2014年欧洲议会选举探析——“欧洲选举”还是“次等国内选举”?

2014年5月22日-25日,第八次欧洲议会选举在欧盟28个成员国进行。选举结果是:主流政党丢失选票,极右翼政党获得更多席位。此次选举充分体现了欧洲议会选举所具有的"次等国内选举"的特征。新一届欧洲议会的联盟构建总体保持稳定,极右翼议员的增多会促使主流党团结盟即"大联盟"的比例有所增加。极右翼政党对欧洲议会的影响相对有限,但是对成员国政治可能影响深远。欧洲议会与欧洲理事会围绕下一届欧盟委员会主席的人选进行了复杂的政治博弈,容克的最终当选体现出诸多政治信息。     

浅析欧洲议会党团体制

随着欧洲联合的推进,欧洲议会党团在欧盟治理中的作用也越来越引起人们的兴趣。欧洲议会党团体制产生与发展的历史证明,在欧洲议会内部已经形成了以欧洲社会党和欧洲人民党党团主导的党团体制。主要党团有比较成熟的组织体系,虽然囿于欧盟的体制安排,主要党团之间存在所谓的大联盟,但欧洲议会党团体制的竞争性也是不能否认的。党团在促进欧盟建设方面的作用也将进一步为人们所认知。     

欧洲议会中的主要竞争层面

欧洲议会政治与传统的国家议会政治有很大的不同,相对于成员国国内政治来说,欧洲议会中的政治内容更加复杂,竞争层面更加多样。理解欧洲议会中的竞争层面是理解欧盟政治的一个重要步骤。本文第一部分大致勾勒了这一议题现有的研究成果;第二部分详细阐述了政治科学领域中学者的观点,即"左-右分野"是欧洲议会中的主要竞争层面,而"支持一体化—反对一体化"竞争层面也存在于欧洲议会之中,且与第一个竞争层面相关联;第三部分选取"港口服务指令"立法的失败作为案例进一步证明"左-右分野"是欧洲议会中的主要竞争层面。     

德国联邦议院党团法律制度研究

现代民主政治是政党民主政治,在议会制国家进一步体现为党团民主政治。在德国联邦议院中,党团是在议会组织、活动与资源分配中有着明确宪法地位的基本单位。党团合宪地位的确立,是在《基本法》完成了对经典宪政模式中贤人政治和整体人民观的批判、引入政党国家理论的基础上才实现的。为了发挥党团对民主政治的积极作用、抑制其消极作用,《基本法》规定了党团相对议会、政党的独立。党团相对议会独立的本质,是少数党团相对多数党团的独立,只有实现这种独立才能落实立法与行政分权制衡的宪法原则,实践中的问题主要围绕着党团成立条件与资助平等。随着政党社会动员功能的萎缩,党团对政党的控制日益加强,但是为了督促政党保持并扩大其社会基础,有必要保证政党相对党团的独立性,对此,德国的实践主要从切断党团与政党的法律与经济联系着手。     

欧洲议会与《里斯本条约》:动力、变革和挑战

本文主要阐述欧洲议会与《里斯本条约》的相互影响。欧洲议会在《里斯本条约》的起草和缔结过程中发挥了重要作用,也因《里斯本条约》的生效获得了更多的权力。文章首先分析了欧洲议会在《欧盟宪法条约》和《里斯本条约》的起草及缔结过程中发挥的作用;其次分析了《里斯本条约》对欧洲议会的影响,如议会参与立法权、预算权、监督权的扩大以及未来组成的新变化;最后对欧洲议会在《里斯本条约》生效后面临的若干挑战作了简要评述。     

“次等选举”的右倾化——欧洲议会选举中极右翼政党的崛起与影响

第八届欧洲议会选举中极右翼政党的普遍性崛起,将改变欧盟以交易与妥协为基础的折中主义政治生态。但本届议会中极右翼的主流是强调法律与秩序的非反体制类激进右翼政党,这意味着其疑欧与反欧诉求总体上将服从于欧洲联盟现行的机制与规约,欧洲一体化及欧盟体制结构的主界面发生根本性逆转或瓦解的可能性相对较低。长期来看,极右翼的崛起对一体化的影响并不必然是完全消极的,但此轮欧盟政治"去精英化"的主要推动者却是秉持强硬与温和疑欧取向的民粹主义者,这虽然没有完全超越"次等选举"与"欧洲效应"的理论预判,但反映出一体化同步多维的深化与扩大导致的一系列深层次问题。     

读家

环球热点A俄罗斯把官员子女留在国内上学继月初俄国家杜马议员提交一份新法案草案,建议禁止本国官员和议员拥有境外不动产、海外存款和外国公司股票后,统一俄罗斯党团议员近日又向国家杜马提交一份"公务员法"修正案,提议禁止国家官员子女到国外留学,目的是为了增强俄官员的爱国心。据俄罗斯《晨报》报道,该修正案于8月7日提交,国家杜...     

