Essential Steps for the European Union after the 'No' Votes in France, the Netherlands & Ireland
This Policy Brief outlines a number of steps that need to be taken to make the EU more comprehensible and acceptable to all its peoples – and not only the peoples of France, the Netherlands and Ireland. In the authors’ view, among these steps, three in particular are indispensable: Council discussions must be made public, Commissioners must make a much greater effort to explain EU policies, and one Commissioner for each member state must be permanently assured. In combination, these measures will hopefully address the widespread mistrust that has prevented the EU from having the support it needs to move ahead. The authors are both former senior officials of the EU. John Temple Lang is a lawyer with Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP, Brussels and London; Professor, Trinity College, Dublin; and Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Oxford. Eamonn Gallagher is former Director General in the European Commission and former EC Ambassador to the United Nations, New York.
The Commission, the "Community Method," and the Smaller Member States
This Article discusses several developments concerning the position of the Commission in the institutional structures of the European Union (”EU”) that have occurred since then. It does not touch on the many other matters that influenced the debate on the draft Constitutional Treaty, leading to its failure at referendum in France and the Netherlands; these matters include the scope of the draft Treaty, questions concerning its economic, social, and political benefits or disadvantages, the working of the Stability Pact in the Eurozone and the ongoing debate on freedom of services legislation, the purposes for which the EU was originally created and their modification, further enlargement of the EU, and so on. These subjects require separate treatment. THE COMMISSION, THE "COMMUNITY METHOD," AND THE SMALLER MEMBER STATES John Temple Lang* & Eamonn Gallagher* The Institute of European Affairs in Dublin published in 1995 Occasional Paper 7 by the present authors, entitled The Role of the Commission and Qualified Majority Voting, which explained that the European Commission was designed on the basis of mediation theory, specifically to provide a safeguard for the interests of minorities that might be harmed by qualified majority voting on new policy measures.' The Commission has been given various other tasks, but this is the most important one since it concerns new measures that the Member States have not previously accepted. The role of the Commission, exclusively authorized by the Rome Treaty to propose legislative measures to the Council (and now also the European Parliament), is the key feature of what has since come to be called the "Community Method." 2 This Article discusses several developments concerning the position of the Commission in the institutional structures of the European Union ("EU") that have occurred since then. It does not touch on the many other matters that influenced the debate on the draft Constitutional Treaty, leading to its failure at referendum in France and the Netherlands;3 these matters include the scope of the draft Treaty, questions concerning its economic, social, and political benefits or disadvantages, the working of the Stability Pact in the Eurozone4 and the ongoing debate on freedom of services legislation, the purposes for which the EU was * Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Brussels and London; Professor, Trinity College, Dublin; Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Oxford. ** Former Director General in the European Commission; former EEC Ambassador to the United Nations, New York. 1. See JOHN TEMPLE LANG & EAMONN GALLAGHER, THE ROLE OF THE COMMISSION AND QUALIFIED MAJoITY VOTING 10-15 (Inst. of European Affairs, Occasional Paper No.
Design of reinforced concrete lining in pressure tunnels, considering thermal effects and jointed rockmass
Abstract Jaeger's theory (Jaeger, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering , Cambridge University Press, 1972) of the design of the lining for a pressure tunnel applies to a tunnel located in an isotropic, homogeneous and elastic medium. The theory is derived from the elasticity equations for the plane stress condition. In this paper, Jaeger's theory is extended to a plane strain situation. Also included is a discussion of the effects of a uniform increase (or decrease) in the lining temperature, jointed rockmass, cracking of the tunnel lining, and cracking of the rockmass around the opening. Tables are presented for the modulus of subgrade reaction for various rockmass conditions and for rock sharing pressures for various lining conditions. The reduction factor to include the effect of joints in rockmass is derived by the analysis of a numerical model of the lined tunnel by the finite-infinite-interface element method.