This book investigates the crucial EU policy of competition, which is enforced by the Commission and by national agencies that enjoy various degrees of autonomy from their governments. More and more policy-making activities are nowadays delegated to agencies that cannot be held accountable to parliaments, and ultimately to voters. The author explains why this is the case in the field of EU competition policy and discusses whether independence is linked to improved enforcement as theories of delegation and common wisdom would suggest. These questions are explored with an in-depth analysis...

This book unites scholarship on law and politics with compliance research in the EU to shed light on the political role of a neglected dimension of litigation in the EU: the political role of governmental actions for annulment. The book does not portray national governments as passive actors within the EU's judicial arena. Instead it focuses on cases in which national governments turn to the Court of Justice to litigate against the European Commission, and provides several answers to the question of why EU member state governments take this decision. Governments hope, on the one hand, to...

This book considers the principal challenges facing the European Union, which has been buffeted by a series of profound crises, both internal and external. These range from the future of Ukraine, the Union's reactions to China's 'One Belt, One Road' initiative, how to help stabilize countries to its south, and relations with the United States. The core argument is that the EU lacks a meta-narrative that could indicate priorities and linkages between the various continental, regional, national and thematic strategies. As a result, the EU often appears to be a confusing and even contradictory...

This book explores the work of the European Ombudsman and her or his contribution to holding the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to account, through examination of complaints on maladministration, own-initiative inquiries and other proactive efforts.

Adopting a broad conceptualization of foreign and security policy, the book examines the role of the High Representative as chair of the Foreign Affairs Council and in her/his capacity as Vice President of the European Commission to assess different patterns of integrated efforts in EU foreign and security policies.

This study explores the use of precedents in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The study is based on a long-term assessment of CJEU case law in the politically sensitive area of immigration law.

This book assesses the many changes that have occurred within the European Parliament and in its external relations since the Lisbon treaty (2009) and the last European elections (2014).