The European Council and EU boundaries. (In)formal competences, institutional position and external activities in the context of (de)bordering processes at the time of the immigration crises
Keywords:
European Council, external activities, migration, border, rebordering
Abstract
The institutional reform of the European Union, especially as introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, has led to the strengthening of some of the actors within the political system of this integration grouping. The European Council is one of the winners of these developments, which is visible – among other things – in the fields considered to be of key importance for the European project, for example external activities. This analysis aims at testing the dynamism of the decision-making process of the European council in the context of the immigration crisis of 2015. It tries to approach the issue conceptually, combining the grand theories of the European studies with the theoretical concepts of the still emerging discipline of border studies. This empirical analysis is based on a content analysis of European Council summits’ Conclusions. The author claims that the European Council has not only become a key platform for deciding about the most pressing issues within the European Union, but also that its approach to the Union’s borders has evolved towards the rebordering of its edges, when structuring the relations with its neighborhood.
References
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ZAJĄCZKOWSKI, K. 2014. O brakach i niedostatkach w polityce zagranicznej UE, Studia Europejskie, 3: 9-30.
ALKAN, N. 2002. Borders in Europe. In: ALKAN, N. (ed.). Borders of Europe, Bonn: Zentrum für Europäische Integrationsforschung.
BAKER D. 2016. Challenges and Proposed Alternatives for EU Policy in Managing Migration from its Southern Borders, Studia Europejskie, 1: 95-117.
BROWNING, C. and JOENNIEMI, P. 2008. Geostrategies of the European Neighbourhood Policy, European Journal of International Relations, 14(3), 519-551.
BRZOZOWSKI, J. 2011. Polityka migracyjna Unii Europejskiej: stan obecny i perspektywy, Studia Europejskie, 3: 51-73.
CARAMMIA, M., PRINCEN S. and TIMMERMANS, A. 2016. From Summitry to EU Government: An Agenda Formation Perspective on the European Council, Journal of Common Market Studies, 54(4): 809–825
COMAN, R. 2017. Values and Power Conflicts in Framing Borders and Borderlands: The 2013 Reform of EU Schengen Governance, Journal of Borderlands Studies. Published online: 24 Nov 2017.
EC 16a, European Council meeting (18 and 19 February 2016) – Conclusions, Brussels, 19 February 2016, EUCO 1/16, CO EUR 1, CONCL 1
EC 16b, European Council meeting (17 and 18 March 2016) – Conclusions, Brussels, 18 March 2016, EUCO 12/16, CO EUR 3, CONCL 2
EC 2014a European Council 20/21 March 2014 Conclusions, Brussels, 21 March 2014, EUCO 7/14, CO EUR 2, CONCL 1;
EC 2014b, EUROPEAN COUNCIL 26/27 JUNE 2014 CONCLUSIONS, Brussels, 27 June 2014, EUCO 79/14, CO EUR 4, CONCL 2;
EC 2015a, European Council meeting (19 and 20 March 2015) – Conclusions, Brussels, 20 March 2015, EUCO 11/15, CO EUR 1, CONCL 1
EC 2015b, European Council meeting (25 and 26 June 2015) – Conclusions, Brussels, 26 June 2015, EUCO 22/15, CO EUR 8, CONCL 3
EC 2015c, European Council meeting (15 October 2015) – Conclusions, Brussels, 16 October 2015, EUCO 26/15, CO EUR 10, CONCL 4
EC 2015d, European Council meeting (17 and 18 December 2015) – Conclusions, Brussels, 18 December 2015, EUCO 28/15, CO EUR 13, CONCL 5
EC 2016c, European Council meeting (28 June 2016) – Conclusions, Brussels, 28 June 2016, EUCO 26/16, CO EUR 5, CONCL 3
EC 2016d, European Council meeting (20 and 21 October 2016) – Conclusions, Brussels, 21 October 2016, EUCO 31/16, CO EUR 8, CONCL 4
EC 2016e, European Council meeting (15 December 2016) – Conclusions, Brussels, 15 December 2016, EUCO 34/16, CO EUR 10, CONCL 5
EVANS, G. and NEWNHAM, J. 1998. The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations, London: Penguin Books.
FUKUYAMA, F. 1989. The End of History? The National Interest (16): 3–18.
GEDDES, A. and SCHOLTEN, P. 2016. The Politics of Migration and Immigration in Europe, Los Angeles: Sage.
