 |
UNIVERSITY OF
MALTA
EUROPEAN DOCUMENTATION AND RESEARCH CENTRE (EDRC) JEAN MONNET EUROPEAN CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE |
|
UNIVERSITY OF
MALTA
EUROPEAN DOCUMENTATION AND RESEARCH CENTRE (EDRC) JEAN MONNET EUROPEAN CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE |
| EDRC
/ MESA Newsletter
Issue No. 2/2008 CONTENTS: 1. A Word from the Chairman 2. EDRC News
3. News and Events
4. Call for Papers 5. Summer Schools
and Courses
1.
A WORD FROM THE CHAIRMAN
A very warm
greeting from me during one of the busiest periods of our year. Our
MESA seminars on the Lisbon Treaty are in full swing with a wonderful cast
of speakers through June and July.
Regards
Peter G Xuereb
2. EDRC NEWS MESA Seminars:
"The
Treaty of Lisbon: Intergovernmentalism Resurgent: Constitutionalism Moribund?"
On the 6th March EDRC in conjunction with MESA and with the support of the European Commission organised the second seminar in The Reform Treaty Series: “The Treaty of Lisbon: Intergovernmentalism Resurgent: Constitutionalism Moribund?” with Prof. Michael Dougan as guest speaker. Prof. Dougan is a Jean Monnet Chair Professor in EU Law at the University of Liverpool. The focus of his paper is speculative. He considered the potential informal impact of the ratification crisis of 2005, and the transformation of the Constitutional Treaty into the Treaty of Lisbon, for the future functioning of the Union. Two main issues were addressed: First, the idea of "Intergovernmentalism resurgent" having reaffirmed their role as "masters of the Treaties", how far will the Member States capitalise on this renewed potency in the daily functioning of the Union institutions? (for example, in relations between the European Council and the Commission in setting the Union's strategic agenda, or between drafting conventions and IGCs in the process of future Treaty amendment). Secondly, the risk
of "constitutionalism moribund": having rejected at the highest political
level
an expressly "constitutional basis" for the integration process, how far
will the ratification crisis and the Treaty of Lisbon affect the Union's
character as an organisation based on the rule of law and protection of
individual rights, and influence ongoing debates about the constitutional
character of European integration (for example, concerning the principle
of supremacy over Union over law?). The paper is now available online.
"The
Union for the Mediterranean: French Track or New European Policy"
EDRC in conjunction with MESA organised a lecture with the support of the French Embassy in Malta on the proposal by President Sarkozy of France for a "Union for the Mediterranean." Dr Dorothée Schmid addressed the audience about this issue at the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard. In February 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy, campaigning at the time to become the French President, spoke for the first time of a «Mediterranean Union». A little more than a year later, while Sarkozy is effectively in power, his Mediterranean Project seems to have substantially evolved, having finally met with hard Mediterranean realities and soft EU constraints. The contents of the new «Union for the Mediterranean» (EU-Med), thus re-labeled under German pressure, is still uncertain. What can be presently said about this initiative, which was supposed to be a highlight of the French presidency of the EU to come? Historically, the Mediterranean has always remained a centre piece of France’s external system of influence. While the French partly relied for the last 15 years on the EU’s capacity of action to uphold a Mediterranean development perspective, their disillusion with the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) has grown with the launching of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). At the same time, Nicolas Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Project should be understood in the context of the President’s global diplomatic ambition, and as an example of his willingness to restore France’s autonomy within the EU frame of action. The usefulness and viability of the EU-Med was questioned from the outset by several EU member states and notably caused a critical debate in Spain, Italy and Germany. The French Project seems now on its way to be reintegrated into the EU’s cluster of external policies, as little more than an appendix to the EMP. It is now necessary to reflect upon its possible contribution to the development and stabilisation of the Mediterranean region. The paper is now
available online.
2.1.
