This study aims to analyze the policy success of the two economic adjustment programmes introduced to solve the Greek debt crisis to better understand the EU's change and development after dealing with crises. The analysis uses McConnell’s (2010) policy evaluation framework, which enables the study to see what degree/spectrum of policy success occurred and which of the five policy areas were more or less successful. The findings of this study conclude that the crisis management policies are leaning towards the spectrum of success and that there is an incentive to suggest that policy success is a factor contributing to the EU's organizational change and development, but that more research is needed to confirm it as a significant factor. Furthermore, the study does reveal which policy success areas can be a bigger cause for the EU’s change and development, them being more achieved implementation, the targeted policy group/actor seeing benefit without damaging other groups/actors, and there being minor opposition aimed towards the policies introduced in crises.

In this paper multi-actor multi-criteria decision aid methodology are developed to examine the impacts of EU policies related to first generation biofuels on identified key stakeholders. The thesis focuses on the integration of relevant qualitative and quantitative criteria defined by key stakeholders into one comprehensive evaluation process, to serve as a decision support tool for decision makers. Weight allocation of the defined criteria will be assessed by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework, where the multi-criteria decision-aid method PROMETHEE II is used to rank relevant policy alternatives based on the information provided. In the end, results will help the decision makers to identify the impacts of different EU policy alternatives on each stakeholder group.

Cette thèse examine les stratégies des think tanks (TTs) européens pour influencer les processus de formation des politiques publiques de l’Union européenne (UE). Cette étude comparative explore des TTs, basés à Bruxelles, qui fonctionnent au niveau supranational, ainsi que des TTs basés en France, en Slovénie et au Royaume-Uni. L’analyse des données empiriques est guidée par le cadre conceptuel combinant la théorie des champs de Bourdieu et ses développements récents avec le concept des frontières et l’approche des réseaux sociaux. Cette étude propose une nouvelle conceptualisation des TTs européens comme un champ transnational. En plus de la dimension horizontale de ce champ, qui se reflète dans sa position intermédiaire entre les champs adjacents, la thèse identifie les mécanismes de son institutionnalisation verticale au niveau européen. La thèse affirme que ces deux dimensions permettent aux membres de ce champ d’accumuler et d’utiliser stratégiquement des formes spécifiques de capital pour augmenter leur légitimité, crédibilité et visibilité sur la scène politique de Bruxelles et ainsi être en capacité d’influencer les institutions européennes. Cette recherche souligne l’importance particulière du capital symbolique et des réseaux qui établissent les frontières symboliques et sociales de ce champ et contribuent à la légitimité du système politique de l’UE lui-même. La topographie des positions des TTs selon le volume et la structure de leur capital dans leur propre champ permet de déterminer leur statut d’« insider » ou « outsider » dans le champ politique européen. Cette thèse apporte des réponses aux questionnements relatifs au « déficit démocratique » et à la légitimité de l’UE, en montrant l’accès privilégié de certains TTs aux institutions européennes, mais aussi l’insuffisance des mesures de transparence, qui règlent leurs relations. Elle contribue à la discussion sur la transformation de la production des connaissances sous l’influence des demandes politiques, économiques et médiatiques. / This thesis examines the strategies used by European think tanks (TTs) to influence the EU policy making process. It includes in its comparative analysis both Brussels-based TTs, which function at the supranational level, and TTs from France, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. The analysis of empirical data is built upon a flexible conceptual framework combining Bourdieu’s field theory and its recent developments with the concept of boundaries and the social network approach. This study proposes a new way of conceptualising European TTs as a transnational field. While acknowledging a horizontal dimension of the TT field, reflected in its intermediary position between adjacent fields, the thesis identifies mechanisms which account for its vertical institutionalisation at the European level. The thesis argues that both these dimensions of the European TT field allow its members to accumulate and strategically use specific forms of capital in order to enhance their legitimacy, credibility and visibility in the Brussels policy making scene and to gain political influence on the EU institutions. This research emphasises the particular importance of symbolic and network capital which fix the symbolic and social boundaries of the European TT field, as well as contributing to the legitimacy of EU policy making itself. Mapping the structural topography of the positions of European TTs in their own field according to the volume and structure of their capital allows us to determine their “insider” or “outsider” status in the EU political field. This thesis joins current debates concerning the challenges of the EU’s “democratic deficit” and legitimacy, by showing the more privileged access of “insider” think tanks to the EU institutions, but also the insufficiency of transparency measures which regulate their relations. Finally, it furthers the wider discussion of transformation of knowledge production under the influence of political, economic and media demands.

