Institute of Political Science and International Relations

We are pleased to announce that the publication of Peter Lang Publishing has published a new monograph by prof. dr hab. Janusz Węca, head of the Chair of Studies on Integration Processes and the Jean Monnet Chair at the Institute of Political Sciences and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University.

This book presents the evolution of Germany’s stance on the reform of the European Union in the years 2002–2016. The objectives of the book are threefold: first, to analyse the positions of the German government and parliamentary opposition on the reform of the European Union’s political system in 2002–2009; second, to describe their stance on the system reform of the Economic and Monetary Union and the Eurozone in 2012–2016; and third, to analyse their positions on the EU immigration crisis in 2015–2016. The study employs a triangulation of a variety of qualitative methods: case-studies, analysis of official documents, literature, speeches and historic items. The result is an in-depth and multidimensional picture of the activities and positions of members of the German government and parliamentary opposition regarding the reform of the EU’s political system. Five theses will be formulated in the book: 1. Germany was one of the major supporters of the European Union’s political reform in 2002-2016; 2. The reform of the European Union’s political system, codified in the Constitutional Treaty of 2004 and in the Lisbon Treaty of 2007, led to the strengthening the  Germany's position in the EU. 3. The policy of spending cuts, advocated by the German Government, has largely led to the deepening of the Eurozone crisis. 4. Germany obtained a large impact on the course and scope of the Eurozone reform which has again led to reinforce its position in the EU. 5. The "open doors" policy towards refugees and economic migrants, advocated by the German Government, has deepened the immigration crisis in the EU.

The monograph was prepared as part of the Jean Monnet Chair EUCRIS grant: What is Wrong and How to Fix It? granted to the author by the Education, Audiovisual, and Culture Executive Agency of the European Union.

"The monograph by Janusz Józef Węiec is an extremely detailed, analysis of the German multilevel and multifaceted positions, actions and plans regarding the political reforms of the European Union. The text contains many behind-the-scenes (informal) activities and solutions that reader can learn for the first time. In practice, the author presents in the text a powerful debate that took place in Germany on the current and future shape of the political system of the European Union. The author's skill in the area of clear and competent illumination of extremely complicated and often informal games, consultations and discussions on the forum of the EU institutions means that the reviewed book can be an extremely valuable guide to the "salons" and "backstage" of the EU, which has a slightly more universal dimension. The strength of the text and its innovative contribution is also its strongly interdisciplinary character, which on the one hand makes all material is written from several perspectives and methodological paradigms, i.e. it is more optimally and credibly prepared, but on the other hand, it is dedicated to many specialists from different fields of science and widely understood world of practice. (...) Thanks to this, not only the world of science will receive an impulse for reflection and postulates for further research, but also the world of practice (officials, journalists, local government, politicians, etc.) will be able to confront their knowledge with a reliable scientific lecture and use a competent interpretation of difficult political, European and legal subjects"

- from the review by prof. dr. hab. Janusz Ruszkowski, Jean Monnet Chair ad Personam, University of Szczecin.

Germany’s Position on the System Reform of the European Union in 2002-2016
Janusz Józef Węc
Seria: Studies in European Integration, State and Society, edited by Magdalena Góra, Zdzisław Mach and Katarzyna Zielińska: Vol. 4
Peter Lang Publishing 
Berlin-Bern-Bruxelles-New York-Oxford 2018
ISBN:9783631748565
Language: English
Pages: 325