Democracy in the European Union

This study relates the recent rise of populist sovereigntism to the legitimacy crisis of the liberal international order (LIO). It examines the LIO constructed after World War II based on three fundamental pillars of political, economic, and intergovernmental liberalism. It argues that a transformation occurred in all three pillars of the LIO during the post-Cold War period. It further asserts that the legitimacy-generating functioning of the LIO, established after World War II, has encountered a crisis with the transformation in the post-national liberal era. It claims that there is an intersection between the legitimacy crisis of the LIO and the rise of populist sovereigntism, emphasizing the need for their joint assessment.

Το φαινόμενο του σχολικού εκφοβισμού δεν είναι καινούργιο για την κοινωνία μας, μπορούμε να το βρούμε σε λογοτεχνικά κείμενα, αφηγήσεις, μυθολογίες και πλέον και σε κινηματογραφικές ταινίες, βρίσκεται όμως συχνά στο επίκεντρο συζητήσεων σαν ένας νέος, απειλητικός και συνεχώς αυξανόμενος κίνδυνος. Έχει γίνει αντικείμενο
μελετών για πολλά γνωστικά πεδία: από την Κοινωνιολογία, την Κοινωνική Ανθρωπολογία και την Εγκληματολογία μέχρι την Ψυχολογία και την Παιδαγωγική επιστήμη. Το ζήτημα είναι ότι οι περισσότερες προσεγγίσεις παρατηρούν το φαινόμενο «από τα πάνω» με ολιστικές θεωρήσεις, χωρίς να εστιάζουν στα κοινωνικά υποκείμενα
που βρίσκονται στη θέση του θύτη ή του θύματος.
Η Κοινωνική Ανθρωπολογία ενδιαφέρεται για το πώς τα ίδια τα άτομα
εννοιολογούν τα φαινόμενα, και στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση πώς ερμηνεύει το φαινόμενο το θύμα, ο θύτης αλλά και όλοι όσοι βρίσκονται γύρω τους, και τους επηρεάζουν αλλά και επηρεάζονται άμεσα ή έμμεσα. Η παρούσα εργασία επιχειρεί να διερευνήσει το φαινόμενο του σχολικού εκφοβισμού εστιάζοντας στον λόγο των ίδιων των υποκειμένων, αντλώντας θεωρητικές έννοιες και αναλυτικά εργαλεία από την ανθρωπολογική θεωρία.
Κατά τη διεξαγωγή της έρευνας χρησιμοποιήθηκε η μέθοδος των
ημιδομημένων συνεντεύξεων και οι συνομιλίες με άτομα που είτε έχουν παρατηρήσει τέτοια φαινόμενα, είτε ενεπλάκησαν σε αυτά με διαφορετικούς, είτε αλληλοδιαπλεκόμενους ρόλους.
Η έρευνα εστιάζει στο πώς τα υποκείμενα νοηματοδοτούν τον σχολικό
εκφοβισμό, αν έχουν παρατηρήσει τέτοιου είδους φαινόμενα και αν αντέδρασαν (και πώς), και αν μπορούν να ερμηνεύσουν τα αίτια σε συνδυασμό με το κοινωνικό προφίλ των εμπλεκόμενων μερών. Σημασία έχουν και οι μορφές του εκφοβισμού που παρουσιάζουν οι πληροφορητές και κατά πόσο πιστεύουν ότι υπάρχουν λύσεις στο
φαινόμενο αυτό.

One hears ever louder complaints concerning politology as an academic discipline, its identity crisis, methodological condition; critical statements concerning the subject of "the purity of politological research" are published. There also appear proposals to mend the ills, depicting the science of politics as "a discursive platform", reaching for models known from American political science. Interesting proposals of new "sub-disciplines are promoted", exemplified by "komunikowanie polityczne" (political communication) (

Cet article se centre sur les « euromanifestes », plateformes électorales rédigées par les « partis politiques européens » avant chaque élection européenne depuis 1979. En se fondant sur une enquête menée sur les euromanifestes de 2004, il montre qu’une très faible minorité seulement de partis nationaux les reprennent à leur compte (principalement des « petits partis » de « petits pays », en quête de légitimation par l’insertion affichée dans une « famille politique » européenne). Ces « programmes » électoraux restent de simples déclarations de principes, vagues et non opératoires, sans aucune influence sur le travail politique des groupes parlementaires européens, qui ont leur propre agenda (et leurs propres règles de formulation de cet agenda).

In this contribution, we focus on the role of euro-scepticism in electoral outcomes of national elections. We do so through multilevel multinomial modelling on high-quality cross-national European data to explain voting for different party families. We distinguish voting for far leftwing parties, far right-wing parties, as well as non-voting, versus voting for the other parties. First, we focus on social cleavages related to voting. We test for the effects of traditional cleavages related to educational attainment, social class, income and religiosity on voting preferences. Second, we take diverse socio-political attitudes into account, previously proposed to determine voting preferences. We test whether political euro-scepticism affects voting preferences over and beyond these attitudinal determinants. We find that political euroscepticism and distrust in the European Parliament contribute to the explanation of extreme political preferences. These effects hold after controlling for a general left-right dimension. Moreover, euro-scepticism explains why lower income categories and lower educated people are more likely to vote for the far right-wing.

La aventura de un futuro compartido, el gran objetivo de la Unión Europea, sólo podrá alcanzarse si va más allá de la dimensión jurídico-política. De su patrimonio forman parte esencial los valores que han servido de fundamento al proyecto comunitario: dignidad de la persona, libertad, igualdad, democracia, Estado de derecho y respeto de los derechos humanos. Esos principios garantizan también su desarrollo. Desde sus inicios, en la UE ha ido creciendo la conciencia de ese activo, incorporado de una manera progresiva a su ordenamiento primario. Así se comprueba en el Tratado de Lisboa, con su amplia referencia esos valores decisivos.

En el respeto y promoción de la dignidad humana y de sus derechos fundamentales se juega la Unión Europea su credibilidad, no sólo frente al mundo, sino principalmente ante sus propios ciudadanos. Por eso importa tanto investigar hasta qué punto la persona está en el centro de actuación de la UE, como proclama en su Preámbulo de Carta de los Derechos Fundamentales; así como en el proceso de admisión de nuevos Estados. Este libro intenta dar respuesta a estas y otras cuestiones relacionadas con los valores fundamentales de Europa.

La proposta italiana di un gruppo di volenterosi che garantisca la sicurezza dell’Ucraina è un contributo pragmatico alla soluzione della crisi perfettamente in linea col diritto internazionale. Viene evocato come precedente l’art. 5 del Trattato Nato che prevede l’intervento automatico dei Paesi membri in caso di attacco armato ad uno degli Alleati. In realtà il modello è il Trattato di neutralità di Malta del 1980 con cui l’Italia si è impegnata ad intervenire militarmente, su  richiesta del Governo maltese, in caso di violazione dell’integrità territoriale dell’Isola, dopo aver sentito gli altri Paesi assuntori di  analoghe garanzie.    La soluzione potrebbe quindi stare in una serie di accordi “fotocopia” tra Kiev e gli alleati occidentali che lasci a questi la scelta delle modalità di intervento..

