Thanks to new transparency rules and increased efforts by scholars, researchers are better equipped than ever before to analyze the decision-making processes of the Council of the European Union and to test old wisdoms. This book covers the most contentious areas and important debates in current research.

A key textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students of contemporary European politics, European Union: Power and policy-making 4th edition offers a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the European Union policy process. Intended to advance understanding of the EU as a now mature and ongoing policy system, this book addresses the central issues relating to the distribution of power and influence in the European Union including: Theoretical perspectives The roles of key institutions in the processing of policy problems Different channels of representation The EU as a policy-making state Written by a distinguished group of international scholars, this new edition will also appeal to the worldwide community of researchers on the EU. New to this edition: New chapters on The Politics of Multispeed Europe, The Distribution of Power Among Institutions, EU Agencies, Covert Integration in the European Union, and Political Representation and Democracy in the EU. New authors and theoretical approaches on many topics such as differentiated integration, opt-outs and multi-speed integration, negotiation and coalition building, the interplay of judicial and legislative policy-making, power distribution, agency behaviour, integration by subterfuge, the democratic deficit fully updated data and content throughout Jeremy Richardson is joined by a co-editor, Professor Sonia Mazey, for the fourth expanded edition of this highly regarded textbook on the EU. Jeremy Richardson is an Emeritus Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, UK, and Adjunct Professor at the National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is also Founder and Co-editor of the Journal of European Public Policy Sonia Mazey is a Professor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the College of Business and Law, University of Canterbury, New Zealand and formally a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, UK

This eagerly awaited new edition has been significantly revised after extensive user feedback to meet current teaching requirements. The first major textbook to be published since the rejuvenation of the Lisbon Treaty, it retains the best elements of the first edition – the engaging, easily understandable writing style, extracts from a variety of sources showing the creation, interpretation and application of the law and comprehensive coverage. In addition it has separate chapters on EU law in national courts, governance and external relations reflecting the new directions in which the field is moving. The examination of the free movement of goods and competition law has been restructured. Chapter introductions clearly set out what will be covered in each section allowing students to approach complex material with confidence and detailed further reading sections encourage further study. Put simply, it is required reading for all serious students of EU law.

The Rotating European Union Council Presidency and Small Member States explores the opportunities and burdens for small states of holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. While the functions and the achievements of the Council presidencies have been widely studied on the EU level, this book adopts the inverse and under-researched perspective of looking at the "domestic" impact of the Council presidency on the Member State, specifically small Member States. Combining new institutionalist theoretical approaches under the concept of Europeanisation, and employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, this book explores whether the Council presidency leads to Europeanisation of national polities and politics. More specifically, the book looks at the impact of the Council presidency on national administrations, ministers and public opinion. It suggests that the Council presidency presents a unique opportunity to (re)engage with EU affairs and institutions for Member States, especially the small ones and those holding the position for the first time. This book will be of interest to postgraduate students, researchers and academics of International Relations and European Integration, specifically those interested in small states in the European Union or the rotating European Union Council presidency.

Politics in Europe, Seventh Edition introduces students to the power of the European Union as well as seven political systems—the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Poland—within a common analytical framework that enables students to conduct both single-case and cross-national analysis. Each case addresses the most relevant questions of comparative political analysis: who governs, on behalf of what values, with the collaboration of what groups, in the face of what kind of opposition, and with what socioeconomic and political consequences? Packed with captivating photos and robust country descriptions from regional specialists, the Seventh Edition enables students to think critically about these questions and make meaningful cross-national comparisons.

