European Integration

Archive for the ‘papers’ Category

Marinel Mandres*

Introduction: Context and Relevance

The post-1990 era involves complex, diverse, and dynamic migration flows that are created by the realities of globalization, liberalization, and flexibility.  Contemporary migration has considerably reduced the dichotomous distinctions between ‘migration’ and ‘mobility’ as well as between ‘home’ and ‘away.’  It has also produced new categories of migrants along with new source and host countries.  Motives and strategies of international migration have diversified well-beyond traditional labour and refugee movements to include the repatriation of temporary guest-workers and the expatriation of privileged retirees.

Recent enlargements of the European Union (EU, refer to Table 1) and implementation of the Schengen Agreement have generated multifaceted transnational mobility flows that include the permanent return of former guest-workers, the repeated return of circular migrants, and the frequent return of expatriate retirees.  Intra-EU return migration and circular migration have gained renewed and increasing importance.[1] Since the 1980s, return migration has been on the national policy agendas of numerous EU Member States.  Indeed, it has “emerged as a critical element of many governments’ migration policy” (International Organization for Migration 2004, 7).  Consequently, intra-EU return and retirement migration have (re)gained importance among academics and politicians (e.g. Dustman 1996; Hall and Müller 2004: Klinthäll 2006; Constant and Zimmermann 2007; Smallwood, Hope, and Stevenson 2008; Fassmann and Lane 2009; Kahnec and Zimmermann 2009; Kahnec, Zaiceva, and Zimmermann 2009).

This paper examines the emerging redirections of these new types of demographic movement within the open and extended ‘migration space’ of a borderless Europe and the changing roles of countries as sources of emigrants and destinations of immigrants.  Of particular interest are significant spatial dimensions and statistical trends associated with the magnitudes and intensities (i.e. directions and numbers) associated with economically inactive individuals who have withdrawn from the labour market.  The motivations of return and retirement migrants are also assessed.

*Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University

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Josef Nipper*

Kristina Schulz*

Abstract

*University of Cologne, Germany,  j.nipper@uni-koeln.de

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John B. Sutcliffe*

1. Introduction

Across the European Union (EU) there has been a prominent and increasingly studied rise in critical attitudes towards integration. While criticism of European integration has always existed to varying extents in different states, the two decades since the debates surrounding the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty have witnessed a more widespread and vocal scepticism about the benefits of the European Union. This scepticism was evident in the 2005 referendums in France and the Netherlands that saw the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty and in the 2008 Irish referendum rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. It has also been evident in the rise of Eurosceptical political parties and existing, often populist, parties adopting Eurosceptical positions as part of their political platform. In many EU member states, these political parties enjoyed significant electoral success in both the 2004 and 2009 European Parliamentary elections. In the case of the United Kingdom, for example, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which was established in 1994 with the avowed goal of removing the United Kingdom from the European Union, returned 13 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the 2009 elections and placed second, ahead of the governing Labour Party.

*Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, N9B3P4, surclif@uwindsor.ca

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Maryam Asghari*

Abstract

Since the early seventies policy makers and academics alike, have been paying an increasing attention to the impact environmental policy might have on foreign trade. While there is a debate here over the impact of environmental regulation on competitiveness, it is essentially an empirical question. In a world context of increasing interdependence, the environmental policies tend to have some impacts on the level and pattern of commerce. Trade can be directly or indirectly influenced by environmental regulation, which imposes additional costs to the producers. The adequacy to new environmental patterns can demand changes on certain production techniques and final goods and these environmental regulations can be even supported by trade restrictions in order to become effective.

Because environmental regulations differ across countries, environmental protection and international trade are inextricably linked. A country adopting relatively strict environmental standards will increase the costs of its domestic firms and may harm their ability to compete with overseas rivals. This paper aim is examination the effects on competitiveness occurring in the environmental regulation stringency in the EU region.

