The challenge of differentiation in Euro-Mediterranean relations : flexible regional cooperation or fragmentation?

The tension between the aim of creating sustainable multilateral region-building dynamics and the need to find more differentiated and flexible forms of cooperation has been ever-present in Euro-Mediterranean relations. The proliferation of different and partially overlapping initiatives in recent years – the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Union for the Mediterranean – is a plain expression of this tension. The 2011 episodes of regime-change in the Arab world have once again placed the debate about differentiation in EU's relations with Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries at the top of the Union's foreign policy agenda. This book contributes to theoretical and practical debates on whether differentiation processes can aid or hinder policy convergence processes and region-building efforts more widely. The contributions to this collection assess the actual significance and consequences of differentiation in Euro-Mediterranean relations through sector-specific in-depth analyses, covering issue areas as varied as environmental policy, migration, foreign and defence policy, trade, energy, civil protection and democracy promotion. The particular angle and comprehensive analysis of this book will make it of great interest for both scholars and policy makers alike in a moment when Euro-Mediterranean are in need of a thorough rethink. This book was based on a special issue of Mediterranean Politics. Introduction : executive-legislative (im)balance in the European Union / Diane Fromage and Anna Herranz-Surrallés -- Recalibration of executive -- legislative relations in the European Union : strategies inspired by the trilemma of democracy, sovereignty and integration / Peter Bursens -- The anticipation function of interinstitutional agreements : a smooth mechanism to recalibrate executive-legislative relations / Marco Urban -- Divided accountability of the council and the European council : the challenge of collective parliamentary oversight / Elena Griglio -- Executive-legislative relations and delegated powers in the European Union : continuous recalibration? / Thomas Christiansen and Sabina Lange -- The implementation of EU law in member states and its impact on the relationship between parliaments and governments / Diane Fromage -- National strategies of EU law transposition : does the distinction between legislative and executive measures matter in practice? / Robert Zbíral and Jan Grinc -- Failed constitutional reforms and silent constitutional transformations in executive-legislative relations : the case of Italy / Nicola Lupo -- Short-lived reparliamentarisation? A year of eff orts to 'take back control' from the executive in the Brexit House of Commons / Kathryn Wright -- How the debates on trade policy helped rebalance the executive-legislative relationship in favour of the European Parliament / Péter Márton -- A temporary recalibration of executive-legislative relations on EU trade agreements? The case of national and regional parliaments on CETA and TTIP / Cristina Fasone and Maria Romaniello -- Exploring interaction between national parliaments and the European Parliament in EU trade policy / Katharina L Meissner and Guri Rosén -- The European Parliament's role in the operation of trade agreements : parliamentary control and executive -- legislative balance in external action / Wolfgang Weiss -- Representative democracy in financial crisis governance : new challenges in the EU multi-level system / Claudia Wiesner -- Towards the 'normalisation' of security ? Executive -- legislative relations in an expanding EU security and defence policy / Anna Herranz-Surrallés -- The balance of powers and the EU's common foreign and security policy / Graham Butler -- All buzz, no bite : the parliamentarisation of the area of freedom, security and justice / Angela Tacea -- Epilogue : executives, legislatures and the semantics of EU Public Law : a pandemic-inflected perspective / Peter L Lindseth "Has executive predominance in EU-related matters disappeared ten years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty? How have executive-legislative relations in the EU evolved over a crisis-ridden decade, from the financial and migration crises, to Brexit or the latest covid-19 pandemic? The Lisbon Treaty could be expected to lead to the re-balancing of powers in favour of parliaments, for it significantly enhanced the roles of both the European Parliament and national parliaments. A decade later, the contributions to this edited volume examine, for the first time in such an extensive breadth and from a multi-level and cross-policy perspective, whether this has actually materialised. They highlight that diverging tendencies may be observed, and that important variations over time have occurred, depending particularly on the occurrence of crises. As stated in the fascinating epilogue by Peter Lindseth (University of Connecticut School of Law), this is an "admirably coherent collective volume, whose contributions provide an excellent overview of key aspects of executive-legislative relations in the European system since the Treaty of Lisbon". This edited volume will hence be of interest to both academics and practitioners interested in future reforms designed at the European and national levels to improve the EU's democratic quality"-- Provided by publisher Ten years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, has executive predominance in EU-related matters disappeared? How have executive-legislative relations in the EU evolved over a crisis-ridden decade, from the financial and migration crises, to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic? The Lisbon Treaty could be expected to lead to the re-balancing of powers in favour of parliaments, for it significantly enhanced the roles of both the European Parliament and national parliaments. A decade later the contributions to this edited volume examine – for the first time in such an extensive breadth and from a multi-level and cross-policy perspective – whether this has actually materialised. They highlight that diverging tendencies may be observed, and that important variations over time have occurred, depending particularly on the occurrence of crises. As stated in the fascinating epilogue by Peter Lindseth (University of Connecticut School of Law), this is an 'admirably coherent collective volume, whose contributions provide an excellent overview of key aspects of executive-legislative relations in the European system since the Treaty of Lisbon'. This edited volume will hence be of interest to both academics and practitioners interested in future reforms designed at the European and national levels to improve the EU's democratic quality. Edited By Esther Barbé And Anna Herranz-surrallés. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.