Coordinative Discourse of Strategic Sovereignty Tilting the European Union’s Institutional Balance
https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2022-5-86-79-112
Abstract
The article studies how a discursive contestation among the EU institutions (the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union) of the concept of "strategic sovereignty" ("strategic autonomy") affects the institutional balance among them. Institutional balance is a dynamic process in which institutions challenge each other's authority. This process is conceptualized in the article in terms of discursive neo-institutionalism as a coordinative discourse, which forms, challenges and justifies the idea of “strategic sovereignty”. The article uses the cases of the EU industrial, trade policy, and the common security and defense policy to demonstrate the changing institutional balance.
The results of the study show that the main institutional beneficiary of "strategic sovereignty" is the European Commission. Most likely, there will be a strengthening of the Council, which reserves broad powers in crisis management and foreign policy. The position of the Parliament is ambivalent: although the growth of its institutional weight is possible, it will depend both on the Parliament’s own initiatives and on whether the European Commission will succeed at communitarizing new issues and spheres. The findings demonstrate that under crisis, the institutional balance of the EU will continue to tilt in favor of the supranational level of regulation.
Keywords
European Union,
strategic sovereignty,
institutional balance,
discursive neoinstitutionalism,
open strategic autonomy
Supporting agencies: The study was supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 22-28-00682, https://rscf.ru/project/22-28-00682/.
About the Authors
T. A. Romanova
Saint Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tatiana A. Romanova — PhD (Political Science), associate professor
7–9 Universitetskaya emb., 199034 Saint Petersburg
S. V. Mazanik
Saint Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Sergei V. Mazanik — PhD student
7–9 Universitetskaya emb., 199034 Saint Petersburg
References
1. Archibugi D., Mariella V. 2021. Is a European Recovery Possible without High-Tech Public Corporations? Intereconomics. 56(3). P. 160–166. DOI: 10.1007/s10272-021-0973-x
2. Blauberger M., Weiss M. 2013. ‘If You Can't Beat Me, Join Me!’ How the Commission pushed and pulled member states into legislating defence procurement. Journal of European Public Policy. 20(8). P. 1120–1138. DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2013.781783
3. Brustlein C. 2018. European Strategic Autonomy: Balancing Ambition and Responsibility. Éditoriaux de l’Ifri. No. 16.
4. Chamon M. 2016. Institutional Balance and Community Method in the Implementation of EU Legislation Following the Lisbon Treaty. Common Market Law Review. 53(6). P. 1501– 1543. DOI: 10.54648/COLA2016141
5. Chou M. H., Riddervold M. 2015. The Unexpected Negotiator at the Table: How the European Commission’s Expertise Informs Intergovernmental EU Policies. Politics and Governance. 3(1). P. 61–72. DOI: 10.17645/pag.v3i1.117
6. Craig P.P. 2011. Institutions, Power and Institutional Balance. Craig P. and de Burca G. (eds) The evolution of EU law. Oxford University Press. P. 41–84. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3748492
7. Dawson J., Hanley S. 2019. Foreground Liberalism, Background Nationalism: A Discursive-institutionalist Account of EU Leverage and ‘Democratic Backsliding’in East Central Europe. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. 57(4). P. 710–728.DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12845
8. Dawson M., De Witte F. 2013. Constitutional Balance in the EU after the Euro-Crisis. The Modern Law Review. 76(5). P. 817–844. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2230.12037
9. des Places S.B. 2020. Taking the Language of 'European Sovereignty' Seriously. European Papers – A Journal on Law and Integration. 2020(1). P. 287-297. DOI: 10.15166/2499-8249/392
10. Dinan D., Nugent N., Paterson W.E. 2017. The European Union in Crisis. London: International Higher Education.
11. Everson M., Vos E. 2014. European Agencies: What about the Institutional Balance? Łazowski A. and Blockmans S. (eds) Research Handbook on EU Institutional Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. P. 139–152. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2467469
12. Fabbrini F. 2016. A Principle in Need of Renewal? The Euro-Crisis and the Principle of Institutional Balance. Centro Studi sul Federalismo. 52(1). P. 285–309.
