This paper explores the political and economic determinants of fiscal adjustment strategies in the European Union (EU) between 1970 and 2001. Results confirm the hypotheses that, besides economic conditions, fragmentation of decision-making, ideology of the party in government, and closeness to...

This paper argues that explaining the development of EU social policy requires an understanding of the role of European business. It asserts that EU social policy remains dependent on the willingness of economic actors, centred on the European Roundtable of Industrialists and UNICE, to...

The article develops the thesis that the EU Commission borrowed some features from the open method of coordination (OMC) in order to implement the 1997 reform of the fifth EU enlargement policy. Contrary to the thesis of enlargement conceived as a unilateral policy, I use tools of historical and...

EuropeÕs economic governance is not only highly complex, but also increasingly inefficient and unsustainable in the long run. This conclusion is reached from the theory of collective action and the difficulties in democratic legitimacy. The solution would be the creation of a European...

The article deals with the role of the EU in the Economic and Social arrangements of the United Nations system. Looking at the main UN organisations in the area of economic and social affairs concerned with development and humanitarian problems, the author identifies the relation of the EU and...

This article asks why unemployment performance in small countries in European Monetary Union has been superior to that in large EMU countries. Within a model of monopolistic competition, it is shown that a possible answer is a beggar-thy-neighbor policy by the small countries. When dropping the...

Recently, a new buzz word has appeared in official speeches in the field of the European UnionÕs external relations: ÒSoft powerÓ. The notion was first coined for American foreign policy and is now at the heart of EU foreign policy discourses, especially the European Neighbourhood Policy...

This paper analyzes Polish and Spanish proposals relative to the EUÕs Southern and Eastern Dimensions. Furthermore, plausible explanations are forwarded regarding the resemblances between SpainÕs and PolandÕs policies towards neighbourhood: the national interests considerations based on the...

The War on Iraq in has split the continent into "Old Europe" and "New Europe". On Iran, by contrast, the Eu jointly acts in the context of a coordinated European foreign policy. The paper argues that both conflicts resemble an assurance game among the Europeans, in which the entailed trust...

Before enlargement, many experts expected that the functioning of most EU institutions would be severely affected by the accession of the ten new member states in 2004. Compared to these expectations, effects that actually occurred were relatively moderate. Especially in the Committee of...