Author Archives: JamesPCross

On economic crisis, democracy and European integration

The European media’s obsession with reading tea leaves from Frankfurt and bond yields from Madrid has blinded the public to the more fundamental issues at stake in the current crisis. This essay on the relationship between economic crisis, democracy and European integration by Nobel Prize-winning economist-turned-philosopher Amartya Sen helps to refocus the discussion.

Must the EU choose between effectiveness and legitimacy?

Commentators on European affairs, including myself, have often argued that the EU can and must attend to its democratic deficit at the same time that it seeks a technical solution to the Eurozone crisis. But a recent essay by Princeton political theorist Jan-Werner Mueller finds it “hard to see how proposals for European democracy couldContinue reading “Must the EU choose between effectiveness and legitimacy?”

The Myth of Exceptional Europe: The Failure of EU Foreign Policy

The notion of the European Union being an exceptional international actor is well established in the literature and dates from the very inception of ‘Europe’ as being a continental peace project. In today’s literature, while a number of variations on the theme exist, the dominant model is that of the Union as a ‘normative power’.Continue reading “The Myth of Exceptional Europe: The Failure of EU Foreign Policy”

No more integration without more representation !

Senior EU officials have just released a blueprint for another great leap forward in European integration, to be discussed by all 27 heads of state and government at this week’s summit meeting. Perhaps not surprisingly, this blueprint says little about the EU’s growing democratic deficit. Notwithstanding the urgency of the current crisis, it’s now highContinue reading “No more integration without more representation !”

More Europe?

The so-called European Foreign Ministers Group on the Future of Europe has just released its report. Although the group was launched and chaired by German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, its report was not entirely a German product. As the Auswaertiges Amt explains, “Alongside Foreign Minister Westerwelle, the Foreign Ministers of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, PortugalContinue reading “More Europe?”

Some political consequences of the referendum

by Agustin Ruiz Robledo, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Granada (Spain) and Visiting Scholar at the UCD School of Law 2011-12 The pace of politics and life in the twenty-first century is so fast that the referendum of May 31 seems to have been held a year ago and is no longerContinue reading “Some political consequences of the referendum”

Europe’s North Col: A New European Union Treaty?

Whatever medium or longer terms plans Chancellor Merkel has for the European Union, we are undoubtedly embarked on yet another treaty-reform journey. The immediate eurozone emergency may or may not require treaty change (one can only imagine that the Council legal services are engaged in a desperate battle to avoid that) but the dye hasContinue reading “Europe’s North Col: A New European Union Treaty?”

The morning after

Regardless of one’s views on the fiscal treaty, this post-referendum analysis by my UCD colleague Andy Storey is a sobering reminder that a treaty focused on government debt is unlikely to resolve a crisis sparked principally by irresponsible lending and borrowing by private banks. On the other hand, bond markets (and German taxpayers & parliamentarians)Continue reading “The morning after”

Fear, Anger and Resignation: It’s Nearly Referendum Day

Before the conventional wisdom sets in stone, a few thoughts on the referendum campaign. First, win or lose, this looks to have been a good campaign for the left of the ‘no’ side. The profile of key Sinn Fein and ULA spokespeople will have been raised significantly as will their political credibility in key sectorsContinue reading “Fear, Anger and Resignation: It’s Nearly Referendum Day”