This Handbook covers all major aspects of EU Cohesion policy, one of the most significant areas of intervention of the European Union. Over five parts, It discusses this policy’s history and governing principles; the theoretical approaches from which it can be assessed; the inter-institutional and multi-level dynamics that it tends to elicit; its practical implementation and impact on EU member states; its interactions with other EU policies and strategies; and the cognitive maps and narratives with which it can be associated. An absolute must for all students of the EU.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. EU member states lose hundreds of billions of euros to tax evasion every year. Tax crimes have a significant impact on the functioning of national and international economies and on the global financial system. Not only do they affect the actors involved and the state that has been deprived of tax revenues, but the citizens of those states suffer too. Tax Crimes and Enforcement in the European Union presents the findings of the EU-funded PROTAX project. Chapters written by leading experts discuss EU and national legal measures and institutional practices to counter anti-money laundering, corruption, organised crime, and tax evasion. Human factors and their role in countering tax crimes are also considered as well as whistleblower protection legislation which gives readers a rounded view of current practices within the EU. This book provides a timely and valuable comparative study of the legal and institutional background of the prosecution of tax crimes, as well as an analysis of legal measures and institutional practices to combat tax crimes on national and EU levels. It also contributes to the development of an advanced European Security Model for understanding human factors in countering tax crimes. It equips policy makers and law enforcement agencies with the dynamic toolkit they need to improve their understanding of tax crimes in the EU and provides solutions for preventing, detecting, and investigating tax crimes.

Uneasy Neighbors: Israel and the European Union presents a concise and thorough analysis of significant aspects of Israeli-European relations from the late 1950s to the present day. Its primary concern is to examine major facets of the troubled Israeli-European relations, which are characterized by a love-hate relationship fueled by economic passion and occasional political hostility. This study of Israeli-European relations is important not only because it explores this unusual relationship, but also because it offers insights into how the European Union (E.U.) is actually judged by Israelis as well as serves as an important indicator of how well European intentions have been translated into observable actions in both Israel and the Middle East. In addition, Israeli-European relations reflect what has been faced by the E.U. in the process of setting-up its foreign policy instruments. In other words, the book offers both an analysis of Israeli-European relations, and an observation on the Union's emerging role as an international actor, especially in the Middle East. Despite the importance of Israeli-European relations, the subject has received relatively little attention in the fields of Israeli, European and Middle East studies, outside the context of the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A review of the academic literature reveals a limited number of studies on Israeli-E.U. relations. This book attempts to fill this academic gap in our grasp of major aspects of this relationship. Each of the chapters reflects on different dimensions of this relationship. The emphasis is on across-the-board observations and crucial areas for the understanding of Israeli-European relations. In this regard, while the chapters were designed to add up to an inclusive study, each of them can also be read individually.

Counter-Terrorism Networks in the European Union: Maintaining Democratic Legitimacy after 9/11 presents a model of democratic legitimacy for within international counter-terrorism co-operation. Exploring the current practices of European Union (EU) counter-terrorism policing, developed after 9/11, it highlights the current significant challenges to democratic legitimacy and seeks to present tools and solutions which ensure 'democratic' counter-terrorism actions and the protection of human rights. Counter-terrorism policing is now a global concern, with co-operation between security authorities of different countries a crucial feature in the fight to prevent terrorism and extremism. Yet, given the emphasis on pre-emption, this type of policing tends to interfere to a far greater extent with the rights of the individual than traditional policing. This book scrutinises the current focus of enhanced communication between counter-terrorist associates at member-state and EU levels within Europe, alongside analysis of just how far the traditional, protective mechanisms of accountability and oversight are managing to keep up with this development. It proposes that current forms of counter-terrorism policing within the EU should be understood as networks - sets of expert institutional nodes or individual agents, from at least two countries - that are interconnected in order to authorize and provide security with regard to counter-terrorism, using the European Police Office (Europol) as a key example.

This book is one of the very few studies that evaluates the evolving policies towards third country nationals residing and working in the European Union (EU). Other studies have analysed the existing legal framework of citizenship and migrants' rights in the EU and the flow of migrants into the Community. However, much less comparative research has been carried out about the actual position and the practice of migrants' rights in the receiving countries, in the context of an ever integrating EU and the removal of internal borders. The focus of this book is on the consequences of the increasing number of Maghrebin workers residing in Italy and Spain - both for EU policy and with respect to these two countries as relatively new receiving states. The book examines: What public policy implications does the labour immigration from the Maghreb Countries have for the EU as a supranational Community rather than for the Member states individually? To what extent can citizenship rights be extended to third country nationals legally residing in a European Union to make their status as close as possible to that of European citizens?