http://shop.ceps.eu/ Latest publications from Centre for European Policy Studies en-us Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:07:22 +0200 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:07:22 +0200 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss admin@ceps.be admin@ceps.be http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1683 CEPS Research Fellow Jorge Nùñez Ferrer expresses concern in this commentary over the implications of the recent price hikes in food commodities worldwide for the decisions that will be taken in the course of the health check currently underway of the CAP and for the potential longer-term consequences for the EU budget review. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1682 These papers confront one of the main known unknowns for 21st century foreign policy, namely how the old and new world powers will work out together what normative principles should prevail. We may see a convergence on common norms, or a competitive and possibly conflictual process driven by a realpolitik that relegates the tenets of international law to the margins. The papers in this report offer perspectives on the EU, China, India, Russia and the US, each written by noted scholars from these five major powers. They delve into the historical foundations of the normative values as espoused by China and India (both over a couple of millennia) and the US (spanning a couple of centuries). All papers lead us up to the present and peer into the future. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1681 The Treaty of Lisbon contains several options for creating some degree of flexibility in the defence domain under the assumption that it will be difficult, and not always necessary, to do everything at 27: constructive abstention, the possibility of mandating a smaller group or for the most demanding missions permanent structured cooperation in defence (PSCD). It is not yet clear, however, how the possession of larger military capabilities and how the will to enter into more binding commitments will be elaborated. This paper traces the debate on flexibility in the area of security and defence and addresses, in particular, PSCD and its potential application. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1680 After the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the European Union moved quickly to fill an obvious gap in its vision of the regions to its periphery, proposing the Black Sea Synergy. The EU shows a certain degree of commonality in its approaches to the Baltic Sea region, the Mediterranean and now the Black Sea. While the political profiles of these maritime regions are very different, they naturally give rise to many common policy challenges. This paper sets out a typology of regionalisms and examines where the EUs Black Sea Synergy is going to find its place. There is already evidence of a diplomatic ballet between the EU and Russia, with the EU countering Russias pursuit of its own geopolitical regionalism. The EU would like in theory to see its efforts lead to a transformative regionalism, but the lack of agreement so far over further extending membership perspectives to countries of the region risks the outcome being placed more in the category of compensatory regionalism. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1679 In this commentary, CEPS Chief Executive Karel Lannoo calls for a consolidation of the EU Financial Markets supervisory framework http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1678 Following a period of protracted turbulence, regulators on both sides of the Atlantic face the challenge of re-evaluating prudential standards in the midst of implementing the new so-called Basel II rules, issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Indeed, the 2007 subprime lending crisis and other scandals have cast doubt on the credibility of banks internal governance and risk assessment and management systems and the role of credit rating agencies in externally assessing the risk of complex structured products. Equally, the capacity of regulators to monitor the risky, multifaceted activities of large cross-border institutions has been subjected to immense stress. In addressing these issues, this CEPS Task Force report supports a regulatory paradigm shift, which resets the incentives to establish an integrated risk-assessment, -management and -governance culture at an institution-wide level. Towards this end, it stresses the need to strengthen the roles of pillars 2 and 3 (supervisory review and market discipline) and to avoid relying solely on the outcome of easily manipulated, excessively sophisticated internal models to determine capital requirements and a supervisory box-ticking approach. The report also examines the potential consequences of the new rules on the basis of early quantitative impact studies and warns of undesirable impacts under adverse market conditions. Finally, it examines the progress achieved in implementing Basel II in Europe and in the US and raises questions about global regulatory consistency and convergence. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1677 This paper analyses the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the institutional architecture of CFSP and the overall external action of the Union. The Lisbon Treaty has introduced some remarkable changes which might substantially influence the (inter-)institutional balance in this policy field. The authors offer two different possible readings of the CFSP provisions of the Lisbon Treaty: they could be interpreted as a major step forward in the direction of a strengthened, more coherent and more effective international actor with more supranational elements; but they may also be seen as demonstrating an ever-refined mode of rationalised intergovernmentalism. After an in-depth analysis of the ideas and norms contained in the new treaty, the institutions and the instruments, the authors find more evidence for the second interpretation, but also traces for a ratched fusion as a third alternative explanation. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1676 Over the past two years, the debate on the review of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications has become hectic. After the European Commission adopted its proposed set of measures in November 2007, the European Parliament has shown an unprecedented interest in topics such as spectrum policy, functional separation of the incumbents networks, the creation of a new European authority on telecoms, etc. After the successful experience of the first CEPS Task Force on "Policy Challenges for the Information Superhighway", which ended in June 2006, a new Task Force on "Achieving the Internal Market for e-communications" was launched by CEPS with the explicit aim to provide expertise to Members of the European Parliament in their reading of the proposed review. The Task Force was chaired by Magnus Lemmel, former Acting Director General at DG Enterprise, European Commission, and currently Senior Advisor at KREAB. This report summarises the results of the opinions that were expressed over five meetings, the last two of which took place inside the European Parliament. This highly influential report was drafted by Andrea Renda, Senior Research Fellow at CEPS. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1675 In the wake of the Irish no-vote on the Treaty of Lisbon, numerous scenarios are currently being debated. This paper critically assesses the legality and political feasibility of the principal proposals and then puts forward an alternative Plan B, which the authors believe would amply satisfy both criteria. http://shop.ceps.eu/BookDetail.php?item_id=1674 CEPS Director Daniel Gros argues in this Commentary that the solution to the Irish crisis could be simple if the other countries are really determined to go ahead. At the forthcoming European Council meeting in Brussels, he suggests that member countries could simply sign the consolidated text of the Treaties which results from the incorporation of the amendments of the Lisbon Treaty into the old Treaty. While the Irish government could not put its signature to such a Treaty at this time, it could be invited by the European Council to submit a set of protocols, or opt-outs, which would allow it to sign the treaty and have a reasonable certainty that the next referendum would have a different outcome. In the meantime, the consolidated text would thus be signed by 26 member states (perhaps 25 if the Czech government judges that ratification is difficult). This consolidated text, representing a new coherent treaty, could enter into force once it is ratified by all the 26 countries that have signed it now. Ratification of the consolidated text should be possible to achieve within a short period of time as no further referenda would be necessary and all 26 members (25?) are committed to ratifying the Lisbon Treaty using parliamentary procedures (with 18 having already done so).