One of the most significant phenomena nowadays remains the European crisis. Under the metaphor and theoretical concept of the "perfect storm", the story of the European crisis reveals the interconnection between multiple national and international dimensions and dynamics. Any crisis, being a "total social phenomenon", as classical French sociologist Émile Durkheim, would have said, affects all the levels of our lives-be they political, economic, cultural or social. Nothing remains untouched, but what is old, and what is new in the EU of today? This volume offers an answer to this question, demonstrating that old issues remain without solution (even if they seem "forgotten" for the public attention or the political agenda), that new challenges infiltrated our lives, and finally, the conclusion is that the crisis tends to be the "opposite" of its primary meaning: it is no longer an acute and short moment in the existence of any entity, but it becomes a permanence, reaching each day new ramifications.

The most significant phenomenon occurring around us today is the European crisis. As well as being a “total social phenomenon” as classical French sociologist Émile Durkheim would have said, it also affects all the levels of our lives—be they political, economic, cultural or social. Nothing remains untouched. In other words, it represents a “perfect storm”. This volume brings together the contributions of twenty authors, scientists from the “Ion I.C. Brătianu” Institute of Political Sciences and International Relations of the Romanian Academy, in response to this challenge. Using an expression that is becoming more abundantly associated with Europe, namely “the perfect storm”, the book decodes multiple layers of the crisis, whether they relate to migrants, terrorism, Brexit, the economic crisis of the Eurozone, the Turkish challenge, Russian pressures, TTIP, the resurrection of populism, or the (intermittent) hysteria of the European media.

The Oxford Handbook of the European Union brings together numerous acknowledged specialists in their field to provide a comprehensive and clear assessment of the nature, evolution, workings, and impact of European integration.

This book in addition of being remarkable academic reading contributes, on the highest scholarly level, to the furthering of our understanding of performance of the EU institutions which is essential for practitioners and researchers in the midst of the institutional crisis. Dominik Vuleti , Croatian International Relations Review . . . an impressively detailed introduction to the institutions and committees that form the core frameworks of EU activities including the EU Parliament, the European Central Bank, and the effects of EU membership expansion. The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union is very strongly recommended as an addition to governmental and university library International Studies reference collections in general, and European Union Studies supplemental reading lists in particular. Midwest Book Review The International Studies Shelf This excellent book in the series of studies on EU reform and enlargement is not as dry as it first appears. . . The contributors outline the key changes as well as patterns of continuity in the institutional policies of the EU and their research which I feel will be highly beneficial to lawyers, economists and politicians. . . I found the book to be invaluable for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students of EU politics and administrative science, as well as researchers, practitioners and journalists working in the fields of European studies more widely. Phillip Taylor, The Barrister This timely, comprehensive and authoritative study provides much food for thought for European policy makers, particularly in the current situation of uncertainty about the Lisbon Treaty. The authors basically upbeat findings that, despite the arrival of twelve new member states in one big bang and one after shock, it has been pretty much business as usual for the EU s institutions will comfort both those who worried about the EU s capacity to act in the absence of institutional reform and those who argued that such reform was unnecessary. But the editors identify a number of emerging dynamics that will be of concern to all who care about the Union s democratic future: increasing formalisation of meetings and procedures on the one hand, coupled with an increase in informal, pre-cooked deals on the other; increasing primacy of the administrative over the political; and a growing trend towards presidentialisation within the institutions, with continued efficiency requiring more emphasis on the primus than on the pares . The editors conclude that, while the European Union s institutional system continues to function and might even become more efficient, the price to be paid could further distance the Union from the citizens it seeks to serve. Martin Westlake, Secretary General, European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels, Belgium This volume reports a thorough appraisal of how the EU institutions have fared since the 2004 enlargement. In essence the answer is more of the same, with no evidence of gridlock. Business has been conducted in similar ways and at similar levels of output, helped by procedural adaptation. The new member states have slotted into the existing routines of the Union. Helen Wallace, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK How have the main institutions and decision-making processes of the EU responded to the arrival of new member states? This book assesses the actual state of the EU institutions in the years after the 2004 enlargement, examining each of the main institutional actors as well as trends in legislative output, implementing measures and non-legislative approaches. The contributors outline the key changes as well as patterns of continuity in the institutional politics of the EU. The analysis finds that breakdown has been avoided by a combination of assimilation of the new member states and adaptation of the system, without any fundamental transformation of the institutions. Nonetheless, they conclude that it

This comparative study focuses on the changing relations between civil servants and politicians in the European Union in the last two decades. As well as national case studies this book also looks into politico-administrative relations in supranational institutions such as the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Drawing on research from the administrative sciences and using organizational, institutional and decision-making theories, this volume examines the emerging bureaucratic framework of the EU and highlights that analyzing the patterns and dynamics of the EU's administrative capacities is essential to understand how it shapes European public policy.