The European Commission, as the guardian of the treaties, has a powerful tool of infringement procedure to enforce the EU Member States to comply with European commitments. In some cases, the...Show moreThe European Commission, as the guardian of the treaties, has a powerful tool of infringement procedure to enforce the EU Member States to comply with European commitments. In some cases, the infringement dies down soon after it is initiated, and in other cases, the Member States and the Commission solve their disputes in the European Court of Justice. Most commonly, procedures are related to one specific legislation type – directives – due to their binding, but flexible nature to interpret laws negotiated at the supranational level. The non-compliance stems from a variety of reasons, some connected with Member States` inability, others – with the unwillingness to implement. However, how do these reasons relate to the process of infringement procedures? This thesis brings light to the political nature of the topic to reveal the motives behind the Commission`s actions to escalate or give up infringements. While substantial financial and administrative challenges of the Member State are viewed as a temporary hiccup for implementation, the Commission does not tolerate purposeful delay to align domestic preferences and administrative coordination with European provisions. Interestingly, the thesis reveals an important role of informal negotiations between the Member States and the Commission before the start of official infringement procedures. Finally, the thesis concludes that the Commission aims to assure that every EU citizen has access to the same opportunities, and infringement procedures allow it to do exactly that.Show less
Trust in the European Union is a complex issue with many factors affecting it. Some of the factors that could also be influencing each other. This research focusses on how the relation between...Show moreTrust in the European Union is a complex issue with many factors affecting it. Some of the factors that could also be influencing each other. This research focusses on how the relation between Eastern orthodoxy and trust in the European Parliament is influenced by nationalism. The question central to this thesis is: To what degree does nationalism affect the relation between Eastern orthodox religiousness and an individual's level of trust in the European Union in Bulgaria and Cyprus? The objective of the research is to find how strong the relation is between Eastern orthodoxy and European trust in an environment where the potential link between Eastern orthodoxy and nationalism is at its strongest. Excising literature suggested that in majority Orthodox countries, there seems to be a strong tie between nationalism, a variable with a historic negative relation to European support, and Eastern orthodoxy, a variable that has a historic positive relation with European support. Therefore the expectation is that when excluding nationalism from the analysis, the relation between Eastern orthodoxy and European trust would be more negative compared to the analysis with nationalism included. However, through a multiple regression analysis using the data from the European Social Survey, this hypothesis finds no supporting evidence for the supposed relation between Eastern orthodoxy and European trust. The inclusion of nationalism into the regression does not make a significant change to this result. Instead, nationalism seems to be a strong predictor for European trust without heavily affecting the effect of Eastern orthodoxy. This leads to the conclusion that to understand Euroscepticism, factors like country of residence and emotional attachment to a country make for stronger predictors of Euroscepticism compared to religion.Show less
In the current demographic trends, the future health of the society is more dependent on the politics than ever. But are people with poor health conditions represented equally? The negative...Show moreIn the current demographic trends, the future health of the society is more dependent on the politics than ever. But are people with poor health conditions represented equally? The negative relationship between poor health and participation has been well established. It could lead to a representation inequality since the demands of the poor health group are not translated into votes. However, we do not know how health status influence the opinions and demands of the voters which are supposed to be represented at the elections. Are poor health individuals have distinctive policy preferences? By exploring these opinions, first, I will show the possible substantive consequences of the participation gaps between health groups. Second, I will investigate the inter-sectional nature of the health representation inequalities caused by the moderating role of income and education on opinions and participation. I conduct a multivariate analysis on a cross-European sample using the 2014 ESS data to test my hypotheses. I show an evidence for the unequal representation of the different opinions in the elections between the healthy and the poor health group, and within the poor health group, explained by the level of income. Based on the results, I revisit the policy discussion about the solutions for the health disparities in voting.Show less
Despite the fact that women’s representation in national parliaments and executives is increasing, female political representatives still constitute a minority, especially in high-level positions....Show moreDespite the fact that women’s representation in national parliaments and executives is increasing, female political representatives still constitute a minority, especially in high-level positions. The literature argues that gender stereotypes influence the perception of female political representatives who consequently face a disadvantage in politics. This thesis explores the factors that affect public opinion on female leadership in the European Union (EU). Using the Eurobarometer data on public opinion covering the 28 EU member states, I conduct a multiple linear regression analysis to investigate the effect of four individual level-factors (i.e., gender, age, education and profession), and three country-level factors (i.e., masculine culture, religion and communist legacy) on net female trust. The results suggest that female gender, education and masculine culture positively affect trust in female political representatives, while communist legacy produces a negative effect. Moreover, I discover that the EU public opinion favors female over male political representatives. Finally, by comparing the level of trust in female and male political representatives, I find that the great majority of respondents have egalitarian attitudes as they equally trust male and female leaders. These findings challenge the burgeoning literature on female leadership and have important implications for the study of public opinion, gender and political leadership in the EU.Show less
The current paper studies whether domestic political equality and membership of a discriminated group influence trust in the national parliament, and whether these effects spill-over to trust in...Show moreThe current paper studies whether domestic political equality and membership of a discriminated group influence trust in the national parliament, and whether these effects spill-over to trust in the European Parliament. To do so, existing data from the European Social Survey (n=38,691) is combined with domestic political equality scores created by Freedom House. The study provides new insights as previous research has focused on different geographies, specific marginalized groups, or only on either the national or European Parliament. Results seem to indicate that domestic political equality has a significant positive relation with trust in national parliament. Additionally, members of discriminated groups show significantly lower trust in the national parliament than those individuals who do not consider themselves to be part of a discriminated group. The results also indicate a positive relationship between trust in national parliament and trust in the European Parliament. Additionally, it is shown that most of the effects of domestic political equality and membership of a discriminated group on trust in the European Parliament are mediated by trust in national parliament. Nonetheless, there are significant residual direct effects in which both domestic political equality and membership of a discriminated group negatively impact trust in the European Parliament. While membership of a discriminated group exercises a negative direct effect on both trust in national parliament and European Parliament, domestic political equality shows a positive direct effect on trust in the national parliament but a negative direct effect on trust in the European Parliament. This seems to indicate that individuals living in politically unequal countries are more likely to trust the European Parliament unless they have high trust in the National parliament, and vice versa. There also seems to be an indication that the basis upon which individuals are discriminated against influences trust in both national parliament and the European Parliament. While those discriminated based on nationality, age, disability, language and 2 3 ‘other unspecified factors’ display decreased levels of trust in both national and European Parliament, those discriminated based on sexuality display increased levels of trust but only in the European Parliament. Individuals member of a group that is discriminated against based on race, ethnic group, or gender do not display different levels of trust in the national and European Parliament compared to those who are not discriminated against. In order to ensure trust in the national parliament it seems important to strive for the social inclusion of individuals who are part of a group that is currently discriminated against. National parliament might increase the level of trust of citizens towards the parliament by maximizing domestic political equality. Furthermore, the European Parliament should aim to increase trust in the national parliament as this will likely translate into increased levels of trust in the European Parliament as well.Show less