欧洲一体化的政治化与欧盟成员国主流政党的应对战略——以欧债危机发生后的德、英、法三国为例

随着欧洲一体化在成员国日益被政治化,欧盟成员国主流政党面临严重考验。它们的应对战略对本国欧洲政策和一体化发展产生了重要影响。去政治化战略、民粹主义战略以及参与和引导战略是欧盟主流政党应对政治化的三种战略选择。结合欧债危机以来德国、英国和法国三国主流政党应对政治化的案例,本文对这三种战略的实施过程和政策结果进行比较研究后发现,参与和引导战略兼顾各方利益要求,是适合未来欧盟主流政党的一种中间策略。     

韩国的地方选举和政党参与

以＂宪法＂和＂地方自治法＂为准绳,韩国实行地方自治制度,以团体自治和居民自治相结合的自治模式,由选举产生的各级地方议会、政府具体行使自治权。20世纪50年代,韩国经历了短暂的、不完全的地方自治,之后中断了31年。自20世纪90年代至2010年6月,韩国共举行了5次地方选举。韩国政党通过推荐或支持候选人参与教育监和教育议员以外的地方自治团体首长和地方议员的选举,积极地介入地方自治的整个过程,从另外一个侧面反映出了韩国政党的参政方式和特点。     

绿党的欧洲化与欧洲民主:功能与局限

基于传统的民主与政党政治理论可以在适当调整后应用于欧盟政治研究的方法论假定,文章对正在形成与发展中的欧洲政党之一的欧洲绿党进行了个例研究。在对其政治纲领、组织结构和政治参与等的量化分析后认为,欧洲绿党已经在相当程度上演变成为一个欧洲政党,但这更多是其成员绿党适应日益制度化的欧盟政治比如欧洲议会选举而不断欧洲化的结果,它在欧盟政体民主转型中的促动性角色依然相当有限。     

The development of the role of the European Parliament

SUMMARY

In this article, Sandro Guerrieri argues the case for studying the emergence of the European Parliament from the historical perspective, now made more feasible by the growing availability of the European Union's own archives at Florence. He suggests that, so far, most analysis of the development of the Parliament has been undertaken by lawyers and political scientists. A historical approach is particularly important, because the European Union does not exactly fit the normal institutional classifications, it is not an interstate association, nor a developed federal state, but combines elements of both. It follows that the European Parliament has developed in ways which partly replicate the development of parliaments in national sovereign or federal states, but is also adapted to the unique political structures of the European Union. The article then traces the path of development from the original Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community, made up of members nominated by the national parliaments to act as a monitor of the work of the High Authority. From its inception, this Assembly began to press for the organization and authority of a parliament. From then on the Assembly and its successor institutions, which in 1962 finally secured the official title of the European Parliament, has steadily enlarged its powers. The article suggests that while the Parliament can be expected to develop many features that have characterized Europe's national parliaments, it will diverge from them because historically it is a pioneering experiment in supranational parliamentarianism.     

Roll Call Votes in the European Parliament: a good sample or a poisoned dead end?

The Roll Call Vote (RCV) of Members of the European Parliament is a standard data source for modern research into the European Parliament (EP). RCV samples are used in particular to study political group cohesion and the emergence of conflict lines within the EP. Current mainstream research thus treats RCVs as a reliable source of data. But other research exists that questions the suitability of the RCV as a sample that fairly represents the population of EP votes. Specifically, this latter research stream points to the over-representation of non-legislative items over legislative items and to the under-representation (or even complete absence) of some committees. However, these critically oriented studies focus on data that does not take into account changes that have occurred in recent years, after the Treaties of Nice (2001) and Lisbon (2007) came into force in 2003 (Nice) and 2009 (Lisbon). By analysing all votes that took place in 2013, the authors find that the RCV has become a more reliable data source in recent years. The most important difference – that which obtained between legislative and non-legislative issues – has completely vanished and the remaining differences show only a very weak effect. The authors attribute this change to the empowerment of the EP in the legislative arena and the amendment of the Rules of Procedure.     

Towards political integration in Europe: the involvement of national parliaments in European Union politics and policy-making

This article provides an overview of the life of the European Union over a period that has witnessed a number of historical international and institutional developments, and provides a politico-juridico-historical perspective on its growth. The article aims to examine the role of national parliaments in relation to increasing European legislative powers. The European Union is using these powers to ensure that non-European-Union states accept its rules as universal standards. At the same time, European foreign policy has expanded remarkably, reflecting its more prominent international role. The European Parliament is the world's first directly elected transnational parliament. In recent decades, the principles of human rights, peace, and democracy have reflected the deeply embedded values at the core of European integration since its inception, determining the evolution of the European Union from international actor to a model of democratization: a model promoting not only respect for human rights, but also democracy and peace, which have become concrete goals steering the European Union foreign policy.     

European Elections in Germany: Legitimacy for the European Union?

