Contesting Europe,or Germany's Place in Europe? European Integration and the EU Policies of the Grand Coalition Government in the Mirror of Parliamentary Debates in the Bundestag

This article explores how European integration is contested between political parties in debates of the German Bundestag. Distinguishing between ‘domestic’ debates about the conduct of EU policy-making by the German government and ‘supranational’ debates about the institutions and policies of the European Union, the article asks for thematic objects and patterns of polarisation between parties within these debates. Presenting empirical evidence from the manual coding of 23 plenary debates during the second ‘Grand Coalition’ government, it is shown that the polarisation between parliamentary parties differs greatly at both levels of discussion. Whereas the antagonism between government and opposition appears to determine the polarisation of parties in ‘domestic’ debates, more ambiguous and atypical position patterns emerge on behalf of supranational issues. Therefore, the article suggests that a differentiation of various levels of debate is helpful in capturing the polarisation of political parties over the issue of European integration.     

The Hamburg election of 19 September 1993

The transformation of Polish–German relations since the end of the Cold War has been a success story. The two countries are linked by a community of interests founded on common values and goals. Although Germany, in its policies towards Central and Eastern Europe, occasionally attaches too much weight to trying to mollify Russia, the united Germany has supported the Eastern enlargement of the EU and, ultimately, of the NATO. It genuinely wants ‘Western’ neighbours to its east. German foreign policy will continue to be characterised by continuity, with a strong emphasis on multilateralism. There is a danger, however, that Germany's European engagement and support for closer integration will be weakened by its preoccupation with its domestic economic and social problems.     

German policy towards the European union: The effects of historical memory

Reflection on the past and its implications shaped German policy towards the European Union during the early 1990s. Helmut Kohl's post‐reunification foreign policy rhetoric reveals two prominent historical themes: that European integration is a ‘question of war and peace’, and that German unity and European unity represent ‘two sides of the same coin’. In the post‐Cold War context, both themes served to orient and legitimate his European policy. They informed Kohl's strong support for the realisation of the Maastricht Treaty. And they were central to his efforts to maintain domestic political support for deeper integration.     

The Europeanisation of the German Bundestag: Institutional change and informal adaptation

At first glance, the Europeanisation of the German Bundestag seems quite straightforward: in reaction to the process of European integration the Bundestag acquired a set of comparatively strong participation and scrutiny rights in EU politics. It therefore seems rather astonishing that German members of parliament make only very little use of these rights. Different explanations have been put forward in the literature, such as the complicated decision-making system of the EU and the government's gate-keeper position within it, institutional flaws of the German scrutiny system as well as the overall consensus on European integration and the low electoral salience of EU issues. The paper contributes to this discussion in two respects: On the one hand, it offers an additional explanation for the infrequent use of formal instruments. The main argument is that the formal instruments of scrutiny in EU affairs are incompatible with both the overall logic of a parliamentary system as well as the challenges of policy-making in the EU multilevel system. On the other hand, the paper argues that the exclusive focus on the use of formal parliamentary scrutiny rights leads us to overlook more informal means of parliamentary influence and therefore to underestimate the involvement of German parliamentarians in EU affairs. Thus, in order to fully assess processes of parliamentary Europeanisation, we need to take forms of informal or strategic Europeanisation into account.     

‘Responsibility for Europe’: the EU policy of the German Social Democrats since unification

The following article analyses the European Union (EU) policy of the German Social Democrats (SPD) since German unity. Starting from the cross-party European consensus in the early 1990s SPD policy has altered significantly in response to major changes in the ‘policy context’ such as the party's rise from opposition to government, German unification and increasing European integration. Policy change in the SPD has been defined by two dynamics: greater ‘pragmatism’ among a new generation of party leaders that has allowed a ‘freer’ interpretation of German interests; and a gradual prioritisation of EU policy in the party elite that has seen it integrated into a multi-level programme for political governance. The article examines how these changes manifested themselves in SPD policy, focusing on European Economic and Monetary Union and the debate on ‘the future of Europe’.     

后功能主义理论与欧洲一体化

后功能主义是当前欧洲一体化理论的新发展。在继承和修正新功能主义理论的基础上,它从研究欧盟的大众意见和政党政治入手,分析了国内政治化进程对欧洲一体化发展的重要性。后功能主义理论以认同为核心变量解释了20世纪90年代以来欧盟的全民公决、政党冲突等新现象。它对欧洲一体化的理论和实践有着重要意义,但在以下四个方面依然存在一些局限:首先,后功能主义对于政治化进程的看法似乎过于悲观;其次,后功能主义讨论的政治化进程只限于成员国国内,而没有涉及跨国层面;再次,认同因素在政治化进程中的核心位置值得商榷;最后,后功能主义虽然指出了"政治化"带来的冲突,但并没有为此给出解决方案。     

German expellee organisations in the enlarged EU

This article examines German expellees (Vertriebene) as an interest group in domestic and enlarged European Union contexts. While their background and motivations may be unique, they have similarities to other non-party actors aiming to influence political and/or legal processes. German governments have made rhetorical and financial expressions of support but privileged foreign policy considerations over core expellee demands and sought to contain them as an internal issue. EU enlargement and accession by CEE states to its legal bases has been interpreted as opening new possibilities. A ‘Europeanising’ of ‘justice’ may have unintended implications for relations among European states and peoples.     