I diversi contributi del focus debbono essere considerati come declinazioni progettuali del tema della 'città per tutti'. La raccolta dei saggi che qui si presenta va intesa come un'occasione di confronto fra studiosi, ricercatori, professionisti e amministratori locali Introduzione L'obiettivo degli scritti che si propongono è quello di sondare le modalità attraverso le quali è emerso, in questi ultimi anni, un rinnovato interesse a largo spettro per la questione dell''accessibilità urbana'. Nel contempo si propone di riflettere sull'evoluzione e il perfezionamento di strumenti che vengono adottati per corrispondere alla promessa, così spesso richiamata sia nei programmi elettorali e sia nei congressi accademici, della cosiddetta 'città per tutti'. Su cosa s'intenda per 'accessibilità urbana' estesa ai più e "città per tutti' non è facile fornire definizioni comprensive e definitive. I contributi che si propongono si limitano a delineare alcuni framework che possano essere utili ad inquadrare riflessioni, temi di ricerca, strumenti e processi nel più ampio orizzonte delle policies sul tema generale definito 'verso la città per tutti'.

This paper intersects the literature on the democratic boundary problem with the literature on the constructivist turn in political representation to show that the boundary problem broadly construed involves a distinction between 'the problem of inclusion' (into pre-existing demoi and their decision-making procedures) and 'the problem of constituting the demos' (which involves criteria for partaking in constituent power). This distinction is consistently neglected by democratic theorists. However, it has serious implications for representative democracies because the standard answers to the boundary problem-the all-affected-interests principle, the all-subjected principle, and the substantive-demos principle-do not apply to the problem of constituting the demos. A new principle aimed at the latter problem is here proposed: the constructivist-representative principle. In the end, it should be clear that ascertaining who should be entitled to participate in which democratic decision requires the adoption of different principles depending on the specific demos in question and on the type of decision-making procedure involved (e.g., constitution-making-or-changing, lawmaking, policymaking, etc.). Keywords Boundary problem; constituent power • Constructivist turn • Democratic representation • The constructivist-representative principle The difficulty in ascertaining the domain (where and towards whom), the scope (which issues) and the membership (who should be entitled to participate) of democratic decision-making is usually called 'the boundary problem' (Miller 2020). The standard responses to the boundary problem are 'the all-affected-interests principle' (AAIP), according to which entitlements to democratic participation are attached to

Becoming Europe
Reading the March 2025 Joint Procurement Loan Plan as Politics, Symbol, and Shared Risk

Abstract (English)

This paper examines the March 2025 European Union Joint Procurement Loan Plan — a €150 billion fiscal intervention designed to coordinate strategic investment across member states — not merely as an economic policy, but as a political event, symbolic gesture, and institutional experiment. Drawing from political philosophy, legal theory, macroeconomics, and critical European studies, it traces the Plan’s historical origins, technical architecture, potential advantages, embedded contradictions, and long-term implications for the European project.

The argument unfolds in six parts, beginning with the Plan’s political genealogy and concluding with a philosophical meditation on governance and imagination in the 21st century. Central to the analysis is the idea that the Plan constitutes a threshold moment: one in which Europe reclaims agency through collective action, despite legal ambiguities, democratic fragilities, and socio-political tensions. The paper positions the Plan as a semiotic rupture, revealing the Union’s evolving capacity to act not just as a market, but as a polity — even, tentatively, as a civilizational subject.

Drawing on sources in six European languages and employing a postmodern, interdisciplinary style, the paper invites reflection on whether a supranational collective can govern through solidarity without myth, and plan for the future without fear.

Résumé (French)

Cet article examine le Plan de prêt conjoint pour les achats publics adopté par l’Union européenne en mars 2025 — une intervention fiscale de 150 milliards d’euros visant à coordonner les investissements stratégiques entre les États membres — non seulement comme une politique économique, mais comme un événement politique, un geste symbolique, et une expérimentation institutionnelle. En mobilisant la philosophie politique, la théorie du droit, la macroéconomie et les études critiques européennes, l’étude retrace l’origine historique du Plan, son architecture technique, ses avantages potentiels, ses contradictions inhérentes et ses implications à long terme pour le projet européen.

L’argument se développe en six parties, commençant par la généalogie politique du Plan et s’achevant par une méditation philosophique sur la gouvernance et l’imagination au XXIᵉ siècle. L’idée centrale est que ce Plan constitue un moment seuil : celui où l’Europe revendique une capacité d’agir collective, malgré les ambiguïtés juridiques, les fragilités démocratiques et les tensions socio-politiques. Le Plan est interprété comme une rupture sémiotique, révélant l’évolution de l’Union en tant que non seulement marché, mais entité politique — voire, timidement, sujet civilisationnel.

S’appuyant sur des sources en six langues européennes et rédigé dans un style postmoderne et interdisciplinaire, l’article invite à réfléchir sur la possibilité d’une gouvernance supranationale sans mythe, fondée sur la solidarité et tournée vers l’avenir.

Riassunto (Italian)

Questo articolo esamina il Piano di prestito congiunto per gli appalti pubblici adottato dall’Unione Europea nel marzo 2025 — un intervento fiscale da 150 miliardi di euro volto a coordinare investimenti strategici tra gli Stati membri — non soltanto come politica economica, ma come evento politico, gesto simbolico, e esperimento istituzionale. Attraverso un approccio che intreccia filosofia politica, teoria del diritto, macroeconomia e studi europei critici, il saggio ricostruisce le origini storiche del Piano, la sua architettura tecnica, i suoi possibili vantaggi, le sue contraddizioni interne e le sue implicazioni di lungo periodo per il progetto europeo.

L’argomentazione si sviluppa in sei parti, dalla genealogia politica del Piano fino a una riflessione filosofica sulla governance e sull’immaginazione nel XXI secolo. L’idea centrale è che il Piano rappresenti un momento soglia, in cui l’Europa riacquista capacità d’azione collettiva, nonostante ambiguità legali, fragilità democratiche e tensioni sociali. Il Piano viene interpretato come una rottura semiotica, che rivela l’evoluzione dell’Unione non solo come mercato, ma come entità politica — forse persino come soggetto di civiltà.

Basato su fonti in sei lingue europee e scritto in uno stile postmoderno e interdisciplinare, il saggio invita a riflettere sulla possibilità di una governance sovranazionale senza miti, fondata sulla solidarietà e orientata al futuro.

