European Democratic Institutions and Administrations : Cohesion and Innovation in Times of Economic Crisis

"This book presents the results of extensive international comparative research into the effects of the economic and financial crisis on democratic institutions and social cohesion policies. The collected studies describe and analyse the measures (often referred to as "reforms") adopted to counter the crisis and the effects of these measures. It investigates three areas: the impact on the functioning of institutions, with respect to the relationship between representative institutions and governments, and the organisational structure of administrations at national and local levels; the impact that the austerity policies on public spending have on social rights; and the impact on traditional instruments of public action (administrative simplification, public services delivering, the use of common assets). The general findings highlight the effect of reducing the administrative and government capacity of the democratic institutions: the public sector, rather than being innovative and made more effective, declines, offering increasingly poor public services and making bad decisions, fuelling substantive or formal privatisation solutions, which in turn cause further weakening."-- Provided by publisher Contents 5 Introduction 7 1 The Crisis, Its Causes, Its Effects 8 2 The ``Map ́ ́ of the ``Reforms ́ ́ and Their Effects 10 3 The ``Reforms ́ ́ of the Organization and of the Functioning of Democratic Institutions 11 4 The Relationship Between Executive Branches and Elective Parliaments 11 5 The Technical Governments 12 6 The Policies Concerning Public Personnel 13 7 The Reforms of Local Governments 13 8 The ``Reform ́ ́ of the Welfare State 18 8.1 The Intergenerational Effects of Austerity Measures 18 8.2 The Direct Reduction of Social Rights 19 9 The ``Reforms ́ ́ of Public Action Tools 20 10 Some General Trends 22 11 The Reduction of the Public Sphere 23 12 Privatization 24 13 The Reduction of the Government ́s Capacity 25 14 Looking for Solutions. The (Unsolvable?) Dilemma Between Returning to State Sovereignty and Strengthening the European Union 25 15 More Sovereignty to the Member States 26 16 More Europe 27 Reference 28 Part I: Economic Crisis and Institutions 29 The Crisis and Political Decision-Making Processes: The Impact on European Constitutional Systems 30 1 Introduction, Methodology and Summary 31 2 The Crisis and the European Union 35 2.1 The Impact on the EU ́s Institutional Relations 36 2.1.1 Complexity 37 2.1.2 New Intergovernmental Method (Intergovernmentalism) 37 2.1.3 Executivism 38 2.1.4 Proceduralization and Destructuring of the System of Sources of Law 39 2.1.5 Asymmetry and Equality Between MSs 40 2.2 The Repercussions Upon the ``European Constitution ́ ́ and Some Brief Conclusions 42 3 Economic Crisis and National Constitutional Systems 44 3.1 The Impact of the Crisis on Political Systems 44 3.2 The Impact of the Crisis on Constitutional Systems 46 3.3 Implementing the Principle of the ``Balanced Budget ́ ́ 47 3.3.1 France 49 3.3.2 Constitutional Amendments in Slovenia, Spain and Italy 51 3.4 Consequences and Doubts 55 4 Final Note 58 References 60 Technical Governments and Technical Experts in the Governments 65 1 Introduction 66 2 Technical Expertise and Technocracy 66 3 The Comparative Framework in European Union ́s Member States 69 4 Technical Governments in Italy: Peculiarities of the Monti Government 73 5 Technical Experts in the Governments: The Experiences of Greece and Italy in Particular 79 6 Regional Ministers in Italy 81 7 Conclusions 82 References 83 Impact of the Crisis on Public Sector Employment: A Change of Perspective 85 1 Introduction 86 2 The Three Aspects of Public Labor Interested by the Economic Crisis 86 3 The Starting Point 88 4 Materials and Methods 89 5 What Data Emerging from