Estland kehrte mit der Aufnahme in die Europäische Union im Mai 2004 auch politisch endgültig zurück nach Europa. Nach Jahrzehnten der Fremdherrschaft sind die Esten nun gleichberechtigte Mitglieder in den europäischen Institutionen. Diese Arbeit will eine Antwort auf die Frage geben, welche Optionen die Außenpolitik Estlands nach dem Beitritt zur Europäischen Union (EU) hat. Die Analyse der Außenpolitik erfolgt anhand folgender Leitfragen: • Welche Handlungsoptionen und Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten stehen einem Kleinstaat in der EU trotz seiner beschränkten Ressourcen zur Verfügung? • Werden Kleinstaaten zu Vasallen der großen EU-Staaten oder kommt ihnen eine neue Vermittlerrolle bei Konflikten in der größeren EU zu? • Können Kleinstaaten angesichts ihrer Dynamik und ihres Pragmatismus in der EU durchsetzungsfähiger werden als große Staaten? • Können kleine Mitgliedsländer vielleicht sogar Vorbilder werden? Gibt es für Estland prädestinierte Partner in der EU? Bearbeitungs- und Beobachtungszeitraum waren die Jahre 2004 bis 2006, währenddessen mehrere Forschungsaufenthalte in Estland und Brüssel absolviert wurden, bei denen wichtige außenpolitische Entscheidungsträger interviewt wurden. Diese Gesprächsreihen leisteten neben einer umfangreichen Literaturrecherche einen entscheidenden Beitrag für den Erfolg dieser Dissertation. / Following Estonia’s admission to the European Union in May 2004 the country finally was included into the rest of Europe not only geographically, but also politically. After decades of foreign rule the Estonians have become fully emancipated members of the European Institutions. This doctoral thesis will provide an answer to the question which options there are for an Estonian foreign policy after the accession of Estonia to the European Union. The analysis of Estonia’s foreign policy will be executed along the following key questions: • What are the options and the scope of design for the foreign policy of a small state within the European Union in spite of its limited resources? • Will small states only become vassals of big EU-states or could they develop into negotiators between conflicting parties within the greater European Union? • Could small states become more assertive within the European Union given their dynamics and their pragmatism? • Could small member states even develop into archetypes? Are there any predestined partners for Estonia within the European Union? The processing and monitoring period began in 2004 and was finished in 2006. During this period several research visits to Brussels and Estonia had been done including interviews with important foreign policy makers. Apart from a comprehensive literature research, those interviews contributed results that were critical for the success of this dissertation.

Die Arbeit befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen der Ostöffnung auf Grenzregionen entlang des ehemaligen Eisernen Vorhangs. Hierbei wird besonders auf die Veränderungen am Arbeitsmarkt eingegangen. Die grundlegende Hypothese war, dass es in den betrachteten Regionen aufgrund des externen Schocks zu einem Aufbrechen der vorhandenen Strukturen kommt. Hierbei wurde auch angenommen, dass die Regionen diesseits und jenseits des Eisernen Vorhangs jeweils unterschiedliche Auswirkungen zeigen würden, aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Ausgangslage. Die betrachteten Regionen wurden mithilfe einer Clusteranalyse in mehrere Kategorien eingeteilt. Hierbei wurden deutliche Unterschiede zwischen den Regionen der alten und neuen EU-Mitgliedländer festgestellt. Auch konnte in den österreichischen Regionen die neue Situation offensichtlich besser genutzt werden als in den deutschen Regionen. Besonders prägnant war der Einfluss der Grossregion Wien-Bratislava. (Autorenref.)

This paper employs firm-level panel data of 57 incumbent and entrant firms for 23 European countries in the decade from 2003 to 2012. We examine the impact of service- and facility-based competition on firm level investment as well as the strategic effects underlying infrastructure investment decisions. At the same time we explicitly model the structural dynamics of broadband investment using dynamic panel estimation techniques. We find that facility-based competition exerts a positive and significant impact on both incumbents and entrants implying that incumbents' and entrants' investment decisions are strategic complements. Moreover, this strategic complementarity is much more pronounced with respect to the entrants. Finally, we show that service-based competition appears to have no significant impact on the investment decision of incumbents and entrants and that there is no supportive evidence for the so-called "ladder of investment" hypothesis. With respect to the later phase of market regulation, service-based competition exerts a negative impact on entrants' investment. (authors' abstract) / Series: Working Papers / Research Institute for Regulatory Economics

(no abstract available)

One of the core issues in the debate on a future Constitution within the framework of the European Convention was the reform of competences. On 29 October 2004, the Heads of State or Government signed the outcome of the reform process, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. With regard to the fundamentals of the competence system, namely the attribution and control of competences, as well as the definition of competence categories, the Constitutional Treaty essentially codifies the present acquis communautaire. In the field of external action, however, it introduces significant amendments that might have a considerable impact on the balance of powers within the European Union. This paper analyses these changes. It looks at the potential implications of the institutional amendments regarding the new post of the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs and the strengthened role of the European Council, as well as the newly defined principles and objectives of the Union's external action. Further emphasis is placed on the scope of the Union's external powers following the incorporation of the principle of implied powers, as well as an analysis of the individual competence provisions in Title V of the Constitutional Treaty. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

(kein Abstract vorhanden) / Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordination

Fibre-deployment of future telecommunications networks ("Next Generation Access" - NGA) is a major challenge for sector-specific regulators as well as for investing firms. Although the future socioeconomic importance of new telecommunications networks is uncontroversial, the related investment activities vary substantially in international comparison. This work identifies the most important determinants of NGA deployment, using data from the EU27 member states for the years 2005 to 2010. Our results indicate that stricter previous broadband access regulation has a negative impact on NGA deployment, while competitive pressure from broadband and mobile affects NGA deployment in an inverted U-shaped manner. We further find that there are severe adjustment costs and stickiness towards the desired long-term level of NGA infrastructure. It appears that the approach of the European Commission of strict cost-based access regulation will not elicit the huge new investment needed for a comprehensive NGA roll-out. (authors' abstract) / Series: Working Papers / Research Institute for Regulatory Economics

Inhalt: Inhaltliche Schwerpunkte Die EU als politischer Akteur Die Europäische Union zwischen Vertiefung und Erweiterung Europäisierung nationalstaatlicher Politik am Beispiel Polens Danksagung Literatur

Inhalt: Der Laekener Verfassungsauftrag Der Europäische Konvent als Meilenstein der europäischen Integration Die Ratifizierungskrise Ein Elitenpoker um den Krisenausgang Schlussbemerkungen Literatur

Inhalt: Introduction: The problem at hand Approaches to EU’s external identity making Mechanisms of external identity making Theoretical approaches to the EU’s external identity making The EU’s external identity promotion The ENP policy instruments Conclusions References