Resumen (Spanish)

Este artículo analiza el Plan de Préstamo Conjunto para Contrataciones Públicas adoptado por la Unión Europea en marzo de 2025 —una intervención fiscal de 150 mil millones de euros destinada a coordinar inversiones estratégicas entre los Estados miembros— no solo como política económica, sino como acontecimiento político, gesto simbólico y experimento institucional. A partir de la filosofía política, la teoría jurídica, la macroeconomía y los estudios críticos sobre Europa, el artículo rastrea los orígenes históricos del Plan, su arquitectura técnica, sus posibles ventajas, sus contradicciones inherentes y sus implicaciones a largo plazo para el proyecto europeo.

La argumentación se despliega en seis partes, comenzando con la genealogía política del Plan y culminando en una meditación filosófica sobre la gobernanza y la imaginación en el siglo XXI. La tesis central es que este Plan constituye un momento umbral: el instante en que Europa recupera su agencia colectiva, pese a las ambigüedades jurídicas, las fragilidades democráticas y las tensiones sociopolíticas. El Plan es leído como una ruptura semiótica, que revela la evolución de la Unión no solo como mercado, sino como sujeto político —y, quizás tímidamente, como sujeto civilizacional.

Basado en fuentes en seis lenguas europeas y escrito en un estilo posmoderno e interdisciplinar, el artículo invita a pensar si es posible una gobernanza supranacional sin mitos, basada en la solidaridad y en la planificación común del futuro.

Resumo (Portuguese)

Este artigo analisa o Plano de Empréstimo Conjunto para Compras Públicas adotado pela União Europeia em março de 2025 — uma intervenção fiscal no valor de 150 mil milhões de euros destinada a coordenar investimentos estratégicos entre os Estados-membros — não apenas como uma política económica, mas como um evento político, um gesto simbólico e uma experiência institucional. A partir da filosofia política, da teoria do direito, da macroeconomia e dos estudos críticos sobre a Europa, o artigo traça as origens históricas do Plano, sua estrutura técnica, suas possíveis vantagens, suas contradições internas e suas implicações de longo prazo para o projeto europeu.

O argumento é desenvolvido em seis partes, começando com a genealogia política do Plano e encerrando com uma meditação filosófica sobre a governança e a imaginação no século XXI. A ideia central é que este Plano constitui um momento-limite: aquele em que a Europa recupera sua capacidade de ação coletiva, apesar das ambiguidades legais, das fragilidades democráticas e das tensões sociopolíticas. O Plano é lido como uma ruptura semiótica, que revela a evolução da União não apenas como mercado, mas como sujeito político — e talvez, com hesitação, como sujeito civilizacional.

Baseado em fontes em seis línguas europeias e redigido num estilo pós-moderno e interdisciplinar, o artigo convida à reflexão sobre a possibilidade de uma governança supranacional sem mitos, fundada na solidariedade e na construção conjunta do futuro.

Keywords

European Union; Joint Procurement; Fiscal Sovereignty; Strategic Investment; Supranational Governance; Treaty Flexibility; European Integration; Solidarity; Post-crisis Europe; EU Legitimacy; Political Imagination; Neoliberalism; Institutional Design; Shared Risk; Participatory Democracy; Federalism; European Parliament; Deconstruction; Collective Planning; and Political Thresholds.

Nell'intervista a cura di Chiara Alessi, Aimi H. – studiosa, attivista e docente alla Vanderbilt University – ci guida dentro il pensiero del Critical Design, che rifiuta soluzioni standardizzate per “persone medie” e promuove l’ascolto delle conoscenze incarnate di utenti non conformi. Un approccio che espande la nozione stessa di progetto. Dalla trasformazione dell’Americans With Disabilities Act alla crescente influenza dell’Intelligenza Artificiale – tanto usata nelle tecnologie assistive quanto responsabile di forme sistemiche di discriminazione e diseguaglianza ambientale – l’intervista tocca temi urgenti per chi si occupa di accessibilità e spazio pubblico.

The recent COVID-19 health crisis has shone a spotlight on disinformation as the circulation of false information became more and more prominent. What the World Health Organization (WHO) has defined as an ‘infodemic’ poses a great risk for democracies and for society in general. In this context, public television channels, with their regional scope, actively participate in the fight against misinformation. This research aims to identify and classify the different verification initiatives and technological tools, as well as the different strategies and codes used in fact-checking tasks by European broadcasters belonging to the CIRCOM network. The methodology undertakes an exploratory approach and employs a questionnaire that is applied to a sample of the members of the network. Managers and professionals with executive profiles were asked about the management, operation and strategies used in the verification process. In light of the results obtained, it can be concluded that the cur...

In the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, few issues in Europe have been as contentious as minority rights. As minority discontent grew across countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), so did the interest of the European Union (EU), which, in the case of these states gave much attention to minority rights and worked on insuring state compliance with human rights legislation. Nevertheless, things did not go in the same direction in the Western Balkans, which, unlike the states of CEE, underwent a much more turbulent and violent political period at the dawn of the 1990s. The latter is, most certainly, the biggest culprit for such diverse paths of these two socially and historically related regions, but the fact that the issue of national minority rights in post-conflict societies of the Western Balkans has not been high, both on the internal and EU political agendas, cannot be solely justified by the absence of democratically consolidated institutions which would govern these i...

This paper aims to investigate it by critically evaluating the course and present situation of the rule of law and democratic legitimacy in the EU post-Lisbon Treaty under consideration both institutional changes and recent electoral developments. It will add to the discussion by providing a revised and combined view of the structural difficulties still present as well as the success of EU-level reactions. The research addresses the following: How far has the Lisbon Treaty corrected the democratic shortfall in EU institutions and governance? Particularly in the cases of Poland and Hungary, how successful have EU institutions been in reacting to the rule of law crises in member states? Since the Lisbon Treaty, how have electoral changes either strengthened or degraded democratic legitimacy in the EU? Do structural restrictions still exist post-Lisbon, or has the European Parliament's influence been greatly enhanced in practice? As of June 2024, how do these problems affect public confidence in and involvement in EU-level democracy? This paper also investigates whether the Lisbon Treaty has made limited progress in lowering the democratic deficit due of persistent intergovernmental dominance and weak enforcement of democratic norms or EU rule of law mechanisms (e.g., Article 7 TEU, the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation) politically constrained and inconsistently applied. Notwithstanding official improvements in electoral processes, it also contends that electoral reforms since 2009 have only slightly enhanced transparency but failed to generate a meaningful EU-wide democratic identity. Furthermore, citizens' confidence in EU institutions remains fragile due of perceived democratic disconnection and institutional opacity. After the Methodology and Research Design comes a qualitative, multi-method political and legal analysis combining case study of Hungary and Poland (for rule of law crisis) with document analysis. Data is gathered from main sources including EU treaties (Lisbon Treaty, TEU, TFEU), European Commission communications, European Parliament resolutions, CJEU rulings, Official election data and reports and the Secondary Sources including academic literature, journal articles, policy papers, Reports from think tanks (e.g., CEPS, Bruegel), NGO reports (e.g., Freedom House, Amnesty, Transparency International), analysis of EU elections regarding participation, transparency, and Spitzenkandidaten impact.

