Rethinking European Union In A Changing World
Politics, Economics And Issues
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the editors
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- Authors Contributing to the Book
- Understanding the European Union: An Introduction (Omer Ugur)
- 1. The Concept of Sovereignty in the European Union (Bayram Dogan)
- 2. Public Administration as a Problem Area in the European Union: Process, Structuring and Acquis (Bakko Mehmet Bozaslan)
- 3. Discursive Journey of ‘Brexit’ and Its Spillover Effects in the European Parliament (Kamber Guler)
- 4. Basic Instruments in European Union Urbanization Policy (Emre Cengiz)
- 5. Multilevel Governance and Participation Mechanisms in European Union (Hasan Mahmut Kalkisim)
- 6. The European Ombudsman: A Tool for the Institutionalization of Democracy at the Union Level (Kadir Caner Dogan)
- 7. The Refugee and Asylum Seeker Policy of European Union (Sevim Budak and Serpil Bardakci Tosun)
- 8. European Union Tourism Policies (Elif Acuner)
- 9. Evaluation of the Tax Security Measures in the European Union (Orcun Avci)
- 10. Cooperation among the Tax Administrations in European Union (Eyyup Ince)
- 11. Ways to Fight Tax Avoidance, Tax Evasion and Tax Fraud within the European Union: One of the Innovative Policies Is Information Exchange (Serkan Acuner)
- 12. Tax Harmonization in the European Union (Mehmet Dag and Ayse Atilgan Yasa)
- 13. Public Debts and Personal Income Distribution: An Empirical Practice for EU Countries (Nazlı Keyifli)
- 14. Competitiveness of the European Union: An Evaluation within the Framework of Global Competitiveness Index (Serap Urut Saygin)
- 15. Youth Unemployment in the EU Countries: What Drives Youth Unemployment in Greece? Empirical Evidence from MARS (Orkun Celik)
Authors Contributing to the Book
Asst. Prof. Elif Acuner: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Ardeşen Tourism Faculty, elif.acuner@erdogan.edu.tr, Rize-Turkey.
Lect. Dr. Serkan Acuner: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Universty, serkan.acuner@erdogan.edu.tr, Rize-Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Ayse Atilgan Yasa: Manisa Celal Bayar University, Salihli FEAS, Department of Public Finance, ayse.yasa@cbu.edu.tr, Manisa-Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Orcun Avci: Aksaray University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Finance, orcun.avci@outlook.com, Aksaray-Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Serpil Bardakci Tosun: Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Human Resources Management, serpil.bardakci@alanya.edu.tr, Antalya-Turkey.
Assoc. Prof. Sevim Budak: Istanbul University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, sebudak@istanbul.edu.tr, Istanbul-Turkey.
Assoc. Prof. Kadir Caner Dogan: Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, kadircanerdogan@gumushane.edu.tr, Gumushane-Turkey.
Dr. Orkun Celik: Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Deparment of Economics, ocelik@gumushane.edu.tr, Gümüshane-Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Emre Cengiz: Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, emrecengiz_58@hotmail.com, Gumushane-Turkey.
Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Dag: Siirt University, FEAS, Department of Public Finance, mehmetdag323@gmail.com, Siirt-Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Bayram Dogan: Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Administration, bayramdogan@ksu.edu.tr, Kahramanmaras-Turkey.
←9 | 10→Dr. Kamber Guler: kamberguler@gmail.com, Turkey.
Dr. Eyyup Ince: Tax Inspector (Ex- Income Inspector, Ex-Vice President of İstanbul Tax Office), Turkish Tax Inspection Board, eyupince@gmail.com, Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Nazlı Keyifli: Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Deparment of Public Finance, nazlikeyifli@gumushane.edu.tr, Gümüshane-Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Hasan Mahmut Kalkisim: Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, hkalkisim@yahoo.com, Gumushane-Turkey.
Dr. Bakko Mehmet Bozaslan: Kutahya Dumlupinar University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and International Realtions, mehmet.bozaslan@dpu.edu.tr, Kutahya-Turkey.
Assoc. Prof. Omer Ugur: Gumushane University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, omerugur@gumushane.edu.tr, Gumushane-Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Serap Urut Saygin: Aksaray University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Finance, serap_urut@hotmail.com, Aksaray-Turkey.
Omer Ugur
Understanding the European Union: An
Introduction
Within the framework of seeking peace and economic growth, the efforts to create a Union with long philosophical foundations could be carried out immediately after the end of World War II. With its political, economic and historical dimensions, ensuring the perpetual peace that has existed in the continent for centuries has begun to create identity with the idea of leaving the production and use of coal and steel resources, which are the main inputs of the war industry, to the responsibility of an international body. As a matter of fact, the process has gained an official character with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community, which aims to create an economic union by removing the national trade borders of countries with coal and steel resources. The European Coal and Steel Community has evolved over time – previously had an economic character – and has become a basis for today’s European Union by gaining a political identity.
