Analyses the likely future of the EU following next year's Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) which is likely to be even more significant for the future of Europe than the Maastricht Treaty. Since Maastricht it has become clear that future developments are less certain with regard to the EU and integration. The IGC will have to try and resolve tensions such as: "widening" Europe to include former communist countries whislt also trying to "deepen" Europe with increased political and economic integration; providing a framework which is acceptable to a core of countries (Benelux, Germany, France) who favour more integration and an early move to monetary union with countries such as the UK, which does not.

Recoge: 1.State of the union - 2.In with the euro - 3.Building the Union - 4.Security of the Union - 5.Enlarging the Union - 6.Justice and fair play - 7.Prosperity of the Union - 8.Divided we stand?

For decades the European Union tried changing its institutions, but achieved only unsatisfying political compromises and modest, incremental treaty revisions. In late 2009, however, the EU was successfully reformed through the Treaty of Lisbon. Reforming the European Union examines how political leaders ratified this treaty against all odds and shows how this victory involved all stages of treaty reform negotiations--from the initial proposal to referendums in several European countries. The authors emphasize the strategic role of political leadership and domestic politics, and they use state-of-the-art methodology, applying a comprehensive data set for actors' reform preferences. They look at how political leaders reacted to apparent failures of the process by recreating or changing the rules of the game. While domestic actors played a significant role in the process, their influence over the outcome was limited as leaders ignored negative referendums and plowed ahead with intended reforms. The book's empirical analyses shed light on critical episodes: strategic agenda setting during the European Convention, the choice of ratification instrument, intergovernmental bargaining dynamics, and the reaction of the German Council presidency to the negative referendums in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

The Report on the State of the European Union examines the progress of European integration and focuses on economic aspects of the process. This second volume in the series explores the four crises of contemporary Europe, those of growth, trust, inequalities and unity.

With the introduction of a single currency in 1999 and the negotiations for the fifth enlargement in 2000, the European Union is at a major crossroads in its history. While the adoption of EMU and the entrance of new member states hold the promise of creating an 'ever close union', they must take place in a rather turbulent environment. Exogenous shocks such as the Asian financial crisis, the Russian upheaval, and new Balkan problems threaten to derail advances in monetary affairs and common foreign and security policy. Endogenous resistance to further European policy reform in areas such as the budget, CAP, and structural funds has strengthened, as suggested by the meagre advances in the Amsterdam Treaty. Indeed, domestic developments, including changes in the political composition of leading governments and growing unemployment, pose further challenges to EU reforms. With contributions from leading scholars, the book examines the European Union in a theoretically informed, empirically-grounded manner. The book begins by exploring the evolving nature of the European polity and its capacity for change. The second section on monetary union examines the conditions under which EMU will challenge integration, the viability of the European Central Bank, as well as the ability of European citizens to adjust to the single currency. The third section investigates why member states agreed to the Eastern enlargement and what internal and external challenges face the Union as a result. The fourth section highlights the institutional upheavals underway in the major European institutions, as well as Europeans support of and identify with the European polity. The final section of the book highlights the extent to which the European Union is able to govern in key policy areas–trade, environment, common foreign and security policy, and development–given the state of the European Union today. This is the fifth volume in the biannual series State of the European Union produced under the auspices of the American European Community Studies Association (ECSA)

This book, edited by Vincent Chetail, Philippe De Bruycker and Francesco Maiani, is aimed at analysing the recent changes of the Common European Asylum System, the progress achieved and the remaining flaws. The overall objective and key added value of this volume are to provide a comprehensive and critical account of the recast instruments governing asylum law and policy in the European Union. This book is the outcome of the 7th Congress of the Academic Network for Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe held in Brussels in 2014. Contributors are: Hemme Battjes, Céline Bauloz, Ulrike Brandl, Vincent Chetail, Cathryn Costello, Philippe De Bruycker, Madeline Garlick, Elspeth Guild, Emily Hancox, Lyra Jakuleviciene, Francesco Maiani, Barbara Mikołajczyk, Géraldine Ruiz, Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi, Patricia Van De Peer and Jens Vedsted-Hansen.