliament can add additional democratic legitimacy from taking positions. And we expect to be involved in shaping these decisions ex ante, and not only post factum," Saryusz-Wolsky said. 

The Lisbon Treaty yesterday (8 May) passed through the Latvian and the Lithuanian Parliaments by large majorities, increasing the number of countries having approved the text to 13 out of 27.

In Latvia, 70 out of 74 MPs voted in favour of the Treaty, while Lithuania's assembly approved it with an 83 to five majority amid 23 abstentions. The document now only requires the signature of each country's president to be finally adopted. 

For it to go into effect on 1 January 2009, the Treaty has to be ratified by all 27 member states. Ireland is the only country to hold a referendum on this issue, scheduled for 12 June (EurActiv 16/04/08). Apart from Latvia and Lithuania, the Lisbon Treaty has already been ratified by Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, Romania, France, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovak Republic, Portugal, Denmark and Austria.