13. Fabbrini S. 2015. Which European Union? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14. Fiott D. 2021. A Clash of Concepts? Making Sense of ‘European Sovereignty ’and ‘Strategic Autonomy’. In: Beyond Autonomy. Rethinking Europe as a Strategic Actor. Brussels: Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
15. Fitch-Roy O., Fairbrass J., Benson D. 2020. Ideas, Coalitions and Compromise: Reinterpreting EU-ETS Lobbying through Discursive Institutionalism. Journal of European Public Policy. 27(1). P. 82–101. DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2019.1567573
16. García M.J. 2022. Sanctioning Capacity in Trade and Sustainability Chapters in EU Trade Agreements: The EU–Korea Case. Politics and Governance. 10(1). P. 58–67. DOI: 10.17645/pag. v10i1.4782
17. Gozi S. 2001. Does the EU Institutional Triangle Have a Future? The International Spectator. 36(1). P. 39–49. DOI: 10.1080/03932720108456901
18. Jacqué J.P. 2004. The Principle of Institutional Balance. Common Market L. Rev. 41(2). P. 285–309.
19. Krasner S.D. 1999. Sovereignty: Organised Hypocricy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI: 10.1515/9781400823260
20. Kratochvíl P., Tichý L. 2013. EU and Russian Discourse on Energy Relations. Energy policy. No. 56. P. 391–406.
21. Krotz U., Schild J. 2013. Shaping Europe: France, Germany, and embedded bilateralism from the Elysée Treaty to twenty-first century politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/ acprof:oso/9780199660087.001.0001
22. Kühling J., Weck T., Reinhold P. 2022. Third-Country State Aid Regulation: The European Debate on Foreign Subsidies: Necessity and Possibilities of a Reform. In: Manjiao C. et al. (eds) Asian Yearbook of International Economic Law. Springer, Cham. P. 1–13. DOI: 10.1007/16517_2021_4
23. March J.G., Olsen J.P. 1998. The Institutional Dynamics of International Political Orders. International organization. 52(4). P. 943–969. DOI: 10.1162/002081898550699
24. Mauro F. 2021. Europe’s Strategic Autonomy: That Obscure Object of Desire. L'Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques. Analysis No. 13. October 2021.
25. Meunier S., Nicolaidis K. 2019. The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy. J. Common Mkt. Stud. 57(1). P. 103–113. DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12932
26. Miró J. 2021. In the Name of Competitiveness: a Discursive Institutionalist Analysis of the EU’s Approach to Labour Market Structural Reform, 2007–2016. Socio-Economic Review. 19(2). P. 711–733. DOI: 10.1093/ser/mwz030
27. Parga A.H. 2015. The Euro Area Crisis in Constitutional Perspective. Oxford: Oxford Studies in European Law. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198714958.001.0001
28. Peterson J., Bomberg E. 1999. Decision-making in the European Union. Basingstoke: Bloomsbury Publishing. 336 p.
29. Pomorska K., Wessel R. A. 2021. Qualified Majority Voting in CFSP: A Solution to the Wrong Problem? European Foreign Affairs Review. 26(3). P. 351–358. DOI: 10.1177/1465116507079547
30. Reykers Y. 2017. EU Battlegroups: High Costs, no Benefits. Contemporary Security Policy. 38(3). P. 457–470. DOI: 10.1080/13523260.2017.1348568
31. Riddervold M. 2016. (Not) in the Hands of the Member States: How the European Commission influences EU security and defence policies. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. 54(2). P. 353–369. DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12288
32. Sbragia A.M. 2002. Conclusion to Special Issue on the Institutional Balance and the Future of EU Governance: The Treaty of Nice, Institutional Balance, and Uncertainty. Governance. 15(3). P. 393–412. DOI: 10.1111/0952-1895.00194
33. Scharpf F. 1998. Negative and Positive Integration in the Political Economy of European Welfare States. Rhodes M. and Mény Y. (eds) The Future of European Welfare. London: Palgrave Macmillan. P. 157–177. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-26543-5_8
34. Schmidt S.K. 2000. Only an Agenda Setter? The European Commission's Power Over the Council of Ministers. European Union Politics. 1(1). P. 37–61. DOI: 10.1177%2F1465116500001001003
35. Schmidt V.A. 2008. Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas and Discourse. Annual Review of Political Science. No. 11. P. 303–326. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.060606.135342
36. Schmidt V.A. 2010. Taking Ideas and Discourse Seriously: Explaining Change through Discursive Institutionalism as the Fourth ‘New Institutionalism’. European Political Science Review. 2(1). P. 1–25. DOI: 10.1017/S175577390999021X
37. Schmidt V.A. 2015. Discursive Institutionalism: Understanding Policy in Context. Fischer F. et al. (eds) Handbook of critical policy studies: Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing. P. 171–189. DOI: 10.4337/9781783472352.00016
38. Schmidt V.A. 2016. Reinterpreting the Rules ‘by Stealth’ in times of crisis: a discursive institutionalist analysis of the European Central Bank and the European Commission. West European Politics. 39(5). P. 1032–1052. DOI: 10.1080/01402382.2016.1186389
39. Siddi M. 2020. The European Green Deal: Assessing its Current State and Future Implementation. FIIA Working Paper. No. 114. P. 1–14.
