The time has come to open a lucid debate on the ways and means to make Europe better deliver democracy and sustainable growth. The Report on the State of the European Union examines the progress of European integration and focus on economic aspects of the process. This volume explores the themes of: democracy and legitimacy, convergence and cohesion, macroeconomic policies and social integration. the report is written in an accessible way and will be a useful resource for academics, students, policymakers, journalists, and government advisors.

This volume, the fifth instalment of the classic Report on the European Union series, offers at once an economic and intellectual historical perspective on the creation of the euro and its 20 first years, a comprehensive review of the current and future challenges of the euro area, including a critical look at the different options for the reform of its governance and institutional architecture and finally a close look at the “new euros”, i.e. the ambitious projects that could instil a new life into the stalled European project. It covers a wide range of key economic and social topics such as monetary and fiscal policy, tax competition, the EU budget, structural policy, inequality, gender equality, post carbon economy, well-being advancement and democracy. Weakened by a decade of economic crisis and shaken by the awakening of populism, the European project faces three disintegrations: democratic disaffection, monetary and financial fragmentation and territorial dislocation. If EU member states want to escape those looming risks, they must, as they always have in the last five decades, reinvent Europe in order to save it.

The contributors to this volume take the dynamic interaction between law, politics and society as a starting point to think critically about recent developments and future innovations in European integration and EU studies.

Against the backdrop of combating the financial and economic crisis in the European Union for the past decade, this volume strives to explore the manifold impacts the prevailing crisis management has on the further alignment of European Integration. The efforts targeted at overcoming the financial and economic crisis evoked far-reaching consequences on the societal, economic, and political level within European member states, which in turn challenge the institutional alignment, democratic legitimacy and economic coherence of the European Union. Taking into account current developments in the EU, the contributions presented in this volume focus on the ‘fault lines’ in the integration process, i.e. questions of policy coherence, democratic accountability, financialization, militarization, migration, gendered social and economic asymmetries as well as the rise of populist and extreme right-wing parties. The volume focuses on how these different developments come together by relating aspects of transdisciplinary research to uncover the fault lines in the European integration project in the subsequent chapters. ContentEconomic and Democratic Governance • Right Wing Populism and Right Extreme Parties • Financialization and Militarization • Social Exclusion, Welfare and Migration Policies EditorsProf. (FH) Dr. Stefanie Wöhl, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Prof. (FH) Dr. Elisabeth Springler, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Mag. Martin Pachel, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Dr. Bernhard Zeilinger, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna.

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 is the seventh volume in the highly influential State of the European Union series, produced under the auspices of the European Union Studies Association. This volume provides major new insights on both the recent evolution of the EU and its future developmental trajectory, and maps European trends against American policies and institutions.

The State of European Integration provides scholars, practitioners, experts and students with a comprehensive account of the state of the European Union today. With contributions from leading scholars including Richard G. Whitman, Meltem Müftüler-Baç, Gülnur Aybet, Leila Simona Talani and Gareth Dale, the book examines the EU in a theoretically informed and empirically grounded manner. Opening with an exploration into the nature of the European Union as an international actor, it then assesses the impact of enlargement on institutions, policies and identity. The contributors investigate issues related to the degree of convergence and cohesion among members, and analyze the economic and monetary state of integration. The volume comes at a timely interval when there is a need to understand the present and future of the European Union.

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The intersection between fiscal state aid and taxation has become more topical than ever. Mounting financial crises have left EU Member States scrambling to increase their tax revenue, balance their budgets, and attract capital. Taking advantage of these trends, multinational enterprises have lobbied for favourable tax arrangements, raising questions about the breadth of control the Commission can and should practise. To address egregious instances of favourable taxation, the Commission has tried to simultaneously use soft law and deploy Treaty rules on state aid. Fiscal State Aid Law and Harmful Tax Competition in the EU examines the use of state aid rules against national tax measures. Kyriazis's book presents a targeted investigation of these measures in two parts. The first part addresses Commission decisions and ECJ judgments of the early 2000s, which the author calls the "first wave". The second part consists of all the recent Commission decisions and investigations into tax schemes and individual tax rulings, most notably the Apple, Fiat, Starbucks, and Amazon investigations, which Kyriazis labels the "second wave". The characteristics and common threads of each wave are set out, their similarities and differences dissected, and their nexus to the EU's fight against harmful tax competition explored. Containing a thorough analysis of the legal concept of fiscal state aid under Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, this book will be of interest to scholars of European and International Tax law and practitioners working in the field of European competition law.