Παπάζογλου, Μ. (2025). Πολιτική Ηγεσία στην Ευρώπη - Σύγχρονα Πρότυπα και Θεωρητικές Προσεγγίσεις για την Κυβερνητική Ηγεσία. Κάλλιπος, Ανοικτές Ακαδημαϊκές Εκδόσεις.                                            From the perspective of Political Science, the concepts of political systems and government leadership offer useful research tools by which we may study the substantial changes upon political life in Europe. There is a sharp decrease of civic trust in political institutions and the political staff and of the interest in political affairs in general, while some of the fundamental democratic principles are being challenged. The stability of the political systems stems from their capacity to transform claims about public problems into efficient policies with a view to securing the sustainability of the state and the resilience of democratic institutions. Stability is not synonymous with stagnation. On the contrary, much like a computer system, a political system needs regular upgrade of its institutions (“hardware”) as much as of each public policies (“software”) in order to catch-up with rapid changes and challenges. Guiding policy and institutional adaptation is the overarching responsibility of government leadership, and the ultimate criterion for its assessment. In the context of the European Union (EU), government leaderships have the advantage of sharing competencies and some indispensable resources. In the meantime, a common framework is set-up for the comparative assessment of government efficiency in accordance with the common tasks and the specific data of policy results. In the present textbook, three specific cases will be distinguished - Greece, France and Germany - which make explicit the different kinds of challenges for government leaderships, the specific factors of destabilization and the significance of a systematic assessment of government efficiency especially with regard to economic governance in the EU.
Από τη σκοπιά της Πολιτικής Επιστήμης, οι έννοιες του πολιτικού συστήματος και της κυβερνητικής ηγεσίας μάς προσφέρουν χρήσιμα ερευνητικά εργαλεία για να διερευνήσουμε τις ουσιαστικές μεταβολές της πολιτικής ζωής στην Ευρώπη. Είναι έκδηλη η υποχώρηση της εμπιστοσύνης στους πολιτικούς θεσμούς και στο πολιτικό προσωπικό, καθώς και η υποχώρηση εν γένει του πολιτικού ενδιαφέροντος, αλλά και η αμφισβήτηση θεμελιωδών δημοκρατικών αρχών. Η ισορροπία των πολιτικών συστημάτων απορρέει από τη διατήρηση της ικανότητάς τους να μετασχηματίζουν τα αιτήματα σχετικά με δημόσια προβλήματα σε αποδοτικές πολιτικές με γνώμονα τη βιωσιμότητα του κράτους και την ανθεκτικότητα των δημοκρατικών θεσμών. Η ισορροπία δεν ταυτίζεται με τη στασιμότητα. Αντιθέτως, όπως ακριβώς συμβαίνει με έναν υπολογιστή, ένα πολιτικό σύστημα πρέπει να κάνει τακτική αναβάθμιση των θεσμών (το “hardware”) και των δημόσιων πολιτικών (“λογισμικό”) προκειμένου να ανταποκριθεί στις ραγδαίες αλλαγές και προκλήσεις. Η καθοδήγηση της προσαρμογής των θεσμών και των πολιτικών είναι η βασική ευθύνη της κυβερνητικής ηγεσίας και ο βασικός δείκτης αξιολόγησής της. Στο πλαίσιο της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (EE) οι κυβερνητικές ηγεσίες διευκολύνονται για τον σκοπό αυτό μέσω του διαμοιρασμού των αρμοδιοτήτων και αναντικατάστατων πόρων. Ταυτόχρονα, δημιουργείται ένα πλαίσιο συγκριτικής αξιολόγησης της κυβερνητικής αποτελεσματικότητας σύμφωνα με τους κοινούς στόχους και τα εξειδικευμένα δεδομένα για τα αποτελέσματα πολιτικής. Στο παρόν σύγγραμμα, θα μελετηθούν τρεις ειδικότερες περιπτώσεις – η Ελλάδα, η Γαλλία και η Γερμανία – οι οποίες αναδεικνύουν τις διαφορετικές όψεις των προκλήσεων για τις κυβερνητικές ηγεσίες, τους ειδικότερους παράγοντες αποσταθεροποίησης και τη σημασία της συστηματικής αξιολόγησης της αποδοτικότητας με βασικό άξονα την οικονομική διακυβέρνηση στην ΕΕ.

This paper investigates how intermediate governments in federal systems can empower municipalities to address democratic deficits by extending voting rights to non-citizen residents. Grounded in the theories of inclusive democracy, subsidiarity, and “laboratories of democracy,” it compares the pioneering case of Takoma Park, Maryland—where non-citizens have voted in municipal elections since 1993—with the more constrained context of Canadian provinces, which retain exclusive authority over municipal governance. Through a detailed examination of legal frameworks, institutional dynamics, and empirical outcomes, the study demonstrates that Maryland’s home-rule provisions enabled Takoma Park to innovate without contravening state or federal laws, fostering sustained civic engagement among non-citizen residents. By contrast, Canada’s Constitution Act (1867) centralizes control at the provincial level, precluding similar municipal experiments despite high regional authority indices. The comparative analysis reveals that Canada’s hierarchical provincial-municipal relationship limits local autonomy, stifling policy innovation that could enhance immigrant integration and democratic inclusion. The paper concludes with actionable recommendations for Canadian provinces—such as legislative amendments to grant municipalities greater electoral flexibility, pilot projects in immigrant-dense cities, and collaborative public-education campaigns—to unlock municipal potential as laboratories of inclusive governance. These findings underscore the importance of multi-tiered federalism in promoting adaptable, locally responsive democratic practices in diverse societies.

