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The global financial crisis of 2007/2008 interrupted the process of financial integration observed in the European Union since the beginning of the 2000s. This paper empirically analyzes whether financial integration resumed, focusing on the period 2002–2015 and employing the indicators of the speed and the level of integration. The analysis covers four financial markets (the money, foreign exchange, bond, and equity markets) of the selected inflation-targeting Central European economies (the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland), representatives of new euro area countries (Slovenia and Slovakia) and the selected advanced Western European economies (Austria, Germany, Portugal) with the euro area. The results reveal that the global financial crisis caused mainly a temporary price divergence of the financial markets in the analyzed countries vis-à-vis the euro area. By 2015 the situation on the financial markets returned gradually to the pre-crisis degree of integration with the euro area for most of the countries and markets; however, there are signs of fragmentation on the government bond markets.

This essay argues that Stuart Scheingold's finest book is The Rule of Law in European Integration, a version of his doctoral dissertation published in 1965 by Yale University Press. It examines the argument of this book – that the European Court of Justice was largely responsible for creating the “new Europe,” and its constitution – and assesses the evidence that Scheingold adduced to support this claim. The conclusion is that Scheingold produced a unique and convincing and important book. The essay then shows that this book disappeared without a trace. It should have won awards and been celebrated for the breakthrough analysis it was. Instead it disappeared, and a discouraged Scheingold abandoned this project and turned to other scholarly interests. The essay advances three arguments as to why the book had no impact. First, it was so far ahead of its time that it failed even to have an audience, and what few readers it had failed to appreciate its significance. Second, it had the misfortune of being written in the jargon-heavy language of structural functionalism just as this theory disappeared from fashion virtually overnight. Third, the book focuses on a form of law that is not in fashion with sociolegal scholars, who are preoccupied with commands and rights, and not with courts’ abilities to create and empower new institutions. A final optimistic note is sounded in the face of this depressing account. When Scheingold abandoned his first field and turned to other scholarly interests, here too he made highly original and convincing arguments. But here, in contrast to his earlier experience with regional integration, this later work was widely recognized and praised, and the best of it is quite properly described as “classic.”

Migrant women face unique difficulties, such as labour discrimination, limited sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, obstacles to family reunification, gender-based violence (GBV) and human trafficking. ¹ The European Commission's labour integration approach currently fails to account for these difficulties. Civil society organisations (CSOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) attempt to fill these gaps but lack capacity and funding. The European Commission's current approach does not respect human dignity and impedes the migrant community's integration and inclusion. This chapter discusses sexual assault and gender-based violence, which may be disturbing to some readers.

This issue is relevant and important because migrant women comprise a large portion of the migrant population ² and are a vital part of the migrant community. The methodology used in this chapter is a human security framework with a people-centred approach to policy that empowers those impacted by it. Research for this chapter was conducted using news articles, academic articles, UN reports and publications. Based on this, the European Commission must take a holistic and binding approach that protects the rights and dignity of migrant women.

There are multiple approaches that the European Commission can take to incorporate human dignity into its policies towards women and migration, such as applying international conventions and implementing policies that account for migrant women. All approaches must be realistic and required of all member states.

This is an attempt to outline a sociological, and in particular a theoretical response to the challenge of European integration and its associated socio‐spatial restructuring.

The unequal distribution of economic activities, transposed in economic, social and territorial disparities is the general characteristic of the European economy. Gaps increased in the context of European Union (EU) enlargement towards Eastern and Central Europe and of the economic crisis, thus bringing new differentiations among member states’ economies. The main aim of the chapter is to emphasise the centre-periphery differentiations in the European economy, by using a composite index of peripherality, in order to better understand the determinants of growth and convergence in Central and Eastern European countries and to reach normative conclusions for increasing Cohesion Policy (CP) effectiveness. The first part of the chapter provides a short overview of the main theories and models of the peripherality analysis and the relationships between the centre and the periphery, in order to find out how this analysis relates to the research in the field. The second part provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of European economies during 2003–2014, in order to find out whether the EU enlargement process stabilised the EU core-periphery pattern or, on the contrary, the process of core-periphery structural convergence occurred. The third part includes the suggested model of analysis (methodology, data, and main results) from a multidisciplinary perspective, underlining the centre-periphery differentiations on the two axes, North–South and West–East. The results have been interpreted in conclusions, with a focus on their relevance for the European CP challenges.

This chapter critically assesses the assumption that the European Union (EU) is undergoing a crisis of legitimation. Using survey data, it shows that support of the EU and European integration is solid and that it plays a small role in the rise of populist parties. Then, it shows that Europeans favor increasing European cooperation but are reluctant to transfer national sovereignty to the EU. Finally, it traces this reluctance to the primacy of national over European identification.

The article analyzes the ‘Europeanization’ of public administration in Estonia with a specific focus on the development of coordination structures. The decentralized approach to European Union-related matters increases the need for well-functioning coordination practices. The authors conclude that the coordination mechanism established for the accession as well as its impact on the broader coordination culture have been successful and can serve as the role model for the rest of public administration. The broader administrative problems yet to be solved include democratic deficit, insufficient engagement of civil society organizations, potential implementation gap between formal regulations and their practice, as well as poor policy analysis which may become particularly problematic after joining the EU.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the empirical dimension of financial integration among the five newest members of the European Monetary Union (Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the euro area. The main objective is to study the level and the speed of integration between the stock markets of those European Union (EU) member states and the rest of the euro area, assessing in this way the role that the EU enlargement, the drive towards European Monetary Union and the actual adoption of the euro play in the process of European financial market integration.

This study will exclusively test the integration of the stock markets of EU member states that joined in 2004, when the EU expanded, but are already members of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Since there is limited evidence on the effects of EU and EMU enlargements or their announcements, it will be a useful addition to the examination of this issue. Given the small size of those emerging stock markets and the fact that they are part of a stable and well-regulated system, the degree to which they are integrated has implications for investors' portfolio allocation decisions, as they may offer diversification benefits without extreme risks. The case of integration will be examined using various econometric methodologies, two of which (beta- and sigma-convergence) have been given less formal attention and their application is rare, so as to detect both long- and short-run interdependencies and achieve robust results.

The findings indicate an increasing degree of integration for Malta and Slovenia, while Estonia appears segmented. Cyprus and Slovakia exhibited a degree of integration after their accession into EU but this trend changes after they adopted the euro. Overall, the integration process accelerated after the accession in the EU but EMU does not seem to have the same positive impact on it.

Compared with previous studies, the authors' apply the concept of beta- and sigma-convergence, a methodology that will help us identify the speed of integration. Moreover, the period under study includes the recent crisis: this allows us to see if the worsened economic environment has had effect on the level and speed of integration of the countries under study. In the end, it is worth noting that previous studies focused on either advanced markets or neighbouring countries or states with a common history. This alone can create a level of interdependence between the countries under study and bias the results. In this paper, the markets under study have almost nothing in common except their small size and the fact that they are members of the EMU.

Using daily returns from 1980‐2006, we find a significant contemporaneous association between all European Union (EU) equity markets and Germany. There is, however, no significant indication that the German stock market leads or lags the movements in the other EU stock markets. A higher share of imports by Germany from other EU countries, as well as fluctuations and increased volatility in the exchange rate, have negative effects on stock market co‐movements. Conversely, the difference in equity market capitalization with Germany, the greater the foreign direct investment by Germany, and the fact of belonging to the eurozone all contribute to greater stock market co‐movement.