40. Van den Abeele E. et al. 2021. Towards a New Paradigm in Open Strategic Autonomy? ETUI Research Paper-Working Paper. No. 2021(03).
41. Wæver O. 1996. European Security Identities. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies. 34(1). P. 103–132. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5965.1996.tb00562.x
42. Warren T. 2020. Explaining the European Central Bank’s Limited Reform Ambition: Ordoliberalism and Asymmetric Integration in the Eurozone. Journal of European Integration. 42(2). P. 263–279. DOI: 10.1080/07036337.2019.1658753
43. Webber D. 2019. Trends in European Political (dis) Integration. An Analysis of Postfunctionalist and Other Explanations. Journal of European Public Policy. 26(8). P. 1134–1152. DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2019.1576760
44. Wodak R., Meyer M. 2015. Critical Discourse Studies: History, Agenda, Theory and Methodology. Wodak R., Meyer M (ed.) Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. London: Sage Publications Ltd. P. 1–23.
45. Arbatova N.K. et al. 2020. Strategicheskaya avtonomiya ES i perspektivy sotrudnichestva s Rossiey [The EU’s Strategic Autonomy and Prospects for Cooperation with Russia]. Moscow: ООО Izdatel’stvo Ves’ Mir (In Russian).
46. Belov V.B. 2020. Novaya promyshlennaya strategiya Evrosoyuza [The EU’s New Industrial Policy]. Institut Evropy Rossiyskoy akademii nauk. Analiticheskaya zapiska. No. 196. P. 1–8. DOI: 10.15211/analytics122020 (In Russian).
47. Belov V.B. 2019. Evropeyskiy akkumulatorniy allians [The European Battery Alliance]. Evropeyskiy soyuz: fakty i kommentarii. No. 98. P. 21–25. DOI: 10.15211/eufacts420192125 (In Russian).
48. Derrida Zh., Habermas Yu. 2003. Nashe obnovlenie posle voyny: vtoroe rozhdenie Evropy [Our Renewal after the War: the Europe’s Second Birth]. Otechestvennye zapiski. No. 6. P. 98–105 (In Russian).
49. Kaveshnikov N.Yu. 2015. Metody upravleniya v Evropeyskom soyuze [Methods of Governance in the European Union]. Mirovaya Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. No. 8. P. 49–60.
50. Kutyrev G.I. 2012. Neoinstitutsionalism ratsional’nogo vybora: preimushchestva i vnutrennie protivorechiya [Rational Choice Neo-institutionalism: Advantages and Internal Conflicts]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politivheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki. 11(1). P. 107–111 (In Russian).
51. Romanova T.A. 2021. Diskurs o suverenitete Evropeyskogo Soyuza: soderzhanie i posledstviya [Discourse on the EU’s sovereignty: its Content and Consequences]. Sovremennaya Evropa. No. 5. P. 32–44. DOI: 10.15211/soveurope520213244 (In Russian).
52. Shmerlina I.A. 2016. “Institutsional’naya logika”: kriticheskiz analiz napravleniya [“Institutional Logic”: a Critical Analysis of the Area]. Sotsiologicheskiy zhurnal. No. 4. P. 110–138. DOI: 10.19181/socjour.2016.22.4.4812 (In Russian).
Review
For citations:
Romanova T.A., Mazanik S.V. Coordinative Discourse of Strategic Sovereignty Tilting the European Union’s Institutional Balance. MGIMO Review of International Relations. 2022;15(5):79-112. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2022-5-86-79-112
Views:
946
Email this article 