Over-efficiency in German EU Policy Coordination

The article refers to the controversial debate on the efficiency of German EU policy coordination. On the basis of a five-month participant observation in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the hypothesis of the over-efficiency of EU coordination is developed. Over-efficiency is characterised by a functionally organised but purely technocratic preparation of EU policy without the participation of the general public, political parties, and national parliament. By having considerably increased the efficiency of EU policy coordination in recent years, German policy makers have therefore potentially undermined the acceptance of European integration as a whole.     

The national politics of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans

Abstract

European enlargement has often been viewed from an institutional perspective. The academic literature in the field has tended to focus primarily on how the Commission or the Council has addressed the issue of EU expansion. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of individual member states. This article considers the way in which domestic political concerns and national politics affects the way in which EU members approach enlargement to the Western Balkans. It does this by examining studies conducted on seven countries: Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Hungary, Greece and Cyprus. It shows that there are in fact a wide variety of factors that shape individual member state attitudes towards enlargement. These factors include economic and commercial goals, ties to the region and to individual accession states, concerns over immigration, general foreign policy priorities and national ideological approaches towards the future shape and orientation of the European Union.     

East Germany: another party landscape

Viewed from the heart of the EU in Brussels, German European policy has not been significantly altered by unification. A major reason for this policy continuity is the stability of the composition of German's foreign policy ‘establishment’ in the federal bureaucracy as well as in the political parties. For a combination of reasons, including the economic conjuncture, the enhanced European policy role of the Länder governments, and the lack of socialisation of east Germans into the European project after the Second World War, the political climate has, however, grown more hostile to closer integration. This may prove though to be a conjunctural phenomenon, which will change with an upturn of the German economy. There will be no ‘Britishisation’ of German European policy.     

Public Opinion Toward the European Union in Georgia

Georgia's association with the EU has become closer in recent years through foreign policy instruments including the European Neighborhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership, and the Black Sea Synergy. Against the background of this increasing formal cooperation, public opinion toward the European Union in Georgia is examined on the basis of a nationally representative survey conducted in 2009. Regression modeling is used to relate attitudes toward the EU to explanatory factors including support for continued European integration, expectations of benefits from Europeanization, political beliefs, perceptions of national security and territorial integrity, and attitudes toward Russia.     

Why the EU Still Matters in Turkish Domestic Politics: Insights from Recent Reforms in Migration Policy

Abstract

In view of Turkey’s increasing distance from the European Union (EU), the continued partial alignment with EU standards is often attributed either to domestic factors, or to diffusion processes induced by external actors other than the EU. However, based on interviews with officials from Turkey and the European Commission on recent reforms in migration policy, this article argues that two factors are responsible for continued EU influence on policy processes. First, the EU is still able to set incentives for compliance. Second, the instrument for pre-accession assistance has an impact that goes beyond that of a mere facilitator of domestically defined interests.     

Europe and the German Model: Growing Tension or Symbiosis?

Recent conflicts between the Commission of the European Communities and the German government suggest a growing tension between structures of the German political economy and the agenda of economic liberalisation fostered by European integration. Will mounting conflict ultimately force Germany to choose between its commitment to the integrity of the social market economy and support for European economic integration? This article considers the cases of Germany's public sector banks and the German postal service. Both entail potential conflict between the public service functions integral to the social market economy and the competition central to Europe's single market. Examination of these cases suggests that, rather than forcing change on a reluctant Germany and jeopardising the core of the social market economy (SME), enforcement of European competition policy from Brussels has taken place in fundamental symbiosis with the SME. Nonetheless, tensions between federal government and Länder indicate that a positive-sum relationship between Europe's single market and Germany's social market economy may be constrained by German federalism.     