Upcoming MESA Seminars: The Reform (Lisbon) Treaty Series
The European Documentation
and Research Centre (EDRC) in conjunction with the Malta European
Studies Association (MESA) and the support of the European Commission
is organising the following seminars:
Date:
5th June 2008 - Prof. Erika Szyszczak -
“Will Competition Destroy the European Social Model? The Effects of the Treaty of Lisbon” Abstract: The seminar will look at recent developments in case law and legislation where opportunist litigants have used the free movement and competition rules to challenge the traditional State welfare models (for example, in healthcare, social security, postal services) and the response from the EU in the form of soft and hard law, the creation of universal service programmes in the liberalisation processes alongside new institutional models for managing the differences between the Member States. The seminar will ask if the Commission’s new models of “Citizens’ Rights” can be seen as new forms of “Citizenship” rights, or are we moving towards a model of “Consumer-Citizenship” in the EU? If this is the case what is the role of the welfare state in Europe, what role can fundamental rights play and what will be the impact (if at all) of the Treaty of Lisbon in creating a set of values for the Union and the effect of absorbing competition into the Internal Market programme? Venue: The Reading
Room, Radisson SAS Bay Point Resort, St. Julian’s
Date:
9th June 2008 - Prof. Robin C.A. White
“The Treaty of Lisbon: Some Human Rights Issues” Abstract: The Treaty of Lisbon commits the European Union to accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, and gives the Charter of Fundamental Rights legal status. This could be viewed as a Union coming of age as a human rights organisation. However, the Union’s relationship both with the Member States in the field of the protection of human rights, and with the Court of Human Rights in adjudication of its performance as a human rights organisation is likely to be problematic. Both the Luxembourg Court and the Strasbourg Court are likely to find the implementation of the new regime troublesome. Venue: The Reading
Room at Radisson SAS Bay Point Resort, St. Julian’s
2.2. Upcoming Shortly Date: 19th June
2008
Date: 8th July
2008
2.3. MESA Online Paper The following papers are now available online: The paper presented by Prof. Michael Dougan, Jean Monnet Chair Professor in EU Law at the University of Liverpool on the 6th March, titled “The Treaty Of Lisbon: Intergovernmentalism Resurgent: Constitutionalism Moribund?” is now available online. The paper presented
by Dr Dorothee Schmid, researcher on Mediterranean and Middle East
issues at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales in
Paris on the 29th April 2008, titled “Union for the Mediterranean: French
track or new European Policy” is now available online.
3.
NEWS AND EVENTS
3.1. Europe
News
3.1.1. Conferences
and Seminars
Thirty-Sixth
Annual Brussels Seminar on the Law and Institutions of the European Union
The Jean Monnet Chair of the Centre for European Law of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is pleased to announce the 2008 Brussels seminar on the Law and Institutions of the European Union. This three week-Seminar, which takes place in Brussels, is directed by Prof. Gabriel M. Wilner, Executive Director of the Dean Rusk Center, The University of Georgia School of Law (USA), in cooperation with the Centre for European Law of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Institut d'Etudes Européennes of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The principal aim of the Brussels Seminar is to provide a group of interested law students with intensive exposure to the institutions and law of the European Union (EU). The core elements of the Brussels Seminar are a series of lectures and discussions, all given in English. A total of approximately eighty hours of lectures, seminars, and workshops are scheduled. Several briefings and other meetings will be organised (Court of Justice in Luxembourg, European Parliament, Palace of Justice of Brussels, etc.). During the Seminar, various aspects will be addressed. The completion of an integrated internal market, the remarkable expansion of the scope of the EU as evidenced by the Treaty on European Union which envisages an economic and monetary union and a political union, the accession of the new members of the EU, and the further expansion of the Union will be the subjects of particular attention in Seminar discussions. EU integration through the Maastricht, Amsterdam, and Nice Treaties will be analysed and discussed. Also the Treaty of Lisbon, which has not yet entered into force, will be analysed. A small number of qualified participants will be selected from among non-U.S. law students who have completed most of the requirements for their law degree. Recent law graduates, persons engaged in graduate law studies, and law practitioners with less than five years practice may also be admitted. Belgian students
who arrange their own lodging will pay €750 to attend the Seminar.
Other non-US students pay €1600 (accommodation included).
More information
is available at www.uga.edu/ruskcenter/brussels-seminar.html.
