SPACE & ENVIRONMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
INTRODUCTION
Why study the European Union?
Europe is important for its Member States:
• policy
• 20-70% of national legislation
depends on the policy areas
- competition policy (fully European level)
- environmental policy (shared competence)
• budget / fiscal policies: Stability and Growth Pact (Eurozone)
• public management
30% of national civil servants involved in EU matters (NL)
Why is Europe complicated?
• because it is (somewhat) different
the EU has a remarkable capacity to confuse, bemuse and confound
• ever-evolving (still in development)
• much depend on specific competence of the EU
• many informal practices
• limited (media) attention media makes it seem boring
- EU topics account for extremely small proportion of the reporting in national media
- increase over recent years (reflects increasing competences)
- influenced by infrequent events such as EP elections
• also among scholars little agreement on:
- how it evolved
- how we should qualify it
- how it works on a day-to-day basis
- whether the EU is a good thing
What is the EU
International Relations (IR) first to study EU, why:
State centric view
• the State is the key political association that establishes sovereign jurisdiction (=power/
control) within defined territorial borders
• there is no authority above the state
cooperation between states is difficult, if not impossible
1
INTRODUCTION
Why study the European Union?
Europe is important for its Member States:
• policy
• 20-70% of national legislation
depends on the policy areas
- competition policy (fully European level)
- environmental policy (shared competence)
• budget / fiscal policies: Stability and Growth Pact (Eurozone)
• public management
30% of national civil servants involved in EU matters (NL)
Why is Europe complicated?
• because it is (somewhat) different
the EU has a remarkable capacity to confuse, bemuse and confound
• ever-evolving (still in development)
• much depend on specific competence of the EU
• many informal practices
• limited (media) attention media makes it seem boring
- EU topics account for extremely small proportion of the reporting in national media
- increase over recent years (reflects increasing competences)
- influenced by infrequent events such as EP elections
• also among scholars little agreement on:
- how it evolved
- how we should qualify it
- how it works on a day-to-day basis
- whether the EU is a good thing
What is the EU
International Relations (IR) first to study EU, why:
State centric view
• the State is the key political association that establishes sovereign jurisdiction (=power/
control) within defined territorial borders
• there is no authority above the state
cooperation between states is difficult, if not impossible
1
