EU-CONSENT EU-Consent

Description of work

Work Package II/III has two types of teams: one core team (Team 1) which (preparing and supporting also the activities of Task Force Research Frame in terms of research and person-power) will continue to set out a common theoretical and methodological framework for EU-CONSENT, and five teams from different disciplinary backgrounds and thematic dimensions (Teams 25 and 26).

For the upcoming final period of EU-CONSENT, Work Package II/III focuses on three broad thematic areas:

reassessment and refinement of the initial four sets of scenarios for the future of the enlarged EU (“Status quo” – extrapolation of the past; “Virtuous Spiral” – success breads success; “Vicious Spiral” – overstrain leads to overstretch; “Re-invented Union” – the future of the EU is new for everyone) in light of the work package’s research results, focussing on the core question “Is there a future for EU deepening and widening?”;
analysis of the impact of the Lisbon Treaty, of the difficulties concerning its ratification after the Irish ‘No’ and/or its non-ratification, giving an answer to the questions “How much change will there be in the reformed Union with the new treaty?” and “What implications would a non-ratification of the treaty have?”;
compilation and synthesis of WP II/III research results.

Structurally, the work package continues to closely interlink its work with EU-CONSENT’s horizontal integrating activities of Task Force Research Frame (which is especially supported by Team 1) and the cross-cutting working group on “Deepening: Constitutional and Institutional Change”. So, also during the final network period, the contribution of WP II/III to the elaboration of EUCONSENT’s common theoretical frame continues to feed into Task Force Research Frame. The Task Force continues to bring together researchers of Work Package II/III teams and all work packages who closely collaborate in order to establish (multi-/inter-)disciplinary guiding assumptions and theses related to the interrelation of EU deepening and widening. The Task Force continues to discuss and reflect on how to merge these disciplinary assumptions and theses into multi/inter-disciplinary ones to further structure the joint research frame of EU-CONSENT. Moreover, within Task Force Research Frame, the research results of the different thematic work packages will be compiled within one synergy paper on “empirical findings”. To this aim, a questionnaire will be circulated among the work package and team leaders in order to provide a framework for wrapping up the research results. To inform the work of Task Force Research Frame, each work package will be asked to compile research results gathered during EU-CONSENT’s lifetime, i.e. each work package will contribute a paper to the compilation of EU-CONSENT results. This compilation shall take place in autumn 2008. A first draft of the papers is envisaged for early 2009 and the papers shall be finalised before the final EU-CONSENT Plenary Conference in order to inspire the discussion of results during this final meeting of the network.

The overall aims of the Task Force remain the following:

re-visit the four initial scenarios related to EU deepening and widening;
examine potential focal points for the further development of guiding assumptions and theses;
elaborate the common multi-/interdisciplinary set of guiding assumptions and theses.

During EU-CONSENT’s final year, the Task Force particularly focuses on generating the following output:

further development of the common theoretical research frame, including the elaboration of ten theses on the interrelation of EU deepening and widening;
compilation of EU-CONSENT’s research results;
preparation of synergy papers on strategies and scenarios for the enlarged EU and on “empirical findings”, compiling the results of EU-CONSENT’s thematic work packages;
organisation of two Task Force Research Frame workshops on EU-CONSENT’s theoretical research frame.

Adding to horizontal bonds with other network members, the work package continues to closely link its activities to the cross-cutting topic “Deepening: Constitutional and Institutional Change”. This focus provides for the foundation of close collaboration between Work Package II/III “Theories” and IV “Institutions” (E. Best) and the participation of work package members in the crosscutting working group: “Deepening”. Within this working group, a conference on this cross-cutting topic, focussing on the impact of the Lisbon Treaty, on difficulties concerning its ratification after the Irish ‘No’ or/and on the impact of its potential non-ratification on the foundations of the enlarged EU will be organised in months 42-48 (D 114).

During months 37-48 two work package meetings will be organised. The first will concentrate on the discussion of the following areas from the team’s perspective: (1) main concepts of the respective disciplinary theoretical perspective related to EU deepening and widening with, after or besides the Lisbon Treaty, (2) periods of EU evolution in view of the respective disciplinary perspective, (3) trajectories and scenarios for EU deepening and widening based on the respective experiences and expectations. The teams will be asked to prepare input papers of about 5 pages on the above three points for this first meeting. The second meeting will serve to wrap up, present and discuss overall WP results as well as to present the final papers (final annual state of the art papers of all teams) on these areas.

So far four meetings have been organized:

Documentation:

Presentation
Background paper
Revisited background paper
Revision and further development of the background paper
Graph: Strategies and Scenarios of EU deepening and widening
Literature