The bombings in New York on 9 September 2001 (9/11) made the European Union (EU) realize that it would be necessary to change European policies to combat this form of terrorism. This asked for a...Show moreThe bombings in New York on 9 September 2001 (9/11) made the European Union (EU) realize that it would be necessary to change European policies to combat this form of terrorism. This asked for a strong cooperation between different elements of the EU, such as the EU self, Member States and the European Police Office (Europol). Although it is Europol’s role to gather information that comes from the Member States concerning terrorists’ acts or behaviour and to act as an umbrella organisation, the cooperation between Europol and the Member States is difficult. Even so, after 9/11 the EU was capable in creating the ‘Plan of Action on Combating Terrorism’ to create the first guidelines to prevent that the EU would also be a victim of this form of terrorism in the future. To understand what the effect was of this Plan, this thesis looks into the question to what extent the EU has been using arguments such as terrorism to incentivize the Member States to take action against terrorism. This thesis will argue that this Plan was not very successful. The member states should make more use of the EU’s and Europol’s capabilities and increase and improve the cooperation between them all and that the EU should enhance the capabilities of Europol. Furthermore, the Member States should not only act when there is a massive attack as on 9/11, because it is better to prevent certain attacks and to minimalize the consequences and victims.Show less
Based on the legal base of the SSM, Council Regulation (EU) no 1024/2013 and a literature overview, this thesis will approach the main question: Is there a need to change accountability practices...Show moreBased on the legal base of the SSM, Council Regulation (EU) no 1024/2013 and a literature overview, this thesis will approach the main question: Is there a need to change accountability practices of the ECB now that it has new tasks regarding prudential supervision? This new Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) will divide the European Central Bank (ECB) tasks into a monetary function and a supervisory function. Hereby the ECB and the national central banks (NCBs) of all Member States of the euro zone form the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The debate involving the ECB independence and its new integrated supervisory tasks alongside monetary policy raises a number of questions. This particularly relates to central bank independence, since the possibility of trade-offs between monetary policy and supervisory tasks could lead to conflicts of objectives. Hence, reputational risks are significant challenges and threats, which need to be overcome. Moreover, when executing the two tasks during crisis situations within the euro zone, the ECB must have a high incentive to improve its accountability practise towards the European public to strengthen its credibility. Therefore, the existing accountability framework of the ECB must be critically reviewed. Thus the ECB could take certain extra measures to maintain its high standard of accountability.Show less
Shale gas offers both big opportunities and big risks. This has resulted in a fierce debate in the EU over the past years which placed research in a central role. This thesis investigates whether...Show moreShale gas offers both big opportunities and big risks. This has resulted in a fierce debate in the EU over the past years which placed research in a central role. This thesis investigates whether oil and gas producers (OGPs) use research to manipulate the debate. Between June 2013 to March 2014 all public available research has been collected in a database for the use of this thesis. The reports are ranked in tiers, distinguishing between primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative research. Consequently the current level of knowledge on shale gas is assessed and linked to the research coverage of the different topics. This analysis shows the nascent state of research and the general lack of consensus on virtually all issues. Furthermore, it is establishes that economic research offers the biggest potential for manipulation. This economic research will be analyzed based on the organizational features and the content of three primary reports in order to establish whether OGPs manipulated the outcome of the research. Using the theory of Value Sensitive Design it will be established how this manipulation could influence the decision making process on shale gas.Show less
The paper below is devoted to recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), its process, main actors and main policy issues. The negotiation process and its outcome is analysed in view at...Show moreThe paper below is devoted to recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), its process, main actors and main policy issues. The negotiation process and its outcome is analysed in view at the agricultural sector and government positions of two Member States (MS). Further the paper follows governments' positions before and during the negotiations as well as the inter-institutional negotiation process. Chapter 1 and part of Chapter 4 are devoted to the comparison of the Dutch and Polish agricultural sector and government policy positions. Chapter 2 presents the evolution of the CAP and state of play at the time of the negotiation start and refers to chronological method. Chapter 3 describes the institutional setting, in which the reform was negotiated and as such it applies institutional method. Chapters 2 and 3 present also the theories of the EU agricultural policy making process as well as the positions and usual stakes of the institutions, which are the main actors of the negotiation process. Chapter 4 is devoted to the comparison of the negotiation position of the institutions and both MS. In the conclusions, the presented negotiation process will be put in the theoretical basis provided in Chapter 2 and 3. Moreover, preliminary assumptions on the potential of the reform for both MS is gathered. When we compare the outcome of the reform and national policy papers we come to the conclusion that the reform has certain overlap with the content of Dutch policy documents analysed in this paper. Polish policy positions revolved mainly around the issue of creating more level playing field between the MS and this was realized to a very limited extent. In general the above analysis confirm that in the EU, the interests of one MS can be satisfied to very small extent and the final shape of the policy is dependent on the inter-institutional-, not intergovernmental negotiations. On the other hand, due to current role of the EP, representatives of the MS interests have another platform, next to the Council.Show less
