This book explores the way in which the financial crisis that began in the US spread to the economy of the European Union. It takes a critical look at the measures adopted by EU institutions in response to that crisis, seeking to explain the rationale behind them, their context, their development and why different exit strategies were not adopted. In doing this, the book makes comparisons with the measures adopted by institutions in the US and the UK. As the crisis has shown that the financial supervision frameworks prevailing in 2007 were not fully able to deal with the largest financial crisis in history, this volume also reviews the proposals that have been designed to reform the supervisory architecture in financial services in the EU. The book concludes that the EU member states under most pressure from financial markets do suffer from intrinsic problems, but that the economic effects of the crisis have been exacerbated by shortcomings in economic governance within the EU. This work will be highly relevant to policy makers and scholars looking at EU integration, finance and market regulation.

This volume explores institutional and policy developments in the EU and its member states in a parallel examination of citizens’ views of the effectiveness of crisis response reflected in public trust, output legitimacy, and satisfaction with democracy. Our approach to understanding the crisis posits EU-level governance and institutional change, national-level policymaking, and domestic politics as interrelated, interdependent domains of political action and public spheres that collectively shape the political landscape of post-crisis Europe. The volume sheds new light on the relationship among the institutional, policy, and polity consequences of the crisis. The book has two fundamental aims. The first is to demonstrate the interconnected nature of European governance, domestic reform, and democratic politics. The unprecedented complexity of the financial, sovereign debt, economic, and social crises in Europe has led to a political crisis that reflects the struggle to effectively address its various causes and effects. The second objective is to present a theoretically informed assessment of the consequences of the European crises for state-society relations and democratic legitimacy. Our analysis of the crisis in a variety of national contexts and European governance highlights the difficulties faced by political decision-makers. We find that the domestic policy process is selectively affected or disconnected from the process of rule-making at the EU level, that public opinion still matters in the process of policy formation and EU crisis response, and that the salience of the EU agenda in the domestic public sphere increasingly depends on the preferences of political actors. Public response to the crisis has become increasingly complex as well, ranging from declining trust in the political institutions, emerging national stereotypes, changing expectations of the EU level of crisis response, growing disconnect between political parties and voters, and evolving intra-regional distinctions across the EU’s east-west divide.

This book provides a comprehensive coverage of crucial issues concerning EU co-operation and European security. At present, Europe is confronted with a number of serious common and global challenges, the most important being the economic crisis, migration issues, geopolitical tensions at its external borders, terrorism, climate change and environmental challenges. These developments have a huge impact on the stability and security of the continent as a whole and on each individual European country. Europe, more particularly the European Union, has to organize its governance and security infrastructure in such a way that it can cope with these global threats. This edited volume collects a number of topics and themes connected to the governance and/or security dimensions of EU co-operation. The book is divided into several parts, which deal respectively with the values and general principles of EU co-operation; institutional aspects of EU co-operation; a number of individual policy domains; areas of European criminal law; the external relations of the EU; and the future functioning of EU co-operation as a whole. The eighteen chapters, written by a team of experts with extensive practical and academic experience, contain insights and information valuable to researchers, students, practitioners and policy makers concerned with EU law and international law. About the editors Jaap de Zwaan is Lector European Integration at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and Emeritus Professor of the European Union Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He served for nearly twenty years as a member of the Diplomatic Service of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he worked notably in the domain of European integration. He was also the Director of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael in The Hague for almost six years. Martijn Lak is a historian and a Lecturer and Researcher at the Department of European Studies of The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He studied Journalism and History at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, and obtained his Ph.D. in 2011. Martijn Lak specializes in post-war Dutch-German economic and political relations and contemporary German history. Abiola Makinwa is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer in commercial Law with a special focus on Anti-Corruption Law and Policy at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Abiola Makinwa holds a Ph.D. from Erasmus University, Rotterdam. She is a frequent speaker on anti-corruption law and policy and has introduced Anti-Corruption Compliance as an undergraduate course at The Hague University. Piet Willems is a Lecturer in International and European Law at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where he focuses on project-based learning, moot court coaching and competition law. His research activities focus on regulation in the European Union. He obtained both his Master’s degree and his LL.M. in European Law from Ghent University. -based learning, moot court coaching and competition law. His research activities focus on regulation in the European Union. He obtained both his Master’s degree and his LL.M. in European Law from Ghent University.

