Accountability is a cornerstone of democratic governance. But with the emergence of increasingly complex multi-level and multi-stakeholder governance structures, and an increasing amount of... Show moreAccountability is a cornerstone of democratic governance. But with the emergence of increasingly complex multi-level and multi-stakeholder governance structures, and an increasing amount of delegation of public powers and tasks to both public and private non-majoritarian bodies, safeguarding public accountability has however become an increasingly complicated endeavour. This is not the least to be seen in the EU, where discussions about the EU's democratic deficit often centre around questions of accountability, with the accountability of non-majoritarian and (semi-)independent EU agencies being of particular concern. This dissertation focuses on how institutional EU account-holders execute their account-holding roles, in particular vis-à-vis EU agencies. Findings indicate that EU account-holders, within the constraints of their specific account-holding roles, are visibility-seeking organisations looking to take centre stage. This has important democratic accountability implications: Does the visibility-seeking behaviour of account-holders lead to low(er)-visibility agencies and issues escaping democratic scrutiny, or does it push account-holders towards going above and beyond their formal account-holding obligations. Show less
Permanent Change? The Paths of Change of the European Security OrganizationsIn recent years, the post-war multilateral system and the European security architecture, containing the OSCE, NATO and... Show morePermanent Change? The Paths of Change of the European Security OrganizationsIn recent years, the post-war multilateral system and the European security architecture, containing the OSCE, NATO and the EU, have come under scrutiny. However, these organizations have changed for more than seventy years and survived many crises. Hence, the focus of this research is the analysis of the paths of change, defined as broadening, widening and deepening.Though the European security organizations have been analysed more often, this research distinguishes itself by not only analysing these paths separately, but also by comparing them to one another and devoting attention to their possible interrelationship. The rationale behind this research is on the one hand the current crisis in the multilateral world order and on the other hand the absence of a coherent, theoretically inspired description and analysis of these changes.The main conclusion drawn is that the European security architecture did not result in the formerly held idea of a division of labour solely instigated by states to prevent competition and rivalry. This architecture has become a differentiated construction and changed into a hybrid architecture with complementary and even mutually interdependent organizations. Show less
According to the controversial China—Raw Materials and China—Rare Earths decisions, China is prohibited from using export duties to address any environmental problems, including those associated... Show moreAccording to the controversial China—Raw Materials and China—Rare Earths decisions, China is prohibited from using export duties to address any environmental problems, including those associated with climate change. This is unfortunate because a number of climate studies have suggested that export duties can be useful to tackle carbon leakage in China, being the largest emitter and exporter of carbon dioxide emissions.This thesis argues that there is a need to consider ‘greening’ the absolute ban on China’s export duties. It accordingly proposes that, export duties - solely restricting exports - should be prohibited outright, while ‘export duties plus’ – restricting both exports and domestic consumption - should be allowed in pursuit of environmental advantages. There are three most feasible ways to achieve this balanced outcome: (i) a waiver as a stopgap measure, (ii) a Ministerial Decision or Declaration as a more flexible alternative, and (iii) a legal interpretation for the Appellate Body to distinguish between export duties and ‘export duties plus’ as a judicial correction. With regard to the proposed judicial correction, even if the Appellate Body is no longer operational, it remains relevant for the purpose of injecting valuable flexibility into the WTO’s precedent system. Show less
