Ratio Working Paper No. 247: EU:s Janusansikte
Karlson, N. (2014). EU:s Janusansikte. Ratio Working Paper No. 247.
Karlson, N. (2014). EU:s Janusansikte. Ratio Working Paper No. 247.
Dagens Europeiska Union (EU) framstår för många betraktare och väljare som motsägelsefullt och otydligt. Vissa inslag är positiva – andra mer negativa. Inte minst finns det en kritik mot EU:s ökade överstatlighet. Men främst uppfattas EU och EU:s roll och uppdrag som oklart. Konsekvensen är bristande legitimitet och populism. I denna artikel visas att EU kan sägas ha något av ett Janusansikte, en dubbelnatur, som det är nödvändigt att ta ställning till. Europasamarbetets tillkomst och fortsatta utveckling baseras på två olika grundläggande idéer om hur fred och ekonomisk utveckling kan säkras, vilka har olika konsekvenser för bl.a. synen på federalism, legitimitet och frågan om vilket EU vi vill ha. Den ena idén är pluralistisk, den andra centralistisk.
Karlson, N.
2014
Ratio Working Paper
2022
Ratio Working Paper
This paper investigates whether an increased use and reinterpretation of what has been called “fair competition” has occurred at the expense of “free competition” among the central institutions of the European Union. We are also interested in assessing how frequently these terms have been used by the various EU institutions over time.
We have empirically examined this through a quantitative survey of more than 12,000 public documents, out of totally 242 000 documents containing 630 million words, in the EUR-lex database over the last 50 years, from 1970 to 2020. Our conclusion is that the emphasis of the common policies in the EU is likely to have shifted from free competition and an open market economy to “fair competition” in the sense of a level playing field, in official EU documents, such as treaties, EU acts institutions, preparatory documents relating to EU directives and recommendations including motions and resolutions, case law and more.
The European Commission has been a driving force in this development, followed closely by the European Parliament and subsequently by the Council of Ministers. This change entails a risk that the regulation of the European internal market has shifted so that the dynamics of the internal market and thus the EU’s competitiveness will weaken. The change also entails a centralization of decisions at EU level at the expense of the Member States.
2021
Ratio Working Paper
The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that the labour market situation can change
extremely rapidly when there is an unexpected exogenous shock to the economy. Even
though the transformation of the labour market as a result of the development of ICT
(Information Communication Technology) industries facilitates more-flexible
conditions, it is now more important than ever for EU Member States to improve the
functioning of their labour markets. Member States need to increase possibilities for
training and retraining throughout peoples’ working lives in order to smooth the
transformation into a digital world of work.
2021