Objectives
The process of the European integration has been characterized up to the present by a dominant distinction expressing a fundamental political compromise, between the Community method governing the economic sphere and the intergovernmental approach, as proper to matters belonging to the core of national sovereignty, known as leaving a wide margin of discretion to each member state, that is principally issues of macro-security under the second EU pillar. Yet, it is clear that security issues are no longer considered as pertaining exclusively to the domain of sovereignty. Security as a necessary condition for preserving open markets and market freedoms becomes a vital concern for EC institutions. It results a rather unique situation, in which a large part of security issues continued, up to the present, to be dealt with according to the classical logic of national sovereignty, whilst others are dealt with at the supranational level through techniques of government pertaining to welfare.
The attacks of 11 September 2001 only accentuated a fundamental concern, lying at the heart of European integration, as aiming to promote welfare and preserve security and liberty for EU citizens. Is the existing institutional framework duly structured for coping with security challenges, both at the national and the European level ? More precisely, are the member states, with their traditional structures, in a position to cope efficiently with actual problems of security, while, at the same time, guaranteeing the operation of free and open markets ? Moreover, existing structures and measures of co-ordination at the Community level may not offer more than duplicate institutional patterns already applicable at the national level. In the perspective of the next IGC, it is important to verify whether the actual institutional framework of the complex formed by the Union and its member states is capable of addressing present and future challenges or whether new institutional balances will have to be fostered through supranational techniques of government as combined with mechanisms of intergovernmental co-operation.
Thus, the objectives of this WP are essentially two-fold :
1. To analyze existing institutional patterns in the field or security with the use of adequate conceptual tools based on previous theoretical works on good governance and the techniques of government in relation to human populations and their welfare in modern western societies. Such tools include :
the 'Pendulum Metaphor' by Helen Wallace, see Wallace, H. (1996) - « The Challenge of Governance » in Wallace H et Wallace, W. (eds.) - Policy-Making in the European Union, (3rd edition) Oxford, Oxford University Press ; and,
the Principal-Agent Tool by Laura Cram, see Cram L. (1997) Policy-making in the EU, London, Routledge Publishers ; as well as,
the works, amongst others, of Moravcsik, A. (1993) - 'Preferences and Power in the European Community : A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach' in Journal of Common Market Studies 31, no.4, pp.473-524 ; Majone, G (1992) - 'Market Integration and Regulation : Europe after 1992' in Metroeconomica, no.43, pp. 131-156).
These tools will assist us to gain a fresh new look and propose a new reading of the actual issues of security confronting EU institutions and member states.
2. To identify institutional challenges both at the national and European level ; more precisely,
a) to explore new ways to deal with the readjustment of the missions of the State and its security agencies in the EU context,
b) to identify new challenges and missions for EU institutions in relation with security issues and
c) to develop therefrom possible options for new institutional arrangements and their impact on the general institutional balance as linked with the all-pervasive event of the major enlargement in view (greatly for an immediate use for the next IGC).
Description of work/methodology
The WP will comprise the following tasks :
1) Develop, from the existing literature on the issues of governance, the adequate conceptual tools for analyzing the conditions of exercise of power by public authorities in the EU context, i.e. government techniques pertaining to welfare and not to sovereignty ;
2) Build on the definitions of security and their implications, as studied by WP 1 and 2 ; transpose them, with due readjustments, in the EU context ; In particular, build on the concept of micro-security in the operation of the internal market ;
3) Study the role of the State in general and national security agencies in particular in relation to micro- and macro-security ;
4) Specify the distinct institutional models of coping with security issues at the European level, i.e. security as a condition for market integration (first pillar and, to a certain extent, third pillar) as opposed to security understood as exercise of national sovereignty and "higher politics" (second pillar and predominantly third pillar) ;
5) Identify and analyze possible ways of readjusting the mission, the structure and the specific tasks of national, supranational and international authorities dealing with security issues in the European context (missions, structure and allocation of power between public authorities in the field of security) ;
6) Draw the implications of the above readjustments for the general institutional balance in the framework of the EU, in view of the major enlargement and its internal preparation at the next IGC ; in particular, work out a new balance between institutional mechanisms reflecting « la méthode communautaire » in micro-security issues and intergovernmental mechanisms, currently responsible for major issues of macro-security. This will help us provide a preliminary blue-print for institutional reform to accommodate the new security framework.