The current orthodoxy maintains courts are not required to compare all language texts of a plurilingual tax treaty but may rely on a single one for cases of 'routine interpretation'. This view is... Show moreThe current orthodoxy maintains courts are not required to compare all language texts of a plurilingual tax treaty but may rely on a single one for cases of 'routine interpretation'. This view is fundamentally flawed, in violation of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and the source of treaty misapplication. This study aims to: (1) help diminish treaty misapplication through abandonment of the current orthodoxy; (2) show that sole reliance on prevailing texts is available as a pragmatic alternative in line with the Vienna Convention that reduces global resource costs of tax treaty interpretation and increases its overall consistency by eliminating unintended deviations caused by language idiosyncrasies; (3) provide policy recommendations how residual cases may be eliminated. To support this goals, this study seeks to provide conclusive arguments and useful data to policy makers, treaty negotiators, judges, practitioners, and other scholars. Its analysis of the final clauses in 3,844 tax treaties is intended to help both taxpayers and courts interpreting tax treaties in practice. The general arguments presented in this book are not limited to tax treaties, since similar issues play a role in the interpretation of other treaties, for example, in the field of foreign investment regulation. Show less
De Europese staatssteunregels stellen paal en perk aan de mogelijkheden voor lidstaten om ondernemingen financieel te steunen. Bij de handhaving van die regels komt een belangrijke taak toe aan de... Show moreDe Europese staatssteunregels stellen paal en perk aan de mogelijkheden voor lidstaten om ondernemingen financieel te steunen. Bij de handhaving van die regels komt een belangrijke taak toe aan de Europese Commissie en aan de nationale rechters. Deze rechters moeten de naleving van de besluiten van de Europese Commissie waarborgen, maar waar nodig ook zelf gevolgen verbinden aan een schending van de staatssteunregels. De Nederlandse rechter heeft zodoende bij de handhaving van de staatssteunregels op zijn minst op papier een belangrijke – en steeds belangrijker wordende – rol te vervullen. Daarbij moet hij niet alleen rekening houden met de relevante Europese regels, maar ook met de nationale (procedurele) context waarin hij opereert. Die kan nogal verschillen: zowel de burgerlijke rechter als de bestuurs- en belastingrechter kunnen namelijk met staatssteungeschillen worden geconfronteerd. In dit proefschrift wordt op basis van ruim tien jaar Nederlandse staatssteunrechtspraak geanalyseerd hoe deze rechters de hen toegewezen rol daadwerkelijk vervullen. Expliciete aandacht gaat uit naar de eisen die zij stellen aan het belang van de partijen, hoe zij beoordelen of van staatssteun sprake is, de gevolgen die zij daadwerkelijk aan schendingen van de staatssteunregels verbinden en de onderlinge verhouding tussen de Nederlandse rechter en de Europese Commissie. Show less
In pursuit of solutions to China’s inter-regional cross-border insolvency cooperation, the doctoral dissertation provides 10 original recommendations accompanied with comments, which are entitled ... Show moreIn pursuit of solutions to China’s inter-regional cross-border insolvency cooperation, the doctoral dissertation provides 10 original recommendations accompanied with comments, which are entitled “CICIA”. Show less
The state of our environment is a global concern. Despite an increasing awareness, setting internationally binding commitments has proven to be a challenging process. In the absence of a... Show more The state of our environment is a global concern. Despite an increasing awareness, setting internationally binding commitments has proven to be a challenging process. In the absence of a stringent international framework, states seek alternatives to promote environmental protection. Can states unilaterally impose trade measures targeting foreign production processes in order to protect transboundary environmental resources? Does WTO law allow for these ‘extraterritorial’ trade measures? This thesis examines extraterritoriality in the trade-environment debate. The WTO legal texts are silent on their jurisdictional scope and the case law has been scarce and incoherent. Part I discusses the relevant legal provisions and dispute settlement reports dealing with jurisdictional issues. Part II adopts a comparative perspective on extraterritoriality in different legal fields. Part III builds upon the lessons learned in Part II, proposing an extraterritoriality decision tree to assess the acceptability of trade measures targeting production within the framework of Article XX GATT. This decision tree is tested through case-studies: the WTO case US-Shrimp is revisited, in addition to EU environmental measures (fishing, emission trading, timber). This research demonstrates that the WTO legal regime does not constitute an impediment to global environmental action. Current WTO law leaves more room than is often thought. Show less