Qu’il s’agisse des dernières participations aux élections européennes (1999 à 2009), du traité constitutionnel (2005) ou de la crise de l’euro, l’Union européenne fait face depuis plusieurs années à une crise institutionnelle et à une détérioration de son image importantes. Partant de ce constat, la présente thèse a pour objectif, d’une part, de présenter l’UE, à partir de l’analyse de ses institutions, de leurs influences et de leurs dernières stratégies de communication. Ce travail présente, d’autre part, l’organisation et le mode de traitement journalistique de l’information européenne, à travers une mise en parallèle des presses française et italienne, de leurs correspondants et de leurs accrédités auprès de l’UE. A l’ère de l’immédiateté, de la multiplication des sources d’information, mais aussi face aux exigences de rentabilité et de productivité qui s’imposent aux médias, la présente recherche se propose de déterminer si les pratiques et les conditions de travail des accrédités évoluent. Enfin, face à la crise du journalisme et de la presse écrite, et à la montée du rôle de l’Internet et des médias sociaux (web 2.0) dans la publication et la diffusion du scoop et de l’actualité internationale, il s’agit de déterminer si le poste de correspondant est ou non menacé. Nos conclusions, basées notamment sur des enquêtes de terrain, des statistiques et des analyses de contenus d’entretiens semi-directifs et d’articles de journaux, nous permettent d’esquisser l’image de l’UE projetée par les presses des deux pays, de mieux cerner le rôle des journalistes spécialisés sur l’UE et de nuancer les menaces, les opportunités et l’influence des nouveaux médias sur leur travail. / Whether one refers to recent European elections (1999-2009), to the Constitutional Treaty (2005) or to the euro crisis, the European Union has undergone several years of institutional crisis and a deterioration of its image. This is why, this Ph. D. dissertation, first examines the EU, from by analysing its institutions, their influence and their communication strategies. This thesis further presents the organization and the journalistic treatment of European news by conducting a parallel study of the French and Italian press, of their foreign correspondents and of their permanent EU correspondents. In the era of continuous flows, of the proliferation of news sources, and given the profitability and productivity required of media organizations, this thesis aims to determine whether the practices and working conditions of EU accredited correspondents have changed. Finally, given the crisis that journalism and print media, are undergoing and given the growing role of the Internet and social media (web 2.0) in research, publication and dissemination of scoops and international news, it studies whether the correspondent’s professional status is threatened or not. Our conclusions, based in particular on field surveys, statistical and content analyses of semi-structured interviews and newspaper articles, enable us to depict the EU image projected by the press of the two countries, so as to better understand the role of EU specialized journalists and highlight threats, opportunities and influence of new media on their work.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to analyse European policy of economic and social cohesion in the southern states of the European Union. The import of regional policy consists in the strengthening of cohesion through the diminution of existing differences in socioeconomic level between EU member states and theirs regions. Significantly high budget item assigned to the regional policy on the European level affirms its importance. States of the southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece) gained long-standing experience in the implementation of the cohesion policy, therefore they are suitable for the evaluation of the effectiveness. The thesis seeks to deliver potential recommendations for the effectiveness improvement on the national as well as on the European level.

The study at hand aims at understanding the "twisted fate" of the EU's initiative to provide transparency of payments in oil, gas, and mining deals. The European Commission in October 2011 followed the lead of the US Dodd-Frank Act in establishing strict disclosure requirements for businesses in the extractive industries. Its initiative demanded annual reporting of any payments made by such enterprises to public authorities of commodity exporting countries, in order to mitigate corruption of public officials via transparency of payments. Praised by NGOs, the initiative was heavily opposed by the German government and experienced efforts by the very same to water its efficacy down. Germany's uncompromising position prolonged the search for an agreement between Council of Ministers and European Parliament until April 2013. It is hypothesized that the German opposition originates in highly effective interest representation of influential domestic actors, dismissive of a tight transparency regime. To validate this, Moravcsik's Liberal Intergovernmentalism is the theoretical framework of choice. At its core lies a genuine two-step of domestic societal actors, upgrading their particular interests to "national preferences" and the subsequent agency of their governments in rational bargaining with others. However, in order for this to apply in European everyday politics, theoretical amendments have to be made. Namely, the originally disregarded influence of supranational institutions as well as a shift of bargaining arenas has to be sufficiently respected by the theoretical frame.