As a result of the financial crisis, opposition parties have had to choose between the need to cooperate with the majority in order to contribute to necessary socio-economic changes, and the opportunity to stress their adversarial position vis-à-vis governments taking radical and unpopular measures. This book examines how opposition parties address this dilemma. It relies on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the behaviour of the opposition parties in parliament, in light of the socio-economic issues that have arisen in recent years. It focuses in particular on the impact that the economic malaise has had on the government-opposition dynamics in the four southern European democracies most acutely hit by the crisis: Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as in the European Parliament. Each chapter utilizes a combination of empirical data analysis and qualitative process-tracking to understand the opposition parties’ complicated choice between supporting and dissenting. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies.

​In light of the handover from the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to Christine Lagarde in November 2019, this book provides an in-depth analysis of the events which unfolded since the euro area sovereign debt crisis in 2010 up until today. The book focuses on the far-reaching implications of the last decade, shedding light on a wide spectrum of political, economic and financial aspects of the European poly-crises and how monetary policy reacted to these challenges. The book places particular emphasis on the tensions that the supranational central bank was subject to during this period, and on their outcomes in terms of the policies, their legitimacy, and their public reception. As such, this book will be relevant not only to understand the political implications of the past crisis but also, and foremost, in understanding "what is next".

This title assesses EU law and policy using a novel and alternative framework based on the notion of humaneness.

Présentation de l'éditeur : "European Union Politics is the most complete, current, issues-led textbook on the European Union. Written by an expert team of contributors, it fully equips students to understand the European Union and the topical debates and issues which surround it. Alongside comprehensive coverage of the history, theory, institutions, and policies of the EU, the book features a whole section on contemporary issues and current debates, including democracy and legitimacy in the EU, public opinion, the economic crisis, and a brand new chapter on the future of the EU, which is written by a leading expert in the subject. The accessible and wide-ranging nature of this text makes it the ideal starting point for all those wishing to fully understand the workings of this ever-evolving subject. Helpful learning features throughout the text, including key points, questions, and examples, support students' learning, and the book is fully supported by an extensive Online Resource Centre designed to help students take their learning further."

The book addresses in detail local governance in Spain. In recent decades, local governments in Europe have increasingly found themselves under pressure from a multitude of new challenges, such as demographic change, climate change, fiscal austerity policies, digitization, the demand for more citizen participation in local affairs, and the migration crisis in some of them, to name just a few. Consequently, a wave of political and administrative reforms to address these challenges, pressures and problems, has changed local governance in many countries. In part, these changes were the result of reform policies introduced by national and state governments, often triggered by austerity policies, which has become an overwhelming reality for Spanish local governments that have been forced to introduce innovations in local governance. This book aims to give an account of these innovations in local governance in Spain. This book considers the local political-administrative structure in its dimensions, focusing on the analysis of its party system, electoral competition and political behavior in the local arena, as well as on local finances, all of which are determining elements in urban and rural governance processes. On the occasion of the recent crisis unleashed by Covid-19, the book will also deal with local governance in crisis situations. The book will also contextualize local governance processes in Spain in relation to the trends in local governance observed in other European countries.

The current economic and financial crisis erupted several years ago. Its effects impacted deeply upon society, in which legal rules and social patterns have developed to enable the establishment of civilisation, justice and peace. Over time it has become more and more obvious that policy, financial and economic actors have adopted austerity measures as a main tool to solve the ensuing problems, and that these measures have hit social policy standards sometimes dramatically. Recent analyses have dealt with several aspects of this issue. This book focuses on one important element: the impact on collective labour law. It seeks to add to the debate by presenting mainly legal arguments derived from different sources and backgrounds, examining the EU and 'Troika' measures, the economic and political background and the sometimes dramatic consequences of austerity measures on democracy, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Against the framework of EU law, the relevant ILO Conventions, (Revised) European Social Charter and European Convention on Human Rights provisions, the non-compliance of these measures is analysed and demonstrated. The book is also dedicated to procedural questions, and in particular, how legal approaches may be used to challenge austerity measures.

EU commitment to human rights policies has grown following the Lisbon Treaty. Taking stock of those developments, this book describes the framework, actors, policies, and strategies of human rights across the EU and how their impact is felt. Contributed to by scholars from across the EU, this provides an in-depth and holistic view of the issues.