The EU's good governance policy considers civil society an actor promoting development as well as political accountability of governments, thus contributing to the democratisation of political... Show moreThe EU's good governance policy considers civil society an actor promoting development as well as political accountability of governments, thus contributing to the democratisation of political systems. This study argues that the EU's policy is based on questionable assumptions with respect to the nature of civil society, as well as the willingness of state and civil society to cooperate. Syria, as an extreme case of authoritarianism, is taken as an example. The connotation attached by the EU to civil society in Syria is normative and overlooks its complexity and the character of its relations with the state. Within the context of intergovernmental and multilateral cooperation, the Syrian regime could select and control activities in the domain of good governance, including possible involvement in its implementation by Syrian civil society organisations, which were not perceived as a threat to the regime's power. In fact, this support may have even contributed to the resilience of this authoritarian regime Show less
This thesis explores a conception of the EU as a modified confederal system of sovereign member peoples and their states. A confederal conception which demonstrates how, contrary to popular belief... Show moreThis thesis explores a conception of the EU as a modified confederal system of sovereign member peoples and their states. A confederal conception which demonstrates how, contrary to popular belief, European integration does not conflict with sovereignty or democracy. For, properly conceived and constituted, the EU reasserts the sovereignty of the member peoples, and liberates national democracy from the confines of the state.To this end, this thesis reconnects the EU to two classic constructs of constitutional theory: confederalism and sovereignty. Two powerful but unfashionable constructs whose joint potential for European integration remains largely unexplored and undervalued. The primary instrument to explore this potential is comparative. The EU is contrasted with the rather unknown but rich example of the American Articles of Confederation, and their evolution into the now famous American federate system. A comparison with the confederal roots of the United States which is revealing for both confederalism and sovereignty, and illustrates the potential of linking both for a constructive constitutional theory of the EU. A theory which does not have to overcome history and the statal system it has created, but connects with it. A theory, therefore, that may help to recapture the EU and the increasing authority it wields, both in theory and in practise. The thesis is subdivided in three parts. Part I addresses confederalism. It demonstrates how the constitutional system of the EU combines a confederal foundation with a federate superstructure, and explores the particular strengths, weaknesses and limits of this modified confederal system. Part II discusses sovereignty. It first demonstrates how the EU forms a logical confederal evolution of popular sovereignty, and how European integration does not conflict with sovereignty. Subsequently, it shows how the concept of confederal sovereignty equally helps to dispel the presumed conflict between statism and pluralism, how it respects and conciliates national and EU claims to supremacy, and how it allows a confederal evolution of national democracy, which updates democracy to the global reality it is to control. Part III applies the findings of Part I and II to the EMU crisis and the challenge of establishing an effective democratic foundation for the EU at the national level. An application which demonstrates the concrete and attractive contributions a confederal approach can make to addressing some of the core challenges facing the EU. Show less
Why do interest organizations do what they do? Organized political activities could find their basis in the desire for organizational survival. Alternatively, the activities of interest... Show moreWhy do interest organizations do what they do? Organized political activities could find their basis in the desire for organizational survival. Alternatively, the activities of interest organizations may be mainly understood in relation to government institutions and public policy. Last, the key rationale for political activities could be seen to relate to certain political principles more generally. Taking account of these contrasting assumptions, this thesis takes an exchange theoretical perspective and examines the activities EU and Dutch interest organizations (n=517) and political claims in the newspaper in seven European countries (n=approx 3000). The key findings are that (1) business interests seem better represented than other types of interests, (2) different types of interests (i.e. NGO⦣8364;™s, businesses, social interests, citizen groups) use very similar tactics to seek influence on public policy, and (3) interest organizations seem to have difficulty in getting access in the news media because ⦣8364;˜official sources⦣8364;™ seem to be preferred by journalists. These and other findings call for an adjustment of some of the classic assumptions in the field of interest group research ⦣8364;“ among others on differences between interests and across systems. It calls for improved theories on variation in political strategies between issues. Show less