Tema: La Cumbre de Bruselas ha aprobado el 18 de Junio un borrador de Constitución que ahora afronta su fase decisiva. El texto tendrá que ser ratificado, unánimemente, por todos los Estados miembros, a través de una variedad de procedimientos que permiten vislumbrar una posibilidad real de un fracaso del proceso. Este trabajo presenta sumariamente los mecanismos de ratificación utilizados e indica los posibles obstáculos que pueden surgir en su aplicación, así como los efectos sobre la legitimidad de la Unión. Resumen: El acuerdo del Consejo Europeo sobre la Constitución, alcanzado el pasado 18 de Junio, cierra el proceso de elaboración de la misma pero no concluye, en absoluto, lo que se podría denominar como la "política constitucional" de la UE. De hecho, la fase más difícil se abre ahora porque la propia Constitución prevé que su entrada en vigor sólo será posible por un voto unánime de los 25 Estados miembros, además de Rumania y Bulgaria (cuya adhesión está prevista para 2007, al mismo tiempo o antes de la entrada en vigor de la Constitución). En esta situación, existen dificultades objetivas para alcanzar una ratificación exitosa dada la heterogeneidad de casos que se van a plantear. Más aún, el requisito de unanimidad blinda a los actores nacionales frente a la necesidad de asumir aisladamente el coste del rechazo a la UE y permite que el criterio esencial de decisión sea de corte instrumental a partir de consideraciones utilitarias nacionales. Por ello, y atendiendo a su ratificación, el modelo de legitimidad de la futura Constitución se asemejará más a la de los antiguos tratados que al carácter de "contrato social" que se atribuye normalmente a las constituciones: la definición y comprensión nacional de las condiciones de pertenencia es el elemento predominante para legitimar la UE, lo que consolida su percepción como respuesta a proyectos nacionales diferentes e, incluso, antagónicos. Análisis: La ratificación parlamentaria La ratificación de la Constitución debe realizarse de acuerdo con los procedimientos constitucionales nacionales (artículo IV-8, CONV 86/04), 1 lo que implica tres tipos de situaciones que pueden aparecer aislada o concurrentemente: el trámite parlamentario, los referendos y la reforma constitucional, en los que participan diferentes actores, partidos, grupos, tribunales constitucionales, etc. En primer lugar, en todos los casos habrá un trámite parlamentario. Incluso en aquellos países donde la ratificación pueda considerarse puramente la sanción de un tratado internacional y 1

Da alcuni anni assistiamo, fortunatamente, all'aumentare della presenza di persone con disabilità all'esterno delle mura domestiche: sempre più spesso vediamo persone non vedenti in giro per le nostre città, persone in carrozzella a spasso per le nostre strade, persone sorde che utilizzano la lingua dei segni per comunicare tra loro, lasciandoci perplessi e affascinati al tempo stesso. Grande impulso a questo fenomeno è stato dato sicuramente dalla legislazione vigente, che ha consentito l'accesso e l'integrazione scolastica fino ai più alti ordini di scuola e alle università. È proprio traendo spunto dall'esperienza dell'Università di Padova che è stato possibile comprendere quali interventi predisporre affinché persone con disabilità possano fruire interamente dei servizi bibliotecari al pari degli altri utenti. Non va dimenticato inoltre che quanto descritto può essere mutuato per migliorare i servizi anche nei confronti degli utenti anziani, che talvolta, pur non essendo disabili nel senso stretto del termine, manifestano necessità peculiari.

Da alcuni anni assistiamo, fortunatamente, all'aumentare della presenza di persone con disabilità all'esterno delle mura domestiche: sempre più spesso vediamo persone non vedenti in giro per le nostre città, persone in carrozzella a spasso per le nostre strade, persone sorde che utilizzano la lingua dei segni per comunicare tra loro, lasciandoci perplessi e affascinati al tempo stesso. Grande impulso a questo fenomeno è stato dato sicuramente dalla legislazione vigente, che ha consentito l'accesso e l'integrazione scolastica fino ai più alti ordini di scuola e alle università. È proprio traendo spunto dall'esperienza dell'Università di Padova che è stato possibile comprendere quali interventi predisporre affinché persone con disabilità possano fruire interamente dei servizi bibliotecari al pari degli altri utenti. Non va dimenticato inoltre che quanto descritto può essere mutuato per migliorare i servizi anche nei confronti degli utenti anziani, che talvolta, pur non essendo disabili nel senso stretto del termine, manifestano necessità peculiari.

Ex-post Regulatory Impact Assessment as a tool for improving the effectiveness of public policies on the example of the Act on the Metropolitan Union in the Silesian Voivodship S u m m a r y This article refers to the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) ex post, which provides immeasurable assistance to governments in the assessment of existing regulations. However, in order to prepare RIA ex post properly, the functioning of certain institutional solutions is necessary. The aim of this article is to identify some of the barriers that currently prevent the preparation of valuable ex post RIAs, in particular the lack of an appropriate methodological guide that would describe a methodology appropriately adapted to national conditions. The recommendations contained in the guidelines and explanations to the ex post RIA form are too general and do not meet the requirements when it comes to the need to prepare an evaluation of laws causing complex socio-economic changes. In the article a case study method is applied to the Act on the Metropolitan Union in the Silesian Voivodeship and, on this basis, appropriate conclusions are drawn in order to improve the quality of the ex-post impact assessment system and evaluation. Keywords: ex post regulatory impact assessment, logical model of intervention, effectiveness of public policies, evaluation, case study

Die Geschichte gönnt Europa keine Ruhepause. Noch sind die historischen Umbrüche der letzten Jahre nicht verarbeitet, da stehen bereits neue Weichenstellungen an. Die Regierungskonferenz 2000 war dabei nur eine Etappe eines längeren Prozesses, der eine sich erweiternde Europäische Union regierungs-und handlungsfähig machen sollte. Die Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union hatten es in der Hand, ob ihr Gemeinwesen stagniert oder ob es zukunftsfähig gestaltet wird. Der Kampf um Millimeter und die Kleinherzigkeit aus taktischem Kalkül waren dabei keine angemessene Strategie und der Eindruck drängte sich auf, dass Unterhändler, deren Blickwinkel nicht über den Rand der Regierungskonferenz hinausreichten, des öfteren den Maßstab ihres Handelns verloren. Statt lediglich technische Details oder Teillösungen zu verhandeln, verlangt der Kontinent nach richtungsweisenden Debatten und vorausgreifenden Lösungen. Europa ist fünf Jahrzehnte ohne eine klare Vorstellung seiner "finalité politique" ausgekommen. Ohne einen offenen Prozess jedoch, der neben einer breiten Öffentlichkeit auch die Beitrittskandidaten in einem Post-Nizza-Prozess an einen Tisch holt, droht die Kraft der europäischen Idee, wie wir sie kennen, zu versiegen. Die von den Staats-und Regierungschefs in ihrer Zukunftserklärung formulierte Agenda für eine weitere, 2004 ins Auge gefasste Regierungskonferenz greift trotz des ambitionierten Programms angesichts der Herausforderungen des Kontinents zu kurz. Dennoch, eine Grundsatzdebatte über die Zukunft Europas hat zweifellos begonnen. Doch obwohl die Zukunftsentwürfe unterschiedliche Vorstellungen und theoretische Leitbilder widerspiegeln, teilen sie eine Wahrnehmung: Die europäische Einigung erreicht mit der Einführung des Euro und der Erweiterung eine neue Qualität, während zugleich die demokratische Legitimität und das Vertrauen der Bürger mehr denn je in Frage steht -eindrucksvoll zur Schau gestellt mit dem irischen Nein zum Vertrag von Nizza im Juni 2001. Die Grundrechtecharta, wie sie im Dezember 2001 in Nizza feierlich proklamiert wurde, ist ein beachtlicher Schritt hin zu einer Stärkung des Grundvertrauens und der Akzeptanz des europäischen Projekts. Jürgen Meyer und Markus Engels zeichnen deren Entstehen und Implikationen für den weiteren Integrationsprozess nach. Die Autorinnen und Autoren des Jahrbuchs greifen die an Nizza geknüpften Hoffnungen und Befürchungen der heutigen und künftigen Mitgliedstaaten der erweiterten Union auf und berichten in ihren Länderstudien über Themen von innen-und europapolitischer Relevanz. Zum zweiten Mal geht das Jahrbuch dabei auch intensiv auf den Beitrittsprozess ein. Johanna Deimel beleuchtet Bulgarien,

