In Search of a Proper Federal Balance Between the Two Orders of Government: The Case of German Federalism
There are, at present, a relatively large number of federal systems throughout the world, and the number is growing. Federal systems have a general common feature: they represent non-centralised and non-unitary political systems. However, they do not follow one uniform pattern; instead, they differ considerably, as concerns their specific form of political organisation.
Die föderale Staatsform in der Krise
Der deutsche Foderalismus ist ins Gerede gekommen. Dabei setzt die Kritik weniger am foderalen Charakter der Bundesrepublik an, sondern an der Realitat des deutschen foderalistischen Systems mit seinen ihm eigenen Nachteilen, die mit dem Begriff Politikverflechtung beschrieben werden.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.