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CIAO DATE: 07/04
Volume XXXVIII No. 1 (January — March 2003)
Essays
The Stability and Growth Pact in Europe’s Transition from Hard to Soft Coordination, by Stefano Fantacone and Laura Cotterli
The recent economic downturn has put the Stability and Growth Pact in disarray and the EU is urged to adopt a more benevolent interpretation of European fiscal rules. Although desirable, the reform will not reinforce the coordination framework in Europe. It will continue to be hierarchical with monetary policy dominating fiscal policy and the latter dominating structural policies. Institutional innovations are required: fiscal and growth objectives could be treated as mutually reinforcing, so that progress achieved in structural reforms is rewarded with more benevolent surveillance on the budget side. More importantly, the logic behind European coordination could be shifted from the lack of mutual trust that prevails today to identifying the kind of spillovers capable of increasing growth potential and, consequently, enhancing the functioning of the monetary union.
TEPSA Europe Forum
The European Identity (PDF, 14 pages, 62 Kb) , by Paolo Pombeni
The Convention is preparing a “constitutional text”. In this context, the question of identity takes on great importance, not as an abstract historical question or philosophical issue, but as the inevitable premise of a text of this type. The identity underlying a political or institutional subject is not the same as the feeling of belonging that human beings feel as part of an elementary community. It is a product of culture in the anthropological sense of the term, that is, a system of instruments for understanding and orienting positions which human beings perceive as the horizon needed to organise their relational life. The article looks at the meaning of identity and the instruments required to construct a “European identity”.
The impact of enlargement on JHA
The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice after the 2004 Enlargement (PDF, 18 pages, 70 Kb) , by Jörg Monar
The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) domain is in fast development. From an EU perspective, the challenge regarding the JHA acquis after the 2004 enlargement is therefore not only to “maintain” the acquis, that is, preserve what has already been achieved and ensure that it is effectively implemented, but also to fully realise its further development potential by making sure that the momentum of progress is not lost after enlargement. The article looks first at the key post-enlargement challenges in the JHA domain, and then at the potential and limits of major post-enlargement diversity management instruments and the various possibilities for maintaining or enhancing decision-making and implementation capabilities. It concludes with a consideration of the importance of trust and confidence-building for maintaining and developing the JHA acquis after enlargement.
EU Enlargement - Policing the New Borders, by Eberhard Bort
The decade of profound change following the fall of the Berlin Wall witnessed the implementation of the Schengen Accords (1986 and 1990) and the abolition of internal border controls in "Schengenland". This was compensated by the strengthening and harmonising of controls at the external EU frontier. As a result,- police cooperation has developed from traditional bilateral agreements and informal networks to the current plans for establishing a joint European border police force, perhaps by 2007. In 2004, ten new member states are expected to join the EU, pushing its eastern frontier further eastward. The new "threats", organised crime and illegal migration, that- seem to have replaced the Cold War military confrontation, demand new responses in law enforcement and set the agenda for police cooperation inside the EU and across its borders.
Prospects and Limits of a European System of Criminal Justice, by Giovanni Grasso
A number of factors have put European Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) issues and especially the prospects and limits of common European criminal law at the centre of the European construction. First, the Amsterdam Treaty set the goal of establishing an area of freedom, security and justice and introducedthe indispensable use of penal instruments to achieve EU objectives.There has been a growing interest at the institutional level for criminal law and the introduction of a common, albeit limited, penal system in the European Union. The article investigates two aspects of harmonisation of the EU member states’ penal systems - protection of EU interests and the prevention and repression of forms of transnational crime - in relation to the problems caused by European enlargement.
Italian Foreign Policy Survey
Neo-nationalism and Neo-atlanticism in Italian Foreign Policy, by Roberto Aliboni
Postwar Italian governments generally tried to keep a close friendship with the United States while maintaining their autonomy. They were able to do this by contemporaneously working to strengthen European integration, multilateral solidarity with the Atlantic Alliance and multilateral international relations in general. Moving away from traditional trends, the current government seems to want to change route and establish a strong bilateral relationship with the United States in a weak European, Atlantic and multilateral context. The new policy of national assertion could lead to a search for solitary and problematic national affirmation in direct and protagonistic terms. Instead, national affirmation should be mediated by a complex and solid network of international institutions inside which the country can affirm its authority in a cooperative way and increase its real ability for action and projection.
The Role of the US in Italy’s Foreign Policy, by Leopoldo Nuti
Postwar Italian governments generally tried to keep a close friendship with the United States while maintaining their autonomy. They were able to do this by contemporaneously working to strengthen European integration, multilateral solidarity with the Atlantic Alliance and multilateral international relations in general. Moving away from traditional trends, the current government seems to want to change route and establish a strong bilateral relationship with the United States in a weak European, Atlantic and multilateral context. The new policy of national assertion could lead to a search for solitary and problematic national affirmation in direct and protagonistic terms. Instead, national affirmation should be mediated by a complex and solid network of international institutions inside which the country can affirm its authority in a cooperative way and increase its real ability for action and projection.
International Terrorism: Global Challenges and Italian Responses, by Antonio Armellini
The tragic attack on the Twin Towers has made the international community recognise for the first time the intolerable threat posed by terrorism and strengthened its commitment to work together to combat it. A move of special significance, given that the community of nations has long been divided on the definition of terrorism and its root causes. Terrorism is not a short-term problem and those who believe that it can be eradicated in the near future are fooling themselves. States will need to strengthen their operational machinery and additional impetus will have to be placed on international cooperation. The article illustrates the action undertaken after the 9/11 events by all relevant international organisations (United Nations, European Union, G7-G8, FATF, ICAO, IMO) as well as by Italy.
Book Reviews and Notes
On the Search for a European Identity(PDF, 4 pages, 25 Kb) , by John Erik Fossum
IAI Library Notes , by Maritza Cricorian