The successful merger movement between European countries on coal and steel products and the developments embodied by Paris and Rome Treaties between the 1950s and 1980s correspond to the harmonization processes among the members. This period includes the establishment of a common market in order to maximize the welfare of the member countries and a continuous expansion by ensuring that the economic policies of the member states are increasingly harmonized. The positive atmosphere emerging in the economic field has not gained a political dimension both due to the international conjuncture and the national interests of the member states. The European integration with the developments of the mid 1980s and the publication of the Single European Act also allows the political processes to be added to the economic integration process. With the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the European Union has both deepened and expanded the European integration process. In this context, the integration process has been redesigned to cover a wide scope from economic policies to common foreign and security policies, from justice to internal affairs.
With the establishment of the EU, the goals and policies pursued through European Communities, and the targets and policies covered by three new action areas, which include Economic and Monetary Union, European Citizenship, Common Security and Foreign Policy, which will be progressed gradually by European Union treaty, have started to be addressed as a whole. In order to ←11 | 12→carry out this integrity and realize inter-policy integration, the relations between European institutions have been rearranged, and by strengthening the European Parliament in terms of power and authority, the European political cooperation has been tried to gain meaning. The success of the EU project in the 21st century depends on the realization of political integration and the completion of the construction of a political European identity and institutions. For this reason, it is focused on the establishment of a political structure that the EU aims to carry the power of economic integration to political integration, where it can use its power more easily and effectively. However, considering as a whole, the 1990s was a period for the EU that undoubtedly led many developments to be tested in order to achieve these goals. In this process, progress has been made on the development of common policies on many issues, but those who expect a more assertive and totalitarian role in European Citizenship and Common Security and Foreign Policies, which constitute political integration, are disappointed.
Since the sovereignty transfers of the member states in the field of economic integration are fast and relatively less problematic, it has been possible to make important institutional and political reforms at the EU level on economic and financial issues, but the same process has not been achieved in the political integration processes. The fact that member countries have different approaches regarding the political structure and the transfer of sovereign rights has brought along problems that are not easy to overcome during the political integration process. Especially in order to realize political integration, the institutional structure of the EU is not formed as a whole with the Maastricht Treaty, but with three columns including different decision-making and implementation processes, preventing the emergence of a supranational unity that is open to cooperation in the political field. In addition to this institutional structure that compels political integration, the political, cultural and social differences that have emerged within the Union, with the inclusion of EU enlargement processes, have led to efforts to form the “European identity” in a long time.
Although political integration started troubledly, the deepening and expansion of the economic integration process have made rapid progress with the help of past experience. Although the economic integration processes between EU member states were implemented in many respects before Maastricht, the issue of establishing economic and monetary union, which is the standard condition of a true full economic integration, has become fully in question with the decisions taken in Maastricht.
Within the scope of full economic integration, the establishment of supranational authorities and common norms at EU level has started to be carried out for the implementation of economic, monetary and fiscal policies. In this ←12 | 13→context, within the existing institutional framework of economic and fiscal policies, bringing the economic performance of countries with coordination closer, creation of a single fiscal space in which monetary and financial instruments can move freely, and participation of all members in the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System are envisaged. Regarding the monetary and financial aspects of the agreement, four convergence criteria have to be met by member states. These include price stability criteria, financial stability criteria, criteria for long-term interest rates and the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) balancing the stability of the national exchange rate. In addition, the Maastricht Treaty has formed a frame for the creation of a single currency area, which allows member states to transform their monetary policy into suitable for the union until the specified date (January 1, 1999). As a matter of fact, it is requested that the “Euro” be accepted as the common currency in 1995, and the participating countries should fix their exchange rates until January 1999.
As the EU entered the 2000s, it entered into a cooperative structure that had a single market and currency in the field of economy although no progress was made in the political field. However, at the beginning of 2000s, the biggest enlargement with the participation of Eastern European and Mediterranean states and some deficiencies in the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty made it necessary to rewrite the rules of the EU. The European Union needs a new restructuring both to ensure the sustainability of the current situation and to cope with global challenges such as climate change, demographic transformations, energy security and the fight against terrorism as well as enlargement in the future. Accordingly, the 2001 Council of Europe meeting in Laeken starts to discuss the future of Europe and to draw up a simplified constitution-like agreement, which includes all agreements made until that day. Particularly, the main topics of interest are the elimination of the differences in decision-making processes in the three-column structure designed in the Maastricht Treaty, and the dissemination of a qualified majority system that is more suitable for the supranational system and necessary for rapid decision-making and implementation. The second issue on the agenda of the EU is the issue of making the EU decision-making process democratic and legitimate.
Details
- Pages
- 276
- Year
- 2020
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631834435
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631834442
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783631834459
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9783631829363
- DOI
- 10.3726/b17546
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2020 (September)
- Keywords
- The European Union Public Administration Economics and Finance
- Published
- Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2020. 276 pp., 15 fig. col., 2 fig. b/w, 17 tables.
Biographical notes
Ömer UĞUR (Volume editor)
Omer Ugur is an associate professor at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Gumushane University, Turkey, where he teaches international relations-related courses. Omer Ugur works on The European Union, global environmental governance and environmental law.