*PhD in Environmental Economics and International Trade, University of Sophia Antipolis, France. Tel. :+ 33(0)492157184, Fax : +33.(0)4.92.15.71.85 , E-mail: Asgharimaryam@yahoo.com

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Harald Bathelt*

Abstract

After unification, dramatic restructuring processes took place in East Germany because of the fact that the economy had to face a double transition: the transformation of the political and economic system, and the Fordist crisis associated with globalization processes. The economic challenges and shifts were particularly great in the chemical industry, which was characterized by mass production tendencies and the unsustainable exploitation of natural and economic resources. Using an approach that views transformation and restructuring as a process of regional ruptures and re-bundling, this paper investigates whether restructuring activities have been able to generate self-sustaining regional economies in the East German chemical industry. The research is based on empirical work conducted in the regions of Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Leuna, Schkopau, and Piesteritz, and shows that the restructuring processes have not been able to create full-fledged industry clusters with strong internal linkages. Although the regional economies are well connected to West Germany and to international markets through corporate ties, regional networks for learning and innovation have remained weak. A trend toward “hollow clusters” results from the small industrial basis that remains, the dominance of branch operations, and the limited importance of start-up firms. These conditions limit the prospects for future growth and require more diversified regional policies in the future.

*University of Toronto, Department of Political Science and Department of Geography and Planning, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street, Toronto ON M5S 3G3, Canada, E-mail: harald.bathelt@utoronto.ca, URL: http://www.harald-bathelt.com

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Lew Lederman*

Abstract

the aim of this paper is to study the dynamics of financial integration of the CEECs towards the euro area, and to address the timing of membership to this area. Our empirical analysis is based, successively, on a MGARCH model with time-varying correlations, a state- space model and a Markov-switching model. Our results show that financial integration is not perfect, but increases between the CEECs and the euro area. However, the growing financial integration at the end of 2008 seems rather to be the result of the propagation of the shock induced by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.

*Businessman and lawyer and CEO of Knowledge E*Volutions Inc. a Company focusing on New Economy and Knowledge Work

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Elena Marilena Porumb*

Year by year, workers, with or without their families, temporary or even definitely choose to move to other more developed regions or countries in order to reduce the gaps between their employment and earnings related opportunities in between origin and destination regions/countries. This is also the case of Romania which started, at the beginning of this decade, to experience increasing migration flows for other European countries, while internal migration remained insignificant •Inequalities in terms of employment opportunities, as well as wages and quality of jobs are the most important driving forces of migration. At the beginning, migration was considered a “relief” for the national labour market unable to generate new jobs for those affected by restructuring, the recent years came with the first hints on the possible negative effects of unmanaged migration: skill shortages, skill gaps, depopulated areas, etc. Considered as a survival strategy at the beginning, now, migration for employment abroad tends to become a “life style” for many Romanians, in the common sense of the word

*Faculty of European Studies, Babes Bolyai University Cluj Napoca Romania

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Salim Murad*

A much discussed topic of today’s Europe is surely the question of migration. Europe is facing a complex of questions connected with the topic of migration in general. For example migration from the new EU member states to countries which have adopted the proclaimed ideas of the EU and which have opened their job markets. The seniors who migrate from the north of the EU to the south. There is brain drain in favour of the USA and other overseas destinations. Such examples of migration we would find many, nevertheless the most sensitive one seems to be the migration to Europe and its countries from outside the EU. In the Czech Republic the question of migration is still not seen as one of the key topic for public debate and for politics but the sensitivity towards this phenomenon is growing and there is no reason to believe that with the increasing number of immigrants we would not copy the “western model”. Then even in the Czech Republic migration will become one of the dividing lines which will co- influence the results of elections and the feelings of solidarity for one or other political and social pole.

*University of South Bohemia Pedagogical Faculty České Budějovice, the Czech Republic murad@pf.jcu.cz

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Peter Stalder*

1 Introduction

With a share of foreigners in total population that rose from 5% in 1950 to more than 20% in recent years, immigration has played an important role in Switzerland’s post-war economic development. While earlier waves of immigration to a large part consisted of less-qualified workers, the labor shortages more recently observed have shifted to the qualified segments of the labor market and attracted foreigners with higher skills. An agreement with the European Union that became effective in June 2002 further promoted this type of immigration because it eliminated the insecurity associated with the need to renew work permits every year. The agreement entitles citizens from EU member states to take long-term residence in Switzerland on the condition that they possess a valid work contract, with the reciprocal right for Swiss citizens to work and live in the EU. Certain quotas on the number of newly issued long-term permits remained in place in the first years of the treaty but were abolished by mid-2007. Prior to that date, firms tended to circumvent the restrictions by hiring workers from the EU for a start on basis of temporary (up to one year) permits. Another important opening step was realized in June 2004 in that Swiss firms did no longer have to give priority to job applicants already residing in Switzerland. (…)

