<p>This master’s paper first presents some of the principal theories and concepts developed by the poverty researchers Rowntree, Titmuss, Townsend, Sen and Lister. These theoretical frameworks are then related to two documents from the EU and Sweden concerning combating poverty and social exclusion, bearing on the establishment of the ‘Year 2010 against Poverty’. Finally, I discuss the value in practice of these theories and policy documents, as regards reducing poverty in Europe.</p><p>It has become clear in this investigation that the theories and concepts from earlier research are still relevant to the formulation of contemporary policy programmes, and that earlier research helps us to avoid old traps in fighting poverty. Central terms, perspectives and theories in this thesis are ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’ poverty, inequality of social structures, human rights and wellbeing, the capability for overcoming poverty, the multidimensional nature of poverty, and the need for a future woman-friendly and cosmopolitan citizenship. The two policy documents contain different perspectives; such as rights, gender equality, integration and accessibility perspectives, together with the underlying empowerment perspective. In addition, the multidimensional nature of poverty is strongly emphasised. Policy documents have a limitation to their political and economic frames, and in order to avoid this, researchers should have a more active involvement in policy formulation, basically as in the case of official inquiries. Goal-oriented cooperation between policy, research and poor people themselves is crucial to achieving the reduction of poverty in Europe.</p>

This master’s paper first presents some of the principal theories and concepts developed by the poverty researchers Rowntree, Titmuss, Townsend, Sen and Lister. These theoretical frameworks are then related to two documents from the EU and Sweden concerning combating poverty and social exclusion, bearing on the establishment of the ‘Year 2010 against Poverty’. Finally, I discuss the value in practice of these theories and policy documents, as regards reducing poverty in Europe. It has become clear in this investigation that the theories and concepts from earlier research are still relevant to the formulation of contemporary policy programmes, and that earlier research helps us to avoid old traps in fighting poverty. Central terms, perspectives and theories in this thesis are ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’ poverty, inequality of social structures, human rights and wellbeing, the capability for overcoming poverty, the multidimensional nature of poverty, and the need for a future woman-friendly and cosmopolitan citizenship. The two policy documents contain different perspectives; such as rights, gender equality, integration and accessibility perspectives, together with the underlying empowerment perspective. In addition, the multidimensional nature of poverty is strongly emphasised. Policy documents have a limitation to their political and economic frames, and in order to avoid this, researchers should have a more active involvement in policy formulation, basically as in the case of official inquiries. Goal-oriented cooperation between policy, research and poor people themselves is crucial to achieving the reduction of poverty in Europe.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the European certificate of succession, and how it affects Swedish inheritance law. The European certificate of succession is a European document that will be introduced in august 2015 in the EU regulation of succession. The certificate of succession is meant to simplify the current process of cross-border inheritance by legitimizing the concerned parties, which according to the regulation are: heirs, legatees, executors of wills and administrators of the estate. According to the regulation, the member state of which the deceased had habitual residence shall have jurisdiction to rule on the succession as a whole. Since the certificate is a European document, it will have legal effect in all member states. Because of this, a decision from one authority/court in a member state will also be applicable in the other member states. This means that national law in a certain capacity becomes cross-border law, which requires strong regulation. The certificate itself cannot be counted as an estate inventory, choice of law, will, or similar. It can however be a basis for a decision concerning inheritance. The certificate can be considered as an acknowledgement of a decision from one member state, which will also be applicable in the other member states. In Sweden, the certificate will be issued by “Skatteverket” (the Swedish tax agency). The European certificate of succession will considerably simplify the cross-border inheritance process for EU-citizens. / Uppsatsens syfte är undersöka arvsintyget som rättshandling och diskutera dess följder på svensk arvsrätt. Det europeiska arvsintyget är en europeisk rättshandling som kommer införas i augusti 2015 i samband med EU:s nya arvsförordning. Arvsintyget är menat att förenkla processen vid gränsöverskridande arvsfrågor genom att legitimera de berörda parterna. Vilka enligt förordningen är: arvtagare, testamentstagare, boutredningsmän och testamentsexekutorer. I och med den nya arvsförordningen kommer hemvistprincipen få en större roll inom den europeiska arvsrätten och arvsintyget kan då användas för att förmedla ett domslut/bestämmande från en medlemsstat till en annan. Även universalitetsprincipen är av stor vikt vid behörighetsfrågor om gränsöverskridande arv, då den innebär att all kvarlåtenskap ska ingå i samma boutredning. Eftersom arvsintyget är en europeisk rättshandling kommer den ha rättsverkan i alla EU-länder som är bundna av arvsförordningen. Därför kommer ett beslut från myndighet/domstol i en medlemsstat även gälla i andra medlemsstater, vilket meddelas genom arvsintyget. Detta leder till att nationell lag i viss kapacitet blir gränsöverskridande, vilket kräver strikt reglering. Arvsintyget kan inte i sig självt räknas som en fördelning av kvarlåtenskap, lagvalsavtal eller liknande. Det kan dock ligga till grund för beslutande angående arvsskifte. Arvsintyget kan anses vara en kvittens av ett beslut från en medlemsstat, vilket ska gälla även i andra medlemsstater. Arvsintyget kommer i Sverige utfärdas av Skatteverket och kommer betydligt underlätta för EU-medborgare vid gränsöverskridande arvsfrågor.