边界转型对欧洲一体化进程的影响机制

成员国边界对欧洲一体化的影响是复杂和深刻的,一般可以概括为显性和隐性两个方面。从边界转型的角度看,欧洲一体化的过程就是边界不断由阻碍效应向接触和过滤效应转变的过程,而边境地区一体化又可以成为边界转型的重要推动力。因此,从这个意义上说,边境地区一体化是欧洲一体化的微观动力。本文首先分析了成员国边界对欧洲一体化的影响机制,进而讨论边境地区合作对边界转型的意义,最后探讨了欧洲边境地区一体化的治理模式。     

A turning point in the German EMU debate: The Baden‐Württemberg regional election of March 1996

In this article it is argued that the regional election in Baden‐Württemberg of March 1996 marked a crucial turning point in the German domestic debate on EMU. In its election campaign the SPD openly challenged the prevailing political consensus on European integration by proposing that monetary union should be postponed by at least five years. In contrast to prior expectations, the Social Democrats did not profit from their strategy but lost a considerable share of their vote. This article examines the motives behind the SPD leadership's decision in Baden‐Württemberg to make EMU an election issue, analyses the actual election campaign and assesses the significance of the election outcome for the future domestic debate on European monetary integration in Germany.     

Firm supporter and severe critic – Germany’s two-pronged approach to EU enlargement in the Western Balkans

Abstract

Germany has demonstrated an active commitment towards the accession perspective of the Western Balkans, which found its most vocal expression in the initiation of a Western Balkans summit in August 2014 and the ensuing “Berlin process”. However, German support reflexively goes hand in hand with a reference to rigid accession conditionality. This not only fosters stabilization and transformation in the Western Balkan states, but also – at the domestic level – counters widespread enlargement scepticism among decision makers and the German public. The far-reaching participation rights of the Federal Parliament, acquired by the 2009 amendments to the Act on EU Cooperation, involves the Bundestag inter alia in the opening of accession negotiations, thus also increasing domestic constraints for Germany’s position in the Council. Federal elections due in late 2017 and a political environment shaped by a discussion about migration, including from and through the Western Balkans, make enlargement policy a particularly hard-to-sell issue.     

Europeanisation of the German education system

In education matters the EU has merely a coordinating function which leaves the member states in full control of their respective education systems. In this article, however, I claim that Europeanisation in education has taken place even before it was officially introduced by the Maastricht Treaty. The aim of this analysis is to explore changes in the German education system as a possible result of Europeanisation. On the basis of institutional and policy analysis in primary, secondary and tertiary education, recent reforms and developments are scrutinised in the light of European integration and globalisation. Despite the obvious dominance of international and global pressures as explanatory variables for reform, it will be argued that a considerable number of features in the German education system are caused by ‘soft’ or indirect Europeanisation.     

Recovering Space Lost? The German Bundestag's New Potential in European Politics

Various recent developments have highlighted the role of the German parliament in European integration. During the 2005–9 election period, several legislative acts strengthened the Bundestag within the institutional balance of the political system. Also, a Bundestag office was opened in Brussels and now functions as a national parliamentary platform in a transnational setting. In 2009, the Constitutional Court further boosted parliament's role in European affairs. This article aims at describing, systematising and evaluating these developments. The evaluation refers to three different dimensions of legitimation and shows that a more active role of the Bundestag in the future depends on norms beyond the legal framework. Although there is only limited evidence as yet, it is suggested that the Bundestag has the potential to play a bigger role in German EU affairs than is currently the case.     

Arbeitnehmerfreizügigkeit und Diskriminierung auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt – Europäische Politik,transnationaler Mobilitätsraum und nationales Feld

The paper deals with the interaction of horizontal and vertical European integration. It asks whether the principle of free movement of labour does not only legally but also de facto prevent discrimination of non-nationals in EU Member States. Theoretically, the analysis is framed by distinguishing three interrelated types of social fields: a supranational political field of free movement of labour, national labour market fields and an intermediary transnational space of mobility. Focusing on the German labour market and drawing on comprehensive administrative data the article shows that wage differences are to a large extend caused by differences in relevant labour market characteristics such as age or education. However, for the vast majority of EU non-nationals in Germany is also observed discrimination in payment. Strikingly, positive discrimination is more pronounced than negative discrimination. These differences are understood as hinting at the increasing importance of comparisons between national labour markets in the EU.     

Germany's power and the weakening of states in a globalised world: deconstructing a paradox

It is somewhat ironical to ponder Germany's power at a time when radical changes due to globalisation vastly limit the efficiency of state actions worldwide. Certainly, Germany's resources increased with reunification – though the country also has to bear its costs. An enumeration of the – possible – resources of German power provides us, however, with little understanding of the nature of German power, embedded as the country is in a European system from which it derives its strength. Hence, only an analysis of this system fully renders the picture, contrary to what neo-realists and liberals might assume. While Germany did exercise a semi-hegemony over Western Europe in the monetary area up to EMU, the further integration of the EU has altered the European structure and diffused Germany's power. A particular configuration allowed Germany to devise one-sidedly the rules of EMU. This configuration does not exist in other issue-areas, such as, for example, defence and enlargement. This does not mean that power is absent from Germany's tool-box: political credit in particular is abundant. Yet in a larger Europe, where coalitions are more issue-oriented and hence more volatile than formerly, Germany's power will turn out to be more limited than its demands for recognition may lead us to believe.