Research Tell Us 89 6 Focusing on the Italian Case 92 7 Austerity from a Different Perspective, Through the Lenses of the Public Sector ́s Employment Policies 95 References 98 Transformations and Innovations of Territorial Autonomies in the Aftermath of the Economic Crisis 100 1 Late Twentieth Century Trends: Decentralization and Regionalization 101 2 Economic Crisis and Local Government Reforms. The Role of the European Union 102 3 Crisis and New Forms of Territorial Government 104 4 Looking for Cooperation: The Aggregation of Municipalities 106 5 Small Municipalities and the Crisis: Merging As the Alternative 107 6 The Impact of the Crisis on the Region ́s Administrative Functions 110 7 The Impact of the Crisis on Local Administrative Functions 112 8 The Workforce in the Reorganisation of Provinces: The Principle of Autonomy and the Balance of Public Budget 115 9 The Impact of the Crisis on Indirect Administration: Local Economic Enterprises and Other Indirect Local Administration Bodi... 116 10 From the External Control on Territorial Authorities to the ``Rating ́ ́ Paradigm. The Financial Crisis and New Relationships... 117 11 Final Notes 120 References 121 Part II: Economic Crisis and Social Rights 124 The Function of Redistribution Between Crisis and Inclusion 125 1 Introduction 126 2 Public Debt and Redistribution Between Generations 127 2.1 Regulation of the Financial Activity of Public Administration 130 2.2 EU Rules 132 3 Redistribution and Equalization Between Infra-National Levels of Government 134 3.1 Redistribution and Equalization at the EU Level 140 4 Indemnities 144 5 Territorial and Urban Development 147 6 Public Contracts 149 References 150 Constitutional Law and Social Welfare After the Economic Crisis 151 1 Introduction 152 2 The Selection of Case Studies 153 2.1 Social Welfare Traditions 153 2.2 Impact of the Crisis on National Economies 154 2.3 Legal Traditions in Relation to Social Rights 156 3 Main Case Study Findings 157 3.1 Germany 157 3.2 The United Kingdom 159 3.3 France 162 3.4 Spain 163 3.5 Italy 165 4 Social Welfare, Constitutionalism and Austerity 168 References 170 Rights in Times of Crisis: Considerations on Security, Migrations and Inclusive Citizenship 171 1 Introduction 172 2 The Acknowledgment of Rights to the ``Non-citizens ́ ́ 173 3 The Right Not to Be Criminalized: A Way to Access Other Rights 175 4 In Particular: The Crime of Illegal Immigration and Its Problematic ``Disappearance ́ ́ 177 5 Rights to ``Non-citizens ́ ́: A Contribution to Security? 180 6 Towards a New Regulation of Citizenship 184 7 Towards an Intercultural and Inclusive Citizenship 186 8 Evolutionary Interpretation of Fundamental Principles of the Italian Constitution 188 References 190 Social Rights and the Economic and Financial Crisis. Problems and Perspectives 196 1 Reasons for a Research on the Effectiveness of Fundamental Social Rights and the Economic and Financial Crisis 197 2 Financial Autonomy and the Economic and Financial Crisis in the Current Global Context: Finding Resources, the Sovereign Deb... 202 3 Economic Automatism and Political Choices in the Relationship Between Rights, Resources and Institutions 205 4 Constitutional Transformations, Social Rights and the Financial Crisis of the Public Apparatuses 209 5 The Economic and Financial Crisis and Social Rights: The Concrete Implications on Education, Health and Social Care 213 6 The Effects of the Economic Crisis and of Financial Recovery Constraints on the Territorial Forms of the State 216 7 Guarantee of Rights and Legal Uncertainty in the Economic and Financial Crisis 222 8 Concluding Remarks 225 References 226 The Administrative Architecture of Financial Integration 228 1 Purpose 228 2 A Four-Layer Framework 229 3 The Need for an Administrative Law Inquiry 230 4 The Main Features of the New EU Framework 231 5 Three Implications 236 References 238 