Under 2000-talet har två EU-rättsliga förordningar stiftats i syfte att reglera erkännande och verkställighet av domar på privaträttens område inom EU. Först stiftades Bryssel I-förordningen. I enlighet med den förordningen kan en dom som meddelats av domstol i en medlemsstat verkställas i en annan medlemsstat. Dessförinnan skall domen förklaras verkställbar i den medlemsstat där verkställighet önskas. Den andra förordningen, EEO-förordningen, tillkom bara några år senare. I denna förordning har förfarandet varigenom en dom förklaras verkställbar i en annan medlemsstat avskaffats. Istället skall domen efter ansökan kunna intygas vara en europeisk exekutionstitel av domstolen i den medlemsstat där domen har meddelats. Med ett sådant intyg får domen därefter verkställas fritt i samtliga medlemsstater utan något mellanliggande förfarande. Förordningarna reglerar inte hur själva verkställigheten skall gå till. Verkställigheten skall ske i enlighet med den nationella lagstiftning i medlemstaten där verkställighet begärs. För svenskt vidkommande skall betalningsdomar verkställas genom utmätning. Enligt svensk rätt får verkställigheten inte slutföras förrän betalningsdomen vunnit laga kraft. Enligt EEO-förordningen å andra sidan får verkställigheten slutföras omedelbart. Det finns en någorlunda stor sannolikhet att en utländsk dom vinner laga kraft innan en verkställighetsförklaring gör detsamma. Enligt svensk rätt skulle det i sådant fall vara tillåtet att verkställa domen fullt ut medan reglerna i Bryssel I-förordningen inte skulle tillåta annat än vidtagande av säkerhetsåtgärder i ett sådant skede. Det är också möjligt att den svenska regeln om begränsningar i verkställigheten strider mot diskrimineringsförbudet i Amsterdamfördraget eller den allmänna principen om likabehandling. / During the last decade two EC Regulations have been adopted in order to regulate and introduce uniform standards for procedures regarding recognition and enforcement of judgements in civil and commercial matters within the EU. The first regulation to be adopted was the Brussels I Regulation. According to its provisions a judgement delivered in one Member State can be enforced in an other Member State. Previously the judgement must be declared enforceable in the Member State where the judgement is to be enforced. A few years later the second regulation called the EEO Regulation was adopted. According to the EEO Regulation a declaration of enforceability is not required anymore. Instead a judgement can be certified as a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims by the court or a competent authority in the Member State where the judgement was delivered. The enforcement procedure itself shall however be governed by the law of the Member State of enforcement. In accordance with Swedish law a judgement concerning payment claims should be enforced by distraint. According to Swedish law a Debtor’s property is allowed to be seized but not retailed until time for an appeal has expired. The EEO Regulation on the other hand allows the enforcement procedure to be finalized immediately. There is a high probability that the time for an appeal against a foreign judgement may expire before such time in which an appeal against the declaration of enforceability can be lodged expires. In that case the Swedish law would permit the executor to finalize the enforcement procedure while in according to the Brussels I Regulation, the enforcement procedure in such case should still be limited to protective measures. It is also quite possible that the Swedish provision infringes the non-discrimination rule in the Treaty of Amsterdam or The General Principle of Equality.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine which factors that can explain the variation in EU citizens support for a larger integration of social issues within the EU from a country perspective where 18 EU countries are included in the statistical analysis. The thesis is based on five theoretical assumptions in order to try to explain the variation in the citizen´s support between different EU countries for more decision-making at an EU level for health and social security issues. To study these relations, a multivariate regression analysis is used. The result shows that none of the theoretical assumptions can explain the differences between citizens' support for a more social Europe. The thesis complementary bivariate Pearson R-tests show, on the other hand, that there is a correlation between support for the national government and values for cognitive mobilization (how politically interested citizens are and how often citizens discuss EU issues) and the support for more decision-making at the EU level. However, the result show a opposite direction for the correlations than the theoretical assumptions of the thesis initiates. This emphasizes the relevance of the theoretical framework of this thesis; the concept of response variability, which means that citizens are ambivalent in their support towards different EU issues. Because earlier research for some of the variables are based on theories of european integration from a one dimensional perspective and not from a policy-specific perspective for increased social integration, there is an important difference between these theoretical bases that stand in conflict with each other.