GERMOND, B. 2010. From Frontier to Boundary and Back Again: The European Union’s Maritime Margins, European Foreign Affairs Review, 15: 39-55.
GROSSE, T.G. 2013. O zmianie instytucjonalnej w Europie w okresie kryzysu, Rocznik Integracji Europejskiej, 7: 7-22.
HAAS, E. 1964. Beyond the Nation State. Functionalism and International Organisation, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
HÄGE, F.M. 2008. Who Decides in the Council of the European Union? Journal of Common Market Studies, 46(3): 533–558.
JONES, S.B. 2010. Boundary Concepts in the Setting of Place and Time, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 49(3): 241-255.
KABAT-RUDNICKA, D. 2016. Zmiana systemu rządzenia w Unii Europejskiej w świetle działań antykryzysowych, Studia Europejskie, 1: 71-94.
KAŁUSKI, S. 2015. Granice państw Europy. Zróżnicowanie cech i funkcji, Studia Europejskie, 3: 9-29.
KRALER, A., HENDOW, M., PASTORE, P. 2016. Introduction: Multiplication and Multiplicity—Transformations of Border, Control Journal of Borderlands Studies, 31(2): 145-149.
KRISTOF, L.K.D. 1959. The Nature of Frontiers and Boundaries, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 49(3): 269-282.
LINDBERG, L.N. 1966. Integration as a Source of Stress on the European Community System, International Organization, 20 (2): 233-265.
MILCZAREK D. and ZAJĄCZKOWSKI, K. 2015a. Potęga i niemoc. Unia Europejska jako aktor w stosunkach międzynarodowych (część 1), Studia Europejskie, 1: 9-27.
MILCZAREK D. and ZAJĄCZKOWSKI, K. 2015b. Potęga i niemoc. Unia Europejska jako aktor w stosunkach międzynarodowych (część 2), Studia Europejskie, 1: 9-26.
MORAVCSIK, A. 1993. Preferences and power in the European Community: A liberal intergovernmentalist approach, Journal of Common Market Studies, 31(4), 473-524.
O’DOWD, L. and WILSON, T. 2002. Frontiers of sovereignty in the new Europe. In: ALKAN, N. (ed.). Borders of Europe, Bonn: Zentrum für Europäische Integrationsforschung.
POPESCU, G. 2012. Bordering and Ordering the Twenty-first Century: Understanding Borders, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
REWIZORSKI M. 2013. Zasady systemu instytucjonalnego Unii Europejskiej, Studia Europejskie, 1: 29-49.
RITTELMEYER, Y-S. 2014. The institutional consecration of the European Council: symbolism beyond formal texts. In: FORET, F. and RITTELMEYER, Y-S. (eds.). The European Council and European Governance. The commanding heights of the EU, London and New York: Routledge.
RUSZKOWSKI, J. 2010. Europeizacja ad extra w zarządzaniu zewnętrznym (external governance) Unii Europejskiej, Rocznik Integracji Europejskiej, 4: 8-27.
TALLBERG, J. 2008. Bargaining Power in the European Council, Journal of Common Market Studies”, 46(3): 685–708
The Schengen acquis - Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, Official Journal L 239 , 22/09/2000 P. 0019 – 0062.
Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, signed at Lisbon, 13 December 2007 Official Journal of the European Union, 2007, Volume 50,
VOLODIN, D. 2011. How to legitimate the European Union and the integration process: EU governance approach, Rocznik Integracji Europejskiej, 5: 97-109.
WAGNER, I. 2015. The Political Economy of Borders in a ’Borderless’ European Labour Market, Journal of Common Market Studies, 53(6): 1370–1385.
WALTERS, W. 2004. The Frontiers of the European Union: A Geostrategic Perspective, Geopolitics, 9(3): 674-698.
ZAJĄCZKOWSKI, K. 2014. O brakach i niedostatkach w polityce zagranicznej UE, Studia Europejskie, 3: 9-30.
Published
2018-04-15
How to Cite
Jańczak, J. (2018) “The European Council and EU boundaries. (In)formal competences, institutional position and external activities in the context of (de)bordering processes at the time of the immigration crises”, Slovak Journal of Political Sciences, 18(1). Available at: http://sjps.fsvucm.sk/index.php/sjps/article/view/69 (Accessed: 25April2024).
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