Η παρούσα εργασία εξετάζει σε βάθος τη «Νέα Ευρωπαϊκή Συμφωνία για την Ανταγωνιστικότητα» και τις δύο κομβικές εκθέσεις των Enrico Letta και Mario Draghi, αναδεικνύοντας τις διαφορετικές αλλά συμπληρωματικές στρατηγικές που προτείνουν για την ενίσχυση της θεσμικής συνοχής και της οικονομικής ανθεκτικότητας της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Η ανάλυση επικεντρώνεται στη σύγκριση των θεσμικών μεταρρυθμίσεων που εισηγούνται, στον ρόλο του ευρωπαϊκού παρεμβατισμού και στις επιδράσεις των διεθνών γεωπολιτικών συνθηκών, παρουσιάζοντας μια ολοκληρωμένη αποτύπωση του πλαισίου εντός του οποίου η Ε.Ε. καλείται να μετασχηματιστεί.
Η σημασία της εργασίας έγκειται στο ότι παρέχει μια συστηματική και τεκμηριωμένη αποσαφήνιση του τρόπου με τον οποίο η Ε.Ε. μπορεί να εξελιχθεί από ένα κατακερματισμένο, τεχνικό οικοδόμημα σε έναν στρατηγικά συγκροτημένο και επενδυτικά λειτουργικό υπερεθνικό φορέα. Ο αναγνώστης μπορεί να κατανοήσει πώς οι θεσμικές και επενδυτικές ανεπάρκειες της Ένωσης συνδέονται με τις παγκόσμιες οικονομικές ανισορροπίες και γιατί απαιτείται αλλαγή προσανατολισμού τόσο στον σχεδιασμό όσο και στην υλοποίηση της ευρωπαϊκής πολιτικής.
Τα συμπεράσματα της εργασίας τονίζουν ότι η θεσμική ενοποίηση και ο δημόσιος οικονομικός παρεμβατισμός δεν αποτελούν επιλογές, αλλά αναγκαίες συνθήκες επιβίωσης για την Ε.Ε. σε έναν κόσμο που χαρακτηρίζεται από τεχνολογική επιτάχυνση, γεωπολιτική πόλωση και ανταγωνισμό μεγάλων δυνάμεων. Οι προτάσεις των Letta και Draghi συνθέτουν ένα νέο υπόδειγμα ευρωπαϊκής κυριαρχίας, το οποίο στηρίζεται στη στρατηγική καθοδήγηση, στις κοινές επενδύσεις και στη θεσμική βούληση υπέρβασης του εθνικού κατακερματισμού.

Esiste oggi una società democratica europea? In caso affermativo, è possibile interpretare l’art. 2 TUE come il fondamento normativo di tale società? Armin von Bogdandy con il contributo di apertura – che prende le mosse dal suo Strukturwandel des öffentlichen Rechts. Entstehung und Demokratisierung der europäischen Gesellschaft (Suhrkamp, Berlino, 2022), uno dei testi più interessanti sul piano dell’attuale riflessione giuridica – affronta questi quesiti e fornisce importanti spunti di riflessione sulla corretta chiave di lettura da utilizzare per inquadrare le questioni poste. Su questo binario si innestano i contributi di Agustín José Menéndez, Costanza Margiotta,
Joana Mendes e Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, coinvolgendo il lettore in una analisi che tocca interessanti questioni relative alla crisi del processo di integrazione dell’Unione Europea.

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) has been available to EU citizens since April 1, 2012, which marks the tenth anniversary of the new instrument of the participatory democracy in the EU. The question to be asked at this milestone is what has become of the ECI over this decade? Although both the relevant legislation and the jurisprudence consider the ECI to be a tool for reducing the EU’s democracy deficit, given the practice of the past ten years, we may consider it an advocacy tool for the promotion of the specific interests of certain groups of EU citizens, instead. How effective is the tool in this form and what are the factors that affect its effectiveness? In this assessment, I analyze both the definition of a ‘successful ECI’, and the ‘price-value ratio’ of the ECI, with special attention to the experiences of the first decade of using the ECI in Hungary. The article aims to review the practice of the ECI in the first ten years of its operation from a theoretical approach, considering its role in the system of EU law and the development of this role throughout its implementation.

For a writer who, in Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore, shares his wish to be only a writing hand, Italo Calvino (1923-85) has had a remarkable presence both in words and in image over recent years. One cannot entirely separate this ubiquity from what we might term the "anniversarification" of literature, both in the publishing industry and in academia, which generates ever more marketing possibilities around authors and their works. These possibilities are often arbitrarily bound up with numerical and symbolic connections between the present and a writer's date of birth or death (or of the publication of their masterpiece). The sudden return of Calvino thus feels akin to the appearance of the shade of Virgil in front of Dante: a great figure weakened (or rather strengthened?) by a long silence. Though Calvino has of course never fully disappeared from the limelight, the worldwide (but especially Italian) attention garnered for his hundredth anniversary, though certainly positive, does not fully represent the normal wealth, worth, and width of attention for his works. Nonetheless, no Calvino scholar could really lament the revival in this long 2023, which is ongoing into 2024. From Australia to Algeria, Brazil to Bulgaria, Ireland to India, Myanmar to Mexico, Nairobi to the Netherlands, Tunisia to Turkey, myriad aspects of Calvino's works and how they resonate with various audiences have been elucidated in traveling exhibitions, seminars, conferences, book fairs, festivals, plays, video games, dance performances, and a documentary based on the database and extra materials that are available in the Laboratorio Calvino and are therefore able to bring us closer to lesser-known sides of the writer (see the review of Laura Di Nicola's new volume by Clemens Arts in this same issue of the Bookshelf). Moreover, the publication of many of his letters (not only editorial in nature, but also those to Sciascia and, much more intimately, to his future wife Chichita) confirm this interest.