The
Lisbon Reform Treaty:
The Israeli Association for the Study of European Integration (IASEI) and the Czech Association of European Studies together with the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations are pleased to announce the launch of an International Conference on "The Lisbon Reform Treaty: Internal and External Implications". Working Language: English Scientific goals, themes and content: The European integration programme was at first perceived by some as a modest economic plan. In the course of time, however, it became clear that an ambitious attempt was developing on the part of numerous nations with a long history of armed conflict and diverse cultural, linguistic, legal and economic traditions, to be integrated under a separate and superior legal order. The latter formed the basis of advanced Czech Association of European Studies. The Israeli Association for the Study of European Integration economic, political and social integration. Thus the EU has deepened its fields of activity, while continuously redefining the sovereignty of its Member States. Within this context, European integration has been undergoing a continuous process of constitutionalisation, whereby its legal order has been elevated from a set of traditional, horizontal, legal arrangements binding upon sovereign states into a vertically integrated, quasi-Federal, sui generis, legal regime, equipping legal entities with enforceable rights. The ratification of the Constitutional Treaty was supposed to serve as the culmination of that process, but the Constitutional Treaty was rejected by the French and Dutch electorates. Instead, following a period of reflection, the Lisbon Reform Treaty was adopted. (For full text, see http://www.europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/full_text/index_en.htm). The President of the EC Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso was quick to praise it: "There was no shortage of doubters at the start of the year. But the European Union has been steered into harbour: showing a powerful determination and an effective focus." The Reform Treaty is to undergo ratification in the twenty seven Member States. Some may however argue that the Reform Treaty is only marginally different from the Constitutional Treaty, and that it mainly represents an attempt to bypass difficult national referendums. The purpose of the International Conference, organized by the Israeli Association for the Study of European Integration, together with the Czech Association of European Studies and with the assistance of the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, is to critically explore the Reform Treaty. The Reform Treaty will be analyzed from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on its normative, institutional, constitutional, legal, economic, and socio-political dimensions. The Conference will analyze not merely the provisions of the Reform Treaty, but also those principles and provisions which were included in the Constitutional Treaty and which were later removed from the final version of the Reform Treaty. More specifically, the Conference will analyze, inter alia: • The reasons for the rejection of the
Constitutional Treaty.
Publication of the Proceedings: A select number of papers will be peer reviewed with the aim of publishing them in a Special Issue of the European Journal of Law Reform, published by Eleven. For further information please contact:
3.1.2.
New Publications:
ACCESS
TO EUROPEAN UNION
Access to European Union is now in its 17th year of publication. This publication seeks as always to provide a comprehensive analysis of EU political, economic and legislative developments and is an invaluable sourcebook offering over 2500 exact references to key Community legal texts. Written by Nicholas Moussis, a former European
Commission adviser, ACCESS TO EUROPEAN UNION is an annually revised
title providing a comprehensive overview of latest economic, political
and legislative developments in each EU policy area. Thanks to its
clear and systematic approach, the book guides the reader through the maze
of European Union policies and explains the European institutions, their
functioning, EU measures, legal provisions and economic programmes.
The new 17th edition, scheduled for publication in May, contains over 2500
exact references to key Community legal texts and more than 300 bibliographic
references. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand
how European policy shapes economic, business and social life.
More information can be found on www.europeanstudyservice.com
3.1.3.
Events
European Science Parliament (ESP) to take place for the first time in Aachen, Germany. In October 2008 the European Science Parliament
(ESP) is going to take place for the first time in Aachen, Germany.
From now on everyone interested can start discussing the subject-matter on a comprehensive Web Portal www.science-parliament.eu by posting text or multimedia contributions. This year's main topic is "Europe energised-will lights go out in 2050?". The subject matter "energy" will be approached from five different angles which constitute topical fields: technology, geography and politics, society, economy, and individual aspects. Thus, international energy scenarios and global consequences as well as our individual responsibilities will be dealt with. Among all users of the Web Portal, the participants who will be invited to the ESP Conference on October 9th and 10th, 2008 will be determined by voting jury. The findings of the online discussions will be evaluated and summarised during the conference, so that eventually a common "Aachen Declaration" can be formulated. This declaration will be handed to EU Boards as a recommendatory portrayal of opinions. More info: mail@science-parliament.eu
Miracles
of Development: Good Governance and Capacity Building, Third Annual Global
Forum
Participation is open for 200 young professionals and students from various national and international universities, colleges and academic institutions. The objective of the forum organised by ATHGO is to explore the affects of Good Governance and Capacity Building on overall economic development. The participants and experts from the World Bank, private sector and diplomatic corps will also analyze the major determinants of economic development and growth, and discuss the role of young people in the plans. The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) is giving students the opportunity to win a trip to participate in the "Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World" Conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva Summer 2008. For more info: http://www.disarmamenthub.org
Students
for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World
On 'UN Day', 24th October 2007, Dr. Hans Blix, President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, launched an initiative to engage students, from diverse academic disciplines, in preparation for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 8th Review Conference, 2010-the most important conference on global disarmament on the coming years. Dr. Blix, chairman of the 2006 Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission Report, is working alongside The World Academy of Art and Science. This initiative aims to inspire students around the world to do independent research and analyze the case for nuclear disarmament, and to address the following question: "What do you think can lead governments to stay away from, or do away with, nuclear weapons?" Winners will be announced in June 2008
4.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Department of European Studies), Maastricht University invites PhD candidates to submit proposals for PhD research on administrative governance in supra- and international systems of policymaking. The 'Administrative Governance'-project aims to provide a better understanding of the role and influence of bureaucracy in multi-layered systems of decision making by developing a coherent and interdisciplinary research programme organised around a series of key questions. While the EU polity as one of the most advanced examples of multi-level governance will be a central concern, the research program has a broader focus as it will include also the role of bureaucracies in the history of modern nation states and in the emerging system of global governance. The project has been organized around 3 sections, respectively focusing on administrative influence and the role of information; administrative governance and the politics of information; administrative governance in a historical perspective. For more information see: http://www.fdcw.org/phdprogram/2007/06/administrative_governance.html The selection procedure consists of two stages: -by 1 June 2008 candidates can express their interest for one of the research proposals presented on the website (http://www.fdcw.org/phdprogram/proposals/). They can also propose another research topic that fits into the faculty’s research programme. Candidates should briefly outline their research ideas (not more than one page) and submit a CV to Patrick van Eijs (PhD@fdcw.unimaas.nl ) -in a second phase, candidates will be invited to elaborate their proposal in cooperation with a supervisor. Final applications have to be submitted before Monday 1 September 2008. A complete application consists of a research proposal, a CV, and two recent essays. An application form is available from the website. Successful candidates receive a scholarship for three years (indicatively a net grant of about € 1,450 per month in the first year to about € 1,600 per month in the third year). Education and training is provided by one of the four national graduate research schools of which the Faculty is a member. The University Association
for Contemporary European Studies can be found at http://www.uaces.org/
5.
