Alexander Stubb, a participant in the 1996-97 and 2000 Intergovernmental Conferences analyzes the evolution of flexible integration from the early 1970s to the present day and beyond. He focuses in the process of negotiations which led to the institutionalisation of flexibility in the Amsterdam and Nice Treaties. This book provides a valuable insider's view on historical decisionmaking in the European Union.

Volume II considers the history of the European Union from an inside-out perspective, focusing on the internal developments that shaped the European integration process. Taking an innovative, thematic approach, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of European integration.

The European Union is a key player in international economic relations, but its exact role and how it goes about making decisions and negotiating is often poorly understood within and especially outside the EU. When does the EU play a proactive role and when does it follow? When is the EU a distinct actor and when is it just one level in a multi- level process of negotiation in which the member states are the main actors? Does the EU possess normative power in external economic relations? Does the EU have the capability and willingness to use its still significant economic power? European Union Economic Diplomacy provides the first comprehensive analysis of the factors that determine the role of the EU in economic diplomacy. In an up-to-date treatment that includes consideration of the impact of the Treaty of Lisbon, it contains a comprehensive explanation of decision making and negotiating processes in the core areas of trade, financial market regulation, environmental diplomacy and development co-operation. The book is intended for those interested in EU policy making, but also those who simply need to understand how the EU functions in the field of economic diplomacy.

The insertion in June 1997 of a Title on employment in the Treaty on European Union has accelerated the drafting of European policy in this field over the last few years. This European dynamic has had widespread impact on the themes and mechanisms that characterise national systems of industrial relations. On the one hand, employment is increasingly governed by rules negotiated between the social partners and, depending on the circumstances, the State. This phenomenon of joint labour market regulation is confirmed by a marked desire on the part of employers' associations and trade unions to integrate employment-related issues into their actions and negotiations. On the other hand, the incorporation of employment-related themes by employers’ associations and trade unions, usually in concertation with government policies, is related with greater coordination of bargaining and concertation mechanisms established at European level and within each Member State. Today, the various national realities appear to be directed to various degrees by these two general tendencies. These phenomena active in the field of employment bargaining must therefore be analysed on three counts: the first focuses on the development of the coordination mechanisms that structure these negotiations, and more specifically raises the issue of co-responsibility for the labour market; the second deals with the strict content of employment bargaining, and examines the question of negotiated flexibility of working conditions and employment; the third addresses the autonomy of collective bargaining in Europe. This analysis informs our research, which is in turn intimately linked to recent changes taking place in national systems of industrial relations.

This book outlines the content of the main treaties that form the 'constitutional' basis of the European Union and analyses changes in these over time. The EU has expanded its policy scope and taken in many more members transferring powers to common supranational institutions in a way seen nowhere else in the world.

This timely volume discusses the extent to which the labor market is becoming more flexible in response to competitive pressures and examines the pivotal roles of collective bargaining in introducing this flexibility.Providing detailed information from 22 country studies, the book covers industrialized and developing nations across Western Europe, North and South America, and Asia. It analyzes the extent of flexibility introduced in these labor markets, as well as the changing role of the state in industrial relations, and the positions of employers and trade unions on labor market flexibility. This comprehensive study reviews the move toward flexibility in four principal areas: contracts of employment, pay, working time, and work organization.While closely examining the means of achieving greater labor market flexibility, this highly topical book addresses the various ways in which flexibility has been introduced, including through legislative action, collective bargaining, individual contracts of employment, and unilateral employer decisions. The findings in this book reveal that collective bargaining is the most effective means of introducing flexibility, as it engages both employers and workers in the process of change.In addition, the volume examines the outcomes of negotiations on flexibility at the central, sectoral, and enterprise levels, paying special attention to the trade-offs that arise, particularly in the areas of job security, working time, and workers' lifestyles.

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action. Completely revised and updated, with many newly written chapters, this fifth edition of the most thorough resource in its field provides the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the European Union (EU). Written by a new team of experts in their respective areas of European law, its coverage incorporates and embraces many current, controversial, and emerging issues and provides detailed attention to historical development and legislative history of EU law. Topics that are constantly debated in European legal analysis and practice are touched on in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening, including the following: .powers and functions of the EU law institutions and relationship among them; .the principles of equality, loyalty, subsidiarity, and proportionality; .free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital; .mechanisms of constitutional change – treaty revisions, accession treaties, withdrawal agreements; .budgetary principles and procedures; .State aid rules; .effect of Union law in national legal systems; .coexistence of EU, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and national fundamental rights law; .migration and asylum law; .liability of Member States for damage suffered by individuals; .competition law – cartels, abuse of dominant position, merger control; .social policy, equal pay, and equal treatment; .environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, and tourism; .nature of EU citizenship, its acquisition, and loss; and .law and policy of the EU’s external relations. The fifth edition embraces many new, ongoing, and emerging European legal issues. As in the previous editions, the presentation is notable for its attention to how the law relates to economic and political realities and how the various policy areas interact with each other and with the institutional framework. The many practitioners and scholars who have relied on the predecessors of this definitive work for years will welcome this extensively revised and updated edition. Those coming to the field for the first time will instantly recognize that they are in the presence of a masterwork that can always be turned to with profit and that helps in understanding the rationale underlying any EU law provision or principle.

This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the major treaty reforms over the past two decades, to consider whether the path from the Single European Act in 1985 to the present Constitutional Treaty has been pushed by the Franco-German tandem, or has been the result of leadership provided the Commission or smaller member states.

Climate change has taken centre stage in Eurpean and international politics. The fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in 2007, confirmedthat climate change is on eof the most serious threats to international security and the well-being of human kind. At the European level, climate change has become a major agenda item regularly discussed by the European Council. Internationally, the issue has become one of "high politics". Since 2005, it has been a top priority of the G-8 Summits, and both the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly have placed it high on their agendas. World leaders are rallying to achieve a new global deal to combat global warming under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Overall, there is hardly any high-level political encounter in which the issue is not discussed. The European Union as established itself as the most ptrominent international leader on the issue. It has been one of the most fervent supporters of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, striving to sustain its leadership in the efforts to reach a new global agreement post-2012. The EU has also increasingly underpinned its international leadership position with domestic action. Most prominently, it introduced a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme in 2005. The Period 2007-2008 saw a major overhaul and leap forward in the development of a renewed EU framework of policy and legislation to address climate change. Most importantly, the new EU climate policies include a set of legislative acts adopted in early 2009 and known as the "climate and energy package" that is designed to acheve the EU's target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and increasing the share of renewable energies to 20% by 2020. This volume provides a timely overview and assessment of the development of the new EU climate policies with a focus on the new climate and energy package. Are EU climate policies sufficient to meet the environmental, economic and political challenge posed by global climate change? How do international and domestic climate poliies of the EU intereact and are they mutually supportive? What are the prospects for the EU keeping its international leadership in the face of a more engaged US and increasingly assertive emerging economies? In addressing these questions, the volume aims to enhance understanding and contribute to further discussions on the current and potential reole of the EU in the fight against climate change.