This article investigates how the European Social Fund (ESF) is being employed to translate Lisbon/Europe 2020 goals on employment into domestic agendas. The emphasis is not only on how European priorities are taken into account by ESF national programming documents (talking the EU talk), but...

In this paper we empirically test three of the most significant theories about the emergence of a European identity. The three approaches considered here are, respectively: first, a "cultural" theory, which understands identities as being based on ethno-cultural factors generated through a...

With the collapse of the communist regimes, the post-socialist countries are facing the problem of building new legal and institutional systems which will adequately address the needs of the markets. They also try to implement new reforms. But the transition towards economic and market reforms...

With the 1996-7 IGC and signing of the Amsterdam Treaty, immigration has moved towards the top of the EU policy agenda. This paper offers an overview of developments on immigration, asylum and citizenship. It goes on to develop a sociological approach to Europeanisation, which identifies the...

This paper is an attempt to empirically test a theory of access that investigates the logic behind the apparent ad hoc lobbying behavior of business interests in the European Parliament. The theoretical framework tries to explain the degree of access of different organizational forms of business...

The recent structural changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon exemplify the dynamic and constantly evolving nature of the European Union (EU)’s institutional system. Given the gradual empowerment of EU institutions, this Special Issue focuses on bringing agents and agency into the study of...

The European Union is typically modelled as a separation of powers system. Within this context, this article focuses on the exchange of technical and political information on policy-making between the EU institutions. Even though only very few formal rules are specified in the treaties and in...

The Lisbon Treaty further empowered the European Parliament (EP) and expanded its competence into new legislative areas. This has increased the workload of individual members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Empirical evidence suggests they can feel they are suffering from 'information...