SUMMER SCHOOLS AND COURSES
5.1
Summer Schools
The
Civilian Personnel of Peacekeeping and Peace building Operations
Training Objective:
I Context:
Applicants must have
a University Degree in whichever subject or the equivalent of 3 years working
experience in relevant fields. They must have a good working knowledge
of English.
5.2
Courses
Joint Master Programme in European Integration and Regionalism (2008-2009) The start of the application process for the Joint Master Programme in European Integration and Regionalism offered by the University of Graz (Austria), the University of Zagreb (Croatia) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) through the University Institute of European Studies. This joint programme is implemented in cooperation with the European Academy of Bolzano (Italy) and the European Institute of Public Administration (Luxembourg and Barcelona) The Core Topics are:
Applications can be made either to the full Programme or to the single modules. In the latter case, the attendance of a module will lead to the award of a certificate. Tuition Fee and Partial Scholarships: The registration fee for the overall Joint Masters Programme is 7,500 EUR. For participants of single modules, a registration fee of 1,500 EUR per module will be charged. These fees do not include travel expenses or accommodation, which are to be covered by the participants themselves. The partner institutions are able to offer a limited number of partial scholarships which will wave a part of the tuition fee that shall be paid by the successful candidate. Degree: Successful participants of the Master programme will be jointly awarded by the University of Graz, the University of Zagreb and the Autonomous University of Barcelona the academic degree of a "Master of European Studies" (MES) Target Group: Civil servants from local, regional or national administrations who are dealing with EU affairs and therefore require both theoretical and practical training in EU and regional issues; • Lawyers, economists, social scientists
and others in the employments of non-governmental organisations wishing
to enhance inter-disciplinary skills and to specialise on different aspects
of European Integration, regionalism and diversity;
Deadline for Application: The deadline for application for the academic year 2008-2009 is 15th June 2008. Start of the programme: The first module of the academic year 2008-2009 will start on 1st September 2008. For more info: http://www.eurac.edu/meir
EU Fact Finding-the
EU at your fingertips!
To find the right piece of information, the right document or the right person in an efficient and timely manner is essential. This short and focused seminar enables participants to discern, evaluate and optimise their time in acquiring EU information. The next workshops will be held on:
This crash seminar is intended to provide participants with a set of search and practical tools to quickly and effectively find relevant information on EU legislation, policies and institutions. The objective is to make participants independent in consolidating and updating their knowledge about general and specific issues in the field of EU integration, ranging from institutional and regulatory matters, to legislation and policy developments. In this respect, the seminar will introduce participants to a range of optimal sources in searching EU-related information. It will not provide content itself in terms of policy and institutional developments, but enable participants to find targeted information relevant to their business or academic interests in an efficient and time-saving way. Each participant will be able to use a
PC with high-speed internet connection during the whole duration of the
seminar. In order to ensure the highest level of interactivity, the number
of participants will be limited to maximum 20 people. Each edition of the
seminar will be run in case the minimum number of participants is reached.
In the event the number of participants is less than 12, the College of
Europe will offer to the participants either to be reimbursed or to participate
in a successive edition. Online registrations
are open
N.B. If you want to include an activity in the next newsletter kindly send an e-mail to edrc@um.edu.mt If you wish to be removed from the mailing list send us an e-mail titled Unsubscribe |
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