There is a lack of a unified definition for what “sustainability” means and what is a “sustainable activity”. The EU Sustainability Taxonomy is the EU’s recent attempt in developing “a science-based unified EU classification system for sustainable activities” with the aim to create a “shared understanding of what ‘sustainability’ means”. This study aims to explore the EU Sustainability Taxonomy policy, its functions and history, using public policy process analysis as its framework and method. The EU taxonomy was defined, and its impacts were discussed, the taxonomy was used to define a sustainable activity and demonstrate the taxonomy in action to calculate the taxonomy alignment of a fictional automotive manufacturer. Using the public process analysis the taxonomy was traced back to its origin with the identification and discussion of the key events and milestones, which led to the creation of the EU Sustainability taxonomy. These findings were analysed and explained using the Lindblom (1959) theory of “successive limited comparison” and the theory of incrementalism (Bevir, 2007).

The European Commission unveiled in February 2021 its updated policy regarding international trade. One of the key pillars of this strategy is the inclusion of gender equality within the EU trade policies. This inclusion is in line with the Gender Equality Strategy for 2020-2025. The latter sets that the Union must promote gender equality and women’s empowerment within its external relationship, notably in its free-trade agreements, which are international agreements aiming at reducing trade barriers and facilitating exchanges. This thesis provides an insight into the gender-explicit provisions that exist within European Union’s free trade agreements since 1958. It uses computational science coupled with text analysis to explore the general context in which they were concluded, but as well explores their wordings and their content. It provides then an analysis of the gender responsiveness of these gender-explicit provisions. Finally, this thesis provides recommendations on how to improve EU free trade agreements’ gender responsiveness.

This paper is a single-case study on the European Commission’s (the Commission) proposal for a directive on improving gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchange. I aim to study the decision-making process of the Directive and, by applying the theories of multi-level governance and social policy, examine to what extent the proposal was negotiated and watered down during the negotiation process. I will do this by adopting a discourse analysis approach and using qualitative data such as EU documents, country statements and articles related to the proposal, to gather an in-depth understanding of the issue.  My findings are straightforward. First, the EU social policy domain is a complex area and difficult to legislate on, within a multi-level governance system. Second, Euroscepticism is growing throughout Europe and several forces opposed the idea of more power being transferred to the EU. Lastly, Northern Member States as well as countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), held a negative position throughout the process and argued against EU interference in the domestic social policies. The above-mentioned tensions were the cause of the controversial and lengthy negotiations on the Directive and the reasons why the decision-making process of this case lasted over 10 years. However despite the clear-cut assumptions, I found that the proposal was not watered down, but in fact the opposite.

The EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020, is a policy that seeks to integrate Roma in the fields of education, employment, healthcare and housing, and to combat and prevent discrimination and promote equality. The problem formulation that motivates this study is the phenomenon of discrimination that Roma population experience on the soil of European Union, funded on the principles of equality and non-discrimination. The aim of this paper is to carry out a policy analysis of the EU Framework with the goal to reveal in what ways the policy aims to combat discrimination and promote equality for Roma, the largest minority in the EU. Theoretical framework relies on the principle of equality and its influence on discrimination in the context of human rights. This research carries out a qualitative case study of Roma, in combination with policy analysis as method.  Results found, after conducted analysis, shows that the EU Framework doesn’t generate a rich concept of equality that can prevent, and combat discrimination based on racial and ethnic origin of Roma. The EU Framework doesn’t concretize various forms of discrimination towards Roma, nor address the phenomenon of anti-gypsyism as a main barrier to Roma inclusion. / EU-ramverk för nationella strategier för romsk inkludering fram till 2020 är en policy som åsyftar till att integrera Romer inom områden för utbildning, sysselsättning, hälso- och sjukvård samt bostäder. Ramverket söker att bekämpa diskriminering och främja jämställdhet. Problemformuleringen som denna studie vilar på är diskrimineringen som romer utsätts för i EU. Syftet med denna studie är att genomföra en policy analys av EU:s ramverk med målet att avslöja på vilka sätt policyn syftar till att bekämpa diskriminering av Romer och främja jämställdhet. Teorin bygger på principen om jämlikhet, vilket hjälper till att undersöka de konkreta sätten som diskriminering kan bekämpas på med rätten till jämlik behandling i mänskliga rättigheters kontext. Denna studie är en kvalitativ fallstudie av Romer i kombination med policy analys av EU:s ramverk. Resultatet visar att EU:s ramverk inte genererar en omfattande jämställdhetsprincip som är tillräcklig för att förebygga och bekämpa diskriminering av Romer. EU:s ramverk konkretiserar inte olika former av diskriminering som romer upplever i sina dagliga liv. Policyn behandlar inte heller fenomenet anti-ziganism som ett huvudhinder för inkluderingen av romer.