For a writer who, in Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore, shares his wish to be only a writing hand, Italo Calvino (1923-85) has had a remarkable presence both in words and in image over recent years. One cannot entirely separate this ubiquity from what we might term the "anniversarification" of literature, both in the publishing industry and in academia, which generates ever more marketing possibilities around authors and their works. These possibilities are often arbitrarily bound up with numerical and symbolic connections between the present and a writer's date of birth or death (or of the publication of their masterpiece). The sudden return of Calvino thus feels akin to the appearance of the shade of Virgil in front of Dante: a great figure weakened (or rather strengthened?) by a long silence. Though Calvino has of course never fully disappeared from the limelight, the worldwide (but especially Italian) attention garnered for his hundredth anniversary, though certainly positive, does not fully represent the normal wealth, worth, and width of attention for his works. Nonetheless, no Calvino scholar could really lament the revival in this long 2023, which is ongoing into 2024. From Australia to Algeria, Brazil to Bulgaria, Ireland to India, Myanmar to Mexico, Nairobi to the Netherlands, Tunisia to Turkey, myriad aspects of Calvino's works and how they resonate with various audiences have been elucidated in traveling exhibitions, seminars, conferences, book fairs, festivals, plays, video games, dance performances, and a documentary based on the database and extra materials that are available in the Laboratorio Calvino and are therefore able to bring us closer to lesser-known sides of the writer (see the review of Laura Di Nicola's new volume by Clemens Arts in this same issue of the Bookshelf). Moreover, the publication of many of his letters (not only editorial in nature, but also those to Sciascia and, much more intimately, to his future wife Chichita) confirm this interest.

The fundamental scope of political systems is that of transforming inputs of demands into outputs of policies with a view to ssafeguaring support to the system, the sustainability of the state and resilience of democratic institutions. In a similar way with computer systems, political systems need regular upgrading of its "hardware" (i.e. institutions) as well as updating and sync of its "software" (i.e. policies). When they fail to adapt,  there are certain hurdles to government efficiency, while citizens' criticism may well transform into outright antisystemic stances. The study closely examines developments in three political systems - Germany, France and Greece -, which represent different cases of how government leadership dealt with upcoming task of constantly upgrading the system as a means for overcoming challenges to their overall legitimacy. However, the overarching EU political system has a positive effect in upholding government efficiency, mostly seen in the institutional setup of economic governance, while providing a comparative framework for assessing the results of government policies. On these grounds, the study contributes to the fields of government, leadership and europeanization by stressing the ways in which European integration has a larger that estimated role in sustaining the equilibrium of political systems.

The commentary is partially critical. Mr Konrad Erzberger is a shareholder of the TUI concern, based in Germany, operating worldwide. Half of the TUI supervisory board is made up of shareholder representatives and half of the representatives appointed by the employees. In the judgement, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) answered the question, whether it was compliant with Articles 18 and 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) stating that a Member State should grant active and passive voting rights in the elections of employee representatives to the supervisory board of a company to those employees only who are employed at the company’s premises or in the group’s enterprises on the national territory. The analysis of the arguments presented by the CJEU conducted in the commentary, pointing to e.g. the lack of objective and clear criteria for restricting the freedoms of the European market, is partially critical. It has been postulated that e...

Esta contribución al libro-homenaje a la profesora Biglino contiene, una aproximación a la Unión Europea, como singular manifestación del fenómeno federal, centrada en la exposición de su sistema de reparto
de competencias entre la Unión y los Estados miembros y en la necesidad de reformarlo.

F. PISTELLA -  "Convergenza fra la riforma del lavoro pubblico e il CAD ( la lgge di  digitalizzazione della PA)" Intervento al Seminario su "Attuazione della legge 4 marzo 2009, n. 15 in materia di ottimizzazione della produttività del lavoro pubblico e di efficienza e trasparenza nelle pubbliche amministrazioni", Roma 21 aprile 2009

Η παρούσα έρευνα εστιάζει σε μια ηγεμονική, εντούτοις, υπομελετημένη όψη της σύγχρονης αναγνωστικής πραγματικότητας, την κυλιόμενη ανάγνωση τύπου «scrolling». Με μια πολλαπλή μελέτη περίπτωσης, η τελευταία προσεγγίζεται εθνογραφικά, μέσα από την ψηφιακή εμπειρία δύο έφηβων αγοριών, 11 και 12 χρονών αντίστοιχα, στις πλατφόρμες TikTok και Instagram. Υπερβαίνοντας τα διχοτομικά δίπολα ψηφιακό –
συμβατικό και εξωσχολικό – σχολικό, το scrolling συσχετίζεται παράλληλα με τη σχολικού τύπου ανάγνωση, όπως αυτή αναδύεται μέσα από τις αφηγήσεις των ερευνητικών συμμετεχόντων, αλλά και τις σχεδιαστικές επιλογές των σχολικών εγχειριδίων για τη διδασκαλία της νεοελληνικής γλώσσας στο Γυμνάσιο. Υιοθετώντας την άποψη ότι η ανάγνωση είναι μια εγγενώς πολυτροπική, διαμεσολαβημένη και
τοποθετημένη διαδικασία αποκωδικοποίησης και ερμηνείας του νοήματος, θεωρούμε ότι αμφότερες οι υπό εστίαση αναγνωστικές πρακτικές συνιστούν δύο ισχυρά «κέντρα» διαμόρφωσης των αναγνωστικών έξεων (habitus) των παιδιών. Προς αυτή την
κατεύθυνση, αξιοποιώντας θεωρητικά και μεθοδολογικά εργαλεία από παραδόσεις, μεταξύ των οποίων η κοινωνική σημειωτική, οι σπουδές στους (νέους) γραμματισμούς και οι σπουδές στις πλατφόρμες και τα μέσα, η αναγνωστική πραγματικότητα εξετάζεται συνολικά ως κόμβος (nexus) σημειωτικών, τεχνικών, κοινωνικοπολιτισμικών και ιδεολογικών παραγόντων. Ως εκ τούτου, οι ανακύπτουσες συνέχειες και ασυνέχειες ανάμεσα στη σχολική και την ψηφιακή αναγνωστική συνθήκη αναδεικνύονται πολυεπίπεδες και πολυπαραγοντικές, εφόσον συνιστούν απότοκο της συνέργειας των εφήβων με τις αναγνωστικές ιδιαιτερότητες των εκάστοτε πλατφόρμων, του σχολικού
συγκειμένου και των ευρύτερων παγκοσμιο-τοπικών λόγων που επενεργούν κάθετα και οριζόντια στη δυναμική του αναγνωστικού γίγνεσθαι. Ταυτόχρονα, τόσο οι τομές όσο και οι διαφοροποιήσεις των αναγνωστικών πρακτικών θέτουν κρίσιμες προκλήσεις για την εκπαίδευση, αναδεικνύοντας, συνακόλουθα, ότι η χαρτογράφηση του μεταψηφιακού αναγνωστικού φάσματος συνιστά ένα κρίσιμο εγχείρημα για τον εκπαιδευτικό σχεδιασμό.