Den 13 december 2007 undertecknades ett nytt EU-fördrag i Portugals huvudstad Lissabon. Detta fördrag, kallat Lissabonfördraget, utgör en reviderad form av den EU-konstitution som inte blev godkänd vid folkomröstningar i Frankrike och Nederländerna 2005. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka förändringar som skett under omarbetningen från EUkonstitutionen till Lissabonfördraget. Vidare har uppsatsen för avsikt att förklara de bakomliggande motiven till dessa förändringar ur två olika identitetsperspektiv. Frågorna som initialt fångade vårt intresse var; Varför fick EU dra tillbaka den tilltänkta grundlagen? Hur omfattande var egentligen förändringarna mellan EU-konstitutionen till Lissabonfördraget? Och slutligen, finns det någon europeisk identitet? / On the 13th of December 2007, a new EU-treaty was signed in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon. This treaty, known as the Treaty of Lisbon, is a revised form of the old European Constitution that was turned down in referendums in France and The Netherlands in 2005. Our aim with this thesis is to examine the changes during the revision from the European Constitution to the Treaty of Lisbon. Furthermore in this thesis we have the intention to explain the underlying motives from two perspectives of identity. The questions that initially captured our interest were; Why did the EU pull back from the European Constitution? How comprehensive are the changes from the European Constitution to the Treaty of Lisbon? And finally, is there any such thing as European identity?

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The starting point of this study is theories of European integration, which are used to formulate different scenarios about the future of the European Union. This is made in regards to the eurocrisis which has intensified the discussion about how to change the construction of the euro to overcome the economic difficulties that has arisen. In this study, four different scenarios are presented: "An updated Europe", "A new Europe", "The death of the euro" and "Goodbye Greece". The first two scenarios takes its starting point in the neofunctionalist theory of European integration and describes how the EU might increase its level of integration in different ways. We can either see a development where the EU tries to improve the implementation of the rules that are meant to coordinate the member states’ economic policy, or we might encounter a more advanced integration where fiscal policy competences are transferred to the EU-level. The latter scenarios, however, takes another theory in to account, liberal intergovernmentalism, and describes how the eurozone might be fragmented in different ways due to conflicts of interest between lenders and countries that has to receive loan-packages. In the third scenario the euro stands in front of a collapse. This is connected to a situation where Spain, which is one of the largest economies in the EU, is starting to have similar problems as countries like Grecce, Ireland and Portugal. The fourth scenario describes a more ordered progress where Grecce, as part of a joint decision with the other EU-members, decides to abolish the euro as their currency. This is a way for the EU to reduce its economic burden, in the same time as Greece are given an opportunity to use an independent monetary policy to cope with their problematic situation.

Sammanfattning: Denna uppsats ämnar ta reda på vilket förhållande de fyra brittiska partierna; Det Konservativa Partiet, Labour, Liberaldemokraterna och UKIP vill att Storbritannien ska ha till EU framöver. Uppsatsens utgångspunkt är debatten kring den folkomröstning Storbritannien kommer att genomföra angående EU-medlemskapet 23e juni 2016. Fokus i uppsatsen ligger på partiernas syn på statens roll i samhället och staters roll i internationell politik. Uppsatsen svarar även på vilka konsekvenser partierna ser som möjliga vid respektive utfall av folkomröstningen och vilka ämnen man lägger tyngdpunkt på i debatten. För att få svar på frågorna genomförs en beskrivande idéanalys. Som teoretisk grund används Europeisk integrationsteori och internationella relationer, IR-teori. Uppsatsen visar att partiernas inställning till EU och utrikespolitik inte är uniform. Inom gruppen partier som vill att Storbritannien blir kvar i EU ryms en mängd motsägelsefulla åsikter och vad ett eventuellt utträde ur EU skulle leda till är trots djupgående debatt mycket oklart.

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