Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

diagnosis Middelaar rightly observes this line of representation, inextricably European and national, is very strong. It is the line back to the eu member state which makes the Council such a powerful European institution. Thanks to this line of representation, the national parliaments and populations are also drawn in along with the ministers’ (Van Middelaar 2004). The second line legitimises European decisions by the European Council in a comparable way, which again is inextricably both national and European. The Head of government attends regular European Summits, where he or she represents his or her country, with a mandate from the domestic Parliament while acting on behalf of the Dutch population. He or she is jointly responsible for the collective outcome of the meetings and subsequently defends that outcome on behalf of the European Council before his or her Parliament and often, through the attention of the news media for these meetings, to the population at large. And finally, the third line can be described as explicitly federal or supranational. Since 1979, the people of Europe have had the right to elect European Parliament members directly; in its turn, the Parliament supervises the actions of the European Commission and – depending on the policy domain – works on an equal footing with the Council of Ministers in the legislative process. 49 In the 1980s and early 90s, the move towards European integration received a boost with the completion of the internal market and the development of accommodating policies on competition, the environment and cohesion. During this same period, there was also an increase in public support for the eu within the member states, reaching a provisional high point in the run-up to completion of the 1992 program (see graph 2.1 and section 2.4) (Hix 2005: 150-1). Similarly, the position and powers of the European Parliament and the European Commission were expanded and/ or strengthened in a number of areas. Moreover, partly because of developments such as growing international competition, the emergence of publicprivate partnerships and the accession of the less prosperous member states of Greece, Spain and Portugal, the eu developed other variants of the Community and intergovernmental administration methods. These required the involvement of ever more varied groups of stakeholders as well as of regional and local authorities (Arts 2007). Despite the presence and improvement of these different mechanisms, eu policy still rests primarily on legitimacy based on results. Even if the ‘steel triangle’ allows some involvement by elected national representatives, they are often put off by the Byzantine decision making processes and
ediscovering europe in the netherlands Figure 2.1 Public support for European integration in the eu, 1973-2006 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 Bron: Eurobarometer 50 45 40 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 50 EC9 EC10 EA EC12 Membership of the European Union is a ‘good thing’ (eu average) Country has benefited from the eu (eu average) MT EC15 EURO EU25 Source: Eurobarometer technical intricacies of European affairs. Therefore, in practice, they generally steer well clear of the output of ‘Brussels’ and give ministers and their officials full scope to establish their own major lines of policy themselves. Until the early 1990s, meps were also often kept at a distance and therefore they only had limited input, which was moreover invisible to the national populations (Wallace 2006: 79). Furthermore, the European Parliament elections have relatively low voters turnouts and have a second-rate or ‘second-order’ character; voters are ultimately more influenced by their national preferences than by European policy considerations (Reif and Schmitt 1980). This contributes to the fact that, until the early 1990s, ordinary citizens generally had a ‘passive’ but positive attitude toward the European integration project, which they associated mainly with the tangible benefits of ‘no more war’, continued economic prosperity as well as the prospect of market liberalisation via the 1992 program (Lindberg and Scheingold 1970; Hix 2005: 149). Identification with the eu accordingly has the character of a functional process among a small, Euro-centric circle of politicians, senior officials, lobbyists and the highly educated.
Page 1 and 2: Rediscovering Europe in the Netherl
Page 3 and 4: The Netherlands Scientific Council
Page 5 and 6: Cover illustration : © wrr Cover d
Page 7 and 8: ediscovering europe in the netherla
Page 9 and 10: 8 rediscovering europe in the nethe
Page 27 and 28: 26 rediscovering europe in the neth
Page 49: ediscovering europe in the netherla
Page 101 and 102:
ediscovering europe in the netherla
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
136 rediscovering europe in the net
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
150 rediscovering europe in the net
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181:
Following the negative 2005 referen
show all

Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?