*Swiss National Bank, Börsenstrasse 15, P.O. Box, CH-8022 Zurich Phone: +41 44 631 39 64, E-mail: peter.stalder@snb.ch

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Michael A. Seidel*

1 Introduction

The European Union is becoming one undivided continent where territories are faced with borderless economic, social and environmental challenges while still being governed through traditional institutional boundaries. Integration raises the question of cohesion among different territories, and territorial cohesion is a new objective for the Union according to the Lisbon Treaty. Cooperation between territories, beyond frontiers and across different institutional layers, is becoming crucial to provide multi-level governance to new functional regions. (…)

*Professorship for Industrial and Business Management, University of Applied Sciences, Hof

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Salem Boubakri*

Cyriac Guillaumin**

Abstract

the aim of this paper is to study the dynamics of financial integration of the CEECs towards the euro area, and to address the timing of membership to this area. Our empirical analysis is based, successively, on a MGARCH model with time-varying correlations, a state- space model and a Markov-switching model. Our results show that financial integration is not perfect, but increases between the CEECs and the euro area. However, the growing financial integration at the end of 2008 seems rather to be the result of the propagation of the shock induced by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.

* EconomiX, University of Paris Ouest – Nanterre – La Défense. Email: salem.boubakri@u-paris10.fr.

** LEPII, University of Grenoble. Email: cyriac.guillaumin@upmf-grenoble.fr.

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Alex Caviedes*

I. Introduction

The last decade has brought significant changes to the landscape of Western European immigration policy, especially with respect to labor migration provisions. Countries such as Germany and the UK, which had been satisfied with their modest and undirected labor permit schemes, came to recognize that in particular sectors labor shortages could manifest themselves more suddenly and severely than could adequately be addressed through the existing individualized labor certification processes. Picking up on these domestic trends, the European Commission saw an opportunity to pursue its agenda for the creation of a common European Union immigration law. However, as of yet, the Commission has been unable to convert its initiatives into a formal policy endorsed by the EU Council. Reasons for the failure to move forward include the slower growth in key sectors that once experienced the sharpest growth and the diversion of attention to security and border controls that resulted as an aftermath of 9/11 as well as the recent eastern enlargement of the EU. Nevertheless, the failure of the Commission to press on these issues should also be traced back to the lack of support that it was able to generate on the part of those business interests that have always been crucial allies of integration during previous expansions into new policy realms. Rather than discussing recent developments in EU immigration policy, this paper examines why the social partners that have been so crucial in advancing domestic policy failed to duplicate this resolve at the European level. (…)

*Department of Political Science, State University of New York, Fredonia. Alexander.caviedes@fredonia.edu

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Sami Bensassi*

Laura Márquez-Ramos*

Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso**

Abstract

According to trade theory, regional trade agreements increase international trade through a reduction in artificial trade barriers. In recently developed models with imperfect competition and heterogeneous firms lower trade costs increase bilateral trade through an increase of the number of exporting firms (the extensive margin of trade) and a rise in the mean value of individual shipments (the intensive margin of trade). In these models, the influence of trade costs on bilateral trade results from a combination of three parameters, which affect both margins: the distance elasticity of transportation costs, the price elasticity and the degree of firm heterogeneity. In this paper, a decomposition of a structural gravity equation derived from Chaney’s (2008) model is presented. Using highly disaggregated export data for a group of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries between 1995 and 2008, we estimate the impact of the recently signed trade agreements with the EU on both trade margins and we provide empirical evidence of the validity of the theoretical predictions.

* Department of Economics and Institute of International Economics, Universitat Jaume I Campus del Riu Sec, 12071 Castellón, Spain

** Department of Economics and Institute of International Economics, Universitat Jaume I Campus del Riu Sec, 12071 Castellón, Spain and Ibero-American Institute for Economic Research, University of Goettingen, Germany. Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (SEJ 2007- 67548).) is gratefully acknowledged. Email: martinei@eco.uji.es.

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