This treatise aims at disclosing the basic social, political, and religious components, their interplay, cohesion, and paradigmatic implications in shaping the socio-economic system.  This in turn enables one to trace and properly construe the reasons of disintegration of a nation state and the paradigmatic implications of this subversive process on the respective secular societies.  This study also purports to be of certain auxiliary avail for scholars specializing in purely economic issues.

This article associates the Greek government's stance on the train collision in Thessaly in 2023, in which 57 people died, with the Communication textbooks' strategies on Damage Control. It began with the "no one is to blame" strategy and now discusses the changes needed in the laws regulating the indictment of politicians to justice. I don't think that the government has any chance of recovering by following any damage control strategy. My feeling is that the New Democracy is trying to stay in power to conceal the facts surrounding the train collision because otherwise the Prime Minister and many ministers may face criminal charges (PARON 16/03/2025)

The essay analyses the impact that the introduction of a Union-wide electoral constituency would have on the verification of credentials of MEPs. The case law of the CJEU confirms that verification of credentials of members of the legislature has to be considered as an integral part of electoral rights. However, although addressed also by EU law and CFREU, the protection of these rights has been so far entirely left to the Member States. The claim is that the introduction of a Union-wide electoral constituency would impress a decisive shift in the protection of electoral rights in the European Union, dwelling on the powers that would fall to the future European Electoral Authority.

Το παρόν δοκίμιο εξετάζει την έννοια της Μοναρχικής Δημοκρατίας και την κρίση των σύγχρονων θεσμών μέσα από την ανάλυση φιλοσόφων όπως ο Ρεϊμόν Αρόν, ο Σπινόζα, ο Μαρκούζε και ο Μποντριγιάρ. Αναλύεται πώς η δημοκρατία μετατρέπεται σε εκλογική μοναρχία, πώς η ψευδαίσθηση της ελευθερίας διαμορφώνει την κοινωνική πραγματικότητα και ποιος είναι ο ρόλος της τεχνολογικής εξουσίας στο μέλλον. Το κείμενο διερευνά τις σύγχρονες προκλήσεις για τη δημοκρατία και προτείνει την ανάγκη θεσμικής και κοινωνικής αναδόμησης.

The Ad'agio project aims to create accessible and inclusive environments for elderly people with visual impairment. The collaboration between the David Chiossone Institute and the University of Genoa led to the creation of a model of a standard home, assessing the elements that are potentially hazardous to people who are visually impaired or blind. The project also included the development of a check-list to support occupational therapists in assessing home environments and proposing solutions to make homes safer and more suitable for the needs of people with visual impairments. The ultimate goal is to provide support, autonomy and independence to older people with visual impairments living alone.

There is no doubt that the European Union is at a crossroads. The recently (arguably) ended economic and financial crisis has left serious marks on the deep structure of the Union, which seems feebler than ever in its history. What is currently contested by politicians and people alike is the very raison d’etre of the European project: do we need a Union anymore? Should the European Union be abandoned or should it be revived and consolidated? These are serious and timely questions that require urgent attention. The 2014 EP elections offered a platform spread across Europe where issues such as the future of the EU could have been addressed. In this paper, we analyze the three debates between the candidates to the Presidency of the European Commission. We particularly focus on the scenarios for Europe proposed by three of the five main participants and examine their proposals against the arguments on the future of the European project made by established scholars and experts (i.e. fed...

Настоящата статия разглежда темата за пренаселеността и за нестихващата урбанизация и разрастване на големите населени места като цели да открие водещите за това мотиви. Така, освен общоизвестните рационални фактори, е представена ролята и значимостта и на ирационалните подбуди в урбанизационните процеси. Поставя се акцент и върху образния потенциал на изкуствената жизнена среда. В резултат изследването цели да открие начини за овладяване и намаляване на миграционните тенденции към големите населени места посредством възможността за удовлетворяването на ирационалните мотивации чрез образи.

Die Geschichte gönnt Europa keine Ruhepause. Noch sind die historischen Umbrüche der letzten Jahre nicht verarbeitet, da stehen bereits neue Weichenstellungen an. Die Regierungskonferenz 2000 war dabei nur eine Etappe eines längeren Prozesses, der eine sich erweiternde Europäische Union regierungs-und handlungsfähig machen sollte. Die Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union hatten es in der Hand, ob ihr Gemeinwesen stagniert oder ob es zukunftsfähig gestaltet wird. Der Kampf um Millimeter und die Kleinherzigkeit aus taktischem Kalkül waren dabei keine angemessene Strategie und der Eindruck drängte sich auf, dass Unterhändler, deren Blickwinkel nicht über den Rand der Regierungskonferenz hinausreichten, des öfteren den Maßstab ihres Handelns verloren. Statt lediglich technische Details oder Teillösungen zu verhandeln, verlangt der Kontinent nach richtungsweisenden Debatten und vorausgreifenden Lösungen. Europa ist fünf Jahrzehnte ohne eine klare Vorstellung seiner "finalité politique" ausgekommen. Ohne einen offenen Prozess jedoch, der neben einer breiten Öffentlichkeit auch die Beitrittskandidaten in einem Post-Nizza-Prozess an einen Tisch holt, droht die Kraft der europäischen Idee, wie wir sie kennen, zu versiegen. Die von den Staats-und Regierungschefs in ihrer Zukunftserklärung formulierte Agenda für eine weitere, 2004 ins Auge gefasste Regierungskonferenz greift trotz des ambitionierten Programms angesichts der Herausforderungen des Kontinents zu kurz. Dennoch, eine Grundsatzdebatte über die Zukunft Europas hat zweifellos begonnen. Doch obwohl die Zukunftsentwürfe unterschiedliche Vorstellungen und theoretische Leitbilder widerspiegeln, teilen sie eine Wahrnehmung: Die europäische Einigung erreicht mit der Einführung des Euro und der Erweiterung eine neue Qualität, während zugleich die demokratische Legitimität und das Vertrauen der Bürger mehr denn je in Frage steht -eindrucksvoll zur Schau gestellt mit dem irischen Nein zum Vertrag von Nizza im Juni 2001. Die Grundrechtecharta, wie sie im Dezember 2001 in Nizza feierlich proklamiert wurde, ist ein beachtlicher Schritt hin zu einer Stärkung des Grundvertrauens und der Akzeptanz des europäischen Projekts. Jürgen Meyer und Markus Engels zeichnen deren Entstehen und Implikationen für den weiteren Integrationsprozess nach. Die Autorinnen und Autoren des Jahrbuchs greifen die an Nizza geknüpften Hoffnungen und Befürchungen der heutigen und künftigen Mitgliedstaaten der erweiterten Union auf und berichten in ihren Länderstudien über Themen von innen-und europapolitischer Relevanz. Zum zweiten Mal geht das Jahrbuch dabei auch intensiv auf den Beitrittsprozess ein. Johanna Deimel beleuchtet Bulgarien,