Part III: Economic Crisis and Tools of Government 240 Administrative Simplification As an Instrument for Coping with the Economic Crisis 241 1 Introduction 242 2 Regulatory Simplification and Procedural Simplification 243 3 The Italian Experience 246 4 The Experience of Neighbouring Countries 247 5 Problems of Administrative Simplification and Possible Solutions 249 6 In Particular: The Problems of Administrative Simplification in the Italian Experience 250 7 Simplification and Administrative Accountability 252 8 The French Experience of Administrative Simplification 253 9 Administrative Simplification in Spain 257 References 261 Administrative Cooperation in the Public Contracts and Service Sectors for the Progress of European Integration 264 1 Administrative Cooperation for the Progress of European Integration 265 2 The New Provisions on In-House Providing and the European Public Administrations 272 3 The New Legal Framework on Cooperation among Public Administrations in Europe 276 4 The Legal Framework for Cooperation Agreements Among Contracting Authorities of Different Member States for the Award and Ex... 278 5 The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Among Contracting Authorities or Public Authorities for Efficiency, ... 285 References 290 Taking Care of Commons to Tackle the Financial Crisis 296 1 The Attempts to Tackle the Crisis and the Importance of Commons 297 2 Commons in Modern Legal Systems 299 2.1 The International Framework 300 2.2 The EU Framework 301 2.3 The Italian Legal System 303 3 The Distinctive Features of Commons 305 3.1 Capability to Satisfy Essential Needs 306 3.2 Non-excludability and Accessibility 306 3.3 Characterized by ``Subctractability ́ ́ and Rivalry with Regard to Utilization 307 3.4 Referred to a ``Communal Dimension ́ ́ 308 3.5 Beyond the Traditional Dichotomy Between Private and Public 309 3.6 Usable (Even) in Absence of Property 310 3.7 Far from the Market Approach 311 3.8 To Be Managed Through a Responsible Utilization 313 4 The Management of Commons 313 5 Commons As Strategic Resources to Tackle the Crisis 316 References 317 Front Matter ....Pages i-vi Introduction (Francesco Merloni, Alessandra Pioggia)....Pages 1-22 Front Matter ....Pages 23-23 The Crisis and Political Decision-Making Processes: The Impact on European Constitutional Systems (Rolando Tarchi)....Pages 25-59 Technical Governments and Technical Experts in the Governments (Andrea Pierini, Mauro Volpi)....Pages 61-80 Impact of the Crisis on Public Sector Employment: A Change of Perspective (Benedetto Ponti)....Pages 81-95 Transformations and Innovations of Territorial Autonomies in the Aftermath of the Economic Crisis (Luciano Vandelli)....Pages 97-120 Front Matter ....Pages 121-121 The Function of Redistribution Between Crisis and Inclusion (Antonio Brancasi, Carlo Marzuoli)....Pages 123-148 Constitutional Law and Social Welfare After the Economic Crisis (Stefano Civitarese Matteucci, Simon Halliday)....Pages 149-168 Rights in Times of Crisis: Considerations on Security, Migrations and Inclusive Citizenship (Salvatore Bonfiglio, Gabriele Maestri)....Pages 169-193 Social Rights and the Economic and Financial Crisis. Problems and Perspectives (Silvio Gambino, Danilo Pappano, Giovanni M. Caruso, Walter Nocito, Giampaolo Gerbasi, Donatella Loprieno et al.)....Pages 195-226 The Administrative Architecture of Financial Integration (Edoardo Chiti, Giulio Vesperini)....Pages 227-238 Front Matter ....Pages 239-239 Administrative Simplification As an Instrument for Coping with the Economic Crisis (Aldo Travi, Davide Occhetti, Nicola Gambino)....Pages 241-263 Administrative Cooperation in the Public Contracts and Service Sectors for the Progress of European Integration (Roberto Cavallo Perin, Gabriella M. Racca)....Pages 265-296 Taking Care of Commons to Tackle the Financial Crisis (Marco Bombardelli)....Pages 297-320