Turning out for elections can be treated as an indication of long-term support for a political system, if citizens perceive that system as legitimate. Applied to the level of the European Union this would suggest that levels of participation in elections to the European Parliament are crucial to the legitimacy of the EU's political system. Due to the multi-level character of these elections, however, causes for relatively low levels of turnout may be located at the national as well as the European level. We will use individual-level survey data to analyse the reasons for voter participation at European elections in Germany. Based on system-theoretic arguments we develop a model of voter participation including both European and national factors. The results of our binominal logistic regression models suggest that participation at European elections depends on individual characteristics like political interest on the one hand and perceptions of the performance of both the EU and the national government on the other.     

Factors for Integration? Transnational Party Cooperation in the European Parliament, 1952–79

The idea that supranational institutions of the European Union (EU) such as the European Parliament (EP) actively promote integration has been manifest in discourses of the European Community (EC) since the 1950s. There is less evidence that parties in the EP do so, partly because their existence at the European level is a relatively new phenomenon. It is also problematic, as these parties do not constitute a European party system above the state. The article traces the development of transnational cooperative links among the parties of the European Parliament from 1952 to 1979, and illustrates that, from the earliest stages of European Integration, party representatives participating in the newly established Assembly chose to adopt political stances, organisational structures and norms that were transnational and supranational in style and representation.     

Inter-parliamentary European Union–Latin American Caribbean (EU-LAC) relations and the increasing political convergence among Latin American regional parliaments (2006–15)

Europe and Latin America present a long-standing tradition of parliamentary diplomacy and particularly in the development of regional parliaments. Since the 1970s, inter-parliamentary relations between the two regions have been institutionalized, first by the regular dialogue of the European Parliament with the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) and more recently, in 2006, with the creation of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat). Apart from representatives of Parlatino, EuroLat includes in the European Union-Latin American Caribbean (EU-LAC) parliamentary dialogue members of other regional assemblies created in recent decades, such as the Andean Parliament, the Central American Parliament and the Mercosur Parliament. However, recent EuroLat meetings have made evident a polarization of positions on regional politics between European and Latin American sides, especially regarding the political and human rights situation in Venezuela. In this sense, the present paper analyzes the impact of EU-LAC relations on the political convergence of Latin American parliaments concerning regional political issues. The aim is to discuss how institutionalized relations with the European Parliament, through EuroLat, increased convergence among Latin American parliamentarians. This argument is exemplified by the joint defensive position on the Venezuelan political situation adopted by Latin American parliamentarians vis-à-vis the European Parliament's condemnatory position.     

Contrasting First- and Second-Order Electoral Behaviour: Determinants of Individual Party Choice in European and German Federal Elections

In contrast to national elections, both parties and voters are assumed to think that ‘less is at stake’ in European elections: Campaigns are less intense, turnout is lower, and citizens are more inclined to ‘vote with their hearts’. The latter should be reflected in differing rationales of voting – party choice should not be based on identical determinants in national and European elections. However, this hypothesis has not been sufficiently tested and most of the research is based on the analysis of aggregated data while causal explanations are located on the micro level. This paper compares vote functions of individuals in regard to the 2009 European Parliament election as well as the 2009 German Federal election. Using data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), comparison of explanatory models shows that party choice on both levels is neither fundamentally different nor does it fit into the pattern of second-order electoral behaviour.     

Which democracy for the European Economic Community? Fernand Dehousse versus Charles de Gaulle*

This article analyses the political debate that developed within the European Economic Community (EEC) about the so-called Dehousse Convention (1960), the first concrete proposal to elect the European Parliament by universal suffrage. It argues that both supporters and opponents of the Dehousse Convention justified their stance through a blend of domestic experiences and European aspirations. More precisely, the article argues that the Dehousse Convention was deeply rooted in the model of parliamentary democracy which triumphed in Western Europe after the Second World War and that it aimed at favouring the federal evolution of the community; through the introduction of direct elections it would have been possible to strengthen the European Parliament which, eventually, would have turned the EEC into a federation. To fully understand Charles de Gaulle’s rejection of the Dehousse Convention, this article argues that his hostility to the supranational evolution of the community was strengthened by his long-standing criticism of the limits of parliamentary democracy. These two visions clashed and intertwined, shaping the political evolution of the EEC in the following decades.     

Right-Wing Violence in Germany: Assessing the Objectives,Personalities and Terror Trail of the National Socialist Underground and the State's Response to It

In the last five years the forces of organised right-wing extremism have made electoral advances across many states in contemporary Europe. Germany has not been immune and the extreme right party, the National Democratic Party of Germany won its first seat in the European Parliament since 1989. The recent successes of the extreme right pose issues for European society about tolerance and immigration policy, but this scene has also been associated with an upsurge in racially motivated political violence and acts of right-wing terrorism. Much of this violence is perpetrated by small neo-Nazi styled groups. This paper looks at the most notorious and recent of such groups to emerge in Germany, the National Socialist Underground. The paper explores the origins and personalities behind this terror cell, provides derails of its criminal activities and murder spree, and questions why it took so long for the authorities to identify the NSU.