I H S — Erik Tajalli / Scholar — 101
March 2000–July 2000 Traineeship at the European Parliament in Brussels as assistant to the MEP-member Claude Turmes July 1999–Sept. 1999 Work in the Biblioteca di Documentazione Pedagogica
(BDP) in Florence – (editing of the EUDISED – database of the Council of Europe; designing and translation from Italian into English and German of a website for the European School Net [multi media teaching])
Oct. 1993 Work as a trainee for General Motors Austria Oct. 1992 Work for the Caritas Austria with Bosnian refugees Other Achievements/Activities
July–Aug. 2004 Participation in the 3rd Hanseatic Baltic Summer School: “The National Implementation of EU Policies”
in Hamburg/Germany.
April 2004 Participation in the 5th Central European Conference:
“The Price of Transition” in Gardony/Hungary
Since March 2004 Enrolled at the “Doctoral Program” of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
July 2003 Grant for the participation in the 10th IWM International Summer School in Philosophy and Politics
“Challenges to Democracy” in Cortona/Italy by the
“Institut für die Wissenschaft vom Menschen”, Vienna Dec. 2002 Grant from the University of Vienna for excellent study
success
June 2002 Prize from the Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte, Wien, for Master’s thesis
June 2002 Publication of parts of Master’s thesis in the journal of the Sozialwissenschaftliche Studiengesellschaft
“SWS-Rundschau”
Other Information
Languages German (mother tongue), English and French (fluent), Danish, Italian and Farsi (basic)
I H S — Erik Tajalli / Scholar — 103
Research Interests
Dissertation Outline
Title: Services of General Interest and the Regulation of the Services Sector in the European Union (June 2005)
Puzzle and Research Questions
Recent economic and social developments have led to a vivid discussion about the privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation of the services sector. At both the national and European level, measures to liberalise and privatise specific service sectors (like telecommunications, energy or postal services) have been implemented. The services sector is of major importance for the following reasons:
About 70% of the GNP of the European Union member states’ is produced in the services sector and up to 70% of employment is in this economic sector.13
The European Union has already taken action in the regulation of specific services sectors (like for example in the telecommunications sector).
One interesting feature of the services sector is that specific services are provided by the state (for example the national, regional or local government) for social and/or redistributive reasons. These public services or services of general interest lie at the core of a discussion about how far liberalisation and privatisation policies should reach to ensure a well functioning, effective private market on the one hand and a good provision with public goods at reasonable prices on the other. The Commission of the European Communities has contributed to this debate with a Green Paper and a White Paper on services of general interest.14 The policy field of services of general interest lies at the intersection between market integration and social integration, two critical points which have marked the history of European integration since the beginning.
Interestingly the Commission’s proposal for a directive on services in the internal market15, which provoked widespread discussions and to a certain extent fierce opposition within civil society, did not take into consideration the results and ideas expressed in the Green and White Paper. Therefore, it remains unclear if and how the proposed directive on services impinges on services of general interest.
Considering these points the main research questions of my thesis can be put as follows:
13 Commission of the European Communities (2004 a) Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on services in the internal market. COM (2004) 2 final/3. Brussels, 5.3.2004, p. 6
14 See: Commission of the European Communities (2003) Green Paper on Services of General Interest. COM (2003) 270 final. Brussels, 21.5.2003 and Commission of the European Communities (2004 b) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. White Paper on services of general interest. COM (2004) 374 final. Brussels, 12.5.2004 15 Commission, 2004 (a)
“What is the European Union’s policy in the field of services of general interest and how does it develop?”
“What determines national positions in the field of services of general interest?”
By focussing on services of general interest, I hope to trace the discussion about stronger economic or stronger social integration and the bargaining process which brings regulations into being which favour either the economic or the social dimension of the integration process.
To answer the main research question, it is necessary to investigate the positioning, the debates and the outcomes of the major institutional actors in the relevant policy field on the European level. Thus, further research questions will deal with the attitudes of member countries in the Council, with the Commission of the European Communities, the European Parliament and the court rulings and positions of the European Court of Justice.
Theories and Hypotheses
For analysing the research questions it will be necessary to rely on a framework of different theories and theoretical approaches:
For a basic overview on the process of European integration, the so-called “critical theories”
of European integration should provide a wider frame for analysis.16 Relying on approaches of regulation theory and neo-gramscian political economy, they try to identify the major historical, political, economical and social driving forces of the integration process and criticise the – in their view – too strong economic bias of European integration. While these theories could help analysing general developments of European integration, it could be argued that Moravcsik’s liberal intergovernmentalist approach is well suited for explaining member states’ preferences and attitudes concerning the regulation of public services. Of course, this approach primarily focuses on economic preferences and the assumed economic gains or losses expected by the member states.
“European integration resulted from a series of rational choices made by national leaders who consistently pursued economic interests – primarily the commercial interest of powerful economic producers and secondarily the macroeconomic preferences of ruling governmental coalitions – that evolved slowly in response to structural incentives in the global economy.“17 Using Moravcsik’s approach but also taking other theories into account and thereby transcending it, different hypotheses can be generated and tested. The hypotheses try to investigate how European regulation in the services’ sector is determined by the preferences of member states and European institutions. They analyse if opposition or consent to common regulation is mainly determined by party-political cleavages (“left” vs. “right” political attitudes), by economic cleavages (“poor” vs. “rich” countries or “winners” vs. “losers” of
16 See: Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Steinhilber, Jochen (Hrsg.) (2000) Die Konfiguration Europas. Dimensionen einer kritischen Integrationstheorie. Münster
17 Moravcsik, Andrew (1998) The Choice for Europe. Social Purpose & State Power from Messina to Maastricht.
Ithaka/New York, p. 3
I H S — Erik Tajalli / Scholar — 105
European regulation), by certain instiutional cleavages (path dependency of national regulatory traditions18) or by general views on the integration process (“liberal market integration” vs. stronger “social integration”).
Methods
A fully-fledged research plan of the methods used for analysing the research questions has yet to be finalised. However, it seems to be reasonable to start with an analysis of the scientific literature to get an insight into the state of the art and the theoretical debates. This will be accompanied by an analysis of the different documents and regulations issued by the European institutions concerning the policy field. This should enable to trace the development of the policy field in the European Union. An in depth analysis of one specific regulation in the policy field should serve as a case study and should help analysing the determinants of nation states’ positions. Interviews with experts at a later stage of the project should help to answer those questions which could not be tackled by the analysis of the relevant documents.
Previous Research
“The policy of redistribution in Austria: The redistributional effects of taxes, transfers and public goods”, January 2002, Magister Thesis, University of Vienna, Austria.
18 See Héritier, Adrienne (1996) The accommodation of diversity in European policy-making and its outcomes:
regulatory policy as a patchwork. In: Journal of European Public Policy 3: 2 June, pp. 149-167.
I H S — Florian Trauner / Scholar — 107